GALENA, ILLINOIS, ETC.

As we were leaving Minnesota, DH thought I should have my picture taken by this pile of snow in a parking lot.  The snow was beautiful, but in late April?!?!?  We saw many cars in the ditch, but our car is all wheel drive with snow tires, so we were fine.

We went to Galena, IL on our way to the Chicago area.  When I was a child, my family would drive to Minnesota to visit my mother's many relatives and on the way we would drive through Galena and my Dad would point out President Grant's home there.  I have always wanted to visit the town.  This plaque gives some of the history and I learned a lot while there.  It is a very old town and is very interesting.

So many victorian homes on the hills above the downtown and river area.

A view from the hill looking down.

We went to this museum and I spent some money in the gift shop.

I went to about 5 quilt shops on the trip, one in Minnesota, 2 in Des Moines, Iowa, 1 in Galena and 1 in Sisters, Oregon.  Here are some of the things I bought.  First 2 panels.

These will be for table runners possibly.

There was a vintage shop in Northfield, Minnesota that was really good and I bought these items there.  3 yards of the toile fabric and the table runner which is in perfect condition.

There was a huge button section which I could have a couple hours in, but I didn't have time to do that.  I wanted to go back later, but the blizzard was going on.  I only purchased 2 buttons because I'm wanting to make jewelry with buttons.  We'll see if and when I do that.

Now to get back to reality!

BACK TO DEAR JANE

When I got up this morning, this is what I saw!  A winter wonderland!  Even better than the last one! The first 2 winters in Oregon, it didn't snow at all.  Now I guess it is making up for it.

School was cancelled again!  This is heaven for kids.

I started working on the Right Side triangles yesterday and today I finished 5 of them.  They are not perfect.  I had a horrible time with RS-9.  I did one section of the paper piecing 3 times before I got it right and then it really isn't perfect.  I did the appliqué by machine, except for the leaf shape in the first one (RS-6).

RS 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

So far, I have 24 of the triangles finished, which means that I have 28 more to make, plus the corner blocks.  I definitely plan to finish it this year!

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS!

Yes, I'm sewing, but I don't have very much that I can show you right now.  Here is one table runner that I made, though.  The poinsettia fabric in the stars has been in my stash for years, but the black background with red birds is new (I got it on a shop hop).   I was up early sewing a Christmas gift and will take a picture of it when it's finished.

The Ho Ho Ho fabric was found in an antique shop for a very good price!  It wasn't even an antique!

Last month DH and I went to Willamina, OR for their annual art tour.

We enjoyed it a lot and turned in our "ballot" at the end.  Recently I received a call from one of the artists telling me that I had won some prizes!  I received a small table topper quilt, a calendar with photographs from around Oregon on each month and 2 bars of hand made (with goat's milk) soap!

As you can see, Mt. Hood is the picture for January.

It's always fun to win something!  

We had snow again this week.  For the first 2 years that we lived  here, it didn't snow, except for some flurries that melted upon hitting the ground.  Since our DS#2 & family moved here, it has snowed twice with school being closed both times!  Abby is in kids' heaven!

Abby with "cowboy" snowman.

Me with Abby in front of their house.

We might get some more snow today and the high temp will be 33º!  Hope you are having a lovely December so far!

OUR FIRST SNOW!

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted, but I've been super busy.

Yesterday we had snow!  The first real snow since we moved here.  The area where we live is in the Willamette Valley and this area doesn't usually get much snow.  Abby was thrilled as it was the first snowfall she has ever seen since she was born in Florida and lived there until last summer.

View looking out our Patio door.

A friend and I participated in the Handmade Holiday Bazaar at the Yamhill Valley Heritage Center in McMinnville, OR last weekend and I'm still trying to get back to normal from that.  We had a very good weekend.  But, no, we didn't sell out of everything!

Now I'm in the middle of wrapping presents, mailing packages and trying to get a few more projects made.  My ideas don't always fit into my time available and I haven't been able to keep up with the blogs I follow, but I'm trying.

Let's hope we can all get our projects finished on time!