Denver and Pikes Peak

Early in November I made a last minute decision to fly out and see my daughter, Kelly.  She moved out there with Tyler last August and I decided to make the time to check out her  new digs before the bad weather came and I couldn't/wouldn't travel.

She met me at the airport and aquainted me with the lite-rail system on the way back to her apartment.

This is an areal view of her complex....That green triangle area is the "dog park" for pet owners.  The complex is right next to the lite-rail stop and very convenient for the 20-minute commute to her second job at a PotBelly Sandwich Shop in Downtown Denver.  Her main job is two blocks to the right of the picture where she is shift manager at a Papa Murphy's pizza shop. It's a quick walk through a shopping area (Kmart, grocery store, shops) ... and that area, as well as her complex, is patrolled round the clock by security guards... making it safe to walk home 9-10 pm after work.

Throughout our time together,  we walked a couple blocks over to Broadway and ate some meals at local pubs that I can't remember the name of.  One was Chezck.... food was similar to German and Polish and very good; the second was a seafood place, unremarkable;  and the third had great burgers, chicken and a large variety of beers on tap!

One day we rode the lite-rail downtown to her job.  While she worked, I spent some time window shopping;  walking or hopping on and off the free bus when got winded to get from place to place. I also went up to the Capitol, but it was under repair and surrounded with scaffolding... not picture worthy.  I went back and ordered lunch from her and then sat outside and watched her work.  I really enjoyed watching her... greeting customers, smiling, talking, wiping tables, etc.  She has grown into an amazing young women that I am proud to call my daughter.

I had several more hours before she was done working and decided to take the lite-rail to visit The Creative Needle Quilt Shop.  There was a 2 block walk to the bus stop then a 10 block ride up to Broadway.  I told the driver where I wanted to go and he told me where to get off.  Unfortunately, after he pulled away and I looked around, I realized that I needed to be 10 blocks farther down Broadway.  There were bus stops along the way, but the buses were all running in the other direction at the time... so I walked... and walked... and walked!  Normally, I walk 5 miles a day with Toby at home,  but the altitude out there makes breathing difficult if your not used to it... and drinking lots of water is important.  Not exactly sure why or how, but it helps you acclimate.

I took my time and making several stops along the way, and I walked the 10 blocks.  The ladies offered me a drink and a seat when I arrived, and I was very grateful!  Once I caught my breath I looked up and the first thing I saw... Bonnie's cards!

I'd already purchased mine from her web page, but it was nice to see them in the store.  I also found myself a few orange fat quarters and fat eights... something difficult to find at home.  Orange just isn't a popular color, but I want to make Bonnie's pumpkins for a Halloween wall hanging or table runner.
When I was done, the ladies told me I could take the bus all the way back to within a couple blocks of the apartment and didn't need to switch to the the light rail.  Kelly had finished working by then and walked over to meet me and we stopped for dinner along the way.

Thursday was our big day together as they both were not working.  I rented a car (theirs had just died) and we drove over to take the cog train up to Pikes Peak.  We got some pictures on the way up.....

But the views from the top were breathtaking!

The views were spectacular and the weather was perfect.   I recently bought a tablet and brought it along so Kelly could teach me how to use it.  One of the features it has, that my camera doesn't, is to take panoramic view pictures.  I was standing near the same spot as the picture on the left, when I took the picture below in panoramic mode... turning from left to right while the camera recorded...... look what it did to that straight rail track!

It was late afternoon  by the time we were down from the Peak and we had about an hour before sunset to see Garden of the Gods.  It is a free park of hiking trails and rock formations.  We had just enough time to drive around the perimeter and take a few pictures before dark.  I'm glad we did.  The next time I visit we will pack a picnic and lots of water and spend the day hiking (walking slowly) the trails.

And now it's December!

Life has been busy lately and I haven't posted in a while, so here is an update to catch you up on the happenings of my life.

The boys took turns doing the flag ceremony and learning how to fold the flag.  The cost of a full uniform was prohibitive for some of the boys.  Instead we tie-dyed matching t-shirts and presented them with home-made sashes for them to put their awards on.

