QUILT SHOPS AND PROJECTS

Here are a couple projects that I worked on during our trip. This table runner is made from a charm pack and pattern (Scrappy Do) that I won in a giveaway that Lisa had on her blog. I sewed this up on our trip home while we were at RV parks.

These basket blocks are for my Mansfield Park (by Timeless Treasures) quilt that I'm making for my guest room. I hand appliqued the handles and then sewed the basket on. I showed my 2 practice blocks in an earlier post on March 22, 2010. I'm hoping to get this top put together before we leave again. Besides these two projects, I also worked on a couple stitcheries while we were gone.Here are my purchases from some of the quilt shops that I visited. First, from The Quilt Shack in Prineville, OR.
I bought these solids from Rosemary's Stash in Rexburg, ID. They were on sale and I will be using them for stitcheries and making dolls.
This store, Boersma's, is in McMinnville, OR (near DS's home) and I always visit it when I'm near it. It is a wonderful shop.
I found these fabric pieces for the I Spy baby quilts that I'm making from Boersma's scrap bin. I was able to cut a bunch of 6" squares and with what was left over I cut some 2 1/2" squares that I can use for either doll quilts or donation quilts.
The following items were purchased from The Quilted Hill, in Yamhill, OR - I posted about this shop a couple weeks ago. I am always looking for black on black and a lot of shops don't have any that I like, or they have black and white fabrics. And, of course, I can always use light contrast fabric as well.
Fabrics at quilt shops are more expensive out west - $10-$11 per yard. The only ones I bought were on sale - I sure didn't pay $10/yd!

Well, I better get busy. Amazingly, last night I started cleaning out my fabric closet - I don't know what got into me!

HOME AT LAST!

It is good to be home! It's always good to see that the house is still standing when you've been gone - hee hee! We were gone 5 weeks and 2 days!

This baby colt was at the RV park/ranch that we stayed at in Cheyenne, WY. The colt was born June 28, so she was only a couple days old. The mama is a miniature horse - maybe a pony. I'm not sure.

When we picked up our mail, look what was in it! More lovely blocks from the APQ block swap!! Thanks, everyone! They are all gorgeous!
I should have ironed these, but was too lazy. I love the coasters!
Wow! 2 magazines as well! Thanks, Mary!
The heat and humidity of Texas hit us hard when we arrived! I will post more later. I have pictures of projects I worked on while on the trip and purchases I made. I need to go for a walk before it gets any hotter.

YELLOWSTONE AND GRAND TETON NAT'L PARKS

We spent June 30 & July 1 at Yellowstone National Park. I'm not posting a lot of pictures because the pictures just don't do it justice.

We got to see Old Faithful erupt twice!
We crossed the continental divide several places.
Then we travelled south to Grand Teton National Park. We didn't spend much time there - we were just passing through and enjoying the beautiful scenery.
One of the highlights for me was getting to see these buffalo up close. They seemed to want to cross the road and a lot of cars stopped to take pictures. We also saw elk, fox and deer on our trip (also chipmunks).
Tomorrow we will be home! It will be good.

QUILT SHOW IN PRINEVILLE, OR

On Saturday, May 26, I went to a quilt show with my SIL. Below are some of the quilts that I liked the best. I'm sorry I don't have the information about who made them.

I loved this quilt. However, I can't figure out how the 4 corners of the 9-patch were made. Isn't it pretty?
This scrappy bear paw quilt with stars in each paw was another favorite.

The maker of this angel quilt won the blocks in a guild drawing!
Patriotic quilts are always a favorite, especially as we celebrate our independence today!
Interestingly, the town of Prineville, OR has 2 or 3 quilt guilds. My SIL plans to join one after she returns from a camping trip to Alaska. She has lots of fabric from her mother, who's quilts I blogged about last week, and she wants to use the fabric for her grandchildren as well as donation. We both signed up for a drawing from the local quilt shop, The Quilt Shack, and Glenda won it. Below is Glenda on the left receiving the basket from the quilt shop owner!
Here is the contents of the basket! Not a bad haul.
During our stay at the Terry Bison Ranch, I had some time to do a little sewing. I have finished almost all the hand sewing that I brought with me for the trip and I started stitching together a table runner that I brought along in case I needed something else to keep me busy! Good thing I brought it!

CAMPING IN OREGON & WYOMING

On Monday, June 28, we left my BIL's home headed for Yellowstone National Park. The truck started overheating, so we stopped in John Day, OR to get repairs done (which were accomplished in short order and wasn't too expensive). Since we were delayed some, we decided to find a place to camp in Oregon instead of continuing on to Idaho.

This is the place we stayed, near Unity, OR. Since it was a National Forest and we have a Golden Age Pass, we only had to pay $3.00. The fee is usually $6.00 because it doesn't have any electricity or water.

It was very quiet and scenic. Only one other camper came in. We spent a relaxing evening and went to bed early. No TV to watch w/o electricity.
Today, we are at a camp site near Cheyenne, WY called Terry Bison Ranch. We are on our way home to Texas. While we're not looking forward to the heat, we can't wait to get home! We've been gone over a month now. I will be posting more soon with pictures from Yellowstone, etc.

MY SIL'S QUILTS

We've been having a wonderful time visiting my DH's brother, Hugh, and wife, Glenda, in Prineville OR. Glenda's mother was a prolific quilter and I took pictures of some of her quilts, as well as some of Glenda's other quilts.

