Kearney Nebraska

We set off for all points west just after 11am and we were soon across the border in Kansas in the town of Hiawatha.

We visited the Davis memorial.

John Davis, a local farmer spent most of his fortune on a tomb for his wife Sarah after she died in 1930.

The locals were angry as they thought the money would be better spent on a new hospital.

The statues were imported from Italy at great expense and showed John and Sarah at various stages in their lives. We signed the visitors book and moved on.

The road went on and on..... We travelled on this straight road for over 100 miles... It is the Pony Express Highway. We passed the geographical centre of the USA.

We past many farms...

.....and lovely barns.

Until finally we arrived in Nebraska.

We were staying at the New Victorian in Kearney.

A nice hotel with fridge and microwave but no lift. Ask for a ground floor room if you stay here!

We dined at Whisky Creek, this is pumpernickel bread and we were encouraged to throw the peanut shells on the floor!

Next morning we set off to explore Kearney. This bridge is the Great River Road Archway, built to commemorate the pioneers who passed through here on their journey west. The road runs next to the River Platte which guided the travellers on their way. The Oregon, Californian and Mormon trails pass by here as well as the route of the Pony Express.

Inside we were greeted warmly by 'Crazy Meek' otherwise known as Stephen Hallam Meek, a mountain man who lost his wagon somewhere on the salt flats.

We spied a quilt in the gift shop.

Then we travelled up into the museum in the bridge.

It was a really interesting set of exhibits telling the story of those who had struggled to journey west.

The pioneers who walked most of the way....

The forty-niners...

The Mormons....

The journey was tough. Wagons held their prize possessions, some of which had to be abandoned en route as the going got tough.

Many pioneers do not make it and the trails are littered with graves.

The Pony express helped to further open up the West.

We saw many pony express stations on the road through Kansas and Nebraska.

The arrival of the motor car made travel to the West more accessible, the Lincoln Highway now follows much of the Oregon Trail.

We really are in the middle of nowhere!

The museum told the story really well and it is well worth a visit if you are ever in Kearney!

Here is the River Platte, that's our jeep behind the tree!

We are now moving on to Scottsbluff and we have some quilt shops to visit along the way so we had better get going!

It's a beautiful sunny warm day.

 

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Farewell to Hamilton.

Back at the Missouri Star there was work to be done

Jenny had left us another gift. A tape measure and more chocolate.

Jean showed us a quilt she is working on...

...and Debbie has finished her twister quilt.

Sustenance is provided by the burger shop next door.

Krissy is done with her lovely Halloween twister.

And Jeannie has only got to put borders on to her super pieced quilt.

Here are our deal of the day jelly roll christmas quilts. One finished after midnight and the other at 5am!!

Another gift from Jenny. Super cute scissors.

We took our twister quilts over to the shop to be machine quilted. This only cost us £30 each including the postage back to the UK!

Time for a final group shot before setting off for Kearney Nebraska.

Many thanks to everyone at the Missouri Star Quilt company for making us feel so welcome and special thanks to our wonderful fellow retreat friends.

We are going to miss these guys!

 

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A visit to Amish country

On Saturday morning we decided to have a break from quilting and visit the local Amish community. We waited until after 9am so we could grab the daily deal (a Christmas jelly roll).

The road signs warned us of unusual road users.

There were horse drawn vehicles everywhere.

And Amish ladies in their simple clothes.

We found a quilt shop run by Amish ladies....

....selling quilts made by local crafters.

Everyone slowed down for the beautiful horses and carriages.

On the way back we filled up the Jeep with petrol as it had started beeping at us.

This cost us the princely sum of $40 .....

Back to the retreat centre now to do something with that bargain jelly roll...

 

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At the Missouri Star Quilt company.....

For the last two days we have been in sewing heaven at the retreat centre. We are up at 6am and still sewing at midnight. In between sewing we dash out to visit one of the four quilt shops or to grab some lunch. Every day there is a bargain 'daily deal' which we are waiting to pick up at 9am. Today we bought a jelly roll for $19. In England they are £35. Time goes very quickly and we have great company in the other retreat members.

The retreat centre is full of beautiful wall hangings.

Look away now if you don't like quilts .....

These are upstairs outside the bedrooms

 

Debbie had bought a disappearing pinwheel quilt with her to leave to be quilted.

This is the main quilt shop where the daily deal was to be found.

Inside Jenny is waiting to greet you!

( One of the retreat members, Kathy, was making this quilt.)

This layer cake was the deal of the day, of course we bought it.

We photographed absolutely everything.

Fabric as far as the eye could see.

I copied this table runner using scraps from the twister quilt.

There were even quilts in the restrooms!

We bought quite a bit and earned some 'quilters cash'...

You could sit and watch all of Jenny's videos.

Down the street is another shop called Mercantile.

It specialises in time related fabric like civil war and 1940s.

The flower borders were sewing themed.

Hamilton is famous for being the home of J.C Penney.

The outside of our retreat centre.

On to the Sew Seasonal shop...

Where you could buy anything Christmas, Easter and Halloween.

Here is a witches hat made with the evil tool..

Finally Penney's quilt shop..

Which stocked every solid under the sun.

The old library has been turned into a quilting centre..

There were seven huge Gammils inside.

By next year there will be at least two more quilt shops, a batik shop and one selling licensed fabric.

There is also a great burger bar selling amazing milk shakes made with locals ice cream. I chose a black walnut. It was delicious but took a couple of hours to drink.

Back to the sewing machine!

 

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