I'm a winner and a finisher!

One of our beautiful granddaughters is on her high school dance team and they performed extremely well at a competition yesterday.  As a fundraiser there were many wonderful raffle baskets that one could win.  I put in several tickets on a loaded Trader Joe's basket and lo and behold, I was the winner!!  I am thrilled with my winnings!

 After coming home from the dance competition, I finished hand sewing the black binding on this quilt that I have depicted before when it was in the WIP stage.  I'm liking this one a lot!

This and that

I was reminded I hadn't blogged for a while, but to tell you the truth, sometimes I wonder whether to keep it up.  We'll see.

This past weekend was the annual quilt retreat that I go to.  What a great time I had with friends, and lots and lots of sewing accomplished.  The following photo is the layout of a quilt one of my friends is making for her daughter.  I think it is just spectacular.  Gotta love that blue and pink!

I worked on a couple different projects, and got a lot of blocks completed, which I will plan to post about another time.

The following photo is a quilt I am nearly done quilting on.  I think I have posted about this at least once before.  At any rate, I was within six blocks of being done quilting the body of the quilt, and darn it all, anyway, if I didn't run out of thread.  I did manage to find a pretty good match, so completed that and am half done quilting the border.  I'll post again when it's bound and totally completed.

 I signed up to take a Beginning Wool Applique class with a friend.  That class was Monday, and truthfully, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.  It is a fun process.  We all were to purchase a small kit and mine is a Buttermilk Basin kit. 

Progress being made

I now have 56 of these blocks completed and am in the process of trimming them a bit and testing layouts.  Laying them out is enough to make my head spin!  I will eventually have something I am satisfied with.  Sorry the quality of the photo is not so great.

Fat Quarter Shop BOM

Yesterday a friend called my attention to the Fat Quarter Shop BOM shown below and told me she had signed up.  I generally don't do BOMs where the fabric is provided, but this one I'm a real sucker for, so it didn't take but a few moments to decide to go for it.  A different designer will design each block.  It looks like tons of fun, and I love what I'm seeing.  Don't you think it is cute?  The website is

http://www.fatquartershop.com/2015-designer-mystery-block-of-the-month 

Sewing day

Today was a special day.  My friend Kelly came over and we went to lunch (first things first, you know), and then spent the afternoon sewing.  Kelly has come over a couple Mondays a month for several years and we have a great time eating and visiting and sewing.  Yes, we actually do get quite a bit accomplished. 

These are some of the blocks I worked on today.  I have 56 blocks now that I need to stitch around the circles with black blanket stitch and then put the top together using black and white sashing.  I saw a quilt much like what I'm doing hanging in a quilt shop and thought "I could do that," so purchased some more black and white and bright fat quarters and here we are.  I'm getting excited now to get it all put together.

Beach time!

Two wonderful days spent on the coast at Gleneden, OR.  This is one of my favorite areas to stay, as it is off the highway and very small, making it a great place to walk and walk, with the beach being right there and very few cars on the roads.  

 

The sunset photo was taken from our balcony, so our view was spectacular. 

I worked a bit on my turtle wallhanging that I purchased the supplies for when we were in Hawaii in April.  It will eventually be finished - I hope.  The pattern is "Herd of Turtles" by Pacific Rim Quilt  Company.  It is a two-fabric applique pattern.  

http://www.pacificrimquiltco.com/images/quilts/herd-of-turtles-300.jpg

Top is done!

I have long wanted to make a Hunter's Star quilt, and I finally did it.  I would have liked it to be a bit bigger, but I was running out of some of the fabrics.  It turned out to be fairly easy construction using the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star ruler.  So that's one thing that I can scratch off my quite extensive list of quilts I want to make.  Now I need to sandwich it and figure out how I want to quilt it.  In the meantime, on to other projects...

Disappearing Pinwheel

I mentioned a few days ago that I was tempted to make a disappearing hourglass quilt, and then I discovered the disappearing pinwheel pattern (tutorial and pattern here:  

http://tinyurl.com/obya7a7 ) .   I was intrigued, to say the least, and made a DPW block.  It was super easy and I love the way it comes out.    I like how it's depicted on several images I saw with the DPW blocks surrounded by a plain border and then a border of pinwheels.  I think that will be a project in my future (not too distant though, probably).

Dove Tales and Mt. Hood

A while back a friend and I were at a quilt show and one of the vendors was a quilt designer who was one of our very early quilt teachers.  Her name is Pam McMahon and she was a wonderful teacher and is a very talented designer.  We each bought a pattern.  I had a terrible time deciding, but eventually chose Dove Tales.  Her website is piecebypiecequiltdesigns.com .  I didn't see the Dove Tales pattern on her website (of course I could have missed it), but there is contact info if anyone wanted that pattern.

