Just look at her!!

I'm so proud of you Susan! You are beautiful, and I just had to post the picture of you from your cruise. I want all to see how great you're doing. This is a current picture of Susan while on her cruise. She and Ronnie are still cruisin' and won't be back for another week, but take a look at how well she's doing losing weight. Woohoo! Alan says you're the only person he's ever known who can lose weight while on a cruise.

Glad y'all are having fun. Can't wait to see more pictures.
love ya,
from sea to shining sea......
mimi

it's nathan's turn! finally!!!!!

While I'm piecing Berte's quilt top, I'm piecing Nathan's quilt top as Leaders/Enders. I had his quilt top pieces cut out, stacked next to the machine, and used them as leaders before I sewed Berte's top and grabbed another pair to use as enders. That way I save on thread and accomplish sewing 2 quilt tops at the same time! My tiny quilt pieces don't get pulled into the feed dog prison or chewed up. This is the first time I've sewn this way and I love it! As you can see in the photo below, this is a stack of dark and lights sewn together. I'm sewing a method called Mary's Triangles for the first time and it's so much fun to see it come together. After the first step I got a huge pile of rectangles. Berte's fabric is small prints and Nathan's fabric is plaid flannel so I don't get them mixed up. Sometimes I got carried away with the leaders and enders and started chain piecing---it's very addictive.

I've ironed the rectangles and made neat little piles.

And after I sewed them to a larger rectangle, cut each in half, pressed, this is what I got! I laid the squares out on the floor, a quarter of the quilt at a time using the layout in the book. I got confused a couple of times, but finally got it laid out, sewed the strips together and they're waiting to be pressed. The four blocks will be sewn together to make the quilt center, then I add borders. Neat, huh? The picture below is 6 of the 8 rows.

The photo below is the whole quarter quilt--8 rows. Do you see the picture it makes? (The upside down heart in the picture) The quilt is called "With All My Heart" in the book, but I'm renaming it "Love You Bunches". And Nathan, none of your friends will ever see the hearts in this quilt, I promise! I think it's so clever. Hope you like it Nathan. I love you bunches!
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I'll post photos once I get all 4 quarters together and the borders on. Byron, you're next for a quilt. I already have it picked out, fabric purchased. Tiny pieces, very tiny pieces is the only hint you get. Hopefully you won't have to wait as long as Nathan waited for this quilt!

from sea to shining sea.......

mimi

the seeds went everywhere

I just had to post about the quilt "Seeds of Riverbend", the quilt for Berte. Mom thinks I should take it out and re-do it. I said no, it is what it is. Besides, Berte has always told me the only thing perfect in this world is God, so there you have it. It's going to be off. The seeds have gone astray.
Do you see it? Look closer.

There it is, right in your face, right in the middle of the quilt top. Look even closer.

The seeds are scattered everywhere. Not even in the row.

from sea to shining sea......mimi

Farmer's Market

First of all, I want everyone to know my blog page is acting strangely. I can't post pictures in the correct sequence, plus it's not letting me move them once they've uploaded. Maybe it has to do with this wireless here at this RV park. So the pictures are in the opposite order that they should be. We went to the Saturday Farmer's Market in Missoula, the one that Mom just loves. It was cold, 54 degrees, and rained on us while we were there. But then the sun came out and it was still cold, so we had a great time. Huckleberries are the order of the day here. They grow wild here, and they're used in recipes just like blueberries. They get $6/pound for them. And they smell so good as you walk by.

The woman in the pink hood is Mom with her walker. She goes to each vendor and talks with the people behind the table. Many of the vendors are Russian from one of the many Russian countries. They wear lots of colorful layered clothes and the women always a wool scarf. All the vendors here have small truck farms in and around Missoula. Their spring mix salads are just now producing! Yumm.

The Market has fresh flowers as well as fresh vegetables. Most vegetables are grown organically here. Many people buy a bouquet of fresh flowers for their home. Sweet Peas were in ---oh they smell devine!

The flowerbed below is one of many beautiful flower beds planted around Missoula. They also have colorful hanging baskets all over downtown. Missoula is called the Garden City.

I had to take a picture of the delicious cinnamon rolls we ate when we got there. They are beyond yummy. And sweet. But of course I ate mine with no problem.

And that's all the pictures I have for this post.

I've been busy sewing quilt tops, one for Berte and one for Nathan. As soon as I have borders on Berte's and the center on Nathan's done, I'll post pictures.

