Wyoming Breezes

a favorite mug from the Oz Museum This mug, purchased at the Oz Museum in Wamego, KS, makes me smile every time I use it. How I wish I had it while I was still teaching. I also like the shape of the mug and the handle: it's comfortable in my hand(s). I often wrap my hand around the cup and drink with the handle directly across from my nose. Can you read the inscription? It says, "Don't make me break out my flying monkeys!" The cute mug mat was a gift from Mary H., fiber guild president and coordinator of the Lander Sew Sistas . Do you have a favorite mug or cup for drinking your morning tea or coffee? How do you hold your cup when drinking your morning brew?

Rachel B. displays the bandage she is knitting with crochet thread for the   D.O.V.E. Fund Bandage Brigade Project   Rachel presented several crafting for charity options to Guild members at the October meeting. One project piqued my interest because I had a lot of crochet thread in my stash. The D.O.V.E. Fund has a Bandage Brigade for creating crocheted or knitted bandages for Vietnamese people suffering from leprosy. The bandages are created with white, cream, or ecru size 10 crochet cotton. The knitted version is 28 stitches wide (approximately 4 inches) and 40 inches long - all garter stitch for easy knitting. one bandage finished and laundered another bandage started November 2015 I have one bandage finished and another one started. It's an easy project to work on in the evenings while "watching" television or a movie or while chatting at knitting night. Information on the project and instructions for knitting or crocheting the bandages can be found...

Nancy at a traffic control site rural Japan Fall 1979 I apologize if this photo has been shared before. This old bike and policeman were placed on this rural road to slow traffic. If I remember correctly this was on the road to Lake Towada or near Towada City. Behind me is a harvested rice filed. Rice harvest photos can be seen on  this post . Rice planting can be seen on this post .

source Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.   Psalm 50:14 It seems appropriate today to share a prayer from My Personal Daily Prayer Book by Christine A. Dallman & Margaret Anne Huffman November 26 "Lord, I know it's not enough just to say the words thank you when a blessing, a kindness, or a gift comes my way. Verbalizing my thanks is a good start, but words are not the essence of gratitude. What I really desire, heavenly Father, is to have a grateful heart - a heart that so relishes love, mercy, grace, and all good things that it glows with appreciation long after receiving your many blessings. Teach me this kind of thankfulness, Lord, and let it inspire those around me to a deeper sense of gratitude as well."

Receiving blanket & burp cloth 40 x 40 inches It's hard to resist a good deal, and when I saw this adorable fishing bunny fabric, I knew it would make some cute receiving blankets. I used a tone on tone fabric from my stash for the back, rounded the corners, did some cross-hatching to stabilize the two layers and called it good. The burp cloths were made from the remnants, so no scraps remain. Receiving blanket & burp cloth 40 x 40 inches These blankets will be donated to a local charity.

Missouri Star Quilt Mural painted on the side of the Retreat Center Hamilton, MO August 2015 It was fun to see the large mural on the side of the Retreat Center. The quilt, shown above, features the signature block for the Missouri Star Quilt Company - the Missouri Star. A tutorial on how to make the block and the quilt can be found here .

Baby Blanket 40 x 40 inches I rarely sew with flannel, but when I saw a pile flannel squares at a thrift shop for less than a dollar, I could not resist purchasing them. The squares quickly came together in simple four-patch units. The blue and turquoise flannel was on clearance. Sometimes the Quilts of Valor are returned to me from the longarm quilter with extra batting attached, and when I trim the quilts, I keep the batting pieces. In this case it only took three pieces of scrap batting to cover the 40 inch square baby quilt. Some flannel remnants were used for the backing and binding. I did some simple cross-hatching to secure the quilt layers. The extra binding fabric was used to make a burp cloth. Blanket and burp cloth have been laundered and will be donated to a local charity.

Trail to Lake Towada near Towada City, Japan Fall 1979 Trails in Japan work around nature and not against it.

Last week was the monthly meeting of the Lander Sew Sistas, and we made scarves from various fabrics. Sheri purchased two fabrics at the local Walmart for our scarves, and I decided to use both fabrics. Sheri and I made mobius scarves (one twist is added when sewing the ends), but some of the other ladies made infinity scarves, which is one loop with no twist) I decided to make some additional scarves for myself and my sisters, so I went to Walmart and searched their fabric department for appropriate fabric. (This area does not have a fabric store, so Walmart and one quilt shop are the only options to purchase fabric for 100+ miles.) The selection of "scarf" fabric was very limited, but I found some that worked. The "jelly bean" fabric was found in the remnant bin. The teal/turquoise and white & black "netting" paired with solid jersey. Leopard-heart fabric was a bit stiff but was soften by the solid black jersey. The scarves made with t...

self-healing mat soaking in a tub of tepid water A couple of months ago, I did something crazy and gave my self-healing mat a soaking bath. Why?  I read this article and did some research online. None of my research revealed that the mats were ruined this method, so I gave it a try. (Note: self-healing mats come in all sizes and are used for many different crafts, not just quilting) It was recommended that the mat be flat, but my large mat did not fit in the tub, so I was cautious to keep both edges in the water and carefully removed the mat from the tepid water after about fifteen minutes. Once out of the tub, I gave the mat a good scrub with Murphy's Oil soap, as explained in the following response that I found on the OLFA site. source click image to enlarge using a nail brush to give the mat a good cleaning with Murphy's Oil soap My mat is now clean and a bit brighter. Is it like new? Of course not, but I didn't expect that. My mat does seem to have...

women's size 10 Yarn : Gale's Art Sock Blank ( information on this post ) Needles : US 2, circulars Stitches : 56 Pattern : simple ribbed cuff and stockinette foot. From  this September post , it looks like this project has been in the works for a long time.

blue suede shoes Neat Repeat Lander, WY November 2015 Look what I spied in Lander recently - Blue Suede Shoes!   I nearly burst out in song. 

Fall Festival float Misawa, Japan 1979

Roundabout Quilt of Valor 57 x 72 Roundabout is Quilt of Valor #78

Window Display Missouri Star Mercantile Hamilton, MO August 2015

Marilyn and Brenda outside the original Missouri Star Quilt Company store Hamilton, MO August 2015 Brenda, Marilyn, and I saw numerous interesting and fun things on our August road trip across Kansas, but our primary destination was the Missouri Star Quilt Company (MSQC) in Hamilton, MO. I would be willing to bet that eight out of ten quilters have seen at least one of Jenny Doan's many YouTube quilting videos. Jenny Doan and her family started with the original store (shown above) in 2008 and have since expanded the business by purchasing and refurbishing other old buildings in the small town. They have turned Hamilton, MO into a quilting mecca. The MSQC has six fabric shops:    Main (original) shop      Sew Seasonal  (featuring fabrics for specific seasons)   Batiks Shop   Licensed to Sew  (trademark fabrics, i.e. sport teams, cartoon characters, brand names)   Penney's Quilt Shop (featuring solid...