Earlier in the year I took a class on how to make cement decorations from leaves around the yard.  I harvested one of the Elephant Ear leaves Matthew had grown, made the pile of sand and covered it with cement.   Here it is flipped over and drying.  I quickly made a second one before the weather turned cold.  I still have to "trim" it with dremmel, then paint and polyurethane it, but that will have to wait until Spring and warmer weather.

Brian came by for the regular bi-annual service to my heat pump and found this scary guy slowly slithering on the driveway.... a copperhead!    UGH! I guess it wasn't cold enough to send him hibernating yet!

I worked with some of the ladies from FCE sewing up bag holders and aprons for the regional and state conventions.

We took the boys to Nashville to see the Titans play the Colts (they lost !)  Then a couple weeks later the three boys (hubby included) went to Indianapolis to see the Colts beat the Titans again!  We are gluttons for punishment.

I stayed home from the Indianapolis game and instead worked at Santa's Workshop selling quilted items and crafts that I make throughout the year.

My Christmas Cactus decided to bloom early this year!






There was the Veterans Day Parade with the Knights of Columbus marching.... and a meet-up with a former JROTC teacher for Matthew.

The infamous dining room table was cleared and set with my grandmothers good Bavarian china for a grown-up Thanksgiving dinner of turkey and all the fixin's. (I forgot to take the picture of the turkey!)

  

Black Friday arrived signalling the beginning of the new Bonnie Hunter Mystery... En Provence.  I pulled fabrics from my stash, but haven't had time to begin cutting yet.

 

Instead, we had all three grandsons for a day full of activities with cars and legos and balls... and I made a second, kid friendly-kid approved Thanksgiving dinner of ham, potaotes and green beans.

  

Now it's December and the youngest grandson turned two ... he didn't quite know what to make of the candles on the cupcakes. The candles were eventually blown out with help from his brothers.  They all enjoyed playing with the cars.

The annual children's Christmas party at work .  Trying to get the three of them together and smiling for a picture proved impossible.... but they had fun with crafts, coloring and gifts.

I snuck in a 4-day trip to Denver to visit my youngest daughter, but I'll save those pics for the next post.

Mid way through October...

August ended,  September has flown by, and we are almost done with October too!   Where does the time go!  A lot has been happening!

School started the last week of July and I made a mad-dash to pick up some new shoes and clothes for my grandson...  Since he has been unsuccessful in mastering shoe tying I found these elastic laces that work quite nicely.

I participated in the St. Thomas Aquinas Church Fall Festival.  Lots of games and activities for the kids, international foods to eat, baked goods for sale  and several craft tables... one of which was mine!  I sold quite a few quilts and am now working as fast as I can to replace them and get ready for Santa's Workshop next month!

There was the High School Rodeo where special needs kids and their families are invited to give roping, bull riding and horseback riding a try in-between competitions. Its good to see the interractions between "typicals" and "specials".

Matthew loves all the "cow girls" and my grandson really enjoyed the roping this year.  

   

     

 

Hubby had to make a trip to the Kentucky plant one weekend so we accompanied him and made a fun excursion to nearby Dinosaur Land.  Last year we learned how to identify meat eaters vs plant eaters... this year, we focused where in the world the bones were found... identifying countries and continents!

 

We also had fun mining for gemstones this year and we now have a rock collection!

My grandson  asked me to help him with cub scouts when a new Pack formed at his school.  I think I may have jumped all in and become the Wolf Den Leader (unless the dad who showed up at the first meeting and has been absent the last 3 weeks suddenly shows up again).  There are only two second graders that have been attending.... I did this for my son 20+years ago and had a den of 15 boys... so this will be a piece of cake!

I'm off to our pack meeting tonight and doing a presentation on the flag and a flag ceremony!

garden pests

Last week hubby came in from the garden all upset.   Something had eaten the tops off the tomatoe plants!  

The garden has done poorly this year and we have barely harvested enough beans or zuchinnie to eat.  Now some critter was destroying the tomatoe plants.

Today we discovered the culprit!  I've never seen anything like it.  Just last night the tomatoe plants in my garden were perfect.  This morning, the leaves and tops on 2/3rds of the plants were eaten away leaving just bare stem stalks!  Many of the green tomatoes had big holes in them.

