The adventure continues

This is proving to be a learning opportunity.  The camper has had some new vehicle issues and struggles to figure out how things work and where to put stuff.  Bonnie hates the furnace and every time it kicks in she tries to hide.  During the night she comes to the side of the bed to say "Mom, MOM its making noise again" and lays down so close to the bed I can't even get out.

She dislikes, but is surviving, being on a leash.  A couple of days we have been able to drive around with the windows open and her nose is going crazy.  There are so many new smells and critters to investigate that she quickly forgets she is on a leash.

We left Alpine, Texas, last Monday to head into Big Bend National Park for 4 days.  As a national park they have no electricity or water at the campsites.  We were right down on the Rio Grande River with cold nights (low 30's) and comfy days (60's & 70's).  With no heater at night we were very happy that we had thrown the down sleeping bags in the camper.  (We bought those bags 43 years ago from REI when we were heading off to South America.  That speaks to the value of good equipment.)  When we got up in the morning the camper was at 39-40F - just a bit nippy.

The photo does not do justice to the view

Driving the park was mesmerizing.  Almost 50 miles north to south and about 40 miles east to west.  Each road was a passage through geological time.  The mountains go up over 7800 feet (almost 6500 above the river level) and feel very much like the Rockies.  The desert was starting to bloom while we were there.  Carpets of little plants with white/lavender flowers popped up around the prickly pear and other cactus.  The hiking was impressive with great views.  Steve made one hike up the Lost Mine trail with amazing vista (dogs are not allowed on ANY trails and it was too hot that day to leave a dog in the car so I stayed behind with Bonnie).  At the Santa Elena Canyon trail we were able to get photos of the iconic Rio Grande river - interesting that accessing the most associated image of the area was so easily available.

Santa Elena Canyon

After Big Bend we went on to Seminole State Park.  Although we had water and electricity this place felt more isolated that when we were in Big Bend.  There was no cell phone service within 30 miles of the park.  We camped on a ridge that ran out in the desert with great views of unrelenting scrub brush, sand and rock.  We had great night skies.  I was finally able to get a day at the visitor's center to work online while Steve went on 2 treks to see cave paintings.  He was very jazzed by his hikes and I finally felt like I put a dent into some of my computer work.

Knowing that we had snow/sleet weather coming in we headed to Del Rio for 3-4 days.  No road travel when the weather is this rough and I can have a number of really good days on the computer.  Steve is doing the putsing around activities of tinkering with the camper, laundry and scouting out this town.  I am trying to catch up on the computer and at least feel like I am not 6 months behind.

The place we are at right now is sort of a nice  camper parking lot.  We are lined up and every one stays pretty low keyed.  On the other hand it is rather chilly out there and a good couple of days to just hunker down.

It is still well below zero in Minnesota and Steve is threatening a northerly trek by the weekend.  I know that I do not want to live in Texas but heading home sounds chilly right now but probably appropriate by this time next week.

So what an irony!  I knew that the weather for the area was high winds, colder temps and snow at higher elevations.  In fact we have nothing planned today because it is supposed to be cold, cloudy - even rainy, and generally not nice.  So this is my work on the computer all day sort of day.

During the night the wind was blowing and I heard the rain start.  First it was individual rain drops more like the cloud was thinking about t than like it was really raining.  Finally the rain became more organized and a continuous sound that is nice to sleep to.

And this is what the world looks like this morning

Blogging Revisited

Well, I have had several people ask me to re-start the blog.  Now that I am more or less semi retired I have decided to share a little more about my quilting journey.

Let me start by saying that I am really tired of the long winters in Minnesota.  Steve doesn't mind the snow and the cold but last year was just so unpleasant that I really did not want to repeat the whole thing.  I started looking for a way to get us out of town for a significant block of time to break up the winter.  Cancun looked interesting, so did Costa Rica but both were just more of a stretch than what we wanted to do. 

We had talked with some acquaintances who recommended a month in Texas in the camper.  My problem was how to get from an appealing idea to out of the house and on the way to Texas!  Well a quilt retreat solved the problem for me. 

I have wanted to take a class from Karen Buckley for a long time.  She did a cruise in the Sea of Cortez in December that I thought about but decided that it would be more of a leap than what Steve would agree to.  So I kept looking and found 2 in Texas in February.  I preferred the idea of Galveston at the end of the month but really liked the classes in Dallas better the first week of February.  So I asked for the retreat as my birthday present back last June.  Since it was far enough out Steve agreed to the Dallas trip.  Now I had a reason for us to leave town for the month of February.

