Airplane Time

Easter weekend found me flying to and from New England for a visit with the girls and consequently with many hours in airports and on airplanes.  While I enjoy reading during those hours, I find doing needlework much more satisfying.  Without distractions - the Internet, telephone calls, a looming pile of laundry - I can make significant progress on any project.

I started the trip with two projects.  I nearly finished my friend's scarf.

 Started a border for my compass quilt.

I picked up a third project at Webs in Northampton, Massachusetts. Late as spring is this year, I suspect my daughter won't actually wear these socks until fall.  Webs is, by the way, an enormous shop with a knowledgable and pleasant staff.  There is always something on sale, a good discount policy, and since it's in Massachusetts, no sales tax on yarn.

Stalking stockings from "Knitting Knee-Highs" by Barb Brown

While in Massachusetts, I spent some time in Turner's Falls, a town I described in a post last November.  Like La Grange, Texas, it has a gritty charm, especially along the canal which has been repurposed as a hike and bike trail.

I think these scenes have a simple graphic quality and interesting muted colors that could be the basis for quilt designs.

Below the Gill-Montague Bridge, Turners Falls

Turners Falls has some new businesses catering to a clientele that I suspect the town's builders never imagined.  Loot: found + made carries an interesting collection of industrial chic objects, many from the area's old manufacturers, that can be repurposed as decorative and useful items in a modern home.

Inside Loot: found + made

I hope someday someone will figure out how to make similar good use of the buildings and other infrastructure in Turner's Falls and similar towns.  It would be so much better than carving up open space for new and inevitably less interesting buildings.

Along the canal at Turners Falls

Back to New England

Last weekend I made another trip to New England to visit the girls at school.  It was still fall-like in Connecticut with lots of brilliantly colored trees, but bare trees and snow flurries made New Hampshire and Vermont feel like winter.

In need of new quilting needles, I stopped at Pickering Farm Quilt Shop, housed in a restored 18th century barn in Richmond, New Hampshire.

It is right next to a lovely little apple orchard.

Their wonderful collection of traditional and reproduction fabrics were just too temptingly displayed for me to resist picking out some things for my stash.

The girls had classes on Monday so I ventured down the road to Turners Falls where I caught a stunning sunrise at the Gill-Montague Bridge along the Connecticut River.  Turners Falls, developed as a planned industrial community in the 1800s, retains many of its original brick structures which can be seen by strolling through town and along the canal's pedestrian and bike path.

Below the Gill-Montague Bridge

In the afternoon, frustratingly side-lined by a nagging injury, I watched, rather than ran, the Bemis-Forslund Pie Race and had to enjoy the fresh-baked apple pie prizes vicariously.

The 4.3 mile cross-country race is claimed to be the oldest foot race in the country, older even than the Boston Marathon. This year's winner, Mohamed Hussein, bested the previous course record by nine seconds -- two days after having won the New England prep school cross-country championship in a record-setting time.  Clearly  he is a runner to watch. 

Mohamed Hussein

Just as the last runners were finishing, the previously solid grey sky gave way to a bit of sun and a dramatic sunset.  A nice way to end the day.

Memorial Chapel