Southwest Strata ~~ Finish

I've been working on this art quilt ever since I finished the first art piece sometime in early December. I planned this one on the way home from the Southwest. The mountainsides are massive rock and dirt of different colors, khaki and brown, sometimes pink changing to an orange-y pink or yellow, depending on the sun and the soil or rock. 

I was hoping to capture some of the levels of color, but also the feeling that the layers are stacked, compressing one on another, which they are, of course. To achieve that look of compression, I slipped small, thin, pieces of darker colors between the larger ones. Then I used darker thread to extend the shapes going from on top of the small rock to the smaller side. The bottom of this photo shows the thin lines of thread "pressure." 

I also wanted the feeling that big boulders had fallen or moved, but have been in their current location for thousands of years.

Using the darker thread again, I chopped boulders into rounded pieces and placed them so that they interrupt a layer or two. Again using dark thread, I created lines for movement and additional color.

Google stock images

The "real" mountains have definite shapes, but to see the shapes one has to look at them from a great distance. When you're right next to the mountain, it becomes a blurred shape that shows lots of color and detail. The bands of color are thick and long going across the entire mountain, but broken up with fallen boulders, deep caves and indentations, and protruding chunks of mountain still standing after soil and boulders around it have fallen or moved. 

This piece is meant to show the side of a mountain that is so close a viewfinder can capture only a part of it. 

When I decided to take photographs of "Southwest Strata" the light was almost perfect. I looked around for hard, squarish surfaces, and found most were underfoot. The brick floor of our patio, the mosaic fire pit, and the rusty medal table all seemed to have just the right color and shapes. 

I left the leaves on the fire pit just for fun interest. I know, the piece of art should carry all the interest, but I couldn't resist. 

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Link Ups!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 

AHIQ

And the way west continues

We've been gone from North Dakota since Monday. Today is Friday, so you'd think that I'd have said hello to the world of bloggers in the interim. No way! No, literally. No way. We've been in the mountains, parked alongside the Shoshone River in a little place called Eagle Creek Campground in the Shoshone National Forest. Here's how I described it on Tuesday when we arrived.

"Oh sweetheart, we have to stay. It's so pretty. Look at the wildflowers, ahh, and the river. Oh, I bet it's cold and refreshing. This place right here is open and is right on the riverbank. We can sit on those flat rocks with our feet in the water and enjoy the morning. Or come back from the mountains and cool off under the shade trees. Hey! Look that little guy! What is he? A chipmunk? Aww, how cute is that?" 

I wanted to stay two nights. Just two. I figured the lack of electricity and fresh water would probably make things difficult. I'm not a fan of difficult. Richard paid for three, just in case we couldn't find anything else. We didn't look for anything else, but we did find a few places. Those places were so congested and crowded that we returned to our Shoshone River camp and reveled in the quiet. 

There were few other campers, and like us, they were rambling through Yellowstone during the day, returning exhausted and ready for bed. Only the camp host stayed longer than we did. Everyone else seemed to come to their senses on day two. But we're tough Louisiana folks and can take the wilderness. Aren't we the ones who trekked through Arizona dragging three preteens tent-camping in a different place every night? Dang right!

So day three arrives and Richard says, "We have to decide what we want to do: stay here or move farther west so we don't have to drive so much." 
Me: "Oh, we're moving." 
Rich: "Okay, so you want to move? Any idea where?"
Me: "Where there's electricity and water and full services." 
Me: "FULL services."
Rich: "We could stay one more night."
Me: "Sure, if they put in FULL services while we sleep."
Me: "Let's be clear. That ain't happening. We're moving. If you pay for another night, you'll lose your money. We are moving!"

I woke up when the camper suddenly jerked onto the truck hitch. For those of you who don't know: Richard was packing and hooking up the camper to move. 

Yes, we moved. Tonight we will sleep on the Montana-Idaho line and go back into Yellowstone a few more times before going to the Grand Tetons and then somewhere west of here. That has not been decided yet.

So what does a girl do when there's no electricity? Hand-stitching, of course! This little bird quilt has patiently been waiting its turn for some needle attention. Remember the bird on the left is the one that Preeti sent me quite some time ago. 

I made a reverse one to "match," quilted them to hold the two sweethearts in place and put the whole thing aside for this trip. I've pulled it out and in the tiny bit of daylight that was left at the end of each day, I've been stitching. You can see that there hasn't been much daylight! But it's a start. 

Now except that in the picture the bird's wing looks too much like a penguin wing. Hmm. I don't want a penguin bird. Oh, so much stitching to remove! I'll leave you with that happy note.

What do you think? Isn't this a cute little lovebird? Forget the wing, something's going to happen with the wing. But the rest of it? I think this is the girl since it's not very bright and colorful. The other will have some gorgeous thread...but we'll see how that works after this wing gets a makeover. Have a great weekend!

