A Quick trip to Santa Fe

 

A couple of weeks ago 

we were able to get away 

and spend some time in

Santa Fe, New Mexico, one of 

our favorite places. 

It's a quick 6 1/2 hour trip

depending on the traffic 

through Denver and Colorado Springs. 

But once passed those cities

 the highway 

opens up and the traffic

almost disappears.

Santa fe is such a unique place.

Hard to think of it

as the state capital. 

We have favorite places 

that are always on our list 

to stop and enjoy.

Kakawa Chocolate House 

Their passion is

authentic and historical

drinking chocolate elixirs and 

our passion is always to come by

for a taste test.

We might include

a visit to the 136 year old

Cathedral Basilica of Francis 

Of Assisi located

right off the central plaza. 

Running Man 

seems to fit right into

the Santa fe vibe.

Our main reason for this particular visit

was to check out our daughter's new work place.

It is so nice to have her and her husband 

so much closer.  

They waved Florida goodbye and 

have now settled into the high desert of New Mexico.

Her job involves managing 1000's of objects

in the International Folk Art Museum.  

If you have ever been there, 

you know what I mean by their massive 

collection.

We were given a private tour of the

multiple rooms of onsite storage. 

First stop, peeking down 

the aisles of preserved quilts.

Each one labeled with it's providence 

and history.

Each one archivally stored for a future displays.

 They are rolled in an inert nylon film called dartek which

acts as a barrier against pests, dust, etc. 

There is so much more that makes this museum so unique.

face jugs

Mexican cartonería

Can you tell what this horse is made from?

aluminum can pull tabs.

One storage room was filled with some

interesting and unusual animals.

Peek-a-boo, we see you!

Lots of folk people from

every country and nationality

just waiting for their turn to go on display.

Everyone is labeled

indexed and accounted for.

Some don't mind being in a cupboard,

but others get pretty grumpy.

  

Most museums only can exhibit about 5-10% of their collections at a time.

One of the current exhibits is called

"Dressing with a Purpose"

which examines three Scandinavian dress traditions.

The hand embroidery is exquisite.

Examples include

 the traditional on the left

to a modern interpretation on the right 

using shopping bags from Ikea.

Santa fe is a wonderful place to visit.

Hopefully, some day your travels will 

take you there.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

A February Mini, 2022

 One of my favorite games

as a kid was Pick Up Sticks.

The object was to pick up each stick

without wiggling another stick.

That led me to 

dig into my overflowing strip basket

and pick up  pink, brown and light strips and

 see what I could make with them.

My February Mini

Pick Up Sticks

33" x 30"

My February mini reminded me of that game.

Lots of narrow strips, side by side, with me

 trying to sew them together

without wiggling the strip next to it.  

To give me some sense of order and control,

I precut both light and dark strips,

then randomly picked up pieces,

sewing them into the alternating light and dark combinations.

The "sticks" created a zig and zag pattern when 

stitched together.

All those tossed strips 

that were pulled from my basket

were fun to stitch together for this month's mini.

I kept thinking as I was machine quilting in the ditch,

why can I sew perfectly straight in the light areas

and then wiggle so much in the dark areas.

Always a little bobble, just like playing 

"Pick Up Sticks".

In keeping with my January photos,

I realized I had another series.

Browns and pinks,

a classic combination.

 

Yes, I trumped through the snow again

to reach my barbed wire fence,

but for the sake of art, I did it in 6 degree weather!

Oh, what  mini makers will do.

Check out the other hearty makers on 

Wendy's blog, The Constant Quilter. 

*****

Our world feels much smaller today

And filled with sadness and apprehension

. 

Until Next Time-

Kyle

A Flannel Quilt Workout

 With the beginning of a new year

and the Winter Olympics currently going on,

maybe it was time to think

about "shaping up".

Well, I wasn't necessarily thinking about

it physically, but rather,

thinking about  "targeting" some of 

those long forgotten projects.

In my sewing room 

lingering right over my shoulders

in plain view

are these adorable practical picnic baskets.

And this one has been holding 

flannel fabric for a project for over a decade.

The original idea had long ago

"stalled out".

Now was the time to "reshape" 

these already cut 8 inch squares of 

Kansas Trouble flannels into something new.

But with flannels I didn't want to be too "aggressive"

and cut 

it all up into very small pieces.

So I happened to find a free pattern

by Kim Diehl available through Henry Glass Fabrics

called Heritage Stars.

It's similar to patterns we've seen before, and

I thought I could "workout" my fabric sizes with

Kim's ideas pretty easily.

With a little imagination

interpretation,

and  "endurance"

it was becoming a "winning" solution.

You can see that I "stretched" the idea

of the stars into the borders

and "maximized" the use of the flannels.

It will be perfect for our winter weather 

and it was  the perfect project to "tackle" and

"rehabilitate" those lingering flannels.

Until Next Time-

Kyle