Photos from the trip through Custer State Park

Getting Back Into the Swing

Been working on the Bonnie Hunter Christmas Mystery Quilt (through Quiltmaker magazine). I hope that I will be happy with my fabric choices - I have followed her usual instructions and have made mine very scrappy. I made a number of the blocks in the motorhome (see last blog post) and now am assembling them.

Very scrappy with just lights and darks - 2" squares.









I haven't been able to get a good sense of how this will all 'happen', in the end. There will be another red used for a border, as well as another black -but otherwise I think this is all. Interesting, heh?


One of the nicest parts of returning home is to schedule coffee visits with my quilting buddies. My dear friend Ronda found this for me while we were away - isn't it great?



Camp Nana. Oh yes, we know about that around here. :-)
Hugs and Cookies. The best!

Fabric did cross my mind, some of the time

While it is true that we drove almost 5000 miles over the past 6 weeks (Caro -that's almost 8000 km) I did have "fabric thoughts" on occasion. So just to prove my point, this is the little table mat I completed as we drove along. I had bought this whole cloth piece at the Houston Quilt Show, a couple of years ago. It seemed that it would be a good way to have to practice my hand quilting and I could do it while we drove along - well not when I was driving, but when sitting in the passenger seat.

I also was able to do some work on the Bonnie Hunter Christmas Mystery when we were parked. It was a bit small in the motorhome, but we quilters are highly skilled at making "do" and I was able to get quite a bit done. In the wooden tray, there are also some of the pieces of a Lynette Anderson BOM.



I also brought along a table-top ironing board and my 'travel' Rowenta iron. Ever resourceful! Iron some clothes after washing AND iron my patches.




One day we had a field trip to Shipshewana, Indiana. What a very charming town - albeit highly tourist driven. The Amish buggies skooting to and fro, just made me smile. Even the buildings are decorated as part of the theme.










While visiting in Michigan we found a quilt that Elaine's mother had made. No one is sure when it was made or for whom, so guess who became the new owner? [the guess is the 1960's and me :-)] It's about twin size and will be fun on the bed, on top of another quilt.










Never let it be said that Judy Laquidara is the only one with a passion for farm produce (I'm just joking! She never said anything of the sort, but I did think of her as I shopped at the fruit stand.)
I also thought of her when visiting Wheat Montana and just had to try more of their products. Last year it was White Whole Wheat flour. This year it was Spelt flour.

So while the 14 loads of laundry are spinning around (maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it's close) I will be doing a bit of cooking and baking. Tonight it was peach cobbler. More to come.

Life is soooo good!

The Lost have Returned

Actually we knew where we were - it's just that we didn't often have wi-fi so that I could tell you where we were and what was going on. Oh I have so many tales to tell - such an interesting adventure these past (almost) 6 weeks.

Editorial opinion to follow -should you want to quit reading
Today as we drove through western Montana I was particularly struck by the incredible strength of the pioneer women of this country. All the tasks of coming west with something as cumbersome as a covered wagon, usually with a team of oxen - over terrain which was inhospitable as well as impassible for many miles. I'm sure I would have been the first one to say 'OK - here's where we stop. I've had enough'. But those families traveled onward - westward - for months and years to get to the western states where I live. But it wasn't just the moving and the animals, but all the chores of cooking and feeding, clothing, nursing and nurturing. Of course I have also been listening to a book on CD about the early days of settling the U.S. by Louis L'Amour (amazingly philosophical about the whole thing) but that just made it all the more real. I kept looking out the window and trying to think would I have had the fortitude to go on in a wagon? I suspect that each set of mountain peaks, one row after another, would have been a cause for discouragement, not excitement.

[I will work on uploading more photos once home where I can play around with them.]

Western Montana, just starting into the mountains.




A story about quilts:
We visited the Crazy Horse Memorial. An incredible experience. There were many quilts in the museum/display there. They were all the pattern that I know as the Texas Lone Star and I wondered WHY? Eventually I found Freda, a Lakota-Sioux Trabal Elder and a quilter [82 yo]. This is her story: Long ago the Indians hunted buffalo and they served the people in many ways. They provided meat and skins for making TeePee's and wonderful, warm blankets. But the White Men came and the buffalo were soon killed off (virtually) and so the women needed a way to keep their families warm. Meanwhile, protestant 'missionaries' came to convert the native people to Christianity. They brought with them a quilt they called the Star of Bethlehem. The native peoples took the star symbol as their own because they had used the stars for many, many years to guide them in their journeys and that way they could have warm quilts with their own symbol. And at least with the Lakota-Sioux they still use that pattern as one that is meaningful to them. Fascinating.

More to come. Should arrive back home tomorrow evening.

Traveling continues sans Internet

I am a bit surprised at how difficult it has been to find good Internet "hot spots". It is only very sporadically that we have been able to get online. There is always the occasional McDonalds or Barnes and Noble, but to have my camera and cable and computer when there doesn't always occur in sync.

We are leaving Michigan on Sunday and heading west on I-90. We plan on spending a couple of days in the Badlands and to see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument. We will try for an update there. I am reassured that there are a few folks out there who haven't given up on this Nana. I promise more to come with more regularity.

Good wishes to you all.

I'm really not ignoring you

Traveling across the U.S. has surely been an amazing adventure. But it also means several campgrounds without internet access. So just know that when we get settled on Wednesday (12 August) we should be able to find internet access and I'll upload some more pictures. I have also been working on one small, quilting project, (so you don't think I've forgotten how) :-)

Enjoy August.

Are you old enough to remember. . . .

there was an advertising song, "See the USA in your Chevrolet". Well, we are seeing the USA in our Jayco motorhome. Quite the amazing adventure. We stayed last night in St. Regis, Montana



and headed east on I-90.










Doesn't this look like it should be part of the Ponderosa Ranch. I was looking for Hoss' (don't know how to spell that)

By shortly after Butte, I was in new-to-me territory. Interesting to see this country of ours.
Montana is a pretty big state. Lots of mining has gone on here. Cattle, wheat, sheep, horses. We even saw one sign that said: Quilt Store, but it continues to be hot and our days are long enough with our Rest Area stops. But we are eating well and seem to have packed well for meals.











Tonight we are over-nighting in Billings and heading for Medora, North Dakota tomorrow. It's time for the Harley Davidson gathering in Sturgis, so we are going north and avoiding that. The adventure continues. Life is good!