Further Adventures in New Hampshire

Two weeks ago, I fully intended to write an update about the zigzag baby quilt I started a while back (it's actually progressing nicely. Hoorah!). Obviously, that didn't happen, primarily because I was preoccupied preparing for baby G's first transatlantic trip. That's right: at the ripe old age of five months, this little kiddo is already an international jetsetter, having flown over to Boston to pay a visit to all of her family and friends in the US. She handled the flights with aplomb and, of course, charmed the million or so people she met during our stay. She even managed to convince her besotted grandparents to take care of her for the night while hubby and I whisked ourselves away to a fancy hotel on the coast to indulge in a bit of pampering at the hotel spa and explore the charms of nearby Portsmouth, NH (ignoring the rain as well as the hotel's occasional resemblance to the Overlook. Freaky.) Included amongst those charms, much to my delight, was this fantastic little shop... the Portsmouth Fabric Company!


It was closed when we first happened upon it, searching for a place to eat dinner, but I prevailed upon hubby to return the next morning and spent a happy half an hour browsing. It's a beautiful shop - well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in New Hampshire - and it had an absolutely dizzying array of fabrics from which to choose. I tried to restrain myself, but I couldn't resist a little stash-building!
Two fat quarter bundles, each consisting of a selection of prints from the Bella and Glimma lines from Windham Fabrics, and a half a yard of a gorgeous bicycle print from Kokka. 

 After I got my fabric fix, we hit the nearby ice cream store so hubby could sample some of New England's quintessential flavours - maple walnut and black raspberry. Yum!

This was a small!!
I have one or two other exciting fabric-y finds to report as well as that promised update on the zigzag quilt to give, but those will have to wait until the next time. Baby G is up from her nap, and, for once, we've got beautiful sunny weather here in Belfast, so we better go make the most of it!!

 xx Tina


Comments

  1. Judith, Belfast4 June 2013 at 14:23

    Looks like you had a brilliant time away! I'm sure G has grown loads since I last saw her! Hope to see you soon, Jxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Di4 June 2013 at 18:01

    Looks like you had a good time with family and friends. Isn't it amazing how little ones travel. My cousin took her daughter from the UK to Austrailian to Canada several times in the first couple of years of her life! Di x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Canadian Abroad4 June 2013 at 18:46

    Glad you had a good trip, and nice purchases - including the ice cream.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Archie The Wonder Dog4 June 2013 at 21:23

    It sounds like you all had a wonderful time!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sarah5 June 2013 at 18:14

    Sounds good all round, and fabric and ice cream definitely the icing on your cake!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7 June 2013 at 16:42

    glad that baby G ( oh and her parents) had such a wonderful but too short trip here in the States. When the two under construction quilts are complete I will reward myself with a trip to the Portsmouth fabric store---and just maybe some ice cream.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fabulous Fabric-y Fun this Saturday

Image
Not quite what you had in mind?! Read on...  Thursdays are prime-time thinking-ahead days for me. Already thoroughly sick of the workweek by about Tuesday, I yearn for Thursdays as a kind of sign that I can now legitimately begin planning my weekend festivities. In that vein, here’s a suggestion for this coming Saturday: the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day at Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) , Belmont Road, Belfast. The brainchild of Judith of Just Jude , the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day is designed to showcase some of the wonderful work the students in Judith’s Rags to Bags sewing classes , which also take place in CFC, have been producing. It’s on from 10am to 3 pm, and entry is free, with complimentary tea and coffee on offer (always a bonus, especially if the weather is anything like it is today!) There’ll also be various stalls selling cakes, fabrics, and crafts as well as loads of information about Judith’s classes and local charity quilting groups...
Read more

Almost there!

Image
Well, after devoting much of my weekend to it, my Double Irish Chains quilt is all but finished. Phew! All I have to do, as you can see from the pic below, is hand sew the binding - the perfect project for those lazy days of my New Hampshire holiday next week. A rare spot of sunshine demanded that I take this photo in the front 'garden'. There were a few miscalculations along the way, as well as a couple of unfortunate fabric mis-cuts due to sheer exhaustion, but eventually, I got there. I briefly contemplated free machine quilting when I'd gotten the quilt sandwich put together, but I quickly ruled that out in respect for my sanity. Instead, I followed the chains themselves, quilting diagonal lines in an unobtrusive cream thread. The effect, I think, is perfect, as the diagonals emphasise and draw attention to the chains while still giving the eye a little something to work with in the large cream-coloured patches of fabric. A glimpse of the back   For the ...
Read more

A Humble Crumble

Image
Although we only have a tiny front garden about the size of our couch, my hubby has managed to cultivate a veritable green grocer's selection of fruit, veg, herbs and flowers. Beware if you ever come to visit .... despite the postage-stamp size (and shape) of the 'garden' - really just a collection of assorted tubs, buckets, pots, and troughs in which nestle, among other things, carrots, leeks, and courgettes - hubby will insist on giving you a full tour. Ooh-ing and aah-ing will be expected, and uninterested parties will be treated with distinct disdain. Even I, more familiar than most with the wonderful fecundity that is our front garden, am treated to  near daily updates of what's going on with the leeks, or the peas, or the strawberries, or.... well, you get the point. Home grown strawberries Not having a green thumb myself, I'm far more interested in harvesting and eating the fruits of hubby's labours (literally). This year, there was a bumper crop of...
Read more