FAVORITE THINGS

 

As I get ready to leave home, I look about at some of my favorite things.  I know I'm going to miss my Covered Wagon wall hanging. Let me explain. The Hal Humber, Resnich, Kessner families came West over the mountains in a covered wagon. A slew of crazy quilt blocks came with them. My friend, Mary Lou Humber, restored many of the blocks and made a full sized quilt with them. Four blocks were left over and she gave them to me. 

 The four blocks were in rough shape, uneven, frayed. A couple pieces shredded while working on them and had to be replaced by modern materials that fit with old materials. Material from my husband's old ties matched quite well. Now, the wall hanging has become even more personal.

 One block had to be augmented on one side to make it fit with the other three. Pieces of lace cover frayed areas and help hold the piece together. I rescued little bits of lace from an old slip and a pajama top to sew onto the blocks.

 Crazy quilts are known for their creative stitching and odd shaped materials. The philosophy, so I'm told, was why cut off even a precious point of this beautiful material when you can save it all? Years ago, people even re-used thread when taking apart a garment. Thread was tougher stuff then.

 

 So, yes, I'll miss my wall hanging, but know I have it to come back to. It represents, friendship, (Mary Lou), family, (my husband's ties) and my own work. A labor of love; a treasure.

QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT

The Quartermaster's Depot sits on the banks of the Colorado River and was a Western Outpost for the military. The grounds, buildings and artifacts are now part of a State Park. The museum holds many, many wonderful old pictures and the most complete set of drawings of Civil War Uniforms known. The drawings were commissioned at a time when few leaders really thought it was important to record the various changes in uniforms over the years. Luckily for us, a very valuable history was preserved.
The depot was located near a shipping company on the banks of the Colorado River. The company brought paddle wheelers upriver to deliver goods as far up as Utah for $40 a ton. When a competitor went into business, the price dropped to $20 a ton. That is the devil in private enterprise and the savior is competition. It all came to a halt when dams impeded river traffic and the Pacific Railroad became the new "savior".

Travel is nothing if not educational and I will soon have to forget something to make room for all this new stuff I'm learning. At the museum, docents worked at weaving. This woman has a special loom called a shawl loom. Others made lace and turned cotton balls into weaveable threads.
Hasta La Vista