Chiloquin Quilt Show

When we checked into the Rocky Point campground, we were handed a tourist "newspaper," with a guide to the Upper Klamath Lake area and a calendar of events. I was thrilled to learn that the Chiloquin quilt guild (I think they're called the Chiloquilters) was having a two-day show. Of course, I was there! The town was on the other side of the lake, but it was definitely worth the 25-mile drive. I met a designer from Chiloquin, Sandy Selk, and will be doing a post later about her and two wall hanging quilts I will be doing of hers. The pictures below are of quilts that caught my eye.

The one below is their raffle quilt, and I bought a ticket. They won't draw until September - but at least I have a chance to win!



This is a Sandy Selk design - from her Southwestern Icons series.

Missing Dad on Father's Day

(yes, I know the picture is backwards, but that's how the slide was scanned about 10 years ago)

This is one of my favorite pictures of my father - taken in 1968 while he was in Saigon during the Vietnam war. He looks a little tired, a little pensive, but to me he also looks kind. He made mistakes in his life - but he always loved us and was always thinking of us. It's been 9 years since he died, and I still find myself thinking about things I want to tell him and share with him.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I wish you were here.

Hexagons in nature, and progress on my quilt

We're on a 6-week trip in our trailer, and one of our stops was Devil's Postpile National Monument in the Sierras west of Mammoth Lakes. The postpile is made of cooled lava, which formed into hexagon-shaped columns. This picture is taken at the top - where glaciers sheared off the tops and smoothed them into perfect pavestones.



Since we didn't have electricity the first week of our trip, I was able to get a lot done on my first quilt made from hexagons. The first section, which will be out to the white edges, is almost done. From there I'll continue outward in yellows and a color yet to be decided.


For pictures and descriptions of our summer trip, go to my travel blog, Wanderlust.

On the Road Again!

June Lake, California

This will be our first stop, tomorrow, and we'll be there a week. From there we'll go to Bridgeport, then Frenchman's Reservoir, then Eagle Lake, then in to Oregon to Diamond Lake. After that we'll go to Camp Sherman, while I enjoy the Sisters International Outdoor Quilt Festival July 11th. From Camp Sherman we'll go to Agness, on the Rogue River, then Crescent City back in California, then Shingletown, then Topaz Lake in Nevada, and finally South Lake above Bishop. We'll be gone 6 weeks. I'm taking the sewing machine, crazy quilting stuff, cross stitching pieces, hexagons, and lots of fabric. Don will fish. I will stitch, sew, or read. We'll take some hikes, visit some touristy places, and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the mountains of California and Oregon.

I'll post periodic updates when we have WiFi and electricity.

Bye for now!

America the Beautiful - finished top

This was the second quilt we worked on in our class. It's called "America the Beautiful," and was inspired by the song of the same name. It was originally published as a series quilt in Quiltmaker magazine back in 2002 and 2003. The designer of the paper-pieced eagles is Theresa Eisinger, and the designer of the whole quilt is Caroline Reardon. We learned a variety of techniques doing this one - string piecing for the mountain skies and plains, Flying Geese, stitch-and-flip, paper piecing, and a jillion half-square triangles. (Actually, 144.)

Hexagons, Hexagons

One night during out quilt class, one of the members (Sheri) showed us how to do English paper piecing. At first, I was interested in learning the technique, but was not too excited about doing lots of flowers. So I put it away, and didn't think about it for a couple of months. A few weeks ago I saw some hexagon sites, and began to get interested again - because I realized I don't have to do flowers! I can do diamonds, and stars, and all sorts of patterns, and even do little pieces with no pattern! I've been making lots of hexagons, as you can see, and I enjoy the fact that this is so portable.




Yes, this is a hexagon. An uneven-sided hexagon, but a hexagon no less. It's also the perfect size to take my hexagon-making kit with me.




I can keep lots of cardboard hexagons in it, scraps, scissors, thread, needles, and thimbles for when my fingers get sore. I put a couple of magnets in the lid to hold needles. Sheri says she takes her "kit" when she travels, so I'm going to give this a try while Don is driving on our trip.

Finished top: Victory Quilt

All done! This is the first quilt we worked on in our quilt class. It's an Eleanor Burns quilt, and I did 20 blocks. There are a couple that are duplicates, so there are 16 different squares. Once we get back from our summer trip, I'll get it sandwiched and quilted.

