Quilt retreat and good friends!

 Last Thursday, I trekked to Encampment for a quilt retreat which has become an annual event. Approximately 30 quilters, experienced and novice participated for the two day retreat.  With quilts displayed and hung from nearly every available space, it can only be described as a truly successful venture again.  We set up Thursday afternoon and returned on Sunday for clean-up. This community of quilters and residents furnished enough food for 3 meals both days and there was an abundance of salads, desserts and meats for all as well as breakfast casseroles and drinks.

 This is a portion of the Green River ladies' quilt inventory, which they transported in a U-Haul truck and it is also the fourth year they have come with their wares and have taught a class.  It is owned by a gal and her mother and they assured us that they love coming here and have already committed to next year, same place, same time.

 The flower above is a fractured technique, taught by an instructor on Saturday and although both classes taught were optional, almost everyone took both classes and this gal came from Nebraska, also having taught last year.
Below is the wall hanging, the Green River gals taught on Friday and will hold Christmas cards or pictures etc. and I thoroughly enjoyed learning both techniques.  The camaraderie with all of these ladies is terrific and we all feel like one big family. We have been through some tough times and some great times and in a small ranching community, it is especially necessary. I had been gone for a year and when I arrived, each and everyone of my friends gave me the biggest bear hugs...it brought me to tears and I so miss them.

 Enough of the pity party. The Mr. and I have been hitting garage sales as I have mentioned before and yesterday was an unusually great day. However, the little sewing machine below was scored at a flea market a few weeks ago and it now graces the top of my White Treadle.  Love it!

Next time, more about the garage sale day.

Garden addition and more

 Our small backyard has much potential for gardening and the ugly spot of grass is going to be beautiful when I get finished with it.  The Mr. has been killing the invasive crabgrass-like green growth in the lawn and I decided to eliminate the grass all together in this spot by building a flower bed.  Yes! I have in the past had great success in making great flower beds in questionable soil by lining the area with layers of newspaper and covering with good soil and mulch.  This is left over the fall and winter to compost and in the spring....plant!!!

 We used about 10 bags of garden soil and some dead and decomposing grass clippings (NO SEEDS) .

 Looks pretty good right now and will be even more wonderful next year.  The downside is that I forgot that I have a little grey dog who loves to play in the dirt....so he has been loving it for now.  We have had a good deal of rain in the evenings so this will speed up the decay process.  I also did not take into account of the sprinklers which cannot easily be seen so I had the Mr. turn them on, hoping that I had not covered up one of them.  Luckily I did not and there is one just to the side of my bed which will water the entire area.

 These are not great pictures of the spoon pincushion, but the idea is clear I think.  I found this great large shell-bowled spoon for a dollar at a yard sale and with some of the items my buddy and I had collected, I was able to make this antique look for a little of nothing with fabric and glue!  I am on the hunt now for more!  The Mr. and I have been hitting a lot of garage sales and we have scored some stuff we probably don't need.  However, we meet some nice people!

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly." ~ Lauren Bacall

Sumer?

 

 Summer has been so busy!  I did not realize it had been so long since I posted anything!  We have had house guests the past two weekends.  It has been great to have family and friends. Of course, Frontier Days, the Daddy of them All, was here for 10 days and that was a huge event and now with Sturgis just north of us, the celebrating continues with the onset of bikes traveling through.  Above is the finished quiver that the Mr. finished and the intended niece and her husband came to pick it up this past weekend.  It fit well as she is a tiny little thing and she seemed to love it.  I moved into this home with no knowledge of the plantings in the back yard and after what seemed like a long winter, this spring brought pleasant surprises.  However, this plant was unknown to me and I waited to see if it was friend or foe. My gardening guru was here last week and correctly identified it as Hollyhock Mallow or miniature hollyhocks.  (I did some research after I had an idea of the name of the plant).  The plants, and they are several, were no doubt planted by the birds as they all are directly below the fence line. My neighbor has them I discovered and I love them!  

