Edgewater RV Park in Lakeside, MT

Here's the registration office for the RV park John stayed at while I was at retreat.  While I was away, he worked his way through his list of items to repair or improve on - his list, not mine.  It's been wonderful weather here.  Mornings have averaged in the low 50s and the days highs in the mid 70s with an occasional hour or two around 80. So-o-o-o much different from Houston's 100 plus degrees.  The humidity here is very low - low enough that John has had some nose bleeds. These were brought under control with saline nose spray, adding that needed moisture.

I came back to the park after dinner on Friday, then spent a good bit of time on Saturday just resting.  It's amazing how tiring it is constantly sewing and talking and shopping and eating and going up and down stairs.  

Sunday morning I updated the blog and then we got ready to go to Glacier National Park. By the time we got out of the car and walked around, John was not feeling very well, so we cut our visit short. Several years ago, we got our senior passes to the national parks, so we didn't have to pay an entrance fee.  If you plan to travel and are over 55 (I think), it's well worth it to get one. Everyone in the car gets in for free as long as one person has the pass. The glaciers in the park are receding every year - must be global warming (oh, wait, that's climate change now) - so we couldn't see anything as most of them are only visible if you hike up specific trails. Since neither of us is able to do that, we just enjoyed the peace and beauty of the park. (John figured it was turn about and took my photo - not one of my better looks, I will say.)

We stopped at a little town on the way back for lunch.  Did you know that the huckleberry is a big thing in Montana?  These people take them seriously and you can get just about anything made with them.  At retreat, we had huckleberry oatmeal one morning for breakfast, another day we had huckleberry bread, then huckleberry bread pudding, and on and on.  I got some jam and salad dressing to take home. We've tried the jam - John wasn't too impressed, but I liked it.  Too bad it was such a small jar!  Anyway, the restaurant (and I use that term loosely) had hundreds of products with huckleberries in them, not to mention cups, spoons, T-shirts, and lots of other touristy things.  We managed to restrain ourselves!

Monday was our last day in this area. We spent time getting the RV ready to roll again, stowing things we'd dragged out over the past 10 days.  It was a challenge finding places for all of the things I acquired at retreat and at the quilt store - patterns, fabric, templates, projects in process, etc. Then I spent several hours taking all of the papers off my Pepperdish quilt, and I'm still seeing small pieces of paper that escaped me. Then I got the Featherweight out and attached the borders. I think I'll do the appliqué on my Viking, so it will be easy to handle the extra fabric with the wide throat on that machine.

Tuesday morning, we got up early and hooked the car to the motorhome, and we're on our way to Dillon, MT for the night. Ten days ago when we drove up to Lakeside, MT, the air was pretty clear and you could easily see the mountains off in the distance. Today, when we left, it looked like there was a heavy fog in the distance and you could just barely see the mountains. Apparently the winds are carrying the smoke from the wildfires east and this is the haze that we are seeing. The photo on the left shows how hard it is to see the near mountains.

If you look at this map, our route today is the green line. As you can see, we traveled through some of the areas where the fires are burning although we didn't see any of them - just the haze. Our route tomorrow is the yellow line and takes us into Ogden, Utah. The black takes us to the Grand Canyon next weekend, then the blue is home. Hmmm.  Lots of allergy medicine is in our future.

We got to Dillon, MT around 3:00 this afternoon.  A very nice KOA campground with lots of trees. Scooter was almost out of canned dog food (oh, no!), so we made a run to the grocery store.  Before we left Houston, I had notified the bank of all of the states we would be traveling through so they'd know it was really us when the charges went through. We got to the checkout and neither of our debit cards would work. Arghhh!  The store manager quickly assured us that it wasn't our cards - it was their system. Rather than wait around for them to figure out what to do - and my ice cream was melting - we gave them cash and left. 

My project tonight is cutting pieces for my border quilt class.  I got 41 of 83 cut, so my work is cut out for me getting them put together before the end of this month when the next class meets. John asked me if I was going to put them together by hand, and I told him I could but won't. The Featherweight will be getting a good workout over the next two weeks.  It's a good thing I oiled it yesterday.

