Out and About Town

We hear allot about 'Staycation' these days, so why not take one around the city? Enjoy some of the sights and sounds of our immediate area--so off we go. Must prepare first, pack that cooler with lots of cool drinks, add some reading matter to your kindle (in case of traffic congestion), dial up your i-pod to Pandora selections, fill the car with that petro and take off--oh, yes, it helps if you have an itinerary so you don't back track or get lost and a GPS is a big assistance if you are not familiar with the location.

First stop--lunch!  We are going to experience a Vietnamese restaurant:   New Saigon--proclaimed the best Vietnamese restaurant in town.  We arrive shortly after 1:30 and the place is still packed.  But, luckily, our wait is short.

What to order?  The menu is extensive and not familiar to our palates.  Next best thing is to ask the server--what would you order?  We settle on the 'make your own spring rolls'--perfect!  But, when it arrives we have no idea how to proceed so our gracious server gives us a lesson in rolling our spring roll.  Dip the dry rice paper wrapper in hot water (provided), place in the fresh veggies (bean sprouts, shredded carrots, cilantro, mint, green leaf lettuce, rice noodles, any meat) and roll.  Looked easy when she did it!  When we tried we couldn't quite get everything in the wrapper and get it rolled before it stuck to the plate.  Alas, we did manage a 'somewhat' eatable roll--delicious-all those fresh veggies and the dipping sauce was outstanding.  We also ordered pho, which is a soup loaded with goodness.  Too much food--take away bag we carried out the door.  See that cooler comes in handy when traveling.

Our next stop--liquid refreshment!  Stranahans whiskey distillery--the oldest in Colorado.

Enter through those doors and you will see the process happen--only today there was nothing going on, but at least we could hear about the process.

Fill these tanks with all that good 'mash' from grains...............

Flowing from the above tanks through various tubes into these copper kettles where heat is applied.......................

And soon you have a 90%+ proof liquor which is diluted with pure spring water and into these American oak barrels to age two years.

Drain into large whiskey bottles, pop in the cork, slap on the label (done by volunteers who get to reap in the benefits at the end of their shift) and you have a finished product that is only sold in the state.

And now to the tasting room--ahhh, our wait is over!  Our tour guide skillfully fills the tasting glasses, even pouring some liquid refreshment (water) for the under age set.  Nose the whiskey before tasting, sip, swish around in your mouth and swallow--feel the burn and taste the flavors.  These batches are limited, so better get your bottle now (so says the sales gal).  Priced @ $59 a bottle, we added one to our liquid cabinet.

Now, isn't it time for some cool refreshment?  You bet!  So, off we go, about two miles as the crow flies to Spuntino. 

We have come for the gourmet Popsicles!  Now, which one to choose?  So many unusual flavors to pick from--

Perfect for a hot day--Tropical sunrise (mango, papaya, pineapple), pineapple cilantro and plum pomegranate.  Yummy good! 

And our last stop of the day--Chocolate!! Roberta's chocolate is a small shop off to the side and it is packed full of goodness!

When is this festival?  Please select me as one of the judges!!

The shelves are lined with all types of chocolates.  Immediately, our eyes spotted the 'grab' bag--$2 bargain for 1/2 lb of chocolate.  Name the fudge and Roberta's has it--our stash is complete with a small bag and homeward bound we are.  Thank goodness, for chocolate and cool drinks as we trudge back to the interstate and the biggest traffic problem we have experienced in a long time.  Our adventure is complete for another day.  Yeah, these 'staycations' are pretty good things!

A Little of This, A Little of That

Off we journey into the Rocky Mountains......our visit takes us to Keystone, Colorado, a perfect little hideaway. We are coming for the cool air, the freshness of the scenery and a chance to drink a little wine and listen to a little jazz--we are here primarily for the Wine and Jazz Festival.

This is the view from our fifth floor condo overlooking the plaza area where the weekend events will commence--all is quiet for the time being but soon the tents will be stocked with international wines and the  jazz music will be blaring throughout from two stages.  The condo is perfect!  A perch to enjoy the music without the crowds.  We participate in seminars--one in the AM and one in the PM.

The surrounding view is outstanding! Snow-capped mountains linger in the background while the swift moving waters of the Snake River meander to their final destination.

July has brought the monsoon rains to the mountains and light showers do their magic in the late afternoons and early evenings.  Better plan to have the rain gear handy.

And a little rain each day, along with snow melt, leads those swollen rivers to overflow their banks and tumble downhill.  Our time in the mountains must come to an end and  we travel back down into the valley of warmth.

Back in the basement studio, we do a little sewing--working on sundry projects a little at a time.  Sew a little, think a little, read a little...............got to move onto those lingering pile of little scraps and squares.

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We stumbled upon this happening at Facebook and have accepted the challenge--of course, you can do this a little at a time.  The commitment was one bowtie block a day but once many little 1.5" and 3.5" squares are cut, you will sew until all are 'eaten' up!   day, but once the little pieces are cut, you can sew and sew

We are also chipping away a little at a time on this mystery quilt from the web pages of Lyn Brown.

