A Capital View

What with the crazy Spring we had in the Quilt Matters household and not knowing what would happen with my mom's treatment, we didn't plan a trip out East this summer and well, didn't plan anything for the summer really. When she finished her treatment and things were looking good though, we decided to take the kids to Washington DC for a few days and visit some friends.

It was our first plane trip with all three kids and they were awesome. We had such a fabulous time visiting with our friends and introducing the kids to the U.S. national capital. The days were packed with museums and other sightseeing adventures (e.g. kayaking on the Potomac). What a beautiful city!

I thought I'd share with you some of the inspiration I found along the way.

Fair warning -- this is a very photo-heavy post and you won't see the White House or many common landmarks in these photos.

Some golden spirals...

Ironworks...

Brickworks...

A hidden grotto on Capitol Hill...

Funky sewer grates...

Star chart maps...

Rocket exhaust nozzle...

Pillars...

Old bridge...

On the Potomac by National Airport...

Continuum Sculpture...

Electromagnetic Spectrum in stained glass...

C&O canal in Georgetown...

Cool foliage outside the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History...

Navigation routes...

Sandstone formation from Fontainebleau, France at the Museum of Natural History...

A rainbow of minerals...

City in stone...

Shark house...

Code?

Map of free press...

Cool plant...

You know I like ironwork...

Gryphon statue art nouveau-style...

The Washington monument isn't so big...

Abraham Lincoln signs his initials - A...

L...

Lunch visitors...

National Museum of African American History and Culture

U.S. Marine Corps Sunset Parade

Hope you enjoyed this trip to DC through my camera lens. Will be back with a new project soon!

You Are The Best!

The pity party's over. Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement and support. You have no idea how much they cheered me up!

I went to see the ortho on Thursday and the news is very good. It's a small distal radius fracture -- no resetting or surgery needed. Just a new cast, which freed up my thumb and fingers so I can move them freely. No ringette -- boo! -- but I can quilt a little -- yay! I don't think the doctor meant quilting quite as much as I have been since Saturday though...LOL! Freeing up my fingers and thumb means I can type easier too, which means I can start blogging again too. Woo hoo!

First order of business is to announce the winner of the My Memories digital scrapbooking software!

 22. JanaramaFebruary 2, 2013 at 2:08 PM

The Peace Out pack is groovy man.

Congrats, Janarama! I'll be sending you an email shortly. Thank you to My Memories for sponsoring this giveaway!

The other bit of news is that my 10 Years And Still Over The Rainbow and some of my Colour Your World pieces were featured at Quilt Inspiration. I'm so honoured that they featured me and am touched at the kind words!

While staying cozy on the couch, I've been taking advantage of my down time by watching a Craftsy class. Whoa! I'm totally hooked! If my Internet supplier and Craftsy would just give me unlimited Internet and classes, you might never see me again. I learned how to dye cloth with Jane Dunnewold. Now I'm taking a colour class with Joen Wolfrom. So cool! Alas, I used up almost all of our bandwidth for the month in two days so we needed to pause until today. Whoops!

So then I decided to play with Electric Quilt -- yes, I suck at resting, but I did take plenty of naps.  I'll give EQ this much, it's very one hand friendly. Um, that didn't come out quite right. ;) I doubt I'll ever make these quilt designs, but it was fun to play with the program this way.

Red and Yellow Crayons

Flying Geese Modern

Teal Chevron

Hope you are having a great Tuesday!