Relaxation after some heavy retail therapy and a dedication.

After some very involved retail therapy for a couple of days, it was time to relax a little, Tony and Elva were very keen to take us on an expedition into the lakes district and countryside. DH and I were eager to participate in this little adventure as well. On Saturday we all set off for the Land between the lakes, after a visit to Walmart, as my youngest son Alex requested Jiffs peanut butter and some butterfingers we went o Walmart to stock up. Little did I realise that Walmart stocked fabric, so a quick shop turned into a couple of hours, my fault!

 A lot of goodies purchased, as well as some fabric.

A little delay, but off we set for the lake, Tony and Elva took us the long way round to the lake as they were being the perfect hosts and wanted to show us as much of the countryside as they could, it would normally take 25 mins to drive to the lake, but as we had a couple of stops on the way, we arrived 2 1/2hrs later.

One of our first stops was the Grand River quilt show.

Whilst Elva and I looked at the quilts, the boys went antique shopping, on a quest for our daughter in law- no luck.

Some nice quilts on display

This was interesting, quilt below

War times certainly does have some great stories.

This was my viewers choice.

A close up of the embroidery.

There was a miniature house / home challenge as well.

First prize.

After the quilt show we visited a Sanctuary for Bison and Elk, we were fortunate enough to see both as well as wild turkey. Thank you Tony for your perfect photos.

Wild turkey

BIson

A herd of Bison

Even a number of babies

Elk

Another stop on the way, don't you just love American decorating styles.

I found some little treasures in here.

On the way to the land between the lakes we stopped to get some lunch at Belews, this was quite a novelty, you do not get out of your car, it is curb side service and I must say, it sold the best southern fried chicken.

We finally arrived at the lake, AHHHH ! the serenity, we had lunch, and set up chairs to enjoy the scenery.

Had some visitors as well.

Chillaxing!

A very enjoyable day, was had by all.

Sunday, was our quite day and time to pack and see what overall damage that I had done with excess luggage.

My fabric stash and some extras

Walmart even had goop and the glue that I use, happy days

More fabric off course and some minature resin antlers.

Embroidery bits

Stencils, all in all a great time was had by me....

Let me share this morsel, with you, bought by Elva,for us said to be the best apple fritter that you can try, and I must say it was good, but you only need a small amount, very sweet and very moorish.

This ends our time in Paducah and I must say DH and I, had the most amazing time, we felt that we were blessed with our host's Tony and Elva, when we first met it was like we had been friends for years and we all just clicked. Our accomadation felt like home and we were very grateful for the extras tagged onto our stay, my every whim was catered too, transportation provided and a debt of gratitude to Elva for taking time away from work, to be available for us, a couple of Aussies a long way from home. Thank you for introducing your family and friends to us, we were made to feel so welcome and all that you did, was very much appreciated. Distance may divide us, but enduring friendship will prevail, this post is dedicated to you both, a heartfelt thank you and God bless.

Chilling in Paducah

On our exploration of the town on Friday, DH and I discovered some wonders and just enjoyed strolling  about the streets . Popping into antique shops and discovering what Paducah had on offer, in quilt week.

We hitched a ride around town with a horse and cart, transport provided for quilt week.

For some reason, our driver, offered for DH to stay with him for the day, I think that he felt sorry for DH, with me dragging him around town and  into the shops.

We did visit a moonshine place.

A perfect photo opportunity as well.

Walking around town is quite interesting, signs are all over the shops, welcoming quilters, there was even free lemonade for the quilters.

Lots of art work and the shops are competive with window displays, quilts are heavily featured and there is even prizes for the best window display.

Lots of art displayed.

Other means of transport.

A visit to the quilt museum, no photos allowed inside the museum.

A lot of bronze statues adorn the town.

We walked along the Ohio River and the flood wall, there was a great flood in 1937 and again in 2003. The town is surrounded by the flood walls as well as levees that circle the town. The flood walls have the most interesting murals painted on them.

The paintings depict typical life in Paducah, past and present.

Paducah has all these wonderful historical plaques all over the town.

In the afternoon Tony and Elva picked us up and we had a nice stroll along the river and enjoyed a photo shot along the wall as well as with the steam engine.

A little history of the 1937 flood.

Watch this space....more soon.