We went to the Book Exchange here so Mom could get a large print book and look at their books on tape. Alan and Mom stay busy reading. And we all walk every day--well I just started but they've been walking since we got here!

from sea to shining sea.....

mimi

looky, looky what I finally got done!

I finally trimmed all these quilt blocks (Alan calls it trimming the fat since I like to buy Fat Quarters in the quilt shops) and got them laid out in the barn-raising pattern. Now all I have to do is sew the blocks together. They're pinned and ready to sew by row. Plus I have the next quilt all cut out and ready to sew while I sew this one together. I'm going to chain piece the next quilt top as leaders and enders --I think I've got it organized enough and enough space on the motorhome to sew both quilt tops at once, so when one is finished the next one is further along. I'll post how it goes. Mom and I have named this quilt for Berte "Seeds of Riverbend". It was purchased as Seeds of Time but since I pieced it I get to rename it. That's fun. After I piece the blocks then 2 borders go on. I'll post pictures when the final quilt top is complete, ready to be quilted when I return to Texas this fall.

Hope you like this Seeds of Riverbend, Berte. It's your's!

til next time...from sea to shining sea....

mimi

nap time

This is what we do. We sleep until we wake up, have a few hours of doing anything we want in the morning, then after lunch we take a nap. Here's Mom on her king bed watching tv after lunch. She has her neck pillow (kitty) and is quite comfy. Alan and I ran errands this morning.... I had to find a 4 ft sewing table since I forgot mine at home! Mom walked then showered while we were gone. What a day.

love to all.
from sea to shining sea....mimi

A place for everyone

We've already settled in where we each sit in the motorhome. Most people I talk with can't understand how we all get along inside our small quarters. But we do. Today Mom and I went to the grocery store. First the new Safeway, then the store like Whole Foods, called Good Food. We had a great time looking at all the food they have locally. At Safeway here, the shelf for canned goods of vegetables and fruit isn't very large. For vegetables it's about 8 feet wide, for fruit it's about 10 feet long. Most people here cook fresh food. Safeway doesn't sell Glad trash bags, (at least I couldn't find them). Most people recycle here.

Below is a picture of where Alan always sits, and another pic of where Mom always sits. Then I posted a picture of a sign I saw in Montana at the picnic area.

Until next time.

From sea to shining sea.......

Missoula bound

Mom and I flew back to Missoula, MT this morning and made it here just fine. We're both tired after a long day at airports, plus Mom is tired from all the cooking (all though she enjoyed every minute of it!) this past week prior to Susan's wedding. She stayed with my brother and fed people as they came through the house all week. Susan and Ronnie's wedding was beautiful and Susan was beautiful. We're all so happy they're married and wish them well. Mom is staying with us in Missoula the month of August so we're excited about that. After she rests up this week I have many places for her to visit, but we told her this month is to relax and enjoy the flowers here and the wonderful weather. I'll post pictures later this week or as I take them. Our cell phones don't work real well in this RV park but call us anyway and we'll stand on one foot or be as still as possible to get a better connection. Mom's phone works better than mine(she's Sprint while I'm Verizon) so anyone out there wanting to talk to her still can. Her phone may not ring here so leave a voice mail and when we drive in town her messages will pop up and she can return the call. I think she's excited about being here and we're excited she wanted to come here with us. Can you believe she likes to visit the National Bison Range near here?
Until next time, mimi

Headwaters of the Missouri and wheat

We left Bozeman, MT this morning and decided we would travel about 15 miles to Three Forks, MT where the Missouri River Headwaters are. 3 rivers converge and form the Missouri River, the Jefferson River, the Gallatin River, and the Madison River. We found a little campground at the headwaters and decided to park it here for 2 nights, before we check in in Missoula, MT. No one is here but us. It's wonderful. It's warm here, about 82 degrees (I know, not as warm as Texas!) so we're camping with the air conditioner running and the generator hummin'. This is our idea of camping! Have any of you heard of Wheat Montana? It's a sandwich shop here in Montana and they make delicious deli sandwiches. Wheat Montana grows Prairie Gold, Red Chief, and Golden 86 wheat. As you drive along I-90, you can can see miles and miles of wheat fields, and sometimes the harvesters are out there. It's really something to see. Their wheat is sold everywhere in the U.S. Rolling hills and valleys with mountains in the background, huge irrigation sprinklers going and green, green fields of one variety in the early stages, then a golden wheat color of another field just before harvesting is all you can see as far as the eye can see. It's just beautiful. This is the kind of thing we wish we could share with friends and family. No pictures on this post, just a visual paragraph of America.