Colorado Again

We had a week free to travel and Matthew wanted to go to the  Colorado house. Fortunately I am mostly caught up on my long-arming for the moment and Phoenix has a heat index warning this week so a great time to head for the "hills"!
As we left Phx there was a big accident on I-17 that held us up a good half hour. The rest of the trip was uneventful, but I did get a couple of pics of the massive two storey high boulder that crashed down onto the road a couple of weeks ago, ten miles west of the town of Dolores. DH was returning to Phx the following day and had to detour through Utah.

 This doesn't begin to describe the immensity but the best I could do as we drove by. 

 More debris, there were several piles like this it must have been very lucky no passing car got hit, no one would have survived. There is still only one lane open for traffic and will be so for some time.

Matthew was a great passenger, no complaining, just a happy child.

We got into Ridgway in time to get pizza at Colorado Boy Brewery then on up the mountain to the house.

 First thing next morning "what are we going to do?" So off for a bit of exercise, a nice hike around the area.

Nova is loving it, such an intrepid little explorer, though she needs a good brushing after. 

 That's Mt.Sneffels in the background, DH and Matthew's Daddy have both climbed it's 14,150 ft.

 The memorial tree, a Noble Fir, behind our house, for his Uncle Matt.

  In the afternoon we three [well four counting Nova] took another little hike down below the house. It's a bit steep, I think a thirty degree slope, so careful going down and a little huffing coming back up! Makes me glad I do cardio every day at the gym!

 You can just see the house to the right of the nearest tree

It's cool here at 9,000 ft elevation, 34 degrees in the morning and mostly 60's during the day.

We took a drive into Ouray, about thirty minutes away, to allow the boy to enjoy the Hot Springs, that's him and GF walking on the other side of one of the pools! I chose to stroll up the town with Nova rather than swim. The Hot Springs is a great place though, with the addition of two big slides for the more daring alongside the four pools, each with a different level of heat. One is a lap pool for serious swimmers.

A visit to Ouray would not be complete without stopping in at Mouse's Chocolates for a treat. All hand made in the store, unending gourmet choices of chocolates and baked sweets plus wonderful beverages including a hot caramel apple cider! Make sure you try a "Scrap Cookie", oh my!

Ouray is a small town with old world charm

 You can see a waterfall behind the Town hall.

 Ouray was established in the 1800's as a mining town and is surrounded by very tall mountains!  It's very popular for summer vacations but the season has barely begun, so as you can see there are not too many visitors yet.

Red,Black And White Kingsize quilt.

Hannah needed this back quickly, so I took a faster route than full custom block by block to get it done fast!

Only the center block and the four in the corners were individually quilted.

On the remainder of the quilt I used the Circle Lord Clamshell. The quilt looks very Oriental with the dragon blocks and Clamshell design is very popular in Sashiko quilting.

"Drag Around" Baby Quilt

This quilt is the second of similar design for the same child, but this time not for the crib but as a comfort drag around blankie! Patricia also invited me to quilt this one and I love the chance to quilt "modern"!
I chose half a dozen different designs and repeated them, then used two different treatments for the borders. A sweet quilt for this darling baby, and you can see the original crib quilt here.

Needle-turn Applique

It is always an honor to be asked to quilt another's quilt top. It shows a measure of trust to invite someone else to quilt the work in which they have invested time and effort not to mention funds, in constructing the top.
The quilt below is a beautiful example of needle turn applique by Shiela, who is also a talented hand quilter.

 The quilt is 60" square. It is to be a wall hanging so I used two layers of batting a stabilizing layer covered by 100% wool. The first layer helps the quilt to stay nice and flat and the wool gives lovely definition to the quilting so that the applique stands out better.

 It seemed to me that the outside HST blocks needed to be quilted as part of the border to soften the hard edge of the darker border color so those are all quilted with the peacock feather design.
I used a ruler to stitch about a half inch either side of the sashing and outlined  all of the applique. The inside circle of the flowers was the only place I actually stitched on the applique.

  

Seen a little clearer from the back.

After everything else was done I went back and stippled all around the full blocks

 View from the back, you can see better how the quilting went. The sashing is quilted with a "C" design

Two Vintage Quilts

I was asked to quilt these so a great granddaughter could have them. They were well preserved, one I think is more thirties and the other maybe 50's The earlier quilt is very different, the fabrics are not as fine and it is half hand pieced and half by machine.

The hand sewn areas were not all stable, some gaps in stitching that had to be stabilized as I quilted.

 Above is the older quilt, lots of puckering and beginner type sewing!

 In all the hand piecing I have seen in the USA, a simple running stitch was used rather than the "backstitch" I learned as a child to close seams.

These two blocks were in pretty good shape but many others were not

I custom quilted it to strengthen the piecing so it can be carefully laundered and gently used! I added a complimentary turquoise double fold binding to complete the restoration.

This is the later quilt, all machine pieced and square and all seams complete. The fabrics are a better quality, there is a diagonal color plan for the blocks and the work is consistent with that of a more experienced sewer.  Unfortunately the maker is now gone to her reward so we cannot know the history behind either of these two quilt tops, just that the great grandma made them. Sad too, because it would be fun to know how the older quilt was constructed, if it was a teaching tool or just a very early work of the same person.

 Quilted with my favorite treatment for many vintage quilts, Baptist Fan is perfect for a one block quilt.

A red binding completes the work and compliments the chosen design. I understand that the recipient of these quilts is thrilled to have them which makes my day! I love to quilt and when it blesses others I am doubly blessed!