Travel – Page 3 – Thimbleanna

A Little Trip

28 Comments / August 25, 2015 August 25, 2015 / Family, Travel

Well Hey There! I’m finally back from our little getaway trip out west. We were gone for two weeks (didyamissmelol?) and had a wonderful time. TheFirstChild, SweetiePie and I drove out, then TheSecondChild joined us for the second week and TheFirstChild flew home early — I think one cross-country drive was enough for him!

Our trip started off with a big bang and a quickie visit with my beloveed Ms. Farmhouse. She very graciously provided beds for us in her gorgeous home. Our visit was way too short, but it was so fun to see her — we normally only get to catch up at quilt markets. One of the best things for me was to see her beautiful nest. Boy, oh boy, what a sewing room — this is only part of it!

And the best part is, the kids thought I was over the top with my little quilting hobby. Thank you Ms. Farmhouse for making me look normal — the kids commented that I’ve found my twin. (If only my dungeon could come close to being a twin to the nest!)

The second day of the trip, we made it almost to Calgary and then our final destination, Banff, on the morning of the third day. Wow, oh Wow! Banff National Park is just beautiful. I don’t even have the words to describe how lush and green and pretty it is. We spent our three days there hiking and seeing some unbelievably gorgeous lakes. The aqua blue colors in the lake water were amazing. Beautiful (and famous) Lake Louise:

Peyto Lake:

And, my favorite, Moraine Lake. If you’re on Instagram, you see lots of people taking pictures like this one — sitting on a rock, overlooking the lake.

And here’s a tip about that rock-shot: When you first arrive at the end of the lake, you see this huge pile of rocks. SweetiePie somehow knew that the rock-shot happens from the top of this pile. Therefore, we needed to climb to the top of the pile.

First, you have to cross this log-dam. If you slip off of a log, your feet end up in the lake. Climbing up the pile was interesting — and fun!

So, where’s the tip? When we got to the top, there was a guy up there with a dog. I asked him how on earth he got the dog up that rock pile. He laughed at me and said there’s a nice, easy path that goes up around the back of the rock pile. Doh! Oh well, I’m probably glad we didn’t know about the path, or we would have missed the fun of almost falling off of the rock pile!

Emerald Lake:

There’s a beautiful hike around Emerald Lake through the woods. Very, very fun!

After three days in Canada, we made our way down to Glacier National Park in Montana. It’s about a four-hour drive and it was surprising how different the mountains are — less dense forests, but just as beautiful. The more open areas had a big advantage — we saw no wildlife in Canada, but saw animals every day in Glacier. The famous Glacier tour buses — they haven’t changed since the 1930’s.

We spent all of our time in Glacier hiking and enjoying the views. One of my favorite hikes was the Highline Trail. There’s about a quarter-mile at the beginning of the hike where you hike along a cliff. The park service very kindly provides a cable to hold on to — so you don’t plunge to the road 100-feet below. ;-D

The view from the cliff was totally worth it.

We did several other hikes in Glacier and I loved them all (if you go, don’t miss the Grinnell Glacier hike!). (As a side note — have you seen the funny video of the lady who tells you how to avoid a shark attack? (Go watch it — it’s too funny!) You hear a lot about watching out for bears in Glacier (for good reason!) and the shark-lady says not to go into the bear’s house in her video. When we hiked through meadows like the one below, we were sure we were in the bear’s house — tons of berry plants everywhere!)

We also found some time for a little other fun — skipping rocks at the lakes,

Zip-lining,

And a visit to Polebridge, which the boys are convinced is inhabited by anarchists!

After just 4 days at Glacier, we took 3 days to drive home — it took an extra day because we stopped to see these guys:

Anyway, it was a great trip — highly recommended if you haven’t been to either of those parks. Especially, if you love to hike like we do!!!

Lots of fun stuff going on here (oooh, new fabric!), but it will have to wait. I’m off again in a day, on another little adventure. And then, maybe we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled programming and some blog-reading!

XOXO,
Anna

Back from Break!

22 Comments / February 23, 2015 February 23, 2015 / Store, Travel

Ahhhhh. I’m back from my little break, all rested (ha!) and refreshed. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I went to Utah. We love to go in the winter (well, we love to go any time of the year!) so that the kids can ski and TheManoftheHouse and I can just have a good time. Sadly, this time, TheManoftheHouse and TheSecondChild couldn’t make it.

I went out a few days early so that I could visit TheWorld’sGreatestAunt and a few of my cousins. I had fun playing with Aunt Annie — we talked a lot, played hand and foot and visited a few quilt shops. After I left her, I had a few hours before I needed to pick up TheFirstChild and SweetiePie from the airport, so I decided to drive up into the mountains. BigDaddy’s father spent his life in these mountains and I loved having the time to drive around and take in all the incredible beauty. Here’s a view along the ridgeline of the mountains — Skyline Drive. It’s rare for a little car, like my rental, to be on this road in February — usually, there’s a ton of snow up here in the middle of the winter and the roads are closed.

