Out and about in the Wild West

 Thursday the 1st June had us jetting off to Denver, Colorado to fulfil, one more wish off our bucket list. On our list was to visit Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National park and Monument Valley in Utah, travelling from South Dakota  to Las Vegas. 

After leaving Sydney and flying to Denver which took 24hrs,  we arrived safely.

Denver has a population of 620,000 in the city and 2.6,000,000 in the greater surrounds, Denver is famously callled the mile high city,  due to its elevation

Downtown Denver is quite colorful with tasteful graffiti on buildings.

Our first day was spent exploring the city, where we availed ourselves of the free mall ride and our first day was spent visiting Union Station and Capitol Hill.

We had a great afternoon exploring and finished off the evening with a great steak meal and then an early night.

The next day we caught a local bus to go out to Santa Fe to visit the art district, where we spent a few leisurely hours viewing art and exploring the shops. 

My first great find and buy, 6 yards for $12, not bad!

After this we went to visit Molly Browns house.

You might ask who is Molly Brown, well a brief history lesson, she was a daughter of an irish immigrant family and married a man that discovered gold, from being poor to wealthy, she was also a suffregett  and is most fmous for being a heroine on the Titanic, known as the unsinkable Molly Brown. She helped rescue many women and children.

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Molly Browns house.

This was the end of our exploration of Denver, tomorrow we join the tour and depart for Keystone

On our way to Keystone we stopped at a town called Torrington, and found my first quilt store.

We arrived in Keystone around 4pm and explored the town, we are officially in the Wild West.

Busy in retirement and 2017

Hi Well here we are up to May and my what a busy few months it has been. 

I worked casual at NETS from July 2016 to Febuary 2017 and then made the decision that work was colliding with my social life and that it was time to cut the strings from a career that I loved.

Onwards and forward for me, I still continue with my first passion, quilting but it is amazing at how busy life can become once retired.

First of three UFO's completed

 In March  after a good clean out of excess goods that I had purchased over the years, had to be gone, so we had a Garage sale  and although we were rained out, I did manage to get rid of a lot of stuff, we will have to repeat the sale when it is better weather. All booked for Third week in April.

Just some of my collectables for sale.

In Sydney we had constant rain for 6 weeks where flooding occurred in some parts of NSW and QLD. 

Some lives were also lost, so tragic.

A second finish for March, my "Jungle Safari" quilt.

In March a group of friends and myself travelled to Lake Burrendong for our biannual quilt camp, fun and productivity  was had by all.

Sandy with her completed rope bag

Viv with a half completed Irish chain.

 I myself this year was dedicating my time to finishing off my UFO' s, having completed three already, I then felt that I could allow myself to start another one, not a wise decision as I have not picked it up since quilt camp.  

My Storm at Sea Quilt commenced.

My third finish for March, this jelly roll quilt stacked log cabin, I had commenced at Quilt camp last August.

In April I had visitors from NZ, Marg and Marc and we had a fun filled three days and got the opportunity to showcase our beautiful blue mountains to our NZ couple.

DH and Marc enjoying the sculptures exhibited in the Blue Mountains

The third weekend in April we repeated our garage sale and managed to get rid of a lot more stuff, so after a donation to the Op shop, we are all sorted and more space has been created.

My newly recovered wing chair, a great use of tapestries and collectable fabrics.

The last weekend in April is also the Springwood quilt show, where I always try to enter a few of my quilts each year, this year, I entered two.

"Eden" hand appliqued

"Frida" an attic window design and all my collectable's from my trip to Mexico, Frida Khalo a very modern woman before her time and I am fascinated with her life and paintings, this quilt is a tribute to her and her life.

A couple of tuffets whipped up

My completed rope bag, now sold, what a chore and a challenge to make.

 I entered two and also had the opportunity to be part Of The Unique Treasures stand, a very busy month in April, sorting through all my fabrics to destatsh, make bags, brackets, cushions, pin cushions, get rid of linen that I had collected over the years to do something with, but never did, time to have a clean up.

The quilt show as always was a great success, quilts were of good quality workmanship, food was good, stallholders are of a high standard and all the committee works very hard to deliver a great show.

Now on the countdown for our big trip in June.