Tag Archives: March

More Paris, Not France/ThursdayDoors

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Paris Public Library
Paris Public Library

Continuing my drive through Paris, Missouri from last week’s Thursday Doors. The engraving on the library above reads “In Memory of Wm H & Susan Van Zandt Dulaney. Interesting fact: Norman Rockwell made a Paris, Missouri native the main subject of one of his paintings. Had I known this, I would have found the county courthouse to see a copy on display.

Corner Doors Plus One Bonus
Corner Doors Plus one bonus

Tucked down town on a side street was this little corner door set. Lots of personality with the lampost, bonus door down the side and matching awnings. What’s not to love?

An old hardware store circa 1881
An old hardware store circa 1881
Zoomed In for the details
Zoomed In for the details

According to my research this door was once a fishing and hunting surplus store. That is so typical of Missouri!

You can almost hear the screen door slam
You can almost hear the screen door slam.

Too bad about that broken window. I don’t know what it is, but once there’s one window broken, the rest soon follow I’ve noticed in old buildings. Irritates me to no end! I really liked the screen door and the 3 windows above balancing it all.

Lemonade sippin' porch
Lemonade sippin’ porch

I hope you enjoyed this Thursday Doors post and are able to drop in over at Norm 2.0 for many more doors posts. You’ll see doors from all over the world.

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Theme Reveal 2019/A to Z Blog Challenge

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I’m doing it again. I’ve joined up with the April A to Z Blog Challenge for my 6th consecutive year. And for the 3rd year in a row, you’ll get to watch a quilt unfold.

The Kansas City Star's most recent home, right off I-70 in downtown Kansas City, Missouri
The Kansas City Star’s most recent home, right off I-70 in downtown Kansas City, Missouri

I’ve been inspired this time by a drive-by of the Kansas City Star building in Kansas City, Missouri. Many of you may not know that this newspaper was world reknowned for it’s weekly quilt block publication beginning in the late 1920’s. I’m not giving up too much more about that until Challenge time, but just know, I’ll strictly be using blocks previously published in the KC Star.

If you’re a fellow blogger, welcome to this madness we call a Challenge. If you’re just dropping in, maybe you’ll check back on April 1 (no foolin’) and see what all the fuss is all about. You can click here for other theme reveals, a list of the participants, or to join up. You have until March 28 for the theme reveal posts, and sign up closes April 6. But you can read all the instructions by clicking here.

Thanks to our hosts again this year and know you are greatly appreciated. Thanks to my readers. And especially thank you to my family who endure and support my fabric creations.

Let the fun begin!!

Paris, But Not France/Thursday Doors

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First Baptist Church, Paris, Missouri
First Baptist Church, Paris, Missouri

What more could you ask for? A Mustang convertible, sunny day, and front door parking at church?! This is how we roll in Rural Missouri! Don’t get too worked up, it was on a Saturday. 😉 Now, if only I could revisit and see the inside of the door trio. Maybe next time we’re in Paris, Missouri, population 1,220. It’s located north of Mexico, Missouri, in the Northeastern part of the state and was settled in 1831. More photos from this sleepy town next week.

For more Thursday Door pics, please head over to Norm 2.0 and he’ll direct you to all the doors from around the world.

Jayhawk Road/ Thursday Doors

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Hopefully you enjoy the perspectives I’ve tried to display here. Doors are not always the easiest things to capture and here are some examples.

  • Barn Doors and Cattle Gates

It’s not uncommon to see an old farm split by a road. In this case you add a pretty good curve where they’ve clearly painted double yellow lines to remind you it’s not a good idea ever to pass, much less stop and take a door photo.

White Barn with assorted cattle gates.

Here’s the closest you’ll get without the steering wheel or hubby’s head in the way. Not to mention the tinted side windows aren’t very conducive to picture-taking.

Barn, Garage, and Farmhouse Doors
Barn, Garage, and Farmhouse Doors

As you can see, Houston,we have a problem. The hood is factor #1. And there’s the issue of the cracked windshield #2. The space between that home and myself is #3. Around here, you just don’t go driving up a private drive even when most folks are pretty neighborly. There are factors like Meth manufacturer’s who try finding hiding places off the beaten path to make said meth, dogs who may or may not be friendly, and shotguns owned by the farmers trying to protect themselves. So…….

Filtered and Cropped
Filtered and Cropped

I’ll be using the cropping (no pun intended, dear farmers) and filtering available. You see, once a few years ago before I had shared in Thursday Doors, the hubby and I were driving down a road back home and were literally chased down by a farmer who didn’t recognize us. We pulled over, showed him my camera, the child in the back seat and did some name-dropping of “my people”. Once I explained who I was related to the area we were in, and then told him I was writing a blog post about barns in the county, he simmered down…. kind of. He clearly was a bit on the mistrustful and hostile side of the spectrum.

Another farm in the creek bottoms.
Another farm in the creek bottoms

And you can’t tell from here, but it’s split by the road as well.

Clapboard sided farm house
Clapboard sided farm house

It’s sometimes a choice of which side of the road you photograph. We were between destinations with not a lot of sunlight left to play with so turning around was not in the cards that day. Guess we’ll have to take another drive sometime.

If you have some door photos you’d like to share, try checking out Norm 2.0 and he’ll direct your path.

Sedalia Depot/ Thursday Doors

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I’ve decided to share another panoramic pic this Thursday Doors. This will be my final Doors entry until after April since I’ve once again (5th year) joined up with the April A to Z Challenge. That will be more than enough to commit to given my fulltime-working life.

So without further ado, I present the Sedalia Depot.

