Paris....Again...This Time Monuments & Landmarks

IM Pei's Pyramide du Louvre provides an interesting entrance to the Musee du Louvre.

The drapeau tricolore (French Flag) on a street corner in Paris.

No one will be staying in this Hotel. The Hôtel de Ville, Paris is the Paris City Hall.

Bois de Boulogne, on the west side of Paris, is perfect for early morning walks.

35 miles southeast of Paris is the château de Fontainebleau (I was surprised to learn the 3rd syllable is pronounced BLOW, not BLUE)

The Tour Eiffel is the tallest building in Paris, and from 1889-1930 it was the tallest building in the world.

Notre Dame de Paris, we were told, is actually owned by the State and rented to the Roman Catholic Church.

Paris.....A Taste of French Culture.

This trip to Paris the quilt decided to take in a little culture.

Here it visits La Joconde, better known as the Mona Lisa.

The Nike of Samothrace, better known as Winged Victory enjoyed a visit.

Vermeer's Lace Maker seemed a little jealous. She would rather be known as the Quilt Maker!

Vermeer's Astronomer, painted in 1668, is the second of his paintings on display at the Musee du Louvre.

Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo, also expressed jealously toward the quilt. She of course had to admit that without arms, quilting is out of the question.

This pair, Psyche and Cupid, captured in Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, were the only two that did not express any interest in the quilt at all. I guess they were otherwise occupied.

Costa Rica ... Again

The quilt journeyed once again to Costa Rica. It seems that the quilt has developed quite a liking for Costa Rica. That's good because I like the weather there too.

The Gulf of Nicoya is visible from the balcony of our Monteverde Hotel.

From this view, you can see the front of the hotel and the rainforest in the background. The hotel really looks like a mountain lodge, which of course it is.

From Monteverde, the quilt traveled to a part of Costa Rica that it has never visited previously, Tamarindo. It is a beautiful area, sunny, dry, mountains, sea side. What's not to like? Oh yeah, there is also a very walkable beach. Notice that I am wearing a Chicago Public Library Summer Reading Program T-shirt.

Beach during the day.

Beach at night.

I have made several additional flowers for the quilt, but have not had the opportunity to incorporate them into the quilt as of yet. Next up, the quilt will visit another of its favorite spots in the world.... Paris.... in April... Sounds like a song to me.

Ecuador - From Volcano Glacier to Amazon Basin

The quilt returned to Ecuador for Thanksgiving. I guess it enjoyed visiting in 2008 and thought 2009 deserved a repeat visit. David, our taxi driver, our 18 year old guide and I made a visit to Cotopaxi National Park. We started out hike together until we made it to a rest lodge that served hot coco. David, the taxi driver AND OUR GUIDE decided to stop for coco and thought that this was high enough to hike. I on the other hand had never been so close to a glacier on the top of a volcano and decided to continue to the 5000 meter height where the glacier rests, alone.

In the above picture you can see that it is snowing, and where I fell on the glacier. My pants and more importantly, the quilt piece got stained red from the volcanic ash. I don't know if it will wash out. On the trip back down the side of the volcano I got caught in a blinding snowstorm. It's ok though, as I trudged along I kept muttering about how much good chocolate and water can accomplish when they are left in the car.

Over my left shoulder you can see the lodge. I climbed from the lodge up to the glacier across the red ash.

The quilt enjoys a motor canoe ride up the Napo River. It was not quite what one might imagine; the seats were rather luxurious.

This is the Napo Wildlife Center. Our hut is the one in the center with the white lattice under the porch. This place met and exceeded our expectations.

October - The Quilt visits Disney Parks

During the long drive down to Florida, I was able to complete 3 full flowers (I finished another 2 on the return drive). This marks the first time that Hannah and the quilt have traveled together. For security purposes, no pictures of the two of them appear together.

The Peters contingent was amazed to find our family name carved into the beach. We, wink wink, don't know who would despoil nature by writing graffiti on a public beach!

Animal Kingdom, note the large concrete tree in the background. Yes, those are animals carved into the trunk. And, no, we are not responsible.

Disney Magic Kingdom's Main Street. People already lining up for the electric light parade. Cinderella's castle looming in the background.

Flick, from Ant's Life, poses with the quilt.

The quilt visits Epcot. What says "Epcot" more than the lake with the big ball in the background?

Finally, Snow White visits with the quilt. She not only scared me, the children and everyone else within 3 square miles, she scared the quilt. I'm not sure this flower will be able to face being incorporated into the quilt.

No, I've not been twiddling my thumbs!

I must apologize for the delay in posting. I've actually been quite busy. I finished piecing the Summer Reading Program T-Shirt Quilt and took it in to Sally (through Quiltology) to be quilted. It turned out beautifully. I especially want to thank her for doing such a speedy job. The only thing left now is the binding and loops for it to hang. But take a look, isn't it beautiful? This first picture is a detail from the reverse of the quilt. I had already pieced the front before the 2009 T-Shirt came out, so decided to include it on the back.

In addition to Abe, the back of the quilt has..... the backs of the T-Shirts! Sorry, I thought it would be a clever idea. The shirts are in order beginning in the upper left corner. It is interesting to see how they change over time. The early shirts were simply a listing of the sponsors, as time goes by, the numbers of sponsors increases and logos are added, the shirts backs certainly become more complex.

Here is the front of the quilt. I'm very happy with the front, the design worked perfectly. The center medallion is composed of the first two year's shirts (T rex Reads and Reading is Art-rageous) surrounded by jean material. The next ring around the center is composed of shirts from 2002, 2003 and 2004. Readers @ Play is set off in the corners and Zooray! and Book a Flight fill in. Finally, the outside band of shirts is composed of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The shirts repeat in order in such a way that each shirt gets a corner.

Hannah's quilt made a trip to her mother's graduation. Here I am with Laura outside the Decatur Civic Center. She graduated from Richland Community College. Congrats Laura!

Here is Laura again, flanked by her daughters Hannah (left) and Sarah (right). Well, actually Hannah is on Laura's right and Sarah on Laura's left, but you know what I mean.

And, of course, the quilt wanted to travel further afield than Decatur. It insisted on another trip to Costa Rica. I HAD to comply. This photo was taken on the grounds of Tabacon Resort near La Fortuna. In the background is the Arenal Volcano, yes it is erupting that is not clouds at the summit but rather rock and volcanic dust being discharged into the atmosphere. Scary huh?

When did it get to be March?

The beginning of March saw the completion of the 6th row! The next row marks the 1/2 way point. It really is amazing how the pattern is becomming visible. In the pictures the vertical rows of large flowers are very evident, in person and when you click on a photo and view it enlarged, the vertical rows of small flowers also can be seen quite easily. I hope April brings lots of progress, we'll just have to wait and see. Until then.