Glorious sunrise

Yesterday morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise.  Well worth getting up early for, though at this time of year, sunrise is late by my standards. 

Pat is in her usual production mode.  She's putting together BQ3 tops faster than I can keep up.  I have been busy washing the mountain of fabrics we bought, and making sure my workers have plenty to eat!  I'll have a lot of tops to keep me busy for a while.  

The week is going by much too quickly. 

Little fobot

Dale helped me make this little fobot for Pat's birthday.  I convinced her to leave him here--I'll take good care of it until she moves here.  It's my favorite we've made so far.

 

Monday we had to spend another day in town.  More shopping, and we got some great deals on fabric at JoAnn's.  

Pat started these ballerina pizzazz quilts on her previous visit.  She added borders to them, and I started quilting them. 

 She made this row quilt with the leftovers.  Let's hope there are a lot of budding ballerinas out there. 

 

Back to quilting

Pat arrived Saturday morning.  It was her birthday and we went out to lunch and did some serious shopping with time to kill until another friend arrived in the afternoon.  

Saturday was not a productive day since we didn't get back until later...but started cranking out quilts on Sunday.  I had a couple of tops ready to quilt.

This one gave me lots of grief.  The precut squares it was made with broke two needles on my longarm in quick succession.  It was also breaking thread, but I managed to get it done.  It's the only one of this batch that would work for a boy.  I backed it with racing themed fabric.

This next top was given to me at February's AZ retreat.  Thanks Denise!  I added the borders and the backing seemed a perfect fit.  

Valentines anyone?  And so work at the sweatshop begins.  Pat started working on tops she had started on her previous trip.

 

Rustimo!

Ever since I became acquainted with Amy Flynn's Fobots, I've wanted to create some of my own.  I have a habit of picking up all kinds of "treasures" which to someone else might be considered trash, little bits of this and that, all kinds of finds on our daily walk to the post office.

Yesterday while I was avoiding cleaning house, I went through a couple of containers full of rusting odds and ends.  Actually got rid of quite a bit of it that I knew I'd never use.  I got Dale involved and we built a couple of rusty fobots.  They are now gracing the entry to my sewing room.

Our weather has been absolutely beautiful.  I love fall.  Cranes have made their way back, and we can be hear them frequently.  A gorgeous sunrise welcomed us home.

Our last day in NYC!

 Our last day in NY we spent going to where I grew up.  My mom worked as a housekeeper, and we lived in a number of places, but I have lots of memories of living in Dobbs Ferry.  We lived at this home for quite a while. 

This view shows the second story windows of our rooms, above the kitchen.  

I have fond memories of living at this house.  The property backs into a golf course, and I used to cut through the golf course on the way to school, which is now a middle and high school. 

 We also lived here for a while.  This house had a dumbwaiter, which always gave me the creeps to walk by--since it was frequently where they put the dead bodies in the movies of my childhood.

 It was a very nostalgic trip.  Across from this house were three "new" homes.  It used to be just woods.  My mom and I left NY and moved to California in 1964.  Today would have been her 88th birthday.  

We returned to the city and decided for one more trip on the Staten Island Ferry to see the lights at night.  It was another late night, but we got our money's worth out of the city!

Reconnecting, Letterman, etc.

Sunday we took the train to Glen Cove, Long Island.  It wasn't too far to walk to the Jamaica station...and we made it just in time to hop the train.  Nice to be traveling above ground. 


We spent the day with and old friend of my mom's.  In the afternoon we went to Sea Cliff Mini-Mart, but the rainy weather had put a bit of a damper on the festivities.  It was nice to get out.

Monday we had tickets for the taping of the Letterman Show!  We went early to the city.  I wanted to make a stop at Delancey Station on the F train to photograph some mosaics we had seen on our previous rides.

 

This orchard was on the northbound side of the station.  The fish were on the southbound side.  As is so common, there was someone entertaining us with music at the station, a guitar and pan pipes.

  

The mosaic work was magnificent, and I would have loved to have more time to explore the art work in the subway stations.  We did catch a glimpse of one station with lots of mosaic tile hats.

 

I had found "Vintage Thrift" and thought we could check it out before the show, have some lunch, and make our way to the Ed Sullivan Theater.  I should have called.  We discovered it was closed for the Columbus Day holiday after we walked quite a bit to get there.

