More Fall Finishes

I've had this kit for awhile, but really wanted to get it finished for this faIl. I'm super happy with the results!

It is a Lily Anna Stitches pattern and I especially like that it can stay out until its time for the Christmas decorations. The little quilt rack is a nice way to display it. I have a couple of more everyday patterns that will fit on the same stand. The pattern called for binding the edge, but I blanket stitched with variegated floss instead and think it worked out well.

Baa-b finally got his October blanket--better late than never! Think I'm going to skip over November for now and go directly to the December blanket.

On the knitting front, I've finished two scarves.

This is called Zuni shawl. You can't really see the detail of the stockinette stitch with the garter stitch that gives it some texture. The squared off "steps" are reminiscent of pueblo architecture. I finished it in time to take on vacation, but it was too warm to wear it.

I think the fringe on this one is really fun. I was an easy knit and after you are all done, stitches are dropped to form the fringe. I think it will be very wearable with t-shirt and jeans and may even consider making another in a different color. The weather is supposed to cool off this weekend, so I may get to try it out!

International Quilt Festival is coming up soon, so I am really excited! Hope I remember to take pictures to share!

As a final note, here is Spunky contemplating his day and planning who he is going to chase first and how much trouble he can get into.

His sweet little face is deceiving!

Road Trip, part 2

Along the high road to Taos is the Santuario de Chimayo, a small church where thousands visit each year to take home some of the dirt from a small well inside the church that is said to have healing powers.  There is a side room that contains crutches, pictures, and baby shoes that visitors have left during their visit. It is a very touching sight. We happened to be visiting one Easter weekend and were able to watch as people walked from Santa Fe, some carrying large crosses, on their personal pilgrimage. Older folks would walk a short distance, ride in the car a while, walk some more, but always walk the last  distance to the church. Every time we visit, I am moved, and find it a beautiful setting.

Chapel de los Ninos.

A picturesque store where you can buy mementos of your visit.

Continuing on along the high road you come to Truchas. It has always been intriguing--like it's in a time warp of some sort, though it is now becoming more of an artist community.

A memorial in the cemetery as you go in to town.

The town sits on top of a ridge and has a beautiful view.

Back in Albuquerque there was more food...

And shopping on the plaza.

And here is a dish that doesn't look like all the others--and chances are you won't find elsewhere, either.

This is the "Travis" at Grandma's K & I Diner, where they cover just about everything in french fries. The Travis is a beef and bean burrito, with the standard lettuce, tomato and cheese. Then they put both red and green chili on it and top it off with french fries--and it is really good! Even though it comes in various portion sizes, it is pretty hard to finish whatever size you pick! 

After this little gem, we went to the state fair to walk it off. New Mexico puts on a pretty nice fair, but we cut our stay short when they announced for everyone to take cover as there was an unexpected wind storm heading our way.  

We traveled home on a different route and made a stop at Bosque De Apache National Wildlife Refuge. They get a lot of Sandhill Cranes here in the winter. It was too early for the cranes, but we did see these guys.

 Turkeys always surprise me with their long legs and overall size.

I really love New Mexico, but to appreciate it you have to look closely at what it has to offer--like the different grasses...

                                         

And the blue sky...

We drove past here.

And in Capitan stopped at the Smokey Bear museum and grave site.

My husband saw Smokey when he lived at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. (Smokey lived at the zoo, not my husband). There are of pictures of Smokey right after they found him, of the firefighters and the burned forest, then you walk outside to his grave. Of course I cried.

On our final day on the road we drove through the small town of Brady, TX and I was amazed to see a billboard advertising wool and yarn! Well, we had to stop and this place had a fabulous selection of wool!

 I should have gotten more--great selection, great price, but when faced with so many colors and shades, and without a plan in mind,I couldn't make up my mind. I got a few pieces and may have to order some online (www.originaldesignsbydeborah.com).

Since we were driving right by, we stopped in Comfort at the Tinsmith's Wife. Cute yarn store with a great selection of yarns.

There are two resident cats. This one was doing quite the balancing act and wanted to be petted from up here.

 New Mexico is proud of their green chili burgers. We had one in Santa Fe here--

 And here at the Owl Bar in Magdalena, NM

But no place can compare to the Cheddar Cheesy at Chris Madrid's in San Antonio, TX.

And as eager as we were to get home, had to stop and have one. 

It was a great vacation, the road trip was fun, but it was nice to be home. The cats were glad to see us, and didn't even give us the "you left us" cold shoulder.

Thanks for coming on our trip with us. I have another fall wool piece finished, so I'll be back soon to show you. Then I have to start on some wintry, Christmas stuff!

See ya!

Road Trip (part 1) !

WARNING! The following contains lots of pictures of food-- yes, it all pretty much looks alike, but it is all different, and yes, we did do things besides eat--well kinda :)

We haven't taken a road trip for quite awhile, so this year we decided to drive to Santa Fe, one of our very favorite places. It was time to revisit locations of fond memories and eat at the restaurants we like so much.

Heading across the plains, this was at the first rest stop.

 We didn't see any snakes, but I didn't go in search of them either.

 We made it to Amarillo the first night, and since we had seen the sighs for hundreds of miles, and a friend said we should go here just for the experience, we had dinner at the Big Texan--home of the 'if you can eat their 72 ounce steak in one hour it's free.' Five guys from Australia were giving it a try--none of them succeeded.

