Trying to catch up

Chantal is the winner... she guessed right.  I was in Singapore.  What an amazing place to visit.  SO interesting... I took so many fabulous pictures.  Where to start??

Singapore Botanic Gardens!!  Always love visiting the different botanical gardens as we travel, especially since we've become friends with a fabulous horticulturist extraordinaire! (yes, PBR, that's you!)...  This garden is huge and I went twice!  Hidden in the foliage are a number of sculptures, which I think is where I'll start along with water features.  Here are the gates to gain entry (FREE)



















Loved this walkway!


That's enough travel photography for today.  Now a little sewing!
I did work on Lori's little sew-along once I returned, although now that I'm seeing the second step, I'm not so sure I'm going to stick with it.  Won't look good on point..  I'll be like Wendy Reed and make a couple of versions!  This one might become my October mini!! ;-)  Add a few more rows and VOILA!


I also went back to that local antique store and found another little wire basket for some more scraps.  I dumped moved my "dark" scraps into this one and it's already full!  Now I need one for the "lights" on my sewing table!


I'm off this evening and tomorrow to PIQF, the local enormous quilt show put on by Mancuso.  Looking forward to seeing some new friends.
If you're going to be there, please let me know so we can meet up!

September mini--delayed

I am hoping that the Monthly Mini Maven (Wendy Reed!) will still accept my submission for my September mini.  I picked it up from the quilter in September...does that count??  Plus I think I should get a ribbon because this was a UFO from a few years ago which I recently finished up at the cabin.  Just needs the binding.



and I decided I didn't want to add to the stash with the leftover fabric I accumulated in making this darling so I took all the leftover fabrics, cut them into strips and made a jelly-roll quilt, which I also got from the quilter.  Funny that the left-over quilt is much larger than the original quilt! vbg  The good news is that I don't have any more fabric left from this project!  And it'll make a great donation quilt.  I think I'll let Claire (the donation queen) direct me on that.


When I last posted, I had a group of friends at the cabin and we went hiking every day.  I got no sewing done, especially because I flew back with them and missed my drive time for hand sewing. ;-(
I showed you many of my scenic views.  We had a wonderful time and I loved sharing the cabin and Central Oregon with them.

Then, right after I returned from the cabin, my dh and I took a little (that's not exactly true...) excursion.  If you can identify this location, you'll win a FQ!
I'll post more pictures from this trip after the destination has been identified.  It was so interesting.



One small hint:  my hair, which is extremely curly, was beyond curly and frizzy.

Just a little to show for my week plus great nature experiences

What can I say?  Didn't get much sewing done-- I had a group of friends come up to the cabin last week and we were hiking every day... They aren't quilters (imagine that?! non-quilter friends!) so I wasn't able to sew.

I did finish another one of these darling baskets on the drive up to the cabin!


Before my friends arrived, my husband and I went on a hike with the Deschutes Land Trust organization and it was phenomenal.  We were treated to a history lesson about the area.  I hadn't known there were people living in the hills, miles from others, doing mill work.  There was evidence of these sites...dating back to the early 1920s.  Here is a pile of rusted metal cans, all of which are identifiable if you look closely!  There was also a cup and plate!
My inclination would be to clean up the area but historians are adamant that it remain intact to  tell the story from about a hundred years ago!




Then there are the gorgeous fall colors in Central Oregon.

This one was from the hike, in the hills outside Bend.  The next one is from the area by our cabin near Sunriver.


I'm sure all the leaves will be gone in a  matter of days... I love the fall colors!

Here are some nature shots taken during the hikes with my friends.

This was taken during a hike around Sparks Lake.  You can see the South Sister to the left and Broken Top to the right.  This is my favorite area of the Cascades.  The road is closed between November and May because of all the snow.  I hiked between those two mountains earlier this summer to Green Lakes.  This hike was a lot easier! ;-)

Then we went to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  This area was formed thousands of years ago by volcanic activity.  The lake in the distance is Paulina Lake, which my husband and I hiked around a couple of weeks ago.


We also hiked up to the Obsidian Peak.  Have you heard of that rock?  It's a very sharp, shiny black rock from volcanoes.  This is one example.  I think it looks other-worldy, if you get what I mean.


This is that mountain from Paulina Lake.  It's quite a huge mass of rock just like the picture above.


Hopefully I'll be getting more sewing done!