A little diversion--

My husband took the kids back to California yesterday;  my son left Friday so I had a day to myself!  Of course the cabin is so empty!

What to do?  The weather in Central Oregon has been beautiful... not too hot, definitely not humid (my lips are ultra-chapped, it's so dry)... so I met a friend for a hike off a gorgeous area closed in the winter, because the altitude is so high.

I thought the hike was 6 miles.  BOY was I wrong... it was 9+ and the first half was mostly UP HILL!!  And I picked it!! @#$@#$

The scenery was spectacular and I'm sharing some of the pictures, just so you can see what this area is like.

This was the scene as I drove up to the meeting point/trail head:

The Cascade Mountains are truly magical.  They were formed from volcanos many years ago!  The three mountains to the left are called Three Sisters.  The mountain to the right is Broken Top.  The hike took us right in between the two mountains, South Sister (the tallest of the Three Sisters) and Broken Top.  We hiked past very loud and clear creeks and water falls, all from snow runoff!  The hike went through pine trees to get to the clearing for Green Lake.  
We did have to cross several creeks by jumping over some small rocks and I will admit that I FELL IN a couple of times!  Fortunately it was so warm that my shorts dried quickly and I didn't really mind the wet socks!  I must have gotten better because I didn't fall on the way back!






We found a place to sit, rest up and put our feet in the water.  Just next to me were such gorgeous wildflowers.  I had to take a picture.


Facts:  the Green Lake sits about 6500 ft up (we started at 5200!).  The South Sister (the mountain just above, towering over the lake) is a little over 10,000 ft.  In winter, the road to these trails closes because there's just too much snow.  I was told that the trail we were on was under 10' of snow!  We did pass a few patches of snow, but not many.

It was a great day, although I'm exhausted and can't seem to quench my thirst, no matter how much water I have been drinking.  And I drank throughout the hike!

On a quilty note, I did finish the backing for the Triangle Gatherings quilt and hope to deliver it to my LAQ friend this week.  It's sure huge.

My friend Claire is coming up this week for our annual sewing retreat so I'm hoping to get lots of sewing done.  This year it's a small group because of friends' travel and work schedules.  Quilt show in Sisters is Saturday (and sadly the forecast is for a very hot 90* day!!).

Triangle Gatherings quilt DONE!!

I've been working on putting together my Triangle Gatherings blocks into the quilt setting I ultimately decided on.  WHEW!!!  It used up about 75 of the blocks, leaving about another 25 still!  That's for another day.

It turned out to be just about king size so that'll fit my king bed!  I had to lay it on the floor in order to get a picture of the majority of the quilt!



I used different fabrics for the setting triangles and then the borders are all different as well.  I also decided to use smaller half square triangles for the corners (I used leftovers from the blocks, but cut them down a little to fit).

I also found the most adorable Tula Pink animal fabrics for a couple of the borders.








Now to tackle the backing!!  Then off to the quilter!

Happy Fourth of July

I can't say that I'm very good at decorating for holidays.  However, I do have a favorite quilt that shows my patriotic colors!





I made this about 4 yrs ago with a group of friends.  We each contributed some large red/white squares and blue/white strips to sew our own blocks.  I think the original quilt was called the Convent Quilt.  We saw it as a kit at a quilt store but I didn't buy it.  I was sorry for a long time until my friends came up with the idea to make our own kits and divide them up.  

It is one of my favorite quilts...maybe the simplicity makes it so appealing.  Not sure.

Hope you have a great holiday!

Moving along!

For some reason, this week didn't have a lot planned so I've been able to get a fair amount of sewing done!  WOOHOO.

I did get my Splendid Sampler blocks done, although they are pretty easy...so far, anyway!  Remember that I'm doing them in red/white/blue/gold so I can coordinate these blocks with the Moda Blockheads II!  So far these blocks are also 6" finished, although it's hard to tell from the pictures.




Of course this one was a little more challenging, having to appliqué two different parts.  Sadly I was a bit lazy and didn't change the bobbin thread, hence the white stitches.  Oh well. I don't think it's  that bad.

I have finished getting the rows sewn for my Triangle Gatherings quilt.  Now I just need to sew them together.  I went today and found some fun border fabrics... in keeping with the different setting triangle fabrics, there will be 4 different border fabrics.  My friend Claire came over today and helped me with that idea! Tomorrow I'm hoping to have time to put the rows together and drop TWO quilts off to the LAQ nearby!!  

Still, then what?  We leave on Saturday for the cabin for 3 weeks... first week will be with family and then it's a bit of a sewing retreat for quilt show week... need to start planning for that!  Are you going to the Sisters quilt show July 14th?  I know my friend Lori posted about it already... we usually picnic in the park and would be delighted to meet up with anyone who will be there.  Let me know!

"more than a feeling"

There are certain songs that I love to sing (although usually only know a few lines) and the Boston song with the line "more than a feeling" really comes to mind to me now that I've FINISHED my hourglass quilt!  I'm so pleased--and I think it'll fit the bed well enough to not require another border on it.  This is the top on my grass (don't look at the brown spots--this is California, after all, where watering the grass is a big no-no)



and on the bed!  The colors look so different!  This is a great project to undertake.  I loved making it.  Never got sick of it!  My blocks are 3" finished and I used the companion angle ruler (and the Accuquilt) to cut the quarter-square triangles.  This is a Bonnie Hunter design.


I'm also happy to share the block I made for Moda's Blockheads II... This is block #3... I'm doing them in patriotic colors!


My plan is to also keep up with Pat Sloan's Splendid Sampler 2 and I'll do those in the same patriotic colors so I can combine the blocks into one quilt!

Next up:  back to my triangle gatherings quilt to get that top together... 
Then what??  It's such a great feeling to finish something but then you have to decide what you're going to work on next!!!  I hate that!!

Got some wool!

Thanks to the many suggestions I received (via email...thanks), I was able to find sources of wool and ordered the green and brown that I needed.  

Happily, they arrived really quickly, too.





The colors are gorgeous, I think, and are perfect for my trees and vines/leaves~!

My friend Claire came over yesterday to sew and she was finishing up a donation quilt.  She's become quite the modern quilter, using solids!  And of course all her quilts are her own designs!

Note of course that Max doesn't like being left out of anything!

I'm busy working on getting the last row of purple on my hourglass quilt... Hopefully I'll get it done this weekend.  Then I'll need to decide if I want to add a border to make it a bit larger...

Have a great weekend!

Need wool?

I'm finding that working on my little Primitive Gatherings blocks is requiring a better variety of greens and brown wools than I have in my stash so I went online (gasp!!!) to shop around.

Didn't have a lot of luck...

So, if you have ever bought wool online and were happy with the results, would you mind sharing the names/sites of where you shopped?? Please email to me:
randyiris@gmail.com (blogger is STILL not sending comments!)

Thanks...