It's A Wild Life - Home at the Cabin

This month's block of It's A "Wild" Life, hosted by Amy Warner at Sew Incredibly Crazy is Home At The Cabin.  

It involved applique again, but bigger pieces... I hardly complained because the block was sooooo cute!  

I opted out of the logs for the log cabin but think that the house is still cute.  It could be our house! (please excuse the unkept look of the house... we are currently doing some repair work on the stucco finish.)

And those two snow peaked mountains could easily be the Spanish Peaks - also known as the Twin Peaks - that can be viewed as you crest the the hill behind our house!

The story of how we came to live in South-Eastern Colorado is quite the story!

We had been living in the Chicagoland area for 9+ years and had long desired to return to Colorado to raise our children.  An opening for an instructor at the college where Dave and I met was announced and he applied.  He interviewed on November 15th and received a job offer on November 23rd... the day before Thanksgiving.  The job would begin January 3rd.  

We called my parents who lived 80 miles from where we would be living and asked them if they would go locate a house for us to purchase... sight-unseen!

We immediately started packing and purging... We loaded the truck on December 26th and pulled out of IL on December 27th.  We arrived in Trinidad, CO  on December 31st and unloaded our belongings into this...







It was clean inside, thanks to my parents and brother since they spent three days cleaning and removing household contents that had been left behind.











We got settled in and continued cleaning the yard and removing miles of fences, replaced the roof and painted it in the first 5 months.  

It made a world of difference!

What an adventure we have had!  Our families must have thought we were crazy... but we had the Peace That Passes All Understanding prevail and we walked through it as though it was no big deal.  **sigh** CrAzY!!! 

Nearly as crazy as the wild ride we were on that started six years ago... but that is a different story.

In the layout of the finished quilt, this 24" block is the center of the quilt and the blocks are coming together nicely!

When complete it will be the perfect size for our bed in our camper... Next year.

Have you had a crazy adventurous move in life?  

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear your story. :)

Stay calm and keep quilting!

Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Where Did I Go?

You may have noticed that I went silent for a week... Oooops!

I had been busy getting posts ready to share a few weeks ago for the Christmas In July hop week and the blocks of the month sew alongs that I am doing. And then it was time to prepare for our camping trip with our grandchildren and their parents.   Yay!  But I ran out of time to get anything ready beyond that. 




It was a great time to be unplugged and just focus on them as they explored and played outside.  Here's a little peek into our time in Ouray - 



We enjoyed a soak in the hot springs and lunch at the local brewery

Not only did we have S'mores... we had doughboys!  Biscuit dough carefully wrapped around a 1 inch dowel rod (or tree branch if you want to "rough it") and filled with your choice of goodness - we had strawberry jam, chocolate pudding and breakfast sausage... though some sausage gravy would have been divine!

The kiddos and their parents stayed in a small cabin that was a snug fit!

There was a rousing game of t-ball!  Some of the rules were made up and changed as we went along, but for the most part every one had fun.

The giggles from the littlest one as she and Kampa chased the ball down, topped the day off!

The boy was hunting!

Momma had a headache :(

"The Galloping Goose" hybrid train/bus in Telluride...

They were having a serious conversation about the bronze fawn in the Ridgeway park. 

Sooooo.... please excuse me for not getting much else done.  I did get eight squares added to my EPP hexie.  Does that count?

I'll be back this week... maybe even with a Quilters Through The Generations story!

Do you have a road trip project?  

Or do you pass the time with some other activity?

Leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

Stay calm and Sew on...

Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

It's A Wild Life - Lunchtime!

The It's A Wild Life block this month is called "Lunchtime" and I had great fun making it!  Amy over at Sew Incredibly Crazy did a great job with this block >>>.  


I found several ways to personalize it...

As a lover of the scrappy look I had planned on using a variety of blues and greens for the pieced block.  

I'll be honest... while the block is really cute, it involved a lot of applique.  I am beginning to sound like a broken record... I don't like the technique.  I considered skipping the block...  

And then another member of the fb group shared her block with a scrappy look.  I was sold!  

But rather than scrappy I took an improv block that was made of blues and cut it up to make the pieces for the water areas and then used a left over log cabin block from my Farmland quilt and used it for the green background pieces.  It was together in less than an hour... AND I re-purposed the leftover blocks - Bonus!

I was still on the fence about doing the applique...  **sigh**

And then the idea came to me that I could use rainbow fabric for the fish and call it a "rainbow trout".  SOLD!  😂  I crack myself up! There was no turning back! 

I love it! Oh, and I actually didn't grumble and gripe my way through the applique process.  Improvement!

