I've Been to the Holy Land.

The fabric mecca. It was awesome and I could kick myself for waiting so long!

I arrived early in the morning (the early bird gets better parking rates at the PATH station), before all the shops were open, so I decided to go to Times Square and walk around. Good Morning America was playing on ABC's jumbotron, and I remembered that they have free concerts in the park so I walked over there. What a beautiful little park in the middle of all the skyscrapers. And look, over there to the right -- they have movies in the park! How cool! But I digress.

The free concert. OMG it was Hannah Montana!!!! (You have to read that in your best screaming twelve year old voice!) Who the heck is HM??? I've never seen so many screaming little preteen girls in my life! It was pretty cute. I walked around the outskirts of the concert and happened to be on the street near the Bryant Park Hotel, when the flurry of body guards and HM made their exit. I had the perfect up close, unobstructed, picture of the starlet herself that I was going to post for those of you with little girls, but my shutter wouldn't snap and in a split second the opportunity was gone. Oh well. I was comforted in the fact that it wasn't Sawyer -- a missed close-up of him would have been truly tragic!Ahem. Back to Mecca. Now, we can have my screaming old woman voice. Holy Cow! I was beginning to get all emotional with the beauty of all those fabric, button, trim, etc. shops when I passed this shirt:No. Really. I don't think it would have been appropriate for me to show my emotion. They would have taken me away. I visited many of the shops that others have described, and like Flibbertygibbet, I'll forgo the links here and leave that up to Liesl's fine post. And, I'll just summarize, as both Flibbertygibbet and Yarnstorm have just been to visit this past week and they have fabulous write-ups!

I spent most of the morning in the garment/fashion district. Gail...what on earth could you have been thinking by sending me to Daytona? Did you notice how many fabric stores are on that street? I'm not young like you are. My heart almost couldn't take it. At least you had the good sense to teach me your breathe in, breathe out techniques months ago. It came in very handy. Thanks for the great recommendation -- I hadn't seen Daytona on the other blogs, and like you, I loved the place.

And I thought I'd lose my mind in B&J fabrics. I've never seen so many cottons with lycra in one place. It was interesting though and shows that you have to be careful. One of the Hop Skip Jump prints was on a big roll of fabric in the cotton section for $12.95/yd. Much higher than the $9.xx/yd print on the bolt at Purl. The fabric width was the same -- maybe you just pay more for the privilege of having no fold in your fabric? MJ Trim and Tinsel Trading's ribbon shop were other favorites. I mostly just found myself wandering around wondering what other fabulous shops were hidden among those monster buildings that we don't know about.

I walked all over and managed to cover more shops than I thought I would in the short time I had. I was surprised, really, at how small all the shops are. These places are larger than life in blogland. Nowhere was this more evident than at Purl and Purl Patchwork. Tiny little shops. But so well loved. I pondered this fact while flying home on Friday night and decided it's just the sheer quality of the product inside. And then, probably almost at the same time I was flying, Jane wrote this post which said it all about Purl, much better than I could.

A few other favorites:
This is why I don't want to park in NYC. Just how do they get those cars on that 4th tier???Probably a common sight, but not in my neighborhood. Too fun!And of course, I had to go to these two places. Research, you understand. A taste comparison.
But could I make a decision? No. Perhaps Magnolia makes the better cupcake. I bought a few to bring home and they survived being slammed against the top of the box while I ran through O'Hare trying to make a tight connection. (Which was pointless, 'cause even though you get to your gate and watch the plane sitting there for 10 minutes, if you and the other delayed passengers are a second past the boarding window, fuggeddaboutit. At least there was a cupcake to console me.)

So. I loved it. The quilty peeps and I are hoping to go to NYC in the fall. Ladies, Mr Doubtfire said it best to Mrs. Doubtfire: "Brace yourself, Effie." Yup. Methinks it's as good as what Effie was in for!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Isabelle has her person from Salford. And I have my Karen, the mystery person who is leaving me wonderful comments. Karen, I'd like to respond to you, but blogger is giving my no hints about who you really are -- I don't think you're my Ohio friend Karen or Yellow Farmhouse Karen. What other Karen am I forgetting about? Please send me an e-mail, so I'll know!

