A new look

I've have had a painter here at home and I just love the look of my courtyard " beer garden" some friends call it considering I don't drink beer.
But I love the colour don't you?

New quilt

Some of you might remember the quilt that we saw in Lancaster County that Jayne fell in love with, I've started by sewing the heart blocks and I've also sewn some nine patch blocks( don't have a photo of them!)

Another purchase to show off

Whilst in Lancaster County I bought a small (about one metre square)Amish Quilt which is hand quilted and shows off some of their skills. I managed to hang it yesterday in the lounge room.

Back quilting

After my long holiday where I only did some hand sewing I have made a lap quilt over the last week.It is for a friend who warned Tom about the hazards of taking two 'witches' to Salem by car.There was lots of Halloween fabric in the shops in the US so it wasn't hard to find some witch fabric.I started it last Wednesday and finished it in time to post it to Adelaide on Monday;I was quite chuffed at the witches hats and brooms that I quilted free motion.

Water, water everywhere!

This was the scene outside my side fence last night, the main burst and the hole just got bigger and bigger,Bathurst Council were quick onto the scene considering it was after hours.One worker told me he just had time to get home and make a cuppa when the call out happened.No water from then until about 9.15 PM put a dampener on my dinner preparations so I called Yum Car which is a service that delivers food from various restaurants/pubs and takeaways and within half an hour I had a delicious Lambs Fry.
The Council are back this morning doing road maintainance so poor little Lord Street is again blocked off and my 2 'angels' are again barking furiously at the strange men sitting outside the side gate having a leisurely morning smoko!

Shopping in USA

My Friend Lissa wanted to see how much fabric I bought when I was in the States recently and last week when I was putting it away I thought I had better take a photo to show her.I bought some civil war repros. and some Kaffe Fassett at Hancocks but it is a bit bewildering there because thre is just so much fabric to choose from.I bought lots of fat quarter packs in Lancaster County and the majority of them were from an Amish shop and were $14.95 for a pack of 8 fat 1/4's(Moda fabric).
I also bought a set of Tsukineko inks that iwas introduced to at a Pam Holland workshop in Canberra 2 years ago.

Dallas, Texas to Australia

Well here we are back in Dallas getting organised to fly home Monday evening (USA time).Since we left Dallas 3 weeks ago Tom has driven for 87 hours and 51 minutes and we covered 4183.8 miles or 6694 kilometres at an average speed of 76 klm per hour .The Cadillac used petrol to the tune of 22 miles to the gallon or 9 klm to the litre.

During this time we visited 15 states some more than once, others we didn't even get out of the car-

Texas________________ The Lone Star State
Arkansas______________ The Natural State
Tennessee_____________ The Volunteer State
Missouri______________ The Show Me State
Kentucky______________ The Blue Grass State
North Carolina________ The Tar Heel State
Virginia______________ The Old Dominion State
West Virginia_________ The Mountain State
Pennsylvannia_________ The State of Independance
New York______________ The Empire State
Ohio__________________ The Buckeye State
Indiana_______________ The Hoosier State
Michigan______________ The Wolverine State
Illanois______________ The Prairie State
Oklahoma______________ The Sooner State


And of course we popped over the border into Canada to see Niagara Falls.

Yet another slideshow

Here are some pictures from our Chicago and St Louis stay

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Niagara Falls

We had 2 nights in Niagara Falls in a Falls View Room on the 12 th floor of the Hotel, the view was spectacular but it is probably the dearest place to buy food and drink.We went on the Maid of the Mist Boat and I got very,very wet.I hope you enjoy the pictures

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Lancaster County

We spent days here in Lancaster County and I'll let the pictures do the talking but the area was just so mind-blowing and the food at the Amish restaurants was very yummy.

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Nashville Tennessee

We spent 3 days in Nashville and toured the city including The County Music Hall of Fame and the Rymill Theatre which is called the Mother Church of Country Music.Then we went on another tour which took us into the hills of Nashville and visiting the Jack Daniels Distillery which was very interesting but we couldn't taste or buy any because it is situated in a dry country.

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From Little Rock to Paducah

We left Dallas on Friday afternoon and travelled to Little Rock, Arkansas, before we left town on the Saturday morning we visited the Bill Clinton Presidential Library which was very interesting althoug no mention was made of a certain intern or the blue dress!
Saturday we travelled to Memphis and spent the afternoon in Beale Street the home of Blues music.
Sunday morning a visit to Gracelands took up a good portion of the day,homage was made to the King and then we set off for Paducah Kentucky.

There are lots of photos in the slideshow and many more on the computer!!

