Better with a View

Greetings friends! I am back in my office today and trying to get a handle on all the work that needs to be done after taking a vacation - the list is long...but I wanted to quickly stop in and share a few photos from our yearly Jeep trip to Colorado and Utah. We met up with good friends in Denver...then made our way to Ouray, CO via Pearl Pass where we spent a couple days enjoying the trails in the Durango, Ouray, Silverton, Telluride area. This is always my favorite part of the trip - I love being high in the mountains, even though the boys raced through all the trails. We stayed in a remote cabin in the quiet wilderness and I welcomed this change of pace. After a quick couple days in Colorado, we made our way to the rock formations of Moab, UT where we spent a week conquering all the advanced trails (we have a heavily modified Jeep, made to handle these obstacles) - including Pritchett Canyon, Behind the Rocks, Kane Creek, Steel Bender and the Trifecta (Poison Spider, Golden Spike and Gold Bar Rim). While this was far from my favorite Jeep trip, I did thoroughly enjoy the outdoors and some time away. Here is a sampling of my favorite photos...

I received a lot of questions about this photo - this is the hydroelectric power plant at Bridal Veil Falls (the tallest free-falling falls in Colorado) just outside of Telluride, CO - I took the photo coming down Black Bear Pass. You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smuggler-Union_Hydroelectric_Power_Plant

Top of Black Bear Pass - Elevation 12,840

View of Telluride, CO from Black Bear Pass.

Jeep hair, don't care. 😀

Another photo with questions - this is our Jeep at full flex over the Golden Crack on the Golden Spike Trail in Moab, UT - our Jeep is not "broken" - this is a sought after photo (a money shot) for Jeeps.

This is the "High Dive" obstacle on the Behind the Rocks Trail in Moab Utah - considered by many to be the most dangerous obstacle in Moab.

I hoped you enjoyed these photos...just a quick glimpse into our yearly Jeep trip. As always, the outdoor beauty has me refreshed and inspired...and ready to get back to work...

As some of you may know, I will be traveling to New Zealand at the end of October for a few weeks and I have a zillion things to accomplish beforehand, so it may be more quiet here than usual. I will do my best to stop in and visit with you a couple times before heading down under...

Today, I will be tackling a few project bags and the next needlework finishing order - I will also do my best to respond to all the correspondence I received while I was gone - all orders are ready to ship and my shop is back in business. I also have some cross stitch and quilting models I will be finishing up over the next week or so - new patterns will be coming soon...

Enjoy your week!

Wine and Wildflowers

Hello friends - thank you for stopping by for a visit! Travis is away on his yearly fishing trip to Louisiana and I have a few quiet minutes to post. The last 6 weeks have been a whirlwind and once again, I find myself behind on my blog posts. The last week of April, Travis and I took an anniversary trip to Fredericksburg, TX (more on that in a moment) and things haven't slowed down since. We traveled to Omaha, NE for a wedding, the first weekend in May - it was a wonderful trip - it was for one of our former Iowa neighbors (who we consider family) and it was a lovely wedding weekend and time spent with our Iowa family. Then I taught a couple classes for The Quilted Sunflower - a beginning patchwork class and a beginning foundation paper piecing class. We followed that up with a trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for my mother-in-law's wedding - we were there for four days and were able to spend time with family, new extended family and friends - it was a beautiful outdoor wedding and reception (I will share a few photos in my next post). Then back to Kansas to teach another class (my Pretty Posies Pouch). In-between all of that, I have been busy with work obligations and creating a few gifts. I barely have my head screwed on - so having my husband out of town this week has given me a chance to breathe and catch-up on much needed tasks. I thought I would start by sharing some photos from our trip to the Texas Hill Country.

We took a road trip to Fredericksburg, TX to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary the last week in April. We had searched for the best vacation spots in the United States to unplug/unwind and Fredericksburg kept coming up...so we decided to investigate. We booked a quaint, little country cabin that was outside of town - it was exactly what we wanted - remote and quiet. We were surrounded by farm animals (cows, sheep, goats, chickens) and deer every single day - we would get in the hot tub each night and just watch the animals. We visited the National Museum of the Pacific War, several distilleries and wineries, Wildseed Farms (the nation's largest working wildflower farm), took a luxury boutique winery tour and visited some wonderful restaurants (we had a delicious anniversary dinner at Otto's German Bistro). It was definitely a relaxing week away - and, in all honesty, it was not long enough. As always, I took tons of photos and here are some of my favorites....

This week, I have been busy with needlework finishing and custom sewing - trying to finish up all the client orders I currently have on hand, so I can focus on some of my own design work (both cross stitch and quilting) and some projects for my Etsy Shop. I have been feeling very inspired for my original designs and look forward to focusing on some new pieces! 

I will be back to visit soon, with some wedding photos...and lots of photos from my latest creative endeavors (needlework finishing, quilting, sewing, and gifts). I would love to find time to film a new FlossTube video in the next couple weeks - it has been too long! So much to share, so little time....