Monday, August 27, 2012

Inspirations

The family and I went to Boston this past weekend.  It's not that we live very far away, only 2 hours, but we just don't bother with the trip very often.  I went many times growing up, and now it is just so expensive to get there and park, etc.  And the entry costs if you do anything are high as well.  But, none the less, we drove down, stayed in a hotel 2 nights and took the kids roaming.  On the first day, I dragged them to the wonderful north end to retrace part of the Freedom Trail.  We went into Paul Revere's home, and visited the Old North Church.  If you've never been to Boston, this area is just splendid - cobblestone streets, old historic buildings, and nearly every restaurant is Italian.  How bad can that be?  Everywhere I looked, there were quilting inspirations...swags, and fanciful wrought iron (not photographed though), and more.
Inside the Old North Church, there was more.  The gold pip organ is gorgeous, but I was seeing nothing but all the carved scrollwork.  I can see applique, lots of applique!

 ...and more applique.  Perhaps I can incorporate some of this on an art nouveau piece that is started.
 The ceiling in the restaurant where we ate had this lovely tin.  If that's not a quilt pattern, then what is??
 On Sunday, we took the kids to the Children's Museum. These were some of the wild ceramic tiles on the wall of the bathroom.  There were several, and they are intended to look like things in nature that have been magnified.
 I think this was a dragonfly's wing.  They were really cool.
Boston was a nice getaway.  But, I am tired of being in a noisy hotel and having to share a one-room existence with my kids.  Dining out does get old, even if it is great to not have to cook.  Today has been a flurry of errands...packed up 3 quilts to send off to QwM, went to the post office, the pharmacy, fitted my daughter for tap shoes, Miss S used her birthday (which was yesterday) gift certificate at the mall, and a few more.  I feel like I need a vacation just to recuperate from the last 4 days, and we haven't even made it to the bank and grocery store yet.  Sigh...  Two days and all will be at school, and I will be back to regular routine.  If there really is such a thing...

4 comments:

Kati from Kati's Quilting said...

Margaret, hope despite of all that you had a good time! Sometimes you just need a vacation to rest the tiredness of the vacation :))) Things will get better, it's only 2 more days!!

Queenie Believe said...

Yes, it is amazing how much work vacations can be these days. You photos are full of quilty inspiration! Can't wait to see how this inspiration manifests itself in a quilt.
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie

cityquilter grace said...

nice photos...downstairs at the broadway T station, there are tiles incorporated into the walls made by school children, nice eye candy, and at harvard square there are geometric designs....like quilt squares....on the wall too...

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I lived in Massachusetts (South Weymouth) for 8 years until 2003 when I moved back to Australia. I loved Boston it is such an old and beautiful city. I hope you got to some of the quilt shops while you were there I know there are lots of them and some of them are my most favourite shops in the world.

Rebecca