SedaliaTrain3 (2)

Some choppier views……

Entrance to this one story. Building behind is for another day.
The Red and White Missouri Pacific “Buzz saw” logo.
View from a dead-end street.

 I find it very hard to see this as a 2-story structure. But  apparently it was prior to 1951. You could read about it and some rather lengthy, extra Sedalia history here. Or just take my word for it. The story ‘in short’ is that this station had a vibrant past, a lull where it needed a little push from local and state sources to step into the next era, and now is a success story that could have easily been the ending. It’s currently an Amtrak stop for 4 daily trains. The Missouri River Runner travels from Kansas City, Missouri to St. Louis, Missouri and back each day.

I just want to add a personal note to the Sedalia Downtown Development,Inc for following through with this project. Kudos to you! I sincerely hope it is not the end of our saving the visual past of our beloved “Queen City of the Prairie”.

Down on Main Street/Thursday Doors

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Thursday Doors is a weekly blog event hosted by Norm 2.0. For my entry this week, I’m concentrating on details.

BlueDoor (2)

First glance of this delapidated building on Main Street in Sedalia, Missouri is not something to really write home about.

BlueDoor2

But when looking closer, there’s a half post missing that would give this door more symmetry. And that’s just the beginning. What about the little hand carved diamond detail on the remaining post? Too bad about the trim hanging by a thread. Not to mention the warping an peeling paint. Guess this one’s got a lot of tales to tell. BlueDoor2 (2)

And the unusual shape of this transom window is something the original builder must have wanted to give a little charm to. You can see just where to begin scraping paint if you wanted to tidy it up a bit. I think it’s a beauty. I sure hope someone in this town realizes what treasures we have before tearing them all down. I hope it’s not too late for this one.

 

The Theme Reveal 2018

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theme reveal #atozchallenge 2018 blogging

It’s that time of year again. I’m about to blog every day in the month of April (except Sundays) for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Welcome to you if this is your first time participating. Welcome if this is your first time reading. For myself, it’s Year #5. Where has the time gone??

  This year has been somewhat of a panic for me though I have to admit. I wasn’t as prepared and I am a bit embarrased. It’s not like April doesn’t come around every single year. But once I decided to add my name to “The List”, I bit the bullet and plunged in up to my neck. I’m not drowning so that’s the main thing, right?!

To guide me along this year, I’m using what I know for my theme. If you are a follower of this blog already, you’ve probably guessed it. And you would be correct if you guessed a hand made theme.

atoz2018reveal (1)

The main fabrics of choice

So this is the second year I will blog each day with a quilt block. As a bonus I’m going to reveal at the very end the finished quilt top from last year’s challenge. So hope you’ll check back each day to see the finished block for each letter of the alphabet.

Don’t forget to head over to the official site for the other Theme Revealers as well as entrants of this years Blogging from A to Z Challenge. There are so many wonderful entrants and a topic to interest everyone!

 

Pastel Bavarian/Sunday Sampler

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This is Sunday and time for the latest photo proof of my needle labors.

Beginning with Blue
The color palette is pastel.

There are many free tutorials online that demonstrate this technique called Bavarian Crochet. I chose to purchase a book because I am old fashioned like that.

PastelBavarian6

Each motif is about 2 inches across.

I have to admit that it took me 3 attempts to finish the beginning (blue) section before I could do the color change. I started this in the waiting room January 19 during my mother’s heart stent surgery. There was another crocheter passing by who was certain she knew exactly how I needed to accomplish the pattern. Guess what? She was stumped too. lol My loving sister was silently observing during this moment and I could see her silently chuckling to herself. The joke was between us but I’ll let you in on it……she knew I would figure it out just fine without this lady’s interference. I definitely caught her eye roll as the woman bragged on her ‘years’ of crocheting as punishment as a child.

Crochet for punishment?? Whatever?!

PastelBavarian

Crocheters of the world, I hope you enjoy this rendition of ‘Crochet Crime and Punishment’. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be just fine sitting on my back porch with needles and thread. Punish away!

Wagon Ho! /Thursday Doors

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It’s not every day that you see a couple wagons parked on the front porch.

wagons

And for once I don’t have to say ‘only in Missouri’ do you see these things 😉 I can thank Lawrence, Kansas.

wagons2And I only noticed the side porch and peek of a door after the fact. But hope you enjoy this little pioneer-style doorscursion. Please take a moment to visit Norm 2.0 for other great entries in his weekly Thursday Doors challenge!

Meltdown Monday

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I have the priviledge of being around the most honest bunch of little people possible on this ‘Day After’ Daylight Savings Time change. They are letting me know in a brutally truthful manner just how much humanity in general hates this change of routine. Meltdowns are just one way I witness the contempt they have. They don’t feel good and I have to put on my best face and dig out all my resources to push through days like this. Somehow, we managed to navigate the first half of the day in this daycare without damage to life or limb.

For myself, I find my happy place in thinking about what I’m going to do after work. So I’m sharing a little bit of my latest project. Beginning with a collage of the process.

A stack of vintage blocks I’ve collected
These colors aren’t captured very well here, but I chose 3 similar ones to begin my creation
This combination was in a bundle, but set aside for another day.
Some precut strips I had in the same bundle.
Processing a plan.

 

The captions will tell the story, but basically I needed to combine some pastels with the 3 blocks I chose. I would have loved to use the red one, but it just wasn’t cohesive enough. It will have a quilt home though. I’m thinking, red, white and blue for its future. Would you agree?

Below is my final composition.

Vintagepinks8 (2)

It will lie in this present state until after the 2018 April A to Z Challenge. It will make the perfect hand quilting project once I get to it. But the call of planning my A to Z entries is underway. The big reveal is on March 19.  And remember,

Dull women have immaculate houses.