SOME SEWING ON OUR TRIP

I have been doing some sewing in the camper while traveling from Oregon to Michigan, where we are now.  While in Sturgis, SD, I went to a quilt shop and bought 2 table runner kits that were on sale for 40% off.  This is one of them.  The main fabric depicts tea pots and cups, while the brown fabric has tea bags on it.  The flying geese fabric has flowers on it.

I got the urge to make a couple doll quilts with 30s fabric, so I made 4-patches and alternated with white.    I love the striped border fabric.

While in Dayton, OR, I went to the Boersma's Quilt Shop in McMinnville and bought some fabric from their scrap chest.  There were some pieces of batiks (and others) that I liked.  The green & coral blocks are a 18" square panel for the front and back of a bag.  The batiks on the right side are some fat 8ths that I got at another quilt shop.  That strip is for the sides and bottom of the bag.

This is the pattern I used for the bag.  My SIL gave it to me (she won it last year in a basket and thought she would get around to starting to do some quilting, but decided she had enough other stuff to do, so gave me some of the items).  The rest she gave to my GD.

This hot pad made out of fabric covered bottle caps is an easy project to work on in the truck. 

This a cross-stitching project that I am working on for our newest GS, Eli's Christmas stocking.  The fabric is 32 stitches per inch (I think), so I can't work on it riding in the truck going down the road.  I have to have really good light and be sitting very still.  I'm glad that I have gotten this far.

Another easier project is this embroidered dish towel.  BTW,  I just finished it while at the laundromat.

This has been a fun trip, but is very long.  By the time we get home, we will have been gone over 3 months!  I hope our house is still standing.  Friday, our truck was making a noise, so we decided we better get it checked out.  We found out that the transmission was going out and needs to be replaced.  The parts should arrive on Monday, so in the mean time we have a loaner car from the shop (with no air-conditioning and my window doesn't roll down).  When we came home from the laundromat, I couldn't get my door open.  DH had to come around to unlock it from the outside.   We are very thankful that the truck didn't break down when we were out in the middle of nowhere!!

If it wasn't for my 50 year high school reunion on August 20, we would go home sooner.  On our way home, we will stop in Arkansas to hug our son, who is being deployed for a year to the middle east.

SOUTH DAKOTA, NORTH DAKOTA, ETC.

Last Sunday we stopped in Deadwood, SD per the recommendation of Connie (no blog).  We decided to take the Boot Hill tour which was very informative (it was also only one hour long and cost $8 per person (seniors)).  Some very interesting history went on there back in the 1870-1880s.  I'm glad we went.

Next, we drove to North Dakota and spent the night at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The park is amazing and we were excited to see a lot of buffalo.  The main drawback for camping there is that I got eaten alive by some bugs - I don't know what they were, it wasn't mosquitoes - and I spent a couple miserable nights because of the itching.

Here are some of the buffalo.

This one actually rolled in the dust and I got a video of that.

There were several prairie dog "towns."  They are so cute and will bark at you if you get to close to their home!  They also sit right by the side of the road and don't budge when you drive by!

The old west has a certain fascination, doesn't it?

Thanks for all your comments.  I haven't been able to answer all of them as we don't always have wi-fi access.  We just arrived in Iron River, MI.  This is the town that DH's mom grew up in and we are here to do some family tree research.

JOURNEY THROUGH SOUTH DAKOTA

Since the heat has reached to South Dakota, we decided to try to do our sightseeing in the morning before it gets too hot.  We went to the Crazy Horse Memorial first and were able to see their informational movie and museum, which were very interesting.  The Lakota Indians wanted a memorial of their own and Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski accepted the Indians' invitation.  The sculpture was started in 1948.  Now his family is continuing the job.

Mount Rushmore is only a short drive away from Crazy horse, so we got to both memorials in before lunch!  The first time I saw Mount Rushmore was back in the 50s!  It is the same, but now they have several buildings with different shops, an auditorium for their film,  a cafe and special parking that costs $11.

A picture to prove that I was really there.

While driving through Rapid City, my wonderful DH spotted a quilt shop and pulled in the parking lot before I knew what he was doing!  The Thimble Cottage is an amazing shop!  Designer Pearl Louise owns the shop and has her own line of fabric and patterns.  I had never heard of her before.

The shop has some of the best displays I have ever seen.  I love this doll bed and the doll clothes.

This is a section with lots of embroidery patterns.

Upstairs there are several rooms decorated for Christmas.

Of course, I love this patriotic display.

All in all, it was a good day and we are now camped in Sturgis, SD.  Tomorrow we head north.

Surprise at Little Bighorn Battlefield

Last night we camped at the Old West RV Park in Reedpoint, MT.  As you can see from the sign posted, it is the sheep drive capital of the world!  Wow!

This is the main street going through town...

After three blocks you reach the other end of town where the railroad tracks are.

