Just a little progress

The rest of our kids left on Sunday so I had some time to sit down and get some sewing done.

We did have a wonderful time having our grandkids visit us here at the cabin and feel very blessed to have been able to enjoy them.

I have been participating in a small challenge  with some friends and I was able to put on the first border yesterday!



my next attachment will be a darker border (brown, I think) before I add on the next real border...we are using both flying geese and half square triangles.  I am thinking I may do the flying geese last to pick up the theme from the center.  I saw a really cute pattern for using hsts on the Mood Blockheads 3 project, which I think I may adopt.

I also got some more placements done (although now that the company is gone, I don't really need to make more... I may incorporate them into a different project.






I haven't sewn them together yet so I'm open to a different project suggestion, if you have one.  These are quick blocks and kind of fun to sew.

I'm heading to the Bay Area today to pick up our mail and take care of some things back in California.  I did make a big mistake, though:  I intended to get up at 6:00 am but I misread my alarm clock and was out of bed at 5:00!  When I realized it, I was already dressed!  I think I may need a nap later!

I'm hoping to get some sewing done so will share my progress!

More log cabins

We have been having our kids and grandkids visiting us at the cabin for the past 3 weeks so I haven't been able to get very much sewing done.  That's a good thing.

Before they arrived, I did whip up some more new placemats while on my log cabin binge!





I had fun picking the centers as well as the fabric for the strips.

I started 3 more but didn't get very far.

Everyone will be leaving Sunday so my life will go back to normal at the cabin here in very HOT Central Oregon.  Our house will be quiet and a bit empty.  But they of course go back to their real lives~!

Here are 4 of the 5 kids!


On a sad note, my mom's memory care facility unfortunately had a case of Covid 19 from one of the employees, which in turn spread to over 30 residents, including my mom, who tested positive but is asymptomatic.  We are keeping our fingers crossed and hope that all the residents will recover.  Thank you for your good wishes!!

It's a log cabin kind of week

Can't believe it's the end of June!  We've been at the cabin over 3 months already!  Love being here for the change of seasons, although it was hailing two days ago!!  Not warm on a consistent basis...doesn't bother me.

I had participated in a sewalong last month where we made a bunch of log cabin blocks.  I decided to use mine in a different way.  First I made a cover for my sewing machine and called it my June Mini!! That was for Wendy Reed (constantquilter)!



I enjoyed making the log cabin blocks and kept going-- then I made two placemats for our table!




You can see that I got a bit bolder with the second set of blocks!  They are 6" and my strips are 1-1/4" unfinished.

Our daughter has been staying with us after having decided that life in a studio apartment in San Francisco wasn't so great.  It's been one of the silver lining results of Covid--we've had a chance to spend lots of time with her.
Anyway, she wanted to know where was HER placemat??!!  So I started on more log cabin blocks this week.  She was very particular about the colors, though!!


Our son has now arrived at the cabin with his family so I'll need to make more placemats, I think.  It'll be a little harder with two little kids, though, so I don't expect to be getting much sewing done.

Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe!

A challenge and more houses

I am doing a small challenge with a group of friends and I spent a lot of time trying to decide on my center.  I finally found a block I was attracted to from the book Autumn Bouquet by Sharon Keightley and went about working on it.

In cleaning out my sewing room in our California house, I came across a bundle of pinks and browns that I bought at Quilt Market many years ago and decided that was the perfect fabric!



I actually went into the local quilt store yesterday for the right color thread to do the applique and found that pink print which I've laid the block onto.  The pinks aren't bright but are kind of soft.  I also got to use a printed background I've had (I've been collecting them for a while).  I fussy cut the center of the flowers (which were from the print I used in last month's mini!).

I feel like this is the culmination of modern technology:  I paper pieced the flying geese;  I machine appliqued the stems, flowers and leaves.  I did use freezer paper for the applique pieces.  I don't think you can really tell that I used my machine to sew the pieces down.  Of course hand appliqué would look spectacular, but I'm too impatient busy to spend the time doing that.


I've also done more houses and it's almost looking like a neighborhood! I'm enjoying these blocks and like using brights!  I would like to add some trees too, if I can figure out how to make them the right size!  These are the Moda houses.


