TROUT! and a visitor!

 This has been a busy time for me and I'm sorry that I haven't posted sooner, but I do have something to show you!  I just finished making a quilt for one of my grandsons who will be graduating from high school next week.  My DIL told me that he wanted a quilt to take to college and wanted it in red and blue.  I had no idea what to make, so I went to my favorite quilt shop (Boersma's in McMinnville, OR) to see if they had any ideas.  One of their best workers showed me several quilts hanging up and we determined that a certain quilt by the name of TROUT would work.  The reasoning was that it could be made with red and blue and would be masculine enough for a college boy.  I had to order the pattern, which came pretty fast (thanks, Charisma!).  Then I went back to the quilt shop to find fabric.  The clerks there helped me pick out appropriate fabrics.  I didn't waste any time sewing it together and then quilting it myself on my domestic sewing machine.  Here are the pictures, front first, then back.

I sewed his name into the back.  It is a large and extra long twin sized it was a relief to get it finished!  Thank you to Charisma Horton for the pattern.  I wonder why she named it "Trout".  It sure doesn't look like a fish.

We will be going to his graduation 3 days after we attend our granddaughter Abby's graduation!

Since it has been so long since I have posted on this blog, I will tell you about some of my other projects.  I made a baby quilt for my grand nieces baby.  It is so cute!!

I also finished a table cloth that I made with Tilda fabrics.  Tilda is from Norway and since I have norwegian ancestry I thought it would be appropriate.  And I love the fabrics.  I backed it with flannel and quilted it in the white strips.

Yesterday I had a visitor!  It was Janet, from Rogue Quilter!  We have known each other for years via our blogs and I have won give-a-ways from her a few times.  She was going through McMinnville after visiting her daughter in southern Oregon and asked it we could meet at Boersma's quilt shop.  Of course, that worked for me as I live about 1/2 a mile from there!  It was a short visit, but as quilting friends, we understood each other right away!  Here is a picture of us in the shop!

I will try to be better at posting from now on - we shall see!  Thanks for visiting!

FINALLY HOME AFTER 49 DAY TRIP!

 HAPPY  NEW YEAR!  I am trying to get back to normal after our trip beginning November 19 and returning home January 6, 2026.  We had a great trip visiting the two sons who don't live near us and their families.  The first visit was with our son who lives in Kansas but we met them at their time share in Las Vegas.  They have 2 boys, 15 and 17.  We had a great time with them.  We played many games and went to see some of the sights near Las Vegas:  Red Rock, Western Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.  Then we traveled to Florida to visit our son and his family - Abby's 17th birthday was Dec. 17.  We miss being near all our grandchildren.

I finished a couple projects when I returned.  The first one was a quilt-a-long Summit Stitches from Humblequilts.  It's 23" square.

I started this next one while on the trip (as I had my featherweight with me).  I made one of these before and it sold, so I decided to make another one.  I have the historic panels for sale in my Etsy shop and I made this wall hanging as an example of something that could be made using the panel.  This is the wall hanging.  This one is 30 1/2 x 26".

My husband was hospitalized with pneumonia (I finally know how to spell that word) while we were in Pensacola, FL.  Our son is a RN at the hospital, so he would come to see the us before and after work, plus at lunch break.  I was at the hospital just about all day for the 5 days that he was in, but did take time to spend with Abby our granddaughter.  By the way, DH drove, so it took a lot of time to get anywhere.  Coming home it took us 8 days because we only drove about 350 miles per day,  We certainly did see a lot of the country!! 

 Have you ever driven south through the middle of Nevada?  We drove from Winnamucca straight south and the road was very good and not much traffic at all.  There were mountains along both sides of the road and a few small towns and farms, but not any place to stop to eat that we could see until we arrived in Austin, a very small run down town.  We ate supper and there were a few motels.  We stayed there for the night and were impressed at how nice the morel room was.  It took us 3 days to get to Las Vegas from home.  

