No Wifi in Yellowstone...

I suppose I better start with this picture...

Old Faithful lived up to it's name!  But what really surprised me was how many people were there!  I'd guess-ti-mate there were at least a thousand people standing around waiting to watch the geyser blow!  

As much as I found the hot springs and geysers interesting (there are a whole bunch in the same area as Old Faithful)...I really enjoyed the abundance of wild life.  Many, who are not the least bit afraid or interested in the visiting humans.  I suppose because they are completely protected.

This guy just ambled across the road right in front of our car.  These guys create traffic jams all over the park!

But these were my favorite.  I'd heard of Sand hill Cranes but never knew what they looked like!  We saw Trumpeter Swans too.  That was fun  because that was one of our kids favorite stories,  "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E.B. White.  I recommend it for kids of all ages!

There are signs everywhere warning about being Bear wise, this is as close as I ever want to be to a bear in the wild! 

We've made a few more stops since Yellowstone.  Even tho' Yellowstone is incredibly beautiful and has all kinds of interesting sights like Old Faithful et al, it is really crowded which takes some of the fun away...But the Grand Tetons are both majestic and less crowded.  We had some wonderful hikes up in the mountains there.

This place is called the Crater of the Moon national park, in Southern Idaho, and it does look a lot like the surface of the moon.  It's actually a whole bunch of ancient lava flows. 

Imagine, this was once liquid rock! 

But even in this harsh terrain Spring flowers grow!

cheers, Claire W.

   

Back on the road- 3.5 sights in one day!

Well we had a nice visit with our son and his wife in Indiana and we were back on the road to California on Tues.  We stopped in Galena, Ill. that night, very cute and Historic town!  And then we moved onto the Bad lands in S. Dakota.  Wow, what a place!

It goes on like this for miles and miles.  I thought with a name like badlands it would be as dry as the desert.  But they've had so much rain this spring the flat parts of the park are lush with grasses and wild flowers.  I gather when it turns hot this will all dry up and live up to its desolate name!

                             

The prairie dogs were out in force this morning and did not seemed be bothered by our presence at all.  I understand from the nature center info. that the P. Dogs are a very important part of the park ecology.  But I have to say if they were burrowing in my yard I would set the cats upon them!

Next stop was Mount Rushmore.  So photographed it is a part of Pop culture but up close it is incredibly impressive!

Next stop was Custer State Park where we took a nice 'Nature drive' around the park and spy- ed these beasts! 

Then it was onto to Devils Tower in NE Wyoming.  Another one of those iconic sites really worth seeing up close and personal.

And as we moved on down the road to the next motel we were rewarded with another fabulous sight!

Next stop...Yellowstone!  Yahoo!  

Cheers, Claire

Chicago Decorative Art's Part 2

Chicago is full of scenic walks.  The other day we decided to walk down along the lake North to the Navy Pier.  Navy Pier is a wonderful historic site that has been turned into a major tourist area with shops, restaurants, amusement park, theater, conference rooms and The Stained Glass Museum!  This last attraction was a complete surprise to us and one of the best tourist values with Free Admission!

Most of these windows were saved / salvaged from buildings that were either being torn down or renovated in and around the Chicago area.  It's hard to understand 1970's sensibilites that would demolish buildings with such gorgeous decorations?!  But aesthetics do ebb and flow along with the $$$  that it takes to maintain them.

Once again these decorative pieces lead me to thinking about how to adapted them to quilt designs...

These two window's were made by the Tiffany studio.  The museum has quite an extensive collection of Tiffany windows. 

I think this layout might make a great modern quilt design. 

This window was designed by Frank Loyd Wright.  Another heavy hitter in the design worl of Chicago!  I have seen several Wright window patterns translated into quilt work.

cheers, CW

Chicago's Decorative Arts Part 1

Well, I've learned a lot about Chicago's decorative arts this week and been amazed and awestruck by it all!  And there is no shortage of inspiration for quilters.  Our first stop was the Cultural Center located in the old downtown library.  The interior is decorated to the max with tiles and stained glass, it is a veritable gold mine of patterns and ideas. Here's a sampling:

These medallion tile designs were all over the main entry, stairwell, walls and main 2nd floor rooms.

Many of these pictures were taken in this room.  When this was still the library this was the reference room.  At the top of this dome is this stained glass work by Louis Comfort Tiffany.  It is the largest domed window that he ever designed!

This design seems like it might be possible to translate into an applique project?!

But this one not so much!  lol. Still they are so beautiful and to think the city threatened to raise this building in the mid 70's!  Fortunately it was saved and currently serves a variety of civic needs.

cheers, Claire W.

More IMQSG

The second show at the International Quilt Studies Museum features vintage pictures of people with quilts, either as background or posing with their quilts. Mostly, the quilts in the pictures were lost to history but the museum provided examples of  similar types of quilts from their collection.

A Red Cross quilt next to a picture of girls with their red cross quilt. You might recall the old fundraising technique of selling signatures for a dime.  Eash girl pictured below was obligated to sell 10 signature and embroider them into a block.

The photo on the right shows a similar quilt in the background to the quilt on the left.

This quilt was made by a lady who worked in the alterations department of a large store in Lincoln Nebraska.  The Lady entered her quilt in a contest and won and so a photo of  her and the quilt were published in the news.  It is a wonderful quilt made more special by the story and photo!  

I thought this was a really neat example of a 'cheater' print.  At first glance it fooled me.  It took a closer look to see that every part of the print had been quilted around to give it more dimension!

We have now traveled from Nebraska to Chicago and yesterday we went to the Museum of Chicago History; and what should I see but this very cool photo of women busy sewing and quilting!  I think I could get into this vintage- quilt - photo colleting thing!  Oi, not another collection! Well at least this one does not take up to much space!

cheers, Claire W.