A little garden show

 I haven't done much sewing since I went to my son's in Virginia for a couple of weeks to help them out.

And my dh and I had a small trip to North Carolina for business.  We went to a small but very picturesque botanical garden and I'm going to share some gardening photos.

First, one of the most unusual parts of this garden was their display of repurposed ceiling fans.  They had them everywhere, mounted on wooden posts.  I couldn't tell if they were only moving when the wind blew or if they were hard-wired.  This was one of my favorites:

And then there was this, which was fascinating:

Can you guess what this structure is for?

I'm not sure what this bug is, but I enjoyed watching him

And look at this butterfly!  BLUES

Then there were these plants, which were so interesting in textures and shapes,

Check out this lily:

There was a Japanese garden with dozens of Japanese maple trees (my favorite) but this meditation area really caught my eye.  The ground is sand/rocks.  They graded it in such a way as to create a beautiful circular pattern.  Note the tree on the right is a Japanese Crepe Myrtle, which I'd never heard of.  It was immense.

As we were leaving, we were treated to a most spectacular group.  It was unclear to me if it was for an event, if she was a bride or if it was a photo shoot.  But I was mesmerized by the woman.  Unfortunately I couldn't get her face up close but even her make-up was spectacular.

And one last scenery picture.  We stopped at a brewery for lunch (who knew that there were so many breweries in North Carolina??!!. The name of the place was called Bearded Bee Brewing and it was in a very charming small town called Wendell, outside of Raleigh.  I believe the building was a factory and is abandoned now.

I did get some sewing done recently but will save those pictures for my next post.

Fall has definitely hit Central Oregon.  I have had to put on a jacket in the morning and today I needed a coat mid-day to take the pooch out.  He did go for a swim this week, though.

Hope you're having a great week and staying healthy!~

A little quilt show and August mini

 Greetings my dear bloggers!  Hope you are enjoying these last weeks of summer.  Can't believe Labor Day is next week.

I was not able to get much sewing done but I did manage to make two cute washcloths for my grandkids in Virginia!  So I'm calling them my August minis!

One turned out way too large and I didn't care for the yarn.  The second one was getting much too big so I finished it and folded it over and closed the edges up!

This wound up looking Christmassy, which wasn't my plan.  My grandson loves red so that was what I saw when it was all wound up!

This second one is fun.

Both patterns are on Ravelry.  I am going to use the leftover yarn and whip up a couple of others before I leave Virginia.  My grandkids love playing with the washcloths I've knitted over the years.  I'm always the one giving baths to all the kids so knitting them washcloths is entirely appropriate!

Before I came to Virginia last week, I managed to stop by a very small cute quilt show and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Here were my favorites.  Some of the quilting was really well done; not in the sense that it was over-the-top at all!

I thought the piecing on this was really interesting.

This was one block from a quilt with 9 blocks.  I was very impressed with the quilting.

This modern little quilt was awesome and I took a close-up to show the quilting.

I think a closer look reveals that she changed her pattern for each part of the circles.

I also liked this version of a string quilt.  Very random but effective.

On another note, I love to read and just finished a book that I was sorry was over.  Know what I mean?  It's called The Rose Code by Kate Quinn.  Highly recommend it.

I'm flying back to Central Oregon next week where I'm hoping to get lots of kayaking done before the cool weather and fall sets in!  

Have a great week!

xxx

More 6" blocks done

 It's mid-August already.  YIKES

I did finally finish the Sampler Spree blocks that were navy and I enjoyed all of them (I left out the boat, which really didn't speak to me).  I am being very liberal with my alternating colors since this quilt will have many colors.

I've  started the next week's blocks, which are supposed to be coral and purple.  I''m using lavenders and don't have many coral fabrics. Oh well.  I think I'm on week 7 and we are on week 9 already.  Just a little behind.

My granddaughter came to stay with us this weekend and she always enjoys playing with my pins and arranging them in a pin cushion!  This weekend she wanted to play with a variety of the pins and pin cushions and I am always amazed at her creativity.  She turns 9 on Tuesday.  She has been using my Shawnee glass collection this time.  She also seems to enjoy drawing donuts a lot!! ;-)

I went to the local Barnes & Noble bookstore on Friday and came across this adorable book which I really enjoyed reading.  It's a kid's book and I don't think my grandkids would necessarily enjoy it.  I certainly did.  I may have to go back and buy it!

Hope you are all enjoying the last part of summer!

Can it really be fall?

 I know I suggested fall by my July mini but I noticed two trees in the last couple of days where the leaves are already turning!!  This is one of my Japanese Maples -- it's probably one of my favorite trees and I have many!  I was really surprised to see these leaves already orange!

And then on my walk yesterday, I saw this tree!

I am hoping for many more warm days to kayak up in Central Oregon when I get back in early September!

Here's a funny tale!  My new puppy seems to love grabbing my fabrics and running around the house with them!  It's pretty annoying and I have to hide all loose pieces. Let me tell you that he's FAST!  We keep his leash attached so it's possible to grab him when he's running around!

We had him neutered two weeks ago and I'm anxious to see him calming down!  He's a very sweet dog but so strong!! 

Hope you're having a great week. I'm working on my Sampler Spree blocks!  These are some of the navy blocks--I'm two weeks behind but it's not a race, right??  It's really kind of an interesting process--the blocks are pretty basic but are a little different.  I'm enjoying this.  Not sure how they'll all go together since the colors are all over the place.

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!