Back on line

 I took some time away from the blog...vacation, illness (bloody shingles), not bloody per say, but irritating, and just plain time away.  I am finally finding time to post and a friend and I are finishing some projects that have been sitting unfinished for years, one being this birdhouse I have had for about 8 years in this primed state.  It is still not completed, but is getting there.

I have much more to do, but it will get done!  I have also been working on a baby quilt, which is on it's way to the gramma, my sister.  In addition, I have been purging!  I have been cleaning cupboards, shelves, closets, chests, - anything that is storage for "stuff".  Who in the world needs 25 wine glasses?  I do not like clutter or trinkets sitting around. I have a few things that I collect, but my tastes gravitate to primitive and simple and I really like to repurpose rather than buy new.  So yesterday, after lunch, the Mr. and I worked over two dining room chairs that were given to me last year along with a table in pieces.  The wood was really pretty.  These chairs have been sitting in the crawl space after I took the backs off to use in another project.  We needed some small stools to put at the end of our beds so that our little fur babies could access them.  (yes our dogs are allowed on the beds--it is what we do)
So we cut off the legs and remaining back support and I recovered the seats and that will be my next post.

I have still been going to quilt with my pals on Mondays and it has been so rewarding.  We are nearly finished with our row by row quilt strips and they are really wonderful.  As we, the baby boomers age, I see those who have little energy, become "older".  They have no hobbies and not much contact with the outside world.  I learned so much from my father and I remember that as he aged, he and my mother stayed busy, went to coffee, played cards, went to rock shows, etc.  On the other hand, my husband's father retired and never left the house.  There were 20 years difference nearly when the two passed. Thankfully, the Mr. and I have been fortunate to have our health and are able to "get out and about" and are trying to keep our youth as long as possible.  With all that is happening in our world today, we are also thankful that we live in this little isolated part of the world where our power comes from small co-ops and we are not on the national computerized grid.  (That is another story.)

" 'Tis the gift to be simple. 'Tis the gift to be free." ~ Old Shaker Hymn

Vacation

The Mr. and I and Spencer and Roger (our little furkids) took a vacation and drove to Washington state to see our daughter and son-in-law.  We found plenty of "dog friendly" places to stay and they were great little travelers.  Our kids welcomed them with open arms, but Lulu her cat, wasn't as welcoming although she pretty much stayed out of their way and sight as they invaded her space.

The pot above, which I believe to be a rustic enameled chamber pot, was a find at a yard sale last year and I finally found a use for it. I really like reusing things with a former life.

 This wonderful piece of yummy bread is a gift from my daughter.  She gave me a starter which was she made from grapes as the active ingredient in the fermenting process.
It is a batter bread (no kneading) which is baked in a cast iron Dutch oven.  I was worried that the altitude had affected it as the top cracked so much, but she assured me that it was just fine and it WAS!  I will be using this for other recipes that I will be researching as I love to bake! (a testament to the roll around my gut)

Among my collections are these miniature rolling pins. As a child I had one and most little girls did get to help in the kitchen rolling out dough for pies or cookies.  So when I arrived at my daughter's, she presented me with 4 more!  I love them and it is a reminder of my childhood.  They are not easy to locate, but they do not take up much space and with once exception, there are no duplicates.

With the temperatures dropping, and the trees in their winter fall colors, which by the way, has been spectacular, I have been getting the gardens ready for the first real frost and the snows that will follow.  On our trip home, we passed through the town in Oregon on  Monday before the terrible shootings.  Each day is a blessing so hug your loved ones and live it as if it were your last.

Fall?

Maybe pumpkins in the Wheelbarrow? It is supposed to freeze tonight so the hoses have been disconnected and the garden?  Well it is probably done except for the root crops.  This week I scored a great find in this rusty ol' wheelbarrow at a yard sale.  I have had one before, and I love to plant in them in the spring so even though this has a flat and came with a spare of sorts, I don't care!!  I love it and may use it for my miniature garden...on my bucket list.  The enameled pot, probably a chamber pot was a $1.00 score and i think it is a perfect planter don't you?  I am a fan of primitive decor and I think

it is because we don't recycle enough. Things had a previous life and if they could talk! I would love it if I could rummage through the landfill here, but we are not allowed to do that and there is some great stuff there!  Call me nuts maybe, but that's OK.

The quilt retreat held here last month was such a success and this
is the table topper we did as a quilt as you go project.  However, I felt like it needed something more to really express the fall theme it reflects.  I had a piece of fabric with these pumpkins so I shared with my quilt buddies and now it is fall!

Row by Row

Monday was our row exchange and these are a row for my good friend's quilt.  Her original was a leaf and several rows have been added since with a variety of patterns.  It is paper pieced which I like to do.

This was a sad week for us as we had to say goodbye to Hildy, our old border collie mix.  She would have been 14 in December and was the best dog we ever had.  I could go on about the love she gave us and the joy having her with us always played such an important part of our lives, but anyone who has had a fur kid probably knows this.

The two little boys and the Mr. and I went for a drive to the mountains yesterday.  Although we did not camp but once this year, the area is so close that we can make day trips easily.  With lunch in hand, we headed up Black Hall road and eventually found a couple of neighbors who were camped there.  They had just pulled off the lake with some nice trout on the string and we all went back to their camp for lunch.  The trees are just beginning to change colors and there is still much evidence of the damage the bark beetles left, but still fairly pristine and spectacular.