The temperature right now (11:00 pm) is 52 degrees and tonight is down to 45 degrees, so it's double blanket and heater time. I'm really going to hate coming back to high 90s and high humidity.  

Retreat Sewing Week

Warning, this is a long post as I'm compessing a whole week into one post!

A little information for you about the retreat.  We are in a three-story house overlooking the west shore of Flathead Lake, the largest lake in Montana.  The first floor has the sewing room, converted from the garage of the original house. The tables that Shannon, Debbie, and I are working at are closest to the french doors that have a great view of the lake.  We also are close to the driveway where every morning and evening bunnies and deer may come to check out what we've been doing during the day.

The second or main floor has the large bedroom that the four of us share along with the living room, dining room, and kitchen. The third floor holds the master bedroom and master bath. The view is really beautiful from each of the floors in the building, with the best one, probably, from the master suite. There are sleeping accommodations for ten students, and another two students who sleep off-site can attend, but 12 is the maximum.

Our meals are taken in the dining room or from the deck outside the kitchen/dining area with this view of the lake.  The view from the dining room is beautiful.  And, can you imagine having your meals on top of this quilt?  This is the table cover on the dining table.  They don't seem to care if we spill on it - it's washable. 

Our day starts between 8:30-9:30 for breakfast.  Judy usually arrives around 9:30 am, and we start working with her. Time is spent in her sewing room, off the main sewing room, where she does demonstrations and shares tips and tricks to working with her patterns. It's amazing to see how quickly she can put something together that I've struggled with, but now have more knowledge on what to do to make it easier!  Then, she works with each of us on our project.  Everyone is working on different projects, from wedding rings to spike quilts.  As she approaches our projects, she shares tips on each one, so everyone stops and gathers around so we can all benefit from any problems she is solving or tips she is sharing. It's a very easy environment, and Judy makes it very easy to talk to about our problems with each quilt. No prima dona here!

Lunch is usually served around noon, then we are back in the sewing room for more demos and sewing.  Judy usually leaves around 3:00-3:30 and we are on our own for the rest of the day.  Dinner is around 6:30, then we are free to sew or whatever we feel like doing.  The menus for the week are posted for us and we are free to go off-site if something is being served that we aren't interested in having.  The four of us took advantage of that on Thursday night as they were serving pizza and we were ready for a change. John joined us for dinner that night and we all had a good time. We went to a Mexican food restaurant near the retreat, and can truthfully say that it was not anything like what we have at home. We're about ready for a fix with the "real" stuff.

Here is our sewing area with projects on the design walls. I had decided to rent a machine as I was back and forth regarding flying up and coming in the RV and wasn't sure I'd be able to bring my own machine. This gave me an opportunity to sew for a week on a Bernina and I can honestly say that I'm happy with my Viking!  These are lovely machines, but don't have some of the features that I rely on heavily.  Plus, I don't think I'll ever get used to using the knee lift.  It's never in the right spot on the machine for me. I noticed that Judy sews with her left foot and uses her right knee on the knee lift, so maybe that's how it works, but I've never been comfortable using my left foot on the foot pedal.  Something to think about, though, as my Janome has a knee lift.

Monday afternoon, Judy took us to the training center where they are training new certified instructors and certified shop owners. It is a brand new building (they used to train the CIs in the retreat house where we are) with bedrooms, a kitchen/dining area, and large training room.


There is a breezeway and the main office for her company and the shipping center is across from the training center. We took a tour of the offices and met all of the people working there, then were able to wander through the shipping center to pull patterns and other supplies to carry back to the retreat center.

One of the areas of the building is where they create new quilts and test the patterns. There is a long-arm machine there and lots and lots of fabric. Judy is now designing fabric lines and we got to see some fabrics that will be released to the public over the next six months or so.  Did you know that it takes almost two years for a fabric line to go from original design to the sales floor?  Amazing.

