Fabric Galore!!!! - and no two pieces the same

So last Friday, the Montana Shop Hop started - for those of you who don't know what that is - it means that from April 17 to May 9 about 40 quilt shops in Montana are participating in the circle of friends shop hop with special things for shop hoppers - including a grand prize of a new sewing machine.

Well, there are 6 circles and due to work, Saturday was really the only day I could try to complete a circle to fill my passport and get one drawing in for the prizes. Since we'd never been to Glendive, I decided my quilting partner and I would get up very early Saturday morning and drive to Glendive to be there when they opened at 10 and then work our way back home stopping at the 6 shops in the Eastern Circle.

Since I work at home and don't get out of the house very often to really meet anyone, my "quilting buddy" is also my best friend and hubby. Just don't let him hear us say that. (it's really hard meeting people when you don't have kids in school - think they need a website for people who just want to find a friend - someone with common interests). So I coerced JW into being my chauffer for the day and also told him that he was going to have to carry a passport so we could get two chances to win the sewing machine.

He was so good all day and so funny talking to all the ladies in the shops. At Glendive, he carried my pile of fabric up to the counter and announce that was his pile. I had to buy quite a few fat quarters because at the Enchanted Room, they had all of them on sale for $1 a piece.

We left Glendive and drove back west to Miles City. As we got off the interstate he kind of made a comment that the quilt shop probably burned in the horrible fire they had there a couple of weeks ago. I told him no way. However, as we drove through downtown and by the block that had burnt, I found that the only building standing on that side of the street was a smaller number than the address we were looking for - it had indeed burned down.

We drove back through downtown and stopped at Subway where I had my favorite Italian BMT with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, black olives and pickles and hot mustard - it's about the only place we really enjoy eating. I especially love the salt and vinegar chips.

After eating, we drove further west to Forsyth, picked up some more fabric and then back the 95 miles to Billings - having to get there before 3 o'clock when the first of 3 quilt shops we had to stop at in that town closed. It was a quilt shop that I had never been to but after some searching, we finally found it. JW helped me pick out some fabric for a Christmas hanging I want to do - a hot pink stocking filled with goodies - it's the perfect width to fit in the window by my front door.

<--- fabrics for my Christmas wall hanging

Then we went to Backdoor Quilts - my normal quilt shop. I picked out a number of short bolts (they sell you these at $5 a yard but you have to buy the whole rest of the bolt. I also needed 1/2 yard of a gingerbread brown color and 1/2 yard of orangy-red that would match the salmon on the alaskan panel for the quilt I want to make for the new grandchild.

While I was getting my fabric cut, JW kind of fell in love with a quilt on the wall - it had elk on the fabric and he was really wanting a quilt of his own to take to "summer camp". So now I have one more project and of course this one has to have priority over the others since I have to get it done by June 27.

(And no alexshuman, I have not forgotten I have to get you a quilt made too - I picked up a few fat quarters that I'm thinking will look good in your quilt - really want to get that one started. )

Last stop was at Bernina quilts where JW burned his hand on a price tag on a sewing machine - I keep telling him that the price of new machines is why I'm perfectly content to keep sewing on my almost 30 year old viking - at least it's not made of plastic). The ladies there teased him a little but then also told him it was nice of him to do the shop hop with me. Here, JW picked out fabric he wants me to put around the Packin' In panel that I've done for a quilt for our bed. Plus, he helped me pick out some fabric for a border for the upstairs bedroom quilt (however, because one of the short bolts I bought at Backdoor quilts happened to be the perfect color of the room, I'm going to use that instead.

<-- packin' in panel with fabrics to turn it into a king size quilt - now if I only had a plan.

For a reward, I treated JW to dinner at famous dave's - he had the brisket sandwich and I had a salad - then on home cause "we had animals to feed".

Next year, if he's nice, I'll take my vacation at this time and we'll do all 6 circles - I think that would be a blast. (However, I'm sure my "partner" would use other words to describe that")

Elk Picnic???

