Chicago Trip - Cultural Arts Center

Today I'm going to share pictures from our Chicago trip. After we toured Wrigley on our first day, we went downtown and found ourselves at the Cultural Arts Center. This place is AMAZING!!! It used to be the public library and has quite a history. But the architecture and glasswork was simply inspiring. Take a look...

And see that center circle in the dome? Here's a closeup look...

That's when I had the sense that I was in for something amazing in this building. We started going upstairs and wandering the rooms. We found a quilt exhibit. I thought I'd gotten pics of all of the quilts but only had this one...

This quilt was rough but had so many interesting details. If you're near Chicago, you really should go have a look. But What captured my imagination and inspired me so much was the building itself. Take a look at the Tiffany dome...

Yes, it was made by the artisans at Tiffany. It just sparkles! And the shear details. Take a look at the center of the dome...

I cannot even begin to communicate how awe-inspiring this place is. When I walked into the Tiffany dome room, I literally gasped.

I couldn't take in the details fast enough.

Even the archways leading from one section to the next were full of small details...

Around the dome was this saying. It struck me deeply. "Books are the legacies...

that a great genius leaves...

to mankind which are...

delivered down from...

generation to generation...

as presents to the...

posterity of...

those who are yet...

unborn. Addison

I sat underneath this dome and stared and studied and shed a tear or two (it was that moving). As quilters, we know how much time and effort goes into projects and the I cannot even imagine the time and effort that went into creating this gorgeous, lasting work of art.

If you ever get to Chicago, this building is an absolute must! It's directly across the street from the "bean." Hope I'm not boring yall yet as there is a lot more to come! Thanks for stopping by.

Chicago - Tour of Wrigley

As promised, here's some more pics from our trip!  As you remember, we are baseball fans, so when we found out we were going to Chicago, we had to work in a tour of Wrigley Field.

 This was quite a sight for me!  I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Wrigley Field.  So much history in this place.  Our first view of the field was breathtaking...

That ivy covered wall!  Did you know, that is still the original ivy?  So cool!  They were doing a lot of work on the field the day we were touring.  This scoreboard!

They still have men that work in there and manually make the necessary changes as the game progresses.

Since it wasn't a game day (and since they lost when we went to a game) we didn't get to see the "real" big blue W flying.  But I wanted to remember their tradition and caught a pic of this sign.

This is a picture from the visiting team locker room at Wrigley Field.  This ballpark has been around for 100 years.  Just thinking about the players that were in this room over the course of that time was chilling.  You could "feel" the history.  Then we made our way up towards the press box and saw this on the way...

How can you love going to baseball games and not love the organist?!?  Especially the ones that really get into the game and keep the crowd going.  And then we found the press boxes...

The view from up there was amazing!  They led us through a rousing rendition of, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," before continuing our tour.  On the way down to the field, I spied these smaller scoreboards, up under the seating.  I love these small touches!

They really help make Wrigley unique!  And finally!  We made it onto the field!  Here's the view straight down the first baseline.

It was so amazing!!  Just to walk on that field!  Wondering who else walked in that spot, on that field.

Although they are not "my" team, they sure have one heck of a neat home field!!  And going into the dugout!  OMG!  I'm a huge fan of baseball.  Thinking about players like Dizzy Dean, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, all being in this dugout???  *sighs*  It was a slice of baseball heaven.

And here's the view from their dugout.  (I'll stick with the stands, thank you!)

Our tour was over.  But what a neat place to visit.  Outside, I had to snap a picture of this statue, Ernie Banks, a Cubs classic.

Then it was off to lunch.  We walked up the street and had lunch a little neighborhood bar.  I love these places.

I'll do the rest of this day in a separate blog post.  There were way to many things to share for one post!

St. Louis Day 2 - Tour of Busch Stadium

Hi friends!  I'm finally sitting down and editing pics to show you the rest of my Sew Pro trip.  I cannot believe how many pictures I took.  I had such a good time and cannot wait to show you what we saw!!

Our second day in St. Louis was really just a morning tour of Busch Stadium before we headed up to Chicago.  But we really made the most of it.  We are huge baseball fans in this family!!  Be prepared for picture overload!!

As soon as we entered the stadium for our tour, I had to snap a picture because the famous arch was visible over the stadium walls and I had to capture that memory...

