Post-Market Travel

Hello again!  Yes, I am alive & well.  Seems it takes me longer to regroup after a market now than it ever has in the past.

We had a wonderful trip from Pennsylvania through West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and back through Indiana & Illinois to Iowa.  The scenery of West Virginia & Virginia is so very lush & green; it just feeds the wandering spirit.

The walking trail at Fredericksburg explains the battle!

We visited 4 different battlefields, which was my major reason for the traveling after market in Pittsburgh.  I enjoy a special bond with these places now since doing the Civil War Battle Series, and actually have some quilts named for them.  We walked the battlefields of the Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, & Fredericksburg.  I could not begin to show you all the pictures, but I included a few.  It is all hallowed ground & mind-blowing to stand in some of the places where so many, many gave their lives for this country.  We were on the site of the Spotsylvania battlefield exactly 150

This monument depicts a soldier giving water to a
dying soldier of the opposition.

years after the battle - amazing!  And it got me right in the pit of my stomach.

Spotsylvania & Fredericksburg
The parks are amazing with history!

General Jackson was wounded at Chancellorsville &
is highly immortalized on this battlefield.

We walked the area of the Bloody Angle

We visited the Shirley Plantation, home of General Lee's mother in Virginia.  It is such a beautiful & distinguished home right on the James River where the cool breezes flow throughout the house.  It takes you back into the time of masters & slaves on the plantations.  See the huge Willow Oak tree that is over 350 years old.



           

Three stories high - 11 generations have lived there.
Family still lives in the upper two floors.

The 350-year old willow oak tree on the James River





We traveled on through Richmond, where I wish we had more time to enjoy, on to Williamsburg to see one of the very first settlements in America.  The visitor's center in Williamsburg is a learning center in itself.  The little town has been revived to put you into the colonial mode building-by-building so you can get a real feel for what the town was like in the early 1700's.  And with your pass you can go inside the buildings & relive their way-of-life.



A street in Williamsburg, VA

The Capitol at Williamsburg

Oh, in the excitement of Civil War history, I almost forgot to tell you that Pittsburgh market was awesome; great to reconnect with friends in the quilting world.  Opportunities always abound at market & this spring was no exception.  Two of my quilts will be featured in Quiltmania - one this fall & another next spring.  Look for them in Quiltmania - such a beautifully printed magazine!  Actually each issue is more like a book than a magazine.  The design & printing of the quilts is beautiful.  If you have not seen an issue of Quiltmania, you really should find one to enjoy soon!

Have a fabulous weekend in July!!