DONATION QUILT FINISHED

This is a small quilt that I got out of a "FREE" box at a garage sale.  It was already quilted in the ditch.  I finished quilting it and now it is bound and finished!  Wow!  that was easy!!  It's pretty small, but will do as a lap quilt - 38" x 38".

TRIP TO COAST CONTINUED

 This is a better picture of my yo yos and fabrics that I am using to make a valance for my sewing room window.  When we weren't walking around Seaside, OR, shopping, eating or going to restaurants, I was in the motel making more of these.

I also did a little knitting on dish cloths.  I am trying out some new cotton from Knit Picks and thought brown would be good.

Seaside, OR was at the end of the Lewis and Clark trail where they went to get salt to preserve food for their trip back east.

On the way home, we stopped along the coastline and I took this picture of the Pacific Ocean and the sea gull.  He flew to a farther post whenever I got too close.  I am in awe of God's creation!

We also stopped at Munson Falls which is just south of Tillamook, OR.

Trail into the falls.

Lots of mossy trees.

I love this mossy boulder in the creek.

Another mossy boulder farther up,

Munson Falls is the highest waterfall in the Coastal Range of Oregon at 319 feet high.  With the almost constant rain they've been having, there is a lot of water flowing over it.

A good time was had by all, but we are glad to be home again!

Trip to Coast

We are on our way home from a short trip to Seaside, OR for DH's birthday celebration.  We met my BIL and attended a concert of barbershop a cappella groups.  I'm trying to post from my tablet so everything is not working the same as my PC.

My handwork project for the trip is making yo yos which I'm planning to use to make a valance for my sewing room window.  I'm using 30s fabrics. The picture isn't very good because it was dark and I couldn't figure out if the tablet has a flash.

Before we left home I gave DH his gift - a quilt top that I just finished that morning.  It's "Vintage Tin" and I started it a year ago.  I did all that embroidery early in the mornings when DH was still sleeping.  I worked on it every day and skipped a couple of the embroidery blocks and replaced them with pieced blocks.  Here are a few pictures of it that I took with my tablet. I'll post better ones soon.  I plan to quilt it right away and get it finished soon.

HEAD START!

The last couple Christmases, I had wished that I had another Christmas wall hanging that I could hang on my large wall.  Well, I found one in this Quiltmania magazine from November/December 2015 that I got on sale at my LQS (marked down to $7).

Here's the wall hanging, Merry Trails, that I have started making for this coming December!  When I first saw it, I thought it was really cute - the vintage car towing a trailer - since we loved camping.  After thinking about it for several months and looking at it again, I decided that it wouldn't really be that hard to make!  It's designed by Barbara Cherniwchan for Coach House Designs.

So, I thought, why not get it done early!  Here is the base for the appliqué.  I made the "snowball" blocks out of snowflake fabric pieces that I bought from my LQS's "scrap chest."  In fact  most of the Christmas tree fabrics are from their scrap chest also.

So, now I'm ready to start with the appliqué, for which I plan to use iron on backing and then machine stitch down.  It will finish at 42" x 54" so is a fairly good size for a large wall.  

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!

COLLECTIONS AND A QUICK FINISH!

First, the quick finish.  I found this quilt, partially quilted in the ditch, in a "Free" box at a garage sale.  I'm quilting it and will donate it to a hospice for a lap quilt.  I'm about half way finished with the quilting.  I feel like I'm getting back in the groove!

This is something else that I'm working on, but can't show the whole thing.

Now, on to collections.  Someone (now I can't remember who it was) showed her collections on her blog and I decided to show my collections.

This is my vintage pot holder collection which is hanging on the soffit in my kitchen.  These aren't all of them but are most of the good ones.

Santa Collection

 My chicken on a nest collection began years and years ago when my Grandma gave me the pink one in front.  I didn't start adding more to the collection until more recently.

This front view might be better.

 Close up of the clear ones.  I really like this collection a lot.

And, of course, I have a collection of buttons!