Absolutely gorgeous!  The first thing we did on our tour was go down to the field!!  So amazing!

That's the view from right behind home plate.  Then we proceeded to the dugout...

I cannot even begin to fathom the famous players that have been in this dugout, in this spot!  Here's the view from the dugout...

After seeing that, I decided I'm much happier watching the game from the stands.  After we were done with the dugout, we went through a maze in the stadium and came to one of the specialty "clubs" where people can watch the game in style.  But I was overwhelmed with this...

I'm very sad that the picture came out so blurry.  This is a specialty wallpaper, made off old baseball cards that the team's owner has in his collection.  I used to collect baseball cards and let me tell you, just knowing that one person has all of these cards....wow.  Most of these are old tobacco cards, way before they started putting cards with bubblegum.  Amazing collection.  Then we went up to the press box...

Now, this is a great spot for watching the game.  Fantastic view and nice and cool!  When you're from Texas, cool air-conditioning counts a lot!  Then we got to go see ALL of the Cardinals trophies...

So so cool.  I'm an Astros fan and unfortunately, we just don't get these things.  But my favorite parts of the tour is seeing the way they honor their old players.  Here is the Stan Musial Courtyard (?)...

And then statues of their famous players.  My favorite Cardinals player of all times was honored, Dizzy Dean...

Then we have  Stan Musial (of course).....

And then Lou Brock....

And Bob Gibson....

And lastly Roger Hornsby...

And that's it!!  We spent the rest of the day driving Route 66 up to Chicago.  I thought I grabbed pics of that stuff too but it looks like it was all on my phone so it's on my Instagram page.  Stay tuned for more!!!

St. Louis Visit - Day 1

Hi y'all!  I am so excited.  My mom and I are on a road trip to Chicago for the Sew Pro Convention next week.  We decided to stretch it out and really do it right so you'll be seeing a bunch of posts from me over the next few weeks detailing our adventures.

But before we start that, I need to share this picture with you.  Today is the first time in 20-years that I've not been with my baby girl for her birthday!  We celebrated Friday night before we took off for our adventure.

I sure missed her today.  Cassidy has grown into a gorgeous, intelligent, caring young woman and I'm so proud of her!  She's always been my best friend and will always will be.  I love you baby!!!

We drove up from Texas yesterday.  I took a few pics on the way.  We stopped at the Texas Welcome Center in Texarkana, TX.

Saying goodbye to Texas, we crossed into Arkansas.  This was my first time in Arkansas.

I loved that they had the POW flag flying at the welcome center.

Not much else yesterday as it was a 12 hour drive.  We checked into the hotel in St. Louis, MO, last night and spent the day exploring today.  First, we took in a game at Busch Stadium.

This is a beautiful stadium!  Here's another shot...

We had great seats at the game!  And it was a beautiful 73 degrees when we got there.  I'm a big baseball fan and would love to get to all of the stadiums.  The Cardinals have a wall showing the Hall of Fame players.

Here's the scoreboard.  I love the classic look of the clock on top and the numbers at the bottom represent the retired jerseys in the organization.

The Cards lost but it was a lot of fun anyway and I'll always remember this visit.  On the way out, I caught this picture of the Stan Musial statue.  They honored him at the beginning of today's game.

After the game, we decided to track down a barbecue joint for an early dinner.  I totally forgot to get a picture but we went to Smoking Barrels.  It was pretty good, but I think I'll stick with Texas BBQ.

Then we decided to try to track down Chain of Rocks bridge.  After some checking online, I don't think we quite found it.  We're going to look again tomorrow.  But the bridge we did find was beautiful!

We walked up to the center of the bridge and gazed out at the Mississippi.  Absolutely gorgeous!  Then we decided on a trip to Ted Drewers Frozen Custard for dessert.  It is an old Route 66 favorite.

There were easily 100 people there.  It was like a tailgate party.  And the frozen custard was delicious!  I had Lemon Crumb, a lemon custard with crushed graham crackers mixed in.  Yum!

And that was our day!  Tomorrow we are touring Busch Stadium then taking Route 66 up to Chicago.  I cannot wait!!!

Hope y'all enjoy my little vacation posts and thanks for bearing with me!!