Unexpected

Look out, Maroon Bells, here we come!

That was the plan, anyway...

Our final charity ride each year is in Durango, and we must pass through about 200 miles of extraordinary aspen stands to get there. Typically, this annual pilgrimage is our first photographic autumn color tour of the year. This year, the leaves began turning early, so our five-day getaway was our second leaf extravaganza of 2014.


Monarch Pass, Week 1
free wallpaper available here
Because we had five days, we planned to get up at 4 a.m. on Day One and drive to Maroon Lake outside of Aspen for a 7 a.m.-ish sunrise. This typically is a stop on our annual autumn leaf tour every year, nearly 16 years straight for me now.

One year more than a decade ago resulted in this awesome poster.


This poster was so popular in the mountain-climbing club I then belonged to, I thought it should be a quilt, too. So I printed eight of the manipulated photos on fabric; eight because that's what I could fit on two sheets of 8x10 fabric. Because this was a wild concept, I thought zebra stripe borders were in order. The blocks turned out incredible, in my opinion, but I needed one more.

To harmonize with this crazy theme, I thought a hand-appliqued dahlia block would be the perfect center for my Crazy Bells blocks. All the zebra stripe fabric and dahlia fabric were leftovers from clothes I'd made for my kids when they were really small and still crazy enough to wear clothes mom made.


The dahlia block was a bit bigger than my Colorful Bells blocks, so I chopped it down to match, then assembled the quilt top. It then hung on my quilt rack for about 12 years!!!


Last June, I realized I was going to be the only member of the Send group in Ravelry's Spring 2014 UFO Club without a finish. The group offers a fun quarterly challenge to get at least one unfinished quilt (WIP or Work In Progress) done. The Send group sends fat quarters to finishers at the end of each quarter. There also is a No Send group; they get no fabric rewards for finishing... by choice! Perhaps one day I will be able to temper my fabric addiction, but for now, Send group for me!!! I LOVE the rewards, especially because they come from all over. I even received a fat quarter from Canada for my previous finish!

Fat quarters from other Send group members sounded delicious, but my main goal was to NOT be the only one in the group without a finish. So I rummaged through my leftovers to find something for a backing and came upon almost enough of the plum zebra fabric for the entire back. I added a strip of white zebra to make it big enough to cover the back, then pieced together batting leftover from past quilts to make the center layer big enough.

I then did something I've never done before. I pin-basted the layers because I thought that would enable me to finish by the end of June. Just getting the layers on my quilt frame would have taken longer than the one night I had before this year's MS-150 bike ride.

I thought I could whip this WIP into shape after pedaling 150 miles the following two days. I underestimated the drain of 150 miles on a 50-plus-year-old body. I was too tired after the ride to finish. Then life got busy. No time for sewing. The UFO (UnFinished Object) hung for another 12 weeks or so.

Finally, the night before our Durango trip, I decided I didn't want to be the only one in the Summer 2014 UFO Club Send group to NOT finish a quilt. I would be gone through the end of the month, so it was now or never. Or at least not in the summer challenge, and a second consecutive quarter of being the only quilter not to finish a project. NO WAY!


I got off work late that night, packed for the trip, then sat down to start machine quilting this baby. Once again, I chickened out of true free-motion quilting and did the lift-and-rotate method to work an outline around the dahlia star all the way to the edges, except for the Maroon Bells photos. Lift the presser foot; rotate the quilt, two, three, four; lift the presser foot, rotate the quilt... This quilt was small enough (43 inches by 40 inches) that lift-and-rotate wasn't as much of a pain in the back as Lizard Leftovers.

Most importantly, finishing another quilt would give me just enough confidence to take on the next UFO. One of my problems, in addition to being over-committed all the time, is that the time between finishes diminishes my faith in my machine quilting. I've read somewhere you have to log about 1,000 hours of machine quilting to be truly good at it. I go into every project with an attitude of "This will be perfect or else!" Or else it doesn't get finished.