Crumb Chaos blocks

I think these are also called Mile-a-Minute blocks. I used Patti's tutorial and got rid of a bunch of scraps. I think I'll use these for a mini quilt or some kind of scrappy quilt - I just wanted to try the technique.

These will be a quilt some day...

Once in a while I'll spend a day making string squares. I used Bonnie Hunter's String Quilting Primer to get started, and so far have made almost 100 squares. They're 5 1/2 inches, and I think I'll need almost 300 to make a full/queen sized quilt. Or is it almost 400? I don't know right now. I just crank 'em out. About 5 hours of sewing produces anywhere from 25 to 35 squares.

Crazy Quilt: Blue Tones

This is my first little crazy quilt block, which I turned into a mini-quilt. I used a method where you start with a five-sided center piece, and build outward from it. It is embellished with lace, a silver brad (from my old scrapbooking days) and some buttons.



Stitches used on the seams:
1. double-laced backstitch
2. butterfly chain stitch
3. couching
4. feather stitch
5. cross stitch
6. fly stitch

Turning stitched pieces into wall hangings

The main reason I decided to learn how to sew was not to quilt. That was an accidental obsession. The main reason was because I wanted to do more with my cross stitch than small pieces and framed pieces. While I like bell pulls, not every piece is shaped right for bell pull, and sometimes you get one that just needs some framing (cloth, that is). This first piece was something I'd stitched about 20 years ago - and never got around to framing. Once I learned how to sew, I turned it into a wall hanging. The four ribbons at the top are loops, through which I'll stick a dowel for hanging. I will call this piece Fruit Basket - it's from a very old Just Cross Stitch magazine issue.

Here's a closeup of the stitching.



The back has no quilting - just the stitching around the edges. I used the "birthing a quilt" method to finish this.





This second piece was stitched in January and February of this year, and I did the "framing" two weeks ago. This is more like a quilt - I used batting, did some quilting in the ditches around the edges, and also used the "birthing a quilt" method to finish it off. The piece is called Desert Sunrise, and it's by Black Swan Designs. It has almost a hundred little beads that don't show up too well in the photos.







This is the back - I used muslin and did some straight stitching in the ditches around the edges.

Back from the Sierras

Just drove back from the Sierras - had a 5-day weekend since I took personal leave on Friday and today. We camped at East Fork Campground on Rock Creek - I'll be posting pics on my travel blog, Wanderlust, in a few minutes. When Don was off fishing on his own, I did some stitching (of course) and reading. One of the first things I did was put the binding on this mini-quilt - it's made of four "orphan" string blocks from my string quilt blocks. You see, I'd been tooling along, making 5 1/2-inch blocks, and ever so often I'd accidentally cut one to 5 inches. No way was I going to throw them out! So I put four together, made it into a little mini-quilt, and added binding. This made a perfect hot pad for our table in the trailer, so that's probably what I'll use it for.


I also finished May and June from Crabby All Year, so I'm a month ahead on Daffycat's SAL.
I also stitched a little flower (English paper piecing) and will make it into another mini-quilt, and finished a little wedding gift for my sister (who got married on Saturday). I'll post a pic of it once I've finished into a wall hanging.

Tennessee block for Don's quilt

This is one of Marcia Hohn's designs from her website Quilter's Cache. Every once in a while I'll make a block and eventually I'll have enough for his quilt. These are 12" blocks, and I told Don I'd do his quilt in "manly" colors.

Where have I been?

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. But be patient; I've been stitching and quilting and will soon have lots of great pics! I'm stitching a little wedding day bell-pull piece for my sister, who's getting married next weekend, and I have several other WIPS - Crabby All Year, which I'm stitching along with Sharon of It's Daffycat, Chatelaine's Alpine Garden Seasons Mandala, and the old Lizzie Kate Flip-Bits year. I've finished the top for my Victory Quilt - I need to make the sandwich and quilt it. I've made a couple of other tops, and need to sew the binding on my little Washington I-Spy piece. I just started a new top, called America the Beautiful. I learned to paper piece, since there are two eagles in it.

So, eventually, I'll take pics. But for now I'm off to the Sierras for a long weekend of stitching and reading while Don fishes.

Later!

