Lovely projects both! Welcome to the board. My brother was in South Dakota for a bit but glumly says it wasn't one of the nice parts...
My great-grandparents from my fathers side were in South Dakota before the Depression, I think that's when they moved to Tacoma (near Seattle).
It's so wonderful for those of you who come from quilting traditions. I didn't have quilters in my family or grow up with quilts but decided when I was still pretty young (high school) that I wanted to quilt. Made my first quilt in my senior year of high school and while many things have changed in my life over the past 40 years, quilting has connected them all. As I'm hoping to connect my quilts to the next generation.