I already shared my bear stories... so I don't have anything new to add to that... 

But this reminded me of a time in 1972 when our family traveled to the San Luis Valley to visit some cousins that lived there.  While there we went fishing at La Jara.  It was my first time fishing... I didn't really care much about it.  But my brother was really excited for it - I have no clue as to why, but he was.




Before making the trip my parents had purchased me some new cowboy boots.  Now those boots?... that was something I was excited about. 

<<<  I insisted on wearing them with my shorts.  I think my Dad would have preferred me not to, but I wore them anyway.

I don't remember how long we stayed there fishing... But as I recall, Kelvin was the first to get help with the bait and learning how to cast.  

I remember having some help to cast as well... Maybe from my dad, but he was never much of a fisherman, so maybe it was my cousin...

Here's the exciting part...  I made my first cast by myself... it didn't go out very far... but I caught a fish!  It could have been a rainbow trout! Yes, yes. I am certain it was a Rainbow Trout! 

And that is where the memory ends.  As I said, I have no idea if we were there 1/2 an hour or all day... but the important thing is, is that I remember wearing my boots with my shorts and that I caught a fish!

I still don't get excited about fishing... If you catch something, you have to clean it...  And it interrupts my reading time!  Now this may seem a little odd, with my love for camping and all, but what can I say?  

Do you love fishing???  

Or are you a little more like me, and find it interrupts the quiet time?

Leave a comment for me!  I love to hear from my readers...  

Remember, It's a wild life out there...
Don't let it disrupt your "piece-filled" time...

Piece Out,
Melva

Melva loves Scraps - home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:
It's a Wild Life July block at Sew Incredibly Crazy 
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion By the River
Main Crush Monday at Cookin' Up Quilts
Movin' It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag
Monday Making at Love, Laugh, Quilt
BOMs Away Monday at What a Hoot Quilts
Fiber Tuesday at The Quilting Room with Mel
Chameleon's Colour Party at The Clever Chameleon

Christmas in July ~ #2

I had such fun with the first Christmas in July post and so enjoyed Jamie's memories of Mrs. Fishback and the vintage Christmas tree skirt I thought I would share a few of my own memories. 

Last December Moda offered a Countdown to Christmas sew along that I participated in.  Each day they gave a pattern for a 6" block.  All sorts of techniques and skill levels.  It was an excellent exercise for skill building and focusing on  1/4 inch seams.  Some of the blocks had lots of pieces, which meant lots of seams and lots of opportunity for ending up with smaller than the 6-1/2 inch blocks...

At the same time I was doing the American Quilters Society countdown blocks as well.  Only these made 4-1/2 inch blocks.  Oh my!  

I made an Advent calendar with them... You can catch the entire tutorial over on my February 27th post.

As a child, we had a Christmas calendar made of felt.  It had a tree on it and small pockets.  My brother and I would take turns removing the small ornaments for the tree from the pockets and pin them on the tree.  

The first pocket always had the star to go atop the tree.  And the last pocket always had Santa Claus in it.  

I remember that we would fight over who got to start the calendar.  My mom would have to make a note each year of who would open #1 so that we would alternate turns... such silliness!


Mom would make Christmas cards each year.  She would pull out the Christmas boots - yes, boots - I am standing in front of them in the photo.  They were felt and in the shape of a cowboy boot.  My Grandma Teegarden made them for each of the grand children.  And each was personalized with our name and things we loved. 





Here is the front of this card... quite fancy!

Back to the Moda blocks...  A few of my favorites - 





 I enjoyed the whimsical little snowman with the scarf and jingle bell buttons... 

Frosty the Snowman was one of my favorite Christmas programs.

The peppermint candy...  My Aunt Clara always had a dish of ribbon candy.  My parents would make an assortment of candies... hard cinnamon or mint candy, chewy caramels and popcorn balls.

My Dad's hands were very large and he made the best popcorn balls.  He would get a big ol' handful and start pressing it together, carefully adding small amounts at a time until he had a generous sized ball.



Oh, look!  That peppermint striped candy turned into a shirt!  My mom made red and white striped shirts for the whole family!  It was great...

There were a few years that we would travel to my cousin's house for Christmas.  

I remember one particular year, I think I was in my teens... My youngest cousin Karri had begged and begged to open gifts on Christmas Eve (and have just the stockings on Christmas morning.)  I had heard of some friends getting to do this and it sounded good, so most of us kids agreed...

Everyone was finally so tired of hearing her ask, the adults consented and we opened gifts early.

It was all fun until the next morning when all we had were the Christmas stockings... It was such a let down.  The stockings were done in no time at all.  I decided then that I didn't like it and I would choose to open gifts on Christmas morning if ever given the opportunity again.

