Four Days in Philly

We arrived in New York yesterday after spending 4 days in Philadelphia with two friends from one of my internet groups. It was a wonderful experie3nce and they took us around the sights. The first day we went to the Hershey factory and to some Mennonite quilt shops, and then the following day we visited Valley Forge. There we saw a re-enactment of the English military drills and also took a tour around the sights. We saw a covered bridge and also had our photo taken with the soliders. As you can see I've also been busily taking photos of autumn leaves. I've never taken so many photos of fall leaves but they are really pretty and we are lucky that they are still very evident here as we expected much colder weather. The quilt photo is of a sleigh quilt from the 1840s which my internet friend showed us from her collection. We also tried many differnet foods such as bagels with cream cheese and a pastrami and cheese sandwich on rye.
Still having a ball over here.
hugs Jan Mac

DAR Museum

We visited the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum and saw some fabulous quilts and also rooms decorated in the different time periods. All of this was free and I would visit every week if I lived in DC, just to see the beautiful quilts which they keep under glass. I must return!!
Hugs Jan Mac

Foggy Bottom Adventures Again

We were in DC for memorial day and visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflection Pool and the Wall for the Vietnam Casualties. There were many families out enjoying the day in the parks, after paying their respects for the Vets. We also visited the Air and Space Museum. All of the museums were free and very interesting.
Probably the best we saw was the exhibition at the Art Museum where we saw paintings by Monet, Cezanne, Renoir Van Gogh and so on. They were fantastic and were free to view. I would be there all the time if I lived in DC. We also saw Fonzie's jacket and the red shoes from the Wizard of Oz. More later.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Hello From Foggy Bottom

We had a wonderful four days in Washington DC, staying at a very nice hotel at Foggy Bottom. We took an on-off bus tour which allowed us to see the main sights out of the downtown area. We also walked our legs off for 3 days and left the hotel at 9am and walked non-stop until 6pm every day.
We saw the White House and visted most of the Smithsonian Museums as well as the Holocaust Museum. The first photo is of a wood carved grandfather clock at the Renwick gallery. The clock appears to have a dust sheet over it but it's all carved wood and the part which is the dust sheet has been bleached. It was hard to believe that it was all made if wood. The second photo is of a silk weaving at the Renwick Gallery. Then a photo of us on the train, then the beautiful autumn leaves were out on all the trees, which we enjoyed on our long walks.
More to come. Hugs Jan Mac

More Quilts From Houston Festival

There were many beautiful quilts and also the chance to chat with other quilters. The first quilt was made by African American quilters to demonstrate the clues in the quilts used by the underground railway to help slaves escape to Canada in the 1860s. She was able to describe them to me, as passed down in her family.
Another lovely quilter with a story to tell.
More to come.Jan Mac

Touring Houston

Before we left Houston last Monday we did manage to see some of the sights when we visted a number of houses which have been relocated at Sam Houston Park. We had a guided tour and saw many different homes and how they would have been decorated at the time. There was even a quilt on one of the beds and the years spanned from the 1840s up to the 1940s.
A lovely little area in the middle of Houston, surrounded by high rise buildings and yet portraying a different life.
Then we flew to DC on Monday and our first visit was to the DAR Museum on Tuesday. We had a guided tour and saw some fabulous appliqued quilts from the 1840s and I was in heaven, being able to study them at close range.
We've stopped buying fabric and booksw and now we're buying patterns and pins. Actually I also bought a couple of books about the historical background of quilts. We're loving seeing Washington DC, the fall leaves are out everwhere and the weather is lovely and sunny. More to come.
Hugs Janmac

Finally Some Quilts

These are some of my favourite quilts from Houston Festival. The second one is by Chris Serong fron Essendon Quilters, Vic. The last quilt is Rachael Dennehy's prize winning quilt.
We're offf to bed now after a very big day of touring some of the Smithsonian Museums in DC. We saw original paintings from Renoir, VanGogh, Monet, Cezanne etc and couldn't believ that the people who love here can see them whenever they want to and admission is free. We also saw some quilts and the red slippers from Wizard of Oz.
Another big day of sightseeing planned tomorrow so I'm off to bed now.
Hug Jan Mac