I'm sorry I didn't send any pictures during the trip.  I will add a few pictures in my next post.  I'm finally getting back to regular living.  Thanks for visiting!

Summit Stitches and a Frog

 I'm so busy getting ready for a trip, but have squeezed in a couple other items.  This morning I got part of the Summit Stitches quilt-a-long (humblequilts.blogspot.com) put together to see how much more I need to do.  Here is a picture of what I have so far.

                                

I like how it looks and I think I might have enough 4-patches to get it finished.  I found a bunch of the same sized 4-patches in a bin, so that helps.  I might get it finished before we leave, or maybe I'll take it with me, because I will have my Featherweight along on the trip.

The other "project" was to get this frog made.  I got the panel free from a couple large boxes of fabric scraps given to one of my quilt guilds.  I saw the "Frog" panel and grabbed it.  For some reason, I like using these panels that have the pieces printed on the fabric and you have to cut them out and follow the directions.  I have done this before, and usually the panel is found at a garage sale or I get it free somehow!  I also have a turkey panel, but won't get it done this year and have made a witch in the past.  Here is the frog - it took almost a whole day to get it done.  I wanted to finish it before the guild meeting today because they want toys and baby quilts for the "Family Place" organization in our town.  The doll is one I made a few years ago that sits in the living room.

He's kind of cute, but I don't know if he is a good toy or not.  He might have to just sit on a shelf.  I'm not taking very much sewing stuff on the trip and will probably just sew strips into squares to make table runners from.  It's one of my favorite things and I got some new fat quarter fabrics that I love at a quilt show in Salem for $1.00 each!!

I better get busy!  Have a great week!

MORE 4-PATCHES

 It's 7:15 AM and I have been doing a little sewing before it's time to walk with my neighbor.  We usually walk at 7:30, but it is raining so we are going to wait a while.  In the mean time, I have been making more 4-patches for the 4-patch quilt-a-long. It is easy and fun sewing scraps together and I just finished 37, so now I have a grant total of 94.  I need to make 320!!

I love the little bucket that I put the blocks in - but it won't be large enough for 320.

Yesterday I added the word HOME to 3 pillow fronts that I made recently.  I made one for our couch and really like it, so I decided to make s few more which I will probably sell or give away.  Here is one of them.

Stitching around the words is a pain, but necessary.  One top done and 2 more to go.  Tonight, our oldest son will come over to watch the World Series with the hubby.  It's nice to have him nearby, and that he is able to come over quite often.  He is a pilot, so is also gone a lot.

I've been trying to clean up the sewing room lately and have made some progress.  I also found quite a few UFOs.  Some of them are not really necessary, but others are important and I want to get a lot done before Thanksgiving.  I better make a list starting with the most important.

Have a great week!

QUILT-A-LONG WITH LORI!

 Lori, at humblequilts.blogspot.com having a quilt-a-long.  She has been doing this for years and I think I joined in her first one and many (but not all) after that.

This one is quite easy and needs 1 1/2" strips or squares.  I just happen to have lots of those on hand, so I will join in.  Here is what I found and I know where I can get lots more!

This basket has lots of strips in it that are the right size or a little larger, so I can trim them and have some 4-patches in a few minutes!  The project ends up about 25" square and will make a nice little mat that you can use on a table or counter.  It's fun to try to not use the same fabric more than once!  I have several little quilts about this size that I do use and one more will be fun!

Busy with Donation Quilts

I have been really bad - this is the longest time between blogs that I have ever had, I think!  Nobody will probably look for my blogs if this keeps up.  I have been very busy lately.  I've made and/or quilted several donations.  This first one was made by a friend in one of my guilds (Gone to Pieces which meets in McMinnville, OR).  She does beautiful work but doesn't quilt.  We have 2 long arm quilters in this guild and one has been out sick for quite a while and the other one is super busy with jobs (probably busier because the other long arm quilter has been out), and neither one of them is able to quilt the donation quilts.  As you may know, I always quilt my own quilts on my domestic sewing machine, so I have been quilting a few for this quilt guild.

