Morning, Noon and Night Quilt

 

I have been quilting for the last month and finally finished the queen sized quilt I promised my daughter for Christmas. I used Atkinson's "Morning, Noon and Night" pattern to make the quilt. It is frightening how long it takes to finish a quilt. This is the largest one I have made in my first year of quilting. 

I spent a full day at my local quilt shop (Prints Charming) using the long arm to quilt the top and back. I used circular quilting, as the quilt itself has rectangular blocks. Here is a close up of part of the quilting. 

The colors I used follow the original pattern fairly closely, although I used some black and purple, too. I also bound the quilt with purple, as my daughter and her boyfriend both love Ravens colors. I sure hope they like the quilt. 

Here is the quilt in its new home on its new bed. I am sure it will be used well. 

Traveling Home

While I try to blog about our primary stops and the places we visit, I usually don't post about our driving days. So I decided to talk a bit about the things we do getting from place to place. The cat photo is of a Siamese named Sweet Blue. I met her in one of the quilt shops I stopped at on the road. My spouse very generously stops when I find an interesting quilt shop entry in my Quilters' Travel Companion. Some of the entries lead to strange shops, but more often to lovely places with friendly people. That was the case this afternoon. Rachel's Quilt Patch in Staunton, Virginia, is a real quilter's home. 

The view is from my window last evening at our friends' home in northern North Carolina. They graciously hosted us and fed us fantastically! I love the hobby (cooking) that she has taken up in her retirement. 

The other night we stayed at an rv park in Lexington, SC. The host there directed us to a restaurant nearby for dinner. This is not a place we would have found on our own, as it was located in a house in a neighborhood, not in a commercial area. The name, Vegetable Medley, gave me pause. It turns out that it was a real Southern buffet with pulled pork, great fried chicken, and vegetable dishes that made me eat too much! The locals filled the place as soon as it opened for dinner. 

We will arrive home soon. We are going back to cold weather. Oh well, I guess I will get some quilting done. 

Cocoa Beach

We stopped in Cocoa Beach to visit with our friends DruAnne and Dave. We arrived in time to watch the Super Bowl. In spite of that inauspicious start to our visit, we had a terrific time! We had dinner at the local must go to spot, Coconuts. 

The highlight had to be our nature walk at the Viera Wetlands, a reclaimed marsh. We saw a huge variety of birds and lots of alligators. Some of my favorites were the great egrets, the blue herons, and the Sandhill cranes that I spotted as we were walking back to the car. Mike and I have decided that this was our nature trip to Florida. It has been spectacular! 

Sandhill cranes

Great Egret

Blue Heron

Another alligator. Almost becoming humdrum. Not! 

Orlando

We spent the last few days with our friends the Frames in Orlando. We were so busy that I did not get to posting. We played games and went to a neat state park - Blue Springs State Park - where the manatees come in the winter to stay warm. Manatees need to maintain their body temperature at 70 degrees or so to survive. The day we were there they had a current count of 400+ residents in the waterways. It was fascinating to  see them. 

On Friday we took an airboat ride with Marsh Landing Adventures to see alligators and birds. We were in the headwaters to the Florida Everglades. I did not know that the Everglades originated this far north. We saw Big John and many more gators. Olivia, a mother protecting her young, did not like us getting too close. 

We saw lots of birds, too, including the short-tailed hawk, an endangered bird. I caught him taking off from a tree. 

I also learned that the snowy egret is one of the alligators biggest predators, as they eat young gators almost as quickly as they hatch. 

Our airboat captain, Scott, was a very entertaining tour guide! 

We visited a neat farmers market and Downtown Kissemee, a throw back to the sixties. And we let the guys win all the games we played. Next time the women get to win. 

Key West - the Rest

We spent almost a week in Key West. We saw beautiful sunsets and rode our bike everywhere. It was restful and gorgeous. I even managed to read a couple of books. That always makes me happy. 

I made it to Blue Heaven twice, once for a spectacular dinner and both times I visited I had their wonderful key lime pie. It is the best one in Key West and even though some may not agree - there are those who think it should be topped with whipped cream rather than meringue - I say it is the best. 

A highlight of our visit was our boat tour to Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas. This island fort is 70 miles from Key West. It is often the stopping point for Cuban refugees, as it is US land. If they make it there they can stay. We saw some of the boats they use in the crossing. We had about 30 people on the fort tour which is how many they pack into a boat. Incredible! 

We took the moat tour around the fort, too, and learned about the marine life that makes this area their home. We even saw their resident crocodile, but I did not get a photo. He hid too quickly. Mike took one with the good camera, but it isn't downloaded yet. 

Today we are driving north again. 

Key West

We arrived in Key West a couple of days ago. We are so glad that we brought our folding tandem along. We can pretty much get anywhere on it. Especially now that we know which streets to avoid and where the best bike routes are located. 

We went to our favorite local place, Pepe's, for lunch yesterday and then returned for their happy hour $1 drafts.

We also visited the Truman Little White house. We could not take photos inside, but our guide was good and I loved Truman's poker table! He played with his staff nearly every night when he would visit. It was his second favorite place to be, right after Missouri. 

Today we stopped at the West Martello Tower, maintained by the local garden club. This one acre site is an old Civil war fort that was never finished. The Key West Garden Club took it over in the 1960s and turned it into a garden. Since it never gets to freezing in Key West, the club has planted many unique specimens from tropical locations. My favorite was the oyster plant. There was also a tree whose name I can't remember that had these interesting hanging roots. (Okay, Mike remembered its name - Strangler Fig). 

It is nice and warm here! Hopefully I get my first taste of key lime pie later today. 

St. Augustine and Jacksonville

We stayed at Mayport Naval Base - Pelican Roost rv park for a couple of days. The photo is of brown pelicans flying by. It was an almost constant event and obviously why the rv park got its name. We saw lots of other birds, too, both on the ponds nearby or on the beach where we walked. The park gave us an opportunity to slow down and relax. 

On Friday we drove to St. Augustine, the oldest continually inhabited city in the country. It was established by the Spanish in 1565. We took a walk and while we did not bother with the Fountain of Youth, we took time to tour the Castillo de San Marcos, built by the Spanish to protect their growing empire. We were lucky to witness one of their cannon fire demonstrations, the last one of the day. 

The fort changed hands many times, with the British and Spanish and then finally the United States in control of the fort. "Every transfer was negotiated through treaty and agreement, not battle." The fort was never conquered. 

Mike with one of the reenactors. 

We also stopped at the St. Photios Greek  Orthodox National Shrine, where we learned about the New Smyrna Colony. The history of this colony and its indentured settlers, their revolt and subsequent settlement in St. Augustine, and struggle to survive is fascinating. 

They created one of the first schools for their children. The school structure is still there. 

We enjoyed the city, although it seems to be one of the places where they want to sell you everything in the place.