Utah's National Parks and English Paper Piecing

I've just returned from a two week trip to see some National Parks in Utah and Arizona.

There were long car rides, so I took along my EPP stars.

I started with this star in Seattle.

We flew to Las Vegas and rented a car. 

We also went to the Neon Museum, a fun place to visit in LV.

The first park we visited was Zion National Park in Utah.  

Wow!  A very beautiful place.  

After that, we went to Bryce Canyon.

Another natural wonder!

Next stop was Moab, Utah, which is close to many of the parks 

AND they have great a quilt shop!

From there, we hiked Arches National Park.

Incredible! 

Then we headed to Navajo Nation.  

On our way, we stopped at "Newspaper Rock"

and saw these petroglyphs, all made before 1300, A.D.

In Monument Valley I spotted these Navajo rugs.

Then we saw ancient ruins of the Anasazi at Canyon De Shelly.

The finale of the trip was the Grand Canyon.

Amazing!

  

Here's the chunk of nine stars I'd made before, (on the left,)

along with the 18 stars I finished on the trip.

Now they'll be packed up and ready for the next travels.

Besides having a great time, I developed a true appreciation for our National Parks, 

the Navajo Nation

AND for English paper piecing!

LeMoyne Star Quilt

Back in 2011, I visited Marit and her mother in law, Linda Dodd.  

Linda has a rich quilt-making heritage.  She kindly showed us some of the family quilts.

This one really caught my eye.  I took several photos and vowed to make one like it.

You can read the quilt's story at the bottom of the post.

After studying the quilt closely, I realized it was pieced by hand.  

I tried, but couldn't find an easy way to piece it by machine and keep the integrity of the original.

 Besides, I needed a travel project.

So I bought Jessica's great book and learned how to do English paper piecing. 

Her instructions are very clear and easy to understand. 

Plus, she shows you how to make the perfect little travel sewing kit. 

Forty-nine stars--mostly made on trips--and over a year later, 

I decided it's time to start connecting them.

My plan is to make 100 stars.  

I found the red I wanted, and began cutting squares.

This weekend I began connecting stars and squares.  Very exciting!

I can't believe I've taken on such a labor intensive, long term project.  

But something about this quilt kept talking to me.  

Recently I remembered this block is called LeMoyne Star.  

My mother's name was LaMoyne--a different spelling, but still--

and her favorite color was red.  

Hmmm....

Here's the story of the quilt. 

Linda's grandmother, Dora Stevens, made the quilt from 1940's feed sack remnants. 

The remnants came from dresses that Linda's mother, Elsie Mae Peterson, 

had sewn for two of her daughters, Ester and Carol--Linda's older sisters.  

It was war time, and Elsie took great care to find matching feed sacks 

so the girls could dress alike. 

The quilt is tied with red embroidery floss. 

It has a pieced back.