Jim received this picture not long ago and I've been meaning to post it.
Sometimes I tend to get a lot of things accomplished when no one is around. Yesterday afternoon I cut out the quilt fabric. After a quick dinner it was off to the doctors, then home again to a quiet house with only Lauren home. Jim went golfing so I sewed up the quilt top.
It feels soooooooooooooooo good to be home. We were pretty excited to see Sadie, but I don't think our excitement was as big as hers was to see us. Did that sentence make any sense? I'm still a bit tired from the trip this morning and Jim is out golfing already this morning so I don't think he's too tired :)
I came home to a flowering Forsythia bush in my backyard. I was so glad that I didn't miss it when it was in full bloom. I also have one in my front yard but that one blooms later than this one does. I'm not really sure why.
I did almost miss my Hyacinth plants though. They are almost at the end of their bloom right now. I love the smell of them. Some say their smell is pretty strong but I love it.
I have to admit that I had never heard of Grace Snyder or Chintz Applique before this past week.
I was so tickled to find this wonderful museum featuring Grace Snyder Quilts and Chintz Applique Quilts at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. Even tho I'm not a quilter it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the fine art. I so wish I could have brought in my camera but no dice.
This quilt is by Grace Snyder called "Flower Basket Petit Point" which she finished in 1943. I bought a post card since I couldn't take any pictures. I was so amazed by this quilt...It had approximately 87,000 tiny triangles to make up the pattern which was patterned from a china design pattern.
Another quilt called "Hexagon Mosaic" had 58,640 hexagon pieces. Each piece looked just smaller than a dime. That quilt was really amazing to me too.
The Chintz Applique Quilts were so beautiful and the detail that went into each quilt was just unbelievable. I just can't imagine all the work that went into each quilt. The museum wasn't very big but I spent quite a bit of time there, looking over each quilt.
If you ever get the chance to see any of these two displays...GO...You will not be disappointed.
We are heading home today. I hope you enjoyed going on the trip with us. Next week calls for blogging catch up. See you then.
We have met some of the nicest people here in Nebraska. Jim got to talking to one of the receptionists at the school. He wanted to know how do we get out of town and into the country and a good place to eat? She pointed us to a really nice restaurant out in the country and invited us to come see her farm and take some pictures.
Lacey and her husband Matt were so kind to show us their farm which is quite large. They have a dog Maggy who is a Blue Heeler. Lacey said she's not much of a cattle dog but is definitely a farm dog. Maggy lost her left back leg and is deaf, but that doesn't slow her down any. She loves having you throw a stick for her and when she couldn't find one small enough she found a big one, and after finding this large stick she wouldn't settle for anything smaller.
Matt and Lacey have about 6 cows ready to give birth but we weren't lucky enough to have any of them give birth when we were there. We really saw quite a bit. They have about 15 cats and by summer there can be an upwards of 30 cats to keep the mice away. One of the cats gave birth to a kitten in a barrel, it was so small. We also saw a momma cow giving it's baby a bath and a baby giving himself his own bath. We also saw a couple of bulls and if I remember right, Matt said they weigh in the upwards of 2,000 pounds.
One thing that we have found in our travels around the states..is that..all you have to do is talk to people and the world opens up for you.
This was in the building where Jim is going to class. This is a wonderful display of an iron worker and what Jim actually does for a living. Jim's brother Joe is an iron worker and this is the kind of work he does. You couldn't pay me enough to do this job...I wouldn't be able to ever get up that high.
Here Jim is checking out the display.
Jim does the drawings for the guys in the iron shops so that they can get the steel ready for the guys in the field who are called "iron workers". Iron workers construct the structural steel part of buildings being built. The job Jim does is on the computer now, but he used to do the detail drawings by hand. He takes the Architects drawings and does the "detail" work. The holes and bolts in the next picture are part of the "detail" work that Jim does.
I have been busy here. Yesterday I got the van's air conditioning fixed. Today I got the crack in the windshield fixed, because we picked up a rock on the way out here. We walked through a park yesterday and today I plan to go to a museum. Hopefully there won't be anymore trouble with the van or my camera lens.
The drive to Nebraska yesterday was pretty miserable. It rained most of the way. When we stopped to eat I took out my camera to take pictures of the cute restaurant that we ate at. I froze when I heard Jim gasp when he looked at my camera lens. Luckily it was only the protective UV lens that I have on to protect my actual lens from getting scratched or broken.
So, I'm carefully taking pictures until I can find another one.
The food in this place was so good. I was too worried about my lens I forgot to take pictures of the rest of our meal. This was homemade strawberry jam....YUM!
The rains finally stopped so I quickly took a shot of the sky.
After dropping Jim off at the class he'll be taking all week, I spied this. To see more of him head over to my photo's only blog.
Now I'm off to see some sights and find me another lens cover.
You all have a wonderful day.