Staycation for Spring Break - Marimekko & Ballard

Yesterday as part of our Staycation during my daughter's Spring break, her and I went to the Nordic Heritage Museum. This is a museum in the Ballard area of Seattle. It's main focus is the Nordic people who moved to this area of the NorthWest and it is presently located in an old school. It is a very informational museum and I love the fact that they quite often have exhibits related to textiles in some manner.The draw for me this time was the Marimekko with love exhibit.

This exhibit is on loan from the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. This is also an excellent museum tho it seemed I never made it there often when living in Ontario, I guess my excuse is it was approx. a 3 hour drive from home. Marimekko is a Finnish home furnishings, textiles and fashion company based in Helsinki. They are known for their graphic bold prints, we both fell in love with the x-large beanbags that were situated around the exhibit. I am thinking I shall have to put one on my wishlist.

Pictures were not allowed in the main exhibit area, but there was a variety of fabrics and clothing on display along with a short film. One area I found interesting was the bios for some of the head textile designers over the years along with examples of their work. It is on until July 9th so if you happen to be in Seattle and like textiles check it out.

After the exhibit my daughter and I walked down to the Ballard Locks, first stopping at Totem Red Mill Burgers for lunch. The locks are nice but the novelty is lost on us. We come from an area in Canada referred to the Land O Lakes with a lot of waterways and canals so are quite accustomed to the workings of a lock. Will probably go back once the botanical gardens are in full bloom as it is a very nice area to walk around in.

Before heading home we decided to wander around a bit in downtown Ballard. We discovered a cool little art place called Push/Pull which carries indie comics and local artists work. They have a couple of pinball machines, something which we both always approve of. It looks like they also do a variety of comic and drawing classes which I may have to look into. Another place we had fun wandering around in was the Ballyhoo Curiousity Shop, if you ever have a need for some taxidermy, skulls, bones or  quirky antiques this is the place to go. From here we went to Space Oddity Vintage, here I was tempted by test tubes, flasks and some vintage card catalogues. Our last stop before catching the bus was Lucca Great Finds, here I purchased some new pencils and was tempted by a pair of Merchant & Mills scissors.

My New Pencils :)

Our day in Ballard was a nice way to spend part of our Staycation and the weather even cooperated.