On our way back, we stopped at one of the quilt shops.  I had picked up a new pattern at Judy's warehouse and needed fabric for it, and this was a great place to shop.  Plus, we got a discount as we were with Judy.  I'll have time on Friday to get this one cut and started as I felt sure that I'd have the Pepperdish done by then - and, I was right!

I worked all week on my Pepperdish project and finished the last machine sewing on it on Thursday night.  Judy brought me some appliqué pieces that she had started to go onto another quilt that are built with the same templates as this quilt pattern uses. This will allow me to see what mine will look like when completed.  I put the pieces on the top half of the quilt and what a change it made!  It was sort of ho-hum until the appliqué was added.  Then, oh, my - what a change.

I decided I'd wait until I get home to prepare the appliqué pieces as I want to pull more fabrics from my scrap stash. If you look closely at the appliqué pieces, you'll see that all of them are very different from the fabrics in the quilt and really make it look more lively. I'll pull all of the paper off on the trip home and be ready to start the finish work on it as soon as I get it home.  Judy shared her new method of preparing appliqué with us and it should be much easier. I practiced her method of sewing using a minuscule zigzag, but don't think I'll do it this way.  Hand appliqué is more my thing, after all.

Tuesday and Wednesday were the same schedule, with sewing and lectures/demos during the morning and afternoon hours and no side trips.  Wednesday evening, Judel (Judy's daughter) came to retreat to demonstrate a new computer program they have been working on in Quilster. This program will also be available on our smart phones and iPads. It will allow us to customize our quilts made from Judy's patterns.  If you have a pattern with a 12-inch square block in it, for example, you will be able to select from a number of different options to fill that block, then click on a button to order that new block for your quilt. Quiltworx will pull the paper templates for that block and ship them to you within a few days. We won't be locked into just one look when making her patterns, but will have a lot of flexibility.  It will also allow for scanning fabric to preview what your quilt will look like with different color ways.  The program will be available on a subscription basis, so we'll see how that will work.

Thursday was more of the same schedule, then Friday was a "free sewing" day.  All of the attendees decided to exchange contact information so we can keep up with each other and our projects. We had a great group of quilters and it was fun to watch the various projects come to life on the walls.

By the time dinner was over on Friday night, I felt a strong desire to go back to the RV with John.  I was just done - you know what I mean, I'm sure.  I'd had a great time with everyone, but it was time to go.  I called John and arranged for him to pick me up within the hour and went to pack up. Next time I do this, I'll plan to bring an empty tote because my "stuff" had grown beyond what I had brought.  Plus, it was packed differently, so things will have to be unpacked and repacked when I get to the RV.


Hugs all around and my retreat experience was over.  This retreat had been planned since late in 2014, and I can say that it was everything and more that I hoped for here.  I'd encourage anyone who might be thinking about it to just set aside your dollars and plan to attend.  The four of us have already decided that we're coming back in two years.

I got the Flowers for My Wedding Ring quilt pattern and think that's what I'll bring with me to work on.  Time to start collecting fabrics for it now!


Check out time for the retreat was early Saturday morning.  Jan was flying home early, and Shannon and Debbie were going to Glacier National Park for some hiking before Debbie flew home on Sunday.  Shannon has plans to visit her grandchildren and parents on the way home.  Good travels to each of you, my friends.  It was great sewing with you!

Judy Niemeyer Retreat Setup

Sunday afternoon was check-in time for everyone coming to the retreat.  Shannon McGaw and Jan Mathews and I all had arrived on Saturday. They had spent Saturday night at the retreat, so were already unpacked and ready to start.

Sunday morning, I took my things and dropped them off at the retreat, then went to the airport with Jan and Shannon to pick up Debbie Adami.  We are rooming together at the retreat for the next week.

Sunday afternoon, we met all of the other quilters and got our sewing areas set up. Judy had provided fabric and clips for each of us along with cutting mats and pressing mats at each station. 

Sunday night, after dinner, Judy came by and did a trunk show of a large number of her quilts with some peeks into the future of new quilt designs. Below is a small selection of the many quilts we saw. As they are all left here at the retreat, we were given carte blanche to pull them and look at them over and over. How great that is! 

