Iowa -- Middle of the MidWest
Lost music to found quilt blocks

Map from Wikipedia

Day 11:  Interstate 90 connects two of  South Dakota's largest cities: Rapid City, on the western side, and Sioux Falls, 350 miles to the east. We had driven that distance plus the loop through the Badlands in one day -- the start of several long driving days through the American Midwest.

This morning started with a disappointment. I really, really wanted to go to The National Museum of Music at the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion. It is home to more that 20,000 musical instruments spanning centuries and representing the world in music. Vermillion was only a short jog off of I-29 on our way down to Iowa.
 
The problem -- we would be there at 11:00; they opened at 2:00 on Sundays. I was so devastated that Greg offered to wait the 3 hours. But that meant losing a whole day, and we were on a tight schedule now. Our grandsons' graduation ceremony in New Hampshire was one week away, and we were only half way across the country! Did I want to give up Niagra Falls or visiting friends in Ithaca?

No. We forged on.


We stopped in Sioux City, Iowa for gas at this station with an amusing name.

And also popped into the Radio Shack across the street to pick up a charger for the camera batteries that I could use in the car so that they could keep up with my constant picture snapping.





The Missouri River runs through Sioux City. We'd heard in South Dakota that the river was flooding up in their state capitol, Pierre (pronounced Peer).

It was flooding in Iowa, too. These pictures were taken from the freeway. 

A left turn onto Hwy 20 out of Sioux City took us east through the backroads and farmlands of Iowa.

"The road goes ever on." (The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien)

Wind power

As though to make up for my earlier disappointment, Iowa provided an unexpected treat-- barns with quilt blocks painted on them. I'd read about such barns in a quilting book by Eleanor Burns. The project stared in Ohio in 2001, but has been taken up by many other barn-owning quilters and quilt lovers. I was thrilled to find some!

Variation of a fancy, double friendship-star block?

I had a hard time identifying these blocks and suspect liberties have been taken. But that's what happens in quilting, too. Modifications and variations are always being made.

A Virginia Star block

If anyone out there knows the names of these blocks, feel free to chime in!

No idea what this is!

Possibly a tipped  Aunt Sukey's Choice inside a Snowball with added elements???

I love old barns anyway. The quilt blocks made taking these pictures that much more fun!

Modified Double Pinwheel?

I left all this bucolic charm behind with a sigh, but Greg was overjoyed to find a sign of real civilization!











And to relax with his guitar in our motel room in Dubuque. We'd made the 300-mile trip across Iowa in one day and had still managed time to enjoy the sights.






Next Saturday we'll see Dubuque before setting our sights on Millenium Park in Chicago. Join us!