The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Well, so much for fall.
Yesterday it started snowing.

We only had a little, but it was coming down pretty hard. The seven year old got out his snow boots and started looking for his snow pants. I thought that was overkill.

Apparently I was wrong.

This morning we woke to find we have 6 1/2 inches.

Our roof.

Okay. So snow boots will be used today ;)

Okay, so clearly someone needs a lesson on how to properly wear a bow tie. lol

It kind of reminds me of Mickey Mouse ears :)

That's a little better.

Why is this picture noteworthy? It's because it was taken by my two year old. His sister was working on making crescent rolls. Did I mention the two year old LOVES bread? That's an understatement. He says he is going to be a "Tuck-og-a-fer." ;)

He took this one too. Not too bad. And he didn't even rock the camera back and forth to follow the movement of the swing like his seven year old brother does ;)

Pattern Testing, Thrifted Sheets, and More Books!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been test sewing a pattern for Karen Wilson. It's a fun dinosaur themed quilt, and I figured with all my boys I could use a good dinosaur quilt!

Her directions are easy to follow and the quilt worked up quickly, despite it taking me several days to complete. It would have been fast anyway, if I could have gotten three minutes in a row to myself! HA. Not in this house :) But even with just being able to work a few minutes here and there, the pattern came along nicely.

I especially love how detailed her directions are. She includes instructions on which direction to press the seams, so nothing is left to wonder about, and it all comes together beautifully in the end. I still have to quilt and bind mine, but I wanted to let you know about the pattern now, as she has the pattern listed in her etsy shop now.


Of course what post would be complete without some kid pictures? :)


This one cracks me up. I found the 2 year old eating his cereal this morning with a fork. Dry chocolate ball cereal. It wasn't working so well, as you might guess, and nobody is quite sure where he got the fork!

Today I made my weekly pilgrimage to the local thrift shop, as always, in search of books! Most of the books that catch my attention are children and young adult books. Since we started homeschooling, I can't get enough of books (ask anyone who has helped us move - HA). Today I came home with another 20 of them or so. I haven't counted. All for $3. One of them was one I've seen recommended, but never read. The book is "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis. As soon as I got home, I was thumbing through it to see if it would be worth reading, when these two paragraphs caught my eye. I love this description of a library. I'm now really looking forward to reading the whole book. Here's the quote...

"As soon as I got into the library I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I got a whiff of the leather on all the old books, a smell that got real strong if you picked one of them up and stuck your nose real close to it when you turned the pages. Then there was the smell of the cloth that covered the brand-new books, the books that made a splitting sound when you opened them. Then I could sniff the paper, that soft, powdery, drowsy smell that comes off the pages in little puffs when you're reading something or looking at some pictures, a kind of hypnotizing smell. I think it's that smell that makes so many folks fall asleep in the library. You'll see someone turn a page and you can imagine a puff of page powder coming up really slow and easy until it starts piling up on the person's eyelashes, weighing their eyes down so much that they stay down a little longer after each blink and finally making them so heavy that they just don't come back up at all."

- from Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

I found quite a few good sheets today too - only a dollar a piece! Now what to make them into? Most will probably back other quilts or become reusable grocery bags.

Our Town

You see some interesting things in our little town. Horses going down the main street, for instance.

One of the local ranches was moving their herd of horses through town today, complete with a police escort.

Oh, and did I mention that the main street is also a main highway, with lots of traffic that has to go right through the center of town? And as you can see, we've got plenty of bars - just like a good old fashioned western town. Actually the town is very old fashioned - with false fronts on most of the buildings facing main street, and most of them authentically old. Unfortunately we have a high number of old western saloons/bars. Each of the bars in the photos above are around 100 years old. (That may not be old in New England, but it's old in "wild west" time.) In fact the Cowboy Bar was started by a member of Butch Cassidy's wild bunch. There's a very interesting article on the history of the bar here. Earlier this summer, the current owners decided to re-side the building, and in the process found old metal siding, covered with local cattle brands. They are in the process of preserving those brands now, and the article tells all about it.

Now here are some scenery shots from around here taken yesterday when I took the baby to the doctor. These were all taken on a 77 mile stretch of road - some on the way up in the morning and some coming home in the evening. It's a very pleasurable drive. I never get tired of this scenery.







A storm was brewing on the way home, which made for some spectacular lighting and clouds. The pictures don't even begin to do it justice.






Tonight the weather is chilly (low 40's at the moment) and we've had rain and wind all day. They are predicting snow tonight. I'll post pictures if we get it.

A Happy Coincidence

Yesterday I had to take the baby up to see his doctor again. He got cleared of the pneumonia, and we went ahead with the shots he should have had a month ago, when he was too sick. Of course there are always several stops to make in town for things that are hard to come by in our little town, so I did some shopping. As it turned out, I needed buttons to replace some on my son's SPARKS vest, and some pumpkin-colored embroidery floss, so I stopped at the quilt store ;) While I was there I happened to overhear some customers saying there was a quilt show going on in town. Well, of course I had to go! Thankfully I rarely go anywhere without my camera :)

I'm so glad I did. So many amazing, beautiful, inspiring quilts. The show was called "Quilting in the Tetons" so several of the quilts had a western/Rocky Mountain feel to them. LOVE this elk quilt. It was done by a professional. The booklet given out with quilt info in it says this is called "Bull Elk Serenade," made by Sue Rasmussen, who has taught at Quilting in the Tetons before. This is the 25th and final year for the show. They are hoping to find someone younger to continue it though. Wish I had the time...

