Shenandoah - I'm In!

 So I wanted to take something as handwork to do on our trip and Doreen from Aunt 'Reen has a gorgeous QAL going called Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album Quilt that I found myself ordering.  I am not the only one doing it in wool, it seems...whew!

 Love the texture though my stitches are imperfect...quite a few of these stitches were done in Durango, Colorado while our vehicle was being fixed...seems the transmission didn't want to go into 4th or 5th gear after we left the mountains...the dealer had us in and out and reprogrammed within two hours, no charge.  But my stitches were nervous while we waited to see if a new transmission would be needed, essentially aborting our trip...so thankful that all turned out well :)  Now it will just be part of the "story" of my quilt.

 It was a good thing that I took a few corn pictures when we first got home because the harvest happened a couple days later...I've been seeing an awful lot of deer snacking on what's left!!
  
linking to: http://svbotanicalquilt.blogspot.com/2015/10/pineapples-mid-month-progress.html

Visiting the Grand Canyon

 Promise, this is last post on our trip :)  This was our first day at the Grand Canyon, a bit cold and foggy...these are my "summer gloves"  I thought about bringing the ones Soma made me, but was afraid of losing them...

 One of our favorite spots was the Watchtower...

 Even with the clouds, the views were amazing...

 Critters were plentiful...

 This guy had quite an entourage and couldn't care less, just stood munching grass while dozens took his picture.

 This one even posed.

 My son had a clear vision we were headed to the river...

 My feet and I were happy to make it 3 miles down and 3 miles back up...ummm...why did I stand where it points to the toilet??

This was the view from our hotel window in Cameron, Arizona at the Cameron Trading Post, loved staying there!  Wonderful place.

Day 2 and 3 of our Trip West - Colorado Springs

 After spending a wonderful night at my husband's sister's house the first night in Kansas, we drove to Colorado Springs and settled into the Antler's Hilton which had this wonderful view from our room of Pike's Peak.

 Caught my son at the Garden of the Gods for a quick picture...he is a much more aggressive hiker than I.

 The leaves are turning and making for a pretty sight against the rocks.

 The next day, it was on to the mountain...

 The boys are ahead of me again!!

 We didn't see this guy...but I see Elizabeth Hartman has a pattern coming...

 We were told the road on top might be closed because of snow and sleet...

 Yep, pretty windy up here!!  But still open...

We Made it Home

Hi all, we are back!!

My son has a fall break in October in lieu of having August off because his school has what they call a balanced calendar.  We made plans to travel west this year to the Grand Canyon.  After 3800 miles driving, we are back home again.

We all agree the scenery here is as beautiful as anything we saw...

 I plan on posting soon some pics of our travels...but this one is for Carol...Happy Halloween...we saw this on the Grand Canyon Rim Trail...my son threw a nickel out there so you could see the size...tarantula, perhaps?  I narrowly missed stepping on it and bit back a loud scream...I hate spiders!!  This one would have covered my palm if I had cared to let it.

Farmer's Wife 1930's Coral block 24

This is the next block released from the qal...I am quilting along with both qals on this to keep my momentum going and to help with a quicker finish :)
The qals are from two great bloggers: Angie from GnomeAngel, who is doing one by skill level starting with easiest
and the one I started with, Kerry's from verykerryberry which is going numerical/alphabetical
 This is the next one from the easiest to hardest qal...Coral, block number 24

I deviated from the book's pattern by using flying geese in lieu of the hst's...I just didn't see why this 6 inch block needed any more seams than necessary!  I would share the dimensions but as this is a qal using a book I believe it would be frowned upon, sorry.  It isn't hard quilty math though to get there...
I used a fun farmer's wife print on this one complete with chickens...yep, me in fabric, lol!

Here is the back so you can see what I did do different, if you care to join me on the deviation train :)
I can definitely relate to the letter with this block, it speaks to enjoying and making memories while your kids are young.  My "baby" is 15 so yes, I can relate!

And Then There Was Belle...and a bit of Honey

So I am making pretty good progress on my 1930s FW blocks...and then along came Belle.

 But here she is block number 13 Belle - finished!!  I persevered and made her twice.  The first try was with a paper piece technique but I just wasn't happy with the joins in the y seam.  I suspect it was my printer as I can't get it to print the blocks exactly to scale.  My old printer had a menu that allowed me to select "print at 100%" which always worked but my "new" year old printer tends to print slightly under scale as you are only given a menu to select paper size...anyway, I usually compensate by adding extra around the borders but this one gave me fits...

 So I used the templates :)  Good to have choices.

 And, here is my block number 3 from the Buttermilk Basin free BOM found here.

This is our personal honey label...bet you can guess why my husband named it that...he is our resident beekeeper as I am allergic to stings.

Three More for the Farmers Wife and a bit of Wool Applique

I have 3 more 1930s Farmers Wife blocks done...I am quilting along with both qals on this to keep my momentum going and to help with a quicker finish :)  This results in a "break" when there is overlap.  The qals are from two great bloggers: Angie from GnomeAngel, who is doing one by skill level starting with easiest
and the one I started with, Kerry's from verykerryberry which is going numerical/alphabetical

 This is block 9, Autumn, I used traditional piecing and I think that my block reads very similar to the sample in the book because I chose a similar colorway and print.  The letter for this block advocates a bit of "me time"...she goes for a nap, I suppose I go for a sew :)

 This is block 10, Ava...I made this block with traditional piecing and toned down the "busy" of the original sample in the book with some liberal use of solids.  The letter here deals with adoption so I used a juvenile conversation print.

This is block 11 Bea, I used traditional piecing for this one and used templates for the basket handle.  This letter speaks of dressing nicely even when there is no one to see. and think happy thoughts...be Queen Bee of the hive.
 

 I have had a bit of time for some applique so I have turned back to these blocks in wool from the free Buttermilk Basin Mystery QAL.  This is block 4, I have the others prepped but only 1-4 are sewn down. You can see 1 and 2 here.

 I love the texture in these blocks...and that was a perfect shade of red and green for the tomato pinnie!!

 I had to use a gold for the spool and an orange for the thimble!!

Farming for the Week

I got my "assignments" for the 1930's FW QAL done for the week...there were only 3 out of the 4 presented for me as I had already made the Aunt block last week...I am quilting along with both qals on this to keep my momentum going and to help with a quicker finish :)  This results in a "break" when there is overlap.  The qals are from two great bloggers: Angie from GnomeAngel, who is doing one by skill level starting with easiest
and the one I started with, Kerry's from verykerryberry which is going numerical/alphabetical

 This is block 7 Augusta...I paper pieced this one.

 And block 14 Betty, I traditionally pieced this one.  I loved this letter describing a husband and wife following their dreams to study music :)

And, finally...block 20 Caroline, also traditionally pieced.  I decided I liked the hourglass blocks oriented slightly different on this block.  This letter reminds us to stop and appreciate the "commonplace" miracles in our lives.  God is good :)