Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Block Exchange, Locust Grove Home


It's hard to imagine this old curmudgeon is the same man as the strapping young man accepting the surrender of the British as depicted in the painting below...






What a fun day at the historic Locust Grove Home in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It's so wonderful living in a state with such rich history. The Locust Grove Historic home is where George Rogers Clark, one half of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition sent his remaining years of life. It's sad to think he had to move into this home, which was owned by his sister and brother in law, after he lost his leg in an accident and wasn't able to take care of himself well. This is a lovely day trip for anyone in Louisville. If you are going with a group, you can have City Cafe deliver the lunch to you, like we did, and it's an all inclusive trip. The artifacts are as close to the early period of the home. Very few are found that belong to the original family because the house was sold and only taken back by the government in the late 1960's for preservation.

Textiles were an important part of the early lives of the plantation which included many crops, not just one. Beautiful grounds surround the once many thousand acre home, which is now a 55 acre historical landmark. It is the sight of many fairs and reenactments over the seasons.


Quilter's don't forget to bring your blocks for the exchange next week. You only need fabric to be written on.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Here's the schedule for the next 6 months...smile

Well, once again the group has had a fantastic brain storming/planning session. This "semester" I think we have a variety everyone should enjoy. When we are not traveling or learning something new, we are having our usual Sit-N-Sew at Northeast Christian Church, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA every Tuesday.

That being said, our plans are thus:

July 24th: Shirley will be finishing up the Underground Sampler blocks.

July 31st: We will be touring the Locust Grove Home. This is an antebellum home with some civil war era quilts. We will have a guided tour and lunch at the home.

August 7th: It's time already for the signature block exchange to begin. Our Bloomin' Rose block exchange was such a huge success, that once again, Shirley will lead us in our gift to each other for the Christmas party in December. Look through your stash of fabric and bring your biggest piece of material to work from, or be creative and bring what you want for your color coordinated blocks this time.

August 21st: Julie organizes a trip to the Kentucky State Fair.

September 11th: Joan teaches a mystery class.

October 16th: Sheelah organizes a trip to Louisville Stoneware and Hadley Pottery.

November 16th: Shirley teaches a string quilt class.

November 20th: Julie organizes a trip to the Farmington Historic Home.

December 1st: Party at Sheelah's house.

Learning opportunities at our local quilt shops pop up from time to time and sometimes we take a class together. Also, we have pot luck lunches at our member's homes. So, by no means is this the final say in our fun times together. There's never too much laughter or too many opportunities to expand our ability to learn something new, about quilting or life.