What have I been doing during August? Well, since 2012 is New Mexico's centennial, there have been things going on to celebrate all year. One that I looked forward to for a long time was a trip to the old NM State Penitentiary. It was closed in 1998 when a new facility was built across the road from the old one. The old prison has been used for a lot of movies in the years since. It has been a popular one, we made our reservations early in the spring and had to wait for August for the tour. Just a couple of pictures:
It was really pretty interesting. February 2-3,1980 was the big prison riot. It was a very gruesome two days of the inmates taking over the prison. If you are interested, just Google NM State Prison Riot, there are several books that were written about it. We got to tour some of the burned out areas of the prison and hear a lot of the history of what went on during the riot. A former guard was on the tour with us, so he told of some things that were not in the script for the tour, his stories were really interesting. Parts of the prison are rumored to be haunted. All in all it was a fascinating tour.
I also went on a quilt shop stroll. There were four shops sponsoring the stroll with free patterns and prizes. I won a door prize of some charm squares:
These are "Seems Like Old Times" by Ro Gregg. Very pretty in pinks, greens and cream colors. I don't know yet how I will use them, but I love the soft colors. I also bought some fat quarters:
These batiks will be for fall leaves in a quilt for my son and his bride to be. More about that later.
These CW prints are for me! I have been searching for the pink one on the end for a long time, so I bought two of that print. There were so many beautiful fabrics, it was hard to pick out just a few.
I also made a stop at Joann's and got another green fat quarter. I spent more time in the car driving from shop to shop than actually in the quilt shops but it was a fun day.
Here is my latest small quilt for August:
It is the Charming Coins Doll quilt from Kathleen Tracy's book Remembering Adelia. It turned out so cute! I also finished up the one for October but I will wait until next month to show it off.
Now we are getting ready to go on a real vacation! For seven years we have planned to go to Glacier National Park in Montana but other things kept getting in the way. There were grand kids, weddings, funerals and family to visit. This year we decided we were going, no matter what, so this should be fun. I'm looking forward to some cooler weather!
Less than two weeks after we return from Glacier, I think I am going to Ft. Benning Georgia for my grandson's graduation from boot camp. My younger daughter and her fiance will be picking me up on their way through town, meet my older daughter and grand daughter there and go to the graduation. Then after graduation, we all pile into the car and head back west. They will drop me off then continue on to the Mesa, AZ. My older daughter is planning to move to AZ closer to where my youngest daughter lives in a year or so. She will get to check out the area a bit. Then everyone meets up in Durango, CO near the end of October for my son's wedding. After that my older daughter and GD will come back home with us to catch a bus from here back to Wisconsin. Whew! So much travel and excitement during the next two months!
One of my next projects is a signature quilt for my son's wedding. Since it is a fall wedding, I thought a fall maple leaf quilt would be nice. The pattern was in an APQ magazine several years ago, the October 2009 issue. In fact, it was on the cover. It has log cabin strips around two sides of the maple leaves. I thought I could include signatures in the log cabin part of the block. I hope it works out.
Oh, I have added some new buttons to the right side of my blog. There are some interesting new things going on if you want to check them out.
Well, that's what I've been up to. Hope everyone gets some cooler weather soon and fall is almost here. I love fall! Enjoy your stitching projects!