Do you have any collections?

SQUEEZING IN A LITTLE SEWING

The holidays are over and I haven't been able to do much sewing, what with all the preparations, etc.  Also, my sister is visiting now and we've done a little running around.  She's sleeping in the sewing room so I can't go in and sew early in the morning like I usually do.

So, I got my Featherweight out and set it up on the table so sew some strip blocks for a donation quilt.  I haven't been very good about getting these blocks made up during 2016, but I want to get a quilt made soon.

I made some with orange, brown and blue fabrics.

Here's a small wool appliqué wall hanging that I made with a pattern from Heartspun Quilts that was on line in 2014.  I got 2 made and kept one.

It's hard to decide what to work on next - there are many things to pick from.  I want to have some projects cut for leaders and enders.  I need to be better organized about that and about a lot of other things.  With the cold weather in January, it seems like a great time to hunker down and SEW!  

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2017!!

Another year is over!  Wow!  A new year to plan for and think about.

Before we get to that, here is one of the baby quilts/wall hanging that I finished before Christmas.  The panel was found at a quilt show that had a "store" of items from the members.  It has a hanging sleeve in case someone wants to hang it up, or it can be a baby quilt.  It hasn't found a home yet.

I made this robe for Abby at the last minute and it fits!

Here is Abby opening her gift from our DS#3/DIL.  A sewing kit!  My DIL sent the box and I helped her fill it with supplies.  The small Altoid tin has pins in it.  Abby is anxious to start sewing more (a friend of hers got a sewing machine for Christmas).  Hopefully, we can get started soon.  With the holiday, some sickness in the family, etc.  we haven't been able to start yet.

Here she is with her robe on.

I haven't really made a complete list of goals, but here is what I have thought of so far:

1.  Secret project
2.  Finish Dear Jane quilt this year
3.  Finish American Crossroads - the blocks are all done.
4.  Continue working on Bowdacious, a Bonnie Hunter design - I have about 12 blocks done.
5.  Make a Christmas wall hanging - "Merry Trails" from the Quiltmania magazine, Dec. 2015.
6.  Make a quilt out of men's shirts for GS for next Christmas - I have Virginia Bound finished for his brother.
7.  Use up fabric - try really hard to make things with fabric I have on hand.

That's enough!  I also want to make lap size patriotic quilts for veterans in hospice - a project from my quilt guild.

Happy New Year to all you dear readers/friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's getting to look a lot like Christmas!  

This Santa Claus is at the Yamhill County Heritage Museum and was carved from a log.  We live near a big logging area and the museum has a display with lots of logging tools.  It is still being done.  When we were in Willamina for the Art Tour and were eating lunch in a restaurant, a logging truck drove by every five minutes or so.

Here are the Christmas decorations that I have in my sewing room, I mean "studio."  The white ceramic Christmas tree was won when I was working at the office Christmas party.  The parents of a co-worker made lots of ceramic items and I was very lucky to win this tree.  It is sitting on top of my quilt cabinet.  The quilt hanging on the door was Bonnie Hunter's mystery Christmas quilt in 2009, the year I retired.

The quilt below has 9 embroidered blocks that were BOMs that I did several years ago.  Right now I can't remember who had them on their blog.  It might have been Gail Pan.

The rabbit on the left was found in a thrift shop with a pattern for the dress.  Inside the wire basket are 2 plastic dolls that I have had since I was about 10 years old.  The boy and girl are dressed in hand crocheted clothes that have never been washed because they don't come off.  That's why they are rather dirty.

Behind the doll is a vintage "Home Sewing" book marked 35⍧ and the book "A Grandma for Christmas" which is set in Norway.  It was published in 1946 and my sister found it in my Mom's sewing machine cabinet.  It has both our names in it, so we're not sure exactly who was the true recipient, but she brought it to me last Christmas.  It has recipes for Lefse (which I made today), and other scandinavian specialties inside the cover.

Me and DH

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New 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!