Scrappy Hearts

got history?

 

Every summer Mark and I try to plan a few excursions to satisfy our wanderlust and this summer was no exception. Our historical journey found us driving down to Williamsburg last Sunday. We love any opportunity to explore history and since Mark had never been to Williamsburg it was an obvious choice! 

  

One of my favorite things about our little excursion was the opportunity to delight in the beauty of the area. So often life rushes by us and we can lose sight of the little things like a cool breeze on a sunny day and tons of Crepe Myrtle flowers in bloom everywhere we turn. We took our time, didn't make a grand plan and just let the trip take us where it would. We met some really interesting people, ate delicious homemade toasted coconut ice cream and ate several delicious meals. We even took a dip in the pool - look at me relaxing!!

We were only away for a few days but we were very relaxed when we returned. We took our time driving and came north via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel and treated ourselves to lunch at a little roadside diner that looked a little scary but served delicious food! All in all, we were grateful for the opportunity to spend a little time away! 

30 Days of Gratitude: November 15th, 2017

 Grateful for a lifetime of memories created along the Jersey Shore. From time spent in Asbury Park and Ocean Grove with my Nannie and Grandma Rose to the years on LBI with Grams and Pop-pop. Later years brought Jason and Jessica and our time spent in Beach Haven to those years I spent with Jen, David and the girls spent at their house, formerly Grams', in High Bar Harbor. My introduction to Ocean City with Bunkey and memories still being cultivated with Mark and his family in Bunkey's shadow. Some of my very best memories come from those magical moments. Looking forward to creating many more. So very grateful to live so close to the beach and the beautiful Atlantic Ocean.

Ohiopyle, PA

Our adventures in July took us to a little town in western Pennsylvania, Ohiopyle. We enjoyed the slower pace and the beautiful surroundings. We camped one night in Ohiopyle State Park after being rained out our first night. It is no fun setting up a campsite, especially a walk in site that takes you up a steep hill, inthe pouring rain. While it rained our 2nd night, we were able to get everything set up and bathroom runs done before the real rain hit.

I love to hear the rain on the roof of the tent. I love the smell of the woods after a rain. I just love being outdoors.  

Ohiopyle is a state park in Pennsylvania as well as a cute little town. The park surrounds the town and the town itself sits right on the Youghiogheny River Gorge which makes it a great spot for white water rafting and other water sports. When the town is hosting groups it is really bustling. Other times it is just a quiet little spot on a wonderfully beautiful river.

Ohiopyle is a good five hour drive from where we live, but we surely want to go back to explore the area. There are so many hikes that seem appealing and so many neat areas to discover.  Perhaps next spring...

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Summer - 2017

 Summer, like so many things in my life, is defined by what’s happening in the shop. June 21st, the official start of summer, also denotes the beginning of the Row x Row Experience. Row x Row is an international quilters’ shop hop. Quilt shops around the world register to be a part of the Experience. 

This year we were a little better prepared for the Row x Row than we were last year and that was entirely due to my inexperience as a shop owner. Our license plate was ordered early and the idea for our row came early on with input from many stakeholders. 

 Our row, which you can see at the top of the display in the photo above, is based on the wheel block. We call it the Mill Wheel Block because our little shop sits in the middle of a village that grew up on one of the races in Mt. Holly. The race drew off the Rancocas Creek and was used to spin the wheels of the mills. Four mill wheels represent the 4 seasons of the year. The theme of this year’s Row by Row is “On the Go” and what better symbol to represent the shop than the wheels that made this village run?

I can say that I am really looking forward to the summer but the truth is, summer started a few weeks ago, before I was ready. Now I just need to dig in and take advantage of it for all that it’s worth!

An Evening Out

Lately, we have been burning the candle at both ends. Opening and managing the quilt shop has added quite a bit of responsibility to our plates. It is nice every now and then to spend a quiet evening together enjoying what we love. We are lucky to live in an area where we have the opportunity to enjoy high quality, live theatre in several venues.

Summer, 2016

 This summer was way too short as far as I’m concerned. As I sit here preparing to head into school tomorrow, I can’t help but think that summer just flew by too fast. Both Mark and I knew that this summer would challenge us in ways we couldn’t imagine; we weren’t wrong. 

There were a few things that I wanted to be sure we did so that we felt that we had time to relax. One of those was camping. Last summer, for whatever reason, we never had the opportunity to camp. This summer we drove up to Niagara Falls and camped on Lake Ontario.

Our view was gorgeous and the weather was wonderful. I think I will always remember falling asleep to the sound of the water lapping the shore, what a surprise to me. I did not expect that when I made arrangements for our campsite.

Something else that was high on my summer list was just having fun. I think we did a pretty good job of that. Mark and I definitely took a relaxed attitude when it came to the yard and outside work. We went ahead with having our very first bbq even though our yard and our home were not in the best of shape. On our two little trips this summer we allowed ourselves to indulge in really “touristy” experiences. 