In October, 2014, we were the campground hosts at Tetteguchie State Park up on the shore of Lake Superior.  It was a great experience and one we will repeat for the month of July in 2015.  As part of our responsibilities we would walk the campground everyday and make sure that things were reasonably tidy in each site for the next campers coming in.  Steve would get chatty with folks and ask about their travels and equipment etc. 

One guy had a truck like ours and he was pulling a small fifth wheel.  We did find that our trailer was really tight when we were both in the camper at the same time.  And when you added Bonnie to the space there wasn't room to turn around.  Steve was so intrigued by the prospect of a larger camper and the stability of a fifth wheel that we just had to go look.  I asked him to leave the checkbook behind, which of course he did not.
 

 

Our new camper in Alpine Texas - what a beautiful place!

So now we have a fifth wheel (my business partner, Kristi, calls it our pull-a-home), I have a 4 day class in Dallas the first week of February and we have suggestions from several people on things to do and see in Texas.  Steve was ready with plans for places to go and ideas for our trial run with the new camper.

With a few starts and stops we left Minnesota a day later than planned, but between snow storms.  The drive to Dallas is really long when you do it in 2 days, but we made it.  Steve dropped me off at the hotel and he went off to a nearby campground with Bonnie for 4 days.  He had some first trip problems that he was able to address without my questioning why he was doing this or that.

I had 4 days of classes with Karen Buckley at The Kathy Dunigan Academy of Applique and it was really good.  I had a 1 day class on hand applique and 3 days on machine applique.  The hand work was a good reminder and I picked up a couple of tips that will be good going forward.  Here is a photo of her class sample for the hand work:



My block is in progress and I have a ways to go.  I have a great green zigzag fabric for the frame that looks kind of like a tile roof.  At the pace that I am working on it at night I might have it done before I get back to  Minnesota in March.

The second block  is the machine applique.  This was a very interesting 3 day class that I completely enjoyed.  I have a couple of projects in mind for this technique.  I don't have a picture of my block at this point but I am very pleased with the way it is coming out.  It will be some time in March before I can touch this again since I did not bring my sewing machine on this trip

I will add some more comments over the next couple of weeks about this adventure in Texas.  So far I am really liking it.   We are currently in Alpine Texas at a great campground (the best we have seen on our 3 days of driving around) with good wifi so I can work 4-5 hours a day on the computer.  That leaves us the rest of the day to do different activities.  Last night we went to McDonald Observatory and had a great time - this was one of those lifetime memories because it was so different from what we have done in the past.

The view from our camper includes very few campers and a great view of the mountains!  The deer wandering around drive Bonnie a little bonkers but she is keeping us safe. Yup I like it.

Spring in the backyard!

Living in Minnesota gives you a deeper appreciation for the changes that come with 4 seasons, particularly after this last winter.  Spring is finally here and looking great.  Over the 17 years that we have been in this house Steve has worked to improve the backyard.  We now have a private park out my back door.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is currently visiting the yard in groups of 3-6 or more.  The coloring is so clear and crisp.  They like the feeder and will just sit and munch.


 
 
 
Right now we have the beautiful Goldfinch in his brilliant mating splendor.  They stay all year round but are the fabulous bright yellow from mid-April to about September. They are small and flit around the yard all day long. 
The Oriole has been working the yard for the past week also.  Steve puts out the grape jelly they like so much along with the cut oranges. We have seen half a dozen in the yard at one time or another.  They are also snacking at the hummingbird feeder Steve has put out.

  Even the hummingbirds are coming back now.  They seem to be the late arrivers at the party.

Steve says that he has seen 1 Indigo Bunting this spring as well.

This seasonal migrating birds are in addition to our regular bird population of Robins, Wrens, House Finches, Sparrows, Grackles, Bluejays, Starlings, Swallows, Red Winged Blackbirds,  Mallard Ducks, the occasional Red Tailed Hawk and even a Bald Eagle every now and then.  It is just consatant entertainment watching the backyard.

Handwork is Good

I started working on this quilt a number of years ago based on a line drawing in a Marti Michelle pattern book on Hexagons.  I like English Paper Piecing and liked the tumbling blocks concept of this design so I started collecting fabrics.