Travel

When I travel for business, in the evenings, I like to do something "local." Most of the time, that means finding a local quilt or fabric shop. Since I visit the same locations, I fall into habit and tend to visit the same places each time. New Jersey has proven a little difficult from the "shopping" standpoint, so, my favorite activity evolved into visiting Liberty State Park. I love to stop here on my way in or out of Newark airport. If I have at least 30 minutes, I love to come here. I enjoy walking around the train station, dreaming of all those immigrants who came here, after processing through Ellis Island, to catch a train to their new life in America. And I sit on a bench and just look. I look at Miss Liberty. I look at the boats going by. But mostly, I just look at the Manhattan skyline. Just staring wistfully across the water, dreaming of all the treasures that lie buried among all those skyscrapers.I've been coming to NJ for several years, but never quite figured out how to get into Manhattan, among those skyscrapers, on the short schedule I always seem to have. On my first attempt, I decided to drive into Manhattan. Just get the "lay of the land", I reasoned. I have a pretty good sense of direction, so, in general, I feel that if I do get lost, I'll eventually find my way. I mean, I'm still here, so, I couldn't have been too lost. And, I've driven in several big cities, so NYC should be no problem, right? Armed with my rental car map, I drove through Holland Tunnel and emerged into a web of one-way streets that weren't marked on my map. It wasn't long before I found myself headed to Brooklyn on the Brooklyn Bridge. I viewed this as a happy accident -- if I hadn't ended up going the wrong direction, I would never have seen the Brooklyn Bridge. It's beautiful and I'm sure I looked like a little kid with my mouth gaping open. I also briefly felt myself transported into Francie's world. Very cool for a girl (me) who lives in an architecturally challenged place! By the time I got turned around and back into Manhattan, I sort of figured out the method to the one-way streets and made it to my goal, Times Square. By now, it was dark, so Times Square was spectacular. As much as it could be from the point of view of a driver in a car trying to avoid striking one of the hoards of pedestrian tourists. That was enough for one night, so I drove out of Manhattan and headed back to NJ to my hotel.I'd survived that first attempt, so on a subsequent trip to NJ, I decided I'd try it again. I really wanted to visit The City Quilter. (This was before my blogging days -- before I knew about Purl and Tinsel Trading and ... well everything else. The only thing I had to go by back then was my quilt shop guide and the only quilt shop it listed was The City Quilter.) This time, I had a better map and a better plan. After my plane landed, I headed to the Lincoln Tunnel. What the ??? I sat in traffic for over an hour, just to get to the tunnel. I thought rush hour traffic (it was after 6:00 p.m.) was supposed to be headed out of the city, not into it. Clearly, NYC doesn't play by rush hour rules. I finally found my way to City Quilter's neighborhood, nervous that it wouldn't be long before they closed. I found a parking "garage" and pulled in. More like pulling into someone's living room. The cars were stacked 6 or 8 deep, and there was nowhere for me to go. The attendant appeared and asked for my keys. Um. Ok. I handed them over and he disappeared with my car into another "room" in this building. I hoped I'd see my car again. I paid my quick visit to City Quilter, and when they closed, I returned for my car. It took 10 minutes, but my car reappeared. For all I know, it drove to Queens in my absence. Maybe they don't really park your car. Maybe they just drive it around until someone calls them to bring it back. You never know.I might be a little slow, but I got the message. Cars aren't meant to be in Manhattan. I sort of gave up, but then I discovered blogs and so. many. of. you. blog. about all the craftiness of NYC. All I had to do was figure out how to get from where I was in central NJ to some sort of public transportation (along with a few other logistics issues.) I think I've finally figured that out. I'll try my plan out tomorrow. If you never hear from me again, you'll know my plan didn't work. ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

Favorite Shops in TheBigCity

I always enjoy going to Indianapolis if I know I'll have time to hit some of the quilt and yarn shops. This past weekend was perfect because TheManoftheHouse had a show that he wanted to see, so I dropped him off for the day and then I went shopping. Indy being the "Crossroads of America" and all*, I thought I'd tell you about my favorite shops there. I'm sure someone like Be*mused is infinitely more qualified to tell you about these shops, but I'll give you my opinion anyway.