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Fort Worth

Yesterday we went to Fort Worth Stockyards, here are some photos

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The weekend

We have been rather busy this weekend , on Saturday we went into Dallas to the Book Depository building and the other sites associated with the death of JFK on 22 nd November 1963; where were you that Day I know that I was living in Griffith at the time and I remember hearing the news on the radio and running out to tell my grandmother!
On Sunday we travelled out to just outside Murphy (and yes I took some photos of Murphy!)to visit the Southfork Ranch which was the home of the Ewing family of Dallas fame!Although I didn't watch the series I read about it so I could follow most of the characters.A hotel chain owns it now and it is a big function centre.
We also visited Macy's (so my dogs won't be jealous!!) and although I didn't spend any money Tom did and the lady gave me a couple of extra bags with Macy's name on them.What other dog do you know that has her name on her own bags!!!
Oh and by the way when we were in Dallas on Saturday we saw a very spoilt terrier dog being wheeled around in a stroller with a sunshade,so you people who think I spoil my dogs I haven't gone too far yet!!!
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Shopping and a Casino

On Friday afternoon we travelled into Dallas to visit the Fry's Store; it sells electronic stuff and I could have spent a fortune if I had one!!!Just loved the longhorns that adorned the building inside and out!







Saturday we went interstate, Tom drove to Oklahoma over the Red River to the Casino which is built on Indian land and enjoys tax free status;the outside of the building has borrowed architecture form all points of the globe in the pictures below you will see Venice,Rome,China and Verona (Italy) amonst others.

















These next two pictures are the only reference I could find to the people of the Chickasaw Nation on whose land this Casino was built

The Big Trip

We have worked out the itinerary for our holiday beginning on Friday 27th August when Tom picks up the Hire Car and off we go on our adventure.

Friday 27th Rockwall / Little Rock (Arkansas)
Sat28th Little Rock/Memphis (Tennessee)
Sunday 29th Memphis / Paducah ( Kentucky)
Monday 30th Paducah / Nashville (Tennessee) 3 nights
Thursday 2nd Sept. Nashville /Winston Salem
Friday 3 rd Sept, Winston Salem /Norfolk (Virginia)
Saturday 4th Sept. Norfolk / Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) 3 nights
Tuesday 7th Sept. Lancaster / Niagara Falls( Canada)2 nights
Thursday 9th Sept. Niagara Falls/ Cleveland (Ohio)
Friday 10th Sept. Cleveland/ Chicago (Illinois) 3 nights
Monday 13th Sept. Chicago/St Louis ( Missouri) 2 nights
Wednesday 15th Sept. St Louis/Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) 2 nights
Friday 17th Seept. Oklahoma City / Dallas
Monday 20th Sept. Dallas/ Los Angeles/Syndey/Bathurst

That has made me tired just typing it but I am so looking forward to it,Hancocks here I come and The Quilt Museum in Paducah and Lancaster County.Tom has booked a room with the Falls view in Niagara Falls so we can experience the Falls 24/7.

Out and about in Dallas

On Saturday we went visiting to a friend of Tom and Jayne's the photo on the left shows Shadow and Lucy is on the right, a big bigger than my two dogs but just as friendly and loving.I just love the way Lucy is sitting she backs herself up to a chair and sits like that to watch the TV until a dog appears on TV and she goes up for a closer look.





On Sunday we went out to lunch with other friends to Smith's BBQ which specialise in BBQ beef ribs, a very American dish served with fried onion rings and salads.





On the way home Tom stopped so I could take these 2 photos of the Audie Murphy memorial.

Assorted photos

These photos are mainly from San Antonio, the tiles and carpet ones from the hotel and the mosaics from the River Walk

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Sunday Drive

Today we went on another road trip after breakfast at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) which is just down the road from here, we then set out for Greenville an old Texas town near where Tom is currently working. Not far out of town at Royse City I took these photos of a lovely Church , would have liked to go inside to see the stained glass windows but there were lots of people at church(lots of cars anyway!)



In Greenville Tom drove to show us the statue of Greenville's most famous son Audie Murphy then we drove on to Paris.
Paris Texas that is and there was even an Eiffel Tower complete with a ten gallon hat, only in Texas!

The next town we visited was Sulphar Springs, Tom was dropping in a bottle of Sable(Australian Chocolate Port only available at the winery in S.A.)to a friend who lives there and I took these photos of this civic building which reminded me of an elaborate cake in brick colour!!

Colleyville

Today we went to Colleyville which is way over the other side of Dallas, we stopped for breakfast not far from where we are living then set forth on our trip.
We found Colleyville and then Colleyville Boulevard and then a Quilt Shop called Quilters Heaven.
I think that a quilt shop in Colleyville needed to be patronised by this Colley!

Jayne waited in the car after receiving instructions from Trish on how to deal with Patchwork Shops but Tom came in with me and discovered tables with cookies and candy on to munch whilst he helped me peruse the merchandise.
After Colleyville Tom drove to Fort Worth but when we got there it was very crowded so he decided we would go back another day.