Five More Victory Quilt Squares

While we were camped in Bishop, we had electricity. Each day that we weren't exploring (4 of the 7) I took out the sewing machine, turned the TV on to the Food Channel, and spent the whole day sewing. In addition to making 35 more string squares, I completed 5 more squares for my Victory Quilt. (Well, really, I finished 9 more, since I made several duplicates.)



This first one is in honor of my son Kenny, who just left Japan on Monday for "the desert." He didn't know if was to be Afghanistan, Iraq, Bahrain, or Qatar, but he was given 3 days' notice to get everything squared away in order to be gone until August. So this Airplane is for my son who is a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force. It used a simple template for the fuselage, but was basically a simple square to do.

This square is called Victory Block. It also used a template, but the tricky part was aligning the center seams. I guess I got lucky since they came out right!

Bride's Bouquet was a little more difficult, since there were 12 Y seams to stitch - but once I got the hang of it I was all right.












This square, Contrary Wife, was one of the simplest - since all it was was squares and half-square triangles.











Eleanor Burns calls this cute square Hope of Hartford. It had the half-seam stitching - not really hard at all.










Right now I have 15 squares completed for this quilt. I need to do 3 more and will have the 18 necessary for the quilt in the book - and I'm going to do the ribbon border, I think.

Two Robins Home to Roost - recognize the second one?

These two pieces made it home just before Spring Break. Both were for round robins on CSRR. I had to finish stitching on the piece to the right, so I took it with me and finished it up while we were in Bishop. It's called Measure of a Year and it's by Prairie Schooler. It was stitched on by Vicki, Isabel, Georgena, Cassandra, Lisa, Doreen, Melissa, Tina, and m.

The piece below is called Spring Chicken - but I don't remember the designer. It's NOT Erica Michaels, as I erroneously wrote earlier. Does anyone recognize this? I can't find the chart! It was stitched by Doreen, Helle, Melissa, and me.

This is why I haven't posted in a while

Champions Again!

For the second year in a row, my daughter's women's soccer team, Just Kickin' It, won the league championship!  That's T in the front row, second from the right.  Way to go, T!

Sunday Stash # 4

I picked up this set of fat quarters at a booth at Road to California - just because I liked them. I have no idea what I'll do with them!







Sunday Stash home

No stitching today - it's all about the food

Today was my first day to volunteer at the Inland Empire Organic Produce Buying Club's distribution. Go here to read all about the fabulous produce I brought home!

Indiana Puzzle Block

An interesting mix of four-patches and half-square triangles, this one was easy and quick.

Rocky Mountain Puzzle Block

During a visit to a quilt shop in Las Vegas (The Christmas Goose), I fell in love with a huge pack of brown, tan, and grey fat quarters. I've been wondering what I would do with them, and now I've made up my mind. On a couple of quilting sites I've found a large number of free 12" block patterns - and will use those nice browns to make a "manly" sampler quilt to put on my husband's bed some day. This is the first block - it's called Rocky Mountain Puzzle. One version I saw had it only two colors; another had 4 - which I decided to do. I've been making 6" blocks for so long that it was pretty strange making one that was 12".

Liberty Star

I'll admit I hated doing this one, but I'm glad I stuck with it and got it finished. It has 12 "Y" seams - the first 8, which were in the stripes, came out well. The next four, attaching the gold triangles, were a pain in the rear. You can see a little puckering in the one on the far right , but I've already re-stitched it FOUR times! No more. It's good enough for me. : )

Comfort from a Stapler

I hung up the phone, after talking to yet another young teacher who received a layoff notice. I had to tell her I can't make the District make better decisions. Turning to my desk, needing to staple her paperwork together, I reached for the stapler that I brought back from San Antonio after Daddy died.

It was his stapler. He touched it with his own hands.

I broke down, clutching it to my chest for comfort.

It's just a stapler, but I needed my Daddy so much.

There are 70 bright, young, talented teachers out there needing their Daddies now, too.

Prairie Schooler Exchange Recieved from Shay

This cute ornament came on Thursday from Shay, as part of the Year-Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. At first, I panicked, because I knew I hadn't sent Shay anything- but a little research led me to remember that this was an uneven exchange - meaning I sent to someone else and Shay sent to me. Whew! I love how she personalized this for me with my initials. It's going to hang in my bedroom and add a little touch of prettiness to the room. Thanks, Shay!