It's November Already?

I can't believe it is already November and I didn't post anything since August!  That is my longest lapse in posting and my only excuse is that I have been super busy sewing.  This Christmas tree lap quilt is one example of that.  First I made a queen size one for a friend, then I made 2 lap size quilts - one sold.

I also have made some wall "Santa" hangings to sell.  See below.   

Last weekend I was a vendor in Polk County Oregon and have 2 more craft shows this month.  I don't need to make any more things for those, but have other sewing projects to complete.  I am almost finished with a kids quilt that will be donated to the police/fire department to keep in their cars in case they need to remove a child.  That sounds awful, doesn't it.  But it is necessary some times and the guild I go to is collecting quilts at our November meeting,  

Then there is a baby quilt (basted) for my hair stylist.  She is due this month.  She is a sweet girl and I want to make something for her baby.  Oh, and there is a  baby shower at church next Sunday.  I bought some really soft fabric, kind of like minky to make a little blanket.  

I have my Round Robin quilt basted so I can get it quilted in time for the December guild meeting when we will reveal them, plus a kind of large green donation quilt waiting to be quilted.  

My hubby has been having some health problems and we don't yet know if we will be able to travel to see the 2 sons who don't live near us like we had planned to do.  It's hard to make any plans right now.  We really want to see those 2 families, but I could be happy staying home too.  As one gets older, one really doesn't want to travel as much - at least I don't.  

My partner in (crime), I mean business, and I decided we want to make simple aprons to use when we are vending, with Christmas fabric on one side and sewing fabric on the other side.  So, we want to get those done by Friday.  We can easily get Christmas fabric at the local quilt shop and I have some fabric with spools of thread, or sewing machines that we could use for the other side.  (All my Christmas fabrics are small pieces so not large enough for an apron).

Our local son won't be here for Thanksgiving (he'll be working in Montana that week) and I have decided that we will go out to eat for our Thanksgiving dinner.  I'm getting too old to do all that cooking.  My granddaughter that lives nearby can't eat a lot of regular food and since they  live with his parents, they will eat with them.  We can get together another day, as we like to talk about sewing, etc.  And I can make a gluten free cake for her - she usually brings her food with her.  She loves to sew and does a lot of it by hand.  At times she comes over to use my serger.  Her brother is a student at Notre Dame and probably won't be coming home for Thanksgiving.

I just finished the quilt that I will donate to the police.  Nothing fancy, just 9-patches and it's about 36" square.

I will try to be better about blogging.  I treasure the friends I have made and love it when I take a few moments to read your blogs.  I don't want to lose that.  I will probably still be sewing when I am a 90 year little old lady and will still be making quilts to donate.  I'll still have scraps to sew together!

Happy sewing and blogging!!

Birthday Shopping Trip at Boersma's Quilt Shop

My local quilt shop, Boersma's, gives us 25% off and we can use completed punch cards, which I had 2 of, so that all helps a lot!  They got in a new line of fabrics designed by Tilda, a designer from Norway.  And since I am of Norwegian descent, I was really interested and when I saw it, I decided I would get some with the birthday discount.

I'm planning to use these fabrics, sewn into 4 patches and with lattice strips.

This will be the border for a table cloth.

Close up of the top fabric.

I also purchased some other fabrics that I needed to finish up  a donation quilt and 3 Christmas fabrics.  I just finished the inner part of this Christmas lap quilt and decided I will need one more strip of trees and then I will enlarge it with a border or 2.  The Christmas fabrics that I got are the white background fabric used in the lap quilt and the plaid for the large tree on the right side below.  I think I will get a couple more plaids

This is from the pattern "Plaid Pines" by Lori Holt.  I made the full size Plaid Pines quilt for a friend of mine who saw it in the window of the above mentioned quilt shop and fell in love with it.  I'm thinking about making another lap quilt sized one and will need to get more fabric if I do.  

Now I'm going to show you some pictures of a pieced section that was found in my son/DIL's house that they moved into several years ago.  It is obviously antique/vintage fabrics that were hand pieced together and I have had it hanging in my closet for a few years because I don't know what to do with it.  Does anyone have any ideas for me?  Including how old do you think these fabrics are?  I know I would have to take it apart somewhat and maybe move some pieces so that it is a more useful shape.  Maybe I should make a large table runner or a Christmas tree skirt?

Thanks for visiting!  Stay cool.....
 

Humble Quilts Presents Program at Willamette Valley Quilt Guild in Dayton, Oregon

On July 19, 2023, Lori DeJarnatt, of Humble Quilts presented a program at the Willamette Valley Quilt Guild and I am a member of that guild.  Everyone enjoyed her program very much.  Lori doesn't believe in the quilt police and believes that a quilt doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.  She has seen many antique quilts and loves to see how people made quilts with what they had and if they ran out of the fabric, they just put in another fabric.  Mistakes weren't something to cry over or be ashamed about!  I only took a couple pictures, but I do love the quilt in this first picture.

This next quilt is amazing and Lori did most of the appliqué by machine.  

