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. 

Honoring Trooper Brooke Jones-Story

Note: Some of these photos are not mine - they are from various sources.

There were hundreds of flags near the school and all around our village.

These 12 flags represent her years of service as a trooper.

Brooke's services were held at our school - which is also her school. She graduated from here in 2003.

There were many signs honoring her.

C.O.P. S. came in and helped with all of the arrangements. What an organization! With the help of MANY others, we were all able to truly honor Brooke.

Hundreds of officers came from more than 30 states and Canada to honor Brooke, both at the visitation on Tuesday and the funeral on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, we stood in line for a couple of hours before getting into the gym. We were the last two people to make it in before the Officer Walk-through which began with some of Brooke's fellow Illinois State Troopers from District 16. Next came the K9s - so many. I didn't get a good picture of the dogs.

Then more D16 officers followed by so many other officers. The walk-through lasted about 35 minutes and consisted of officers walking at a brisk rate past Brooke's ashes and the family. 

We had at least 3 city/county officers in attendance from across the Midwest that went to school here; two of them were classmates of our son who is a Trooper. 

So many, many came to pay their respects. While waiting in line, I stood by a retired Chicago Police Department detective. He was interesting to talk with. At one point, he told me his wife passed away in early January and this is the 10th or 11th funeral he's attended since her funeral. All of them were police related. How very kind of him to attend.

The following photos are from Wednesday. 

The black curtain has blue lights projecting up.
The two officers in front are guarding her ashes. This honor guard changed every 15 minutes.

There were so many officers I'm told over 1300 ...

This was taken from my seat high on the bleachers.

This was taken from near the back of the gym.

We were told to 'Hold on tight to those awesome memories.'  

After the inside part of the funeral, we all went outside to stand in and around the high school parking lot. I did not get a photo of the fly-over; I was too busy watching it and the 21 gun salute and the echo taps. 

The final call for Brooke from the dispatcher really did me in. There weren't many dry eyes. 16-42, you will be remembered.

About one-fourth of our streets were closed for police squad car parking and those streets were all made into one-way streets for 30 hours. You can see the cars are parked 3 abreast on this street ready for the procession.

The procession went out into the country. I'm told 599 cars were in the procession. There were still squad cars left in our village.

Helen Keller's words: What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us. 

#PleaseMoveOver

A Sad Time

It has been a very difficult time here. Three days ago on Thursday, March 28, we lost an Illinois State Trooper. She was inspecting a semi truck on the side of the road. Another semi veered into the Trooper's car and the stopped semi. It was a huge fiery crash. Brooke was outside of her car and did not survive. The trucker that veered violated Scott's Law. That's the law in Illinois while it is called the Move Over Law in other states. We are beyond heartbroken.

Trooper Brooke Jones-Story, 34, grew up in our area. She attended the school in our village. Ray was her school counselor. She was an athlete. Ray was one of her high school volleyball coaches. She spent time in our home. She was fun to be around and she was funny. Ray recalls the day she was accepted into a college Criminal Justice program. She was SO EXCITED! Being a law enforcement officer was what she wanted to do. She lived her dream for almost 12 years.

As we mourn with her family, her police family, and her friends, we must also remember how this is affecting others. Her family and colleagues are devastated as are we. One of our sons worked with Brooke. He is an Illinois State Trooper also; he is a command officer. So we have some grandchildren that are in a law enforcement family. We had the grands for a couple of days while their parents dealt with some of the tragedy. These children, like other law enforcement officers' children, have questions - some are voiced while others aren't. They are afraid. They don't want to lose either of their parents. I certainly can see why they may not think this is a good job anymore. Brooke was the 15th Illinois State Trooper to have her squad car hit this year with a Scott's Law violation. She is the second Illinois State Trooper to lose her life due to Scott's Law violation this year. 

Is it really that hard to MOVE OVER for an emergency vehicle with lights flashing on the side of the road? If you can't move over, then SLOW DOWN. What is wrong with people? How many people have to be hit for people to learn? The people being hit are husbands, wives, moms, dads, sons, daughters. They are real people who have dedicated themselves to a life of service. 

I guess I have a lot of questions too. 

And just so you know, less than 48 hours after Brooke was hit, Illinois State Trouper Gerald Ellis, 35, was hit head on while driving in his squad. He stopped a person going the wrong way and saved the lives of the people in the cars behind him. He leaves a wife and two young children. Trooper Ellis was in a neighboring District. 

The last three days have been a long week and I am very sad. This week we have a visitation and a funeral. It will be another sad week.

Blue and Yellow Flannel Baby Quilt is finished

The Blue and Yellow Flannel Baby Quilt is small - just 37" square. I found the squares when I was cleaning out the flannels. They are left from a baby quilt I made a long time ago. The yellow flannel was also in that drawer.

I quilted this using Aurifil #1135 yellow thread, a walking foot, and a wavy stitch. 