I NEEDED a finish. I needed to know it's okay if a practice quilt is not perfect, as long as I'm building skill and confidence. And finishing!

This quilt top was just what the quilt police ordered. It's not perfect. I've decided I HATE pin-basting. The quilting alone took until nearly 1 a.m., which made both of us too tired to get up three hours later to drive to Maroon Bells. And I still had to finish the binding.


The next morning, we slept in. Because really, we had no choice, with an eight-hour drive ahead of us! And then while The Lizard loaded up the car, I put on a binding made of leftover black fabric from Dancing Lizards, my first entirely-by-machine binding, and by golly, what a start to a great vacation! I FINISHED A QUILT! A very old quilt, to boot!


It cost me the Maroon Bell sunrise I was hoping for, but perhaps this fabric Maroon Bells finish is even better than a few more photos in a vast collection. I was so happy as we finally began to head west at about noon, I'm not sure our tires touched the ground until Kenosha Pass, where the leaves were at peak! We would have missed the leaves at Kenosha Pass had we taken the Aspen route to Durango instead. Kenosha Pass leaves were mostly gone when we drove through again five days later!


Kenosha Pass, Week 2
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts here and Confessions of a Fabric Addict here.

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The Real Thing

This year's annual pilgrimage to Maroon Lake for sunrise was highlighted by about four inches of snow and about 4,000 other photographers seeking to get the very same shot. Maroon Bells often are hailed as the most photographed mountain peaks in North America.


I'd experienced similar conditions during my fall leaf photo adventure once before, many years ago, only that time, the sun never came up. Still, I loved the resulting photo so much, I printed it on fabric bigger than any other photo I've ever printed on fabric. I divided the original photo into a tic tac toe grid and printed the photo in nine segments!


I'd made some smaller fabric prints of the 14ers for a vest a few months earlier, and I thought the leftovers, which all happened to be winter shots or taken in winter conditions, might make an awesome sashing for the new Maroon Bells quilt.


The only problem is I'm no mathematician!

With The Lizard's skillful assistance, I created a faux denim sashing with the winter 14ers evenly spaced, and then I appliqued crocheted snowflakes in between each mountain peak.

The 48-inch by 40-inch wintery collage was quilted by hand, then stored for many years. I had no room in my teeny apartment for a wall quilt of that size. The big 14er quilt also was packed away all that time.


When we moved into our new (used and short sale) house five and a half years ago, I rejoiced at wall space big enough to hang wall quilts. Yet cycling, gardening and snowflakes always seemed to keep me from unpacking the multitude of boxes of stuff that still populates our basement.

Before we bought our house, almost all the quilting projects I began were wall quilts. I didn't have room for anything else. When we bought the house, The Lizard requested I begin focusing on full-size quilts. "No More Wall Quilts" became my mantra. (Quilts are for beds, not walls, The Lizard reasons.)

This summer, we had guests three times, so I had an excuse (REASON!) to finally dress up the guest bedroom. Three walls with no sunlight featured "Spindrift", "Running Out" and "Winter 14ers" all summer long. I think my house guests all approved.


Last month, I learned the 2014 fundraising drive for the Colorado/Wyoming Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society would be ending at the end of September instead of during the holidays this year. I was a mere $233 away from High Roller status, which means, in essence, special porta potties during next summer's MS-150 and no waiting in line for anyone who raised $2,000 or more the previous year.

I had less than three weeks' notice to raise the $233 and achieve High Roller status. This was a real thorn in my side because last year I was just $5 away from High Roller status for 2013 when event sponsorship changed and the annual fundrasising drive was brought to an immediate halt with no advance notice. I'd reached High Roller Status for the first time ever for the 2012 ride but then was unable to ride due to back injury. I didn't get to take advantage of those special porta potties! I cried so hard. Mostly because my back hurt, but also because it had taken me nearly 11 years to finally hit High Roller. And then I didn't get to use the special potties!

