Quilty Goodness Everywhere

My family and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in St. Louis.  We have no relatives there, and had no reason to go, other than needing
some family time, just the four of us.

As much as we love our extended families, it can sometimes be challenging to spend time with them this time of year.  Personalities clash, feeling get hurt, eyes get rolled...it's not all Merry and Bright. And, with my husband's recent work travel and the girls' just general level of busy-ness, I had been feeling that we've not had as much time just enjoying each other as I'd like.

So, I picked a driveable destination, we made our apologies to both families, and booked a hotel room.

We left on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, after the girls' commitments, about 8:00.  We made it as far as Rockford, IL.  It would have been feasible to drive further, but my youngest has to do about an hour's worth of respiratory treatments before bed each night, so we stopped there.  After a good night's sleep and a Cracker Barrel breakfast, we continued on the Springfield.

We spent several hours exploring the Abraham Lincoln museum and house there.  Have you been there? If not, it's worth a visit.  I loved watching my girls connect the dots between this display of Lincoln's life and other Civil War museums and sites we've visited in Wisconsin, Iowa, Tennessee and North Carolina.  And, being in Lincoln's house, holding the railing he held every night on his way to bed was pretty awesome. We all came away wanting to know more about him and his family.  My youngest has even chosen to write a piece about him for her ELA class this quarter.  I love it when history comes alive!

I enjoyed looking at the textiles used for Mrs. Lincoln's dresses.

We made it to St. Louis in time for dinner and a late night swim, and some general relaxing.  Many, many laughs were had throughout the day and it just felt so good to have no real agenda or time constraints.

While in St. Louis, we took in a rather large Thanksgiving Day parade, ate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in a steakhouse,  wandered the city gardens, visited City Museum, and of course, went to the top of The Arch.

I am sad to say that I did not talk my family into visiting a single quilt shop,  although there would have been several options on our trip.  Time was unscheduled, but not unlimited, and I am trying hard to not buy fabric I don't have a plan for.  at least until my craft room is reorganized and my stash is unpacked, again.        

I don't know about you, but I look at this and see flying geese! 

I did, however, make a couple of quilt related purchases!  The Arch Gift Shop is fantastic!  Not just key chains and t-shirts (though there were plenty of those, too!)  There were SO many books that it felt as though we were in a Barns and Noble rather than a souvenir shop.  I was happy to find The Quilt That Walked To Golden by Sandra Dallas.  I am always up for tales of frontier life, and if quilts factor in, so much the better.  I read through several sections of the book on the ride home.  I loved the accounts of women who traveled West and the quilts they took with them  The photos are fantastic, too.  And, reflecting on the journey those pioneer families took made the drive through Illinois seem not so bad!

The REALLY exciting purchase, though,  was  the Catenary pattern by Carolyn Friedlander.  Just look at those arches!

 My eyes went right to it when I entered the gift shop and I knew instantly it would be going home with me.  What a perfect way to commemorate our trip!  There was a sample quilt hanging above the patterns, and it was just lovely.  I wish I had snapped a photo, because the quilting was unique.  I have some thoughts and plans about how to proceed with this quilt, and my mind keeps returning to them, so I must be on to something!

This has been my third consecutive day posting, as part of the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.  Pop over here to visit some others who are taking the challenge too!