The Stitch Up

Crafting in Montana

We mainly stayed in Whitefish Montana during our vacation in September.  When we were there several years ago I had found an awesome shop called the Back Door General Store.  They have a ton of cute things, and - most important to me - a section for quilters.  They carry patterns by McKenna Ryan, a local Montana artist and I loved her quilt designs.  They are mainly inspired by the outdoors - animals and moutain scenes from Montana and I picked up three applique quilt kits on my last trip.

However, as often happens, when I got home, life took over and these awesome quilt kits just sat in my "some day" craft pile.  On our most recent trip however, I dropped back in to Back Door General Store and found out they have classes on applique quilting and use McKenna Ryan patterns in the instruction.  I was down for this in a big way, so in between fishing - I scheduled a class.

We used a simple pattern - the applique was made up of just a few pieces.  The instructor is the owners daughter.  She was very patient and fun.  On the day I took the class it was just the two of us, but I think she gets more students once the tourist season lightens up.

I just finished quilting and framing this piece last week - it's a nice souvenir.

And while my main purpose in taking the class was to get skilled at applique so I could complete the McKenna Ryan kits I'd already bought, they had just stocked her line of Christmas patterns, so I didn't leave empty handed:

It's Bears in Santa hats - I had to get it.

Despite spending most of my craft time (and dollars) in the Backdoor General Store - I did manage to find some spare moments to check out a very cool yarn store in Whitefish.  The Knit n Needle Yarn Shoppe has a great selection of beautiful yarns and some of the most helpful staff I've met.  I told them I was just shopping without any project in mind, but after finding some beautiful yarn for socks, they gave me a beginner sock pattern and some basic instruction.  They would have sent this to my Ravelry account if I'd had one, but I don't.  Although this made me think I could use one.

I haven't had a chance to start on this, but the winter months after Christmas are perfect for knitting - so I'm all set.

It's always nice when my outdoor side and my indoor crafty side can coexist on vacation.  Whitefish was a perfect location for both and I can't wait to get back.

Our Montana Trip

In September we took a good bye to Summer/hello to Fall trip to Montana.  With all that's been happening, including Frankenstorms and general work craziness, I haven't had a chance to blog all about it.  We love Montana and this is the second trip we've taken to the area around Glacier National Park.  We made it just before they closed down the main route through the park the "Going to the Sun Road" and just a few weeks before they started getting some serious snow. 

They were actually doing some construction on the road, so there were a few times that we had to hand out and wait, but that just provided time to snap some pictures of our gorgeous surroundings in the park.

We stayed outside the park, but the hotels inside the park are historic and lovely.  We stopped on our way into the park at Lake McDonald Lodge.  It's a beautiful hotel in a gorgeous location.  

The interior of the hotel is all cool exposed timber and stone:

Our main purpose for the trip was fishing and we did a bunch.  Once you get a fishing license there are a ton of great fishing sites in the local state parks and inside Glacier Park itself.  We hit a different spot almost every day.  I can't say I was very lucky with catching fish - but the old saying of "a bad day fishing" being better than just about a great day doing anything else was very true - especially in Montana:

 

We also did a little hiking around the area as there are just so many pretty locations to see.

The fishing and fresh air and beautiful sights really recharged my batteries.  There is also a pretty great crafting community in Whitefish, Montana where we stayed.  I hit a yarn store, took an applique class and stocked up on some quilt patterns from local artists.  I'll post my crafty vacation activities next time!

Wild West Getaway

After a few months of separation due the Hubby's work, we are once again reunited and took the opportunity to high tail it out west for some fishing, hiking and together time.

Our first stop was supposed to be South Dakota but there was some ugliness and delays and horror that dare not speak it's name at the airport that pushed our trip back a day and required us to go directly to Montana.  No problem - Montana is AWESOME and the views from our lodge we were staying at were an immediate balm to our frazzled travel nerves:

 

 

 

 If anyone is looking for an amazing hotel in Bozeman, Montana we can whole heartedly recommend the Gallatin River Lodge.  The hotel is just steps from the Gallatin River which was raging when we arrived:

  
There is a really pretty walk from the hotel to the river over pretty meadows and creeks:

 

(the Hubby by a little bridge)

 

The location is gorgeous, plus the chef at the hotel is amazing and we stuffed ourselves with delicious food every night.  The hotel also arranged a great fly fishing trip for us on the Madison River.  Our guide Tim was really patient with our basic fishing skills and even steered us toward some fish:

 

 

 

It was sometimes a little difficult to concentrate on fishing as the Madison River was beautiful and there was so much to see along the banks:

 

A real bald eagle!  

Poor Tim had his work cut out for him keeping us focused on the fish.
 

 

Yeah, Tim was awesome.

Despite wanting to just laze around the lodge all day we did roust ourselves to take a day trip to the Little Bighorn Battlefield for the 134th anniversary of the battle.  It was an interesting and informative trip and even though the site was the location of a tragic battle it's a beautiful place.

 

 

It was a great road trip and the lodge packed us a yummy box lunch that we enjoyed at a picturesque spot on the way back.

While we loved the lodge and I was pretty much ready to live there permanently, we had plans to drive to Jackson, Wyoming so we headed off with a couple of pit stops at some cute towns along the way.  First, some snaps of Bozeman before we headed out of town:

 

 

The helpful staff at the Lodge recommended a route to Jackson from Bozeman that followed the Madison River and went through the cute town of Ennis, Mt.

 

 

While we were in Ennis, MT we realized we were close to Virginia City, MT, the historic gold rush town, and decided to check that out as well:

 

 

We didn't just see cute towns on the way to Jackson, we also saw beautiful scenery.  First in Beaverhead Deerlodge National Park:

 

 

and then along the Continental Divide:

 

Jackson itself was a fun town.  We shopped and ate and enjoyed the sights:

 

 

The real beauty of Jackson however is just outside of town.  Grand Teton National Park is gorgeous and inspiring:

   

 
   

A great trip!  Just the reunion we needed and so wonderful to see another part of the country.