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| Where are we? Hints in the blog that follows! |
It’s true – retirement is a busy time of life! Yes, the daily grind is gone. No more getting up and out the door to a job where there are bosses, deadlines and computer snafus.
But that doesn’t mean retirement is for the retired! Rather, if you are a quilter or any kind of hobbyist, retirement is a time to submerse yourself in your creative and imaginative side!
Since I last blogged in early May, I have certainly further submersed myself into quilting projects, with a little travel time with family thrown in for measure. And, I don’t mean traveling to Paducah or Houston for a quilt show!
So, where else would this quilter even bother to travel? Let’s go all the way! Let’s take the big trip! Let’s cross the pond, and see castles and visit museums, take train trips and learn a bit of history. Let’s go to England and Scotland!
My daughter Anna and her husband have both traveled to these great countries, so they took the helm as our travel guides for a 10-day trip. Also along for the ride were my son-in-law’s family. We did see castles – Newcastle, Edinburgh Castle and Holyroodhouse Palace. We did visit museums – the National Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, the Scottish National Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. We rode the train up and down England and into Scotland, including a nighttime ride in sleeping cars! We learned about history everywhere, especially Hadrian’s Wall in Newcastle. There are many other things we experienced that I could write a whole book about! But, mostly, we had an adventure with family, and it was well worth it.
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| Edinburgh Castle, Scotland |
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Somewhere in London
after visiting Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. |
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Eric, Tyler, Boyd and Anna peeking down at me
from a re-creation of Hadrian's Wall, Newcastle, England. |
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The middle of Pick A Petal.
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Anna and I did a bit of hand stitching on the trip. But, most of my sewing had to wait until I got home. After a few days, I was back to it again, focusing mainly on Pick A Petal in preparation for my class starting at the end of July. If you are a somewhat experienced quilter, you might want to join my Pick A Petal class. It will be filled with tips and tricks on how to machine sew this quilt and make it your own one-of-a-kind quilt. There is sure to be plenty of fun, learning and socializing as we take on this project on Tuesday, July 29!
But, I’ve also been working on my version of Midway Wool’s Home Tweet Home wool quilt, coordinating a New York Beauty Sew-A-Long with friend Sam, helping with HQH’s Challenge and preparing for this week’s presentation at the Madison Station Quilters meeting.
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Just a glimpse of a bit of Home Tweet Home.
This one is still under wraps. |
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| The Big Four blocks in our NY Beauty. |
There's been some other family fun -- seeing great nephew Sam swing a bat at the ballfield, celebrating Tucker's birthday and Father's Day, and spending time with mom on the Fourth of July.
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| Celebrating Tucker! |
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| With mom on the Fourth of July. |
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| Me with niece Melanie and her son Sam at the ballfield. |
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Celebrating Father's Day with
Tucker and Anna's wonderful dad! |
Did I mention all the socializing you can do as a quilter? Quilting and socializing go hand-in-hand! We love to get together to both hand stitch and sew on our machines. Thanks to Southern Charm Quilting and other quilt shops in the area, there are many ways during the week that quilters can get together for stitching time. The Stitchers Etc. group that I coordinate had a Stitch In during June.
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| Janice and Jane |
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| Karen |
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| Patti and Helen |
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| Pat |
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Tammy and Eileen
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| Teresa and Pat |
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| Sam and Cheryl |
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Amazing Grace has shipped to Houston,
but will be back for the HQH show |
One of the biggest social events for quilters revolves around quilt shows! While many of us go to national and international shows, and also have quilts in these shows (my Amazing Grace will be featured at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this fall!), there is a very dedicated group of quilters here in Huntsville who are now making preparations for the Heritage Quilters of Huntsville Fanfare Quilt Show, set for Feb. 20 and 21 at the Von Braun Center. If you love quilts and art, please plan to join us for one of the most visual art shows in the area!
And, oh, before I say goodbye, have I told you about my new website? It’s another attempt to get my teaching and speaking business off the ground. You can visit it at: theheartfulquilter.com. I chose
The Heartful Quilter as my theme because I do believe in quilting and living with lots of heart!
Time to get back to working on Pick A Petal, Home Tweet Home, New York Beauties and few other quilty projects!
Hugs and Hope and Happy Stitching!
Kari
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