We walked by Home Depot--not like any other Home Depot storefront I've seen before!  We were able to direct some folks there that stopped and asked if we knew where it was.  

We started heading towards the Ed Sullivan theater.  Picked a lunch spot, Heartland Brewery, and had a good lunch.  Discovered we had eaten at the ground floor of the Empire State Building when we left! 

We continued walking after lunch in order to be there at the appointed time to get our tickets.  After getting our tickets, we killed some time Bagel & Bean, across the street, until we had to return to the theater.   Reasonably priced coffee drinks and a sweet roll revived us.  We weren't lacking excitement for the show.  We saw "Jungle" Jack Hanna outside and a baby tiger and snow leopard at the side street entrance up close before we had to line up.  It was really fun!

Our day ended with dinner at Ipanema, a Brazilian restaurant, after walking through Times Square.  What an unbelievable spectacle!  We truly stood there just gawking for a long time.  
 

More to see and do...

We went exploring Saturday.  I found a Fiber Festival in Brooklyn online, and using MTA trip planner we made it there.  It was a nice day and good to get out.  Nothing tempted me to purchase.  I did learn an important bit of information...you need separate metro cards for each traveler.  We didn't understand why it ate more of my card when I passed it back to Lindsay to use on the subway.   

From there we went Rio Market, a Brazilian grocery store.  I was nice to hear conversations all in Portuguese.  I bought some biscoito--and if the shipping isn't outrageous, I may be ordering it online to have here in NM.

Once again lots of walking.  We had an early dinner at El Boqueron which wasn't too far from the Rio Market.  It was a great meal.
 

Because our intended subway was out on our way home, we walked to Grand Central Station.  

I have lots of memories of Grand Central Station.  We would always come into it from where we lived.  It's a beautiful station and Dale was impressed! 

I didn't know the Chrysler Building was so close.  Making a NY Beauty quilt is still on my to do list.

The tile work in the old subway station was awesome.     

Taking in some sights!

Friday we took in some more of the city.  Thursday night was the wedding, and another late night.  I am not accustomed to going to bed late...I'm lucky if I can keep my eyes open after 8 p.m., and no matter what time I go to bed, I wake up early.
 
I made an itinerary for the day.  It involved subway transfers and then the free ride on the Staten Island Ferry.  It was a beautiful day Friday.  It had rained off and on since our arrival, but not to worry the temperatures were right up there making it hot and humid!

We took the ferry to and walked around a bit on Staten Island.  Then we took the ferry ride back to Manhattan.  The views of the city were great. 

Ellis Island with sailboats around.  Dale's grandparents came through there from Norway.  My mom and I entered the country at Idlewild Airport, now JFK. 

Boy we walked, walked, and then walked some more.  I couldn't resist a picture of this church squeezed in between two skyscrapers just across from the ferry station.  We started looking for a place to have an early dinner, and happened on Fraunces Tavern, which we later learned was an historic site.

We happened upon Wall Street, just walking and taking in the city.  We ducked into this little entry when we were getting our bearings, after I glimpsed the mosaic work.

  So much to see everywhere but we were running out of leg and headed back to the condo.      
 

We're in NYC!

We had an uneventful trip to NY, with a bit of a delay in Chicago.  We thought we weren't going to be able to make it to the post rehearsal gathering for our nephew's wedding, but despite arriving a bit late, we made it!

Our small, one bedroom condo apartment was all that it advertised.  Dale's brother turned us on to VRBO, Vacation Rentals by Owner, and we were able to get a good deal for a week.  The owner was great, setting us up with a car service for the ride from LaGuardia to the condo.  Being unaccustomed to taxis and other public transportation it was nice to have that taken care of.

The afternoon of the wedding we went out and tackled the subway system.  We had planned to do some sightseeing, but after a late night, and some late sleepers, we didn't have a whole lot of time.  

We took the subway into Manhattan, walked a big rectangle taking in the southeast corner of Central Park.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of the trees growing in the corner of this high rise.  Discovered it was Trump Tower when we walked by the front.  Did a little shopping at the Lindt Chocolate store.  Lots of flavors besides the usual varieties available at the grocery store.  We had to head back to the condo and get ready to be picked up for the wedding.