Traveling down K-99 towards I-70 (also known as the Road to Oz) we veered off the Kansas Quilt Trail. But we still enjoyed the charm of billowing clouds, rural farm scenes and just the way wide open spaces rest my eyes.
I’d love to see the view from that hayloft!
Windy is a normal thing for Kansas and maybe you can tell by the clouds how turbulent the air was that day. But not in the tornadic sense of the word, thankfully. It was actually very good weather to be outdoors for a Midwest day in July.
How many bales of hay have passed through these barn doors over the years?!
I’m happy to report I still have more of the Kansas Quilt Trail to share with you. This road trip back in July was plentiful in doors too thankfully. I’ll have unorthodox quilt blocks included. But to keep it simple, I decided to break up the Wamego, Kansas discoveries into a couple of posts.
I wonder if you’ll get a hint of what Wamego is famous for from this photo?(A tad bit blurry)
I won’t keep you in suspense for long. Ya’ll got places to go, people to see, blogs to read. So one main attraction for a lot of new visitors is the Wizard of Oz Museum.
Thankful for Pinterest for this car-free view
My pics will follow of our little jaunt past the museum. No indoor pics, sorry. The reason there’s an Oz museum in Wamego? Why Not?! At least that’s what they say to this question. It’s the largest Oz collection on public display in the world. And what better place than a small Kansas town to host it?!
The Munchkins Block
A Twister Block naturally
The blocks of concrete were cool, but the little Toto’s were even better.
Wamegoscape1Toto
PoppyDog
Toto in Tulips
Aren’t they sweet ?? We figured good enough for an Instagram-ish photo prop….
Dr. Finnell ‘nearly’
For once, Toto is the shortest.
If you ever find yourself in Wamego, there is a lot to do there. We found these posters along our walk.
History
Eating is important
Events & stuff
Although our Kansas Quilt Trail drive was a pretty quick one day tour, we learned there is plenty to drive back for another time. Very helpful, Wamego!
Still have a little collection left from Dwight, Kansas. Before I get started, just thought I’d share that this little town is on the old Rock Island railroad line. This rail ran just south of Sedalia, Missouri, my town back in the day as well. And so, for a little fun, I’m sharing Johnny Cash’s tribute song for the rail line before we get into the photos.
Did you know Johnny Cash could play a banjo too??? Of course I would know 🙂
East Side
West Side
Some boarded up doors for what used to be the entrance to a native stone building. The signage reads that it is or once was a heating and cooling business.
Hot Iron Bar at one time according to the sign
Not a stone building but the style is symbolic of those days gone by.
Full view includes 2 doors
Being an old bank left us wondering if there was a cool old vault inside. Now that would have taken this one to the next level.
For a town smaller than my hometown, population 272, I sure came out with a heap of photos. Dwight, Kansas did not disappoint. Besides the quilt blocks we found, there was this wonderful find. (By the way, there won’t be a quilt block in this round of Thursday Doors)
Free or Exchanged food pantry
I zoomed in on the details next.
Good citizenship
No matter where you live, there are people suffering hard times. It’s a good feeling to know that help is available to those who may feel embarrassed in asking. For those with more than they need, giving is a good example to show your children.
Happy Friday! This Thursday Doors I’m sharing a couple churches in Dwight, Kansas where we found yet more quilt blocks. I won’t elaborate it in too many words being a day late to enter my post. Unexpected drive yesterday to the hospital with the hubster put things in a slight disarray–but happy to say I think we’re getting back on course around here.
The sign reads just ‘Trailside’
Double blue doors and another side storm door. Appears additions were made at intervals and I have to wonder if it was always a church. No I couldn’t find information on this one at all.
Wooden & Glass double doors
And apparently we neglected to get a sign photo of this one completely.
Star with 4-patch center & pinwheels on the corners
Flower block and a Cross Variation. Seems pretty appropriate.
The Kansas Quilt Trail (KQT) meanders through Dwight, Kansas and I have a quilt block close to my heart this week. I don’t know how many of you know of or have a history with 4-H, but it is the focus for this week’s block find.
But before we discovered the little quiet town of Dwight, we passed more farmland with barns and farm houses aplenty. Here’s one set of pics I hope gives you an idea of the scenery we drove by.
Kansas Farm/No quilt
I’d put one right there above those doors.
Dwight is definitely Rural America and I say that with great fondness! I had Ron driving around here quite a bit. Thankfully we weren’t stopped and questioned with all the photos I took. But it was clearly an old railroad town and understandably so with the grain elevators next to the tracks.
Old school house with grain elevator in background.
The last set of photos is an old Masonic Lodge which I looked up and it appears to have folded in the last few years. Lodge AF & AM No.374 was not on the roster of Kansas lodges. I do believe it may house a 4-H club though with the significant quilt block on the front to give me the huge clue. As a past 4-H’er and 4-H project leader of crochet, sewing, early childhood and cooking, I’m always thrilled to see the clubs alive and well! I hope you’ll encourage anyone interested if you have the opportunity. Great memories made there!
We drove a significant amount of miles covering the Kansas Quilt Trail, so the story continues this week.
Some Condensed History
Keeping it condensed because that’s my delivery style, but I plan on giving you a zoomed-in photo or 2 to see what the kiosk above had to say.
