July mini and another year in the books

 Just under the wire, I found something I could work on and finish in time to qualify as the Monthly Mini a la Wendy Reed.  I scoured my sewing room and found a block which seemed appropriate.  It's almost fall so I quickly quilted and bound this little piece.  To me, it speaks autumn.

What is so strange is I have absolutely NO recollection of having made this.  I don't know when I made it;  don't know where the pattern came from.  I don't even know why I didn't finish it.  Maybe it was one block of a larger pattern?  NO clue.  I'm going to put it on my kitchen table as a topper for fall!

I've been working on more Sampler Spree blocks and finished another week's set.  These were supposed to be red.  I had fun.  This is a project I'm enjoying, but it's taking all my time.  10 blocks a week is a lot!  I need to start on the new baby's quilt and am experimenting with different blocks for a baby girl that's not pink! VBG

We've been staying in California for the past few weeks so we could spend time with our grandkids.  Mostly the oldest has been coming over to stay and I snapped this adorable one of him in the bath with our Golden Doodle patiently waiting for him to get done.

I celebrated another birthday this past week and feel terrific.  I try to ignore the number of years I've spent on this earth and instead cherish that I've had the privilege of being able to age and that I'm healthy and very active.  So I celebrated another year in the books!  And happy to be able to do that!

Life is good, right?

take care,

xxxx

Another healing quilt and other good news

 Sadly, another person I know is undergoing serious treatments and I immediately sent her a quilt to cuddle under.  She's a quilter but I'm sure receiving a healing quilt will perk her right up!  I really did labor over this pattern and love the quilt.  I also love pink and brown together.

In other quilting news, I've been working slowly on the Moda Sampler Spree project.  It calls for 10 blocks a week, which is not entirely realistic for me but I'm plugging along.  These are my aqua blocks.  I love that color -- my new favorite!

And I just finished the latest installment, which called for green (one of my least favorite colors)!  I have one more to finish as well as the optional appliqué block. I think I moved the majority of my green fabric up to Oregon so I was pretty limited.  I love lime greens and they are in Oregon.

You may notice the one on the bottom left is a little crinkly.  It fell off my design wall and my puppy (all 65 lbs of him) grabbed it immediately and was sucking it with great delight. UGH.

Before we left our house in Sunriver, I had to take a picture of a bush I planted a few years ago that's just doing so well.  It's a real miracle that the deer don't gobble it up but maybe there's a scent they don't like.  It's a delphinium and I got it at Wal-Mart, so there you go.  

We are enjoying having our grandkids visit us while we are in California, although honestly the lakes and my kayak are calling my name!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Quilt Show in Sisters!!

 Yesterday was the annual Sisters Quilt Show and I didn't want to miss it.  This picture is the quintessential picture from the show.  This is the actual Stitchin Post quilt store's outside wall and they usually post employees' quilts from a challenge they run.  This year, I didn't see anything about the challenge but the quilts were on that wall.  So great to see it again!  They use fire trucks to hang the quilts!

This is another picture from the show, where quilts are hung over the railings.  It's so western looking- don't you expect to see horses tied up?? VBG

You can't tell from the distance but all those quilts were versions of Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone.  It was great seeing the variations, based on different fabrics.

There were a few quilts that really caught my eye!

I think there was a description saying that the quilter's son was a chemist so it's a variation on the periodic table!~. I loved her use of that new Tula Pink fabric, which I bought when I was in Virginia.

Check this one out using that same fabric!

We spent a fair amount of time at the exhibit for the featured quilter, Carol Dixon.  This was one of my favorites.  I think this is the year of the bird!  The pattern is by Barbara Persing and I think I'll look to buy it.  What fun it could be!~

this was another of my favorites!  So clever!

I also was intrigued by this quilt, which was quilted by my friend Sandy Lachowski, with whom I went to the show.  This was one of a group of quilts done by a small quilt group that's done similarly to a round robin, but they pass the blocks around for a year, each quilter adding blocks but not sewing them together.  That's the quilter's decision!  I don't think you can make out the fabulous quilting but I loved the colors.

Are you getting the impression the show was primarily modern quilts?? YUP.  I'd say it was.  There were lots of Lori Holt quilts, which were fun to look at.

Each year, there is an exhibit of the Cherrywood challenge (indoors!!) which travels throughout the country.  This year's exhibit was based on interpretations of Bob Ross, who is someone I was not familiar with.   I loved so many of these little quilts!

I loved this one's message!  So many of the quilts utilized amazing threadwork, which I found so impressive.

There were also several Sarah Fielke quilts that caught my eye!

More birds!!

I'm almost done with last week's Sampler Spree aqua blocks so I'll post those tomorrow.  We are heading back to California on Tuesday.  Hope you're having a great weekend!

July is here! I guess that's a good thing??

 It is hard to believe that 2021 is half over.  I feel like 2020 was a blip that we just skipped over. Life is getting back to normal but I am not sure that normal will ever feel normal.  Know what I mean?

 I am happy to report that my June mini is completed on time.  Miracles do happen!  This little quilt was made using orphan blocks from a project I started but only got as far as six blocks.  So they got repurposed!

Other sewing that I've been doing is part of the Moda weekly sew along.

Keeping up with weekly sew along seems to be harder and harder. I did start the it earlier this month and finished the first week’s blocks. They are asking for 10 blocks a week. The good thing is they’re small-6”. The bad thing is they’re small!  Tiny pieces but I'm enjoying the process.  it's a bit much to keep up but I'm trying!  There is a tiny mistake in the top block which I corrected.  These are the first week's blocks.  I"m half way done with the second week and the third week's blocks were just posted.  Behind again!!  The sew along is from a book called Sampler Spree, and I'm enjoying the small variations in simple blocks.  

The weather here in Central Oregon has been beastly hot.  I feel like the earth is on fire.  In an effort to try to beat the heat, I went kayaking twice this week.  The lakes are a bit higher in elevation and the area was a bit cooler.  There was even a breeze!

That's actually me, taken by a friend.  We were at East Lake in the Newbury Volcanic region.   This lake is literally in a crater from an old old volcano.  I think the rock formations are so interesting and it's hard to believe that it's all from thousands of years ago!  For scale, you can see a boat in the bottom as well as a kayaker.

We were hoping for a break in the heat and last night there was thunder and a tiny bit of rain.  I thought the clouds looked so cool.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.  Stay safe and healthy! 

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