I recently drove up to Dallas for the weekend to visit my sweet cousin and her husband. It was a mostly grey, cold and rainy weekend, but perfect nonetheless. Caroline and I spent Saturday morning on a self-guided walking tour of downtown, where we visited "Big Red," the elaborate 1890 brick courthouse.
It is as elaborate inside as out. The tiled floors give me ideas for pieced borders on a quilt top.
The swirling ironwork gives me ideas for quilting designs.
We wandered around the elegant Philip Johnson-designed JFK Memorial, near the site of Kennedy's assassination.
Most fascinating of all was Pioneer Park, where I expected to see only the herd of longhorn statues.
We were surprised to find Pioneer Cemetery at the top of the knoll, tucked in adjacent to the convention center. It is actually comprised of four old burying grounds with the earliest graves dating from the 1850s. The carving on many of the stones is weathered beyond reading, though by making a rubbing of one we were able to work out the inscription.
The iron and stonework have all kinds of beautiful details.
We made our way over to Klyde Warren Park where we weathered the chill and sat in the park to watch passersby and to eat our food truck lunches.
Post-lunch we wandered around the Arts District, jam packed with museums and performing arts venues.
I also indulged in a bit of street photography.
Anticipating a rainy afternoon, we planned to spend that time indoors cooking a nice dinner. Our choice was homemade ravioli and a green salad, with chocolate chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Caroline did most of the work for the ravioli, but I helped to roll out the pasta. The ravioli, made from a Gourmet Magazine recipe, was filled with butternut squash, goat cheese and garlic.
It was topped with a brown butter hazelnut glaze.
The result was so delicious that now I am looking into getting my own equipment for rolling out pasta.
I realize that none of this has to do with needlework, but since the cooking did in fact entail use of a sharp handheld tool (a knife), I think that's close enough! I promise to be back soon with more on the non-edible types of fiber, including details from last weekend's QuiltCon, the Modern Quilt Guild show, which was held in Austin last weekend.
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| Big Red as seen in a bar window |
It is as elaborate inside as out. The tiled floors give me ideas for pieced borders on a quilt top.
The swirling ironwork gives me ideas for quilting designs.
We wandered around the elegant Philip Johnson-designed JFK Memorial, near the site of Kennedy's assassination.
Most fascinating of all was Pioneer Park, where I expected to see only the herd of longhorn statues.
We were surprised to find Pioneer Cemetery at the top of the knoll, tucked in adjacent to the convention center. It is actually comprised of four old burying grounds with the earliest graves dating from the 1850s. The carving on many of the stones is weathered beyond reading, though by making a rubbing of one we were able to work out the inscription.
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| From the gravestone of John J. Eakins, 1822-1846 |
The iron and stonework have all kinds of beautiful details.
 |
 |
We made our way over to Klyde Warren Park where we weathered the chill and sat in the park to watch passersby and to eat our food truck lunches.
 |
| Klyde Warren food trucks as seen from the driveway of the Dallas Museum of Art |
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| Charles Wyly Theatre |
I also indulged in a bit of street photography.
Anticipating a rainy afternoon, we planned to spend that time indoors cooking a nice dinner. Our choice was homemade ravioli and a green salad, with chocolate chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Caroline did most of the work for the ravioli, but I helped to roll out the pasta. The ravioli, made from a Gourmet Magazine recipe, was filled with butternut squash, goat cheese and garlic.
It was topped with a brown butter hazelnut glaze.
The result was so delicious that now I am looking into getting my own equipment for rolling out pasta.
I realize that none of this has to do with needlework, but since the cooking did in fact entail use of a sharp handheld tool (a knife), I think that's close enough! I promise to be back soon with more on the non-edible types of fiber, including details from last weekend's QuiltCon, the Modern Quilt Guild show, which was held in Austin last weekend.
