One huge finish

The drive up and back to the cabin takes a total of at least 16 hrs!  Lots of time for hand-sewing.  My goal this trip was to finish this freebie from Primitive Gatherings last summer.

I'm delighted to share the finished project with you.  I learned a lot about embroidering straight lines... not as easy as it looks!


I think it'll lend itself to some great quilt magic by my long-arm quilter.  I'm really excited that it's done and I do love how it came out.  If you're interested in inheriting the patterns, let me know.  I'm surely not going to make it again.

This week I tackled the Cheddarback quiltalong by Sentimental Stitches.  I'm still going to shop around for sashing for these blocks and am optimistic I'll find something in Maine at Cyndi Black's shop!  Very excited for that trip!  I've decided I need to use more pink and brown, which is the primary color theme this month.

The reddish background fabric is from a very small scrap of fabric I got in France when I was there for the Ste Marie aux Mines quilt show years ago.  Fun to remember the source of fabric, isn't it??

This week is the end of kindergarten for little Emma and my daughter encouraged me to donate a quilt to her teacher.  Well, I didn't have any trouble finding one that I thought she'd like.  This was my own pattern, using left-over strips that I use for strings. I volunteered many times in the classroom so I was happy to give her very loving and patient teacher one of my quilts.


Have to share the picture of the graduate with me!  Yes, she is missing her two front teeth!  The kids had to draw a self-portrait and say what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Hers?  A cow-girl!! Gotta love this little one.

Another child's donation quilt

I was determined to pull out a UFO and get something DONE so I brought along a baggie with a few blocks I'd started at least 5 years ago but never went very far.

The block is called Anita's Arrowhead (or maybe Hot Cross Buns) and is super easy.  Credit has to go to Debbie Frey from Atlanta who showed me how to make this block during one of our retreats near Atlanta.  My blocks finish at 9".  The block starts with 2 fabrics cut at 8-1/2".  If you're interested, in can post the instructions.  Super simple and quick!



I had extra blocks so I put them on the back!  The quilt is destined for a 5-10 yr old.  A lot of the fabrics are just fun kid prints.


I never seem to get as much done on my trips to the cabin as I plan.  Oh well.  It's been just gorgeous here.

Yesterday, I volunteered to pour beer at the Sunriver Brewfest, which was a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity.  I snuck away from the beer taps long enough to get this fabulous picture of the sunset over Mt Bachelor.  Everything is reflected in the river just in front of me.


And just to contrast, this is what it looked like mid-afternoon!


We head back to California tomorrow and will have lots of babysitting time for the next week as Emma is done with school a week before her brothers so she'll be staying with us for the week!  I am sure there will be lots of trips to see the horses (her favorite thing!).  We are also determined to get her riding her 2-wheeled bike on her own before they come up to Sunriver over July 4th!

Have a great week!  My May mini is almost done!!

More art for inspiration

Remember I went to the Monet exhibit in San Francisco when it first opened?  Well, this is the last weekend it's in SF so I took my free time yesterday and dashed in for a last look at some of these beauties.  Because of the way the show was presented, a viewer was given an amazing opportunity to get pretty close to each painting to see details, brush strokes, little bits of color here and there.  I also found myself so impressed with the job of curating an exhibit such as this, with paintings assembled from all over the world!

Each time I look at them, I see something different.  This time I was noticing the colors  strategically put in different locations through the painting.  For instance, can you see the purple put very discreetly throughout?






In this one, with the bridge over the pond, I found it so interesting to see how he painted the foliage in and around the bridge railings... it looked so real.


This time I noticed this painting which seemed a bit more abstract compared to the others. What spectacular use of colors!


I was helping my daughter with her kids this week so I had time in San Francisco to wander around, including the trip to the DeYoung Museum, to which I have a membership.
I wandered a neighborhood and picked up a salad and took it down to the Marina, an area right on the water, and enjoyed my lunch watching the boats, birds and water.


San Francisco is truly a beautiful city that I enjoy very much.  On that note, I'm heading up to our cabin in Oregon this weekend for a week visiting friends, checking on my mom and doing some hiking!  Have a great weekend.

I am especially grateful to our servicemen and women this weekend for their sacrifices!  

Another quick kid's quilt

I'm on a roll.  Posting on my blog!  Getting tops done!  Cleaning my sewing room!  WOOHOO.  Amazing what you can get done when you aren't babysitting or traveling!!  That being said, I am heading to SF today to babysit the kids the next few days; they are coming to our house for the weekend and then my dh and I are heading up to the cabin in Oregon.  YEAH!  

I whipped up a top for the kid's group using a large panel I bought last year.  I cut them into 8" squares and added sashing.  I even pieced a few pinwheels to add to the mix so it'd at least look somewhat creative!



I had a great crayon fabric for the backing and off it went to the long-arm quilters for their magic!  It was fun and, honestly, I am happy to get something done for a change.  These monthly blocks are making me feel very ineffective.  Piles of blocks waiting for assembly.

That being said, I did make a few more blocks for the Moda Blockheads II project.  My color theme is red/white/blue, in case you can't tell.  VBG  I am way behind but that's ok.


And I did this month's Cheddarback blocks (or at least my version).  I'm still thinking about the sashing I'm going to us.  I need 3 yds so I will have to buy something or mix it up, which isn't bad either, right??