Looking across the valley to Mt. Nebo.

It was an unbelievably gorgeous day — about 50 degrees F and sunny – no coat required! There were even people in shorts flying kites — crazy!

I drove along the ridge and thought it was pretty funny to find an outhouse. Luckily for me, it was actually open ;-D!

After a few stops to enjoy the views and breathe in the fresh, crisp air, I left the mountains and went down to the valley on the other side. And while I was there, I decided to take a quick stop in a small town where some of my ancestors are buried. I’d never been there before and I was lucky to find a few graves of family members. I was also really lucky to see these beautiful big owls up in a pine tree. I’ve seen owls before, but only in zoos or raptor centers, so this was a super fun bonus to my day!

Anyway, moving right along with my week … I had a great visit with Bonnie one afternoon — Hi Bonnie! It’s a good thing that we don’t live near each other — we wouldn’t get much done and we’d wear our voices out! Then, after the kids arrived, along with the planned skiing activities (with warm temps and not much snow, the skiing wasn’t great this year ;-( ) we decided to do a few things we hadn’t done before. Not surprising for the kids, but as many times as I’ve been to Utah and all the years I actually lived there, we’d never been to the State Capitol. It’s beautiful!

And one evening, we went out to The Great Salt Lake (never been there either — it was about time!) to view the sunset. (That’s not snow on the ground — it’s salt.)

Some of my Instagram friends say the lake is really smelly, but we could only smell salt. Winter must be the best time to visit. It was chilly, but oh. so. pretty. Our Little Miss Crazy decided to wade out into the lake — we were wearing coats, so I’m sure her feet were freezing!

So, that pretty much sums up the trip! Home again, home again, jiggety jig. It’s been hard to go back to work, but finding a little surprise waiting for me when I got home, made it a lot easier. These beauties have arrived:

Mmmmmm. Lucious Liberty. They’re loaded in the little Liberty Shop (at always low prices haha!) if you need some Lovely Liberty for yourself.

Have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna

Australia – Fabric and Friends

26 Comments / October 25, 2014 April 18, 2015 / Quilting, Travel

Oops, I meant to post in the middle of the week, but it was kind of busy around here this week. I blame it on this little guy:

TheFirstChild and SweetiePie were gone for a week and we got to dogsit. Cute little Winston is still a high-energy puppy and he took up all of my extra time. We had lots of fun taking walks, playing with his cousin dogs, and taking a few pictures. He did NOT want to wear those goggles, poor little guy! (But, ever the gentleman, he’s always wearing his bow tie.)

Anyway, one last post from Australia. I saved the fun stuff for last. Kellie took me to some beautiful shops. First up was Sunspun — not a fabric shop, but since I love to knit, just as good!

What a fun little shop — packed FULL of pretty yarns and samples.

Yarn shops confuse me. I can’t buy yarn like I do fabric — maybe because I’m not a scrap knitter like I’m a scrap quilter. I have to have a specific project in mind when I buy yarn. So, in spite of all the beauty, I walked away with just a pattern book. I’d like to chalk it up to self control, but confusion is the true story! It was a wonderful stop though.

Then we were on to Amitie where we met up with Jan. And I met Louise — SO fun! Oh, and Judy Newman was there too, so it was really fun to meet her. I know I’m forgetting someone else — I was in a fabric stupor.

Look at all that gorgeous fabric — and all in Amitie style. Shelves of Liberty!

A pile of fabulous quilts, with our star, The Aunt’s Quilt on top of the pile. I don’t know what I was thinking — WHY didn’t I get a good picture of THE quilt??? Or any of them, for that matter!

Here’s a shot of the lucious quilts in the front window. I was so busy looking at everything and just enjoying it all and I’m sad that I didn’t get more pictures. ;-( It was SO amazingly inspirational though — I was overwhelmed. Amitie certainly lived up to her reputation!

After Amitie, Kellie, Jan and I had a fun lunch catching up and then Jan took me for the afternoon and evening. I have to stop here for a minute and rave about the food that Kellie and Jan made for me while I was in Australia. We don’t eat much lamb (well, any, really), but in Australia they have it quite a bit. The first night Kellie made delicious lamb chops (I bought some for TheManoftheHouse to try when I got back and they’re not called lamb chops but that’s what they look like — it’s more like a roast) and roasted potatoes. Later in the week, Kellie also made lamb strapback (I hope that’s what you call it) with the most delicious fruit salad I’ve ever had — she drizzled it with some sort of basalmic molasses (that I sadly can’t find here). Words just can’t describe those delicious meals!

