My First Summer in Colorado

It is hard to believe it is August 1st, and that in another two weeks school begins again here in our community! Where has the summer gone?  This is one of our neighborhood community pools, and the first one that will close for the season in mid August. Would you believe I've only visited it once? It has been a busy summer!

When my brother and sister-in-law were here for my granddaughter's christening a few weeks ago, we took a trip with them up to see the nearby Red Rocks Amphitheater. You can read more about this spectacular outdoor theater on a  post about my visit this summer for a Josh Groban concert...click here.

...and then went on to one of our favorite breakfast places, the Country Road Cafe. Just look at the size of their pancakes--it takes up the entire plate!

My husband chose an omelet from their menu--another winner!

We next visited the charming city of Golden, Colorado...

..where we visited the Coors Brewery.

Next on the agenda was a ride up...

......Lookout Mountain, one of the taller foothills, at elevation 7,322 feet.

(This photo and all photos in this post can be enlarged for easier viewing by clicking on it once, and then again for full size)

Our ride this time was much less perilous than when we went with one of my husband's New York City co-worker in March. You can read that post on this link,.

This time the weather was beautiful.....

...as were the views.

 Buffalo Bill's grave is located on the top of Lookout Mountain.

I told you about our fun family excursion to the ski resort of Breckenridge on this post...

...but did not have a chance to show you the beautiful soft fields of South Park, that we passed on our way back home.  South Park is a high altitude grassland basin, approximately 10,000 feet in elevation in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado!

It was raining heavily at this time of the day and the misty pastures and hills of South Park...

...reminded me of Ireland!.

Back at home, we have been seeing mule does and their fawns that were born in May or June. A mature doe will often have twins, as this one does.

The bucks are now growing their new pair of antlers. During spring and summer, their antlers are growing at up to a quarter of an inch per day! Right now they have a velvety appearance, but soon they will harden to a bone like consistency. I saw these bucks in an open space field near my home.

They are a magnificent sight and one that I doubt I'll ever tire of seeing!

The real star of this blog post, however, is my sweet granddaughter, who is also growing by "leaps and bounds" this summer! As she grows, so does all the baby equipment that is all over my home. She is beginning to sit up on her own and began having her first taste of solid foods. I had honestly forgotten how much work taking care of a baby can be. It has been a full-time job for me these past months, as I watch her every day, Monday through Friday, while my daughter and son-in-law are at work, but I am loving every minute of it!  It may mean I have less time for myself, and certainly less time online, and this summer has been mostly about nap time and bottles, diapers and lullabies. Would I have it any other way? Never!

My two grandsons have also kept us busy, as my husband and I sometimes babysit for them on the weekends. Here they are playing with their Daddy's Matchbox cars--something I was glad I saved over the years!  It has been wonderful to see them often and watch them grow. Time passes too quickly. and I am savoring all these special times with my grandchildren.

My first summer in Colorado is slowly slipping away, but it has been a golden one for me so far and one I'll always cherish.  I am looking forward to enjoying more sights around this beautiful state before summer ends and I'm looking forward to seeing what a Colorado autumn will be.

Has your summer been living up to your dreams and expectations so far this year? I really hope so!

Please join my blog's facebook page on this link to see more of what I've been doing this summer.

Firehouse Quilt Show In Castle Rock, CO

I attended the 8th Annual Firehouse Quilt Show on July 20, which was held at the events center in the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock, Colorado. You can see the unique natural rock formation high on a hill, that helped to give this town its name in the photo above.

The fairgrounds event space was large, and there were quite a few vendors and exhibits to see, as well as award-winning quilts. The show had many fabrics, applique, quilt accessory, guest speakers, and other types of craft vendors and quilting classes.

The quilts were all carefully hung with a solid blue backdrop, and labeled and judged in separate categories according to style, such as computer long-armed quilted, sewing machine quilted, hand quilted, appliqued quilts, art quilts, children's quilts--12 years of age and younger, and age 13 - 18,  miniature quilts, plus a special exhibit of non-judged vintage and patriotic quilts.

I am not a quilter, but I could certainly appreciate all the effort that goes into making these fabric works of art! It was really enjoyable to walk around the hall and look at each and every one of the one hundred and fifty quilts on display. They were all so unique and a wonderful blend of traditional and modern quilting techniques.

The varieties of patriotic quilts were especially amazing!

The detail and amount of work in them were wonderful to see.

This quilt was made as a tribute to the quilter's father who served in the Air Force during World War II. Click on one to enlarge the photo (and all photos in this post), and then again when it opens to make it even larger, You can read the explanations about this quilt and the other quilts by enlarging the photos this way. 

This patriotic quilt incorporates all 50 official state flowers. I made sure to show the state flower of my new state of Colorado--the Columbine--in this photo.

This quilter's ancestor was one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence, and she incorporated his information, as well as information about every relative who served in the armed forces throughout our nation's history, in this very detailed quilt!  Make sure to click on the photos to enlarge them to see how even the back of the quilt is designed with information.

A tribute quilt to the Civil War, with each battle and date embroidered on the quilt.

A very realistic quilt that honors the bravery of all firefighters.

The quilts were professionally judged by a panel of quilt experts, such as Christine Brown--the former editor of American Quilter Magazine, Ellen Palmer--a member of the Colorado Quilting Council who worked as a judge in training for five years, and Teresa Rives--a prolific quilter who trained for three years to be a judge for the Colorado Quilt Council. The unique quilt above was a "best of show" blue ribbon winner as an art quilt -click on a photo to read more about it.

 Another intricate "best in show" and blue ribbon winner computer long-armed quilt.

This Asian-inspired blue ribbon winner appliqued quilt had many 3-D elements to it.

A blue ribbon paper piercing design quilt.

This gorgeous quilt was being donated for a special cause. The detail and colors in it were stunning.

I can't possibly show all the quilts that were on display at the show in this post, but there were many in shades of blue....and many in shades of pink!

There were multicolored quilts...

...and quilts of every imaginable design! It was so interesting to read the story behind each one.

I really liked the vintage quilts and their stories. This quilt took 70 years to complete!

This vintage quilt was from the 1880s and was on sale for $750.

There were even examples of quilted clothes, bags, and minister scarves at the show.

The most special quilts of all were the "Snuggle Quilts," some of which I show in the collage below:

The Firehouse Quilts is a non-profit group of volunteers that makes and donates 45' square quilts to Colorado fire departments, Action Care Ambulance, Denver Health Medical Center, victim advocate offices, and twin/full-sized quilts to Douglas County Women's Crisis Center to be given to children and their mother's in time of crisis.  Each year they donate over 1,000 items! 90% are "snuggle quilts" for children that have been in an automobile accident, house fire, or even domestic violence in their home. The Quilt show volunteers were doing a "bed turning" display above where they held up example after example of the types of quilts that are lovingly made and donated as "snuggle quilts" by their members.

The Annual Quilt Show is their major fundraising event and all proceeds are used to help them purchase supplies and provide quilting education for their volunteers. It truly is a wonderful mission that they perform.

I was happy to attend and contribute what I could, to this truly wonderful event. I hope you enjoyed seeing a portion of the beautiful quilts that were on display and learning about this very talented and devoted quilting organization in Colorado!