Much to appreciate

 Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  I hope you had a lovely day regardless of what you did or ate.  Even if you spent it by yourself.  We have our middle daughter (who's been living with us since June) but our other two kids and 5 grandkids were together in SF.  I have to admit I was quite sad not to be there with them -- hopefully this year will not be repeated.  But we are extremely grateful that our middle daughter has been staying with us!  What a gift that's been.

With the world in such turmoil, just being able to breathe normally, not wear a mask (indoors our own houses) and relax is a gift.

We spent the morning going snow shoeing since it snowed a little bit two days ago.  What an absolutely glorious time we had.  It was chilly when we started but there was no wind and we got warm very quickly! To me, walking in the woods that look like this is absolutely magical!!

I know I post a lot of pictures of where I am living;  I admit I love Central Oregon.

Lest you think I don't sew, I did finish another block for my sprigs and springs.  This one was made while catching up with The Crown.  I love watching a show while I sew and then I can remember what I watched when I sewed one particular block (at least for a little while--then I will have no memory whatsoever!! vbg)

I am still using the back basting method, although there is lots of room for improvement! I will admit I don't miss having to mess with those tiny pieces of freezer paper for the leaves.  So the jury is still out on that.

The WINNERS of my giveaways are:

Janine and Heather.

Please send me your snail mail addresses so I can zip those out to you.

have a great weekend.  Stay safe everyone!!

I am thankful for you

 In honor of Thanksgiving and to demonstrate how much I appreciate my followers, I'd like to offer you some free pattern --truth is I bought them TWICE.

All you'll need to do is share your favorite Thanksgiving side dish.  Winners will need to share a recipe!  I'll chose the winners Thursday morning

Lady's Scrap Basket from Bits n Pieces Pattern Company,

a 51x64 beautiful appliqué and pieced quilt.

Honoring Our Quilting Heritage by Lori Smith

a 59x79 beautiful scrap pieced quilt made from 6" pieced blocks on point.

Gobble gobble gobble

🦃🦃🦃

A low volume kind of day

 This will be the first Thanksgiving we will be spending apart from all of our kids  so it's just not the same.  We decided to follow the protocols and are not traveling back to the Bay Area this week.  Fortunately we saw our grandkids last weekend.  We will have a small dinner with just 3 of us; we feel lucky to have our middle daughter staying with us!!

Anyway, it's putting me into a strange kind of funk I'm calling "low volume"!! :-)

I did do a little fabric shopping recently and found what might be called "low volume".  Well maybe the definition is a little murky.

No idea what I'll do with these fabrics but they bring a smile to my face just looking at them.  So what the heck, right??

Last weekend, Barb Vedder (funwithbarb) and I took a zoom class on back basting appliqué   Now you know that Barb could've taught the class, along with Wendy Reed (constantquilter) but I've never learned how to do it.  So I have tried a block of my sprigs and stars using this technique.  

Fortunately I have a decent light box.  But my [latest] problem was the marking pencil I was using to trace the design.  UGH!  I've been using a purple "pen" that washes away but that seems to be drying up.  I tried a pencil for this one.  We'll see how it turns out.  So far it seems less labor intensive than the freezer paper method I was using, especially with the smaller pieces.

So my question is which method do you like to appliqué and why.  Now I know some people absolutely never do the "A" word... but I rather enjoy it.  

You've no doubt noticed I changed my header (thanks again to Janet O for the lesson!!) to reflect the latest weather here in Central Oregon. BRRRR.  That was one early morning last week.  Very picturesque.  And we went to check out the snow parks yesterday and I am ready to pull my snow shoes out of the garage and get my gear ready for that activity!!

We are still missing Max terribly and I've been searching and searching for a new golden doodle (smaller and less shedding than a golden retriever).  Getting a puppy these days is NOTHING like it was when we got Max 12 yrs ago.  It's all online, of course;  and there are scammers out there who take your deposit and disappear.  So I'm really struggling. Many places are asking for deposits for litters that might be born in 6-12 months!!   I would be quite content if someone showed up at my door with a puppy in hand!  If you happen to know anyone who breeds golden doodles, please let me know!! 

