Spring Quilt Market & Iowa
June 1st, 2010 | 
Author: 
Well . . . . here I am – TARDY again! With always the best intentions, time disappears – totally.
Quilt Market was in Minneapolis this year – May 21-23. Our booth was really pretty – all in the Roses, Blue version.
Barb (great helper!) has family in Wisconsin, so she flew early and enjoyed a visit.
Jery & I drove to Minneapolis. We took a rather leisurely 3 days and drove the ‘high line’ (Highway 2 across the Northern part of Montana) to Wolf Point. The High Line continues into North Dakota, but we dropped down so we could enter ND near Medora, where we visited the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I’d been there several years ago when teaching in Medora. Knew Jery would like it, AND the history about Mr. Roosevelt. We stopped at some lovely gardens along the way, enjoyed the hot tubs some evenings — other than lots of miles — took it easy. He ‘deposited’ all the booth stuff at the convention center in Minneapolis, and headed on to Illinois to visit some favorite relatives, returning in time to see a wee bit of the show on Sunday before ‘take down.’
Monday morning we set out for Greenfield, IA, to visit friends Kathy & Gary. Such a treat to see their home, and especially glad we saw it Monday eve and Tuesday morning. They have some livestock, and introduced us to a new bull they named Jery . . .
and a heifer named Jackie. Hmmm.
We had a great time at their pond, and early Tuesday Kathy & I cruised in the paddle boat for a while. Then she & I went into Winterset to see the Spool Cabinet man. YEP — I brought one home!
Late afternoon it started to rain, and then it absolutely POURED for over an hour. POURED. BLEW. POURED. We watched as rivers formed in their yard, racing toward the pond. In that short downpour, they got 3-1/2″ (THREE and a HALF) of rain, causing the pond to overflow, and share most of their fish with the pond ‘next door’. What a mess it all was. What a storm!
We arrived home Sat. afternoon. Sunday I went to Kalispell to see my Mother AND to pick up some large perennials for the new garden strip. I’ll try to share that photo soon!
Retreats begin on Thursday. Getting them packed and planting the remaining flowers (with Jer’s great help!) will keep us out of trouble today.
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Hi Jackie-
Thanks for blogging about your Quilt Market activities!
As a vendor at Quilt Market, I do not always get out and look at all the beautiful booths so thanks for sharing!!
That’s pretty cool you let your readers know what went on!!
Douglas Eagleson
President, Kona Bay Fabrics
Hi Jackie,
I read that you went to Wolf Point. I would love to know what it is like. My mother grew up in Wolf Point. She was born on the Ft. Peck Indian Reservation. Probably the only medical facilities around in 1926.She lived there until she was 20. They homesteaded a wheat farm. My grandmother had a quilt frame that she suspended from the ceiling. When she wanted to work on a quilt she lowered it down. When she needed to have it out of the way she raised it. I have two wool quilts she made. They are filled with carded wool from their sheep. She tied them with embroidery floss and did some fancy stitches with Floss. I also have the frame. I use the term frame but it was just boards clamped together that had measuring tapes attached to the sides. I loved hearing about your trip.
I am one of the entrants in your design competition. I had a lot of fun working on the designs. Should have gotten more split stripe to experiment with though. I ran out of time. Wish I could figure out a way to manufacture time.
Susan Holzer