This is another of Sue's quilts, this one called, "Grizzly Bear."

Check out the detailed quilting!

Here's a fun quilt made by Didi Salvatierra. It's called "Barnyard Babes, " and the description says, "Fun chicken blocks designed by Mary Lou Weidman; original designs for top and bottom borders by Didi. Machine quilted in chicken wire design. Chicken coops have names of their residents (less likely to eat them if they have names!). Embellished with "straw," buttons, and beads." How fun!

I have to admit this sampler quilt is not my favorite (I do really like the middle left section that looks like borders on borders - I could do a whole quilt like that), but look at the bottom row. See the woman's face?

Now isn't that a fun, clever way to sign a quilt? HA. I wouldn't use a caricature either, as I think those are really hideous, but this us such a fun idea! And the words around it remind me of some signatures I have in an old autograph album my great uncle owned. Sayings like this were a common thing back in the early 1900's, which this quilt "feels" like - depression era fabrics and patterns that would have been popular then.

A group out of Casper, Wyoming brought several quilts using the "blended techniques" taught by Marsha McClosky at Quilting in the Tetons 2008. This was one of those, done by Shelley Landon, entitled "French Garden Party."

Here's a closer look at the center.

I was really drawn in by these flowers.

This was my overall favorite of the quilt show, and the one I voted on for fan favorite. (Actually I loved the elk just as much, but didn't want to vote for one professionally made.) This one is called "Bali Wedding Star" made by Barbara Walsh from a pattern designed by Judy Niemeyer. It contains more than 100 different fabrics. Wow. I love the look of this one, and have on my to-do list a double wedding ring quilt, but that seems boring now, compared to this one. I'm definitely going to have to get this pattern and eventually make this quilt!

I don't usually care for art quilts but this one really impressed me. It was fairly small - 20x30. It's called, "Evening Light: Arches National Park" and is made by Susan Madden.

The color is created with little scraps of fabric stacked one on top of another. The quilting is spectacular as well. Beautiful!

I thought this was another beautiful quilt. I love the blues and browns - those are my go-to colors. I also loved the pattern of this quilt. It has an interesting story too. The quilt is made up of three different state stars - Wyoming, Wisconsin and Ohio. It is a wedding quilt made for a couple named Travis and Christina. Travis is from Ohio, Christina from Wisconsin, and Wyoming is where they make their home together. The quilt was made by Travis's mother and her two sisters (Nora Brant, Mary Lou Dungan, and Ellie Monroe). Turquoise is the bride's favorite color (and mine ;) ). Anyway, the back side is the interesting part...

According to the description, Travis proposed to Christina on a scrabble board :) Gotta love that. So his mom included their names and wedding info on the back in a scrabble pattern. Don't you just love that? And if you look close, you will see the date of the wedding is this upcoming Saturday! Definitely a memorable quilt. I loved this because I already have in the works (plans and fabric purchased) the idea to do a crossword quilt wall hanging with our family names on it. Too fun!

Now this one just amazes me. This is all done by hand in reverse applique by Pat Hitchcock. She has entitled it, "A Little Closer to Insanity." I think it is stunning! Reminds me of a Dear Jane. The description says, "This quilt has 196 - 4 1/2x4 1/2 inch blocks. All the blocks and borders are done by hand in reverse applique. The patterns are in a book: Dutch Treat by Judy Garden. It is a great carry along project, BUT also very time consuming. It took about a year to complete."

Isn't it just amazing? Such tiny little pieces - but I'm guessing reverse applique would actually be easier to do in this size than actual piecing. Still, ridiculously intense work!

This is called a "One Patch Wonder." There must have been a class on this one because there were three of these quilts at the show (all different color schemes) and two at the quilt store. Somehow I missed getting the number in this photo, so I don't know who made it :(

I love the graphic look to this quilt. Kind of like a kaleidoscope. The colors the quilter chose are perfect for the effect. It was made by Judy Larson.

This one reminds me of a Farmer's Wife quilt, which I am currently working on. It's even set on point with the same kind of sashing I'm planning on using. I checked the book when I was standing there to see if it was one, and it isn't, but somehow I missed getting the number, so I don't know what it is :(

This one also reminded me of the Farmer's Wife. It's actually a very cool concept. It's called "Old Maid's Puzzle." Each block in the quilt has a mate, except for the Old Maid's Puzzle block - so clever! Anyway, I'll have to see if I can find all the matches when I have time ;) (You know me and all my spare time - ha).

Anyway, I greatly enjoyed getting to go to the show. I had the baby in one hand and the camera around my neck, and in the other hand. I didn't get to take as much time as I would have liked. It would have been nice to get to read about each quilt as I walked through, but most of them I just read once I got home. I love that they gave us a booklet with all the info in it. And, I signed up for a drawing too, so hopefully I'll win that :) My luck seems to be changing (even though I don't believe in luck) I've won two other give-aways since I posted about my first win. One was a $25 gift certificate for Old Navy, and the other was a Sullivan's Edge ruler - the rotary cutting ruler that sharpens your blade as you cut!

3 Months

This month has gone by so quickly, and yet it seems like the 2 month mark was so long ago. Thinking back, I realized that the 2 month pictures were taken when our little man was having his heart echo. It seems like that happened a long time ago, and yet it seems like October sure got here fast. This month has been full of medications and oxygen and tons of appointments an hour and a half away - sometimes twice a week. Lets hope this next month is a little less eventful :)