girls weekend......

Last summer Jane (my sister) and Max (my cousin) thought it would be a really fun to go to Winterset, Iowa. So much to see there!

Karen and I said we would go too.

Last weekend we made the road trip.

Planners in the front seat, tag alongs in the back seat.

We saw all the bridges, John Waynes birthplace, Fon's & Porter quilt shop, a local winery, and ate at the Northside Cafe and other stuff!

Along the road to Roseman Bridge. Characters from the movie, 

The Bridges of Madison County.

The quilt shop. It is small, but we all found one thing to buy.

Window decor for a yarn shop. Maybe it should have been Robert still waiting for Fancesca to get herself out of her truck and join him as he headed out of town in the movie.

Every bridge had a geocache (or two) nearby. I did not always find it, but was sure to look.

This is my kind of cache. Nice and big.

 It is hidden at the History Museum in Adel, Iowa.

I love my geocaching app. When we stopped, 

I would open it and hit...

"find nearby caches"

Now, this weekend I will stay home and sew!

AQS des moines quilt show last week...

Last week at this time I was in the shower getting ready to head down to Des Moines for the quilt show with Karen. We were trying to figure out how many years we have been doing this.

We still don't know, but several for sure.

This year we were in search of two special quilts.

One made by Lynne http://patcherymenagerie.blogspot.com/

And this one by Julie http://quiltdivajulie.blogspot.com/

The chains keep you from getting too close, but that doesn't mean I didn't lean over a bit and take a closer look at things. It was really cool to see both of these in person.

You see them on their blogs and all, but it really is true...that pictures don't do a quilt justice.

In person is so much better!

I was so happy when I learned that both of these would be in Des Moines!

It was fun watching people stand there and stare

and smile

and put there heads together to talk

 and point out this or that on the quilt.

I used my tea towel challenge bag as planned. I decided to join the AQS this year.

So my bag was heavy right from the start. I got a free (out of print) book, one of last years magazines, a catalog and show book. My bag got heavy right at the door.

As I meandered through one of the booths and out of it I could 'feel' this body moving with me. If I turned, it turned. 

Who is following me? It turned out to be the shop owner. The bag caught her eye and she needed to get a closer look at it! So as best I could I filled her in on the why and how this bag came to be.

It was made during the tea towel challenge last winter.

Now today I am off to meet my cousin Max at The Quilted Forest in Forest City.

I will also stop and mail my block lotto blocks from September.

Three were worthy of entering, the first one ended up being a disaster.

Not sure what went wrong with that one! 

I have Octobers done, just not pressed or pictured yet.

the old star quilt.....

Yesterday morning I sent a text to Crispy asking for a picture of the old quilt with the new binding. This photo came back. 

It took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at. 

Oh geez, he is still in bed, and this isn't exactly what I was thinking for a photo.

He tried again when he got up.

I think they are 12 inch HST's forming the star. The blue and red checks at the top and bottom are 4 inches.

where did September go?

WAY back in August the Blue Earth Valley Quilters had their quilt show. Friday night was a Jelly Roll Derby. Those participating brought a jelly roll to use, along with 2 1/2 inch squares for inserting between strips. I finished somewhere in the middle. 

Karen finished first! 

I bought mine from Connecting Threads. It contained 27 strips, so I bought two. For the derby I used 40 of them. I wondered what to do with the rest of them. I could make this or that....

In the end I just made another long strip with them and added it to the top, then the bottom to use it all up. And now this is ready for the quilter!

This is as big as my Celtic Solstice is going to get. I started hating my colors, and I wanted these cleared out before the next Bonnie Hunter Mystery.

Using what I had, I started putting things together in different ways, just to use them up.

This one used up a lot of the border sections. They are in the sashing instead. Another future baby quilt or tablecloth. And then there were still left over sections....

Table toppers or dresser scarves. 

Now I am ready to THINK about doing another mystery.

When Crispy was packing for school, this quilt was on the pile. I asked why he wanted to take that ratty old thing. 

"It's my favorite!" 

Really?? 

Uck. Let me fix it first.

 I chopped off the old binding and added the new darker blue that is in the picture. There are some weak spot in the top, but this should give it new life for a while.

It was made back in the 90's.

I don't have a picture of what it looks like. It is a County Threads pattern of a big star. I didn't have the pattern, but I was able to figure out the math and put it together one snowy afternoon.

I'll work on getting a picture.

catching up on things.....

Way back in July, my cousin Max, her daughter Emma and my sister Jane came down to visit.

