Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival Highlights

Had the opportunity to see some spectacular things at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival this year.  I love the purple peach combo of the quilt above.  These are colors I would have never thought to put together.  These first three images I am sharing with you are from the Irena Bluhm quilt exhibit. The stitch work shows a lot of detail and is what makes these quite extraordinary.

Sorry for the poor photos.  I was once again out and about without my camera!

I enjoyed the look of the half circles below.  The circles appeared to be appliqued. I liked the simple design and think the technique might work great with pennants too.

The next two photos are from the booth of Michelle Crawford of Flower Box Quilts.  My sister and I took a class from her in the morning.  The class description read like this "What do you do with all your scraps? Become a frugal and "green" quilter by recycling your scraps! Learn Michele's formula, The More the Merrier for creating scrap quilts. Learn how to use color value in creating contrast, depth and movement in your scrap quilts. Lecture includes PowerPoint presentation and trunk show."   I was thinking great I have have a lot of scraps and could use some information on color theory.  Well my friends, I paid $20.00 and spent 2 hours to look at photos of other peoples quilts and listen to her promote her books for 1.5 hours.  The actual content of the lecture was a scant 20 minutes.

I was disappointed to say the least.  Imagine my surprise when I snapped these photos in the booth and was promptly lectured that she does not allow photos!  I did not see a sign in any of the other booths limiting photos and low and behold if you hit her website you will find this block layout on the front of Quilter Magazine.  

She has a great idea for making over sized blocks from scraps and then cutting them up and resewing them but it didn't require 2 hours of lecture time.  I wish I'd spent my $20 on fabric.  Sigh.  You win some and you loose some.

This little owl rocked my world!  I am truly amazed as some of the ART pieces that show up at the quilt fairs.  I do not have 1/10th the patience of most of these people but I appreciate their efforts.  I would just love to have this guy watching over me at night!

These last two photos are from the Route 66 exhibit.  Its a 60 ft long fabric map dipicting the historic highway with small "picture" quilts from around the country.

UpCycled Greenhouse

While visiting family in Nebraska I came across this little greenhouse at a boutique we visited.  I loved the upcycled nature of the greenhouse hiding around the side yard. Vintage windows, recycled lumber, doors, sink and a bit of this and that to make it all whole.  It was great and  a testament to what you can do with a little creativity!

The sidewalls were solid under the benches.  It really was a hodge podge of everything but seemed pretty cozy and inviting to me.

I think my husband would be horrified if I started collecting piles of debris to build this sweet little unit.  Sigh. Sorry for the poor photos.  I am notorious for going on adventures without my camera but I bet you get the idea!

Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival

Just a little note to remind you that the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival is this coming weekend! August 17-19 at the Ranch. Check the Website for more information. Maybe I'll see you there!

Sphinx in the Garden

I love having unique visitors to the yard.  This is a White Lined Sphinx Moth.  Also known as Hawk Moth or Hummingbird Moth.  They are rather large and really beautiful.  So furry you almost want to pet them.  This one sat in the jam of the door for the day so we could ogle it.  They are great garden pollinators so be sure not to harm them.   I like the idea of a Sphinx coming to visit!

Millions of Peaches

This is my peach tree.  Just a little tyke in the world of peach trees and hardly more than about 7' tall.  It has been in the ground two seasons now.  The warm spring brought tons of little peaches.  I picked about 50% off to start as I knew there was no way the tree would hold that many.  The second time I cleared another 25% as it was looking really heavy.  Last week I came home to find it nearly laying on the ground and decided it was time for a little intervention.  The peaches were mostly red so I picked 75% of them keeping the largest.  I knew there had to be a way to turn them so they didn't go to waste.

A google search turned up the following idea.  I placed them in the basement between two tea towels.  Carefully laying them in one layer, stem side down and not touching, I tucked them in. About one week later, I have some wonderfully ripe peaches!  I wish I had kept the small ones too but it will be wonderful when the few left on the tree ripen naturally.  It seems pretty common to think they can be put in a paper bag to ripen but most of the research I turned up discouraged it.

The birds are coming now.  Pecking at the ones that are visible.  After the birds come the ants come.  I hope there are a few ripe ones left on that that tree for me!

If you were wondering, I picked this tree up at Happy Life Gardens here in Greeley.  It is a Red Haven Peach.  I couldn't be happier with the selection!

Girls World

A recent browse through Borders had me bringing home Jennifer Paganelli's Girls World.  It's a great little book with patterns and ideas for several girls dresses, decorating a girls room and general girly girl fun.  The first project I tackled was Mary's Fancy Sash Dress.  I made the sash twice because I didn't like how the first one turned out.  You be the judge...I think it turned out rather festive!

I would have liked to put the grain of the fabric on the diagonal but I didn't have enough fabric in the stash for that.  The sizes may run a bit large (or my kid a bit small).  I sized my daughter for the small but she probably would have fit better in the XS.  The instructions were easy to follow with the whole project easily completed in 2 hours. This will be a go to pattern in the future.  I look forward to exploring the rest of the book. If you feel like you need to be inspired check out Jennifer Paganelli's blog.  Her fabric makes my head spin with ideas!  Happy Independence Day to you all!

Insect Damage

One of my very favorite places to go camping is in North Park Colorado.  It has been nearly 5 years since I have been up in that area.  During that time the pine beetle has pretty much decimated the area.  I had heard stories but what I saw for myself was shocking.  Hard to believe a tiny bug could do so much damage.  In some areas I would estimate the hillside to be 90% kill.  It is clear to me that the forest will never be the same in my lifetime.  Fire will come, succession will occur, and I will be forced to embrace something very different from the forest that I grew up with.