This pink one is one that I made (totally) and it will be donated through the guild to "The Family Place" which is an organization that helps new parents adjust to their new role.

This is another quilt that I just quilted for donation.

TheThe second guild that I belong to (Willamette Valley Quilters) meets in Dayton, OR and they also make quilts to donate.  This is one that I made for them.  They had the fabrics bundled together along with the pattern and it was easy for me because I have made several "Cat" quilts from a different pattern, but that has the same type of cats.

At the one of the last meeting of the Willamette Valley guild, we had a speaker who does beautiful work and I took several pictures.  I love the blue chickens with the orange background.

This dog face was amazing!!

Thanks for visiting!!  These next few months will be busy.  I have been working on some Christmas table runners that I hope to sell and we will be traveling for Thanksgivins and possibly for Christmas.  The weather is now getting cooler and it is raining more, which we need.  I like the cooler days, but don't especially like it when it is super cold!!  Happy fall!!

QUILTS FROM THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY QUILTERS SHOW

 I'm sorry it has taken so long to post some quilts from the quilt show last month.  Just not organized enough to get it done.  I volunteered as one of the "white glove" ladies and after 2 1/2 hours of walking around, up and down the rows, I was really tired.  I'm not adding the information about each one - it's too hard to get them right.

This Dear Jane quilt was right next to mine, which you probably have seen a long time ago.  It not, you can type "Dear Jane" in the upper left corner and it will come up.  I was talk                 ing with the lady who made it and she made 2 of them because when she gave this one to one of her sons, her second son said he would like one too, so she made another one.  I give her a lot of credit for making 2 of the Dear Jane quilt.  Not that it's impossible, but I just don't think I could make another one.

This hanky/states quilt was really pretty!

I'm working on this house quilt now.  My houses are all blue and I'm getting ready to do the branches.

One day recently the temperature got up to 99 degrees and it might do that again.    I'm so grateful for air conditioning.  

QUILT SHOW NEXT WEEK, JUNE 20 & 21

The Willamette Valley Quilters will present their quilts at the quilt show on June 20 and 21.  I will be there on June 20 in the afternoon (if anyone wants to meet up with me).  I will have 3 of my best quilts in the show!  The Willamette Valley Quilters meets in Dayton, Oregon on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 10:00 AM.  We have special speakers at most of our meetings and recently we had an amazing trunk show by Lynn Czaban, who shared her portrait quilts.  Here are a few of them.

 

Her work is amazing!  She spends lots of time making each one and has won numerous awards from various quilt shows!  

Speaking of quilt shows, this is the information about the show mentioned above:

If you do come, please let me know so I can meet you (if we don't already know each other).

Donation Quilts

 I finished some more baby quilts for donation lately and have taken them to my guild so they can be taken care of.  Probably most of the baby quilts we make go to "The Family Place" which helps new parents.

I didn't buy any of the fabric, except for the green fabric that I used for the backing on the pink quilt.  All the fabric was either given to me by a friend, or from the guild.  They passed around a box and said to take some 5" squares, so the is what I used for the pink quilt.

Back of the previous quilt.

This one was just a piece of fabric, batting & backing to take home and put together & finish

I got the green fabric at my favorite thrift shop and it was quite a deal!  There was about 4 yards, so I still have some available to us on another baby quilt.  

I also donated a large twin size quilt that I made with a almost million 2 1/2" squares.  This picture doesn't show the whole quilt because I didn't have a chance to hang it up anywhere.

I will have 3 quilts hanging in the quilt show in June - Quilts in Bloom - in McMinnville on June 20 & 21.  I changed my volunteer work from Saturday morning to Friday Afternoon because there is something else that I want to go to on Saturday.  

Hope you are enjoying good weather where you are and thanks for visiting.