 As you can see, they grow quite tall and have tiny blooms which look like Hollyhocks. They will be allowed to grow here in abundance.  Below, the pot, which experienced a disastrous hailstorm, stripping the leaves and blooms early in the summer, now flourishes and the little bunnies which frolic below are all garage sale purchases.

 Also surprising me was this beautiful Clematis.  The blooms are fading now but it has bloomed almost constantly all summer.

We have been hitting a lot of garage sales (and have scored some great deals), walking the dogs through the neighborhood and parks, and spending time in retirement doing what we like.  Life is good!

"Think of the world YOU carry within YOU". ~ Ranier Maria Rilke

Yard repair

 Over the years of posting on this blog I have lived in at least 4 homes and worked on gardens in each, digging ponds, moving dirt and planting, only to leave and see all of my work undone.  I CAN'T HELP IT! Not only is my thumb green, but all of my fingers are various shades of green.  Above, you can see that these areas next to the house were completely covered with two layers of heavy landscape barrier and these rocks.  I was thrilled to see the two snapdragons struggling next to the house trying to grow and they are beautiful.  However when I removed the black barrier fabric, I discovered that most of their roots were between the rocks and the fabric and that they were a perennial variety with large roots at least an inch in diameter.  After exposing the roots in order to remove the rocks, I struggled to try to cover them up and I am not sure they will survive, but I believe they will at least produce seeds and hope to use them.  The rocks in this first bed below were also under the plastic (backfill perhaps) and took me a week to remove them.  I have successfully cleaned the next bed and amended the soil with compost and manure.  YES!  Hope to plant in the fall and next spring.

Note the ugly grass also.  The Mr. is fond of chemicals.  Actually, the soil in the back yard is not very good and we had a lot of crabgrass so die, die, die!  He has already re-planted some of these areas and we are confident that we will have another beautiful yard in time.

So another bright spot in my day today, actually two, was a text from an old friend from many years ago who discovered that I was back in the city.  I was so pleased to hear from her (I should have reached out earlier..my bad) and since we are both quilters, we had much in common with which to communicate.  In other words, the conversation was wonderful and lengthy and so glad to share news of the "kids" and "grandkids".  The other bright spot was that the Mr. sold his flatbed trailer which had taken up half of our garage since we arrived here.  We really do not have a need for it here and now we will have a work space.

3 of my quilting buddies and I trekked to Ft. Collins Tuesday and we had breakfast at the Silver Grill (our favorite place to eat there), checked out the Cupboard and other shops and hit two quilt stores.  I now have several projects to keep me occupied when the weather starts to turn white, as well as many UFO's to complete.  It was a great day!
Thanks gals!

"One of the wonderful things about women is that we are bonded by shared experiences." ~ Anita Roddick

More quiver and bear

 I have gotten behind again! Last Friday I had 3 of my favorite people come to visit and we had lunch, shopped and hit the quilt shops of course.  I miss the quilters from Encampment and my other friends from over that way so very much.  It was a great day.  They took my bear quilt back with them for a quilt display which is taking place in the library.  So I hurried and got eyes on them.  The Mr. drilled a couple of holes and removed the shanks on the back of the eyes as I did not want to mount them permanently on my quilt.

 He has been diligently working on the quiver for his niece and although the design has been revised a couple of times, it is slowly coming along.  It takes so very much time as every seam is hand stitched with two needles---one on top and one underneath.  It will be so very nice.

We had a quiet but hot 4th of July and were able to watch the fireworks from our neighborhood. Today, it approaches the 90's and some places in our state are expected to reach 100.  This is so unusual for us and for once I am thankful for air conditioning.

