Suitcases In and Out of Storage

Well my traveling suitcase is stowed for a while.  Just back from another girl's weekend in Princeton, NJ.   Deb and I stayed in Princeton for our four days of wandering in the New Hope, PA/Lambertville, NJ area.  As always she and I had a great time sightseeing and shopping.  It's a shame the that weather this summer and fall seems to have delayed the changing of the leaves.

View of the tow path canal in Lambertville.

View of the Delaware River from the bridge between NJ and PA.

On the way home we spent the day at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton NJ.   What a fabulous way to spend the day.   Not the normal stuffy museum-type place and we'd like to go back in the spring when everything is in bloom.  

Monet's "Woman with a Parasol"

The grounds/museum are the vision of J. Seward Johnson, grandson of the founder of Johnson & Johnson.  Such wonderful foresight to establish a place like this.  The bronze statues were astounding.  Around every corner was a surprise as well as a different view created by standing at a different vantage point.

The "Girl with the Pearl Earring" - a great book to read.

 The iconic Marilyn Monroe in bronze.   

The features so detailed you can see the stitches on her hem.

Outside, the variety of statuary was diverse and only limited by Seward Johnson's imagination.

Inside a stone building peering out....

and the surprise outside at this........

Or looking through another window and seeing a seated couple...

And then outside, the statues by the boat.... Eduoard Manet's "Boating"

Monet's "Water Lilies" below and our then view from the French restaurant, Rat's, at lunch

And then you walk around the corner and Oops! catch a young lady in an outside shower with real running water splashing over her.....even her hanging clothes were make of brass.  (I've always wanted an outside shower in my back yard....of course Mr. W. thinks I am crazy.   I think I would insist on a door on my shower though.)

Renoir's the "Luncheon at the Boating Party" was brought to 3-dimensional real life....

The detail on the leather coat, the zipper, the crew neck of the t-shirt......all so unbelievable.    All the statuary was quite approachable.   We were encouraged to sit, pose, photograph anything without a red-tag......and I think I only saw one red tag.

 Renoir's "Two Sisters on a Terrace"

(that's a real seed pod in the marsh)

Not all statues were interpretations of paintings.....and some were more abstract than others.

Look's like we happened upon some lovers......nope, life sized bronze statues......

Well I could go on and on about this place.   It was such a relaxing day and one that stirred the imagine and left you in awe of the talent and the whimsy.  Fall foliage or not, Deb and I had our usual good time together.   I feel embarrassed to say this is an hour and a half away from where I live and I only just discovered it!

So fall traveling and more weekends away then home behind me...... the worse part was most time home was spent prepping to go or recovering afterwards!   So I have little stitching progress to report.    I think I spent a short period of intense stitching on my Boo to You witch that I hit a wall and put it down.....so much for being stitched and finished by Halloween.   No worries, she is close and will be easy to finish.  I am on a mission to not be the last of the group to complete it......I'll take incentive in any form.

My only progress is Miss Mary Mack from La-D-DA. I was stitching along fine and then......see that empty WDW card?   I surely did not calculate the amount of floss I needed correctly.   I knew thought I had two part skeins at home and bought two more at Salty Yarns in early October and thought I was good.   A little more than two skeins used with a little more than one quarter stitched and I am out of thread.   You guessed it.....got online and ordered 8 more skeins of 1268-Molasses.  I am hoping  Sara packs them up quickly and that the dye lots are close.   I have a neat finish in mind for this one.....stay tuned for that.  

Now for my great brainstorm of what I envision for the old suitcases in storage.......First how did we ever lug and tote and carry those things that were heavy empty?......my idea in a nutshell is......I just got a set of twin beds for my sewing room for when the kiddos come home.   I plan to pull the old hard side samsonites out of the attic, stack them and make a bedside table between the beds.   Better yet, I plan to use the insides of each suitcase for my fat quarter storage, thereby eliminating a bookcase that will help make more room for the twin beds.......in my mind it comes together EZ-PZ.   However,  I have learned thru the years that my 'ideas' often are a lot more work that I envision.    I will have to report on my progress and outcome.  

OK, happy stitching all and, if all goes well, I will post again tomorrow about a Stitch-A-Long  I will moderate in February 2017.

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