I had printed out the pattern for this fun block, looking like a propeller. I'm going to make mine all loud and fun!


More kayaking this week but I found a small tear in the bottom of my boat so I had to drop it off to be repaired.  It explained why I had water in the bottom of the boat! ;-)

Hope you are having a great week and staying safe.  We are still very happy staying in our cabin in Central Oregon;  our daughter came back up to stay and work from home here rather than in her small studio apartment in San Francisco so it's nice to have her with us!

It was this time last year that Claire and I were in Vermont for the quilt show with Wendy Reed and Barb Vedder.  We are all sad it's not happening this year but we're looking forward to being together again next year, if not before!

A little of this and that

Today was my first time this year heading out on my kayak.  It was a gorgeous day and the lake we went to was spectacular.  Now that Janet O. taught me how to change my picture on my blog, I was able to show you my view.

I have done a little sewing, although not much.

I fished out two ufos from at least 10-15 yrs ago.  I don't even know when I made these tops.  I added borders to them to make them large enough to donate to the kids' quilt group I belong to.  I dropped them off at a friend's and felt good about contributing something during this time.  I also had two other tops ready to go.  I'm showing you the before and after!


My recollection is that this was a pattern from Quilter's Newsletter many years ago.  I was supposed to make 4 sides of flying geese;  I obviously stalled after the first one.  I took it off and added a border instead.



Then in cleaning out a closet, I came across this small piece.  I honestly have absolutely NO idea when I made it. It's a cute pattern but it was too small for a child so I added some fun fabrics to it:
Before:


the most amazing find was that I  still had some of that center cute fabric and I FOUND it!

so this is what I came up with:




We spent two weekends in California and got to have our grandkids stay overnight.  That was great fun.

We are now back in Central Oregon, sheltering in place. Except for going out on the kayak!

Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

Another small finish

With my newfound strategy to do a little hand sewing each day, I am happy to say that I finished another block in the Primitive Gatherings Twilight project.  I have another block ready to work on so that's progress, right?

Once again, my center is not exactly in the center (well, the middle of the center is a little off!).  I need to perfect my technique on the centers, I think. VBG



I really am enjoying wool appliqué and I'd encourage you to try it if you have never done it.  So much easier than needle turn (no offense, Wendy Reed!! [constantquilter])

And in my spare time, I decided to make some houses!!  They are sure fun, although I don't have the same variety of fun fabrics here at the cabin.












Hope you are staying healthy and safe!
ps: Max's haircut was finished yesterday!  He looks like a new dog! Short hair and sort of even. vbg

We have a winner...and more!

Thanks to all who showed an interest in having that curved ruler.  My random number picker chose RUTH.

Please send me your snail mail address so I can send it on to you.

I haven't gotten a lot of sewing done this past week.    Our middle daughter came to visit us this past week so I was hardly in the sewing room. That was a great surprise to us--she's been holed up in a very small studio apartment in SF since mid March so it was good for her to get out!

 I did decide on a project for the use of the log cabin blocks I made (I think I made 25 blocks);  the good news is that I completely depleted all the small 4-patches in the centers so I think I can call that ufo completely finished!!  I have two machines set up in my sewing room and have been using old pillow cases draped over them when not in use.  I decided that enough was enough and I whipped up a sewing machine cover for my 1130 Bernina.  This is going to be my June mini for Wendy's mini challenge.  WOOHOO.  I"m ahead...miracles do happen!



Hope you're having a great weekend.  We had a really freak storm this afternoon here at the cabin.  It went from a toasty 80* to 55* in an hour, with the clouds turning almost black, the wind picked up, the rain started pelting the house and hail flew everywhere. And then it was over!!


Here is your funny story for the day:
Our dog, Max, has needed a haircut for a while.  Golden Retriever?  LOTS of hair.  So I finally sat down to trim him (I'm not very good at it, truth be told).  Decided after half hour to change the blades and OOPS...the darn thing fell apart!  So poor Max (who doesn't look in the mirror) has a small portion of his coat trimmed pretty short--the rest is still long and bushy. YIKES...
I'm hoping DH will figure out how to put the blades back together so I can finish his haircut!