 Just outside Amarillo is the famous Cadillac Ranch, a public art sculpture created in 1974 . There are something like 10 cadillacs planted nose first into the ground. The public is invited to bring spray paint and add to the art. Of course we had to stop. Well, it had been raining all the previous day, so things were really muddy and the cars aren't right next to the road. I was all for viewing from the car, but my husband wanted to walk out for a closer look. I'm not a fan of mud, but didn't want to be a stick in it on the first day of vacation so I rolled up my pant legs a bit and did the" Julie shuffle" behind him. (the" Julie shuffle" is akin to "dragging your feet", but I've perfected it into an art form). About two thirds of the way there, Sweetie began this feet slipping, arms flailing action, and down he went!  I wasn't quite sure how to respond, I'm sure my mouth was hanging open, but the "are you ok?" came first. He was, and we made it back to the car, where fortunately I had a garbage bag for soda cans, etc.. We dumped his clothes in that and proceed down the road.The iphone was ok, but the camera was crusted in sticky mud.That eventually got cleaned up and continues to work and clothes got washed.  It was finally determined that the cause of the mud splat was that he was wearing those Sketcher tennis shoes with the rocking sole, so his feet weren't completely planted on the ground. I only laughed once, briefly, and never considered taking his picture!

We got to Santa Fe and had to make a stop at Jackalope.We've been going to Jackalope since it was one small room with  a fireplace for heat--now it is huge! Still fun, but some of the charm is gone.

First dinner in New Mexico was at Tomasita's--it tasted SO good! I'm kind of a wimp, so I get my red chili on the side, but it really is the chili that sets New Mexican apart from your everyday Mexican food.

And the next morning we had breakfast at Tecolote Cafe. They offer a big variety, and not just the ordinary breakfast dishes--fried plantains, posole, great potatoes and a nice bakery basket.

We always go to Gallup to shop for "dead pawn" jewelry ( I found a couple of bracelets I love) and it just so happened that this was also the weekend for the monthly Crown Point Rug Auction. Crown Point is about 45 minutes from Gallup, and every month Navajo weavers come from all over to auction off their rugs. Before the auction starts you can buy Navajo tacos or shop for Native crafts from artisans who set up booths in the hallway.

Things have changed a bit, and it is now more of a "reserve" auction, which takes  some of the thrill of the bidding and hopes of a great deal out of the equation. But it was still fun and although we didn't end up with the rug we liked best, we came away with a couple that we like.

The next day we checked out the flea market in Gallup. I bought some beads for the next jean jacket I want to embellish and a couple of beaded bracelets, but the highlight was the biggest tamale I've ever seen! Not only was it double sized, it was delicious! I'm not sure what made it so special, the chili had a slight bite, and it also had a bit of rice in the meat mixture. It was probably the masa itself and the fact that it was some old family recipe with some little twist. I also couldn't resist some Navajo fry bread that was yummy. I'm going to give making fry bread one last try. All of my attempts in the past  have been lackluster but I really want to be able to make it well. Sweetie had some mutton stew--I watched--he said it was good.

Took a side trip through the Zuni pueblo on the way back to Albuquerque. Since it was a weekend, tours of the pueblo were being offered.

This is the view into one of the plazas where kachina dances are held. You can see the chairs on the roof across the way where observers sit.

The church was impressive. Especially the paintings along the walls depicting the Zuni kachinas. They were really detailed and beautiful. Our guide explained each one of them to us--I hope I can remember some of them. 

Back in Albuquerque we had dinner at one of our top picks for New Mexican food,"Sadie's". It's more of a locals place and has, in my opinion, the best red chili! Oh, and another nice thing about New Mexican food is that sopapillas are served along side the meal as bread, unlike Mexican restaurants where they are a dessert offering.

There's more food to come, so stay tuned and I'll post the rest of our trip soon!

Not our best day!

What was supposed to be a brief trip into the city ended up taking up most of the day, due to this:

My little red car encountered a road hazard and ended up being towed to the dealership on a big flat bed truck. With us inside. One ride in a tow truck is plenty, thank you very much.

We were lucky, though.The tire had to be replaced, but it could have damaged more and we were able to get off the freeway and into a parking lot.  We could have changed the tire ourselves except that there are locking lug nuts on the tires and we didn't have a "key" to unlock them. After searching the car, and racking our brains, we have concluded that we never had the magic key. They probably told us it was in the car when we bought it and it wasn't. The tow truck driver looked, the guys at the dealership looked, as well as telling us about the little zipper bag the thing comes in. I would have remembered a zipper bag. And since nothing is easy, when they finally found a key that would get the lug nuts off, it didn't have a number on it so we couldn't order just a key. (and they seemed shocked that we might consider just regular lug nuts) So now I have a new tire and new locking lug nuts and a nice little key in a nice zipper bag with a nice piece of elastic on it to attach to the tire iron tool that came with the car to remove all the other lug nuts. I hope I never have to use it!

I do love this car--earlier in the week we went to the auction. We have been looking for a cabinet to display our Zuni fetish collection and we found the perfect one.

And it fit in my car!! I like the mirror back on it and there is still room to keep adding to the collection.

 (by the way...I did buy a stool, I can't resist, but it is small and something wool is going to look really good on it. Picture later).

Just so this post isn't all about non-fabric things, I brought out a couple of my favorite Halloween dolls to off set all the pillows I've got sitting around.

See ya...keep your eyes on the road!