CAMPING IN CALIFORNIA

After driving north on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California we found out that we couldn't go to Yosmite National Park because the roads were still closed.  We had only one choice of roads to cross the mountains going west and there was one campground on that road that we planned to stay at.  We thought we would never get out of the mountains!  They just went on and on!  The campground was 6 miles from the highway, but it was worth it.  The pictures do not do it justice at all.

There was a board walk following the river.

It was so picturesque!  Clear, cold water flowing down from the mountains as the snow melted.  We saw lots of snow that hadn't melted yet!

A pathway through the woods.  I love forests and streams!

You can't really tell from the picture, but it is a dogwood tree that is blooming.

We were miles from civilization!  DH sitting alongside the rapids!    Stay tuned for more pictures.  

Trip news

We are having a great time traveling with our camper!  These pictures show a few of the sites we've seen.  On our way to California to visit DH's cousins, we passed through Nevada.

We traveled a little on the famous Route 66!

My DH's aunt handed this 1930's signature (fund raiser) quilt to her granddaughter.  The amount of funds raised depended on the number of pieces in each block, so some of the quilt block makers put lots of pieces in their blocks.

On the way north from southern CA, we stated at this campground in Independence, CA.  It was really nice and had a great view of the mountains as you can see below.

The stream through the campsite was beautiful too.

I haven't had internet access in order to view my favorite blogs, so I am way behind.  We are in Oregon now and will reach our son's home by Friday.

I have lots more pictures to share when I can.

VARIOUS BLOCKS

Civil War block 20 that came out today, so I'm all caught up.  I'll probably start getting behind now, as we're hitting the road soon.

These are some blocks for the Thread Head quilt along.  I still have a bunch of setting blocks to make before I can start putting this one together.  You can see the one Joanne made on her blog and I am planning to do my borders the same as hers, except increase a few inches.  I decided to use mainly churn dash, Ohio star and sawtooth star blocks in mine.  My setting blocks are the same as Joanne's.

I have been working on these paper pieced blocks for a while and decided to put a couple together.  There will be nine blocks like this and then the border - I have 5 blocks paper pieced with 4 more to go.   It was published in Quilting magazine in 2006 - Everyday Best by Becky Goldsmith.  It's a good way to use small scraps!

Have a great weekend everyone!  Hope you get some sewing done.

QUILT SHOW

Saturday I met Love at the Arlington Quilt Show and we had a great time!  We saw so many wonderful quilts and here are some of my favorites.

This quilt of little dresses was just adorable!

 Love and I agreed that this would be a great pattern to use for an appliqued quilt with the blocks and pieces being very big.  

This quilt was absolutely stunning!!

Look at the eagle quilted in the design.

 Also, a liberty bell!

 This baby quilt was just amazing!  

 Look at this border!  Wouldn't you love to make a border like that?

 Another gorgeous quilt with fabulous quilting!

 Here's a close-up view.  maybe if you click on the picture you can see the quilting.

Love and I both would like to make this quilt.  In the blue border there are patriotic phrases quilted, such as "In God we Trust."

We both made a few purchases from the vendors (of course) and I had my scissors sharpened, then we went to lunch.  It was a very good day!

BOOK REVIEW: Promises to Keep

This is a story about a young girl whose most basic wish is for her daddy to return to the family.  Even though her daddy was abusive and her mother felt she had no choice but to leave him, a girl's natural need to have a father who loves her makes her fantasize about the day when he will come home.  When the family moves from Minnesota to Illinois with the help of her grandfather, the former owner of the house they bought keeps returning to sit on the front porch.  She fills a need as a live in babysitter and housekeeper for the family when the mother has to work to support the family.  The story is told by Rosalind, the eleven year old daughter.  I enjoyed the book and will recommend it as about a 3 1/2 star rating.  I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for writing a review.

BTW, if any of you are interested in reviewing books for Bethany House Publishers, you can go here to
do so.

WEEK'S QUILTING

The civil war block of the week - I really like it!

I have just finished 2 weeks of practicing free motion quilting with other quilters.  See the blog here.  My goal was to be able to quilt feathers on the border of my basket quilt.  The quilt is for a full size bed and I'm quilting it on my domestic sewing machine (DSM).  I layered it in two sections so it would be easier to quilt with my DSM.  I laid the quilt out on a king size bed so you could see the two sections of the quilt.  The section on the left is all quilted and the border of the section on the right is quilted.

In the next picture I folded the batting under so you can see how the quilt will look.

I'm not sure if you can see the quilting on the left side and the border.  It's not perfect, but I am making progress and hope to get better with more experience.  I'm not entering the quilt in a show or anything like that.  The rest of the quilting and putting both halfs together will have to wait a while since we're going to our GD's high school graduation soon.

Thanks for visiting!

100 YEARS AGO TODAY

 100 years ago today my Dad was born in Chicago, the son of immigrants from Norway.  As a young man he opened a small grocery store and later he liked to tell stories about that time.  He was a good story teller.

He and Mom got married in 1935 and had 4 children.  During the war he worked for Zenith and later as a tool and die maker.  Eventually, he wanted to go into business for himself again, so my parents bought a deli and operated that for about 3 years.  The long hours were hard, so they sold the deli and bought a Hallmark card and gift store in Elgin, IL.  They loved the store and operated it for about 20 years.

Daddy loved flowers and he grew geraniums in the basement during the winter and set them out in the spring.  He also gave a lot of them away to friends.  One year he won the award for the best looking yard in town.  After he retired he kept busy with the flowers and making foot stools for piano students.

He had a great sense of humor and was really good at telling jokes.  He had a wonderful way with children too.

He loved the Lord and studied the Bible daily.  On March 28, 2001, he went home to be with the Lord.  We love you, Daddy.

1911 - 2001

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!

This is the Jo Morton Little Women quilt for April.  It is only 15 x 18, so it didn't take long.  I will miss the next couple classes, but I wanted to get this finished right away.

Wednesday night I got surprised by a bouquet of tulips!

Then, last night I received another surprise!  Chocolate covered strawberries!  They are huge!

I'm very thankful that my children are so sweet.  It's a blessing to have 3 grown sons, their wives and 5 wonderful grandchildren!