A little roundup and our trip away-Mexico City

My 365 challenge had to be put aside until I return from holidays. I needed to get some quilts ready for quilting and make a gift for our home stay in Paducah.

The reason for travelling to Mexico was to visit Frida Khalo's house, as I have just finished making and hand quilting a quilt with mainly Frida images.

The lead up to holidays were stressful as a very dear friend lost her father and this required a trip to Young NSW, amongst other challenges that I was up against.

This is the bed runner and quilt that I made for our Paducah home stay, I used aboriginal fabrics and for the cushion stitched in the ditch and finished off with piping around the cushion. Karen from Rigebell quilting, quilted Australian animals onto it for me.

I hope Elva is pleased with this gift.

Our flight was not without a hiccup, there was an engineering problem with our plane, we had a 3 1/2 hr delay, which had a snowball effect, missing our flight to Mexico City and not arriving into Mexico until late evening, after 36 hrs of travelling, finally arrived,exhausted and I feel the flu coming on!

Wednesday our first day was spent doing a city tour,  as we are staying in the historic district everything reasonably close. One of the many cathedrals in the square, that we visited on our city tour.

This main Cathederal in the main square is on a slant, slowly sinking.

What is interesting about Mexico City is that it was built on a lake so all the 16th century buildings are slowly sinking, so the Mexican government has put in a hydraulic system under the buildings to prop them up.

Some local Mayan Indians in traditional dress, near the Cathederal.

Some of the gorgeous wood work all painted with 24 carat gold, inside the Cathederal.

Interesting sculpture outside the Cathederal 

A visit to the museum, DH seated below the Aztec calendar 

Thursday we visited the pyramid Teotihuacan, boy was it hot and no shade, but another very interesting and full day, 

The largest of the two pyramids is the sun pyramid and the smallest is the moon pyramid.

The  moon pyramid 

Entry to the museum

A painting depicting the Mayan Indians life, this was where we ate lunch.

Another Cathederal named Guadalupe shrine, ( Mother Mary) this symbol is on some fabric that I own, It is nice knowing the significance of it, The mother of Christ appears to have a great deal of significance in Mexico. This Shrine and Cathederal has a real slope and is hard to walk into the cathedral without slipping.

Thursday was a very long day driving to Cuernavaca and Taxco. A resort town where the wealthy go for holidays, a nice little town. Taxco was interesting with it cobbled pathways and one of the oldest historic churches, St Nicholas built by a father in the 14th century for his son to become a priest, his wealth was made from silver and inside is absolutely amazing. What is interesting in this Cathederal is some paintings of Christ being circumcised and mother Mary pregnant, these are the only ones of their kind in the world

Ornate woodwork with 24ct gold paint.

A pure silver "Mother Lupe"

A view from where we had lunch, the view made up for the food!

DH could have settled in for the day, so relaxing.

Interesting sculptures on our walk to our lunch, I did manage to pick up some Frida items!

What is native to Taxco are the cobbled pathways and streets and the use of VW beetles, these are the taxis, used to transport tourists up and down the narrow roadways, reminds me of Toledo in Spain, minus the VW's

Still not feeling well, the flu has hit me hard, struggling to keep up with tours, but need to press on, after a nights rest, will revive for  Saturday, this our visit to Frida Kahlo blue house and Leon Trotsky's red house.

There was a little hick up with our tour, all sorted so off we go, the long awaited visit to the Blue house where Frida was born and died.

Caycocan where the blue house is located is a very popular spot and in the square is another Cathederal we explored, amazing paintings on the walls and ceilings.

We had a little wait, for about 30mins before we could enter Fridas house, as they only allow 145 people in at one time, entry was $12 and if you paid 20 pesos you could take as many photos as you liked.

The entry to the Blue house.

Frida's family that she painted.

A still life that the presidents wife at the time commissioned Frida to paint, but as Frida was obsessed with all things foetal and uterine, this painting depicted female genitalia, it was rejected by the presidents wife, and never paid for, even the frame is shaped like a uterus.

Fridas bedroom

Some of the casts that she wore due to her polio.

Costumes depicted in some of her paintings.

A reproduction chart in her study....of foetal life

An interesting painting in Trotsky's red house, featuring Diego, Fridas and Trotsky tangled lives.

We didn't get to see Diego Riverias murals as the palace was not opened whilst we were in Mexico City. This concludes our tour of Mexico City we are off to Oaxaca.