Wabaunsee County Museum
Ghost Town Location
19th Century -Schepp Barn extensively restored
I am back-tracking a bit with the museum photo above, but we’re still in Wabaunsee County so it’ll work out fine. The ghost town of Volland was off our planned route but I’d like to go back and see it in person someday. All pics included in the ‘doors’ category naturally.
Barn with “Curved Windmill” Quilt Block. I could have cropped more sky away but I like the wide open feel.
It has been such a wet spring, the farmers haven’t had any trouble at all getting an early hay crop. Some are predicting a very cold winter…. I’ll have my persimmon report in a few days. Hope you check back for the results.
A variation of the Pinwheel Quilt BlockSunburst Variation. So Kansas-appropriate!An Arrow Crown variety to the left and a Square in a Square to the right.
Geometric Pattern
A Rainbow Star block I believe
I thought it a good omen to find District #1 first.
Well the title tells enough–but I’m still giving you more details this week as I continue on the quilt trail through south-central Kansas. This may well be another instance of dividing up the photos so I don’t drown you with them all at once. I rather like the soaking up of a small number at a time. And with blog challenges, most folks are trying to read several leaving little time for long, laborious posts.
And btw, lesson learned on captioning. It needs to show on the photo or directly underneath it. It just isn’t enough to click a photo to read the caption on a separate page. At least that has become my experience with readers. And again, I get it. Busy people require ease of reading. Let us hope WordPress ‘gets it’ pretty soon. I mean, how many times has the newspaper format changed?! Enhanced reader appeal still needs the basics. Don’t worry, this is my last rant on the topic. I doubt this little spiel will change a darn thing.
Mandatory Door photo inserted here.
Native stone home. New windows and roof keep it going another century I hope.
Roadside Info Kiosk
No More Open Range
Wabaunsee County History
This was just past the town of Alma a few miles. Lots of rolling hills and then this roadside touristy spot.
The stone fence.
I’ve read a fair amount on the Dust Bowl years and I’d venture to say this fence saw a lot of change over the last 100+ years. So thankful that tragedy is long gone and this part of history was preserved. Kind of surprised it wasn’t mentioned in the reading above though. Some close-up pics next.
Generations of Ranchers
Little Bluestem,Brome and Switch Grass for hay baling.
6-8 acres per cow/calf pair needed
Ranching is not for the faint of heart. Weather events, ample hay/grass and water are just the tip of the iceburg in success or failure. They have my complete regard!
Panoramic view
And with a view like this every morning, I’d be spellbound for sure. Just spectacular!
When I told a fellow quilt admirer about the Kansas Quilt Trail, they thought it was a fabric store hop. No, I informed them. It’s a trail of painted wooden quilt blocks that are hung on barns, homes, businesses or fences along highways and streets in Kansas. The map is given online–but it’s just a general guideline to finding them. You may drive past a few undetected, trust me.
Just so you know, the portion we drove past and photographed is just a small portion. I have quite a few in my stash I’m happy to say, so please understand I’ll be sharing these for awhile on the Thursday Doors posts–along with the doors discovered along the way, respectively.
Downtown Alma, you won our hearts with your Heart-of-America feel.
These curtains were pretty whimsical and I didn’t notice until we were parked. Made me chuckle and of course they Had to be inserted this week. Thanks Alma for the smiles.
We loved happening onto this set of historical buildings. Other than the signage, I didn’t find any extra information on them. But I dearly love the oval window in the millinery shop! Not sure how original it is to the building but it fits perfectly in my opinion.
Block discovery.
I wonder if they trade out blocks for holidays? This one is clearly in place for the July 4th weekend. Garage door included here. Looks like someone spends time grilling under that shade tree. Does a grill door count?
Bungalow with storm door
Clearly the caution tape is to prevent trespassing. I’d like to think they just got a new driveway entrance poured; but needless to say I didn’t plan on inquiring.
If there could be a perfect marriage of blog posts for me, it would include quilts and doors. And if you were able to read my blog week before last, you will know that I have found the way.
Alma, Kansas
We drove west from Topeka and our first glimpse of blocks started here in Alma. This is the county seat of Webaunsee County. County population in 2008 was 6,922. The sign above reads ” Alma 150th Anniversary – Independence Day Celebration – July 4th” We were a day late on the festivities. Probably a good thing for the purpose of viewing the ‘drive-by’ blocks.
We first stopped at the city park which had these posted for visitors. Very helpful and informative. A few ‘doors’ included if you look closely.
Door Find– stunning sky Divinely inserted.
The Alma First United Methodist Church
When doorscursioning, one must include churches. Thankful the rain moved on for us.
First Block!!!
Mill Creek Mercantile
Old door alert! Just propped but it counts. Would love to come back and see this store inside. Bet it’s got some great stuff!
Corner door
Stain glass above door
Quilt block on the balcony!!
A side note that this community was pretty near a tornado warning just a couple weeks ago(Aug.15). We get Kansas City news and weather and watched as they were tracking the storm. We were so glad they weren’t affected directly.
Photo Donation. Thanks Rach!!
Just in case you’re wondering what quilt I’ve got in the hoop lately, it’s this little number. Hand pieced double wedding ring quilt in red, white and blue –lap-sized and hand quilting a little each evening.
