Cranes and Daisies

We went to Madison, WI, and watched the USA- Canada 2022 18U Women's World Championship Ice Hockey preliminary game. It was fun but the arena is somewhat crowded which didn't bode well with Ray and his new knee so we watched the rest of the games on TV. The USA beat Canada that night and was undefeated going into the finals. Then Canada got their revenge and beat the USA in the gold medal game! We were delighted to have access to the games and enjoyed watching them. 

The day after we saw the game in Madison, we went north to The International Crane Foundation near Baraboo, WI. We walked the path around the exhibits. A few of the cranes are inside because their outside enclosures do not have netting over the top and other birds can get in and may carry the avian flu. We were able to view more than we missed and it was an enjoyable walk. I've shared a few pictures.

Sarus Crane

Blue Crane

Black Crowned Crane

Black Crowned Crane

Black-necked Crane

There were wild flowers and water lilies.

Many of the enclosures had murals. 

And there were beautiful gardens, sculptures, a fountain, prayer wheels, a Zen Garden, and hiking paths.

I loved the message by the fountain:

I will write peace on your wings

and you will fly all over the world.

                      -Sadako Sasaki

We plan to return to see the cranes we missed and hike some of the nature trails.

A number of weeks ago, I sewed with some friends and we made a quilt for one friend's granddaughter. The granddaughter has CRPS and is undergoing treatment in Arkansas this summer. She asked her grandmother for a quilt and a few of us helped make it happen. The grandmother chose the Fresh as a Daisy pattern. It turned out beautifully but I didn't get any photos.

After making pretty pastel daisies all day with friends, I wondered what the quilt would look like with just one color daisies. So...I decided to use my stash and make a donation quilt. Of course, I was and still am in the middle of trying to finish all the quilts I began over the last year. But, hey, it's always fun to begin another quilt! I decided I didn't need to buy the pattern, I knew the measurements for the daisies and I'd just wing it from there. 

I made a couple daisies. All was well. I was thinking mostly white and maybe a few yellow flowers. Do you like the centers? They are fussy cut from some leftover fabric from a recent project. 

I went ahead and cut out all of the daisy pieces. And then OOPS! The petals were to be cut at 2 1/2" by 4 1/2" as I did with my prototypes (above) but I cut the pieces 2 1/2 by 4". At first I thought I'd just set the pieces aside for some other day but there were a LOT of pieces so I made one daisy. It was smaller but still cute so I adjusted and went forward.

The left block is 1" smaller in height and width than the right block.

I finally decided on one yellow daisy - thus the name One of a Kind. Then I just assembled the quilt the way I thought would look nice. It ended up being 50" by 56".

I quilted this with Glide thread. Not considering that the thread was 40-weight (heavier), I decided the bone thread would not show too much on the quilt. It shows more than I like but will be fine. I used an overall meander design.

The backing is one of my new favorites. I do love bright colors!

I have a few more quilts started that I'd like to finish. Tomorrow I might be going on a shop hop so who knows what new inspiration I'll find.

Sunflowers, quilting, and more

Does anyone else find it hard to blog these days? Life goes on but we don't have much excitement - maybe that's good! 

Last week we went to a sunflower maze at Straddle Creek Gardens in Lanark, Illinois. This is Ray's picture of the entrance to the maze.

There were just a few people there, early on a gorgeous day. The 'maze' was really a walk through the sunflowers. 

Whenever there was a fork in the path, a question was posted. Depending on your answer, you went right or left. We pursued all wrong paths and all right paths. 

The wrong paths were very short, maybe 20-40' in length and worked great if a group was coming; they could pass without being near us.

I've been playing with some Magic Star blocks. Joy of The Joyful Quilter fame shared a tutorial last March. Using two 10" squares, I quickly and easily made these two 9" blocks.

I had a plain orange layer cake and decided to use it with white. I played with a variety of layouts and settled on this one. 

I think I'll add a small white border and put this top in the to-be-pinned pile.

I don't have any quilt finishes but I have other finishes. First, I'll share the first Jesse Masks for DS1 and his family. The picture was snapped before I added ear/around the head straps. School is coming and kids need masks. These are custom-made according to each person's face measurements. Measuring and fitting long distance has been interesting. We'll know this week if the masks fit.

I finished this cotton/silk sweater for me. It is extremely comfortable and feels nice even in hot weather.

I also knit this hat from some leftover yarn I had. I'm not sure who will end up with it; I need to keep my hands busy so I made it.

Hopefully I'll have a finished quilt to share in a few days. Have a great day! 

#StaySafe #WashYourHands #KeepYourDistance #WearYourMask 

Indy Weekend

On Friday we traveled to Indianapolis where Ray had signed up for a photography workshop and photo shoot. We decided to keep the date and headed out. On the way, we traveled south on I-39 and west on I-74 in Illinois. We saw many cars and trucks pulled over by the police. Every single time, all of the traffic moved over. Every. Single. Time! It did our hearts good. Maybe people are beginning to follow Scott's Law or the Move Over Law. Sadly on the way home, we did witness a couple of violations but thankfully, no accidents.

In Indianapolis, we rented an Airbnb right downtown. We thought we'd be within 5 minutes driving distance of the photography store and we were within 2 minutes walking distance! It was a great rental and we were very close to Massachusetts Avenue District. Mass Ave is a 5-block diagonal street that showcases art, galleries, live theater, restaurants, and interesting shops. We walked there and walked the entire district plus more every day.

On Friday night, we were both excited to see jonquils blooming. Spring!

Saturday was sunny and warm. When Ray got 'home' in the late afternoon, we again headed over to Mass Ave. The sun was bright - you can see my shadow.

There were lots of flowers and some of the flowering trees were blooming too.

