it is finished

And I have the pictures to prove it. This is a blanket I started back in October maybe. I'm pretty sure I've posted now and then about it's progress. Well, today I finished it. Here it is full size: Getting smaller:

And smaller:

Until I packed it away in a trunk and added it to my packing list for Ireland.

That's all.

these free and independent american states

On Wednesday afternoon I drove for 4 hours and 40 minutes up to Williamsburg, Virginia to meet Rosie who had driven down from Michigan with her parents for vacation. What a wonderful time we had! We toured Colonial Williamsburg. We had high tea in a cute little tea shop. We had leisurely walks and delicious dinners. And we had tons of time to talk and catch up and enjoy being together.

Highlights of the trip in no particular order:

1) Rosie's curry and cookies. She even sent cookies home with me!

2) The acting was phenomenal. Both at the play house and the big street production that takes up most of the afternoon.

3) The dresses and hats were beautiful. Wish we could've tried them on.

4) I got some horehound candy. Laura Ingalls Wilder always used to eat this. It isn't actually very wonderful, but I got to try it!

5) We had a delicious lunch at the Raleigh Tavern.

6) I purchased Recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bakery "a collection of the most tasteful and approved recipes in Virginia cookery." It has the 18th century recipes and then on the opposite page the 21st century "translation."

7) On Thursday morning the first thing we did was see "Fops, Rogues, and Villains." Which was a hilarious introduction to character types from 18th Century Theater.

8) We got the chance to try out an 18th century dance. That was good fun!

9) The mock 18th century trial was hilarious! The judge didn't even seem to be acting, totally and completely believable!

10) Revolutionary City was fantastic! The whole town gathers together from 3 to 5 every afternoon and reenacts historical events that happened in Williamsburg. Again, the acting was great and it was fun to be an 18th century crowd calling huzzah! and here here! and seeing someone almost get tarred and feathered!

11) High tea for lunch on Friday was so fun! We had all these little sandwiches and cakes and a little cup of soup and we didn't expect it to fill us up, but we practically rolled out the door as we left!

12) On Thursday we had dinner at a little local place called Food for Thought which was so cute. It had all these literary quotes on the wall and cards with quotes and questions and things on the table and the food was great. If I lived there that would definitely be my favorite restaurant.

So I basically left wishing I could move up there and become an artisan or one of the re-in-actors. Some kind of grown up version of running away with the circus. What fun it would be! At least for a year or two. The problem is that even if they let me do pottery (being a woman) I would have to learn how to use a kick wheel and a non electric kiln. I could always learn a completely new craft, like spinning and weaving (which I've always wanted to) but that would take a while. Oh well! I guess I'll have to be content with visiting some other time.

a few things

I just have a few random things I want to say because this is the first time I've been online on my computer in at least 3 weeks and I've been storing up all this stuff. Its all very sporadic and out of order and the pictures are blurry. Please, bear with me!

So, my birthday is coming up, actually it's on Tuesday, and my favorite store, anthropologie, sent me a little gift. Isn't it cute? There's a little fabric envelope that says, "so" and then you open it and a little card is sticking out that says, "celebrate" and then you get 15% off an entire purchase for your birthday. Isn't that happy?

Next, I've decided to make a blanket from fabric remnants leftover from coats my grandma made us all when we were little. Here you can see one of my coats:

And here are all the patches after I cut them up:

And here they all are layed out all over my brother's bedroom floor. (Don't worry, he's away at college.) There won't be any white in between the squares and the back is going to be navy and black flannel, cause that's what I've got and I will not quilt it because it will be too stiff but I might sew some big black buttons on in random places to help hold the back and front together.

This is a picture of the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin that I took in September.

This is a picture I drew for Rosie back in Guildford in July. If flowers were clouds, then clouds would be ducks!

And you definitely know that the election needs to be over when I receive not one but two flyers urging me to protect my gun rights by voting for a particular party. I guess they don't realize that I'm one of those weird Americans who doesn't have an arsenal in the basement!