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On The Road, Day Two

June 12th, 2015

breakfastontheveranda

After a lovely night’s sleep in our comfy kingsized bed, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast on the veranda of the Green Gables Inn and visiting with other guests. It was a beautiful morning in Walla Walla. We really enjoyed the ambiance of this little city. Here is our lovely balcony. We almost regretted leaving so soon.

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We headed north through winding and hilly roads, wondering where in the heck Siri was taking us. It turns out, we were driving through the area known as The Palouse, the wheat growing region of eastern Washington. The landscape was stunningly spare and voluptuous and grand. I was mesmerized. The golden landscape was dotted with grain elevators and wind turbines.

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It was almost jarring to come upon a body of water.

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After a stop in Spokane for lunch, we arrived in Coeur d’Alene or CdA, as the locals call it. Their is a big beautiful lake and the downtown area was an easy walk for us from our B & B, the Roosevelt Inn. The folks here are really nice and friendly, but the accommodations are not quite as swanky as the Inn in Walla Walla.

We walked around town and checked out the art galleries. A team of Budweiser Clydesdales was holding court on the main street, attracting a big crowd and tying up traffic.

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Love this piece of art. The artist had many punny animal paintings – like a cow drinking a Mootini!

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We had dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant with a view of the lake. They had tons of gluten free options.

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One thing we have noted, they really love their air conditioning up here. Both our rooms have been a bit too cool for us and we don’t have anyway to control it.

Tomorrow, we have a long drive to the east side of Glacier National Park. The weather forecast is not great, but I don’t think it will snow. However, it will not be the warm 70° weather that was forecast earlier this week. We will put on our layers and enjoy the beauty of another national park.

On The Road, Again

June 11th, 2015

greengables

I am splayed out on a comfy king size bed at the Green Gables Inn in Walla Walla, WA. Mr C and I are taking a real vacation – something we have not done in a while. We are driving to Glacier National Park with a couple of B & B stops along the way. We drove through the Columbia Gorge and followed the  mighty Columbia River most of the way.

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It doesn’t take long before the landscape changes as you hit the drier clime of eastern Oregon.

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It was fun to look in the rear view mirror and see Mt. Hood.

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Around one pm, we were near Umatilla and I was starving. Umatilla is a rural community with a few fast food restaurants, but that was not going to work for gluten free me. I got on Yelp and found a taco restaurant. You can’t go wrong with a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. I had delicious chicken tacos. I think the Divine Dining might have been a hold over from another restaurant.

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We arrived in Walla Walla where the temperature was over 90°. The Innkeeper offered us an upgrade to a suite, which we took. It is a lovely large room with a sitting area and a balcony and a walkin closet. We were given the menu selections for breakfast so that we could make our choices. There was a GF option!! She said the chef will make GF scones for me.

We are adjacent to Whitman College which has a beautiful campus with lots of outdoor sculptures. We walked through the campus to the downtown. It was a nice, hot walk.

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There are many beautiful beds of Day Lilies.

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We got refreshed at a lovely patisserie that serves gelato. I had strawberry rhubarb and house made lemon basil soda. The pause that refreshed.

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But, we were happy to get back to our air conditioned room to rest before dinner at a French restaurant where we shared a delicious Bouillabaisse and chocolate mousse.

The view from our balcony which was shady with a nice breeze.

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Tomorrow, we are off to our next destination, in Idaho.

Wordless Wednesday

June 10th, 2015

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Printed Fabric Bee – May Edition

June 4th, 2015

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May’s Queen Bee was Leslie Tucker Jenison. She asked us to do prints with found objects in neutrals with a pop of color.

I picked a hand-dyed gray fabric from my stash and started by printing a black grid with this vinyl grid, used to line shelves, etc. (I think.)

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I have a package of felt dots for putting on objects to prevent scratches on furniture and wood floors. I used it to print black dots.

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I then used a metal scrubbie to add some pink paint.

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Here is the mosaic of the fabrics completed so far. Click it to see a larger version.

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If you would like a chance to win this collection, go to our facebook page or to the blog and leave comments.

I thought I would share the wonderful group of fabrics I received for my geometry theme. Each one is 12 inches square.

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I love them all. I am sure they will be part of my work in the future.

I can’t seem to keep up with blogging lately. End of the month is a busy time for me with my SDA job. We had a busy week-end and I have not been in the studio.

I finally went in and got a cortisone shot in my bum knee. I am now aware of how much it was affecting my quality of life. The cortisone really kicked in today and I feel like a new woman. Wish I had done it long ago.

 

 

 

 

Oops!

May 28th, 2015

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This mess is what I have been working on this week. I am trying to create the redwoods photo in fabric. I am doing the confetti collage method where you use bits of fabric and then cover it with tulle, pin it down and quilt the heck out of it. I am using a lot of my hand-dyed fabrics to get the special effects of sunlight through the giant trees. Here is the original photo.

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I have set it up on my sewing table which is not quite the full size I need. I so miss my old work space at the big house, but I am adapting. I am using the ironing board for my cutting surface.

Last night was my last art quilt class. I didn’t get a lot of photos, but my students did such a super job. Last night. I gave them the opportunity to make a fiber art postcard. Here is my sample, not finished.

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Here is a student postcard. I took my sewing machine in so that I could zigzag stitch the edges.

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And here is am art quilt done by one of my teenagers. I love how she did the curvy landscape.

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The stove in The Congdo is falling apart. It has cheap plastic parts that are cracking and breaking. To replace the parts. it will cost quite a bit so we decided to get a new slide in GE range. Can’t wait for it to get here.

So now you know why I have been a slacker blogger.