I wish you all a wonderful week.  Even though we will most probably not be with the usual family gatherings, we still have so much to be thankful for.  I certainly feel that way.  I can't see my mom again (everything has shut down again in Oregon) so I am grateful I did see her a few times last month.  We are healthy;  my children and grandkids are healthy.  I have a good life and feel very fortunate.

So I am sending you warm, loving hugs (virtual of course) at this time!  And thanks for being there for me via blog-land! 

Too quick on the publish button

 I had a bunch of pictures to post with my last post but I was too quick (or just incompetent...) and the pictures didn't make it.

So here I will share with you my latest block that I finished from the Primitive Gatherings Twilight Garden.  I have TWO more blocks to make before I start on the center and borders, which will probably take me forever.  I am loving this project and quilt but no matter how hard I try, I always seem to have parts off-center.  Being perfect is just not in my make-up!

I made more sprigs and stars as well.

I have been getting some great ideas from comments and have changed my methodology somewhat.

I'm trying to be a little less random so am staying with a certain fabric for groupings.  I'm not sure it'll be noticeable but it's fun to try something different.

I say why not have some fun.  Scooters and roosters?  Heck YES!

We went back to California for the weekend to see the grandkids and had a wonderful time.  I started my 11 yr old grandson on a jelly roll quilt.  Here is where he sews!~

He can reach the foot pedal as long as it's on a foot-stool! ;-)

Popsicles on our front porch steps has been a tradition since they were very small.  On Saturday the weather was beautiful and they helped me wash the snow residue off my car from our drive!

What a fun time we had!  No water fights, though! Air was too cool. ;-(

Hope you're having a great week!  Stay safe!

Life does go on

 I can't tell you how much I have been touched by so many sweet comments about my poor dog's surprising death last week.  Thank you very much for taking the time to share your warmth and love to us.

It's probably been hardest on our grandkids who haven't head to deal with any death.  Even little Eli, who just turned four, said to me before falling asleep on Saturday, in a whisper that he misses Max.

We are on the fence about whether to replace Max.  We had been thinking that we'd get a golden doddle rather than another golden retriever to reduce the shedding and opt for a smaller dog.  Finding a puppy is quite a process that's pretty overwhelming.  The breeders are all over the country;  finding a puppy online is an entirely different process than when we got Max 12 yrs ago from a small breeder nearby.  You don't just pick out a dog from a breeder;  breeders frequently require a deposit months before a puppy is born and there's a "picking" day.   If you happen to have recently gotten a golden doodle or a puppy, I'd love to hear any advice!

Throughout the past week I have been sewing on my stars and sprigs quilt.  I signed up for a back basting appliqué class with Barb Vedder over the weekend but wasn't able to watch so I intend to educate myself on perhaps a more efficient method of sewing my pieces down using the freezer paper method.

A quick ending

 You all know we have had a Golden retriever who (a)loves my fabrics (b)loves our grandkids (c)loves treats and (d)is getting old.

Well, this week marked the end of his nearly 12 years in our family. ;-(

On Wednesday night, he was acting strangely--wouldn't lie down at bed time.  When I woke up he was on our bathroom floor instead of our bedroom.  He also didn't want to eat and barely wanted to go out to pee in the morning.  He was just stretched out on the carpet under our dining table.

I knew something was wrong so I made an appointment at the vet to have him checked out.  By the time we were ready to leave for the vet's, he was unable to even stand up.  My husband and I had to carry him out of the house into the car.

Long story short--the vet took one look at him and gave us the bad news that he had to be put down because his spleen had burst and his abdomen was filled with blood.  We stayed with him until the end,  so very sad.

I have many quilting stories to share but felt I needed to give you the updated sadness permeating our house now. 

Dogs sadly have short lives and they become such a big part of our lives.  I can't walk from one room to the next without expecting Max to be following me.  So the moral of the story is still that life is short and we need to enjoy every precious day we have with our furry loved ones as well as our human loved ones.

Take care and stay safe.

Much love,

Randy