2014 Fiber Arts Show

As my long-time followers who pay attention to such things know, October was the month of Sheridan's annual Fiber Arts (mostly quilts) show, which I usually document each year in multiple posts. But this year, not so much. I was underwhelmed when I first ran into the library at the start of October to do some camera-less recon. Usually the place is ablaze with an abundance of brightly colored, lively-patterned quilts, but I found the overall effect of this year's display comparatively drab. A couple of quilts caught my eye right away, but I couldn't even get to one of them (the Halloween one, which will make its second blog appearance here) because there were two people working at a table in front of it who wouldn't budge, and just gave me crusty stares as I tried in vain to peer around them at the quilt. (I've never seen anyone working at that table before, the vast majority of tables and work areas being on the main level). Adding insult to injury, one quilt glorified killing animals for "trophies," complete with a couple of ghastly photos of their victims pre- and post-slaughter. Ugh! After the quilts I spent a few minutes checking out the other fiber arts and was very drawn to a couple of them, but frankly I left the quilt show disappointed, miffed, and with no intention of returning with my camera or doing a post on it this year.

But the show is at the library for an entire month and I am a frequent borrower of books and DVDs, so I couldn't not look up and see the quilts on the mezzanine above every time I was there… and a couple of them, at least, kept catching my eye. And later when my friend Pam shared a compelling description of her favorite quilt, I realized I'd missed it completely. But perhaps most galvanizing of all, I was seriously pissed about not getting a good gander at the Halloween quilt! So I decided to give the show a second look and a second chance, accompanied this time by my camera as well as by Pam, as part of our "Apollo Picnic" outing...

The most colorful side of the mezzanine so the only one I'm bothering to post.

The colorful "Scrappy Tulips" quilt on the left was the first quilt I noticed on my initial visit, and it kept grabbing my attention on subsequent library runs. Its neighbor, "Twin Peaks," grew on me over time - its neutral pallet isn't as eye-catching, but the design and quilting are beautiful. I can easily picture this on an antique four-poster bed, a handsome centerpiece in a warm and tranquil bedroom, and it's probably the one I would have most wanted to take home...

     Left - "Scrappy Tulips"     

Pieced & Machine Quilted

Artist: Peggy Gable

Quilted by: Becky Stedtnitz 

Right - "Twin Peaks"

Machine Pieced

Artist: Marge Hamilton

Quilted by: Laurie Sheeley

≥≤≥≤≥≤≥≤≥≤

I shared a photo of this next quilt in its entirety on my Halloween post, but since a couple of you mentioned then how much you liked the border around the center panel, I thought I'd share this other photo. As luck would have it, in photographing the center panel I unintentionally captured at least some of that much-admired border around it...

Detail from "Who's Watching" 

Pieced Quilt

Artist: Tammy Johnson

Quilted By: Karen Van Houten

From a kit designed by Heidi Pridemore

(Click here to view the entire quilt)

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

And here was Pam's favorite, and the one she most would have wanted to take home with her. It hadn't caught my eye and I wouldn't have photographed it but for Pam pointing out the level of difficulty and years of toil it took to create. And the more I looked at it, the more fond of it I became. It really is a sweetly old-fashioned and pretty quilt! It's one I would have taken home with me too, but I think Pam would have cheerfully (and rightfully) tossed me over the balcony railing to nab it for herself. ;-) Thanks, Pam, for getting me to appreciate and photograph it!...

"Crazy About Hexagons" 

 Hand-pieced 

Artist: Jane Rader

Quilted by: Janis Fall 

"These 50,000+ hexagons are mostly representative of the 1830s time period using reproduction fabrics. The toile border helped even the sides out for the binding. 

It took about 10 years to make and was a great carry-along project."

≈§≈§≈§≈§≈§≈§≈

This last one was my favorite quilt overall, for its fun, creative, original (and vegan, yay!) theme and, of course, its eye-candy quotient - because you know how I am about eye-candy (not to mention fruits & veggies!)...

"The Jars"

Machine Pieced

Artist: Janet Goss

Quilted By: Janet Goss

It took Janet five years to collect the vegetable and fruit fabrics used in the quilt, 

which she enlarged from a wall hanging to king size.

