We spent National Quilt Day in Las Vegas ..

My husband Bruce, has been an ardent hockey fan since he was 6 years old . We have been huge hockey fans together for the near 40 years that we have been a couple. In fact, when we first went out, Bruce already was the owner of  two season's tickets for the Edmonton Oilers hockey team. ( He had  tickets beginning in the late 1970s throughout the 1980's) . He first had season tickets with them when the team was not NHL, but belonged to the WHA.  By choice, his two seats were not together- one was at one end of the ice and the other was at the other end of the arena ( He liked seeing the game from different vantage points.) One of the seats was part of a trio of tickets with friends, and the other was a single seat. When I would go with him, he would sit in the single at the other end of the area for part of the game and his two friends and I would sit at the other end of the arena. Between periods, we would meet on the concourse and sometimes, one of his two friends would go and sit in the single seat and Bruce and I would  get to sit together. It still makes me smile thinking about our first hockey game dates!  Later we did have some seasons where we had our seats together when we still had season's or partial season's tickets.  The cost of tickets escalated and life priorities changed ..

These days we get the opportunity to go to an occasional game thanks to the generosity of others. Attending a game live is a  different experience but our recent experience was  indeed unique!  In January  we were offered an opportunity to go to see a game in March in Las Vegas!
 First we had to get on a plane- something that I had not done for many many years for various reasons. After some thoughtful deliberation on my part, and, me actively seeking a passport, we found ourselves boarding an early morning plane to  Las Vegas on March 16. This meant that we had to get to the airport by 5:30 am which meant leaving our house at 4:45 am! Here we are on board the airplane at 7:30 am. I am pretty sure that I am still half asleep!

We stayed in a very nice Hotel called the Aria Hotel and Resort   Like all the big resorts on the Las Vegas strip,there is a huge casino on the main floor. It also had numerous restaurants and a high end shopping area called Crystals that included shops like Harry Winston, Gucci, Hermes etc
-Here is sunrise from the 22nd floor of our hotel room on Sunday Morning. The view was spectacular and we enjoyed seeing all the flashing billboards and lights on the Strip.The city is an amazing  happening city with lots of things to see and do, if you have the time, money and energy. 

  One of my favorite things in life is to look at Art. The hotel and resort area has 20 different art installations . Bruce is sitting in one of the 3 chairs that were called  a Turtle Dove chair ( though they reminded me of pigeons which  made me think of a series of children's books by Mo Willems  that include a story named " Don"t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus") It was a nice space in front of the hotel and a great place to people watch :)

T- Mobile Arena is a vibrant place- there were cheer leaders and show girls with feather head gear, lots of very loud music , noisy fans and lights displays throughout the evening .It happened to be St. Patrick's Day, as well, which added to the ambiance. Before the game, there was a big tailgate party in the area outside the arena. The crowd was large and filled with many hockey fans wearing their team jerseys and/or green or both!
 While the Oilers lost, it was a never to be forgotten experience.  Earlier in the day, our group went off to see the Welcome to Las Vegas sign - here we are standing  proudly wearing our NHL Jerseys- The Oilers have had a mediocre season and are not likely to make the playoffs, but this year will be a special one for Bruce and I . It is not every year that you get to go to a different  NHL city to see a game -  what a fabulous opportunity it was, as a fan of the sport of hockey.  I highly recommend the experience! For more complete analysis of the game, you can check out this link to Bruce's hockey post!https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/edmonton-oilers-greatest-weakness-among-several-candidates-poor-transition-game-stands-out

 The Saturday that we arrived in Las Vegas it was  also National Quilting Day! I wanted to post some photos of a quilt that I have been working on this fall and winter to honor my quilting passion. I have made a number of retirement quilts over the past years for friends . Our family has lived in our current house for over two years and it was time for me to make a quilt for our bed in this house.

Here is my Retirement Quilt for us. I started it to test out a pattern that is currently being written by Janellea MacBeth.  This photo shows the quilt without the final borders. In the ones below, you can see where the final borders have been added. My version is a king sized quilt and it is totally scrappy.  Some of the scraps go back to when I began quilting in the mid 1980's. There are scrap bits from the over 100 bed quilts that I have made since that time- Fabric is really like a memory keeper- I found pieces of our son's baby wrap that  I completed over 30 years ago.
 The background fabric is all the same until the borders. I used all 6 yards of  fabric in the background in the body of the quilt.  I had to search my fabric stash for something that would work for the set in triangles  without trying to compete with the zig zag strips.  (The quilt is put together on point so you end up with zig zag edges.) I think I found a subtle batik that works well !

g z

I chose a red stop border to float between the two border sections. Athena the cat obviously approves of the newest quilt. As always, she enjoys coming to check out my quilts - Isn't that what quilt cats do?  Now I just need to find backing and get it spray basted so that I can quilt it!

I will close with one last photo of Las Vegas. There was an enormous Henry Moore stone sculpture that was in the courtyard area at the Hotel. It is a fabulous piece of art that represents a mother and child. It is really beautiful and so enormous.. I can not imagine how many hours it took him to carve this massive stone work!

There are more quilty things I want to show you but I will save them for another day! When we returned to Alberta late Monday, there was still lots of snow on the ground.  Warmer weather has arrived and  the piles have melted away this week.  Soon we may  get to see some spring flowers.  I am really looking forward to that.. Until next time stay well and be Happy! Warmest regards, Anna