Quilty Pleasures: Chicken River Modern Quilters Are At It Again

One of our quilters has relocated to Albuquerque, so The Chicken River Modern Quilters decided a friendship quilt was in order.

Today I'm posting how it looks from afar.

And a Behind the Scenes look at Susan on the left and Linda on the right, holding the quilt up on a very windy afternoon. Check out the flying hairdos. Susan is our newest member and drove two hours from Trinidad, CO for the meeting. Our other new member is Jane Ann, who was taking photos.

Don't you love the setting? It's a traditional block, but modern quilting likes to take the traditional and add something new, like this off center design with white negative space.

The photo was taken in the alley behind Thread Bear, our local quilt shop in Las Vegas, NM. That rock wall is historic old, which is older than old is. This area dates to 1835 when the Spanish were in charge.

Next post: A closer look at this quilt and how the blocks are made.

Christmas Lights, Biscochitos and Abuelita Cocoa

Christmas is coming faster than that boulder chasing Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Keep running or be squashed flat! Three more pillow cases to go!

Las Vegas Plaza Bandstand

Yesterday I was a retail clerk, so after closing time there was a chance to see Las Vegas' (New Mexico, the original Vegas), Plaza lit up and gorgeous for Christmas. Here's a day view, but squint your eyes to make it dark and add swoops of multicolored lights going from bandstand to tree to tree and you have a good picture, right there in your mind.

Las Vegas, NM Bridge Street courtesy of visitlasvegasnm.com

 On the way home, some places on our dark, rural highway have really done it up: A half mile of lit-up fence, two different landing strips for Santa, one in a field next to the house and another on the roof, and one place with a Nativity scene neatly fenced with lights,  the house and porch ablaze with blow-up Santa waving to anyone who was looking. It's heartening and hopeful to be driving on a dark, dark road and see Christmas lights blazing cheerily in the distance.

I am missing Santa Fe at night this year, but thought I'd share some New Mexico lighting along with a link to the recipe for biscochitos and a shout out to Abuelita Mexican cocoa.

Santuario de Chimayo (Shutterstock)

Hotel with electric farolitos (Shutterstock)

Paper bag farolitos Santa Fe (Shutterstock)

Those paper bags have sand inside to hold candles and are called farolitos in the northern part of the state and luminarias in the south. Tradition holds with the paper bags, but most businesses use electric lights that look kind of like the real thing, probably for safety purposes.

Canyon Road in Santa Fe has a Christmas Eve Farolito Walk and thousands of people walk the street to view the lights, eat cookies, and drink chocolate. It's a tradition and one I'd like to experience someday.

Canyon Road Merchants' Association

Anyway, here is the link to the biscochito recipe and a photo of my favorite hot chocolate, Abuelita (don't buy the instant version). A new friend says Ibarra is his fave Mexican chocolate and I can't dispute that because I like it, too.

Merry Christmas! Watch out for that boulder!

Springtime in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Everyone around here seems deliriously happy with the end of winter weather, if you don't count folks driving the three mile stretch of highway near Buena Vista, NM, where cars slipped and slid through three inches of hailstones just a few days ago. Clouds of steam billowed up from the road, making it hard to see. I wanted to take a photo, but it was just too dangerous.

What I did see the same day were the purple-mountain-majesty-flower-covered hillsides outside Las Vegas, NM. The hills have been this way for several weeks, the rainfall keeping everything fresh and growing. Everyone's wondering, "Just what are those flowers?"

Las Vegas, NM, is a popular film and television location. The tv show Longmire, set in Wyoming, is filmed here. Of course it doesn't look like Wyoming, but it is pretty, isn't it?

I wanted to identify those flowers, but didn't care to hike out to the hills to look, especially since that sky to the east was looking pretty gnarly. Later we learned thirteen tornadoes touched down out there in Lincoln County. They wreaked havoc and destruction and I am glad I don't live on the prairie.

Luckily, I spotted some flower clusters nearby, so here they are.

After some internet searching, I thought they might be purple prairie verbena. A local professor told a friend that's what the flowers were, so I will concur. Look at those cracks in the earth. The earth's been slurping up every bit of rainfall we've had, and we are very grateful.

Closer to home, the valley along Coyote Creek hasn't looked this green for a while.

When we tell people where we live, they almost always say, "Oh, that's God's Country!" I think they are right.

