Bald Knob Lake in the Beartooth Mountains

Bald Knob lake is less than 1/2 mile from Ouzel Lake - actually it is just on the other side of the Bald Knob (which we saw from Ouzel).  Again, we were delighted by the reflective surface of the lake!

 

This was another opportunity to drop our packs and rest our feet a bit, gulp down some water, and eat a snack before heading on up the trail.

Ouzel Lake in the Beartooth Mountains

 Again, the clear calm weather gave us the opportunity to see the mountain reflected in the lake.

A beautiful sight with all the chiseled granite!

 Ouzel Lake is a little more than 8 miles from the Chief Joseph trailhead.

The wildflowers around Ouzel Lake were really vivid - these along the trail as we walked past the lake.

The Beaten Path - On the Trail

 These pictures are from our second day on the East Rosebud Trail, also known as "The Beaten Path".  This 26 mile trail passes through the Beartooth Mountain range from the Clark's Fork drainage to the East Rosebud drainage.

Not the most flattering view of me - but it does show the trail and what I am carrying!  I never did weigh my pack, but Joe said his between 40 and 45 lb.  Mine was lighter for sure.  Joe was carrying the tent, stove, and fuel as well as more than half of the food.

Beyond Russell Lake on the Beaten Path through the Beartooth Mountains

Russell Lake

We enjoyed a nice break at Russell Lake, but we hoped to cover 10 miles this day, so we pressed on.

 Below is our last glimpse of Russell Lake.

 

  

Climbing higher out of the Russell Lake basin, our views started to open up 

and the terrain became more rugged.

Russell Lake in the Beartooth Mountains

 Here is the trail beside Russell Lake.  We were delighted with the calm clear weather that turned the lake into a reflective mirror.  We paused here for a snack, a brief rest, and to bask in the view.  No bugs in late August. 

This lake is 6 miles from the trailhead and we would have camped here if only we had gotten on the trail a bit sooner the day before.  There are several nice campsites and we saw lots of fish jumping, but we didn't fish at all.

Russell Creek - Beartooth Mountains on the Beaten Path

 Our second day on the Beartooth Mountain trail called "The Beaten Path" or East Rosebud Trail, we got on the trail by 8:30 AM and followed Russell Creek for two miles.  This trail took us through forested areas.  Cool and lovely.

We paused for a picture while crossing this bridge at the outlet of Russell Lake.

The Beaten Path - Fox Lake

 

I've been wanting to hike through the Beartooth Mountain range along the East Rosebud (AKA: "Beaten Path") for many years.  In fact, I think it is fair to say it was on my "bucket list" (things I want to do before I kick the bucket).

People willing to join me for this once in a lifetime experience - my dear husband, Joe and my dear daughter, Michelle.  Above, you can see us getting ready to head out from the Chief Joseph Trailhead, located near Cooke City, Montana.  We are preparing to hike 26 miles through the Beartooth Mountain range - coming out at the East Rosebud Trailhead.

 We got a late start on Saturday, and it was nearly 5 PM as we started down the trail.  We passed by Kersey Lake (above) and enjoyed a lot of tasty wild raspberries along the way.  By 7 PM, we reached the turn-off for Fox Lake.  It would be dark by 8 PM, so we decided to camp at Fox Lake.  Below, is our view of Fox Lake as we dropped down the 1/2 mile trail to the lake - the sun was lighting up the hillside to the east of the lake.  We had gone 4 miles our first day.

 It was perfectly clear and warm.  We decided to take a chance and set up our tent without the rain fly.  We were able to enjoy a beautiful campfire at a great campsite.  No rain and we could see the stars from our sleeping bags.

 

The night seemed mild as we slept snugly in our bags, but I noticed frost on the grass near the lake when I went out to take these pictures at dawn.

Cottonwood Creek - First Place!

 "Cottonwood Creek" is making a debut today at the Pacific Northwest Quilt Festival.  Above, is a detail image of the finished piece.  Below is a full image of the finished piece, which measures 53" wide by 31" in height.

I was delighted to learn that this piece won First Place at the Pacific Northwest Quilt Show.

The awards were announced last evening and so I am now able to share the news with the world!

Hooray!

Cottonwood Auditions for Landscape

As I have mentioned, the intention for this piece is to be a landscape.  I want the creek to be lined with cottonwood trees, as it was in a favorite childhood place on the Montana ranch where I grew up.  I frequently photograph cottonwood trees, so I have a good collection of images I can use for the screen printing of cottonwood trees.  In this image, I am auditioning some of the tree screens I have on hand.  I feel like this is going to work out well.  Tomorrow, opening day of the Pacific Northwest Quilt Fest, you will see the finished quilt on my blog.