This is a Cousin quilt pieced by Glenda's great-grandmother, Adeline Griffin around the 1930's, names of first cousins embroidered by Grace Griffin Walradt (Glenda's grandmother). What a treasure!

This dresden plate quilt was made by Mary Walton Ballard, (Glenda's great-grandmother), made prior to 1920. Quilt given to Inez Couvoisier (Glenda's mother's cousin) who had it quilted. It looks brand new!

This one is the quilt that Glenda's mother made for their wedding. It is all hand pieced and quilted (just about all of her quilts were).

This sunbonnet sue quilt was given to Glenda when she was a child, also made by her mother.
Grandmother's flower garden.
Glenda asked her mother to make her a crazy quilt, so this is her favorite.

VISIT WITH HUMBLE QUILTS BLOGGER

Yesterday, my SIL and I had the chance to visit with Lori of Humble Quilts. I first started following her blog over a year ago and then I won a giveaway from her. We have commented back and forth a lot since then because we have similar tastes in quilting.

What a treat to be able to visit her home and see her quilts first hand!! Thank you so much, Lori! Here is a picture of Lori and me standing in front of one of her wall hangings. She had her home decorated for July 4th, so had a lot of patriotic quilts out. I thought I took more pictures than I did, but you can always go to her blog and see lots of them there.

Some of my pictures weren't real clear, but I wanted to post this one anyway. It's all out of reproduction fabrics and I love it.
This flag quilt, below, is one that I had seen on her blog before and I really wanted to see it in person. She said that a friend made it for her. I would love to make one like it someday!
Here's another flag quilt for Independence Day!
In one of the bedrooms, she has a cabinet with lots of quilts folded.
This quilt is one that she said she and some other quilters designed. It is gorgeous and I'm sorry I don't have all of it in the picture. She said it was published in McCall's quilting magazine (I think).
Lori is such a wonderful quilter! I hope you will visit her blog so you can see more of her quilts and get a little more inspired. After yesterday and a quilt show today, believe me, I am really inspired to get more quilting done!! I will post pictures from the quilt show tomorrow.

SISTERS, OR

This was the view we saw when we were on our way west from Idaho to Sisters, OR. The Three Sisters mountain peaks were in the distance. (At least, I think these are the three sisters - if not, 2 of them are and the other one is nearby). We are back in Sisters again, but I won't be going to the quilt shop this time. We are on our way to my BIL's and are just passing through - stopping at McDonald's for lunch. It is another beautiful day and we enjoy seeing the mountain peaks again.

It was sad leaving our son's home after being there for 2 1/2 weeks. It was a wonderful visit

THE QUILTED HILL

I was able to shop at The Quilted Hill Quilt Shop in Yamhill, OR yesterday. It is located out on a farm in the middle of the most gorgeous countryside you could imagine.

The picture below is the view looking out from the door of the quilt shop! Can you imagine? I have been to a few other shops as well, but didn't have my camera handy. If you ever get to Oregon, you have to go to this shop!!

LOVING OREGON

We are still in Oregon at DS#1's house and loving it! It is warmer today - in the 70's. 50's tonight! I just checked weather in Texas and it is in the 90's. Soon we will be returning to the heat.

This waterfall was at Silver Falls State Park near Salem, OR. We went on a hike and saw several gorgeous waterfalls. The hike was rather rough on DH (he has some breathing problems and there was too much uphill hiking for him). I don't think we'll be doing much more hiking on this trip!

This is the quilt I gave my GD for her 18th birthday. She likes it!
These 2 close-up blocks show the quilting on it. I was pretty happy at the way the quilting came out. Elaine gave me some really good pointers on how to do it, which really helped! Thanks, Elaine!

This quilt will be given to our niece next week in Wyoming - her baby is due in July.

I haven't been able to post lately because at DS's home, he has an internet safety network (for the kids) and we couldn't use the wi-fi without him making changes, etc. I'm at a cafe today. Hopefully, I will be able to post again soon.

ENJOYING COOL WEATHER

We made it to Dayton, OR and are enjoying the cool weather! I'm not able to add pictures to my blog right now, but will try to do so soon. On our way across eastern Oregon, we had clear blue skies and views of several snow capped mountains. It was gorgeous!

We attended our grandkids' recital, our GS's confirmation on Sunday and his graduation from 8th grade on Monday. The next big event is GD's birthday when I will give her the quilt I just finished on the way here. I'll post a picture of it after her birthday.

So far I have visited 2 quilt shops!

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

Today, we toured Arches Nation Park near Moab, UT.

I want you to see the nice area for cutting fabrics or ironing that I have in the camper. It also works good for fixing meals. Most of the time, however, it has food, keys, phones, etc. on it.

I put these pictures on in the reverse order that I had planned to. This one shows the hill we climbed up (from the top) to be able to take the delicate arch picture.
Here is the delicate arch - the most famous one from the park. Can you see the people in the picture? They look like ants. From the top of the hill that we climbed, it is still quite a ways away. We were too exhausted to go any further.
This is me when I reached the top of the hill. The altitude is about 5,000 feet, and we were very out of breath going uphill. We wanted to do it so we could show our kids that we could!
This is a picture of a balancing rock that was amazing. The only bad part of the day was the heat. We didn't think it would be as hot as it was - we were trying to get away from heat on this trip. But, by tomorrow, we will be in Idaho, and it should be a lot cooler. Yea!!!
Thank goodness for air conditioning in the camper!!!!