The back is a blue cotton with a dot similar but not the same fabric as I used on the Yellow and Blue Baby Quilt recently. 

I guess I pulled a muscle or something Sunday. In any event, I haven't done much since I got home from the retreat. This quilt was done before I went and I just laundered and photographed it. I'm feeling better everyday and I hope to accomplish things today. We are doing some spring cleaning this week and Ray has been doing much more than his share ❤️. 

Our weather is definitely springlike and there is lots of flooding near us. Sadly, many people have lots of damage, loss, and cleanup. The weather is supposed to get warmer as the week goes on - 50 degrees sounds wonderful. I can't wait to just spend some time outside.

Another Great Spring Retreat

We had great retreat at Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Center. The best part may be that we did not have any medical emergencies like last year.

One morning, I was the first one in the building where we sew and eat. This is the area where we sew. I sit on the left way in the back by the windows.

This is my table. I enjoyed seeing all of the deer and wild turkeys out of 'my' windows. We didn't see any coyotes but we heard a pack of them howling Saturday evening when we were outside. 

This is our cutting area. In the background, you can see where we eat.

Speaking of eating, this was our snack/treat table. When I took the picture, none of the refrigerated items were out for the day yet. We did not go hungry!

We also had a few drinks on tap - juices, water, hot chocolate, cappuccinos, and coffees. 

I did not get many pictures of projects - I was enjoying the visiting too much! Here is what I have:

And my projects, which I photographed after getting home:

baseball quilt still needs borders

close up of baseball quilt

ice cream cone quilt

This is a wonderful group of women. I enjoy and treasure the time I get to spend with them.

Lucky Charmers

A couple of finishes...

I have a couple of finishes; both are donation quilts.

First is Yellow and Blue Baby Quilt. I found the blue squares when I cleaned out the children prints in my stash. The squares are left from a baby quilt I made a number of years ago. The yellow is also from my stash. The pieces made a 49" square quilt. 

I free-motion quilted this with a large meandering stitch and hearts. I used Aurifil #1135 yellow thread on the top and Aurifil #2784 blue thread on the bottom.

I used the last part of the blue, which was a little larger than the front squares, on the back. The rest of the backing is a blue fabric with dots.

The second finish is Pete the Cat Quilt. I found the fabric when I was cleaning out the children prints in my stash. Although I love the color orange, this orange fabric isn't a favorite. I decided to do something with the fabric and move it on. This quilt finished as a 58" square.

I free-motion stitched a large meandering stitch over the entire quilt. As usual, the quilt has been laundered and you can see the crinkling. I used Aurifil #1133 orange thread on the top and Aurifil #2784 blue thread on the bottom.

I used the rest of the orange fabric with some of the turquoise on the back. The rest of the backing is a shaded blue.

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I'll have another finish soon but first I'll be headed to our annual spring retreat. I've been working to kit my projects and I think I'm ready. I even cleaned the quilting studio this morning after I cleaned the machine I'll be taking along. We don't leave until Friday so I may get in a bit more sewing before then. It's amazing how much quilting I can get done when we have bad weather!

Vegetable Soup with dehydrated ingredients

It is definitely still winter here so soup sounds good. I am beginning to run out of some of the ingredients so the dehydrator will be turned on next week. I'd like to have a couple jars of the vegetable mix with us when we travel in May and June - we may want soup way up north in Canada.

Vegetable Soup with Pasta

adapted from Colleen Bohrer of 21st Century Simple Living 

You can package the following in a pint jar or just measure it out when it's time to make soup.

Vegetable mix:

2 t tomato powder


2 t parsley flakes 

1 t garlic powder


1/4 c dried diced tomatoes


1/4 c dried onions, chopped


1/4 c dried white potatoes, diced


2 T dried carrots, diced
 (I have used 2 medium raw carrots)

2 T dried celery

2 T dried corn kernels
 

3 T dried cabbage

2 T dried lima beans

2 T dried mushrooms

2 T dried, shredded zucchini

1 dried bay leaf

Notes: 

• This is about 2 cups and fits into a pint jar.
• Any dehydrated vegetables will work - this is just what I usually use. 
• If you do not have dried vegetables, you can substitute raw when you make the soup, but you have to figure out how much. The only raw vegetables I have used are carrots.

To make soup:

1 pint jar dried vegetable mix


12 cups water or beef stock (I usually use 8 c stock and 4 c water)

1 teaspoon dried oregano


3 beef bouillon cubes

3 tablespoons tomato powder or 3 tablespoons tomato paste


1 cup pasta - use whatever you have broken into bite size pieces, if necessary

1. Add everything (except: pasta and any raw vegetables you might be using) to a large pot and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. 


2. Add any raw vegetables you might be using. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 1 hour. If soup becomes too thick, add more water. 
I often add 2 cups water because the bouillon makes the soup a little too salty for our taste.

3. Add pasta and simmer an extra 15 minutes. 


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