There were pedal powered bars. The patrons provided the power by doing the pedaling. They had to pedal faster to turn the corner. It looked like fun! 

We passed the frozen yogurt shop, Yogülatte, on Friday night and stopped on Saturday night. I didn't get a picture but we both enjoyed our treat.

     

I wanted a picture of this Mass Ave structure and finally found a moment when no one was standing by it. Of course the construction stuff was still there.

I spent much of my weekend resting. I managed to pull a muscle in my back a couple of weeks ago and then irritated it so rest was in order. I did a lot of reading, sewed the binding on a quilt, and did a little knitting. The rest helped and I'm much better. I was checking out the stores online while Ray was at the photo shoot on Sunday - I wanted to know if we had missed anything because we still had most of Sunday afternoon to be tourists. 

We needed to head a block further north than the main part of Mass Ave to find Crimson Tate, a cute little quilt shop. So of course, we went back to Mass Ave Sunday afternoon.

First we had a great lunch at Ralston's Drafthouse and I forgot to take pictures.

Then we walked on to Crimson Tate. 

I found treasures. The fabric fat eighths (measuring 9" by 22.25 to 25") are African Wax Block Prints. I'm working on ideas to use them them in a quilt. The price of Aurifil was good if I bought 12 spools so I did. It was hard not to buy LOTS of fabric. The shop is mostly geared to modern quilters and I loved their solids among other things, many, many other things!

On the way 'home', we walked by Kilwins candy store again. (I just found out it opened 2 weeks ago.) We decided that we NEEDED to stop. We bought one caramel pecan chocolate pretzel stick and one caramel pecan chocolate Rice Krispie treat. When we got 'home', we split them. Oh my! 

We headed home on Monday. On the way we stopped and enjoyed lunch with some friends. 

We decided this little trip was just what we both needed after our very sad week. I'm so glad we went and Ray said his workshop was fantastic. 

The Quilt Shops we visited...

On our little trip to Rock Island, Illinois, we visited three quilt shops - the important part of the trip!

The first shop was Expressions in Threads in Le Claire, Iowa. I didn't think to take photos inside.

I'd only been to this quilt shop once before, a few years ago, and I loved it. Some things don't change! The shop is still fantastic as are the people working there. I found so much that I wanted but of course, I had to choose. I'll show you some of my purchases in a few minutes.

The next shop was Quilts by the Oz. It was an interesting shop with lots of fabric. The owner was very kind. I found a few pieces that I just had to have. Sorry but I didn't get any photos of the shop. 

The last shop, Quilt Addicts Anonymous, is almost a year old and wonderful! Stephanie, the owner and a quilt designer, was very pleasant and helpful. We were able to visit with her, her husband, and their delightful daughter. 

The shop is bright and cheery, showing off more modern quilt fabrics and quilts made from Stephanie's patterns. I'm not a photographer and I was busy looking at everything so my photos aren't the best.

The shop isn't huge but there is a nice selection and everything is gorgeous. Everything is also available online at their website: shop.quiltaddictsanonymous.com.

Beautiful fabric and quilts

Precuts, kits, and inspiration

I think this is the newest BOM that Stephanie designed. She was working on the finishing touches of the instructions when we arrived. Isn't it fantastic? I love the bright colors.

They also do longarm quilting. Look at that striking quilt behind the longarm machine.

This little gem was on the wall. Stephanie also made it in a large size and had Leah Day quilt it. 

So what did I buy at all of these shops? Well I can't show you everything since I'm making a quilt that is a surprise but I'll show you the rest.

I plan to use this for the next sailboat quilt using the leftover sailboats.

No plan - I just loved the colors and designs

These will probably be backings.

These will be backings.

These will probably be backings.

The crayons will be used in the second crayon quilt.
I fell in love with the stripes and they followed me home!

Now I just need time to sew! I do have a couple of finishes that I'll show you soon.

A little trip...

One of the nice parts of being retired is doing things on the spur of the moment. We decided to take a little road trip - not too far, only about 100 miles. We found an airbnb rental and headed south to Rock Island, Illinois. We thought Ray might find a few eagles; I might find some fabric; we could visit the Rock Island Arsenal and visit the museum, and ...

We left in rain and fog on Monday morning.By the time we reached LeClaire, Iowa, the sun was peeking out and the temperature was in the 50's! We visited a couple of quilt shops (more in the next post) and hunted for eagles - we only found 2!

When we got up Tuesday, the weather was no longer in the 50s. It was 30 and COLD. We visited another quilt shop and headed for the  Quad City Botanical Center. It was a fun stop and Ray got to take a few photos; I did to:

There were many quilts on the walls!

There were a few colorful blossoms.

In the winter they have a sand area for the children!

Another colorful blossom

A beautiful orchid

The waterfall

There were koi ponds

More gorgeous orchids

One of the guys working at the Botanical Center told us where he had seen some eagles that morning and also gave us ideas for lunch. We ate and then headed to Arsenal Island. On the way, we stopped at Gathering Point and found some eagles! It was so cold that I was only out of the car for a few minutes. 

Once on Arsenal Island (it is a military post and you have to have a pass), we headed to the museum. Thank goodness the government shut down was over so the museum was open. Ray loved seeing the museum and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. No pictures since we were within a military installation.

We visited the Mississippi River Visitor's Center. It is on Arsenal Island and overlooks the lock and dam. We enjoyed visiting with the fellow on duty and seeing the lock and dam although there was no river traffic.

This morning the temperature was again around 30 but didn't feel as cold. We headed towards home with a number of stops on the way - most to see eagles. We did find some in a few different places all the way home. This is my only good shot but I think Ray took a couple hundred pictures!

In the next post, I'll tell you about the fabric shops - the important part of this trip!