Linking up with:

TGIFF
Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

        Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Marcottes go west (pt 2) wild flowers

Perhaps I should mention that I've decided to suspend regularly scheduled programming until we return to the land of normal internet. Unfortunately that's including email and comments. I could easily take care of those, but it's frustrating to write a note only to lose it a minute later because the connection is interrupted.
So for now thanks, love and gratitude; I'll write back soon. :)

In the meantime I will try to post some of the pictures and stories of our vacation. We are now visiting my youngest sister in North Dakota. Jeanne and Al have two children who are fun and seem to enjoy sarcasm, giving as much as they get. They get lots, by the way.

Funny girl kid holding a blunderbuss at the Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan replica.

Funny boy kid rowing a half canoe after refusing to put on the uniform pants to have a complete picture. Why? That's what he asked.

On to the wild flowers. They are much more cooperative. And don't talk back.

Here's an example of the sarcasm I have to deal with: every time I ask the name of a wild flower, the return answer is "weeds."
Is it supposed to be funny every time?

Linking up with:
AmandaJean at crazy mom quilts 
Go see her latest batch of cute pincushions!

Marcottes go west (pt 1)

This post will probably be heavy on the pictures and light on everything else. For some reason we can't seem to grasp the concept of having all the time in the world. We just keep pushing ourselves to see and do more every day. It's the old idea that the fun will end soon and life will go back to normal. 


So here are some of the highlights of the last few days. At least we've been enjoying ourselves.

This guy has an entire prairie and chooses to visit us. 
The look on Richard's face as he watched the bull bison amble 
within arm's reach shows how honored we were. 

Just as wild, just as close...not as scary!

And speaking of prairie...

When you leave the prairie behind, you may find yourself in a place called the Badlands. Heavens, this place is terrifying. I cannot describe the heights and depths of these hills of rock. 

I was standing right in the little dip in the bottom of the picture.
Later I had a panic attack: we drove too close to the edge.

Have to get somewhere quick?
You have to wait your turn for the one-lane tunnel.

I took the tunnel picture through the windshield. Richard does not stop every time I ask. And when he does, he may pass up the view before getting the truck off the road and stopped. I just start clicking when I see something. (And I wonder why my pictures look "so real.")

No matter all that, I'm happy that we're not living
in this little prairie sod house with dirt walls and floor.
Although I admit, I loved every minute of exploring it.

More to come how soon depends on the wifi / phone connection that's available. 

Vacation, whew!

We got back from a quick vacation to the mountains.  The only real problem was that my darling agreed to all the craziness I could dream up, and I wore myself out!

The view from the windshield 

I have a sister who lives in Knoxville, so I started by suggesting that we save money by visiting her.  Besides, we've not been able to visit in the five years that she's lived there.  Off to the Great Smoky Mtns. the moment school closed, we had lots of energy and determination.  We did use some common sense and spent a night on the road.  

first large waterfall

However, that was the last bit of common sense to be found.  Laura, my sister, suggested we get as much of the Smokies as possible in the few days we had.  We agreed.  But the Smokies kicked our flat-land tails quick.....so much so that we decided that mass was all we could handle on Sunday.  In their defense, every hill does go down, but down can hurt as much as up!  We loved the waterfalls, the beautiful, serene homesteads, the wildflowers, the pastures, the barns....all of it!  The hills, though, are tall and steep and even paving can't do much for shin splints, calves and toes--yes, toes!  It's amazing how much work the toes do! 

view from Clingman's Dome

We visited Clingman's Dome, Newfound Gap, and Cade's Cove.  They were all fabulous and describing any one of them will take a full post!

the mill at Cade's Cove

On Monday we left Knoxville for Mammoth Cave National Park with Laura leading the way.  She's wanted to visit the cave for a while and it's only three hours away, so why not do it with us?  I've recommended it a couple of times, but somehow we've not been able to get there in past trips.  The cave is beautiful, dark, and cold. Our tour guide was funny and interesting, but keeping up with him became impossible at "Fat Man's Misery" and we fell behind.  Eventually we finished the tour but it got a little dicey for a while.

We parted company with Laura at Mammoth Cave and were off to Paducah to the National Quilt Museum.  She's not into quilts, so she spent a night at the caves to do a little more spelunking the following day.  It will take a post to describe the beautiful quilts at the NQM.  

We spent an entire morning just enjoying the quilts and then a few more hours enjoying Paducah.  I was not expecting such a large city or one with such a colorful history. The downtown area is surprisingly busy with quilt and antique shops, restaurants and the river.  The new areas along the interstate are busy with hotels, shopping, restaurants and business.   Between the two are beautiful older homes well worth the extra time of driving around.  I thought of New Orleans and Savannah, but this city is more than just a reminder of other older cities.  It has it's own vibe and history and takes full advantage of both.

the hills in Kentucky

After the quilt museum and Paducah, we were finally ready to head home.  Kentucky and Tennessee are littered with barn quilts and we saw a few on the stunning drive from Paducah toward I 55 and Memphis.  It was easy to see them since we are country people at our core and could not help but to look at every farmhouse, barn and field on the drive.  Every now and then Richard would roll his window down so the smell of fresh-cut hay could replace "the stale air of two old people too long in the same vehicle." (his words, of course!)

Expect a few more vacation posts with lots of pictures.  I am sure I can find a few words to express visiting some of the highest mountains and some of the deepest caves that ordinary visitors can get to in a week's time.