The only thing I could think of to raise the $233 so quickly was to make my wall quilts and snow-dyed yarn available to donors who had already been so generous. I offered "Running Out" for a donation, and it was gone within an hour. I couldn't believe it!

Even more unbelievable, I received another equal donation after updating the call for help to announce the quilt was gone. I asked the donor if one of my other wall quilts might suffice. This particular donor did not make the donation to receive anything in return (as did two other later donors), but drooled at the chance to adopt one of my quilts. "Winter 14ers" was selected. A quilt sleeve was installed on the back (because I made this quilt long before I ever began entering competitions, and I had no clue wall quilts needed a way to be hung other than with stick pins), the quilt was shipped, and three days later I received the most wonderful email thanking me for the gift.


Not only did I reach High Roller status within eight hours of my plea for donations, I also had the extreme boost of confidence that someone besides me likes my wall quilts. Talk about warm fuzzies!!!

So, "Running Out" and "Winter 14ers" have been re-homed now, both after just a brief exhibition at my own home. "My Guy" initially replaced "Running Out" in the guest room, but both The Lizard and I decided the 3D effect of the sunflowers is more emphasized in the hallway. So two guest bedroom walls are once again empty.

Do you know what this means?!?

I get to make more wall quilts! (They go faster than full-size quilts; nearly immediate gratification!)

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Wordless Wednesday

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North Maroon Peak

3 August 2003

Following last weekend’s failed summit attempt, I knew I needed to do something difficult (to me) to maintain and build upon what I gained on Challenger Point. Ferenc graciously allowed me to accompany him to the Maroon Bells, my favorite autumn destination. This would be my first trip there during the busy, crowded summer. I backpacked into Crater Lake in the dark Friday night, while Ferenc camped in his van in the overnight lot.

We were to meet at the North Maroon trail junction at 6 a.m. Saturday. I planned to go up with him as far as I could before turning back to shoot wildflowers and be his "basecamp." Ferenc hoped to meet up with other amiable hikers planning to do the traverse (a VERY difficult route connecting the two Bells) and willing to allow him to tag along.

En route to the trailhead register, I came upon a porcupine in a tree, which resulted in me sacrificing yet another summit (attempt) to capture yet another mammal on film close-up. Because of the late start, Ferenc, who had never seen a porcupine, decided after a couple of shots of his own that he should not wait for me to finish my antics and headed up the mountain alone. Ferenc missed a party of five who did the traverse 45 minutes ahead of him. However, he reported the views of nearby 14ers Snowmass and Capitol from the summit of North Maroon are breathtaking.

Meanwhile, I followed the porcupine nearly all the way around Crater Lake. He seemed to be better at route finding than me until he crawled up a slanted boulder from which he could not escape without backtracking. But there I was. He flashed me a dirty look and returned to the boulder summit. I tried to back up slowly without falling and without taking my eyes off him, just to make sure I didn’t encounter his powerful self-defense system. He eyeballed the downclimb once again, then backtracked a little further down the boulder and gave me the evil eye once more. By this time, I had put the camera away and wanted nothing more than 10 to 15 extra feet between me and the beast. I worried about what he might do if I turned my back on him, since I had in essence unintentionally cornered him. He climbed to the top of the rock one final time, and I made my escape. He studied the other side of the rock for a long while, then returned back to the base as if I didn’t exist and moseyed along the shore once again, this time unstalked.

When Ferenc returned from his climb of North Maroon, he asked if I wanted to climb La Plata with him. !!! We grabbed a pizza and went up Independence Pass to check out weather conditions. No lightning, but it was raining at the Pass. The Pass is about ten miles from the La Plata trailhead.

I was concerned about the extra mileage we’d be forced to hike at that late hour because we took his van instead of my 4WD, as well as how late he’d have to start hiking the next morning if we hiked until 11 p.m. I also did not look forward to hiking to my tent after midnight. So we did not attempt La Plata.

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