Step one: 48 four patches--done!  Next step available July 20th--gee, we are caught up on that one and now to move onto the next project while we wait.

This is "deconstructed" block of Sunbonnet Sam or Overall Andy (whichever name you prefer).  These die-cut blocks were purchased on our trip to Paducah, Kentucky several moons ago during Quilt festival.  They have sufficiently 'aged'.  So, work away--a little at a time.

Here he is ==constructed==a little handwork for sure!

The first thought--do those quickly!--which meant by machine.  But, since we are at the summer house, this machine doesn't have the nice buttonhole stitch, so zig-zag stitches was used.  You can see, that this fabric is flimsy and frays easier, so after a couple by zz, we decided that wasn't going to work--so head to the needle and thread.

And those times when we decide to sit a little, our hands and feet can be busy:  the green Falkland wool, so named 'Kermit' from Skyloom Weavers, has been spun and partly plied.  And now the Blue Faced wool (Scarab) fiber from Gale's Art is split and being spun--a little at a time.  We are biting off a little here and a little there to finish...........................

The 2011 Capitol Quilt Show

Colorado Quilt Council is displaying 270 quilts during their 2011 Capitol Quilt Show. There are representatives quilters from different regions of the state. This show is held every odd year in the state capitol--what could be a better location than a state captiol with its high rotunda and walk around open levels.

Reaching the capitol from the east side leads one to the north entrance and luckily there was plenty of parking spots right off that entrance.  After crossing through the security measures, one can't help but be impressed by the warmth of  these 270 wonders.

The Colorado Quilting Council is an association of over 1000 members and is not for profit statewide organization of persons interested in preserving the heritage of quilting, promoting excellence in quilting and related arts.  Their meeting locations vary throughout the state to enable as many members as possible to attend.  Usually, meetings will host from 100-400 members and guests (guest fee is $6). 

Meetings are held the fourth Saturday of January through October with exception of September when Quilt-a-Fair (held in Loveland) is held in place of their monthly meeting.

Their meetings for the next few months include speakers such as Robbi Eklow, Eileen Sullivan, Debbie Bowles, Sue Spargo, Linda Poole, Cindy Needham .

So feast your eyes on some masterpieces of the hand as we roam the halls of the Colorado State Capitol.

Every nook, cranny and hallway is filled with hangings.  This exhibit will run through August 19.  Open Monday-Friday 7:30 AM-5 PM.  The building is not open on weekends.

Going Green?

Did you ever have those times when you were stuck in one color theme and just couldn't get out of it?  Well, that seems to the case lately around this household.  The color once upon a time was orange--which makes one happy--orange yarn, orange fiber, orange clothes, orange foods.  But, now, the color seems to be GREEN!  That's not all bad though--as there is much talk about 'going green'.  So we are just taking that to heart and green surrounds us.

From the farmer's market we carry home a green bag filled with green peas and we use our green bowl to store our shelled peas.

Delicious green peas for dinner!

The 'green' feeling carried over into our yarn buying mode as well.  Here is Kermit (appropriately named for sure)!

And look at this--even the yarns we bought have green featured!  What the heck is going on??

Thanks goodness--this roving has only a small amount of green, but doesn't that green just pop out at you?

Kermit looks lovely on the bobbin and it is spinning up easily and swiftly--soon there will be a Kermit scarf or shawl or who knows what!

And since we are on a green roll--we'll leave you with some photos taken on our nature walk through the botanic gardens in the valley area.

Not all green--as this Queen Ann's lace testifies to.

And the hole in the brick silo is the perfect frame for the wooden fence and green background.

It is said that nature provides the perfect compliment to any color and so this ladybug does her duty on the green plant.

John Deere Green for the door bell on the red barn--perfect!!

Okay, maybe our next color fetish will be yellow or gold, but for the time being--we are on a green roll.  Bring it on!!

Getting Motivated!

We have been at our Colorado summer home for over two weeks now and the box of UFOs have finally been unloaded.  A couple of 'aged' projects were brought along with a few new projects (shouldn't really think of beginning a new one before finishing at least one old UFO).  This past week we took some time in the basement studio to work on a really aged UFO.

This UFO was dated 1996!  Now, that has really aged!  It was an exchange with other guild members and somehow all the pieces got placed in a bag.  The exchange was plaid fabrics and now we are working up this quilt.

There are over 85 different plaids in the exchange--rectangles and squares.  You add the star points and centers. 

It sews up quickly (since all the pieces are already cut) so why did it rest for such a lengthy time?  Who knows?  It's fairly straight forward too.

And all those cut strips have finally been sewn together.  Instead of one large quilt top, we got two smaller tops.  Now, just need to add borders (first a trip to the fabric shop--madness to my method!) before they can be finished completely.

The June block of Heneriatta was easy to whip up--just a little hand stitching and it was placed in the box to be returned to winter home.

And the June block from Little Birdie's site is stitched--that was fun!  Okay, now we are back to being motivated after a visit from our grandson--a trip to the mountains and other fun things happen while he was here--back to thinking about fiber, fabric and completing those aged UFOs!