What Are You Thankful For?

     I have many things to be thankful for. Too many to list. One of the things pertains to this blog. For the last month, I've been away traveling in Argentina and Chile. I wrote my posts and scheduled them before I left home, planning to link them to Nina Marie's Off The Wall Friday each week while I was on the trip when I got access to a a wifi on each Friday. As it turned out, I ended up in remote places on Fridays. Some without Internet and once with satellite access but in a bad storm and so couldn't keep a connection long enough to make the link. I was able to email Nina Marie, however, ahead of time, and she was kind enough to link me up since my blog had already posted. So many thanks to her!
     I'm also thankful for the opportunity to travel. This trip, my husband and I visited Patagonia, which is the bottom part of South America. We started in the southernmost city on Earth and then slowly made our way up the Andes Mountains northward taking buses and ferries and hiking. It was a great, adventure-filled four weeks. Here are some photos I took with my iPad. The really great photos are on my husband's really good camera, but we haven't gone through those yet.
 Oh... I should mention that I sprained my ankle while hiking in a snowstorm one of the days and got rescued by real gauchos and got to ride their horse in amazing mountain scenery, too.  I'm thankful the sprain wasn't too bad and I was able to walk after a few days.

me hiking in Torres del Paine park in Chile

the famous peaks in Torres del Paine

Perito moreno glacier in Argentina

Us on a bus heading north.
The Andes on the left mark
the border with Chile

same photo using the Waterlogue App
on the iPad which turns
photos into watercolor paintings

Patagonia has the most incredible clouds.
I think, because of the ferocious wind.
This photo is not touched up.

     How will I use these images in my quilts? I'm not sure. I have many photos of the incredible clouds. I could see using those in my designs. I have lots of photos of ice. I could see using some of those textures and colors. I love the photo of the feet in the bus window. If I need a whimsical quilt, I'll use that. I find that using the Waterlogue App helps simplify the image so I often apply it to my photos to test them out to get an idea of what they might look like in fabric if I were to want to make an art quilt of them. It's a quick way to test it out.

     Lastly, I'm thankful to be home. My first morning home, it felt so good to sit in my pajamas sipping coffee, watching Good Morning America with two cats snuggled up against me. No more backpack on my back, no more seeking out hostels, no more long bus rides, no more ferocious never-ending wind (although all that really made the trip feel like a great adventure).

     I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on their posts to let them know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.