Quilting in the Mountains!!!!

The Solaas Bed and Breakfast, Salmon, Idaho

Wow!

Have you ever had such a good time that there were no words to describe the event? Yeah.... that is the predicament I am in!!! Quilting in the mountains..... HUGE homemade soup breadbowls........ VERY creative women....... a DIVINE Bed &Breakfast ....... just take a look at the bounty I had last weekend......

My friend Pam ready to go to her first quilting retreat...

The BEAUTIFUL drive into the mountains, but notice the photo of the rest stop.... at 7200 feet altitude there was NO WHERE to go to the bathroom!!! Thank heavens the nearest bathroom was ONLY 28 MILES DOWN THE ROAD! Yikes....





Sawtooth Mountain Range near Stanley, Idaho

A quaint cabin along the way - now that is primitive for you. I could fix it up real cute...

We finally arrived, so let the quilting begin.....

And in the morning, the most sumptuous homecooked country breakfast...



Pause for group identification..... the Salmon Quilt Guild.....
More quilting.......




More eating - lunch of homemade soup in HUGE HOMEMADE breadbowls.....


WOWZERS! What a weekend! I did a Trunk Show Saturday Morning and taught the ladies how to do a quick nine-patch out of 2- 5 inch squares that they enjoyed making, and then sorry to say, it was over. Pam and I got to stay another evening, as the Solaas Bed and Breakfast proprietors are next to my kin, and it was wonderful spending time in their home again. I grew up there, and it was so nice to be in the mountains again. Thank you all, for a well spent weekend. It was worth the five hour drive into the beautiful mountains of Idaho!

Next post - 'What's in your Sewing Box?'

Until then - Happy end of January stitching!

Shanda

~ 'Tis a Primer on Firkins!~

My friends think I am making up a new 'questionable' word.

I have had several inquiries as to what firkins are. They say with a chuckle ..... 'A WHAT? What is a 'firkin'? Aren't they called sugar or sap buckets?" I submit they are called all of the above. A firkin is described as follows on Wikipedia:

"A Firkin is an old English unit of volume. The name is derived from the Middle Dutch word vierdekijn, which means fourth, i.e. a fourth of a full-size barrel.

The term firkin is currently used to refer to antique wooden buckets, usually with wood handle and lid, about 10 inches (250 mm) high and 10 inches in diameter (about 10L or 2-3 dry gallons in capacity), formerly used to store sugar and other items."

I have a love affair with firkins. Firkins are simple. Firkins are early american art, because true antique firkins were handmade, as was everything else then. Firkins were a necessity, not a want. We have bowls today. Colonists had firkins then. A kitchen and home staple.

I have a couple of firkins, all reproduction, but each one has a story, like all pieces in a collection does. My most 'recently acquired firkin' came at Christmas from a very dear friend. She hand painted this several years ago and wanted it to have a home. Oh, it now has a home - at my house!


The next two are reproductions from my favorite shoppe, Heritage Reflections:


These two stacked firkins were 'finds' that I painted and refinished to look like real firkins, but I still love them:

Firkins are a simple pleasure to me!!!!

I also had a surprise delivery from a dear 'great cousin' in Wisconsin. Cousin Diane has become very special to me because I have only recently discovered her and met this wonderful family member. She follows my blog and sent me a fun Christmas package containing two jewels. The sheep platter in this photo actually stands on a pedestal, but the picture of the sheep was so cute I wanted to tip it on its side so I could see it better.


And isn't this star with a painted bittersweet vine just the best?

Thank you Cousin Diane - from your 'cousinette'!

I have been gone from my blog for too long, but I have had a fun time reading all your blogs! Such creativity out there! I miss them when I can't read them for a while!

I am teaching at a quilting retreat this weekend up in the mountains of Idaho. I will be taking some photos and sharing them with you all as the mountains are beautiful, as is the Bed and Breakfast that the retreat is being held at. New friendships, food, good times...... these are the simple pleasures I am blessed with this weekend.

Blessings on your week!

Shanda

~Tis Simple Things for Christmas~

Please - come in from the cold and visit with me for a moment - take a break from your Christmas preparations and let me pour you a cup of warm hot chocolate. A very heavy picture post for you all this time that I have been promising to share - so enjoy the Christmas Music and visit with me for a moment. If you want a close up of any of these photos, just double-click on it, then hit your Back Arrow to return to my Blog. Enjoy -




My small 'thrift-store' pewter collection -

A pillow I made several years ago -


An antique Santa my mother bought me many years ago when I was a teenager - I hold him near and dear to my heart -

A new Christmas display this year - all wooden 'makeovers' finished by me or made for me by dear friends - some that have passed on this year -

Remember this 'Illinois find' Firkin?




A counted cross-stitch from a pattern found in a 1980's Country Living Magazine -


Our half bath downstairs -

One of my favorite punch needle patterns I have made -



My great-grand parents were married December 15, 1914 and their wedding portrait hangs in our entry staircase -

Our dining area -

View from the kitchen through to the family room -


and back again to the kitchen-


A homemade ceramic ornament from a class I took with my mother when I was a senior in high school. I made a dozen and happy to report 28 years later - none broken!

The tree coming home in our daughter's pickup -


This year our tree is decorated with 'car parts' - long story..........
I hope this season finds you with loved ones. People keep asking me if I am ready for Christmas and I keep thinking to myself, 'Christmas is more than just THE day, it is the whole season. And I guess I am ready, even though my packages went out a little late and my Christmas cards will be received by acquaintances in January, but, I do know one thing - this is Christmas, the time we celebrate the birth of our Savior, in whom I am incredibly grateful and that is really what the season is all about. So Merry Christmas my friends, and I wish the season's choicest blessings to be with you all. In the immortal words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!"

Happy Christmas -

Shanda