Sewing Room Update, 9/22/24

I feel like not much has been happening in my sewing room. 

I have finished the "True" colorway of Echinacea Elegance. I had just a small piece of Bohemian (from my friend Terri) and it was fun to add it to this block.

This is the first block of the Maraschino colorway, with a little bit of original Flea Market Fancy. I'm anjoying adding some precious fabrics I've been stashing for a long time.

I picked up two quilts from Darby. I told her to choose the quilting designs for each and I'm really happy with them.

I posted photos of quilts taken on the road trip (I'll probably do a couple of separate posts with more photos of each). These may or may not turn into a calendar for 2025.

I'm working (very slowly, it seems) on this quilt. I think it will be striking when it's done, but one thing it confirmed is that I don't enjoy repetitive sewing. While I think two-color quilts are beautiful, I don't actually enjoy making them.

Janice and I were able to meet up with Karen (@capitolaquilter) and her friend, Pat, to have coffee last week. They were in Fresno for a class on long-arm quilting. It wasn't nearly long enough to chat, but I'm glad we had some time with them.

Time to get busy in the sewing room...

Instagram template obsession

 I have interspersed some of my favorite Instagram templates in previous posts. While we were on our road trip, a lot of them popped up, so I'm devoting an entire post to them. It's fun to figure out which quilt looks the best in each one.

This one was actually a fun video.

Caught up...

21 days and 5,165 miles: Part 3

 Testing positive for Covid was so unexpected. We had both felt just fine, but after spending the time in Butterfield around a lot of people, and knowing that Covid was apparently rampant this summer, we took the precaution of testing before seeing Mary and Bob. Negative. 

But Tuesday morning, I started having symptoms and bam, a positive test. Tuesday was the day I had planned on spending with Amanda (aka Crazy Mom Quilts), but of course I was spending it in the hotel. We booked another night in Clearwater, canceled a ride to northern Minnesota to spend some time with my cousin Cathy (she and her husband actually live about 40 minutes from us but spend the summer in Minnesota where they built a log cabin). I could tell it was a light case, fortunately, so on Thursday, we headed to Duluth, where we spent most of our four day/three night stay in the hotel there. Duluth is one of our all-time favorite cities and we had been looking forward to doing more exploring there, but that did not happen. Fortunately, our hotel was right next to the aerial lift bridge, which we could see from our hotel window.

We stayed far away from these people as this big freighter came through. Thank you, telephone lens.

By Saturday, after five days of isolation, we drove along the shore of Lake Superior for lunch.

On Sunday morning, we headed down to St. Paul. We had planned a family gathering, which of course was canceled. So again...spent a lot of time in the hotel. It was actually extremely hot and muggy, and Monday was unbearable. On Monday night, a horrific storm blew through the area. We had gotten dinner at Shake Shack, and as we left the parking lot, big raindrops started. By the time we got to the road back to the hotel, it was raining so hard we couldn't see anything, along with 50 to 60 mph crosswinds that actually shifted our car over on the road. They were also predicting 1" hail. There was a parking garage next to our hotel so we waited out the worst part of the storm under cover. There continued to be lightening, and then the sky turned orange. So weird.

We stayed in Roseville and by the hotel entrance was this cool carved rose.

On Tuesday, we headed back to Clearwater to see Amanda. Covid guidelines have changed a lot since the initial days of the pandemic and everyone felt safe. 

On Wednesday morning, we started the four-day journey back home. We entered South Dakota, and this rest stop was the closest we got to Mt. Rushmore. Well, that's not entirely true. Our hotel, in Grand Rapids, South Dakota, was about 40 minutes from Mt. Rushmore but it had been a long day of driving and we were not interested in another 1 1/2 hour (minimum) to get there and back.

And then on Thursday, in the middle of nowhere, about 30 minutes from Casper, Wyoming, we encountered the worst part of the trip. We had a car accident that may or may not have totaled our car. Our car is still in Casper at an auto body shop, and we are waiting to find out if it is fixable or not. We are both okay physically, but wow, mentally and emotionally it has taken a toll. The tow truck took us back to Casper, the driver took us to the airport so we could rent a car, and then back to the tow yard where he unloaded the car so we could take everything out of the car (in case we never see it again...). We decided to go ahead and drive to our Thursday destination, Evanston, Wyoming, and we finally got there at 10 p.m., exhausted physically and emotionally. 

Friday night we were in Las Vegas again, and we finally got home about 4 p.m. on Saturday. 

That last week and a half was tough. We would never do a three-week road trip again--I think two weeks would have been much better, although the only way we could see the people we wanted to see required three weeks. 

And now we wait. We have been told that it would take up to three weeks to get the results on our car. If it is fixable, they have told us it could take up to three to four months. But I will say this, with all the time spent together, we were great travel partners and I would not hesitate to take another long trip with Mark. Just not by car...

21 days and 5,165 miles: Part 2

On Thursday, our drive to Minnesota took us through Nebraska and then Iowa. I tried to take photos of the signs as we crossed into each new state, but they were all done on the fly through the car window, and therefore pretty blurry. However, we actually stopped once we entered Minnesota, and I give the most points to Minnesota for having the best "welcome to our state" sign.

It had been our longest day of driving so far, but Google Maps took us through a lot of back roads and small towns. We were taking our time and the drive was really enjoyable. By the time we got to St. James (in southern Minnesota) and our hotel, we were ready to be in the same place for four nights rather than loading and unloading the car at each stop along the way. 

On Friday morning, we drove to the house that Mark grew up in before moving to Butterfield before his junior year. He had been able to contact the current owners and they even gave us a tour of the inside, which has undergone many changes. When Mark lived there, the one bathroom was down in the basement, the tub was upstairs but without hot water. Of course, that is no longer the case. They have added on, updated and remodeled the kitchen. 

The house was built in 1915...

We headed back to Butterfield for lunch at the hardware store. Yes, you read that right--the hardware store. They serve breakfast and lunch, and it is always busy. 

Mark had been looking forward to a "beef commercial"--a weird name for what is basically white bread, slices of beef, mashed potatoes and gravy. I don't like soggy bread, so I opted to have mine without the white bread.

Each August, Butterfield, a town of about 600, hosts a steam and gas engine show, which brings upwards of 15,000. It's noisy with all those engines going. 

We spent most of the day Saturday at the show. Mark's three brothers were also there--his brother Scott usually has something at the show.

Mark's oldest brother, Leon, drove down from St. Paul for the day, along with his daughter, Christina. Mark's youngest brother, Pete, rode his motorcycle from Idaho. It's been five years since they have all been together, the last time we went to Butterfield for Mark's 50th high school reunion.

Leon, Mark, Scott, Peter.

We talk to Christina frequently and it was so good to see her in person.

Scott's youngest daughter, Jessica, also drove down from Minneapolis for the day, along with her son Siggy. 

That night, we attended the class reunion at the St. James golf course. Of his graduating class of 36, 17 were there, not a bad turnout at 55 years. Because I have attended a lot of the reunions myself, I know a lot of these people and their spouses, and it was fun to reconnect with them.

We spent more time Sunday at the gas and steam engine show. 

Later in the afternoon, I got to ride on Pete's motorcycle back to the hotel (about 7 miles). It is a luxury motorcycle, that's for sure!

On Monday morning, we headed to Buffalo to visit Mary and her husband Bob. It wasn't a long visit but I'm so glad we got to spend time with them. They live right on the shore of Lake Pulaski in one of my favorite houses ever. 

The next morning, I tested positive for Covid and the rest of our road trip took an entirely different course.