Check another one off of my 10 Things this Summer list. Woohoo!
I’m back from a wonderful trip to Utah to visit the World’s Greatest Aunt. We had so much fun — I wish family didn’t live so far away. The trip kicked off with a bang — fresh off the plane, I stopped to have lunch with the fabulous Nanette. I always love catching up with Nanette and this time I asked her to bring her British quilt along so I could SEE it in person. Nanette is working on a new version of the quilt with a pattern and I can’t wait to see it. (Sorry for the blurry picture — it was taken with my phone.)
Nanette, her daughter Shelbie and I had a fun visit and she gave me this super cute little zipper “cookie”. Isn’t it adorable? She also gave me a cute real cookie but I ate it before I took a picture — Nanette had more restraint than I did and she took a picture of it.
I spent several days with cousins and the World’s Greatest Aunt and we had lots of fun. We painted a bedroom and played lots of hand and foot. One of the highlights was visiting a nearby little town and meeting with Bonnie. We had lunch at a local little restaurant and then Bonnie took us on a tour of the rock (I know you guys in the Eastern part of the US call them stone, but in the west, they call them rock) house that she and her hubby have restored. It’s. Absolutely. Gorgeous. Words and pictures just don’t do this house justice.
We also got to see the famous rug that Bonnie recently finished. I was surprised to see that it has more of a checkered-type pattern than a braided pattern. Bonnie has promised to teach us how to make these pretty little rugs on a future trip.
And Look! We got to see the famous feedsack quilt too. Pictures DEFINITELY don’t show the beauty of this quilt and now I really want to make one. Bonnie did such a gorgeous job on the stitching — it’s all hand quilted. Bonnie has much better pictures Here.
What a treat to tour this beautiful home. We all felt so special and Bonnie is just as warm and wonderful in real life as she is on her blog. Our afternoon ended too soon, but not before we had a little excitement. We were standing outside Bonnie’s kitchen door saying goodbye when a gust of wind came along and blew the door shut — leaving Bonnie locked out. After a little searching, and by some miracle, Bonnie found a window that had a screen that hadn’t been fastened all the way. After a few attempts with a ladder, we tried the simple tactic of me climbing through the window head-first and Bonnie giving ye ol’ rear end a shove from behind. We laughed and laughed but didn’t manage to get a picture. I can’t say for sure (being on the other end of the event), but I imagine it looked a little like this:
It’s a good thing I was wearing jeans LOL! What a fun day we had!
I could go on and on about the rest of my trip, but I’ll spare you. Here are just a few highlights. A visit to Big Rock Candy Mountain for some white water rafting on the Sevier River. It turned out to be more like a float-along due to the low river levels, but we still had a fun time. And Big Rock CANDY Mountain — what more could you ask for?
Lots of bike riding — one of my favorite places was in an old pioneer cemetery.
A visit to the Golden Spike National Monument. In all my Utah years, I’d never been there.
It’s the site where the Union and Pacific railways were joined in 1869. Very Interesting!
A tram ride at Snowbird Ski Resort.
The views from the peak were spectacular.
Lots and lots of other fun and memories and the stuff of which vacations are made. And don’t worry, the World’s Greatest Aunt and I did manage to hit a few of Utah’s awesome quilt shops — nowhere near all of them, but enough to provide some inspiration. If you’ve never been to Utah and you’re a quilter, you’re definitely missing out!
It’s good to be back home — now, back to that summer list and catching up on lots of work around here.
Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna
I am so glad you came to visit!!! I love the drawing of me pushing you through the bathroom window. I wish the bed had been made up a bit better for your photo ;) My future son-in-law made it up last and I should have “fluffed” the pillows. You never know who might stop by. Oh how I wish we had a little more time together. COME BACK!!!!
Beautiful quilt (though if I might comment, I would say that it looks like an English quilt to me rather than a British one. Where are the (Scottish) tartans, the mountains, the driving rain…?) And your friendship star one is unbelievably lovely. How do you do it? (That’s a rhetorical question. You don’t need to answer. Actually, if I started now, maybe I’d finish in 20 years. You think? I’d be 83.)
what a delightful trip!
The British quilt is so cute! Love it.
What a beautiful home. The braided rug is gorgeous. I’ve always admired them and wanted to learn how they were done.
A close shave on the window break in, lol :)
What an absolutely fun wonderful trip!
What a great visit! Luuuurve that rug! Laughed at the break-in story!!
it sounds like you had a wonderful time. I love the state of Utah and although we normally go to specific areas in the south east next time we are able to we wanted to explore a little more into different areas. love the climbing through the window story – someone should have gotten a photo!
Wow! What a wonderful trip.
It seems you had a wonderful trip and visit with your family. Love the British Quilt your friend made. Your “head-first through the window story” made me chuckle! And what a cute zipper cookie.
What a delightfully fun trip. I’d love, love, love to meet Nanette. Someday I’m going to make plans to simply fly up for a day (or two). LOL
Thank you for sharing your adventure.
Sounds like a wonderful trip! Did you drive or fly?
Those are fantastic photos. I just love Nanette’s Brit quilt. What a fun adventure holiday!
you take the best vacations Anna!
its like pulling teeth with my family to stop at fabric shops on vacation!!! :)
Anna only you would get shoved through someone else’s window head first while on vacation! Looks like you had a wonderful time anyway, and you managed to squeeze in lots of fun thing. Glad you had the meet up with Nanette. She’s one of my favorites!
ha ha ha!!! the first time i was shoved through a window, i was about five years old and it seemed like an ADVENTURE!!! i guess i dawdled on the way to the front door – no one has ever let me forget that it took me another ten minutes to open it and let everyone else in … there must have been cookies in the kitchen…
and i agree with Jenny – i love your vacations!!!
The British quilt is wonderful!!! And I love the flour sack quilt too. Thanks for sharing all the news. Love it!!!
Ooh love the quilt, need to keep an eye out, but do rather agree with Miss Edinburgh! There really is a Bick Rock Candy Mountain, who knew?
Looks like fun. You need to come on up to Idaho next!
Oh…. what fun! Looks like that summer list is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks for sharing!
Both sounds and looks like you are having a wonderful holiday! And that British quilt is absolutely super beautiful! I am always so impressed by the amount of detail and work put into quilts like that. Keep enjoying summer! xoxo
What a wonderful trip! The British quilt is gorgeous. Love the rock house!
Here’s the plan – you come over here for a picnic, fish and chips etc, then we’ll hop on a plane to Utah ……. then we could go on to Melbourne to see Meredithe?
how fabulous!
loved your photos…
What a great get-away. Visiting Utah is on my bucket list. The west is SO much more interesting to me than the East Coast where I live! And much more quilt-friendly than the New York Metropolitan area!
Great trip! Love that rug. I would love to make one. I bet it took gobs of fabric. Fun to see what you did while you were here.
Beautiful quilts, quilting shops, fun people and laughter…. sounds lika a perfect trip :)
Sounds like it was a wonderful trip…I did laugh-out-loud at the thought of one pushing the other through the window! Good thing the cops didn’t catch you…you’d have some explaining to do! :o)