Staying in the Cascade Mountains (Leavenworth, WA)

We had a great time visiting with family.  Some of them we haven't seen since 1980.  Long, long time ago!  We wrapped up our visits with family in this area and plan to move to Mt. Vernon on Tuesday.  We will be staying in the Puget Sound area for at least a month.  Maybe more.

I have a lot of photos to share, but I think I will split them between two different posts.  So, here are some photos from Central Washington.  The photo above and below were taken at the Chelan Gorge.

Below are photos from Icicle Creek Road.  I know!  It doesn't look like a creek right now.  The snow melt has been extensive this year.  We keep getting flood alerts on our phones for a couple of the rivers even though the locations are not even close to the flooding rivers.

We have never seen the rivers so high and running so furious as they were for the last couple of weeks.

Trying to get how high the rivers are into the photos hasn't been easy since there is nothing for me to relate it to from the past.  I just know that we enjoyed seeing the rivers high for once instead of low and worrying about the upcoming fire season during the summer.

It had rained the night before our visit and there were puddles in the parking lot.  I think this is a Swallowtail butterfly.  

Anyway, the Swallowtails were taking advantage of getting water from the mud ...........

and I took advantage of an unusual photo op!  Below is another photo that I did in Photoshop.  I'm having a lot of fun playing with my new software.

This guy was stuck inside the Men's restroom for two days.  Dan felt sorry for the moth and brought him out on a paper towel.  He stayed long enough for me to get a photo of him with my phone.

Tulip Tree Silkmoth

If you happen to be near Leavenworth and love to visit quilt shops, I highly recommend Leavenworth Quilt Company.  She has a great selection of fabrics, threads, and all the notions you can dream of wanting.  While I had a great time visiting with a customer and the shop owner, Dan was next door in Prey's Fruit Barn trying samples.  He found a few things he liked as well.  There's also a nice sitting area under a big shady tree for those who do not want to shop at all.  

On The Cutting Board

Okay, here's all 12 Happy Campers!  Done and listed in my Etsy shop!

I already sold three of the new ones and one of my older ones with a horse.

I'm appliqueing a couple of quilt tops now along with more mug rugs that I hope to have finished soon.

Tomorrow's a travel day so this will be short.  I want to get a few more things done tonight and be ready to move before bedtime.
Happy Quilting!

Visiting Our Old Hometown (Concrete, WA)

We are in Concrete, WA after spending almost three weeks in Crescent Bar on the Columbia River  Not too far from where Dan and I spent most of our teen life in Wenatchee. So it was interesting to go back to see the changes.  There's plenty of new growth with businesses and new home sites.  Even my parents old house was gone having been swallowed up by the old elementary school's growth expanse.  A lot of the old orchards are gone in the city limits, but we were seeing new orchards and vineyards sprouting up all over the valley.

A view of Columbia River during one of my walks

While sitting in the campground surrounded by the canyon wall, I could not get over how still everything felt.  It was so quiet compared to our winter in Key West.  I guess I got use to the constant motion and noise such as ocean waves, jet skis, birds or all the above and more.  People were moving around, but I think the canyon walls soaked up most of the noise.  Not to mention the ever present view of the sky-high walls giving me the feeling of being solid and unyielding.

We drove up to Lake Chelan to see where Dan grew up in Manson before moving to Wenatchee.  It is a beautiful place to grow up as a child.

Lake Chelan:  ducks resting in the shade of birch trees

There are more homes on the hillsides, but the downtown area maintains the small town atmosphere.  Below is a photo of the old library now owned by the local dentist. 

The sign out front invites people to walk around the old library and enjoy the garden.  We were careful around the backside of the old building when we noticed bees moving in and out of a hole in the wall.  From keeping books to keeping honey, it looks like the library has become a new home for the work-a-bees.

Large poppies in the Library's garden

On The Cutting Board

I finished several projects during the last few weeks.  All of the finished Happy Campers are now listed in my shop.  I have already sold a couple of them!  Summer is getting an early start this year.

I finished two of my new bear designs.  On this one, I added a dreamcatcher.  Making the dreamcatcher was a lot of fun, so I am hoping to make more.

I have other bear designs in the works.  At least, I managed to finish these two.  I call this one "A Bear in the Woods".  It is nice to be among the pine trees again

Only one Happy Camper with a puppy, but there will be more to come.  You can count on that!

And of course, I made a few aqua and red combos.  They are the favorites with a lot of my customers.  I love this aqua polka dot fabric.  I love it so much that I bought two yards of it.  Now, I wish I had bought more so I can make a quilt from it as well.

I finished two wall hangings.  One of the witch ringing the bell and this one below.  Perfect for a warm welcome this summer.  I haven't listed them yet.  I'm trying to setup Etsy's new shipping system.  Once I figure out how to ship them, I will get them both listed.

A Spring's Welcome

But, that will have to wait.  I want to finish my latest custom order for a wonderful camp host.  So, I better get to it.  I promise to post a photo of her cute motorhome when I am done.
Happy Quilting!

Behind But Not Forgotten (Crescent Bar, WA)

I'm a day behind on posting.  The last two days have been a bear of a day with not much time to sit and think about what I was going to post.  We traveled on Friday.  A short, but very windy trip that left us tired when we arrived in Crescent Bar, WA.  We both went to bed early last night.

Before we left Spokane, we spent one day sitting in a waiting room while our motorhome had some work done on it.  And I mean 'one' full work day from 7 a.m. to after 4 p.m..  My behind can tell you all about the sitting. I did not bring my computer to work on my pending blog post.  Yet, the day was not wasted....I finished the embroidery on this project.  It took 5 hours to complete.  

Except for short walking breaks and lunch, I kept at this just to see how much time it would take to finish.  I actually thought the motorhome would be done long before the embroidery.  Boy, was I wrong!  It is rather nice to know how long it takes me to do this part.  Of course, I still have no idea how long it takes me to collect the fabric, cut and fuse pieces, or to finish it with quilting.  I'm sure it takes me several work days.  But since I enjoy making and don't consider them work, I have no plans to finish timing myself.

Walk This Way

Here's where Dan and I have been spending a lot of our time for the last few weeks.  Fairchild A.F.B. has a very nice running/walking track near their fitness center.  Don't let the photos of empty tracks fool you.  That place is busy no matter what the weather or time of day.

The track has a soft rubber surface that makes it very easy to walk more miles without feeling the mileage.  All the green grass with the hill in the middle is visually appealing and has my mind just a-wandering while we walk.

I like the postpile rocks at the top of the hill.  It has the mysterious European look to it.

The walk up the hill gave us a lovely view of the field and the surrounding area.

According to FitBit, the walk up the hill completes two flights of stairs.  We go up and down...up and down...
Well, that's it for today.  I need to get to work on my last project so I can get it listed real soon.

Happy Trails!