Block Printing on the Green Collage

I am showing the process I used to make this piece, which will be debuting on Friday, August 24th at the Pacific Northwest Quilt Festival in Tacoma. 

I've already shown the foundation of dyed fabric collage, then the stitching, followed by the screenprinted moon and hand painted creek.  Now, you can see the block printing.  I used a mixture of white and copper fabric paints.  I am trying to create the feeling of a hazy creek bottom or filtered light from the glow of the moon.

Green Collage - Screen Printed

Continuing on with the process I started sharing on Sunday - here you can see the exposed edges of the collaged fabrics have been free motion zig zagged.  I decided this is going to be a landscape scene with a moon and a creek.  I handpainted the creek in the foreground and screenprinted the moon (used an actual photo of the moon) in yellow.  I used opaque screen printing ink for the moon and opaque fabric paint for the creek.  Next, I plan to cover the entire surface in block printing.  I will show that tomorrow.

Mail Art Project #100

Today's quote:

"Ends are not bad things, they just mean that something else is about to begin.  And there are many things that don't really end, anyway, they just begin in a new way.  

-C. JoyBell C.-

Green Fabric Collage

 

This is the start of my second entry in the Pacific Northwest Quilt Festival which is coming up this weekend in Tacoma.

I actually began this piece last March.  I used the 12" wide roll of Mistyfuse to create wide bands of color across my teflon ironing table.  This table is about 50" wide, so the pieces ended up being a consistent 50".  I was cleaning out my overloaded scrap drawer and was color grouping.  I thought these three went together well, so I fused them to a piece of batting, then did a free motion zig-zag stitch around all exposed edges.  This creates a nice texture.

Printing the Binding for Last Light

The fused binding for this piece is hand dyed fabrics that matched the collage fabrics in the body of the quilt.  I planned to print the binding after it was in place on the quilt.  To accomplish this, and to get the prints in the correct location, I placed masking tape right up to the inside edge of the fused binding.  

 

The next step was to print the binding.  I wanted the binding print to blend right in with the other printing, so I was very careful with my placement of the blocks and also with my color choices.

 As I pulled away the tape, I was hoping for the best.

I was happy with the way this turned out.  Next - to quilt the printed binding.

Last Light - Moth Audition

As I finished the machine quilting on this piece, I started to think about adding something for a focal point.  I happened to have these screen printed moths already cut out and they happened to be similar colors, so I auditioned them.........

I liked them, but did not really think they added  anything significant.  In fact, I found them sort of distracting from the point I wanted to convey - of the last light coming through the leaves.  I considered printing them in a different color - the black being too harsh and contrasty for the muted subtle look of this piece.  In the end, I abandoned the moths.

Last Light - Vision Realized

 Here is a view of the entire piece as I begin adding block prints of leaves.  I am using turquoise and purple paint with a variety of leaf blocks I have carved.

 Some closer images as I fill the areas with leaf prints.

This part is deeper in the forest - just a little light making it's way in here!

Purple Collage Gold Printing

 Here is the purple collage I showed you yesterday.  I intend to try to create a feeling of the light coming through the branches in the forest at dusk.  The sun is low and the light it creates is different than the overhead light.  It creates a silhouette of the leaves and this is what I hope to convey with this very large piece (about 55" square).  (This is an idea that came to me at dusk one day - I was taken by the look of the light filtering through the pine boughs at our home.)

 Here are a couple of pictures of the gold printing as I start adding the leaf prints.  I used metallic gold paint for the light and used purple and turquoise paint for the leaves.

I love the way the colors of the background fabrics show through.  These close-ups also show how I did the free motion zig zag stitching to firmly attach the collage before adding the printing.

Purple Collage

This is actually a piece I worked on last spring.  I didn't get it posted on the blog because there were other things I wanted to share at the time.  I am sharing it now because this piece will be making a debut at the Pacific Northwest Quilt Show in Tacoma shortly.

This fabric collage is constructed of all my purple scraps from the scrap drawer.  I really did not have a plan for it when I did the collage.  In this picture, you can see all the square and rectangle pieces lightly held in place with the fusible batting I was using.  They have to be stitched to keep the edges from flopping around.  That's the next step.

 I had to think about this piece for a while - maybe a week or so - before the lightbulb came on and I figured out what to do after the collage was finished!  Stay tuned!