CUTTING AND SORTING

I spent a few hours cutting the fabrics for United Squares of America into little squares.

The pattern strongly suggests cutting all of the fabrics before beginning to piece them together.

There are a lot of one inch squares!

I didn't get very far.  I got A through D done - it goes to P.

NEW PROJECT

I bought the "United Squares of America" quilt kit at Quiltcon last week.  It has a pile of solid fabrics from American Made Brand and the pattern to make the quilt.

I, of course, had to prewash all of the fabrics, which are quarter yard and eighth yard cuts mostly.

I sorted and marked the fabrics, each having its own number.  I think there are 72 pieces. 

MORE SIGHTSEEING

Friday morning, we did more sightseeing before our flight leaves this afternoon.

First stop, the Parthenon in Nashville.  A replica, originally built for Tennessee's Centennial Exposition in 1897; it is amazing.  Inside is a small art museum, the replica of the 42 foot statue of Athena, plaster casts of the original sculptures and huge brass doors.  

Then we drove out to Andrew Jackson's plantation, The Hermitage.  It was raining still, so we didn't explore the grounds and outbuildings.  But what we did tour was splendid and in wonderful condition.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside, except in a few rooms.

Afterwards, we drove around a bit, then made our way to the airport and our flight home.

QUILTCON 2019

Here we are, finally at the main event, Quiltcon in Nashville.

Darrell dropped me off and went to do his own thing.  I waited in lines, first to get my entry badge, then the very long line to get it when the doors opened.

The event was held in the beautiful Music City Center

INTO NASHVILLE

After lunch, we left Chattanooga.  

We made a brief stop in Murfreesboro, mostly to stretch our legs, then it was on into Nashville.

We went to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.   It is in a repurposed Art Deco building that was originally built in 1933 as the main Post Office of Nashville.  The building is spectacular.  Made with Georgian marble and grey-pink Minnesota granite.  The inside features cast aluminum doors and grillwork, as well as colored marble and stones on the floors and walls.

We were lucky in that the current exhibit was "Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times:  The Mellon  Collection."

Degas!

George Braque "Fruit Dish and Fruit Basket"

Roger de la Fresnaye "Still Life with Bottle, Pipe and Pot of Tobacco"

Pierre Bonnard "The Dining Room"

Edouard Vuillard "The Gilded Chair, Madame Georges Feydeau and her Son"

Camille Pissaro "The Royal Palace at the Hermitage, Pontoise"

This is the one I'd take home with me - a little Van Gogh "The Wheat Field behind St Paul's Hospital, St Remy"

Vincent Van Gogh, "Daisies, Arles"

Gustave Caillebotte, "A Man Docking his Skiff"

Edgar Degas, "At the Milliner"  (why is the face blanked out?)

Paul Cezanne, "Victor Chocquet"

Maurice Utrillo, "Street in Sannois"

ROCK CITY

Near Chattanooga is Lookout Mountain.  We went up there to Rock City, where you can see seven states from the top.  Unfortunately for us it was fogged in and in the clouds.  We went anyway.  There is a well maintained paved trail to the lookout.  It winds up and around and through the rocks, sometimes squeezing in between huge boulders, through caves and over bridges.

This is what we saw...

This is what we'd see if we weren't clouded in...

We'll have to come back someday when the weather is nicer.  But, then we won't have it all to ourselves.

Afterwards, we headed back into Chattanooga to have lunch at the local Whole Foods.