Then, the night Jan took me to her house, she plopped this jumbo bowl of grilled pineapple and prawns in front of me. I thought it was our main meal, but it was the appetizer. And, being from the landlocked midwest, it was my first experience actually peeling the shrimp, which Jan’s girls thought was hysterical. They were probably wondering how I escaped from my corn field! Dinner was a delicious roasted lamb (which I thought was beef until the next day) with roasted pumpkin and vegetables. And THEN, Jan had invited Meredithe to dinner and it was so fun to meet her. We were so busy talking that I didn’t get any pictures of all of her beautiful quilts. (And trust me, that’s a tragedy. Because, you guys. These girls are all Australian quilters. By default, all their quilts are beautiful!) Since we were having an all Aussie dinner, Jan requested that Meredithe bring an Aussie dessert, and what’s more Aussie than Pavlova? It was amazing — I LOVE bananas and raspberries — maybe I was an Aussie in another life!

Such a fun night and I was sad to leave the girls, but time was short and there was much to do. The next day, Kellie took me out to the country. We had the best day and went to another beautiful little quilt shop.

Mill Rose is just full of fabric. Feast your eyes on all that Liberty! There was some serious drooling and fondling going on in this room.

Another big room of fabric — behind that brown row of fabric is another double-wide aisle of beautiful prints.

What a fun little quilt shop. After all that fondling and shopping, we were parched and hungry, so we went next door and had a delicious lunch in the Mill Cottage.

I didn’t buy much fabric. It’s easy to be restrained — not that I didn’t LOVE all the fabrics, but we’re so spoiled with prices here in the states — we pay less than half of what fabric costs in AU. I couldn’t resist buying just a little though, so, here’s a picture of my purchases.

From Mill Rose, the six prints on the left are Terra Australis by Emma Jansen. Can you see the boomerangs, kangaroos, and Australian continents? I had to have a little souvenir! And the prints on the right and across the bottom are from Amitie — just some low volume prints that I loved.

So, that’s it. Whew! What a fun trip, made all the better because I was able to see Australia with friends. Kellie is always so good to me, and I miss her and her cute little family.

Oh, one last picture. You can’t take all those road trips and fondle all that fabric without some sustenance. I now have two new candy favorites (which I can’t find here boohoo!) — The fantales are sort of like a big milk dud — caramel and chocolate, what’s not to love? And the Babies are like Gummi Bears — only WAY better. Way, way better. And, in case you didn’t know, they’re pronounced “Baaayyyyybies” — as in “The Dayngo ayte mah Baaayyyyyby!”

XOXO,
Anna

Australia – Uluru and Kakadu

28 Comments / October 14, 2014 October 14, 2014 / Travel

As I mentioned in my previous post, Kellie and her family invited me to go on their school break holiday (that’s vacation for us in the US!). The holiday started out in Uluru where we spent 5 days, followed by 5 days at Kakadu — both National Parks, for those of you not familiar with Australia. I debated giving you a blow-by-blow accounting of what we did, but one can only endure someone else’s travel pictures for so long. So, I’ll just hit the highlights here, and, like I did with my Iceland trip, I’ll eventually post more details in the travel section of my blog.

If you’re like me, I didn’t really know what Uluru was and I certainly didn’t know that Australia is mostly desert. My Australian friends don’t live in a desert, so I didn’t really have any reason to suspect that such is the case. Anyway, Uluru is a big red rock smack dab in the middle of Australia and it’s a sacred area to the Australian Aboriginal people. We were in the area for five days and it was Oh. So. Hot! We mostly did things in the mornings, hung out at the pool in the afternoons and then did things again at night.

We saw and hiked around Uluru:

Went on a camel ride: (Did you know Australia has the world’s largest feral camel population? I thought it was all koalas and kangaroos!)

Had a dinner in the desert, watched the sunset and enjoyed a spectacular evening under the stars:

Hiked around the Olgas:

And saw a hat tree out in the middle of nowhere.

What we didn’t see were kangaroos, in spite of the traffic sign!

After Uluru, we flew to Darwin and spent 5 days in Kakadu. Kakadu is at the northern end of Australia and if Uluru was Oh. So. Hot., Kakadu was Hotter. Than. Hades. It was around 100 degrees everyday and because it’s pretty tropical, it was humid. Our schedule here was much the same as in Uluru — afternoons near the pool! A wetter climate in Kakadu means that there was a lot more wildlife to see, which I loved.
The first day we were there, we took a river cruise. There were two boats on our cruise — the other boat was full of cute little aboriginal children who were being taught about their heritage:

We saw LOTS of crocs in the water and on the river banks:

The rest of our outings at Kakadu were hikes in different beautiful areas.

We saw a TON of bats hanging from trees:

Amazing birds:

Enormous termite mounds: (Look! Native Australian Children!)

