The one where we meet Jenny!

We drove as fast as we could from Hannibal to Hamilton along route 36, passing scenery which reminded us of Hampshire. Rolling green fields full of crops and farmhouses. The road was very empty and it continued to rain on and off.

At 4.30 we arrived and parked up outside the Missouri Star Quilt Company shop. We ventured in to buy a cutter for the class and we were greeted by assistants who knew we were coming, "they are waiting for you over at the retreat centre!" We resisted the temptation to look round the shop - it looked amazing!

At the retreat centre we were met by Jean who has been emailing us over the last few months with lots of information about Missouri and how to travel to Hamilton from St. Louis.

She showed us to our room. There are quilts on the wall! In fact there are quilts on every wall!!

The beds looked comfy.

We woke up to this quilt every morning!

Downstairs Jenny was ready to show us how to use the twister tool to transform a simple quilt into something much more impressive. This tool was later dubbed 'the evil tool' by Debbie as it was quite tricky to use but the effect was worth all the effort.

We each had our own workstation with an amazing Baby Lock sewing machine and everything we needed.

Chris and I were making mini quilts but most of the class did Christmas wreaths.

Here is Debbie's.

And Jenny modelling my work in progress.

It was a fantastic class and by 10pm everyone has something to show for the camera.

There were eight of us in the class and we had plenty of room to spread out.

The retreat centre classroom had a kitchen so we were able to stop for drinks and snacks whenever we wanted to.

This is Jean, she interrupted class frequently with a fanfare and a 'prize pitcher'. I won some fat quarters and Chris got a lovely book.

Jenny was very helpful and full of funny stories.

It was amazing to meet her after watching so many YouTube videos.

When we finally climbed the stairs to bed we found a present from Jenny, a quick unpick and chocolate.

"Finished is better than perfect".

An amazing day - we will not want to leave this place!

 

Posted with Blogsy

En route to the MSQC

We woke to grey skies swiftly followed by a great deluge.

After a hearty breakfast...

.... We waved goodbye to the Ramada and set off to chose our car.

We had every intention of looking carefully at each hire car and deciding which best suited us but the rain was so bad that we paddled to the parking lot and chose the first one we saw - a jeep!

The drive up the Mississippi River was very scenic, very green and very wet. We stopped at a viewpoint but we couldn't see much.

Our lunch stop was at Hannibal, a small town on the river famous for being the boyhood home of Mark Twain aka Sam Clemens.

We spied a quilt shop.

A lovely quilt shop.

We bought a few bits and bobs.

Then wandered out in the rain to look at Mark Twain's boyhood home.

Lunch was at the excellent Java Jive.

Bursting with comfort and atmosphere.

This is a Picasso sourdough.

Onward to the Missouri star quilt company!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Meet me in St. Louis!

 

We finally checked in at the Ramada St. Louis at about 7pm (which to us was 1am) after a long but uncomplicated journey along which we met so many friendly people. On Virgin Atlantic there was the lady and her daughter who has just toured Europe, she was English but lived in Indiana and somewhere along her holiday she had injured her knee so most of her holiday had been done in a wheelchair. She toasted the Queen and took the airplane blanket as a present from Richard Branson! On our tiny Delta plane, full of jolly passengers we met a guy going to a harmonica conference and a charming student from St. Louis University who was returning from visiting his family in Palestine. He told us that the best thing about St. Louis was the Cardinals. In the taxi more friendly locals told us where to eat and that we should go to a Cardinals game!

Even though it was the middle of the night to us we found some food before crashing out....

Up early next morning we set off to explore St Louis. We found some lovely gardens with outdoor art installations.

And then we stumbled across Busch Stadium, the home of the Cardinals. Tonight they are playing the Boston Redsox....... Why not??

We bought Cardinals luggage labels....

....and two tickets for the game. Exciting!

The stadium holds over 46000 spectators.

We then wandered towards the Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch.

The arch was built to acknowledge the pioneers who led the westward expansion.

There was a lovely museum which explained the history of the US brilliantly.

Another William Clark.

Then we got into a very cosy pod and travelled to the top....

The view towards Illinois.

And back towards the city.

A good view of the stadium.

Riverside rides.

Below us we could see the pier for river tours.

So we descended and jumped on board the Tom Sawyer.

A park ranger gave us all of the information we needed to know about the history of the area.

This tug was helping to raise a sunken barge.

After our cruise (temperature in the 90's) we set off for the game.

We queued for the compulsory hot dogs and fries and climbed to our seats in the sky. The LCD call them nose bleed seats.

As soon as we sat down the heavens opened and we munched our tea watching an incredible electric storm over the city. The pitch was covered in plastic.

Our seats were fortunately under a canopy.

Play was delayed for 45 minutes...

Then the covers came off.

The game was exciting and noisy and the atmosphere was fantastic. Fortunately there were people around us to explain the rules.

The Redsox pitcher, Kelly, has previously played for the Cardinals.

There were a few disputes...

And Fred Bird was spotted in the stadium.

One of them even wore red socks!

The game was number two of a series of three and the Redsox won 2-1 so now the games are level. The decider is tomorrow.

We won't be around though, we are setting off to pick up our car and start the great Road Trip.

We're hoping it will not look like this!

Goodbye St. Louis!

 

Posted with Blogsy