Our tree had lots of homemade ornaments - stars and boots made of felt, knitted and crocheted stockings and wreaths... and several vintage glass ornaments.  I am lucky enough to have many of those ornaments - some of them now close to 100 years old.  My favorite is a glass tear drop that was from a chandelier.  The way the light shines through has always fascinated me...  







We had a real tree for several years when I was little, but because my Mom was allergic to them, and the mess they made, we eventually got an artificial tree... actually I only remember the artificial tree and know of the real trees because of photos.

Dave and I had a real tree for our first Christmas.  As I removed all of the decorations and attempted to remove it from our upstairs apartment I experienced an asthma attack... It was pretty scary.  We purchased a LARGE artificial tree two years later when we would be celebrating our baby's first Christmas.  We still have that tree... 31 years later. 

As presents were purchased and received they would be placed under the tree.  I don't recall how old I was, maybe in third or fourth grade... my brother had told me how he knew what he was getting for Christmas because he had snuck a peek into his presents while Mom and Dad weren't home, and taped them back... and he encouraged me to do the same!  

I did so... I was super excited that I was getting exactly what I asked for, but the let down (guilt) in finding out before Christmas day... awful!  I couldn't play with the gift, and I couldn't let Mom & Dad know that I knew!  Again, if ever encouraged or given the opportunity to open a gift early... I will pass it up!

One tradition that Dave and I started with our girls was to put clues on the gift tag.  For example, for a set of salt and pepper shakers the clue was "Shake it up baby, now.... twist and shout."  

We would all sit in a circle and take turns reading the clues, trying to decipher the clues to make a guess and then opening the gift.  It can take hours to get through the gifts... which is wonderful and exciting.  It allows us to see what others get and savor the moment... because giving really is better than receiving!  It is a little more difficult to do now with little ones that don't quite have the patience for the clue thing, but they are learning. :)

What Christmas traditions do you have? 

I would love to hear from you... Leave a comment!

Sew Happy!

Melva

Don't miss out on all the Christmas In July posts...

July 23

Creatin' in the Sticks

MooseStashQuilting

Lily Patch Quilts

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Sew Many Yarns

Cynthia's Creating Ark

July 24

Wont-To-Be-Quilter

Words & Stitches

Home Sewn By Us

Desert Sky Quilting

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Seams To Be Sew

Clever Chameleon Quilting

July 25

Quilt Doodle Designs

Kwilty Pleasures

Creative Blonde

Just Because Quilts

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Made By Marney

July 26

Quarter Inch Crafter

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Ms P Designs USA

Selina Quilts

Beaquilter

Mountain Quiltworks

July 27

Life in the Scrapatch

Quilt n Party

Days Filled With Joy

Quilt Fabrication

All Thingz Sewn

Sew Golden A Chance

Just Let Me Quilt

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:
The Chameleon's Colour Party at The Clever Chameleon

2018 Color Challenge - Yellow Green

This month's challenge block color is a funky one... Yellow Green.

I don't have a lot of this color in my stash, but I managed to find just enough for this block.  The lightest color didn't photograph very well, but it really is a (very pretty, actually) mottled yellow green fabric.

The way my mind works... follow along :)

It makes me want a piece of key lime pie!  Sadly, it is not allowed due to my dietary restrictions. So. Sad...

It also makes me want a margarita!  

How about lemon-lime soda?  Like 7-Up... which brings to mind the game we used to play in grade school to pass some time... Thumbs up, seven up.  I couldn't recall all of the details of the game, so I had to look it up on-line...  

All but seven students put their heads down on their desk, with their thumbs up (👍).  The remaining seven people stand in front.  Each of the seven quietly move about the classroom and push a thumb down... when all have returned to the front of the class, those that had their thumbs pushed down are supposed to guess who of the seven put their thumb down.  And there is to be no cheating by peeking down and watching for the shoes that pass by you.

If you guess correctly you trade places and play again...

Am I the only one who remembers this game???

There really is no "purpose" to the game other than the teacher could have a few quiet moments before the next bell or activity. 

There was always somebody who would "tap" their best friend... or the boy that had a secret crush on a girl and be disappointed that she didn't guess him... 

You know... all that childhood stuff we go through as we try to figure out life and that we are shaped by.

<<< Me...  second grade



Did you play this game or some version of it?  I'd love to hear from you :)  Leave a comment below...

Sew Happy!

Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:
Color Challenge at Patterns By Jen
BOMS away Monday at What a Hoot Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Wait Loss Wednesday at The Inquiring Quilter
Color Inspiration at Clever Chameleon