So, here they are , 3 yarn shops and 3 quilt shops, starting on the south side of Indianapolis and finishing on the north side. Luckily they all have websites which will give you much better info than I ever could.

Back Door Quilts. This is a great quilt shop. They have lots of stuff that covers a wide variety of styles of quilting. A little bit of everything -- except for the "modern" quilter. No free spirit types of fabric that I noticed.
For yarn shops, the mecca is Mass Ave. Knit Shop. After reading descriptions on the internet, I'd imagined a very sexy warehouse setting (picture New York Loft), neat, tidy and very stylish. Not so. It's pretty haphazard. A well-worn pair of shoes sort of feeling. But, oh, the yarn. And books. And friendly atmosphere. And lucky me -- I just happened to be there when everything in the store was at least 20% off. How often does that happen at a yarn store? (If you're near Indy, the sale lasts until Saturday, June 9th!) Mass Ave. Knit Shop is very near downtown. A little hard to find, but well worth it. You enter through the back door, sign pictured here.
I also like The Knit Stop. It's a much smaller shop, but very pretty. Lots of shop samples and inspiration. When I was there on Saturday, there were three dogs roaming around. I love dogs, so that was a really fun surprise and an unusual twist on the yarn-shops-are-for-cats line of thinking. And good news, they're getting ready to expand into the shop next to them, thus doubling their shop size.

Practically next door and just down the street from The Knit Stop is Quilts Plus. This has long been my favorite quilt shop, although The Back Door is giving it a run for it's money! They have beautifully made quilts, which are getting harder and harder to find as we are busier and tend not to invest time in the details of many pieces and fine handwork. Lots of civil war and wool stuff too.
Another quilt shop is Quilt Quarters. They're also a Bernina Dealer. I don't know what it is about quilt shops that are also dealers, but somehow they lose some points on charm. Quilt Quarters probably has the largest variety of fabric of the three shops with just a smidgen of Free Spirit to boot. And look, I felt compelled to buy some of the new Susan Branch fabrics here too. Do I need more fabric? No. But, it's my over-crammed sewing room and I'll buy if I want to.
And last but not least was my real treat for the day. The loverly Jewels has been telling Junie and I about Stitches and Scones for several months and I finally got to check it out. I loved it! Great yarns and displays and exceptionally neat and tidy. As my 12-yr. old nephew would say Sa-weet! Thanks Jewels for the recommendation -- it should definitely be added to our list for girls-day-out!
Somewhere along the way I picked up this Duck Duck Goose fabric. There are no babies (that I know of) on my radar. But I just had to have it. Maybe I'll make it for me. Well, probably not really. Maybe I'll do like Gurney and start a baby hope chest for those grandbabies that may someday arrive.XOXO,
Anna

*You never know when you'll be driving across the country! I-70 runs smack-dab through the middle of Indy. Along with three other major freeways: I-65, I-69, and I-74. It's not the quilty/yarn mecca that someplace like Minnesota is, but just in case you're driving through....

The Quilt Show

Sorry -- I'm a day late in telling you about the quilt show. Unfortunately, after two very pleasant days, yesterday was my annual MTTD (Major Tax Tirade Day -- not to be confused with mTTD -- minor Tax Tirade Day which will occur in about a week when the property tax bill comes and I rant and rave about why our tax rate is higher than, say, someone who has a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, when our view here is of cornfields!) Anyway, with MTTD my tirade isn't related to the amount of money that gets hijacked from my bank account as much as it's the ridiculous amount of work that it takes to fill out the forms. It's the annual slap in the face I get to remind me that I am not a filer. I try to be organized. I put things away. I just can't remember where I put them. It's just way too much work and I resent the amount of time spent filing taxes -- time that could be spent sewing! They know how much I make -- why can't they just send a bill for some percentage? Ahem. I digress. Suffice it to say, there was much wailing, gnashing of teeth and stomping of feet yesterday and I feel much better today. Thanks for listening!