I decided to make a test block and love how it came out.  I am not using layer cakes, as she did, but I was able to cut what I needed from scrap yardage with no issues at all.  Anyway, I am pleased with the result and looking forward to making 19 or maybe 20 (depending on whether I use the test block) more blocks.

This photo of Mt. Hood was shared yesterday.  The credit goes to Oregon Mt. Hood Territory.  "Our" mountain is just stunning in its beauty!

Tough decision!

A while back I saw a couple photos of completed disappearing hourglass quilts, and I was smitten!  There is a tutorial here by the Missouri Star Quilting Company.
http://tinyurl.com/l8jpvm8   

 Then, today a friend showed me the Disappearing Pinwheel and I really fell for that one.  http://tinyurl.com/kqrjpvz

I think they are both beautiful, and since I can't decide yet which one I want to do, I guess I will start making primitive patchworks' "Prairie Baskets."  I bought this pattern last week after I saw a sample made up in our LQS.  I have PLENTY of fabric to make it without purchasing more, and after I use some of my stash the dent in my fabric supply will not even be noticeable!!   primitive patchworks is a local pattern company and I don't find them on the web at all.

More quilts from 2014

I was looking at photos and decided to share a few more quilts that I completed in 2014.

 First, I hope all will have a very Happy, Healthy New Year!

A viewer asked me about a quilt pattern from my blog, so I decided on this last day of 2014 to post again (that is, if I can figure out how to do it after all this time.)  The four photos are some of the quilts from 2014.  The following quilt was in a magazine, and it hangs in the summer in our dining area.

 This quilt I had wanted to make for a long time.  It is "Shakespeare in the Park" by Judy Martin.

 

This quilt was made for our grandson who is an avid New Orleans Saints fan.  Unfortunately, the Saints sort of crashed and burned this year, but he loved the quilt.

I made two of these snowmen table toppers for our two daughters-in-law.

The wanderer has returned

What a wonderful vacation we had!  Now before I tell how many miles we put on our car, you need to know that we love road trips.  So here it is:  5446 miles!  At some point I will share a few photos from our travels, but first, I had made arrangements with my quilting friend in Kansas, Linda from Linda Quilts to meet her and her husband at a restaurant in Holdrege, NE.  We had a great breakfast, and then we went to Quilter's Delight, which is so accurately named!  There is so much fabric and lovely samples!  The lady who owns the shop was very, very nice.  The two photos below are of Linda and I in front of the shop.  Needless to say, I parted with some cash here.  I was almost out the door when I saw something else I just had to have. It was so nice to see Linda and her husband again.  

I have long been a fan of Pearl Louise patterns, so when we went through Rapid City, SD, I just had to stop at her shop, the Thimble Cottage.  What a wonderful shop this is!  The displays are stunning, and so many beautiful quilts on display to tempt the browser.  Unfortunately, when I arrived, it was nearing closing time, but maybe it's a good thing I didn't have more browsing time.  I came away with a book that has a great snowman quilt pattern that I think I will have to make.

How did they get so big? and Memorial Day

It's been a while since I've posted pictures of all four of our grandchildren, so without further ado, here are the four we consider to be the best grandkids ever.

Here are our older son's children.  They are ages 13 and 10.  This picture was taken in Central Park when we were there in April.  

And now the other two.  They are our younger son's children, ages 12 and 7.  Our granddaughter was in a choral performance, and this picture was taken shortly after.

I've been working on making blocks for a quilt for the little guy.  It's his turn to receive one, and he wants a sports quilt.  I have several different prints depicting the sports he has played in.  It will be a pretty busy quilt, but one I think he will like.

I hope all have had a good Memorial Day weekend.  I saw the following on Facebook, and hopefully the photographer doesn't mind my borrowing it.  It is so poignant and powerful, and such a strong reminder of the cost at which our freedom has come.  We visited Arlington National Cemetery when we were in the Washington D.C. area recently, and that was a very, very sobering experience.

Project Linus, this and that, Kobe and Lance

Let me introduce you to Lance on the left and Kobe on the right.  Our two seventh grade grandchildren came to me asking for help because for a book report on a famous person, they had to make a puppet or doll depicting that person.  The teacher said it had to be hand made.  You couldn't buy a doll and dress it.  She said that in past years many students made their dolls using a water bottle as a base for the body.  To say I was skeptical is putting it mildly, but since I didn't have anything better to offer, we went for that.  It actually worked out quite well.  Lance additionally had a bicycle made out of hanger wire, and Kobe had a basketball that started as a ping pong ball.  The kids did most of the work, and were pleased with how they turned out.  Unfortunately, during the oral book report, when Kobe was demonstrating a dunk, he knocked his head off.  Apparently that made for quite a bit of laughter.