The company I work for decided that in order to improve their bottom line for the quarter, all employees had to take 6 days of vacation between Jan 1 and mid-April. Not that I don't enjoy vacation but I only get 17 days a year so kind of like to take it when I want to. But insteady, I had "forced vacation" this week. JW isn't working so had to think about him when trying to plan what to do this week. He didn't want to go south to visit family - he has this attitude of "if they won't come and see us, I'm not going down there". Course, money is a little tighter this year so couldn't plan a big trip - or would have went south without him.

Springtime in MT is not exactly the time of year to be playing MT tourist. Too much snow to go to Glacier Park. Too many museums and other things are only open from Memorial day through Labor day. We've had over 2 feet of snow in the last 10 days. Beartooth Pass is still closed for another 6 weeks.

So Monday, I got this bright idea that we would drive to Gardiner (the Northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park) the next day and spend the night. Then Wednesday, we would drive into the park and do some snowshoeing. We knew most of the park is closed but they do keep the 53 mile stretch from Gardiner to Cooke City open year around.

We got to Gardiner about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon. JW had physical therapy in the morning and then we spent a little time in Livingston and the Backporch Quilt Shop. (was looking for some yellow and orange fabric to use for flames for the campfire in my Packin' In quilt.) We walked into the few open junk stores in Gardiner to see if we could find any little treasures.

We then checked in to our room and walked across the street for dinner. I ordered the tri-color pasta with portabella. I'm beginning to think that most little restaurant's don't actually know what a portabella mushroom is because the last 3 times I've ordered a dish with portabella - it has had only regular little mushroom slices in. The "tri-colored" pasta isn't exactly what I had pictured - it was ravioli - about 1 1/2" x 3" squares that were brightly striped white, red and green. Not really bad - just not something I would order again.

Wednesday morning, we got up, ate breakfast and headed into the park. When you go in through the north entrace, the first thing you get to is Mammoth Hot springs area. So we had to drive up past the terraces.

My favorite part of going into Yellowstone Park this time of year is that it is so peaceful - you can pretty much pull off the road anywhere you want without worrying about causing a big traffic jam.

We were surprised at how little snow there was in the park so we figured out very quickly we weren't going to be doing any snow-shoeing.

In the summer, most of the buffalo can be found in Lamar Valley towards Cooke City but this time of year, they go anywhere to find food. We saw at least 1000 of them in various little groups - since there was a little snow, they seemed to find it easier to walk down the pavement.

We got to Cooke City around 10 - I was thinking we could go into the "junk" store and look around but they shut it down for the winter. Good thing cause not too many places to pile snow except in front of buildings. Whoever owns the car below is going to have fun digging it out as it may be staying snowbound for a few more weeks.

We turned around at Cooke City - mainly because the road is closed just past the town so had to drive back the way we came.

When we got back to Mammoth area, we found that the elk who had been eating when we had entered the park were now settled down for their mid-day rest.

The weather was gorgeous and it was a great day to drive through the park. Especially enjoyable when we get up this morning to another snowy day. Oh well, what's Easter without snow.

The Real Jenny or is that Ginnie????

And that is the banana girl at the end

I'm not going!!!!

Well a couple of weeks ago when I posted the information regarding Flat Stanley - we thought we were going to be making major changes around here within the next week as we were going to have to decide what to do.

At that time, JW had a good job offer in Gillette, WY - they would even buy our house here, pay for all our moving expenses, put us up in temporary housing for 60 days while we got settled, give us $5000 cash to use on whatever expenses we needed to pay for in regards to moving such as autoregistration, utility deposits or whatever.

He also had his old boss in Nome saying that he thought someone from the care and maintenance team that they kept on was going to be leaving and if that happened, he wanted JW back up there.

I definitely did not want to move to WYO so was glad there was this 2nd option that might work out - otherwise, JW was pretty adamant that we were moving.

March 9 is when the boss in Nome was supposed to be back in the office. Mar 13 is when we were going to be in WYO to check out the place and make a final decision.

March 9, we sent Flat Stanley back to AZ and waited to hear from D Jarvis the guy in Nome. Weird thing is that the guy in WYO was named M Jarvis - not exactly the most common name in the world. Felt like a big conspiracy.

