A Nice Drive in the Country

With the economy being what it is a nice drive in the country would be lovely.  You could make a day of it, pack a nice picnic lunch and bring some cold homemade lemonade to quench your thirst. Hop in the car and off you go to the Norman Rockwell Museum.  It's a nice drive if you live in Massachusetts or one of the nearby states.  There are lots of antique shops along the way to stop at that you can meander around in and stretch your legs a bit while your at it.  The museum is located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts among rolling well manicured lawns, with surrounding beautiful views.  The studio is on the grounds as well and you can go through it and see where the artist sat and created many of his works of art.  The museum showcases an array of front page Saturday Evening Post artwork done by Norman Rockwell.  Pictured here is the studio and grounds, but to truly appreciate it a visit is a must.  The nearby town of Stockbridge is lovely as well and worth a visit if only to walk about.  It's just the cost of gas (which, yes could be considerable depending on what you are driving and how far) and a days worth of time well spent, and a picnic lunch.  Hope you will take the trip and have a great time.

The Studio

Not sure if memory serves me correctly - but I think this is the house.

The Museum

Yellow Pop!

How about a little yellow pop?  Aren't these yellow azaleas pretty?  They add just the right pop with their vibrant sunshine yellow.  Consider adding a little pop to one of your quilts, you won't need much as a little goes a long way.  Try it, you'll like it.

A Christmas in May Quilt

  A few years back my mother-in-law decided to learn how to quilt and began to make quilts for some of her grandchildren and children.  She had always had some health issues but you wouldn't know it by her actions as they did not seem to slow her down.  She kept a clean house, cooked, went out to visit family and friends or on short jaunts to one store or another.  The family day was Sundays and throughout the day you could find one or more of her kids or grandchildren at the house.  Sometimes there would even be a quilt that she was working on laid out over the kitchen table.
  Her goal was to make a quilt for each one of her children before she opened the door to the quilting room in heaven.  She was mom to eight kids.  She pieced her quilts on the machine after painstakingly measuring and cutting each individual piece by hand.  Once the top was sewn together she would make the sandwich layers, baste them together and get started with the quilting.  Hand quilting I might add.
  When she was all done making the eight quilts she presented them at Christmas that year.  Everyone marveled at the accomplishment.  In true mom style, she put a number on each quilt and a corresponding number on a piece of paper in a paper bag and all eight kids drew a number from the bag.  Here is the quilt that corresponded with the number for our family of four.