Australian World Quilts

For Australian entrants in the World Quilt Competition, there is a story on your quilts in the latest Down Under Quilts magazine.

And here are a few photos of them hanging at the Pacific International Quilt Festival earlier this month. Ours was not the only flag hanging incorrectly.

Quilts=Art=Quilts

While I'm in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the moment, 2 of my quilts are part of Quilts=Art=Quilts which opened yesterday in Auburn NY at the Schweinfurth Art Center- 'Spirit Land' above & 'Anthills-Study in Gold'. The exhibition continues until January 9, 2011.

Moose Drool

Everything is pumpkin oriented, so it is fun checking out the supermarkets for items. But if the pumpkin ale is too much, there's always Moose Drool, brown ale.

Halloween weekend

It has been building up to this Halloween weekend & now we are seeing children & adults dressed in costumes & wearing face masks & makeup. Everyone is turning into a ghost, vampire or other suitable walking dead or monster.

Shop windows have also been decked out in celebration.

And giant pumpkins have appeared.

Petroglyphs

The gallery owner in Bluff told us about the petroglyphs at Sand Island, west of Bluff, so we drove back & were enthralled with the images picked into the desert varnish [dark areas] on the rock wall.

Bluff, Utah

We loved the historic back streets of Bluff, with so much history in the houses, most lovingly restored.

Under the bluff & the Navajo Twins is a gallery with beautifully crafted jewellery, definitely for the collector at the prices eg $7,000 turquoise necklace. Next door is the cafe & restrooms, important for travellers!

Fruit of the Forest pie, ala mode- yummy. I always think of the movie Little Miss Sunshine & the scene in the cafe with 'pie ala mode'.

Leaving Monument Valley

We have been lucky that our travel days have had the rain, wind, hail, worst weather & most of the sightseeing days, sunny & fine.

Mexican Hat.

Monument Valley sightseeing & shopping

The Navajo are very enterprising & catch the tourist dollar where they can, so at each major viewing spot there are numerous tables laid out with necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings etc. This man told us he has no running water at his house & wakes his children at 4am, to drive them in, to catch the school bus.

At Three Sisters. Horse rides are also available.

At movie director, John Ford's Point. He used many Monument Valley locations in his movies & we met a young Navajo named John Wayne.

The View Hotel, Monument Valley #2

Usually hotel bedspreads are fairly bland- not at The View. Each room of the 3 story hotel faces the Mittens & Merrick Butte & Bob was up early each morning photographing the sunrise.

This is my afternoon shot with the left & right Mittens. I'm drying my printing roller as I printed some Ponderosa pine needles from the Grand Canyon. I'm travelling with a small supply of my hand dyed fabric & the 3 paint colours I had for the PIQF Leaf it Alone class- scarlet, blue & gold.

Lamb chops & 'corn mush mixed with Juniper ash' giving a high calcium level, was my dinner. Once was enough! The 'mush' [quoting from the menu description] was fairly bland & the consistency of glue. The level of sweetness in the foods here has astonished us. The regular bread too has sugar added. Navajo staples are corn, squash & beans.

The View Hotel, Monument Valley

Monument Valley & staying at View Hotel in the Navajo Nation park is fantastic! Colours are similar to the Australian outback, but change  with the light conditions much more, as the buttes are gigantic, impressive bits of weathered rock.

Giant fireplace in the lobby & impressive artwork- sculptures, Kachina dolls surrounding the fireplace, carved tables & chairs & woven Navajo rugs.

On the road to Monument Valley

Cameron Trading Post, our stop for petrol & a little shopping. We are in the land of turquoise with so much Native American jewellery available it is hard to think straight.

It was a wet, windy day on the open plains, interspersed with great rock structures.

Leaving Grand Canyon

We left the park via the east road & stopped at the Mary Coulter designed watchtower, which was built in the early 1900's to be a gift shop. Inside were amazing Hopi Indian designs on 3 levels.

This is looking up the next 2 levels, to the painted ceiling & the petroglyphs on the internal walls of the central void.

On the edge

Some people stand too close to the edge!!

This is the view back to El Tovar Lodge & other accommodations on the South Rim edge.

Extreme rubbing- Grand Canyon style

Well, I have rubbed & printed at the Canyon & have some unique fabric. I think this has been the coldest spot I have rubbed in.