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!  

Time for a change and a giveaway

You will no doubt notice the change of header on my blog--of course it's completely the wrong size but I wanted to try to change it.

Thanks to Janet Olson for helping me even get this far~  Now I need to figure out how to resize the picture.  I remember doing it originally but that's a long-gone memory.

If you know how to resize a picture on a blog, PLEASE give me your email address so I can pick your brain.

Now for the fun part!!  I was cleaning my sewing room here at the cabin and realized I have TWO of the QCR Mini quick curve rulers.  I bought it twice (I have to admit that I haven't used either one!)
https://www.amazon.com/Sew-Kind-Wonderful-SKW50570-Ruler/dp/B00D02J9P2/ref=sr_1_2?crid=37PWXKA1FZWNW&dchild=1&keywords=quick+curve+ruler&qid=1590257494&sprefix=quick+curve%2Caps%2

If you're interested in owning this ruler, please leave me a comment and tell me what's the best thing you've gained throughout this quarantine, shelter in place, period.  I have found many "silver linings" during this period and I'm curious to hear yours.

I'll draw a winner on Tuesday.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

A silver lining

I have always had more of the "glass is half full" type of approach to life so even though I'm not enjoying all the restrictions, I have found many reasons to appreciate the time we've been forced to shelter in place.  You'll not find me complaining about any of this, honestly.

One such part of my enjoying this period has been my walking.  What a friend and I devised was a walk and talk time every day at 2:00 where we talk on the phone (she's in California) and I'm still in Oregon.  We've been doing this since we first left California on March 16th, so two months.  That's about 25 miles/week.  Our cabin is situated in a resort area surrounded by woods so my 5 mile walk every day is around the perimeter of the property.  It's literally a walk through the woods.  I do the same walk every day, although I vary which direction I walk and where I enter the woods!  Never feel tired of it.

Last week I felt like my feet were feeling super flat before I set out.  Finally, I realized, AH HA, I may need new shoes.  So, now that Bend has opened up a bit, I went into town on Sunday (actually went into a store) and bought myself a new pair of shoes. WOW!  What a difference!
And I won't likely lose them any time soon!  BRIGHT!!

A girl's socks should match her shoes, right?  So fortunately I have orange socks to match the shoes!  Aren't they great?  They are the Hoka brand and I've really enjoyed them.  HUGE difference.

Not only me but my friend, who I've been "walking" with these past 2 months, also realized her back and leg aches might be due to needing new shoes and she, of course, got the SAME ones.  If only we were walking together in real life, right??  VBG

On the sewing front, I've worked on my next mini.  I am not sure if the one I just finished was the April or May mini, actually.  This one just needs to be sewn together and quilted.

As part of my effort to use up leftover pieces, the center 4-patches were from that same quilt project with the teeny-tiny 4-patches I just posted.
There is another pile of 4-patches left over from the same project so I'm also making log cabin blocks out of them.  Unfortunately the centers don't pop out, but I'm trying to use up some ufo/orphan materials so I'll live with it.




Did I show you the cute little house I made?  I printed out the free pattern but only made one.  Of course I kind of screwed it up and put the door upside down.  Oh well.


And my trip around the world is done for now.  I'm making this for the small quilt group I belong to as a donation for a child.  It'll have to wait until we can meet again but I'm going to put it together and set it aside until we head back to California in June.


You will remember that I've been working on a Primitive Gatherings wool applique giant quilt, mostly sewing in the car.  I had a brilliant idea (actually I heard it from someone else) to hand sew, even just 15 minutes a day.  So I pulled my car project out and set it on a chair by the window and have been working just a few minutes each day on a little hand sewing.  We just put up a bird feeder outside on a tree and I'm enjoying watching the little chickadees (they are the only takers so far!) fly up to the seed, nibble, and fly away.


The project is sitting on a wool throw quilt that I knitted some years ago.  I lay under it in case I need a little nap in the afternoon! ;-)  And the weather here in Central Oregon is still pretty chilly so I had the fireplace going this morning!

Hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and feeling good!  I wish you all good things, feelings and health!

It's a good day in the neighborhood

The sun is out.  WOOHOO.
And, best news yet, Oregon is starting to open up. I'm not sure what to do first! VBG.  I think the local quilt store is requiring reservations to come and shop.  I think I'll wait on that one.

I was motivated this week by the Mini Maven Mainiac, Miss Wendy Reed [constantquilter], to get my May mini done!  I found some orphan blocks in a drawer and decided to set them using some DiFord fabric (I believe it's her design) I had.  I have accumulated a fair amount of border/stripe type fabrics that I've yet to use.  VOILA!!  

What's interesting about this mini is that I have the original quilt here at the cabin.  Same blocks that are set differently.


I'm not sure you can see the binding fabric very well.  This fabric had two different prints side by side:  the floral and the ribbon.  I decided to use the ribbon for the binding (well, I had to cut them off anyway to get the floral strips cut).  I'm calling this Tic Tac Toe!!

Here is the original quilt.  The blocks are 4" finished, by the way. So each little 4-patch is 1".  I made this as part of a swap maybe 5-6 years ago.  The original pattern was called Dipped in Chocolate.  I can't remember where it came from though.

I think it's so interesting to see the difference between the two with just the setting.  Same exact blocks!  I actually prefer the setting with the floral print.  The quilting on the larger quilt is very tight so it's not a particularly soft cuddly quilt.  Oh well.  I have already hung up my mini on my wall and I think it adds lots of perkiness, if that's a word!

I have also been making more of the trip around the world blocks and the album blocks.  I'm hoping to get enough done to put them together into a quilt maybe this weekend.  I'm meeting my long arm quilter friend next week so hope to give her one.

Do you see the horseshoe in the upper right corner?  That was a project little Emma made last summer in horseback riding camp so I decided to hang it on my design wall.



We did go back to California over last weekend to see all our kids.  I hold Mother's Day very dear to my heart every year so I didn't want to miss it.  We had our grandkids staying overnight and they loved that too.  No one is sick so we feel okay about being together.  This is me with all 5 grandkids;  the baby wasn't too happy about being in the picture!


Hope you are all well and healthy and safe.  This too shall pass--hopefully sooner rather than later.