Our trip to Lancaster County included a meal at Miller’s Smorgasbord and our trip to Niagara Falls included The Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds Tour. We stomped around on the hurricane deck like we were kids.

Finally I wanted us to have some experiences that we had talked about but hadn’t yet scheduled the time to do. One of those experiences was having crab on the Chesapeake Bay. This past Monday, Mark and I drove into Philly to pick up Jess and then we drove down through Delaware to the Kent Narrows area in Maryland. We stopped at Harris’ right on the bay.

Summer ends officially this week for me. I will miss summer and the relaxed schedule we have created for ourselves. I will miss the additional time we had at the shop and the opportunity to meet so many of our customers. I would be lying if I said that I was looking forward to heading back to school...it is what it is.

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Adding to my Collection

I am definitely a Starbucks mug addict. I have quite a few plus several different incarnations. My favorites would have to be the architecture series. My first purchase was in Las Vegas and I found the tree ornament size of that particular mug. Then, I couldn’t find that mug any longer so I switched to purchasing the “city” mugs. I was on a pretty good roll with those, well, until they disappeared. It was around 2009 or 2010 that I first saw the You Are Here collection. I think my first purchase was New York City, but then again, I really can’t be sure. I have purchased the special edition black and white mugs in Seattle and New York. I have been gifted any variety of mugs from places like Prague and St. Louis. This weekend I was able to add to my collection. I picked up the Niagara Falls mug and the Canada mug at a Starbucks right outside of Niagara Falls, New York. 

I love the styling of these, You Are Here mugs. They remind me of 60’s vintage drawings and I love the fact that they appear to be color blocked. Niagara Falls happens to be blues and grey while Canada boasts reds, blues and taupe. Mark and I are beyond purchasing touristy types of things, except for Starbucks’ mugs. For the most part we use the city mugs and the architecture mugs for beverages through out the day. I guess if we ever ran out of those, we would start using the You Are Here collection, but we have not been that desperate, yet!

 

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Maintaining Balance

Trying to move quicker than the incoming storm, Mark and I managed to do some yardwork on Monday. Our yard has really suffered neglect with us opening the shop this past spring.  A quick mow and once over with the trimmer seemed to make a great deal of difference in the appearance of the yard. Not to mention the weeding, I think we filled 6 trash cans with yard waste. Now if we could just get rid of the mosquitoes in the evening, we might actually find it relaxing to sit in the yard and read or just catch up on the days events! We are maintaining a bit of a balance which means we take time for ourselves as our first priority after the shop. The housecleaning and the yardwork, let’s just say that they take a close second to time for us. For now, that works for me.

Farm Fair

Saturday afternoon, after closing the shop for the day, Mark and I headed over to the Burlington County Farm Fair. The last time I experienced a fair like this was the summer Mark and I drove cross country. It turned out that his hometown of Olney was having their fair during our visit. 

As it turns out, this farm fair was much larger in scope and brought back memories of attending the 4-H Fair when I was younger. My main interest in attending was to see how quilters used the specified fat quarter in their creations. That made our first stop the Home Arts tent.There were entries of jams, pickles and relishes as well as flower arrangements and vegetables. Entries spanned many needle arts crafts like weaving, crochet, knitting, sewing and quilting.Here are the Farm Fair fat quarters folded and ready to go before the shop even opened. I just love the fabric and I was so very impressed with the projects created for the contest.Photographing the entries was not easy because of the angle of the sun, but you can see the ruffled basket, the placemate with napkin pocket, as well as a few mini quilts.There were also a few clothing items and a couple of totes. I love that everyone was so creative! It was fun to see this contest through its fruition.While at the fair we consumed a respectable amount of fair food before calling it a night. I am thrilled that the rain experienced by so much of South Jersey on Saturday seemed to move well south of the fair. By the time we arrived, the air had cooled a bit and there was a soft wind blowing. Definitely a fun night which we will need to make a tradition. I am already thinking of fabrics to suggest for next year’s quilt challenge!

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Summer Reading

Don’t ask me how I ended up with this book, I really couldn’t tell you. But, it was next in the pile so I picked it up and started reading. Before I knew it, I had reached the end. I do that. I have a hard time reading novels because once I become engaged, I have a hard time putting the book down. Even books that I am not all that fond of keep me up at night, probably because I am hoping that they will get better. That was certainly true of the book pictured above.

On the other hand, the book I finished last night, I couldn’t put down. I really just wanted to know how it all turned out. The story was very engaging and I seriously kept reading until way after 3 in the morning just so I knew what happened before I fell asleep.

I am much better with non-fiction. I do not stay up to all hours and I do not feel compelled to peek at the ending. So, I decided to take a break from novels just so that I get a decent nights sleep. Staying up to all hours is not helping me finish quilt tops and that is what needs to happen here tonight!

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