A Beautiful Day for a Hike

We decided that we would visit the Swiss Valley Nature Preserve and Nature Center near Peosta, Iowa, today. Ray was anxious to find some wildflowers to photograph and I wanted to just spent some time outside.

We stopped at the Nature Center to get a map. That's also where we saw two busloads of 3rd graders on a field trip. We could hear the happy sounds of children once in a while but this preserve was plenty big enough for all of us!

We decided to hike the Mature Forest Trail and never met another person the entire loop! The trails were well groomed.

Look at that gorgeous blue sky.

The trail followed Catfish Creek for a while. It is stocked with trout and the fisherman we met as we were leaving had caught and released quite a few trout.

We found steps,

bridges,

and a variety of wildflowers.

I enjoy seeing the new leaves on the trees against a blue sky.

 We found fungi on this tree.

This was the only swinging bridge we crossed. I'm not a fan of swinging bridges.

We went down these steps and then climbed them later.

We hiked a short distance on the Woodland Ecology Trail looking for bluebells. We found some mixed in with a few dandelions.

We also found a few more wildflowers.

We enjoyed a picnic on our hike and also Blizzards at DQ on our way home. It was wonderful to spend part of this beautiful day outside.

After we got home, a friend stopped with some shiitake mushrooms and purple asparagus. The mushrooms are huge! That is a 6" saucer in the photo with the largest and the smallest mushrooms. Tomorrow we'll enjoy sautéed mushrooms and roasted asparagus. I already have a few trays in the  dehydrator so we'll enjoy our mushrooms for a long time.

Update on Ray:

First, thank you for the concern and prayers offered on his behalf. We were at the University of Wisconsin hospital last week and met with an oncologist that only deals with prostate cancer and recurring prostate cancer. Treatment (hormone injections and IMRT, an advanced type of radiation therapy) will begin soon. Both Ray and I really like the oncologist and are happy with the plan he has set forth. Ray has also agreed to be in a clinical trial and we'll find out soon if he is in the control or the test group. There will be many trips to Madison and maybe some overnight stays in the next few months AND the prognosis is really good. Ray is doing okay but is more tired. We are very flexible with what we set out to do each day which seems to be working well.

Two Colour Mystery Quilt

Hmm, I said maybe I'd put the Two Colour Mystery Quilt together next week - wonder where my mind was. The last clue came out yesterday! I decided to just go for it. I know I don't have time to quilt it right now but it is together.

I really like it and the borders really add to the design! Next time I'd like more contrast between the colors though. The red/white quilts that were made during the mystery were striking! The Two Colour Mystery was fun and Joanne wrote clear, easy to follow instructions. You can see her blog and her patterns at Canuck Quilter Designs. The pattern for Two Colour Mystery is called Half 'N Half.

Quilt Updates

I want to share photos of some WIPs. First the Two Colour Mystery QAL - this week we are putting all of the previously made units together into blocks. It's too late to join the quilt-a-long but the pattern has been released for purchase. It's called Half 'N Half.

At the recent retreat, I began sewing units together to make the blocks. I was more than 90% done when I stopped to measure a block. Oops! I forgot that I didn't have a 1/4" foot on my Featherweight so my block was too small (seams were too big). I just put everything away and Monday I began ripping. I have now finished the ripping, the pressing, and the sewing so I have all of my blocks made in the correct size. Whew!

I think you'd be able to see the pattern better if I had used two plain colors. I'm looking forward to put the whole quilt together - maybe next week.

The top of the hockey quilt is done. My design wall isn't big enough so I took two photos.

First Half

Second Half

I put the quilt on the floor and took another photo. It is flat; I just didn't get on the floor to straighten it out.

The numbers going around one corner are the recipient's all time favorite Blackhawks. The opposite corner has the numbers of his current favorite Blackhawks. When I quilt this, I plan to put in the players' names and more.

I learned about Potato Chip blocks from Joy at The Joyful Quilter.  While at the retreat, I enjoyed making a large potato chip quilt with a Thimbleberries bundle. The pieces were 6.5" by 12.5". 

I also made some 12" Potato Chip blocks. I now have 16 blocks done with scraps from a quilt top that's in the to-be-quilted pile. One of these days, these blocks will become a quilt. It's really fun to sew potato chip blocks.

We had bad storms go through last night and received lots of rain with strong winds. Today the temps are in the 50s but it is very dreary. It's a good day for quilting! Of course everyday is a good day for quilting.

Some finishes and other news

When I was looking through some fabric recently, I came across a fat quarter bundle that I recently inherited from my late friend Colleen. I decided to make Triple Star and I found some background fabric to use with it. I've seen various pictures of Triple Star over the years and decided to draft a pattern. I have no idea who designed the original nor its measurements. My quilt is 62 inches square. 

I used a meandering stitch and Glide #24655 Light Tan thread to quilt this.

The back of this donation quilt is a speckled tan from my stash.

There was quite a bit of fabric left from the fat quarter bundle and I figured that if I added a little fabric (the leftover backing from Triple Star), I could make two more quilts. Squares with Light is a 49" by 55" donation quilt. 

I quilted this with Glide #24655 Light Tan thread and used ruler work. I made simple diamonds within diamonds. 

The backing is a speckled brown fabric that I bought in February.

The other quilt from the scraps is Squares which is also 49" by 55" and a donation quilt. I had to piece two squares, using the same fabric, to have just enough to make this quilt.

I again used Glide #24655 Light Tan thread for the quilting. On this quilt I used diagonal scribble quilting in opposite directions on every other square. 

The backing is the same speckled brown fabric that I bought in February.

And just like that I have used all of that fabric! 

In other news: 

I just returned from a quilting retreat with three friends. We had a great time - a little sewing, delicious food, great weather, and a wonderful time visiting. I'll share projects when I have enough done to share - recall, I said we did a little sewing. 

Ray has spent a lot of time at doctors since the end of January. He has recurrent prostate cancer. He had cancer 10 years ago and his prostate was removed. Evidently a small cancer cell was left behind even though they had clear cells all around the cancer at the time of surgery. The urologist suggested that a small cell might have been dropped as the prostate was removed. Ray had a PET scan in March and cancer cells have been located in a hard-to-treat location. Our 'local' hospital cannot treat the cancer as they would like. So we will meet with an oncologist at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center next week. UW has some treatments that our 'local' hospital doesn't have. We pray that they will have an effective, direct treatment that can be used. In the meantime, Ray is doing well. We are both anxious to get treatment started so we can move forward.