I decided to change up the 2 baskets since many people posted on Facebook that they were struggling with getting them to be the right size.  I figured that I didn't need to have them exactly like they said since it's my quilt after all and no one is going to compare it and say that a block here or there varies from the original.  Right??   I found patterns for the baskets in one of my all-time favorite books:  Around The Block.  GREAT resource!

I also sold a few piles of fat quarter bundles I'd bought years ago at Quilt Market.  There is still one left.  It's Hope Chest by Laundry Basket Quilts.  There are 24 fat quarters which I'd like to sell for $1.25/ea so $30 for the bundle. (plus shipping).  Let me know if you're interested.

Of course getting rid of about 200 fat quarters did not make a dent in the stash;  nor did the three little quilts I finished recently.  :-))

But I'm hoping it made some room for any possible purchases I make in the future.  My friend Claire and I are heading to Maine and Vermont for the quilt show at the end of June (and a visit first with Wendy Reed and Cyndi Black!).
Anyone else going?  Also wondering about stops/shops we shouldn't miss between Portland Maine and Burlington Vermont... Claire wants to go to Keepsake Quilting but other than that, we have days to just wander and shop!!  Doesn't that sound like heaven??  We are hoping to find some antique shops as well.  That is always fun.  Or and restaurants??!! Or hiking trails??

Orphan blocks together at last

I was inspired by a picture posted by Wendy Reed this week, putting together some orphan blocks.  Another person I follow on social media challenged his fans to make something original.  Since we do not have the grandkids this weekend, I had an abundance of time to play in my sewing room, something I haven't done in ages.

I decided to pull out some orphan blocks and use a great Di Ford stripe fabric I've had and only recently "found" after cleaning my sewing room (another bonus of having free time!).  I'm going to use that sashing fabric for the binding as well rather than add another skinny border.  Hope you can see my birds on the top and bottom!



It was fun;  I used blocks that have been in a drawer for years!  I used tiny tiny half square triangles buried in a little bowl;  I used orange peel blocks I've been sewing on drives to Oregon for years;  some blocks were from swaps years ago.

I didn't make a dent in my orphan block drawer.  I also have a cubby of extra half square triangles in baggies (there are a LOT), which is where I found the bow-ties.  But I also found a pile of patterns from years ago!  EGAD...

I'm also working on the Cheddarback blocks for this month.  I have seen that many quilters have struggled with one of the blocks and I'm pretty tempted to make my own version instead of killing myself.  It's my quilt afterall, right??

I'll post a picture of those 5 blocks tomorrow.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Donation quilt

I know you're shocked I'm posting two days in a row!! :-))  Please don't faint!

I finished the donation quilt yesterday and love how it turned out.  I had bought a panel on sale at Primitive Gatherings near San Diego in February.  I think this was designed to be a book.

My plan all along was to cut it into blocks and sew sashings.   I didn't think when I was cutting, kind of in a zone...and cut them all the same size.  OOPS... So then I just cut cornerstones, which I actually like anyway.



I also had a fabulous Alexander Henry flannel which I cut for the backing.  It'll be a great quilt for a child.

Our group also made string blocks recently and I took some extra fabric home with me.  My friend organized this by giving everyone a strip of black and white polka dots for the center.  She also cut a backing/stabilizer out of a very light-weight fabric, to which we sewed the strips.  It was a great idea to do it that way;  there is some cohesion in the blocks and I like that idea.  I may do that with my trip around the world blocks, if I ever sew them together!  HEHE

I only brought enough home to make 6 more blocks!  I think someone already put a lot of them together to make one quilt so this will add to the next one they're putting together.  Everyone in the group sewed these blocks one day together during our meeting.  What a great idea!~


What next?  I'm feverishly trying to get one of my wool appliqué projects put together.  I'm really sick of having lots and lots of blocks here and there but unassembled.  I may start a new strategy next year.  Know what I mean??

And who knows?  Maybe I'll post again this week!  We were supposed to go visit our son in Quantico but the marines are keeping him very busy so we decided to put the trip off.  So I got a gift of an extra 5 days and a weekend with no plans.  SEWING.  And it's even raining here in Northern California, which is UNHEARD of.  It never rains in California after rainy season... so it's even more perfect!

Pam Buda monthly installment

Having felt slightly chastised (Just kidding, Wendy!!) for jumping out of order on the Pam Buda project, I went back into the correct order and made the next project, which was another pin cushion.  You can never have too many pin cushions, right??  They are fast, easy and useful!



The fabric I used was a little different--the  pink was from a purchase of Dutch fabric I bought in St. Marie aux Mines several years ago.  I love the colors.

My friend Claire came over this week and sewed the binding down on a charitable donation quilt she put together.  It's really perfect as a donation!  Those were orphan blocks, if you can believe it.  Someone made the blocks but never assembled the quilt.  Honestly I think I have a pile of those types of blocks myself waiting for assembly.  Anybody else?? vbg


Yesterday I went to the small quilt group meeting I belong to and was so impressed by the productivity of this group.  They had piles of about 40 quilts they were delivering to an organization that sponsors kids from families with cancer.  I felt very inadequate because I haven't finished a single quilt to donate.  I'll show you what I did to remedy that in the next day or so!


Here are a couple of quilts that weren't part of that pile!




This pattern is called scrapbox chevron.  It's really cute.

I'm going to go finish my donation project so I can finally say I have gotten something done!!  I will show you the finished project later this week.  We were supposed to go visit our son in Quantico this weekend but the Marines are keeping him ultra-busy so we have to change it.  That means I have a weekend with no plans! We're still hoping we'll get the grandkids for part of the time (I know...)