Boston Adventures

Last year you might recall, around the same time, that I went off to Washington DC this was my ultimate must do trip on my own. I loved it even if it was a little daunting at times and a little dull (only so many times you can say awesome out loud to yourself.) This year I had the opportunity to go to Boston, this has been on my list of places to go for about as long as I wanted to go to DC.

Old State House

This time round though I didn't go alone. I went with my mum. It was great, thoroughly enjoy my mum's company. So for five whole days we walked all over Boston from all the way down South Station all the way up to Cambridge, we boarded trains out of Boston to Providence and to Salem. We ate some great food (Boston City Diner - AWESOME) and some very bad food. Meet and spoke to some lovely folks (especially one lady in Salem) and got thoroughly annoyed with people's lack of manners. We came, we saw, we got tired.

It was a really good trip, but Boston for me, really was a case of being able to strike it off a list of places I want to see, it's not a destination say like Washington that I want to go back too. Not that it wasn't great, it was more the case I saw what I wanted and...that was enough. It certainly has made me want to venture out and away from the big cities to go further into New England and I will. I also really want to have a chill out break in Cape Cod (when bank account allows me).

Yay, Halloween

I got the bug for wanting to get away from doing city holiday's from when we went to Salem. This was my trip more than my mum's I wanted to do it, mainly for a bit of a laugh, after all we are on the run up to Halloween and partly because it seemed nice from what I did from my research. It really is very pretty town, folks are really lovely (and the food is good). I even found a Bead shop and needle point store, I can sniff them out at fifty paces.

Pretty easy to get to from Boston, 30 minute train ride away from North Station. It's also, like Boston, dead easy (see what I did there..), to navigate and most of what you want to go to is easily done in an afternoon. Though I think I might have liked to have spent more time wandering around. As we didn't actually hit the Peabody Museum which is in top museums in the USA, and no it's not about witches. It's an arts museum but we weren't quite up for walking around for a couple of hours as we had gotten up really early that day owing to jet lag. So I wouldn't mind hitting Salem again but perhaps coming from a different place, not Boston.

Burn the witches...technically they only hung theirs,
it was just Europe that liked to burn them.

We did, as I said, do another excursion to Providence. This time was my mum's choice and I'll gloss over it. Wasn't a great day trip the weather turned pretty darned sour the very moment we arrived. Horizontal rain and ice cold wind. Not quite prepared to traipse round in the weather we stayed long enough to have something eat. Believe me by that point moods were sour, we are both the sort to get very grumpy very quickly, when we are cold, wet and hungry. We had our fill and off we trotted back to Boston for more walking.

Scary baby heads out the back...

I should point out that during this trip we probably stopped for tea, around 20 odd times, if not more, and I drank more versions of Earl Grey than I care to count. I think I can only count 2 times that I actually liked what I drank and one of them was actually at a coffee place. I am such a Earl Grey snob.

The remainder of the time when we weren't heading out of Boston was spent meandering around. We tried to avoid the main tourist traps of the Freedom Trail, as it's not our thing but you can't really escape all of it. Eventually we did give in but not until the Sunday. Other key highlight of the trip was the Museum of Fine Arts. Quite expensive to get into about $20 it did surprise me that you did have to pay given all the museums (most) and galleries are free to get into in DC and New York but I think that solely comes down to funding. Not sure. Anyway, it's beautifully laid out and it was nice to see a Edward Hopper (fave artist) in the mix, the modern art was actually not that bad even though I'll admit I am simply not a fan of it. I would say it certainly made me want to take some time to go to the National, British and V&A when I get back and oh, Tate Britain for the Turners.

In all, I thoroughly had a good time, even though I had dodgy shoulder all the way through it which made for a miserable flight home. But I didn't let it get in the way, and mum did what she could to help. Plenty of hugs. Even at 28 you can't beat a hug from your mum.

I forgot to mention about the flight over, my dad knows a lot of folks through his business and one of them happens to be a pilot and whilst he wasn't flying the plane we were on he made sure that during our flight we had a nice treat. This came in the form of champagne and chocolate. It was great! It certainly kicked off the trip. 

Thus concluding my mini adventure in Boston. I feel like I missed something out, a nugget of information or ancedote like me getting the fit of the giggles stepping off the plane when we landed back in the UK. Nearly wet myself from the unexplained bout of crying laughter, I blame the chewing gum....

Yay, the start of the famous Fall. Apparently it has to be really cold for the leaves to turn, any wet and you can forget it.

 I dragged my mum round on a Tourist trip to the USS Constitution, though she was tired and I ended up going around the Museum bit on my own (whistle stop). I have to point out to get to the ship meant I had to walk over a bridge with open grate flooring. I have a uber fear of open grate walkways, and I chickened out the first time. One stiff cup of tea, and holding my mum's hand very tightly (I am my late 20s), I walked across it at quite a pace and on the way back too. 