øøøøøøøøøøøøø

And here were the two fiber arts examples I loved… no coincidence that they're both autumnal (I love autumn's colors!)...

"Birches I"

Fiber Painting

Artist: Heidi Heuerman

"The inspiration for this piece was my neighbors' back yard."

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

And last, but certainly not least, perhaps my overall favorite piece in the show… 

"Fall Fairy"

Counted Cross-Stitch

Artist: Norma Just

"My daughter bought this cross-stitch for me to make for her. She also got the Winter Woodland Enchantress… Look for this one next year if my eyes hold up!"

Don't know about you, but Norma is my nominee for Mom of the Year! And I'm hoping she has a good optometrist, because I want to see her Winter Woodland Enchantress next year. :-) I was pleased with how my photos of it turned out, but they still don't capture how truly breathtakingly beautiful this picture was. I took this closeup so you could see the tiny gold beads in her hair, necklace, belt, and blowing around some of the leaves (click on it, or any of the photos, to see larger versions)...

I may just have to buy this pattern for myself! :-)

SkyWatch Friday: Tricks & Treats!

After waiting in vain all week for a hauntingly beautiful Halloween sunrise to share, I had a sky-less Halloween post ready to go… until just a few minutes ago! As my finger hovered over the "publish" button, BW called to me with eerie timing, "Come see the sunrise!" Sure enough, it was a colorful, luminous beauty that seemed to mimic a glowing jack-o-lantern…

Oh those trickster Wyoming sunrises! Now you don't see 'em, now you do! :-)

So here's my originally planned post with more Halloween fun from (mostly) ground level…

Above-ground level, that is. ;-)

First, a sneak-peek at one of this year's quilts in the annual Fiber Arts show at the library. The lone Halloween quilt in the exhibit and one of my top three favorites in the show, I thought it would be better appreciated here than on my upcoming quilt show post...

"Who's Watching?"

Technique: Pieced

Artist: Tammy Johnson

From a kit designed by Heidi Pridemore

Quilted by: Karen Van Houten

On the day of our visit to the cemetery and picnic among the "Roman Ruins" last week, we also drove by this old home in Sheridan's historic "Residence Hill" neighborhood. It was for sale when BW and I were looking for a place and we made an offer on it, but it was not to be (just as well - ideal location, but way too big and in need of too much work, it would have meant delaying BW's retirement and thank goodness that didn't need to happen!)

A spooky spider, pretty pumpkins, and comely crow await trick-or-treaters

I didn't have to wander far from the home we did end up living in to get these next photos. Our neighbors a few doors down have their place very festively decorated for fall and Halloween, but I especially love these gossamer ghosts gamboling around the festooned spruce...

And up the street in the opposite direction one is greeted by these gregarious ghouls and their hauntingly hospitable howdies! :-)

Remember our friend the Red-tailed hawk? He showed up again at dusk last Friday, perched on our next door neighbors' roof. I took some more photos of him (of course) despite the bad lighting, and really liked this one of his eyes reflecting my camera's flash. By darkening the original a little I ended up with this great silhouette ~ add a few spooky elements courtesy of PicMonkey and our red-tailed friend becomes The Haunted Hawk of Halloween! :-)

It's predicted to be sunny and 71º here today (and tomorrow) with no wind. Combine the balmy weather with the fact it's a Friday night and we're expecting a record turnout of monstrous moochers Trick-or-Treaters, though we "only" bought enough vegan goodies for the first 250 or so. Wish us (and our poor doorbell) luck, and enjoy a safe and happy Halloween! 

2014 Sheridan Karz Club Rod Run, Pt 2

Sorry it took me a while to get here with the second batch of Rod Run photos, but the traffic was terrible! ;-) Anyway, here are the rest of our favorites from this year's hot rod/classic car show on July 5th. (You can see Part 1 here)...

A 1948 Buick Special 

(and a border collie who seems to be telling his human, "Let's go for a ride in that one, 

it matches my collar and leash!")

