When I was walking in Memphis

We're in the midst of a grandparent visit, which means a sewing hiatus for me (the sewing area shares a space with the guest area), so I figured I'd squeeze in one more overdue catch-up post about our trip to Memphis last month. (Warning: prepare for photo overload.)

Memphis is about halfway between St. Louis and Shreveport (roughly five hours from each), so I suggested to my dad that we meet him and my step-mom there for a long weekend during spring break. Due to some events taking place in Memphis, we weren't able to make that weekend work, so we bumped it back to April and were rewarded with a weekend of beautiful weather (sandwiched between several stormy days). We found a great little AirBNB cabin in the Cooper-Young neighborhood, which is filled with shops and restaurants and so close to everything. After a quick stop at a local coffee shop for breakfast, our first stop was the Memphis Zoo.

First, let me say that every time we leave St. Louis, I am reminded how wonderful it is to live in a place where the zoo, science center, and a ton of other attractions are all FREE. I don't know how we would afford to do much of anything if we lived in another city. Thankfully, we're members of the STL zoo, which gets us reciprocal benefits at other zoos, which helped a lot in Memphis.

The Memphis Zoo was great. It is clearly in a transitional period where they're working to update a lot of the exhibits, and the new ones (like the grizzly space) are really impressive. Others, like the pandas, left something to be desired. The panda habitat was particularly underwhelming because Memphis is one of only four zoos in the U.S. that currently host giant pandas, so I thought their home would be more impressive. Maybe it's on the list for improvement.

Still, it was a lovely zoo, and it was fun to see some animals that we don't have at the STL zoo.

On Saturday morning, we treated ourselves to a delicious breakfast before heading downtown to see the Peabody ducks. We got there about 30 minutes early to ensure we'd be able to see, and though B didn't really know what was going on, he anxiously awaited the ducks' arrival.

Soon, the elevator opened, and there they were. They move fast, so it was over before we knew it, but we waddled over to the fountain for a closer look afterward.

There was no shortage of BBQ on our trip. When in Rome, right? The famous Central BBQ was located in our neighborhood, and we ate out on the patio for dinner one evening. On Saturday, we devoured the delicious ribs at Rendezvous Ribs downtown after visiting Mud Island.

 

Mud Island is a great little treasure in Memphis. First, you get to ride a cable car (made famous in a certain John Grisham movie) over the river to the island. Once there, you can visit the museum (not free) or just check out the awesome Riverwalk (free), an exact scale model of the lower Mississippi (in other words, no STL love).

The entire model covers the length of five blocks. It starts just south of St. Louis and travels down to the gulf. You can walk in, around, and over, and B had a blast jumping over the "river" and crossing the many bridges.

And you know no trip with a toddler would be complete without a few trips to the park. Memphis was good for that, too.

By the end of the weekend, we were all pretty pooped, but what a great time! Thanks, Memphis!

Birthday stashing

I got a little birthday money last month, and I wasted no time spending it. I gotta find a way to pace myself in the future, but there were so many new fabrics calling my name! First, I had to get a few solids to go with my fabrics for the MQG Michael Miller challenge. I am so excited about my idea for this quilt, and I love these springy colors. Now that I have all of the goods, I'm finally getting to work!

 

At this month's St. Louis MQG meeting, we had a fabric swap where the fabrics we chose were supposed to be inspired by a photo our partner had picked. My partner loves poppies and wanted various shades of orange with a pop of green, so I collected a bundle with the help of the ladies at my LQS. How did I do?

My biggest haul was this bundle from Hawthorne Threads. I love, love, love Pat Bravo's new NouVelle collection and really wanted to buy yards and yards of all of the pieces, but I tried to restrain myself and focus on some of my favorites. Still, I think I'm going to have to go back for yardage for some of these. I love them too much.

I'm also on a bit of a coral, aqua, and navy kick lately, so I added several new coral and aqua pieces to the bunch. I've got so many ideas for how to use these, hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

I'm usually really hesitant about buying fabric online because I've gotten burned too many times — the fabric arrived, and the color was totally different than what I was expecting — but this time everything was exactly how I imagined. Good birthday karma, I guess. Time to get sewing.

WIP Wednesday #63

Hiya, Wednesday! After a bit of an unplanned blog hiatus, it feels good to be getting back into blogging and sewing. Lots to show off today!

Completed:
The Kitchen Windows quilt is finished! The first quilt I ever started (but definitely not the first I've ever finished), this one has literally been years in the making. You can read all about it and see lots more pics in this reveal post.

I also finished up these little toddler ties for B and his cousin. Such a quick and fun little project (tutorial here, with more info about the ties in this post).

 

Finally, I whipped up some pattern weights. These come together so fast — just take two of the biggest metal washers you can find at Home Depot, glue them together, and then wrap them in ribbon (I used this tutorial if you need more details.). Maybe now I'll finally make that Washi dress ...

In progress:

I finished gathering all of my fabrics for the MQG Michael Miller challenge, so now it's go time. I'm working on my own design but kind of making it up as I go along, which is both fun and nerve-wracking at the same time.

This week has been all about cutting, sewing, and trimming HSTs, which are beginning to make their way into some pinwheel blocks. I'm liking how this is coming along.

I also pulled a pretty rainbow bundle that's destined to be a New Wave quilt. I'm hoping to start on this one after the challenge quilt is done. Don't these colors just make you happy?

On the "to do" list:

*Did you notice the list grew a lot since the last WIP post? What am I doing to myself??
Kitchen Window quilt
One more divided basket for gift set
Michael Miller challenge quilt
STL quilt
Swap item for Bay Area MQG
Fox mini quilts
Rainbow New Wave quilt
Mystery HST quilt

Car travel pouch for B (this, this, or this)
T-shirt quilt 
Superhero cape for B
Re-covering the downstairs chair

New pillows for the downstairs chairs
A mug rug for me
Ironing board cover
Reusable snack bags
Washi dress/tunic

This week, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!