The Loopy Ewe

We were heading out to Fort Collins with friends of ours to see the Swetville Zoo.  Bill Swets, artist and owner of the area lives in the same campground where we winter in Texas.  When we got there the Poudre river was overflowing and portions of the Zoo were under water.  So we went to lunch in the shopping center nearby. 

On the way I saw a sign for The Loopy Ewe, so of course, after lunch, my friend Bernie and I had to visit it.  Couldn't find it at first, but as Bernie said, not being male meant that we could ask for directions.  A very nice lady in the yogurt shop directed us up to the second floor.  A great shop, all of the yarn is sorted by weight, so if you go in with a pattern, they can direct you to the correct aisle for the yarn or a substitute.  I love this idea.

Front entrance, yarn store portion

Not only were there great yarns but this store was another "2fer".  At the other end of the store it opened up into a quilt fabric store, be still my heart.

Quilt Fabric Section

Above the fabric on the far wall, the words say "Quilts connect the past with the present and the future"  and "Blankets wrap you in warmth, quilts wrap you in love".

I got some great black fabric with red circles  for my next farm quilt - it looks like tomatoes on black dirt to me so it will fit right in to my "Black Dirt Artisan" adventures.  My grandparents had a black dirt celery farm on Bajor Lane (yes, the inspiration for the name of this blog) and it often figures in my work.  Both the farm and the changes that have occurred over the years (the farm is now a community of homes and a bird sanctuary).  In addition they gave me an introductory package of "Swatch Buddies", little plastic tags that you are supposed to put swatches of fabric on, then you can carry your fabric and easily match patterns and colors.  In addition to that they have a rewards program.  If I lived in the area I would definitely be here a lot!








After the Loopy Ewe we went back to the Swetsville zoo to see what we could see.  we were fortunate to see the owner, Bill who had come up from Texas because of the flooding.  he was gracious enough to show us around and we saw his tractor barn with some 30+ tractors including a huge steam tractor (fully restored) and lots of vehicles and bicycles that Bill had creatively altered.
I love his flowers.......









and here is a picture of some of the dinosaur sculptures in the flood.  Don't they look like they are feeding in a swamp?

Dinosaurs in the flood waters

Big box stores and development are encroaching on the dinosaurs that Bill built and unfortunately the Zoo may soon be as extinct as the dinosaurs.

Well that was not enough for one day.  My husband Tom, and our friend Bruce had heard about a sculpture garden in Loveland.  We sort of got turned around and ended up driving around Loveland.  In the past this had been either a drive through town on our way to Estes Park, or a stop at the outlet stores.  Who knew that there was Art hiding in the suburbs?  The Benson Sculpture Garden has 139 sculptures situated along a stream.  There is a walkway on both sides of the stream and several bridges connecting the walkways which are easily traversed.  The sculptures are amazing, classic, beautiful, modern, whimsical, there is something for everyone. Here a few of my favorites:

Ravens



Fox

We did not get to see all of the sculptures, it started to rain (not unusual in Colorado in the afternoon) and we were really tired.  But since we plan to go back we have something to look forward to.  I would definitely recommend visiting this area and seeing the sculptures.