We looked carefully and discovered 6 of these guys!

These worms had to be at least 2inches long!   GROSS!!!

Hubby grabbed them off with a plyers and squished them.   Don't know where they came from and sure hope we never see them again!  Hopefully the remaining tomatoes will survive and ripen!

treadle woes, and a fix!

I have been happily sewing away on my treadle since returning from the TOGA last month.

 I finished piecing my strawberry coins quilt and then loaded it onto my quilter. After finishing the quilting I was ready to sew on the binding... but my treadle had other ideas   :(

For some reason the thread was not being picked up to form a proper stitch and I kept getting "birdnests" on the back of my quilt.

The thread on the right is the first loop that is supposed to pull up to form a stitch.  The middle thread is the bobbin thread.  The thread on the right is the next loop coming to form the next stitch.

I did some investigating and found that periodically a loop would not be picked up to form a stitch... then the second loop would come by and grab that loop, form a stitch and form the "birdsnest" with the first loop.  I figured out what was wrong, but had no idea why it was happening.

I logged onto the internet and the facebook  TreadleQuilters group and posted about my problem asking for help.   I had many suggestions.... 

Rethread the machine properly... I unthreaded and rethreaded being extra careful to make sure I didn't miss a step

Change the needle.... I first had to search and find all the different needles I had in stock and then needed a lesson on needle types and sizes before finding the correct one.

Clean the tension disks...I folded and ran a dollar bill between the disks to clear out any potential lint or stray threads.

Adjust the tension...  I turned the knob left, I turned the knob right... but nothing worked.  The stitches would not form propperly!

I was getting totally frustrated!   

Then the group moderator logged on and suggested that I clean the feed-dog area.

So I took off the needle plate, brushed out the little bit of lint that was in there.  And for good measure I loosened the belt, tipped the head back and brushed out a few specs of lint from the the underside also.  And while I was there, I oiled all the moving parts too!  I put everything back together and...

HALLELUJIA!  she was sewing properly again!  It is amazing that a little speck of lint... no bigger than a pin head, could cause so much trouble!

So now my binding is sewed on and I will finish the handstitching on it while watching tv this weekend.

Thank goodness for the internet!  I don't know how we survived without it!

TOGA

When we were vacationing in KY, in the rain, I decided to take the kids to town for a change of scenery (inside the cabin).  There were several antique stores and we had fun browsing through them.  One had a table of puzzles and a game of checkers set up so we killed time and played some games. (I didn't think to take pictures)

In the last shop, I spied this sitting in the corner....

 

I opened up the top and... ooh la la!  An 1870s Singer Model 12.   It needed a good cleaning and a belt.  I turned the wheel and everything appeared to work. Unfortunately the shuttle and bobbin were missing and the sales lady had no clue.  I thought it a bit pricey, and I had no idea how difficult it would be to  find parts.  So I went back to the cabin and posted on the treadle quilters facebook page.  I connected with Diane who had a friend selling a similar machine, in better shape, and for less!  A few emails back and forth and I'd committed to a new acquisition!

There was a TOGA (TreadleOnGAthering scheduled a few weeks later in Winchester TN.... about 2hr drive from home, so I made plans to attend and pick up my new beauty.  

 

And a beauty she is... An 1869 Singer Model 12... with some beautiful mother-of-pearl inlay.  She hadn't been used in a while and needed a dose of tri-flow to loosen up and get stitching.   I will have to play with the tension to get a decent stitch out of her, but she works!

I brought along my 1921 Singer Model 66 Red Eye to sew on and for some help.

I have been enjoying sewing on her for a few years now.  But lately I have been having trouble with the tension.  It kept bird-nesting a bit on the back.  I've made several adjustments to correct it, but no luck.

The biggest problem was that the belt had stretched over the last couple years and was slipping, thus the birdnests!  Diane easily snipped a half inch off the leather belt and tightened it up.

Skip looked at my bobbins.  I have several original bobbins and several newly made bobbins.  The new ones were made imperfectly and have a little lip on the inside that interferes with the path of the thread.  Once I switched to using only original bobbins, problem solved.

Thanks to Diane and Skip she is now stitching perfectly!