Birthday Suprise

Wayne and I recently attended a surprise 50th birthday party for our daughter Jen. Her husband and several friends did a great job planning the food, decorations, and entertainment. We enjoyed visiting with friends and family, many of whom we hadn't seen in a long time.
Jen was delighted with the evening, and we were delighted to share in the celebration.

Jen and her family

Sunday ~ Snow ~ Sew

Snow is moving into Estes Park. It's 17°F outside, but it is warm and cozy in my sewing loft. I plan to spend most of the day finishing up the set of placemats I'm making for our camper. The fabric is a mix of red, black, and tan outdoorsy prints in a log cabin arrangement called Courthouse Steps. I'm following Donna Jordan's video tutorial. Here's a link to Jordan Fabrics, where you can find lots of helpful patterns and videos. And here's a look at one of my placemat tops ready to be finished.

Trail Ridge Quilters had its first sale of the season last week, raising $3000 for our local medical center. My contribution included several felt gift card envelopes, hand appliquéd and embroidered in Christmas motifs. We sold all of them, but because they are so time-consuming to make, I'll work on other projects for upcoming sales.

The Makerspace at Estes Valley Library

The Makerspace is in a large, well-lighted room on the second floor of Estes Valley Library. It has tables, counters, chairs, electrical outlets and a wide variety of equipment and tools. Sewing equipment includes sewing machines, a serger, cutting mats, irons, etc. Use of The Makerspace is free of charge and must be reserved in advance.

Estes Valley Quilt Guild members took advantage of our library's Makerspace yesterday to work on a variety of projects ~ placemats, paper pieced blocks, pumpkins made from recycled sweaters, and more. My project was a placemat top made from half-square triangles. I recently purchased a Tucker Trimmer, a ruler designed for making h-s triangles and I wanted to practice the technique on something small. The ruler and technique work beautifully to make blocks with precise points. We'll donate the placemats to our local Meals on Wheels organization. Each client will receive a placemat as a birthday gift.

Colorado Block - made from sixteen half-square

triangles using pine green and columbine fabrics.

Colorado's state flower is the columbine.

Here are a few more photos from our enjoyable and productive day at The Makerspace.

This sweater will become several small knit pumpkins.

Ready for a Busy Day

This is how I start a busy day ... with a cup or two of coffee 

and a list.

Lunch with a dear friend and meeting with the Trail Ridge Quilters are on my agenda. I'm going to start a new project - hand stitching small gift bag ornaments for our first sale of the season.

Summer Visitors

Standing - Wayne and Marianne
Seated - Judy, Mom (Phyllis) and Carol

We've enjoyed many visitors this summer - most recently, my sister, Carol, who traveled from Montana with her friend, Marianne. On their last night here, we had dinner with Mom at a favorite Italian restaurant.

The high country (above 9000 ft) has had snow; enough to temporarily close both Old Fall River Road and Trail Ridge Road. I'm hoping that we have a long autumn with many "porch days" to enjoy before winter sets in.

Last of Summer

Sitting on the porch early this morning, I'm sensing a touch of autumn in the air ... cooler temperatures, a hint of gold in the aspens, migrating birds. It has been a perfect few days for entertaining Wayne's sister and husband from Iowa.

Yesterday we drove up Old Fall River Road to the Alpine Visitors Center. We took sandwiches and stopped along the way at one of our favorite picturesque spots for a picnic lunch. Last night we joined several hiking and camping friends for dinner at a local restaurant.

Wayne and Doug are playing a round of golf this morning while Jan and I plan to do a bit of shopping in the village. We're enjoying lots of good conversation on topics including politics, travel, and family. I'll finish this post then head into the kitchen to scramble some eggs for breakfast.

Three Pines ~ Little Porch Library

This basket of books sits on our porch for the reading pleasure of friends and family visitors. We've had lots of beautiful days for porch sitting this summer.

My summer reading has included:

Beautiful letters - beautiful illustrations

For all those who love walking in the mountains

For lovers of language and nature

  

Strange and lovely words from around the world

I found recommendations for these book on an inspirational website:
https://www.brainpickings.org

Brain Pickings has a free Sunday digest of the week's most interesting and inspiring articles across art, science, philosophy, creativity, children's books, and other strands of our search for truth, beauty, and meaning. Here's an example. Like? Claim yours. Check it out.

Three Pines

This book may change the way you
think about trees.

After reading this fascinating book earlier in the summer I began wondering about the ages of the three majestic Ponderosa Pines in our yard. With a bit of Internet research I found a formula for estimating their ages. My son-in-law, who has math skills far beyond mine, did the measuring and calculating while visiting. The biggest tree (on the far left) is the oldest at about 240 years old. It was "born" in 1779, when the Revolutionary War was in full swing and the area that would become Colorado was home to Utes, Arapaho, Comanche, and Shoshone.

We've named our home "Three Pines"
in honor of these trees.

Back to Blogging

Rocky Mountain Columbine

I've been away from my blog for too long, and I hardly know where to begin. It's been an
eventful summer with lots of visitors and more to come. We've taken two camping trips -
one to Steamboat Lake State Park and the other to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, both
in Colorado. We hit the columbine jackpot on one of our hikes where we saw hundreds
in bloom. Rocky Mountain Columbine is Colorado's state flower.

Our porch is my favorite place to read, work on the computer, eat, and chat with friends
and family. A pair of house finches are raising a family of five in one of the hanging
geranium baskets. We enjoy watching their comings and goings. The babies are well hidden
beneath the geranium leaves.