Stunning scenery:

Warning signs everywhere:

Aboriginal art:

And, on our last day in Kakadu, I asked a park ranger where oh where could we go to see a kangaroo in the wild. He said they only had wallaroos in Kakadu and they generally didn’t come out until dusk. So, we headed to a billabong at dusk. It. Was. Divine. It was so fun to see all the wildlife that seemed to hide during the heat of the day — it was like a scene at an african water hole that you see on National Geographic (minus the big animals!). We even saw a few wallaroos!

Whew! Tired yet? Thanks for sticking it out through all the pictures. My pictures don’t even come close to doing justice to the beauty that is Australia!

Just one more Australia post left — Fabric — and Friends!
XOXO,
Anna

Australia — Melbourne

25 Comments / October 9, 2014 October 9, 2014 / Travel

Ok kids, this is the part where I tell you about my trip to Australia and you very politely try not to nod off. (Or, just skip it altogether!)

It’s so hard to even know where to start, but my trip sort of neatly divided itself into parts, so I’m going to follow it’s lead.

Some of you may remember that last fall, Kellie and her family visited the states and I met them in New York City for a few days and we had a blast. So, when Kellie invited me to come on their Australian vacation with them, it was an offer that was too hard to resist. I spent the first four days of my trip in Melbourne, seeing a few of the sights and just playing and having fun with Kellie and her family. I was also thrilled when it worked out that I was able to spend an afternoon and evening with Jan (who came to market with Kellie three times) and an hour or so with Kathy (who came to market with Kellie once). The best part of the trip was visiting and catching up! So, I’ll tell you about the Melbourne part of the trip first, and save the vacation, fabric stores, and food for another day.

Kellie picked me up from the airport in the morning and immediately took me to a super cute little garden center that had a tea shop. We had scones with jam and clotted cream and I was in heaven — I felt like I was back in the UK! Did I take any pictures? No. I was too busy rolling my eyes over the delicious mile-high scone!

We did see a kookaburra right away though. At least Kellie assured me that it was a kookaburra (and it sure looks like the ones on the internet) but I was skeptical. I mean, does that look like an old gum tree to you???

After our morning tea, Kellie took me to Williamstown where we walked around and saw some beautiful views of the harbor and Melbourne across the bay. We also had a delicious lunch of fish and chips while in Williamstown — fish and chips … scones … where am I???

I loved seeing all the houses — the architecture is so different from ours here in the midwest. The only thing I knew about houses in Australia is what I saw decades ago on The Thornbirds (ha!) so it was fun to see so many verandahs with fretwork.

The next day, we went fabric shopping and met up with Jan. Jan then took me on a whirlwind tour of downtown Melbourne. More confusion with the mother country — London style shopping arcades.

And c’mon — tell me this doesn’t look like a European pastry shop. Oh My!

Lots of fantastic artwork in downtown Melbourne. I didn’t get a lot of pictures — it was crowded and we were hustling. I did want to remember the flying pig and the one-eyed monster though.

The third day was a fun fabric excursion (more later) and on my last full day in Victoria, we left Melbourne for the country to see some animals. When Kellie asked me what I wanted to do while in Melbourne I jokingly said “Hold a Koala and see a kangaroo in the wild” (Yeah, yeah — you Aussies can make fun of me now!) My wish was her command, although the kangaroo in the wild part proved to be a little problematic.

Anyway, I have no idea where we went (I really should have paid attention), but we went to a small animal park somewhere out in the country. You’re not allowed to actually hold koalas in Victoria, but you can get close to them and pet them. The picture below is my very favorite, even though it’s blurry. (It’s a running joke with my camera — whenever someone offers to take a picture of me, the focus almost always ends up on the background. If you’re the person who took the pictures (and you know who you are LOL), in your defense, the others were in focus but I look much better blurry ;-D ).

Lots of kangaroos — even if they’re not in the wild.

And we think we have problems getting our kids to leave home. This little guy was really crowded in that pouch — no room for his feet in the house!

Is that an Australian Emu?

Because this is what Americans think of as an Emu. ;-P

And sheepies. Australian SHEEPIES!!!! Look how cute. That one in the front has a little curly top and the one in the back must be the male — he’s bald.

The scenery in the countryside was beautiful. Unfortunately I didn’t get very many pictures — I was always too busy talking.

And back to Melbourne — I’d had no idea it’s such a big city!

I know that doesn’t seem like a lot for four days, but there was a lot of fabric and talking tucked in there. More on those later. In the meantime, have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. All you Aunt’s Quilt ladies should be starting to get your patterns in the mail. Use this week to gather your thoughts and fabrics and whatever else you need and we’ll get going in ten days or so. If you didn’t get a pattern and want one, don’t despair just yet — I still have a few that haven’t been claimed, so we’ll see what happens in the next few days.