Greetings dear readers! For this year’s Thanksgiving, Al and I traveled to Brooklyn to be with our son and his partner. Since that is a 5 hour drive away, we don’t get to see them much, so it was an especially wonderful time. We all pitched in to cook the holiday feast in their small apartment.
The weather was beautiful and every morning we walked 3 blocks to get to a longer promenade along the East River with this view:
Just a bit different from my normal daily walks to the pond, bog, wild Lamprey River, and the elk farm!😊
On Friday morning we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art – one of my favorite places in NYC – and saw the special exhibit on the Tudors (esp. focused on Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) and the special exhibit on Kimonos. Both were fantastic exhibits for textile lovers!❤️ Here’s one piece from each exhibit and I have more for future posts!
The kimonos ranged from traditional to modern. This was a favorite:
I love the poem:
We had lunch at a favorite spot near Lincoln Center. I love ballet and The Nutcracker. Friday night was opening night, but had been sold out weeks before when we tried to get tickets. Al walked in to the ticket office before our lunch to see if anything was available for that night and we got tickets in the orchestra section 10 rows from the front that someone had just returned !!!! Absolutely beautiful and fantastic experience!!
I was in heaven! The NYC Ballet is the BEST and the staging is amazing. These 2 photos are from the web site, of course
I forgot to mention that we went to the iconic Russian Tea Room for dinner Wednesday evening – it’s a lovely space:
My guild has an annual friendship/holiday party every November and we do a gift exchange, preferably something hand made. I’m using the table runner I made for that as my November Mini:
It’s 28.5 inches long, 15 inches wide.
I foundation paper pieced the trees and staggered the setting.
I added a line of green hand embroidery to set the center off from the border:
I machine quilted it and used some fabrics on hand for the backing:
I took some hexagon stars to New York with me for some hand piecing in the early morning hours before anyone else was up and will save those for the next post.
Go to Wendy’s blog “The Constant Quilter” (link on right side) to see the Monthly Minis by other participants!
December is almost upon us! The winter solstice, the holidays, the end of 2023, my annual assessment of what I’ve done and where I want to go…..Wishing all my readers a peaceful and joyful month!
Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi
gladiquilts 
Sounds like a great Thanksgiving visit and wonderful time. Do you remember what you had at the Russian tea room? Your little trees are so cute 🥰!
I had salmon in puff pastry. No caviar! I wasn’t up for any of their heavier dishes the night before Thanksgiving. We had eaten there a few times over the years and the food was always very good, but this time it was only so-so. I think the pandemic has hurt them.
Never having been to the Russian tea room I was curious if it was mostly Russian dishes. Sounds elegant! I’ve only been to Rochester and The finger lakes in New York visiting son and daughter in law. Very beautiful area!
NYC seems like a wonderful place to experience and explore. Going to the art museum and also ballet would be a fantastic way to celebrate the holidays. Your table runner is a beautiful monthly mini. Great fabrics and I love the idea of adding that bit of embroidery to separate the design and border.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Kyle!
Gladi, what a marvelous post! I love the portrait of Elizabeth I and the detailed photos you included. What a gorgeous picture! The colors are so vivid and lush. Thanks for taking us along on your journey to NYC. It is a real treat….the ballet photos are wonderful. I do love the ballet.
Thank you Carol! I think you’ll enjoy some of the other photos I have of that exhibit in future posts. So glad I was able to see it!
Caught up on your posts, Gladi. You always provide glorious eye candy and beautiful words. Both daughters and partners are off to NYC this weekend for a 4 day bus tour. I was there years ago for a tenth anniversary trip…Saw Cats and spent a day at the Met, and of course, was completely mesmerized by it all. I said at the time I could live there…at the Met I mean. LOL Adore your staggered Christmas trees. You match fabrics with such an acute eye for colour and balance….always.
Thank you Jocelyn! NYC has so much to offer – well worth a visit any time! Hope your daughters and partners have a great time and some good stories and photos to share when they return!
You had an amazing trip and your pictures are all beautiful!! I love your mini table runner. It’s so pretty. Hugs,
Thank you Sandi! Glad you enjoyed the post!
I love the mini, so pretty. How fortunate that you were able to get the Nutcracker tickets at the last minute. When my children were young they both loved the Nutcracker ballet. We had recorded Baryshnikov probably from a PBS special and my youngest watched it every day for about six months. This was in the 1980s. We also took them to some local productions but never had the opportunity to see it in NYC.
Thanks Pat. My daughter took ballet lessons for about 7 years and was in the company’s production of the Nutcracker every year during that time, mostly different roles in the party scene. Even with all the practices, I never got tired of it!
What a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving! Out of curiosity — how did you get to NYC? (I’d be petrified to drive into Manhattan!) The Christmas tree mini is charming.
Thanks Nann! We went by bus. We have bus service to NYC in my area – very nice buses with roomy seating and bathroom on board. We also have the option to take a bus (or drive) to Boston and take the train from there to NYC. I would never, ever drive into Manhattan, but my husband has done it many times. We took the bus this time because we didn’t want to be stymied by possible bad weather.
Thanks for sharing pictures of your trip. Loved the picture of Elizabeth. Your mini is so cute!
Thank you Marsha!
What a wonderful, magical weekend you had. Thanks for sharing. The portrait of Elizabeth l is breathtaking. I loved the detail photos, and I look forward to seeing more photos from the Tutor exhibit and the kimonos as well.
It looks like you had a fabulous trip! It is always great to see family! Your mini is spectacular. I love those tiny trees. Thanks for hanging in there for another month. I hope to have one more in me before I hang it up next month. I feel I have been far too negligent this year to try for another. Wishing you and Al the joys of the season!
Lovely to see those happy family photographs and I am green with envy at the riverside and MOMO photographs. (Will I ever visit New York!!)
Well done on another beautiful mini quilt.
what a fabulous NY getaway!! When I lived in NJ I went to them museums often. The Tudor and Kimono exhibit looks wonderful. I will have to try to get there.
I’ve never eaten at the Russian Tea room – what a miss on my part.