I was a Westering Woman!!

The second block of Barbara Brackman's Westering Women BOM was released yesterday, so, of course, I made it today.  It was an easy block called Indian.  It seems strange for me to use such big blocks - the center piece is 6.5" square - as most of the quilts I make have much smaller pieces.  But hey, it went together quickly!

I was tickled by the accompanying blog post because it highlighted St. Joseph, Missouri as a "jumping off" point for wagon trains.  In the summer of 1993, I, too, traveled across country, albeit on a motorcycle and not a wagon, and I, too, stopped in St. Joseph, MO.  I left my home in the woods of Maine, and zigzag-ed my way across the country, stopping anywhere I knew somebody or found a youth hostel or cheap motel, and 20 days later arrived at my destination: San Francisco, CA.

This is me on my bike leaving Cambridge, MA in July 1993 after spending the night with my college roommate.  See that spot of yellow underneath the green sleeping bag I have strapped to the seat behind me?  That was my rain gear.  And for those of you who know bikes, this was an 87 Honda Rebel 250cc - can you believe I drove across the Rockies on that little thing???

St. Joseph wasn't a planned stop for me; I didn't know anyone there.  However, it is where I was when I didn't want to ride anymore that day.  I remember staying in an inexpensive motel and eating dinner at a restaurant with an Old West decor, all the way down to wagon wheels!  What really made St. Joseph stand out to me, though, was the fact that I accidentally left my rain gear in the hotel when I left, and I REALLY could have used it the day I drove through Salt Lake City, UT and stopped in West Wendover, NV to spend a stormy night in the WORST rundown deserted motel EVER - it didn't even have a radio or clock, let alone a TV, in the room! - and then the next day from West Wendover to Truckee, CA; it rained BUCKETS those two days and I had no gear to keep me dry.  I lived to tell the tale, though, which is more than can be said for many of those who headed west in days of old.

Today I also pulled out my Carpenter's Wheel HSTs and put another wheel together, plus another center Lemoyne Star.

Terrible nighttime lighting, I know.

I'm wondering about alternating the Carpenter's Wheel blocks with the Lemoyne Star blocks instead of just making Carpenter's Wheel blocks.  What say you?  Yay or Nay?  Am I just being lazy?