On to the quilt show! We had a very fun day. I accompanied my dear friends Junie and Jewels (Gurney was sorely missed!) and Me.Mum (My beloveds must all have a nickname. I love how the British (and Australians!) call their mothers Mum and since my mother has declared that she's never getting on an airplane again unless it's to go to the UK, I've decided to call her Me.Mum.) Anyway, I thought the picture to the right, pretty much summed it up.

It had been a long time since we'd been to such a good quilt show. We gave up Paducah many years ago because it was just too crowded. This show didn't seem to have the number of quality of quilts that Paducah had back then, but there were certainly some pretty quilts on display. We're a group of pretty traditional girls, and sadly, hand quilted quilts are just getting harder and harder to find. Our viewers choice was this clever quilt of a tumbling little boy.






The vendor selection, on the other hand was awesome. Far superior to what we've seen in the past. We were all thrilled to see our old standby and favorite vendor, Schoolhouse Quilts. We've been followers of Judy Rothermel for years and years -- her piecing and quilting are exquisite. There were many other wonderful vendors too. One of my favorites was Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods (sadly, no website), a booth that had tons of ribbons, trims and buttons. All organized by color -- so inspiring!





It was a great quilt show -- very well run and organized with lots of room for the crowds. It will definitely be on our list for next year!

In other news, we're having very weird weather here for April. It snowed almost all day yesterday. I thought spring had arrived two weeks ago when our ducks showed up. They come back every year, just like clockwork. One mallard and one drake. Duck Love. We never see any product of their union, but they always seem to be very happy just waddling around the neighborhood for a few weeks. Here you can see them enjoying the growing puddle in our backyard caused by all the rain we've had this spring.








Lots of people are complaining about the cold weather. Not me. I love the snow. And I love the delay of spring. 'Cause if there's snow on the ground, it means I don't have to mow the lawn. I love to mow, but I don't have the winter nesting/sewing out of my system yet. Happy Snowmen.

XOXO,
Anna

Hawaii

I was going to title this post “The First-Timer’s Guide to Hawaii” but decided it was too confusing. I meant the title as if the author was a first-timer, but decided that a reader might assume that it was a guide for someone making their first trip to Hawaii (which, I guess it really is, but I’m certainly not experienced enough to offer comprehensive advice.) So, whatever, you want to call it, this is my guide, as a person who has just returned from her first trip to Hawaii. Warning: This will be a long post. ;-) I’m going to list (and rate) the things we did in chronological order.
First off, a bigfor renting convertibles. We rented two convertibles for eight of us and we had SO much fun driving around with our “lids” down. We rented from Thrifty Car Rental – their service was good and their weekly rate was almost half of any of the other major car rental agencies. Well worth the moolah!

And while we’re driving, a big to traffic in Honolulu. If it’s remotely near rush hour, expect to crawl. Try to do a better job of planning around traffic than we did!

Sunday:
Bumming Around. Just checking out the beaches, relaxing, and enjoying the waves should be a number one priority. We didn’t get to do enough of this ‘cause there was so much to do. Must. Rest. More. Next. Time.

Turtle Beach. This is a beach on the north shore of Oahu where BIG sea turtles come ashore to sun themselves on the beach. It’s just a free beach on the side of the road, but there are rangers on duty to keep an eye on the turtles. In addition to seeing some turtles on the beach, you might also get a glimpse of one in the sea trying to come in. Very peaceful and beautiful!

Monday:

Waimea Falls. Also on the north shore, Waimea Falls is a gorgeous botanical park. Even if botanical parks aren’t normally your thing, this place is awesome, because after a mile hike, you get to swim in a 30 ft. water hole that is fed by a waterfall. This was one of my favorites!