Monday March 9, a big blizzard was raging in Nome - very few planes were getting in or out.

Tuesday March 10, JW sent an e-mail to DJ to let him know we were going to have to decide about WYO.

Wednesday March 11, finally DJ got back to Nome and had a chance to talk to the guy he thought was leaving - nope he isn't. He e-mailed JW and told him that he thought he should take the job in WYO.

Thursday March 12 - we went for a long walk up the road and over the snow-covered hills - it was very peaceful except I had to rush back to a 4:00 meeting with my boss ( a meeting that she cancelled at 3:00 while I was out walking). When we got back here and found out I didn't have a meeting, we sat down to discuss what to do.

I had thought he was anxious to get started on this new job while in fact, he didn't want to move away from our spot. He thought I was anxious to get him back to work while in fact I too did not want to leave this fabulous spot in Montana. I had spent the past two weeks trying to think of all the things I hate about this place - couldn't even come up with 5 things. And moving to WYO definitely was not going to fix any of these.

We then decided that we would go to Gillette - we would be open-minded while looking at houses and if we thought we could do it, then we would.

Friday March 13 after I got off work, we headed southeast. Stopped in Sheridan and had a way toooo expensive dinner - which definitely wasn't worth the effort. Pulled into Gillette about 7:30.

Saturday March 14 we went for a leisurely breakfast (since someone decided we needed to get up at 6 o'clock to meet the realtor at 8 - it never takes us more than 20 minutes to get ready in the morning and 20 minutes to eat breakfast) We met up with the realtor and went to look at the 3 houses we had agreed to check out. All 3 were modulars on acreage. There is a boom over there right now with all the coal mines so houses are outrageous and you can't even find a stick house to buy.

The first house we checked out was too old. It was on 122 acres which was nice but was in very poor shape and had actually been moved twice so financing would not even be possible.

The second house was brand new. Two bedrooms but our bed would not even fit in the master bedroom and I don't know why people think you need a big bathroom with a huge tub in - to me that is a total waste of floor space.

The third house was okay but 4 bedrooms - 3 of which were about 9 x 9 (if that large)

We went back to the town and got our truck, then we drove out past the mine (which is 54 miles from Gillette) then another 50 miles to Newcastle where some people stay. It was a strange little town but at least it was kind of in the pines. We drove on over through Spearfish, SD and then back home - knowing that JW would be turning down that job and he'd keep looking.

If we were a lot younger, maybe we would have went ahead and gone but at our ages and knowing that we hope to retire in a few years, we didn't want at the "end of the day" to be in a mining town with a house that we may or may not be able to sell. It would be starting all over again and I guess we're too old for that.

For now, we'll stay here. JW will keep looking for a job and they are still talking about reopening the mine in Nome. If they do, he's at the top of the list for going back - this time, I'm going with. If not, we'll be able to pay the bills as long as I keep my job. While they are waiting to do that, he's signed up for Archery Guide service so in July will go to 4 week camp for training. Then they have a list of people wanting guides so he can go straight to work. It will be fun for him and good experience since that's what he was hoping to do when he retires.

Here's the view from one of the houses in Gillette and my view. Hmm let's see - an oil rig running day and night with a diesel engine making noise 24 x 7 or a peaceful view of the Beartooths - obviously not hard to pick between those two.

A very unexpected visitor

So last Monday, JW went to the post office to pick up the mail and came back with a guest. Abenanna's grandson sent Flat Stanley to visit Montana.

This is Flat Stanley getting acquainted with a very indifferent Tinkerbell.

Flat Stanley made a little snow man. It was pretty warm that day so in the sun it melted, melted, melted.

We took Flat Stanley on a hike and a few other places.

Now, Stanley is upstairs in a box - awaiting to be taken to the post office for his return trip to Arizona tomorrow - he has to be back in Cool-town by March 16 and we don't want him to be late getting back to school.

Pretty sad life when a paper boy coming to visit causes excitement on the crick. JW was feeling a little displaced by the "Flat Guy".

Oh well, changes are a comin' - so life will be totally turned around 7 days from now ---- stay tuned.