"It's All About the Journey" in eQuilter.com blog

Luana Ruben of eQuilter.com comments on these two motorcycle quilts shown at IQA Festival in her blog.

http://luanarubin.typepad.com/luana-rubin/2013/11/creative-nudge-two-of-a-kind.html

On the left is Linda Anderson's piece: It is a tribute to her husband's dream of riding Route 66 on his motorcycle.
On the right is my self-portrait, with my favorite motorcycle.

Thank you Luana for your thoughtful comparison.

International Quilt Festival/Houston 2013

I had a wonderful time at the quilt festival in Houston early this month. This show is so inspiring. I was honored to have my quilt accepted into the show. 

"It's All About the Journey" 35.5 x 56”

Judy Kriehn and I were wandering around looking at the show 

when we came across her quilt, "Blue Plate Special". 

I'm looking forward to next year.

Ride to Arkansas

A couple of weeks ago, we rode up to Winslow, Arkansas for a few days of riding.

We found these nice cabins online.

They are on the west edge of the Ozark National Forest.

The sunrise each morning was beautiful.

We found this darling little cafe in Johnson county.

Just down the road was this rope bridge.

 

 

We had lunch in Jasper one day. It's a nice town with a great cafe, antique and art shops. I really enjoyed the beautiful curvy roads near the Boxley Valley and on the Pig Trail. The weather was perfect except for a couple hours of rain on the first day. 

Arkansas is one of my favorite places to ride.

Riding in Oklahoma

We took a weekend motorcycle ride through eastern Oklahoma 

a few weeks ago.

My parents drove up from southern Louisiana and joined us.

We took the scenic  Kiamichi Trace north out of Antlers to Talihina.

The next day we took the Cherokee Trail up to Miami.

Vintage Iron in Miami has a wonderful motorcycle museum.

Near Miami is an old section of Route 66 called the Ribbon Highway. 

It was originally one lane.

Look closely and you can see the concrete curb with asphalt in the center.

It's been widened to a two-lane road by adding dirt on either side.

Thanksgiving fun.

My parents joined us for Thanksgiving.

Rusty thought their little dog Winston was a new toy.

Berek helped Dad cut and weld some steel into a fire pit.

It works really well.

Dad and Mom brought their trike with them.

Dad gave Grace a quick ride.

We went on our traditional Thanksgiving morning ride...

... and to Greenwood for a burger on Saturday.

I even managed to put together this little quilt.

Today it's back to work.

Glorious Morning

This morning we were blessed with a beautiful cool day.

After days in the 100's, it was only 73º!

Nine of us gathered and road east to try a new restaurant near Providence. We arrived before they opened and chose to ride on rather than wait.

We wove our way through the country and ended up at

Lucy's on the square in Celina.

Good food and good company.

I've been very lucky to have a lot of graphic design work this month. This also means I haven't worked on a quilt for a long time. I managed to squeeze in a few hours yesterday afternoon. It was good to make some progress on my fiber artwork. I intend to get the top ready for quilting this afternoon!

Cruisn' in Colorado

Two years ago Jon and I planned a week-long motorcycle trip around Colorado. Jon broke his collar bone right before we were supposed to leave so we did the trip in my car. It was very beautiful but I knew it would be a lot more fun on a motorcycle. Last week my husband and I and two friends were finally able go on that ride.

We took the bikes on trailers to a quilting friend's home in Cimarron, NM. We parked the trucks and trailers and took off on the motorcycles.

Since I haven't found a safe way to take pictures while I'm riding, most of my photos are taken from the side of the road. We stopped at Monument Lake along the Highway of Legends Scenic Byway. I used a little tripod and the timer setting on my camera.

This is Bishop Castle near Beulah. Since 1969, a man named Jim Bishop has single-handedly gathered and set tons of rock to create this stone and iron fortress in the middle of nowhere. Very impressive.

The high plains along the Gold Belt Tour are large grassy areas surrounded by snow-capped mountains.

The Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway took us through those mountains to Independence Pass. We just missed a hail storm. Actually, we were very lucky with weather during the whole trip. There were several light showers throughout the trip but nothing heavy while we were on the motorcycles.

A wrong turn while looking for our B&B near Carbondale brought us to an overlook of this lovely valley.

The Unaweep/Tabeguache Scenic Byway on the western edge of Colorado reminds me of the Road Runner cartoon show. Soaring red rocks and cliffs, and very few trees. A big rain storm followed us to Gateway Canyons. It started pouring rain right after we arrived. About 30 minutes later, we were treated to a double-ended rainbow. Gorgeous.

While sitting outside our rooms at Lake City, we watched a chipmunk near the end of the building jump up and grab a poppy. Then the chipmunk would happily eat all the petals he had knocked down. By the time I got my camera, the other residents came out to enjoy the cool air and the chipmunk ran away. It started raining hard and a short time later we were treated to a double rainbow!

The Silver Thread Scenic Byway winds through Creede toward Alamosa. They were having a Tomahawk and Knife Throwing contest in Creede. All the participants were dressed like Mountain men. Fun!

It was a wonderful trip. I'm so happy we were able to go on the motorcycles this time. You can see all of our photos here.

Motorcycle ride

In addition to arty things, I enjoy riding my motorcycle. This photo is several years old but my bike still looks the same.

My husband and I have a standing date to meet several friends in the circle in front of our house every Sunday morning at 7 am (unless it's raining) for breakfast and a ride in the country. All but one of the regular crew was there yesterday and a new rider acted as photographer.

We chose the Decatur courthouse square as our destination this time.

While in the cafe, we noticed a poster advertising the Traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial – "The Wall That Heals". The Wall happened to be in Decatur this weekend and since we had two veterans in the group we decided to go see it.

It's not as spectacular as the Wall in DC but it was very moving. I recommend you see it if you ever get the chance. www.vvm.org