1933 Dodge 5-Window Coupe 

According to its accompanying info sign, this teal beauty is all steel and all Mopar, with rare dual horns. (The teal color and those wonderful "arooga" horns were what won me over!) When this was a brand new car in 1933, it was sold in Kalispell, MT. It now resides in Billings, MT, a mere 444 miles away. So I expect it has low miles. ;-) 

BW admiring a boss '57 Chevy Bel Air

1956 Mercury Montclair Hardtop Coupe

These odd tubes in the Mercury really drew my attention. They led from these ports in the rear deck to larger ones in the car's ceiling just above the rear seat, and I had fun coming up with unlikely uses for them. Since they reminded me of the pneumatic tubes you use at drive thru banks, I thought maybe it was a way for someone locked in the trunk to send an SOS to someone in the front seat. :-) 

As I struggled to both figure them out and photograph them, the owner wandered over and explained that the tubes are part of the car's very rare factory air conditioning (which only 1% of all 1956 Mercury Montclair's had!), drawing air from outside vents (you can see the chrome intake vent on the rear fender in the first Mercury photo) and sending it through the tubes to air vents above the front seat. I'm guessing from some of the info I found online that the a/c compressor and condenser were in the trunk, but don't quote me! (I still like my idea of using it to send messages from the trunk to the driver, lol).

1957 Ford Sedan Delivery

The truly beady-eyed and sharp-memoried among you may recognize this car from my 2012 Rod Run post. However, it has been jazzed up quite a bit in the two years since… you can see the graphics on the hood better in this photo, but check out these incredible murals (all painted FREEHAND by the artist!!) on the sides...

and on the tailgate, featuring Mount Rushmore and Devil's Tower...

1934 Ford 3-window Coupe 

2006 Ford Mustang Shelby GT-H

Our friend and neighbor John, VP of the Karz Club as well as the owner of this Shelby GT-H, briefs BW about some of its attributes. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you'll see the "Hertz" badge; yep, that Hertz, the car rental folks. They collaborated with Ford and Shelby Automobiles to commission 500 of these high-performance cars for customers in select cities whose heart's desire it might be to rent a race car to get from the airport to their business meetings. :-) 

Fast as that 325hp V-8 could go, anyone driving one of those bad boys better be watching out for these...

Wyoming Highway Patrol's Restored 1954 Buick Patrol Car 

Beside it is a contemporary one… if I were pulled over by the WHP, pretty sure I'd prefer it be by the '54 Buick (which has its own Facebook page!) Especially if I had to ride to the hoosegow in the back seat. :-)

Speaking of vehicular outlaws… when we saw this '88 Lincoln Town Car in the lineup, we burst out laughing. Just a couple days earlier we had passed this car, with its menacing matte black paint job, on one of Sheridan's streets. BW had done a double take and said, "What the hell was that?" To which I'd answered, "Why, The Death Car, of course!" Seriously, if the Grim Reaper has a driver's license and too much originality to be caught dead driving a hearse (nyuck), this HAS to be his ride!...

1988 Lincoln Death Town Car 

I got another good laugh when I read the "Special Features" section on its Rod Run entry tag, and again when I had a little fun with it in the photo editor…

(What, no mention of chains or scythe?!) 

Perhaps, like me, this has put you in an early Halloween mood, in need of a bit of orange to go with your black. And now that you've seen the Grim Reaper's car, perhaps you're wondering what The Great Pumpkin drives. Why, this naturally! Perfect for cruising through the pumpkin patch...

"Porky," a 1949 Chevy Custom Pickup

We loved this truck! Such a cool color (note the subtle fender flames) and fun shape!

I've tried and tried to get a list of this year's award winners - or even just "Best in Show," but to no avail. I'm still trying, and if I eventually succeed I'll add a note to any of the cars on these posts that may have won an award. 

Anyway, that does it for this year's Rod Run. But you might enjoy some of these old car commercials from the 1950's (when we apparently had much longer attention spans!) The first ad was my favorite. Love the cheesy acting and the subtle-as-a-flying-brick prodding to make everyone envy and admire you by owning their product. Hey, who had time for subliminal messaging when marketers were too busy convincing you that their car could practically fly you to Mars? :-) 

Coming up soon(ish): photos from yesterday's 2nd annual Garden Tour: from horsepower to flower power!  :-)

Karz Club Rod Run 2014 (Pt 1)

It's that time of year again (or was, back on July 5th!) - the annual Sheridan Karz Club "Rod Run!" Here's a little mood-setting music you can play as you drag main…

We got there early, because it was already a scorcher that was predicted to grow even scorchier. Just stayed an hour and wasn't as diligent about recording each car's information, so some of my photo captions will be embarrassingly non-informative (and non-existent). You can make up your own stories if you wish. :-)

This rare 1957 DeSoto "Firesweep" wasn't even in the show, but was parked behind a building on a nearby side street. We just happened to walk past it on our way to the show and it caught our eye. It's a beauty - great color… and check out those unusual tailpipes! 

