Images from Kalispell, Montana 06-10-12

Today was the last day of Ruth McDowell's class at the Quilt Gallery.  I think all sixteen quilts being created are very good and I will try to edit the images and post them tomorrow.  Meanwhile here are some pictures I have taken in class and around the town.



Ruth McDowell showed her wonderful (and huge) quilt   "Bison at Mission Creek" - 2006
84" x 77"   Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted, Cotton Fabrics, Cotton Batting
  . For the design she used a photo she took at the Nat'l Bison Range quite a few years ago.  It so true to life and has so much depth that I am astonished every time I see a picture of it, and even more so seeing it in-the-fabric.

Sue Utt showed a quilt she made in a previous class.  Using straight line piecing for people and animals seems to give them more ... personality, maybe.

It isn't quite summertime here - the rain continues and (to me) it is quite cold!  One morning it was 30F at 6am and rain was promised, I feared snow, but it warmed up a bit before the rain began.  The sky does clear now and then, showing patches of blue sky above the clouds.  I saw this lovely blue iris growing next to a garage in an alley - the rain had weighed down the petals.

I shook some of the water off so the petals would stand up .  Gorgeous color.

While I was photographing iris I could hear  lovely bagpipe music, so I walked around the corner to find this yard sale to benefit the local pipe band.  There is the piper in the lower left corner and a full regalia on a stand to the right.

No matter how cold or rainy it is there are always people having ice cream when we pass this homemade ice cream store.  So, we stopped and tried the rhubarb and cream - we understand the attraction!

There is a little side room with benches and counters, apparently designed for children.  Notice that the little girl has her shoes on the wrong feet!  There was also a little boy wearing his on the opposite feet.  Is this a trend in Montana?

Off to one side is this magnetic alphabet board with an ice cream haiku.

I like to drive around and look at the houses and gardens.  I spotted this unusual decoration inside a front window.   Maybe they are letting it view the outside and not get wet.

Ruth McDowell class at the Quilt Galllery in Kalispell, MT 06-09-12

I'm sorry I missed posting last evening - I was just exhausted and went to sleep at 9pm!

One more day of class with Ruth McDowell - it does make me very sad because I don't know that I will ever see her again.  After 22 years, that is a very hard blow.  But I am enjoying the class here with sixteen very nice ladies - there are four who have never taken a class with Ruth previously and the rest have been regular students.   These first six pictures were take on Wednesday, the first day of class, and show something of the fabulous workshop space at the Quilt Gallery.
 
 
From the table where I am sitting, looking out through the shop to the front entrance.

 

Here is Ruth McDowell at the white board working on the photos or drawings that each student brought as inspiration.  The binder in the foreground has pictures of a great many of the quilts that were made in Ruth's classes here during the eighteen years she has be teaching in Montana.

 
Students Susan Hilsenbeck, Susan Vacek, Ruth Powers, Pat Andrews.  In the background are Ruth's Moth Orchids quilt, Ella (the appaloosa) and the Pink Rose - along with some student quilts I showed previously.

 
Students Sue Utt, Nola Partington, Bern Ward,  Vanelle Nurse with some student quilts on wall.

 
Students Vanelle Nurse, TJ Tack, Cathy Silva.  In the background Nola Partington and Bern Ward.

 
Student Anita Crane.

It is always interesting to see what Ruth is buying to take home for her stash:

 

 

 

 
She is a great saleswoman in a shop; she holds up the bolt and explains what she sees in the fabric and the entire bolt quickly disappears!   I've added some of these to my huge fabric library.

Show & Tell from Ruth McDowell's Kalispell students 06-07-12

The students who have previously attended Ruth classes at the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, MT, brought some of their quilts for Show &Tell.


A desert scene by Donna Strain - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Plumeria blossom by Kim Woodruff - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

Prows of canoes by Kim Woodruff - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Little boy tossing a rock by Kim Woodruff - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 "Golfer"  Trudy Berne - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Forest Fire   Pat Andrews - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 Sampler blocks from Ruth McDowell's Piecing book by Susan Hilsenbeck - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Red rock cliffs w/lake by Cynda Clark - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Boy w/cup by Kathy Salvador - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Black Dog by Sue Utt - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Blue Horse by Trudy Berne - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Doorway by Kim Woodruff - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Osprey on nesting platform by Joan Hodgeboom - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Owl on osprey nesting platform by Joan Hodgeboom - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Joey by Joan Hodgeboom - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

DETAIL  Joey by Joan Hodgeboom - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Joan on her Harley by Joan Hodgeboom - made in Ruth McD Kalispell class pre 2012  06-06-12

 Quiltmaker at work (Joan Hodgeboom) made by Ruth McDowell and quilted by Joan - pre 2012  06-06-12

 
Ruth McDowell with student image for design inspiration.  Kalispell, MT., 06-06-12

Wordless Wednesday - car 06-06-12

 

 

Butte, MT & Nat'l Bison Range 06-04-12

Yesterday, Monday, was just too long a day for us!  So, when we arrived in Kalispell at 10pm, we found our lodging, unloaded the car and fell into bed.  Today, Tuesday, we were busy arranging things in our room, shopping for a few groceries, getting settled in our classroom and, of course, checking out the fabrics on offer at the Quilt Gallery.   And then there is eating and sleeping and all that necessary stuff!  The weather is cool and there has been thunder and rain this evening, but we are cozy and warm and almost ready to go to bed.  Here are a few images from yesterday. 

 
Butte, Montana, is an old copper and silver mining town, built mostly on hillsides.  We drove around looking at the views and the old buildings that have been saved.  Looks like a lot of restoration has been lavished on these two elegant 1890s homes.  The houses are level - the street is quite steep.

 
Old mining head frame and some blue flowers blooming in an alley.  There are a number of these head frames dotted about town, but the current mining is all open pit.

 
We were in the alley because I wanted to clip a few stems from a big lilac bush hanging over a back fence.  About the time I reached up with my clippers a lady came out of the house, I said something about admiring the lilacs and she said "Hhhrump" and spat!  I hustled into the car with my prize and zipped away.  The fragrance was lovely - lilacs are not found in most of SCalifornia, just in the mountain communities.  I still miss them from growing up in Oregon.

We drove northwest on I-90 to pick up Hwy 93, which goes through Kalispell.  But, more importantly it goes very close to the National Bison Range (near St. Ignatius, MT).  There is a nineteen mile dirt road loop through this sanctuary and we enjoyed every foot of it - 3-1/2 hours!   We saw lots of bison, pronghorn antelope, deer, birds, flowers and wide open country. Wonderful!  Here are just a few pictures from the several hundred that I took and Ruth Powers is willing to let me copy her pictures into my laptop.  I hope I will eventually have them all in one album.  

 
This little bison was walking on the road.  We stopped, knowing that his mommy was close by and he walked over to her.  Probably saying "Those ladies are staring at me."

Several magpies were sitting on this perimeter fence just waiting to have their pictures taken.  Very hard to get a good image with a point and shoot camera when the bird is against the blue sky. 

 
Although we saw many wildflowers it is still early summer here.  Lupine (above) was very common as was Arrow-leafed Arnica.

This pronghorn antelope obligingly turned his back to show the (sort of) heart-shaped white bottom that is easily spotted from a distance.  Almost all the pronghorns were solitary, although those I have seen from the highway in past years were always in groups of three or more. 

 
Across the green rolling countryside are the snow capped mountains in Glacier National Park.  We hope that the current rainy weather moves on so we can visit Glacier early next week.

Ruth McDowell's class starts tomorrow 9:30am to 4pm for five days.  We are excited!