Country Girl

I was so excited about getting my Harold and the Purple Crayon mini quilt finished in time to take it my guild meeting, and turn it in for the upcoming quilt show, I forgot to take a picture of it before I handed it over. I'll be sure to take a picture of it hanging in the show!

I've changed the name of the other little quilt I was working on for the show to Country Girl. Here she is:

You can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.

I love this little quilt! I liked the Madrona Road fabric as soon as I saw it, and I surprised myself by buying a bundle of the entire collection, and in the pink/orange colorway! The fabrics begged me to put them in a sampler, but not just any sampler. I found the Perfect Points pattern on the Connecting Threads website.

From the beginning, this quilt has had me thinking of Flagstaff, AZ, my home town. Look at these design motifs:

We didn't have a truck, but my stepdad had a big, old, carryall. It's like an enclosed truck. It certainly drove like a truck; I had to use both hands to shift gears!

We didn't have a windmill, but we had a well for water. That's why I take quick showers, and turn off the water when soaping my hands or dishes, or brushing my teeth. We learned to conserve water, or we would run out!

We did have a donkey! My sister, Grace, begged to keep it, then she had the job of taking care of it. On mornings when she was late with its breakfast, that donkey made a lot of noise.

In the summer, fields around Flagstaff are filled with prairie sunflowers.

There's no better place to look at stars. At 7000 ft. altitude, you feel as if you could reach out and touch the sky. Did you know that Flagstaff is the first International Dark Sky City? Those nighttime views are protected!

Julie has been my friend since we were in high school together in Flagstaff. We encouraged each other in textile arts and other projects, love for the outdoors, and appreciation of all things quirky and/or beautiful. As high school friends do. Julie commented on a Flickr picture of this quilt, "That's an amazing amount of work!" I can't begin to add up all the hours that went into this quilt. Including the hours picking out stitches that didn't work, like the machine embroidered words I later covered with a Dresden/sunflower. 

Burying threads, so there is no backstitching on the quilt top.
This bandanna print is the back of the quilt. 

Every time I started or stopped a line of quilting stitches, I pulled the top and bobbin threads to the same side, knotted them, threaded them onto a needle and buried the knots in the quilt layers. That was a lot of loose threads to hide!

Even after I posted a picture on facebook, and called the quilt done, I went back and added a few more areas of free motion quilting. 

I added the vine stitching in some white areas to flatten them.

I loved working on this little quilt, and it's got me looking forward to visiting Flagstaff soon! I will enjoy seeing it hanging in the upcoming quilt show, and when it comes home, let's see if I hang it on the wall, or if I add some more quilting to the background! 

Although, I am already onto a new project...

Tie-dyed fabric, getting chopped!

Gotta wear real shoes

After I'd lived in California for several years, I was packing to visit Flagstaff, AZ, my hometown, and I realized I didn't have any appropriate shoes. I had sandals, canvas shoes, gym shoes, shoes with decorative cut-outs or woven leather, and dressy shoes, but no sturdy, waterproof, dirt-resistant shoes for wearing in snow or on dirt walkways.

I came ready with some dirt-worthy walking shoes this time, and I put them to good use. Of course we made the obligatory trip to Red Mountain, and we enjoyed sharing with newbies. What a magical place this eroded cinder cone is, with weird hoodoos and cinder  hills! Funny thing is, with just adults making the hike, it didn't take as long as usual!

We didn't do more than stroll along the rim of the Grand Canyon the day we went there, but we enjoyed the beautiful view as part of our lunch date with Mom. What a decadent day, driving to the Canyon to eat lunch (Navajo tacos - yum!) in the El Tovar Lodge: the original craftsman-style, Fred Harvey railroad stop right on the rim of the canyon.

Mmmm, a Navajo taco is Indian fry bread topped with chili and taco fixings.

Here's Ralph, taking pictures of us during our hike at the top of Oak Creek Canyon. I love the rocks!

Here's another hike, on the Sandy's Canyon Trail, where we saw pines and aspens, sandstone and basalt, wildflowers, and even a cute little horned toad!

We also hiked on the Kachina Trail, on the San Francisco Peaks. That's 11000' altitude.

There were also hikes taken around our cabin in the woods, but I opted for relaxation on the deck, instead!

Here's Pamela, who blew out her Italian hiking boots on our first day. She made the rest of our hikes wearing her Teva sandals. So much for real shoes!

Pamela tied the semi-detached soles to the tops of her boots to make the hike out of Red Mountain.

More travels, continued, with more photos!

Following our day in D.C., the Hurwitz's joined us! Hooray! We went to Annapolis and played at the park, walked the wharf, and drove around the historic sites. 

"Don't take my picture!"

I love being loved by you!

Discussing music and culture.

A surprise push! "Not so high, Gramma!"

Love the beards.

Wearing her favorite Little Orphan Annie dress.

This is not a stick. It's a bomb. To keep the bears away.

I told Laura she didn't have to buy Poppy a present, surely she had something at home that would make Poppy glad. Despite her protestations, Laura found a bin that was a treasure chest of Barbies and dress-ups. 

Poppy loves this Snow White dress that Laura once made for  Molly.
It was Emma, Laura says, who once cut a chunk out of the hem to use for a project.

Crazy-hair Barbies are still precious.

On the way home we stopped to take a peek at the oldest, continuously active social club in America, formed in 1700, house built in 1742. Take that, facebook!

You can get a glimpse of a flowering cherry tree behind Bethany and Poppy. We saw beautiful foliage; white and pink cherry blossoms and dogwoods, and tulip trees. We were fortunate to be there when everything was so beautiful!

Traveling

Sometimes I think poor John lives with his boring, old parents who never do anything fun, and I try to drag him along to the local festival (strawberry, art in the park, kite flying), or for a walk at the beach. Sometimes he'll go along with it. Then, I sometimes try something bigger, like two weeks ago, when I gave myself a 3-day weekend. My classroom was being used for meetings, so I took John out of school and we joined Ralph in San Diego where he was taking a class.
We joined up with Linda and Randy S., and Evelyn joined us for some  yummy dinners,

Phil's Barbecue

Amazing Brussel's sprouts at Bo Beau

and some walking around some artist studios, and we toured the Pt. Loma lighthouse.

Funny, when we were on the beach, our phones were telling us we were in Mexico. We could see it from there...

Yes, John's a little shaggy and windblown, here! We all like the long hair look, but John was ready for a change, and a more student-appropriate look.

 Now we're on Spring Break - woohoo! More adventures to come...