Our main destination for the day was the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument where Custer's last stand took place.  The informational movie was very interesting as was the museum.  While looking at books in the book store, I saw someone I knew!  Could that be possible to run into someone and meet at just the right time by chance?  Someone from where I used to work was there and we were both dumbfounded.  If anyone from work is wondering who it was,  just email me and I will let you know.  It truly is a small world.

These 2 pictures show where Custer and his soldiers fell.

My interest was piqued to learn more about Custer's wife, who lived a long life and apparently spent time telling the story of her husband's life and death.

Tomorrow we head for South Dakota.

QUILT SHOPS IN MONTANA

Now that we had a little extra time, it seemed like a good idea to visit a couple quilt shops!  I looked up American Patchwork & Quilting's website to search for a few shops.  I came up with a list and also got some suggestions from Jennifer, who commented on my last post.  Thanks, Jennifer!  I did stop at Quilters' Corner in Deer Lodge, MT.  The owner has the shop packed with all kinds of tempting things and said that she does a big on-line business.  

The next day we were in Bozeman, MT and we were too early for one of the shops, so continued on to Reproduction Fabrics.Com.   I didn't know if they had a store front or if they would be open.  It was located in an office building.  The sign on the door said the hours were 12 to 3 PM.  But there was a phone number to call Margo for an appointment.  I decided I might as well call.  She told me she was on her way over and would be there in a couple minutes.  Yea!  Margo Krager is a font of information and even provided me with hand-outs containing information on reproduction fabrics, quilt styles, etc.  This is what I bought.

I also got these fabric reproduced labels.  I'm going to put these on some bags.

Yesterday we found a camping site rather early in the day, so I was able to do some sewing.  I made the latest Civil War block and did some other piecing.

Today we plan to go to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

ACROSS IDAHO

After visiting my 2nd cousin's wife in Lewiston, Idaho, we traveled across the state on Route 12, which follows the Lochsa River.  This is a very windy road right along side the river with beautiful mountains and trees all around.  This is the area that Lewis and Clark traveled on their exploration of the west.  Also, the movie "The River Runs Through It" was filmed somewhere near this area.

The drive was rather nerve wracking.  However, the beauty of God's creation was amazing! The trip has been very good so far.  

We stayed at this National Forest on Saturday night.

 This is a stop at Lolo Summit where Lewis and Clark crossed the pass.

 Inside the museum was this quilt commemorating the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness.

This is a view of Lochsa River early on Sunday morning in the campground.   It's almost hard to believe how much wilderness there is in our country.

When we got to Montana yesterday, the weather turned hot.  We didn't want that!  We will be meandering across Montana and the next major destination is Mount Rushmore!  I hope to hit a couple quilt shops this week!  It's been a while since I've been to one, so it's time.

CAMPING IN OREGON

Last week we went camping in a remote camp site in a national forest in central Oregon with DH's brother and our SIL.  This is the first time we have camped with them.  They have had a truck camper for years and we just got ours last year (partly due to his influence). Our camper is on the left and their's is on the right.  

This is a picture of us following them down the road.  The weather has been beautiful!  Usually it's in the 40s at night and 70s or lower 80s during the day.

My SIL asked me if I wanted to pick some fabrics out of the chest full of fabrics that used to be her mother's.  What a question!  Below is my loot!  I have quite a few large pieces that I will be able to use for backings and a lot of variety.  My SIL's mother made lots and lots of quilts - all by hand piecing and hand quilting.  They were all scrap quilts.  What a heritage!

The fabric is safely stored in the storage pod on top of our camper (there wasn't room inside).  I already cut some pieces for a quilt that I am piecing on our trips.  Thanks!

We're thinking about our friends in Texas and definitely feeling sorry for you having to suffer in that heat, but glad we're not there!

SISTERS QUILT SHOW

This year I decided that I NEEDED to stay in Oregon long enough to go to the Sisters Quilt Show, which I did on Saturday.  I was fortunate enough to have my SIL, my DIL and my GD go with me!  We had a wonderful time!  It was a beautiful day as you can see in the picture below.  This is the display of quilts on the side of The Stitchin' Post.  The owner of The Stitchin' Post started the quilt show in 1975, I believe.  It is a free show and anyone can send a quilt to be displayed.  They can also put up quilts for sale.

Below are some of my favorite quilts from the show, but I'm not showing you all of the ones I took pictures of.  I think there were over 1,300 quilts hanging around the town.  We didn't see all of them.

 I love this eagle quilt!  I want to make an eagle quilt some day.  (Add that to my list).

I didn't expect to see a Texas flag quilt there, so I had to take a picture of it.  The description of it said, "You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girl."

Another quilt on my list.....

These are some antique quilts that were for sale.

Some young entrepreneurs were selling lemonade.

I can't tell you what it meant to me to be able to go to the quilt show with family members!  That is something that just doesn't happen in Texas.  I do have good friends to go with and I'm not minimizing that.

This is the sum total of the sewing that I accomplished over the weekend!  The current civil war block - I'm right on schedule.

In a couple days, we'll be on our way to Idaho to visit some family that I haven't seen for too many years to mention.