This handsome 1955 Dodge C-1 belongs to BW's co-worker at UPS, Vicki, and her husband Kenny. It took them two years to restore it to its dazzling glory from this pitiful state...

A daunting project, especially since between them they also have three jobs!

The oak truck bed was a thing of beauty, too.

(And look, the truck's paint job is so glossy you can see my Sanuks' reflection!) :-)

A 1958 Studebaker-Packard Hawk. The sign with it said it was one of only 588 made, 

as well as the fastest - and final - Packard ever made. 

(That's all well and good, but BW still thinks it looks like a catfish! 

The toy bulldog peeing on the tire doesn't seem overly impressed either). :-)

I actually think it's pretty cool looking, especially from behind!

Ah, now we're talkin'. You may recall my fondness for a purple '56 Chevy Bel Air coupe that got my "Ladies Choice" vote in the 2012 Rod Run. Goes without saying that I was instantly smitten with this year's candy purple princess, a 1930 Model A her owners call "The Hussy." (You can read the story of her purchase and restoration here).

She was every bit as snazzy on the inside as she was on the outside!

Ever seen a dash board with this much purple panache before? 

I guess you could call this a hybrid. :-)

Here's one neither of us knows squat about, except that it's a 1929 Ford Model A truck with a blown flathead engine. What the "Ross" badging on the hood means is anybody's guess. 

I liked the wooden roof "rafters!"

As entertaining as the cars are to look at, sometimes it's the people looking at the cars

 who steal the show. =:-)

More show-stealing spectators. (Actually, the owner of this truck told me these are his mechanics. Click and Clack the Tappit Brothers, perhaps?) 

Stay tuned (or tuned-up!) for Part 2! (Meanwhile, if you're starved for classic hot rods, check out my posts from the 2012 show).

SkyWatch Friday: Birthday Gifts

Each day comes bearing its gifts.

Untie the ribbons.

~ Ann Ruth Schabacker

How fun that this year my birthday coincides with SkyWatch Friday, something Mother Nature must have realized because after a lot of drab morning skies lately, this was "my" gorgeous birthday sunrise this morning! A lovely gift... 

I didn't intend to post all three of these next photos since they're so similar, but couldn't choose which one(s) to delete! So I'm using my birthday as an excuse to be self-indulgent and keep them all! :-) ...

I didn't even notice it when I took these, but I love how that group of trees seem to be holding up the small cloud!

Untie the ribbons on the gifts of more beautiful skies at...

This is also a perfect time to share my birthday gift from my talented quilting friend Joanne, which I teasingly mentioned in my post about Jo's visit in October, which is when she gave it to me (I love birthdays that are spread out over months like that, lol). 

Some of you may remember this photo I took of a rose last June...

Well, Joanne used that photo in a Thread Painting class she took, and made this wonderful birthday gift of the gorgeous results!

I love all the rich detail...

Even the raindrops showed up on the print!...

Joanne!

The always-wonderful BW took today off (especially nice since his hours at UPS continue to be gruesome) and as I write this he's in the kitchen preparing my favorite birthday cake, Ginger Carrot Cake with Orange Glaze (whose tantalizing photo and recipe link can be found here). After it has baked I plan to clone him and sell the clones on eBay for boatloads of money (lol) and then we plan to take the girls for a good walk before more winter weather hits later today, and then it's off to enjoy lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants (I haven't decided which one yet, the one with the delicious veggie burrito or the one with the delicious veggie fajitas! Tough choice, especially since both restaurants make kickass margaritas!) :-)

Wishing you all a great first Friday of 2014, a Happy New Year (what's left of it, lol), and a fun weekend!