Now off to bed in our large bedroom. Every bed in the house has a white bedspread and a small quilt thrown over it. 

Tomorrow we start sewing! 

Bozeman to Kallispell - Catching up

Another great driving day - weather was perfect for most of the trip.  We encountered more high passes with steep grades, so I got used to pushing the gas pedal to the floor just to keep moving and watching the gas gauge go down, down, down.  When you reach a point in the climb where maximum gas pedal is required, the cruise control turns itself off. Then, of course, when you get to the top, you have to go down.  A 6% grade is pretty steep, so I took the cruise control off so I could control the descent.  Some of the turns were pretty scary, even at 55 mph!  

We took some time to stop and rest for lunch on the side of the road before gassing up for the northern portion of today's drive.  Skooter likes to see everything from the front seat when we are parked and lets me know that he needs to check out all of the available grass and trees. You can almost hear him thinking, "where are all the trees, mom?" at this stop.

We got to Lakeside, MT where we will park the RV for the next 10 days around 4:00 in the afternoon.  We're parked across the street from Flathead Lake, the largest lake in Montana. This weekend is a boat show. Our host at the campground had texted me in the morning to see what time we would be coming through and was relieved to find out it would be later in the afternoon as they were having a parade in the morning. This is a REALLY small town on the lake. We needed to go to the grocery store to get some needed supplies and wound up driving into Kalispell, clear to the north side of town, to find one.  We're not familiar with the local grocery stores and realized on the way back to the RV that we had passed one much closer to Lakeside.  Oh, well.

Dinner was at a casino and grill here in Lakeside.  Great hamburgers but very slow service. Apparently the cook can only handle one order at a time and we were behind a large family group and another couple that were there. Dad and the kids were playing pool in the restaurant area. This place, like many here, was divided into three areas - casino, bar, and restaurant.  Restaurant is being kind as the room was only large enough for about ten tables.  

My project today is to get the RV ready for John to spend the next week alone here and to make sure that I have all of my quilting tools and projects ready to take to the retreat tomorrow.  I can hardly wait. 

Days 6-7 – Cheyenne to Bozeman, MT

We left Cheyenne on a bright sun shiny day, heading out for Sheridan, Wyoming. For once, we didn’t have to deal with road construction that made for major delays. YEAH!  It’s not easy maneuvering this motorhome through some of the narrow lanes they have devised to torture us drivers. 

One thing we noticed as we wended our way north was a huge number of motorcycles on the road. One gas station that we stopped at had to have had at least 50 motorcycles parked there in lines to get gas. John asked one of the men standing around if they were going to something in particular and the response was that they were just out for a ride.  I think they thought John was joking when he asked the question because we found out later that this is the week for the gathering at Sturgis. There were a number of women riding solo and lots of 3-wheel bikes. I told John that I might be able to ride one of them by myself as I wouldn't have to remember to put my foot down when we stopped - a problem I had years ago when we were riding bikes. He had to stop and help me pick my bike up more than once!  Interestingly enough, there are road signs all over the state of Wyoming trying to make drivers conscious of motorcycles and their rights to be on the road, too. 

Our night in Sheridan was good, except for the rain. It seems the rain clouds gather in the late afternoon and continue until early in the morning, so no awning out, no outside sitting to enjoy the nice, cool weather, and no outdoor cooking.  We are usually tired by this time and it’s “let’s go get something to eat and then go to bed” time.

Just into Montana north of Sheridan, we encountered the Custer Battlefield Museum, “Where the Battle of the Little Big Horn began,” in Garryowen, Montana. (Here’s the link if you want to see some of what we saw: http://www.custermuseum.org). We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the museum – only outside.  We did sit through a video that provides lots of information on what led up to the battle. 

Next stop is Bozeman, MT.  We're getting closer and closer to retreat!