Quilty Pleasures Friday: Chicken River Modern Quilt Guild (Las Vegas, NM)

I wanted to share a link to our Chicken River Modern Quilt Guild's (CRMQG) new blog. Linda, our secretary and communications director, is doing a good job keeping us up to date and chronicling not only what we are all about but also what our guild members are creating.

This is my modern Jacquie Gering-stye quilt in the assembly stage. I am actually almost finished with it, but decided to post the pic to get my rear in gear.

The background fabric is Moda Grunge and I love it!


 Here's the link:

  http://chickenrivermodernquiltguild.blogspot.com/


If you live in the Las Vegas, NM area, come join us! We meet at Thread Bear the first Monday of the month around one-ish.

Old Town Las Vegas, New Mexico Plaza

Las Vegas, New Mexico, is the original Las Vegas, lacking the glitz and glitter of its Nevada namesake, but with plenty of grit and grace. (Okay, that's your alliteration lesson for today.)

Las Vegas is a town of around 13, 600 and it's 29 miles from the ranch to a bookstore, a fabric store, a natural foods store, Wal-Mart, and to get a fast food fix. I mean you, Sonic, and also you, Lotaburger! Las Vegas has a community college and two baccalaureate colleges, and even a movie theatre. And a drive-in movie theater during the summer.

It's actually two towns: one began in the early days of Vegas around 1835 and a newer town sprung up when in 1880 the railroad came to town about a mile from the original village. Up until fairly recently, they were two separate municipalities. The school districts are still separate.

There are even two downtowns here, but I like "Old Town" better because it's amazing how many of the old buildings are still in use and The Plaza is a central place where people gather for events like Las Fiestas during the 4th of July weekend, Cinco de Mayo, and for the Christmas Electric Light Parade. Back in 1846 it was where General Stephen Kearney stood on a roof and proclaimed to the assembled townsfolk that they were now under American rule.

Here's the plaza bandstand, all decked out for the holidays.

New Mexico Hispanic art is a big deal in the North, with a long tradition of local artisans copying the religious statues the Catholic priests brought north from Mexico and from Spain. The artists who carve these statues are called santeros and their pieces can be as small as your hand or as tall as you are.

I noticed the wood carver was finished with his first statue, begun earlier in the year. It's a Mary statue, and I noticed she looked kind of sad.

As I stepped closer to read the plaque at her feet, I realized why she looked so sad: She's Our Lady of Sorrows!

Mary had seven sorrows in her life, and this statue depicts the sorrowful Mary.'

Below is a 1455 depiction of Our Lady of Sorrows. If I compare the statue in the plaza to this painting, Our Lady in Las Vegas positively glows with happiness! It's all relative, I guess.

Don't forget to visit your local merchants and buy stuff from them. It's a tough world out there and our local folks deserve your business. Unless they don't.

Cousins Visit The Nickel and Dime

Fall is a great time to visit Northern New Mexico because the air is fresher, it still rains, but not as much, and the leaves are turning colors, especially the aspens at the higher elevations. The altitude at The Nickel and Dime is a little too low for aspens, but as we drove north toward Taos, the aspen leaves shimmered like gold against the green pines. Wouldn't these colors make a gorgeous quilt?

Last week was fun because Tom's Wisconsin cousins, Donna, Richard and Tanya, came for a visit.

At Taos, we saw assorted folk wandering about in interesting outfits and made a visit to Taos Pueblo where people have lived for at least 1000 years. The pueblo is  the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States, according to their website. Donna, Tanya and I explored the pueblo's shops and galleries while Tom and Richard sat by the incredibly clear river and eavesdropped on the extremely knowledgeable tour guide.

The ladies and I also made a short visit to Las Vegas and its plaza.

Santa Fe's Plaza was the place for some power shopping while the guys chilled on some benches listening to electronic harp music while watching a tweaker make balloon animals. That's why Santa Fe is called The City Different.

At home we ate too much, laughed a lot, and talked about family history.

Here are Tanya and Richard, ready for our Santa Fe visit.

Miss Bonnie came from her royal room upstairs to say hello to the guests. Richard even had a lap cat for awhile.

The guys got in a little hunting, but be assured that no animals were harmed. There was more sitting and looking at the view than anything else.

It was a golden time, visiting with the family, and the house feels empty without them.

Going to Town

It's been windy for the past three days, wind so loud it sounds like the ocean's waves crashing on the beach. The power goes on and off, and everything I touch gives me a shock.

