More Trip Photos

We've been home 2 weeks now and I think I am finally getting organized (somewhat)!  I got all my photos transferred to my computer and want to share a few more.  The first week we went to Kansas to visit DS#3 and his family.  We specifically went for his retirement "ceremony" from the Air Force.  He had retired last year, but because of covid there was no official ceremony, so his colonel had one this June in his home - very casual.  Here is a picture of the cake:

We had fun with our 2 grandsons and went to numerous baseball games and swimming events.  Below is our 10 year old DGS practicing pitching.

I really messed up and didn't get very many good pictures of our 13 year old DGS.

 They also have a dog who is very friendly and has adopted me as his "grandma."  I get up early in the mornings and was sitting near the patio door reading (in the walk out basement) when Olaf was let out into the back yard.  When he saw me sitting near the window he pestered me until I let him inside for a bit.  He likes to get close and thinks he fits in my lap, but that wasn't really possible.

My latest "wild life" pictures are below:

The moth picture was taken in Kansas (he was about 3" long),

and the frog (who was only 1 1/4" long) was taken in Florida under the outside grill.

This little guy was seen this last week on one of my morning walks.  This is only the 2nd time I have seen a raccoon in my neighborhood.

And yes, I have been sewing, but mostly trying to get the sewing room organized as well as making list of what I need to get when I do my birthday shop at the LQS.  Not much to show except these panels of selvedges that I have sewn together.  I didn't know what project to work on, so I just started sewing these together as I do want to make a couple table runners out of them.  I have a lot more sewn together and was trying to sew pieces that were approximately the same length together as well as making separate ones for Christmas fabrics, reproduction fabrics, etc.  I am going to appliqué sun flowers on a table runner and for a Christmas one, I plan to appliqué a santa on each end of a table runner.  I also want to make some other things with the selvedge fabrics but haven't quite made up my mind exactly what yet,  Probably bags and maybe zip pouches.  I still have 2 more bins full of these - I have been saving them for years.  Do you save yours to make things with?  And if so, what do you make?

Hope you are staying cool (or comfortable if you are down under) and able to work on your quilting projects!

TRAVELING OVER: QUILT SHOP REPORT

I had some hand work ready for the long drive from Oregon to Kansas and Florida - and for the long drive home!  I had received this book for my birthday from my sister a few years ago and decided to make the baby quilt pictured on the cover.  My favorite movie is "Miss Potter" so I was excited to get something that has her drawings to use to make something.  I had cut the hexagons before we left and traced the pictures onto the fabric.  I'm lucky to have a DH who looks for quilt shop signs along the road and the first shop that we stopped at was in Wyoming - in a small town in the middle of nowhere!

The shop, Valley Fabric Shop, Urie, Wyoming (population 262 in 2020), was amazing and I could have spent a much longer time perusing their wonderful displays.

                                            

I wanted to find fabrics to use for the Peter Rabbit quilt and I found the fabrics in the picture below.  

This is some of the embroidery that I did while riding down the highways.  I haven't finished all the stitching - especially the eyes on some of them.

After leaving Kansas we were on our way to Florida.  I think I was reading and I felt the car turning around.  I asked DH why he was doing that and he said he wanted to get some coffee - we were in Missouri at the time.  He did get coffee after he dropped me off at this quilt shop.  Look at the caption under the name of the quilt shop.  I did not scream because I didn't see the sign that he saw.

They were having a sale on patterns, panels and books.  I found 2 patterns.  The apron looks easy to make, but the Diamond Log Cabin looks very hard.  It is a 26 1/2" square wall hanging (and there was one hanging in the shop).  That's what I saw and I loved it.  It's all paper pieced, but I'm pretty sure I have enough scraps to make it.  Blue Top Quilt Shop in Lamar, MO is also a wonderful shop with a large variety of fabrics and quilting supplies.

This is the panel I bought.

I got this fabric to make the apron.

And got this fabric just because I liked it.

I will close with this picture of me with Abby, my granddaughter (age 12) and my DIL, Vizo.

 We had a wonderful time on our trip, but are very happy to be back home!  Thanks for visiting!

BEATING THE HEAT IN FLORIDA?!?!?

It's been a while since I have posted because we have been traveling to visit our 2 sons who live in Kansas and Florida.  We had a great time with our son and family in Kansas.  They have 2 boys and we got to go to several baseball games as well as a swim meet.  

Now we are in Florida and will be heading back to Oregon on Monday.  We missed out on the extreme heat in Oregon while we were enjoying the heat and humidity in Florida.  Actually, the temps were higher in Oregon than here during those days.  However, Florida also has much higher humidity and lots more bugs, so it's one thing or the other.

Our son and his wife, along with Abby, 12 years old, live on 2 acres and they enjoy gardening.  My DIL works in the garden a lot while my son works as a registered nurse.  They also have 11 rabbits (they were given 2 female rabbits- or so they thought) and were surprised with 9 bunnies!

Abby is 12 and is going into 8th grade.

The rabbits are a cross between the Rex and Lion head breeds.

I polished Abby's fingernails and she polished my toe nails.

Today we went blue berry picking and will be making blue berry cobbler tomorrow.

Abby likes to sew and I, of course brought my featherweight along on the trip with fabric cut and ready to sew.  I am trying to use up fabric and looked for some patterns that are scrappy with easy blocks.  These blocks filled that requirement and measure at 18".  Abby helped me sew these together and I will be finishing it for her when I get home.

                            

Here she is working on some blocks for another project.  

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you are enjoying the summer and are able to get some quilting too!

 

Strips, Strips and More Strips!

