Day one

Day one of vacation is the really weird one for my family.  We’re trying to settle in and let go of the stresses of our normal lives and the stresses of getting ready to go on vacation and it takes us a day to get over all that.  I think that each one of us barked at every other one of us at least once yesterday.  At one point, Rob even threatened to take us back to the cabin if we didn’t tell him what we wanted to do.

And, because I’d been telling him things I wanted to do for a the hour that we’d been driving around, that didn’t go over very well.

We are always early risers and yesterday was no different.  After breakfast, Sydney went to the stables and I went to the sewing machine and Rob took some video of the cabin and grounds.  Then, we drove around town. 

I had one fabric shop I wanted to get into that specializes in batiks.  I’m still trying to pick up batiks in any town I’m in this year to put in the Jubilee quilt.  I picked these up, including these two great olive green (my favorite shade, likely leftover from the avocado greens of my childhood) Asian prints.

I have a lot of small bits of Asian prints and want to use them somehow, but don’t have a plan and don’t have enough for anything really, but with the addition of these two yards, I should be able to work something out.  (and yes, that is one of my quilts in the background.  better than sleeping under the cabin comforter.)

After that, it was antiquing and we stopped at the Route 62 diner for lunch.  We were the only patrons there and I don’t understand why because the burgers were terrific…even if the decor fell a bit short of the 50’s diner atmosphere they promised. 

More antique shops, where we didn’t buy much of anything and then back to the cabin for a nice swim in the heat of the afternoon.  And, then it was time to cook supper.  I managed to pull off steaks, baked potatoes and a big salad and while it wasn’t up to my usual, it was tasty.  I’m not good with charcoal grills and they’d replaced the kettle grill at the cabin with something else that didn’t close and I had the devil of a time getting the steak to cook without charring it.

And, even though we had planned to go to the park downtown to watch a classic movie, Rob asked me what I thought about that and my answer was that I’d love it if we were that kind of people, but really, we’d likely have a better time sitting around the cabin, watching a movie we brought.  And, we did. 

I got some pictures of beautiful quilts for sale…after I remembered to take the camera in with me. 

I didn’t buy any.  Things are way too expensive here in this tourist town, but we’re going into some of the outer towns today and I think maybe we’ll have better luck.

This beautiful quilt was so vibrant.  It was hand quilted, but had never been bound, but apparently, before they could put it in the shop, someone washed it and it was kind of a mess around the edges.  Would have loved to have brought it home and finished it, but it cost too much for what it was.

Wish I could have gotten a better picture of this one.  It was the sunflower three dimensional pattern.  Those green pieces were inserts into the star and then folded back.  Terrific, but hundreds of dollars.

This was a gorgeous Grandmothers Flower Garden.  I included my finger so you could see how tiny those hexes are.  Thousands of them in this full sized quilt.  And, hundreds of dollars to go with them.

This one came closest to coming home with me.  Hand pieced and lap robe sized, it was a stunner.  Just the top.  Not quilted.  But, I couldn’t spend $50 on it…well, I could have, but not on the first day.  May have to go back for it tho.

And, before I had the camera, I saw the most beautiful Wild Goose Chase that had been hand pieced and hand quilted.  Hundreds of geese set around double pink squares.  It made my mouth water until I saw the $500 price tag.  Then, my mouth dried up. 

Not too bad for a way to spend a day of vacation.  Me likey!  Me wanna move here.  Found a house for sale, top of a mountain, four acres.  Same price as my little house back home on a quarter acre.  Maybe after the kid moves out, we’ll take perm vacation here.  I’ll quilt for pocket money.  Rob can work whatever mountainside land we can afford. 

That’s how you know you’ve picked the right vacation spot.  You wanna move there permanently. 

But, as an old friend used to say, wherever you go, there you are.

Okay, so it’s time to go make breakfast.  Sydney has to be at the stable at 7:30.  Today, she gets to ride for the first time, so while she’s doing that, I’ll be taking some quilting time for me.  At least that’s the plan.  Rob is riding with her today, so I’ll be all alone until about 10.

And, after that, more vacationing.  Today, we plan to go in a cave.  I suggested we do our shopping early and then go to the cave because it’s always the same temp in the cave and it’s hotter than the left gate to Hades outside.

Take care and hope everyone is well.  Lane