Day 5 - Still in Cheyenne, Wyoming

The weather this morning was beautiful - cool and crisp and clear!  Temperature was about 60 degrees when we went outside with a stiff wind - enough that I shouldn't have bothered brushing my hair as it was blown wildly about all day.

My plan today is to find the quilt shop in Cheyenne.  The Quilted Corner is in the older part of downtown and is absolutely lovely.  The two ladies running it were friendly and helpful. We talked about my going to the Judy Niemeyer retreat and they mentioned that they had been involved in bringing her to Cheyenne some years ago to do workshops for several of the quilt shops in the surrounding towns. They asked to be remembered to her.  I bought some more fabric for my border quilt (imagine that!) and a couple of fat quarters - one for the bee challenge of a holiday themed fabric (shh - don't tell anyone in the bee) and another fat quarter that is a Wyoming design with the same cowboy that appears on their license plates. I'm not sure that I'll ever do anything with it, but it is a good souvenir for me. This picture doesn't do the colors justice.

We did some other shopping, including a stop at the Verizon store to see what we could do for a hotspot. The internet connections at most campgrounds are HORRIBLE, so I was interested in seeing what was available that would make us independent of their service. We got a whole new plan including the hotspot to travel with for the same amount that we now pay.  Woohoo.  I'm going to be a much happier camper going forward.

Mid-afternoon was rest time for us.  John took a nap and I worked on an appliqué project. Dinner was grilled outside while we sat and enjoyed the 70 degree weather - the wind had died down and the weather was absolutely perfect. This is what we go camping to enjoy. 

Tomorrow it's north again to Sheridan, Wyoming. 

Day 4 - Cheyenne, Wyoming

We're still getting used to time time change! You wouldn't think that one hour would make any difference when you are retired, but it seems to be the case. I got smart, though, and changed my watch so I'm in sinc with the rest of the world in this time zone.  Of course, you have to push the pin back in all of the way, or it doesn't make any difference to what time you set your watch.

As we say goodbye to Raton, we're happy to see that the sun is shining today. We have a bit of dried mud inside from the rains the past few days, but I'm going to deal with it tonight as we don't want to wait until those household chores are done to leave. Today should be a fairly easy day. Our next stop is in Cheyenne, Wyoming and we'll spend two nights there. Hopefully that extra day will allow these old bones (times two) to rest up.  I find that the tops of my legs at the knees are sore from getting up and down out of the cab and up and down the stairs of the motorhome. We've been stopping about every two hours and moving around outside (weather permitting) and letting Skooter leave messages for the dogs coming behind us, so there are lots of opportunities to flex those muscles. 

Wouldn't you know that we'd be just about out of Colorado on the downhill slide, so to speak, into Wyoming when we're waved off of Hwy. 25 as there was a major wreck that completely closed the highway on the northbound side.  Lots of us were routed through back country roads, then found our way back to the Hwy. 25 feeder road only to be routed onto the southbound feeder road to wind up right where we started when they took us off of the highway to begin with. This took over an hour!  We checked our map and found a county road that would take us east to Hwy. 85 which would take us into Cheyenne a few miles east of where Hwy. 25 comes in. Unfortunately, a lot of other drivers had the same thought and we got in line with them. Once we got to Hwy 85, the line was just as long and NOT MOVING AT ALL. It seems that Hwy. 85 is a two-lane highway, one lane in each direction, and they are repaving one lane of it. I'm beginning to sense a pattern with this trip!

We finally reached our destination, three hours after we thought we'd be here. The campground is nice as most KOAs are, and we're happy with where they put us.  John is quite happy as it is near the rail line and he gets to watch the trains go by.  We had the manager direct us to Walmart as we couldn't find the power cord for the DirectTV box - so no TV tonight.  John had a plan to make a cable, but that didn't work out.  Then I remembered storing some items from the overhead under the seat in the dinette area.  Guess what I found!  We have TV!  

We thought we'd left the storms behind us, but no such luck. It is nice, though, to hear the patter of the rain drops on the roof as you are falling asleep.  Luckily, we enjoy that as it has been a theme for us since San Antonio.