Paul Revere, I felt like was going to turn to ash or something as a Brit but it was a nice part of the Freedom Trail, very interesting little streets, old (but not that old in my mum's books) houses, church etc. Of course, lot of groups of tourists and school kids. Easy to navigate past. 

I did snap at a school kid for not saying thank you when I held the door open, OR rather I opened it to step into the building and they barged past. The irony that it was in a building next to the church associated with Paul Revere made me chuckle afterwards. 

Halloween Crafting: Make a mini Pumpkin

Following on from my wee little broomstick tutorial its time to make a wicked, little pumpkin. Make several and your'll have your self a little pumpkin patch. Great decoration for your table too.

You will need:

• Orange, green and black pieces of felt

• Matching threads

• A Needle

• Sharp pair of scissors

• Toy stuffing

Step 1

Cut out a circle of orange felt that is 12 cm in diameter, of course, feel free to make it bigger or smaller. To get a perfect circle I found it easier to draw round something. Thread up a needle with a fairly long length of thread that will allow you to do a simple gathering stitch around the edge of the felt, stitching 5 mm from edge. 

Step 2

Grab both ends of the threads and pull to gather it up, stop half way to put some of the toy stuffing in, then carry on till you have a nicely gathered up shape (bit like a little bun), which will end up with a small opening. Sew the ends in to stop it from undoing (do not stitch up the hole). Then with a blunt end of a pencil, push more stuffing into the opening, keep going till you get a almost firm feel, but not too over stuffed that you can't push the pencil into the middle.

Step 3

Cut a strip of green felt 9 cm (length) by 2.5 cm (width), before you begin to roll it up tightly, get a needle and thread ready as you will need this to make a few stab stitches through one end to keep it together. Do as many as you feel will keep it from unrolling.

Step 4

With it rolled up, simply stuff it into the small opening at the top of the pumpkin, leaving 1 cm showing. Stitch the stem into the pumpkin, using the orange thread. Test to make sure it doesn't come out.

Step 5

Here comes the fun bit, designing what you want the face to look like. Once you have, cut it out of black felt. Now there are two ways in which you can apply the face to the pumpkin, small dabs of fabric glue, or stab stitch (small tiny stitches around the edge and middle of the black felt), I did the latter...because I am a sucker for punishment. 

Huzzah you now have a tiny little pumpkin. Go nuts and make a patch full of them!

Halloween Crafting: Make a Felt Broom Tutorial

This is a mini Halloween Tutorial in which I will show you how you can make a mini Halloween broomstick, with substance, for your flying pig (other flying creatures or plushies will also do). I should point out Calico, the pig, doesn't really need the broom to fly he just thinks it's cool and adds to his outfit.

You will need:

• A pencil, a nice short one will do nicely
• 3 colours of felt - Black, brown and yellow or use whatever you have to hand
• Thread to match the felt being used
• Pair of Sharp Scissors
• A small bit of toy stuffing (not shown)
• A Needle

Step 1

First you will need to cut the felt that will cover the pencil like a tube, the pencil keeps the broom nice and straight). My pencil was 12 cm in length, add a 1 cm of allowance to this and cut out a piece that is 2.5 cm wide by 13 cm in length. My pencil was a standard HB, if you use a thicker pencil you will need to adjust the width.

Step 2 - Making the Handle

Thread up your needle, and take your piece of felt and wrap it slightly round the pencil, it might take you a minute to get a hold a hold of it all. Your pencil needs to be slightly down from the end of the felt, so that later you can cover it over. Your going to over-sew the edges of the felt so that it wraps snuggly round the pencil. Work you way down to the end of the felt, and then do a couple of slip knots near to the end to gather around the pointy end.

Head back to the other end and over-sew the top so you now have a covered pencil, exciting times!

Step 3 - Brush Time

Your now going to cut the felt out for the brush end of the broom. Get two squares that about 8 x 8 cms, you can adjust this so you can have a fat or skinny brush (to suit your mood). Your going to then cut out two identical shapes that  look like pig ears or candle flame, depending on your point of view. Place them together, and then like with the broom handle over-sew the edge, except for the straight bit which will be your opening for the handle. Make the stitches small and neat, and use a thread colour that matches the felt.

Then stuff it. Make it semi-firm, too hard and you'll find it hard to stuff the broom handle into the open end and gather it round neatly.

Step 5

With it stuffed, do a small gathering stitch around the opening, don't pull it yet. Stuff the broom handle (pointy end) into the opening, about 2 cm's will be sufficient. Now pull the gathering thread, so it's tight round the handle. Then using the gathering thread, the bit left over, stitch the brush to the handle, till your sure it's not going to come off.

Step 6 - Final bit

Just for a spot of decorating and to hide the gathering, cut a small strip of felt about 0.5-1 cm in width by 3.5 cm in length. Wrap this round the top of the brush, and then over-sew the narrow end of the strip together. 

Hey presto! You have a broom.