There is so much logging because of the dead trees that the log trucks are traveling the forrest roads like freeways.  On our way back, we encountered several in a train behind a derailed truck with engine trouble probably.  Luckily we had enough room to pass.  The other thing we did was search for a couple of geocaches (sp). Two were located with ease and we did log in both and left a small toy alligator in one.  It was our intention to leave one someplace, but that will be for another trip.  It was a very good day!

"To be beautiful and to be calm is the ideal of nature." ~ Richard Jefferies

Summer fun

The Mr. and I have always taken some "Marvelous Adventures" here in Wyoming.  While I quilted on Monday with my pals, he and a friend loaded up the gold panning equipment into the ol' Land Cruiser and headed south for riches unknown.  His ultimate goal I believe (as we are still waiting for the riches) was to locate this old site he had read about and knew the approximate location.  He is a mad man when it comes to maps, and technology now allows him to "google" these locations with a touch of the finger on the keyboard.

There are a few remnants remaining at this site, including the old truck with the tree growing from the midsection as well as an old stove.  There are many of these old sites and some very interesting history attached to them.  Much has been written in various articles and there is still a lot of Marvelous Adventures to take. By the way, I did not see any gold nuggets, although I know he did reach the stream with shovel and pan.

So while I was at the library quilting, a wonderfully talented lady came in with this item and strolled toward me.  I immediately got up and was drawn to this primitive "make do".  A make do is something made to serve a purpose and is created with what you have.  You "make do" with whatever is at hand.
I have always loved primitives and perhaps that is because I grew up in an era where we always had to make do.  It was a way of life for us and a lot of others.  This gal had been at my home only once and realized it was something I would like.  I did not know when she approached our group that she had actually meant it for me.

If you look closely, the bottom pedestal is a glass candlestick, painted to look like rusty metal. The petals are felt and the pincushion is rug hooked.  (I remember my grandmother hooking a rug). Of course, the black crow is always used in primitive decorating.  So I love this "make do".  Thank you Kathy.

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." ~ Sir James Barrie

More quilt projects from our Retreat

 This shows a few of the girls' projects at various stages near the end, attaching the binding. These angles were different from a typical 90 degree corner.  The girls from the Rock Springs shop taught this table topper which was a "quilt as you go" project.  I learned a lot from this instructional and the bottom picture shows the finished project, with the binding attached on top rather than the bottom.  She used a decorative buttonhole stitch from her machine, eleminating any hand sewing!

We are experiencing a good deal of smoke from the fires out west and although the wind is blowing it out, it is blowing it in.  We need some

rain badly.  The prairie grasses are so tall and the fire danger even here is high.  We try to keep the
brush down around our structures, but if we got a prairie fire, it might be devastation for us.

This retreat was such a success and we are thankful for so many organizers and volunteers who made this possible.  Quilting arts are experiencing a popularity now that I have not seen in my lifetime.  Modern quilters are contributing much to prolong this manner of expression and are delving into the history of quilting.  Victorian women used it as a place to display and practice their needlework with the beautiful Crazy quilts using silks and velvets and our pioneer ancestors quilted on the rough trails to provide warmth for their loved ones using whatever pieces of fabric could be salvaged.  Black American women in the south used a different way of putting fabrics together and that documentation is available in museums and examples still in some homes.  All tell a story of sorts and we today have such a myriad of fabrics and tools to work into the art of quilting along side of the many, many experts who still quilt by hand.  Admiring this skill and hoping that this type of quilting does not go out of style, I have not yet and may not ever be a hand quilter.

Quilt retreat

With at least 21 quilters attending our 2 day retreat in the small town of Encampment Wy, I think I can speak for everyone in saying that it was a success. Held at the historic Opera House, the sewing machines kept buzzing until the power went off on Saturday for about 3 hours.
(It actually occurred to us that we may have put a strain on the power grid with our activity.)  Not so!  But with 2 paper piecing classes, two jelly roll classes on Friday and a "quilt as you go" class for all on Saturday we learned so very much.  Thanks to some dedicated people who supplied food for both days, including a local gentleman who

made a delicious fried chicken dish for our evening meal on Friday, we ate well and of course, there was wine and chocolate.

These pictures are examples of what these gals did with my paper pieced pattern, choosing to orient the 4 squares in different ways.  This was the first class in quilting that I have had the privilege to teach and I was pleased to see that most actually got their blocks finished.

There was much ribbing, giggling, teasing and my goal was to make this class relatively stress-free and to see that it was fun.  The Jelly Roll

class was held simultaneously with mine so I was unable to take it, but the girls were able to get far enough along to be able to finish on their own and they chose their own fabrics in advance so it will be fun to see the finished tops.

Rock Springs is the location of the quilt shop where our vendors call home and this is the second year that they have both held a class for us as well as bringing their store to us.  Like Christmas for quilters, bolts of fabric, precuts, tools etc were available for purchase and we did buy!!

Thanks to all for making this 2nd annual quilt retreat such a fun time and there will be more of the projects on the next post.