One of the activities was making postcards.

To keep it simple, 

they used cards (cut up cereal boxes) that already had paint on them,

left over painted paper and words from my stash.

They both did a basic bird on the cards.

I never took a picture of the completed cards....

BUT,

Max sent me this photo. They painted a canvas dark purple, then used a toilet paper tube to make the white circles.

Emma's cards were then glued to it for wall art in her room. 

I thought it was so cool!

The peaches came in, and I started painting this old globe last month.

My middle son bought several boxes and we canned about 20 quarts.

It went pretty fast once we got going.

I also did some frozen peach pie filling.

Then a coworker of his had sweet corn that was going to waste. We went out there and picked a bunch. I spent yesterday freezing it. 

The globe is still not finished, but further along. All the land is black and the sea white. I am pretty sure the student I work with will be able to see the land masses much easier. 

June's block at block lotto was this sunrise block. 

I won these but I don't have a group shot of them all together. 

They are all just blocks yet, but I think I know what I will do with them.

I need to buy some more fabric! 

Officially these are called Spokes at block lotto. They are July's block. I was totally shocked when I won these too. I think of them as fireworks. 

This is the first batch of blocks that arrived in the mail along with mine.

August's block is called windows. These will make an awesome quilt. 

I donated all my chances for these. 

All the lotto block patterns can be found [HERE]

I bought the pattern and kit for this bag from Connecting Threads. It make two bags, one purple, one blue. I needed to get zippers, D-rings and strap stuff to make them.

I had to go to Des Moines for a few days to attend the Iowa Braille Summer Institute.

Helpful classes for when you are working with the visually impaired.

On the way I stopped for what I needed 

and finished one of the bags in the hotel room.

It is 9 1/2 inches wide. I want to make another one that is just a little wider now.

That black is the zipper, it just lays on top and is sewn down that way.

I like the look and will probably do more zippers that way on bags.

The Blue Earth Valley Quilters and Woodcarvers Expo is this weekend. Been getting ready for that. I still need to finish sewing a hanging sleeve for one little quilt. I better go do that, as we are setting up tomorrow! 

I love my bag.....

The buffalo was put out. There was a Titonka sign on it too, but never took a picture....

Signs advertising the food ahead in Titonka....Ragbrai would be coming through

And then the thousands & thousands of riders arrived. I don't know who this is. As I was taking a picture he entered the shot. I told him he would be on the blog. I was garbage patrol. Emptying the garbage cans as they filled. 

There are always stragglers. When it was "over" and I was walking home,

I went by Dave's shop. He had a whole little party going with this group.

I did not ask or look at what was under the skirts.

I finished this bag! I had started it Monday and there it sat till I could get back to it.

It is made from old decorator fabric samples.

The pattern has a side pocket that I left off. There is a zippered pocket on the end. 

I went simple and just added two slip in pockets on each end. 

They will be good for adding all that last minute stuff I forgot to pack!

Over all the bag is 20 inches wide, and 12 x 12 inches on the ends.

Nice and roomy.

the big push to finish is upon us.....

My blocks for this month's Block Lotto. I sat down Monday morning and sewed! I had a few done already and finished some more to get my total up to 9. These aren't the big push.

Other stuff is......

RAGBRAI is coming through Titonka next week.

It is the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.

(as I was typing I misspelled annual, I clicked to see what the correct spelling was and one of the options was "anal"

I nearly used it, but decided not to. I am trying not to be negative about all that goes into getting ready for 10,000 bikers to cycle through a town)

Anyway....

There are the Burma Shave signs used over the years for different things. They were pulled out of storage. Karen and I looked them over. 

See her post [HERE]

We decided which words could be painted over for the new ones.

Like what food is being offered.

I painted them yesterday.

Nice blank signs again. On the bright side, the paint used is standard barn red. I hauled that out of the basement. I poured some into an ice cream bucket. What didn't get put on the signs was put on the shed to cover up peeling spots. Wow. I was really impressed by how much better the building looks! 

Then there is the buffalo on a bike. But why?

Titonka is a Sioux Indian word meaning "Big Black", 

the name given by the Indians to the buffalo.

I started him last week. He still isn't finished. He needs some spokes and a sign that says Titonka and maybe a cloud in the sky. This is a BIG HEAVY piece of plywood. 

It will be tractor joe's job to create a base for it so it will stand up. Then people can stick their heads through the opening and take a picture. 

This morning I plan on sewing for a while. 

Then I will go back to the paint and get these things done.