Indigo Storm at Sea

Kate and I just had an update from John who is driving to the NQA show in Columbus, Ohio. Yesterday he was lost in Iowa; today is a better day.

This little Storm at Sea wall hanging is John's latest project. It is made with our 9" Storm at Sea templates and is made from beautiful genuine indigo from our friends at Cotton in the Cabin Loring and Sandy are part of our vending "family" and John made this for Sandy's booth. He is hoping they will be in Columbus so he can leave the quilt at it's new home.

Our two antique ribbon cases came from Loring and Sandy also - right now our ribbon cases are full to overflowing with machine embroidery thread, beautiful! Sometimes I imagine a little girl in an old country store, pressing her nose up against the cases, admiring the ribbons and hoping her mother will buy her some ribbon for her hair. Oh, and a peppermint stick, too.

Brooke

Signs of Spring

We had a hectic Friday, followed by a very peaceful weekend. John leaves Monday for the NQA show in Columbus, Ohio. After his last unpleasant airplane flights, I know he is glad to be driving. He is teaching Braided Borders, Arabic Lattice and, his old standby, Double Wedding Ring. Kate made pre-cut kits for all the classes; it makes the class a lot easier for both John and the students.

Rock Creek has come down a little and we had fish for breakfast again. John dug up an old and nasty gooseberry bush and some wild roses that were taking over by the foundation. I washed an indigo wall hanging John made for a vendor friend of ours. It still needs to have the binding finished but I will take a picture of it for the blog tomorrow before he leaves.

These are some of the flowers that are blooming right now. The deer have been eating the lilies of the valley we transplanted about 3 weeks ago. Silly deer, don't you know they are poisonous?

Brooke

June in Montana

We had our sew-in and barbecue in Red Lodge this weekend. Here is a summary; we ate, did Crosswords and Sudoku and read, we sewed, we slept, we ate waffles, we sewed, we fished, we barbecued and played games, we ate, we sewed and played games, it snowed, we ate and played games, we slept, we ate fresh caught fish, we sewed, we played games, it kept snowing, we ate, we sewed and played games and it is still snowing. I might have left out some of the times we ate.

Sorry, Peggy and Joan, that this isn't a better picture; we really enjoyed the weekend. John came within micro meters of hitting a deer on the way back to Billings. Did I mention it snowed?

Brooke

Little Red Truck

Kate, Kevin and I had a little adventure this weekend - Kevin drove us down to Casper, Wyoming to take a look at a used pickup. Well, it was just what they wanted so he and Kate bought it and now there is a perfect spot for the dogs to sit and back seat drive.

Casper is 4 - 5 hours from Billings and a little farther from Red Lodge via the interstate. I decided to come back on the secondary roads west of the interstate. I'm glad I did - I hadn't seen that part of Wyoming for so long. Some things have changed but not the mountain views. The Wind River Canyon outside of Thermopolis (world's largest hot springs) is a beautiful sight and I was thrilled when Heart Mountain came in to view since I grew up in a town east of that landmark.

I also took a photo of Red Lodge from the Bearcreek Hill which is east of town. You can still see the snow on some of the ski runs across the valley. You can't see Rock Creek but I could hear it from the hill; it is very high right now and roaring away. Well, it was a nice road trip and, wow, what a spiffy truck!

John got in late Sunday from teaching in North Carolina. What a total pain it is to fly anymore. I felt sorry for him since not one of the 4 legs of his trip went as scheduled. I know he worries about getting to the engagement on time and with his quilts; would be nice if the airlines were a little more predictable.

Brooke

Game Time

Not a lot of sewing went on this weekend; mostly eating, bike riding and, in John's case, a marathon session of tree clearing and grubbing. He managed to rescue the horse shoe pits from about 6 years neglect. Rock Creek is right over the bank to the left in this picture. It is a steep drop and the creek is very high right now, so, if a shoe accidentally goes into the creek, it's there until the stream level drops. Just adds a little excitement to the game.

John got his 30 year old Schwinn bike repaired and aired up and rode with me all three days this holiday. Well, he rode with me until I had to stop and then went on way up the road. He was really going fast on the way back down the hill. It was just beautiful weather this weekend and we even got a little barbecuing in.

Tomorrow I put John on the plane for the North Carolina Quilt Symposium - his classes are full and the quilters seem to be excited for him to come. We still need to pack his quilts - which ones get to go and which ones have to stay?

Brooke

Small Accomplishments

Since strawberries are in season, we experimented with berries, Devonshire Cream and angel food cake. We liked the cake better than the meringues I made - they were very sweet and took away from the berries. We also tried rhubarb; now that's tart!

John put a little 3" Wheel of Mystery pre-cut kit together and got it quilted and bound! It is 12" x 15". We have noticed that quilters really like the miniature pre-cut kits - they sell out first at shows. They are very cute - they take a long time for us to get boxed up but we love them too.

I have been riding my new bike. I am getting better but feel really intimidated when the packs of serious bikers with their yellow windbreakers all cruise by me with no effort, uphill. Well, someday I may get there.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Brooke

A Small Project - Big Cause

Kate designed this 4" x 8" project for the AQS Teachers' gift bags. The hope is that, when the teachers have time, they will piece the kit together and then send it to Ami Simms for her Alzheimer's fundraising efforts.

No, it's not paper pieced.

Here is the link for Ami's Alzheimer's fundraising site; there are some beautiful quilts there and you can help by choosing one. http://www.AlzQuilts.org

It's windy as all get out today, hang on to your hat.

Brooke