More thriftin' and good times

 Last weekend I crossed the border (state line between WY and CO), to meet with my good buddy for a trip to the French Nest in the heart of FT. Collins, now referred to as FOCO? The French Nest is an outdoor market with two blocks dedicated to crafter, antique, and other venders as well as a block of fresh produce venders. It is such a variety of eye candy and the shoppers bring their dogs.  We really did enjoy the morning.  We did other shopping and had lunch and went to a quilt show in Berthoud and on Sunday we went to another large flea market in Lafayette.  Such fun!! I spent the weekend with her and above, I came home with an old sled which she let me take.  She told me she had no room for it and I will always keep it (unless she needs it back at some future date).  I love, love, love, it and I put a quilt on it and my cat, Coalette promptly decided it was her perch.

 Yesterday, being Saturday, we hit some garage sales.  I have a fondness for old windows and we stumbled across a shed where there were probably at least 20 windows of all sizes and numbers of panes which the young man had inherited when he bought the home.  They ranged in price from $1 to $10.  This one above was $1.  I simply don't have room for storing them or I would have grabbed more.  Sorry girls!  And below, the large bowl and the vase below cost all of 50 cents.  With a tube of silicone, I now have a bird bath for the back yard. Did I tell you that I love garage sales?

We did get some more good stuff, practical things like new garden gloves, garden edging, storage bins, etc. We have to limit ourselves though and not bring home everything we see.  I also got 8 yards of flannel on a bolt for $2.00.  It has a woodsy print with trees and little bears so I am sure I will find it perfect for a quilt. I am thrifty--not cheap!

"You would be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap." ` Dolly Parton

Thriftin', sewin' & hailin'

 For the sum of one whole dollar, I found this shelf at the Meals on Wheels thrift mart.  I simply cleaned it and sanded a little to distress it and hung it on my sewing wall with some of my other finds and treasures.

 This "Beary Patches" quilt is an Annette Ornelas pattern.  I fell in love with the pattern when first I saw it and was determined to actually finish it after starting the pattern.  (I will never finish everything I start) It is the perfect size for a wall. I'm thinking though that I want eyes on the bears, so I will start looking for something.

Now I have mentioned the thrift and some of the sew, but the hail?.....On Monday eight of us quilters embarked on a shop hop of sorts.  My car with 4 and another car of 4 left a parking lot near here at about 8:30.  When a group of ladies travel together, there is always a "potty stop" first, and this stop allowed some of us to shop also.  Then we arrived in Lyons Co, which is about 70 or so miles south and like all quilt shops, it is eye candy for a quilter.  We spent a good deal of time there and shopped another gift shop and decided to drive to Berthoud for lunch where we ate at the Train Stop,  I think that was the name of the place.  Anyway, before we left we had been aware of impending bad weather..actually severe weather including tornadoes.  The Laughing Ladies quilt Shop was just around the corner from our lunch stop and as we were shopping, the warnings came over the speakers about rain, wind, hail and tornadoes just a few miles from us including our route back to Cheyenne.  We felt that we might miss them and continued to shop although we encountered people who had been in the hail and wind which we apparently had missed.  We decided to wait a bit and headed to Windsor the Quilter's Stash, another great shop.  We passed areas that had been hit with heavy rains, but encountered none and as we continued to shop for fabric there, more warnings came over the speakers.  We left and had heard that there was a great ice cream shop on the way (who doesn't like a treat?) and we stopped at Freddies and all had yummy for the tummy things.  By this time, we could see the storm north and moving that way so onward we drove reaching the parking lot at about 5 I think.  4 of the gals had left their cars parked in the lot.  ALL were damaged..windshields, sun roofs, pitted hoods, tops etc. The Mr. had been shoveling hail...mostly small stuff but he had some golf ball sized pieces in the freezer.  There was damage to homes from tornadoes east of us and lots of vehicle damage here, but in our trek to shop for fabric, we just avoided every bit of bad weather.  I feel so bad for the 4 gals who left their vehicles here. However, it was a great day and a wonderful bunch of ladies to quilt shop hop with me.

" I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship." ~ Louisa May Alcott