Polynesian Cultural Center. I didn’t actually go to the PCC as I was pretty sure it wasn’t my sort of thing. Several of my cousins had been before and they love it and had a great time – one of my cousins even declared it a “spiritual experience.” MyDadLovesMeBest sister went with them, however, and declared it a complete waste of her money. This split of opinions was pretty much what I found out when researching whether or not to go there. You either loved it, or you didn’t. One big debate we had was whether or not to attend a Luau there. Most people recommended a better Luau (at least one that was on the beach) – the PCC is inland a little bit, so their Luau can’t be on a beach. We went to a different Luau – more on that later.

Tuesday:

This was our “Island Hopping” day. We split up, with ½ of us going to Kauai and the other half going to Hawaii.

Kauai. I didn’t go to Kauai, but those who did had an awesome time. And, since a friend had told me earlier that her very favorite thing in Hawaii was the helicopter ride over Kauai, our Kauai party took the helicopter tour. They loved every minute and said it was incredible. Fortunately, they took their trip the day before the two helicopter crashes on Kauai. They say your odds of being in a car accident are greater than a helicopter accident, so, you be the judge (again!) (Sorry, no picture from Kauai as I wasn’t there!)

Hawaii. We went to the Big Island for the day to see Volcano National Park. You can’t even get close to the lava flows unless you take a helicopter tour, so we did. I’m sure it wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the helicopter tour on Kauai, but it was still incredible. Being able to fly directly over the volcano vents and look down at the red hot lava was an unforgettable experience. After the helicopter flight we drove out the the National Park. Very educational. We also visited the Mauna Loa macadamia nut plant. It was ho-hum – only do it if you have time to kill.

Wednesday:

Swap Meet. We had a great time visiting all the booths and buying a bunch of souvenirs for the friends and family back home. Much better deals on touristy junk than anywhere else.

Waikiki. It was a complete accident that we ended up at Waikiki and I’m so glad we did. My mother got too hot at the swap meet, so we decided that we should find a cool restaurant to hang out in and someone told us there was a Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki. We had pineapple and coconut cheesecakes. Yum-O. We lost a lot of time in traffic getting both to and from Waikiki however, and we weren’t able to stay nearly long enough. We did get a glimpse of the beach though, and it was fabulous. If I had it to do over again, I would have spent a day there and checked out all the great shopping. (Check out Diamond Head in the picture!)

Paradise Cove Luau. This Luau is on the west coast of Oahu, so you get a beautiful view of the sunset. And there are lots of people dressed up in Hawaiian costume. And you could visit different stations to make lei’s, etc. And they had a little show where they lifted the pig out of the pit and hauled him away for you to presumably eat later. BUT. I felt like I was at a church supper. Long tables with plastic tablecloths and plastic chairs. Then, when it was time to eat, you took your plate and went through a pot luck type of line. Very Tacky. For 65 smackeroos, I expected overflowing platters of pineapples and Polynesian fruits and flowers. And oh, it would have been nice to be served. But maybe I’m just getting old and finicky for my money.

Thursday:
Hanauma Bay Snorkeling. This is a state park and costs $5.00 plus snorkel gear rental. We had a fantastic time – even getting both the grandmas out to snorkel and they loved it. Fish viewing inside of the buoys was somewhat limited, but if you’re a good swimmer, you can venture a little outside the buoys and see lots more fish. Great Fun. Highly Recommended.
Pearl Harbor. We certainly felt that any visit to Oahu would be incomplete without a visit to Pearl Harbor. We all loved it and I’d definitely go again, even though I’ve just been there!

Friday:
Kaimuki Dry Goods Fabric Store. Naturally, the place of my ill-fated meeting with Sawyer should get a thumbs up. Seriously though, if you’re a fabric fondler, it’s worth the visit.

Shrimp Trucks. We stayed on the North Shore which is known for all of its Shrimp Farms. There are little shrimp buses/trucks all over. Just pull on up, order at the window and eat at a picnic table.

So, it was a whirlwind trip, but I definitely give it a big . In spite of the minor difficulties of traveling with 8 women (at one point, I was prepared to dole out estrogen patches!) we all had a great time! Highly Recommended.

XOXO,

Anna