So I went to town to touch base with friend Ann, pick up a few items at Wal-Mart, and have linner (It was between lunch and dinner) with Tom at Cocina de Rafael.

Here's a photo of my closest town, Las Vegas, New Mexico.

 

If you want to see more, watch Red Dawn or No Country For Old Men.

Going to Town

I never thought going to town would be such a big deal, that lunch and a shopping trip to Wal-Mart would be something I look forward to.  But it is! Going to town means taking a 30 mile drive to Las Vegas, New Mexico, whose motto is "Where the Mountains Meet the Plains."

It's a beautiful drive and never boring because there is much to see. I'm working on a post about what's there on the 6 mile dirt road we take to get to the highway, but I need a few more shots.

Here's a sneak peak of our road. It is kept nicely smoothed by a man in a large road grader. It's a little washboardy in places, but I know just how to position the truck to minimize the washboard rumble.

This is a wide spot. There are a few narrow places where we have to pull over and let others pass. On roads like these, etiquette requires drivers to lift a hand in a kind of salutewave, showing dirt road camaraderie or something like that.

Did you know that many movies have been filmed in Las Vegas, NM including Red Dawn? Las Vegas kept this sign on the side of a building even though they aren't the city of Calumet, Colorado,  the imaginary town in Red Dawn.

Here's a shot of one of the downtown streets. They have kept the place pretty old timey looking.

It's an actual, working downtown, which is awesome. There is no mall in Las Vegas, so you can go downtown to buy clothing, eat, shop for furniture, and go to the bank among other things. Actually, there are two downtowns, Old Town and New Town. That's a long story, one for another time. Hope you have fun visiting!

Quilty Pleasures Wednesday-Thread Bear, My Local Quilt Shop and Soon To Be Television Personality

I love to visit Las Vegas, New Mexico because many parts of town remind me of movies. It's like I'm in a movie set! Wait! Las Vegas IS a movie set, and has been for a long time, since the early silent films starring cowboy star Tom Mix.

No Country For Old Men was filmed here more recently and the freeway overpass stood in for a Mexico border crossing in the movie Due Date. The Plaza Hotel has seen its share of filming, as well.

Last year the cast of True Grit stayed at the Plaza Hotel. While having a drink in the hotel bar a few weeks later, I found myself sitting exactly where Matt Damon had parked himself after a hard day of filming.  Jeff Bridges browsed the books at Tome on the Range, the local independent book store.

Plaza Hotel

Here's another shot of the hotel and a glimpse of the shady park square across the street.

Just kitty corner and to your right as you step out of the Plaza Hotel is Thread Bear, my local quilt shop. The store recently moved to its new digs on the Plaza and it's bigger than the previous location, with lots of room to display quilts and a classroom at the back for group sewing.

The assortment of fabric runs from traditional to modern, including an extensive selection of southwest style fabric which makes me a happy camper. In the next few months Thread Bear will have its website up and running, ready to make internet sales in addition to its (actual) brick and mortar business.

Ann Siewert, the proprietor of Thread Bear, is both a quilter and a knitter with an excellent sense of color and design.

Ann Siewert, Proprietor

The store displays many quilts, not just samples, but ones made by local groups. The Tea Time Quilters had a show recently and the store's high ceilings and air ducts accommodated an amazing array of quilts. Click on the photos below for a closer look.

This is a One block Wonder Quilt machine pieced and quilted by Laura Cole.

This very traditional patchwork style quilt uses untraditional focus fabric.It was pieced by Sarah Aragon and machine quilted by her mom, Cathy Aragon.

In addition to fabric, Ann has skeins and skeins of yummy yarn and offers knitting classes from beginner to advanced. She taught me how to make a hat and I only had to rip it out four times! It wasn't Ann's fault, just my ADD kicking in at odd moments.

 

On Thursdays a group of knitters hangs out in the comfortable seating area.

 

Thread Bear also offers sewing and quilting classes, including an upcoming Christmas Tree Skirt class.  Special showings and events make this a destination for many quilters in the area who need their local quilting fix.

This fall you might catch a glimpse of Thread Bear and the rest of the plaza in a pilot on A and E channel, in a show called Longmire. Just above Thread Bear was the set for the sheriff's office. Outside, cameras shot exterior scenes.

It was a little bit of Hollywood in Las Vegas. New Mexico, that is.