I wanted to do something that was really just color gradations and not showcasing fabric patterns.  Knowing that I didn't need a lot of yardage in any one fabric meant that I could look at smaller quantities of many fabrics.  A trip to Mary Jo's in North Carolina a couple of years ago resulted in lots of options and more dollars than what I had planned.  Oh well, it is a hand project and will last for quite awhile.

I was right about the amount of time but wrong about not needing more fabric.  For the last couple of years I have played with the gradations and made a number of blocks.  In the last month or so we have had a couple of long haul road trips where I was able to tack the fabric while Steve motors us down the road.  Last week I realized that I needed to start putting this on the wall so I can see what I actually have completed, what needs to get changed and what I need to add or edit. I also spent time working out the general placement in EQ7.

My what a difference putting it on the wall made.  I now see that I have a couple of fabrics that are too dark or too green versus teal.  I have figured out what "nine patch"star blocks I want to add into this design and have most of the placement /colors worked out.  I know I want to add a pieced border using the same diamond units to carry the colorful theme all the way out.

I still have some blocks to make but my reluctance to continue the project has been resolved and I have a better plan in mind.  Now I am jazzed to keep working on this.  I have most of it cut and prepped.  This weekend I am going to start working on the "nine patch" star blocks to see just how much of a challenge it is going to be.  I think I will do at least some of it as paper foundation piecing before I whip stitch the 3 diamond row together.  Not sure about the process yet but i should be entertaining.  I will let you know....

Quilt Retreats

I love it when I get to spend a weekend with quilters and just focus on getting stuff done while having time to chat as well.  When there are 2 retreats within 3 weeks it is amazing what you can get done.

So the first retreat was at Gruber's in St Cloud.  This was my first time there and I really likes the arrangement.  I can see that with 10-16 people it would get crowded but the work room was really nice and the beds where a treat after Lake Beauty for so many years. I will definitely go back and the price was very good at $50 a night for the first two nights and then $25 for each additional night.  You fend for yourself on food but that really wasn't a problem with so many choices in the immediate area.

The big danger here is that Gruber's is right across the parking lot.  They made out well on each of us over the weekend.  Now I know why the rates are low, the sales are clearly higher.

I put together Danielle's off-center log cabin and thought it was a great, quick pattern.  This past weekend I finished the quilt top with a border to complete the look.  Page is going to quilt it with simple clean lines to carry through the "modern" quilt look and then it is going to a couple of shows.

The second retreat was the Midnight Monster's gathering at Emma Krumbee's in Belle Plain.  With 22 of us it gets a little tight and noisy some times but always fun.  I worked on the arc's for the Bachelor Wedding Ring.  There were only another 120 of those that I needed - ha...now I have to put them onto the melons for the next step.

I got the border on Danielle's quilt shown above and I finished the applique on the quilt for Chase's raffle as part of her year as president of the Children of the American Revolution in Maryland.  I got the whole top assembled and ready for quilting.  Page was willing to move the quilt to the top of the list so I can get it bound and off to Chase for the sale of raffle tickets.  (a couple of years ago I did a quilt for her brother and it help generate $4500 in fund raising for injured vets)  Chase should have the quilt by the first of April for her installment as state president.  Let me know if you want a raffle ticket.

I don't have any more retreats planned in the near future but I might think about it if I can get this much done in just a weekend or two.

Doilies in Blue with Scalloped border

Doilies in Blue

Back to the stash one more time.  I saw this quilt demonstrated on Simply Quilts about 15 years ago.  I had drawn out the basic directions at the time but I had to redesign the blocks when I sat down to make it.

This is a very quick and simple quilt that is fun to make.  The fans or heart shaped doilies are a quarter cut of a 14 in Battenburg lace doily (ordered online) set into a log cabin style framing square.  The blocks are placed on point with simple sash and corner stones.

The quilt is 54 x 64 with an 80:20 batt.  I worked with Page Johnson of The Quilting Page to use a motif that laid down the quilting in a feather as the shape of the scallop.  This made adding the piping along the feather spine a simple and very even line to follow - a variation on foundation piecing where you just stitch on the printed line.  Adding the binding was easy but a little tricky in the deep valleys.

Side Note:  There is a queen sized version of this quilt that was made as a signature quilt for a wedding reception.  Guests are asked to sign a separate piece of paper (keeps the mistakes off the quilt) which is then slid in behind the doily and traced using a pigma pen.