 I have been obsessed with making strip blocks lately.  I decided to make at least 5 strip blocks per day for a while and before I knew it, I had enough for a quilt!  These are totally random, mixed colors and I plan on 6 across and 9 down (I have more than that done now).  The blocks measure 8" unfinished and yesterday I went to my LQS to purchase sashing/border fabric and backing fabric.

Here's the sashing (left) and backing fabric (right).

My LQS has punch cards and when the card is totally punched, you can use it to buy $25.00 worth of fabric and notions.  The week of your birthday, you can also get 20% off regular priced items and my birthday is coming up next month.  I have 2 full punch cards that I'm saving!!

 

I also make smaller 4" or 5" blocks using civil war reproduction fabrics.  Here's a small one that isn't finished yet.

I'm always trying to find ways to use up fabric and found a couple more that are pretty easy.  I found the first one in a large book I recently got from Martingale - "The Big Book of Scrappy Quilts."  It's called "Pieces of Eight" and I cut out 12 blocks worth and have made one as a sample.  It's super easy and measures at 18"!

I love it because it's scrappy, large and easy!!  All the blocks will be different.

Another one that I started (testing it out), is from the Buggy Barn.  I think I got the pattern either at a garage sale or at the quilt guild free box.   I made 12 blocks.

You make 2 blocks at the same time and the star and background are reversed.  This one was somewhat harder, but by the time I had made 12 of the wonky stars, I pretty much had it figured out.  The blocks measure 9" x 14" and require 2 fat quarters.

And finally, I just finished this small wall hanging 11" x 14 1/2".  This will be a gift.  The flamingos are paper pieced (some unsewing was necessary) which is not my favorite method, but certainly is great for something like this.

And lastly, I have the first flower from my new clematis plant!

I bought this one because I wanted one that would bloom all summer.  I have another one that just blooms once in May and then not again till the next year.  My new purple one is supposed to bloom all summer!

Happy summer to all!  Hope you will enjoy some freedom for a change. 

 

A GRANDMOTHER'S JOB

 What does a quilter do when she sees a fat quarter in a sale bin with a baseball theme?  If her grandson loves baseball and plays baseball and especially has a birthday coming up, she purchases it, of course!

I saw the FQ for $2.00 and bought it.  Well, I didn't do anything with it, but on Monday, I knew I better get busy.  The FQ was a good wall hanging by itself, so I put a small border of baseballs around it, quilted it and got it ready to go.

Not only that, but it is his 13th birthday!  On Saturday!  So the wall hanging/banner is in the mail with a book on the Baseball Hall of Fame.  And we will be visiting them - after the birthday - soon.  And we'll get to go to some baseball games!

This will be the first time we will have seen them since Covid!  

Some pictures of the beauty that I get to see on my morning walk,

I'm sorry that I haven't posted much lately.  It's the same old excuse - the time is passing too fast and there aren't enough hours in the day!!  I hope you are having some quilting time today!

Medallion Quilt

I have been delinquent again!  You would think that I would have tons of spare time to read blogs and add to mine, but the days seem to fly by.

I finished this wall hanging this week and it is hanging in our bedroom.  I found the pattern in the Fall/Winter 2019 Quilt Sampler.  It was designed by Mary Koval, who owns Mary's Quilt Shop in Bedford, Pennsylvania and has the name "Blend Together."  I had a toile for the center, but the picture is kind of light against the pink.  But that was in my stash, so I used it. 

The pattern called for one more border, but I thought it was big enough.  

Here's a close up of the medallion.

The weather has been beautiful lately!  And this dogwood tree is practically in our yard, but actually is in our next door neighbor's yard - about 4-5 feet from our driveway.  We're lucky to have it so close to our house!

We are thankful that it didn't go down when we had the ice storm a couple months ago - I think it was around Valentine's Day.  The branches were weighed way down across our driveway and I was afraid they would crack off, but they didn't!  Thousands of trees didn't make it and our town is still cleaning them up.

I had my 2 vaccinations and didn't have any bad reaction to them (Moderna) thankfully.  

Some of my time has been used up with yard work.  I have planted flowers in the ground and in pots.  My clematis has one blossom and lots of buds on it.  I purchased another one that is purple and will bloom all summer.  My bleeding heart hasn't appeared, so I may buy another one.  But my lily of the valley is blooming and other plants are poking their way out of the ground!  It's a beautiful time of year!

Two Quilts Finished

 Some close up pictures of basting my string quilt.  Notice the cat eyes in the first pictures.  I love that fabric - I bought it in Iowa a couple years ago and I think it's all gone now.

I do my basting on a table in the garage, unless it's too cold out there.  It was chilly, but I stayed in the garage.

Here is the finished quilt on my clothes line (which I put up just for hanging quilts for picture taking).

I was quite windy that day!

BTW, that bush under the quilt is gone.  I decided to put a clematis there instead.

The second quilt that I finished is the cat quilt.  This one was a lot of fun to make.  

I have been busy working in the yard and have gotten a lot done with help from a yard worker.  Our front yard will look a lot better once I get things planted.  Other improvements were made on our small patio and mulch will be put down soon.  I wanted to get it done early.  It rained a lot yesterday so it's too muddy to work in today.  

I'm trying to use up fabric and sewed a bunch of 4-patches together.  The 2 1/2" squares have been cut for quite some time and were left over from a quilt I made for DS#2/DIL and they got married in 2003.  It wasn't a wedding gift, but I think I made it a couple years later.  So it's about time I did something with the scraps from it.  A simple 4-patch will make a nice lap quilt!

Happy Spring!