I have not been getting as much quilting done as I frequently do.  What with Lance and Kobe and grandchildren's basketball, softball and baseball games, we seem to keep pretty busy.  Then, of course, there's the fact that I don't make near as good use of my time as I could.

I did get this Carpenter's Star quilt made for Project Linus.  It was a fun project.  A friend of mine was making one, and I liked it.  My half square triangles finished at 5 inches, but the fun thing is you can go with any size.  

 I put this quilt together and quilted it, but the blocks were a group effort with our guild.  It's not a very big quilt, but hopefully some little girl will enjoy it.

And now, since I've been MIA for a while, I need to go catch up on what other bloggers have been doing.

Applique blocks

Some time ago I took a Hawaiian Quilting class from quiltuniversity.com.  I appliqued and hand quilted another one of these, and it was done in a green batik.  I enjoyed it, and decided to do another.  So this one is now ready to be sandwiched and hand quilted.  The size will be approximately 20 inches square.

 I saw this Lori Smith pattern in the current Fons and Porter magazine and knew immediately that I wanted to make it.  I hand appliqued it, and it also is ready for sandwiching and quilting.  My current thought is that I will hand quilt it also, but that could change.  It measures 12-1/2 by 12-1/2 inches, so isn't a very big project.  I thoroughly enjoy hand applique, but readily admit my skills definitely need some  work.

Hubby and I have been very, very busy with our four grandchildren.  We had two of them over the long weekend, and then between the four of them, there seems to be at least one sporting event every evening and several on weekends.  Mind you, we're not complaining.  We love them all dearly and are very, very thankful that they all live so closely.

Salmon season

 This has been a good week for salmon fishing here on the Willamette River in Portland.  The first picture is DH with his catch on Tuesday.

Here is our 13 year old DGS with his catch from today.  He made good use of his day off from school.

 And then here is our DS with his catch when he and my DH were out on Tuesday.

Quilting-related, I've finished some hand applique work, one of which has been partially done for several months.  I need a lot more practice, but I do enjoy it, and plan to do more.

Back home again

How sweet it is to be home again!  We had a wonderful trip, but home is always best.

Now, I'll post a few photos from the Washington DC portion of our trip.

This picture shows part of the WWII Memorial.  I included this photo because on the day we were there, some organization had bussed in several busloads of WWII vets and family members.  What a privilege to get to see those folks who had served at that time view the Memorial and be able to say thank you to a few of them.

And the White House!  Alas, we weren't invited in for coffee.

And here is a very somber view of a portion of the Vietnam Memorial wall.  All of the wall could not be encompassed in the photo.  The names of the casualties cover the segments of the wall and go on and on and on...  Very, very sobering - the high cost of war.

While we were gone, my good friend Linda of   http://lindaquilts-too.blogspot.com/ gave me a "Liebster Blog" award.  Thank you, Linda, I am honored.  I love following your blog and reading about you, your family and all those lovely quilting projects you create.

And now I'm off to sew down some binding on my bunny quilt.  Hopefully by tomorrow or the next day I can get a photo of it to share.  It turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so  myself.

A Festival of Quilts

My friend Sue and I went to a quilt show in Portland on Saturday.  What a lot of eye candy we saw!  Here are a few photos.

 Isn't this just about the cutest thing ever at a quilt show?

As you can see, the above quilt won four top ribbons.  One was best piecing, another best machine quilting, and I think one was Judges' Choice, and I can't remember the other.  It was one of the most beautiful quilts I have ever seen.  The following two  photos show in more detail some of the work.  The quilter had placed some brown and blue crystals in a few strategic place, but did not overdo it at all.  I just love the border that she used - I think it's the storm at sea pattern, but I'm not sure.  It's definitely not a quick and easy border.

 This was a sampler that I liked.  

This was done by a lady I know (can't remember her last name - sorry Nidra).  It's a Judy Niemeyer pattern.  She did such a great job on it.

 The following quilts were made by Carol Brown, who was the featured quilter.  She loves hand applique and does an outstanding job with it.  We loved all her quilts, and when we were looking at the lasts one, she came up to us and asked to step further away so we could see how the star kind of explodes outward.  It did make quite a difference.  That quilt is made up of approximately 1-1/2 inch half-square triangles.  She said it was one of her early efforts and she didn't understand value like she does now.  It looks mighty good to me though!

 Love this paper pieced wall hanging.

 This landscape quilt has the look of an English cottage.