After her presentation, there was a workshop to make baskets without using a pattern.  We had to jump right in and we selected some fabrics.  Lori helped us figure out how to cut the background fabric and how to make the handles.  We spent all afternoon making baskets and I got 5 baskets made.  When I got home, I decided to make a few tiny baskets and I used rick rack for the handles.  You can see the close up pictures of the all the baskets following the picture of the completed wall hanging.  I just finished it yesterday including a label!  I love all the fabrics that I used and my favorite basket is the one made out of the stripes.  I also used the striped fabric for the border.  I made it to fit a quilt rack that I hang smaller quilts on that hangs on the wall.

This shows the quilting better than the front.  I did straight line stitching
 on the border in green and 2 rows in yellow.

One day last week when I was digging through a box of scraps, I came across this small quilt top.  It measures 9" x 9".  I love little quilts like this and use them in various places, such as on a bed side table at home or on a trip in a motel.  Also, I have one on the bathroom counter to set glasses and other things on.   It feels good to finish it even though it is tiny. 

 In about a week, the Gone to Pieces Quilt Guild (of which I am secretary) will be at the Yamhill County fair to sell tickets to our raffle quilt, so I will take a turn at our booth.  I will also be entering a couple items in the fair to be judged.

Hope you are having a nice summer and are staying cool enough!

A Finish and an Outing

I just finished a Christmas Quilt that I made with blocks of the month (BOMs) that were provided by my quilt guild during 2022.  I ended up making them with Christmas fabric and made 2 of some of them to make it the right size - I think I skipped some as well.  I haven't measured it yet, but it isn't big enough for bed size

I have 3 sons and plan to make one for each family.  

I went to my local quilt shop (LQS) a few times, but am keeping my purchases small because I'm saving up on buying fabric until my birthday at the end of this month.  My LQS gives us 25% off for our birthday so I am trying to think about what I might want to buy when the time comes.  In addition to the 25% off, I have 2 punch cards worth $25 each.  When I went there yesterday, I saw some new fabric by Tilda that I really liked, but I want to have a plan for anything that I buy, so I will be trying to come up with ideas.

I went on an outing with the ladies in my Bible study group and we went to the Pittock Mansion in Portland.  Here are a few pictures.  

It was a perfect day.

The view of Mt. Hood which is about 70 miles east.

Another view of Mt. Hood and more of the city of Portland.

Before we moved to Oregon (almost 9 years ago) we would usually come here in June to visit our son and his family.  June seemed like the perfect time to spend here. 

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a lovely summer.
 

Willamette Valley Quilters - Quilt Show

 Again, I have to apologize for being so slack when it comes to blogging.  You have heard the excuses before, so I won't belabor them again.

Last weekend was the quilt show for a guild that I am a member of (and am not on the board).  The show was a huge success and was held in McMinnville, OR (we meet in Dayton, OR).  I will show some of my favorite quilts from this show now.

A 91 year old quilter made this.  Such a sweet lady!  I had met her and her 
daughter during my morning walks and then they joined the
same guild I am in.

I think this one was one of the most impressive quilts and I took
a picture of the info sheet - I hope you can read it.

When a new neighbor moved in across the street, I was delighted
to find out  she was a quilter and she joined this guild also, so we take
turns driving.  This is a

This one was made by a friend in my other guild and I really like it.
It looks like a simple design and the 9-patches and squares are 
easy to make, but to get them all in the right spot isn't so easy.  I want to
make something similar some day.

The following is a little item I made for my granddaughter - who loves to sew.  I got the alphabet designs from Elefantz Embroidery (on Etsy).  She has tons of lovely embroidery patterns and I have made some of them before.  This little cushion/pin cushion measures about 5" x 7" and it has a pocket.  The tatting was added because Angela loves tatting (as I do) and I had bought some at a garage sale.  I cut off some to put on top of the black and used fray check on the ends, then I sewed the tatting on by just catching the top circles with thread.

I will be a vendor this weekend at the Yamhill County Fairgrounds in McMinnville, OR and have several red, white and blue patriotic items to sell:  table runners, throw pillow covers and wall hangings.

Thanks for visiting and have a very happy Independence celebration!!

I think Spring Might Be Here!`

About a month ago I went to a quilt show with a friend and I am finally going to show you the pictures that I took!  The show was in Hillsboro, Oregon and if you read other blogs from this area you probably have seen the quilts already.  There were so many wonderful quilts and quite a few vendors.

This was a very well done Dear Jane in bright colors!

This one might have been my favorite - I love purple.

This one was very interesting a I loved the scrappyness.

A man made this one and I loved the soft colors.

This one was gorgeous and very impressive.

 

The show was in great venue and it was so refreshing to go to my second quilt show after not having any for years.  There is another one next weekend that I might go to even though I have a craft show as well.  It's not too far away and my "business partner" can handle the craft show if I go for a couple hours.

This morning I basted a lap quilt, 2 table runners and a small wall hanging.  The lap quilt will be for sale, as will the table runners.  That is, if I get them finished.  This is a busy week as both of the guilds that I belong to have meetings this week.  Then I signed up for a Gentler curves & circles work shop with Karla Alexander.  If I wasn't so busy I would be happy about going, but I might offer my space to someone else if they want to take it.  I rarely take a class so I'm not sure what possessed me to sign up.

Thanks for visiting!