Dog Days of Summer

Well, my second week of staying home and quilting, did not turn out so well. The first thing I did was have lunch with my dad's cousin Mary. That involved going to Twin Falls, and since I was there, I stopped in at a couple of stores and found the fabric for these. Thank you McCall's Quick Quilts for this pattern. I also finished my last recieving blanket.

So what else did I do? Read the Camel Club.... great book... hard to put down.

Took r and some friends swimming at the hot springs

Made rhubarb jam

Got a little quilt ready to machine quilt, then changed my mind and decided to hand quilt it.

Planned our trip to Yellowstone, we decided to camp and hope a bear won't eat us.

Next week I hope to work on the Census again. I hope we get to do a 'blitz' in the Wood River Valley. If not, I have plenty of projects to work on.

City of Rocks

Wes, Rich and I took a drive to the City of Rocks Saturday. The drive there was through some very lovely farm land, which I enjoyed very much. The only color I found there was, these cactus flowers and the blue sky.Wes and Rich are about half way up this rock, but did not make it to the top.

If this doesn't look like Idaho, nothing does.

A week of Sewing

I am not working on the Census this week or next so I decided to lock myself in the house and sew. First I made these cute bags. I also have a list of 9 babies that I will be giving a gift to. I love to make these receiving blankets. So here is one that is going to Canada
This one is cute too.
And one of my favorites.
This little quilt needs quilted. One of the reasons it is not finished is because I can't decide if I want to hand quilt or machine quilt it.
Now this does not scream SCRAPPY, however, it is a scrappy quilt. It is a project we are working on in one of my quilt groups. I spent less than $10 on new fabric, so I consider it scrappy. I am going to buy a piece of white with black polka dots for the back and finish it for Callie for Christmas.

I don't know if you were counting, but I have 4 of the 9 babies worked on last week. Next week I am going to do 2 more baby projects, some placemats, and a quilt for humanitarian. Cross your fingers and wish me luck. Happy summer sewing.

World Cup

To answer Andrea's question I went to Uruguay on a mission. It was there that I learned about World Cup futball. You really do not understand what the world cup means to people until you live outside the U.S. Uruguay did great in the World Cup this year, coming in 4th place. I had to get out the dictionary so I could chat with friends on facebook. Trust me, chatting in Spanish is a stretch for me. At any rate, World Cup was great this year and the US did great too.

Round Robin and other projects

This is my round robin project this month. I decided it needed more color.I also put the red boarder on this. This cat quilt is not in my group, but I was helping someone. Miss Lizzie did the incredible boarder before me.
This is such a lovely project. I love it more every month.
This is what I bought in Canada. I hope to make 5 Christmas quilts for my 5 children. I have 2 finished and I hope to finish another this summer. This one will need some thinking.
And lastly, these fabrics are for a bag.

Canadian Quilts

My trip would not have been complete without a visit to a quilt store. This fabric is for C's mother. I am going to make her a quilt, and some bags.
And here is my Canadian quilting buddy. She is a friend of C's, but she and I have always hit it off.

The Stampede and Spruce Meadows

I looked for this guy for the entire week. My dream would have been to find him riding his horse through Banff, but I found him at the Stampede. Truth be told, they don't ride horses anymore, they drive cars and they do not wear these cool uniforms either. At any rate, I found him on my last day.
Here are K@C all cowboyed up at the Stampede... most people wear a cowboy hat there.
We went to this horse show and I found it to be totally cool
And here is the pre-grandstand show. There are no pictures of the chuck wagon races, but they were my favorite

We also spent a day at Spruce Meadows. I was very excited to watch equestrian jumping. They have music going while they jump. I enjoyed it very much.

Banff, Lakes, and Waterfalls

I am really not even sure where to start, but while I was visiting Canada, we went to Banff National Park. National Parks in Canada are some what commercialized. They have restaurants, hotels, shops, golf courses, and resorts. However, they also have miles of highways, that surround you in nature. I can't wait to go back and do it again.These pictures were not taken in Banff, but at Bow Valley Provincial Park at a little lake called Many Springs.

This is Lake Lousie in Banff. We had a nice little walk here.

This is on Morraine Lake. I was pretty excited to see the canoe with the Canadian Flag.
We sat down and put our feet in this one. It was cold and there are boulders under it. Not a swimming lake.
We hiked to Johnston Falls. Most of it was through this canyon and on this walk way, that was hanging out over the canyon.

This is the lower falls. I couldn't get over the color of the water. I went to the upper falls, but really, these looked better.

Besides a couple of deer, we only saw these elk. They were right off the side of the road.

This is K & C with Keith, C's father at Johnson Lake. We had a very enjoyable hike around this lake, with Keith trying to convince C that the fish were jumping.

Home

I am home and so happy to be here. I went to Canada with k@c last week. It was fun and we saw some amazing things. I was there for the 4th of July. The last time I was out of the country for the 4th, I was on a mission and it was 1982. Oddly enough it was also a Sunday and in the middle of the World Cup. When we went to church (1982) the members there would tell us congratulations. The members in Canada also pointed out that it was the 4th of July. I missed being home in my hick town in Idaho. After all, red-necks are very patriotic.

Watch for more posts about the Canada trip. I am done with the Census and may have some time on my hands.