Fly Away Home ---

This morning I am on my way back to North Carolina. It’s been a wonderful trip to Oregon--- relaxing and productive at the same time!

But as they say, Home is where the Heart is --- and I can only be away from home so long until home is the only place that I want to be.

I saw this little picture of North Carolina with a heart smack dab in the middle, and I had to save it….that heart is awful close to where Winston Salem is on the map! North Carolina, I'm coming home to you! ((Yes, this is where you can cue in James Taylor singing "In my mind, I'm going to Carolina....."

We spent our last day sewing in the morning --- running errands in the afternoon, ending the day with a drive back out to Sisters to pick up Randy and Claire’s quilts from the show. We attended a “volunteer appreciation soiree” out at Black Butte, a thanks for all those who volunteered their time for the show. Randy had put in some hours opening boxes and getting quilts ready to be hung --- and I got to go as her guest!

We stopped and took some pics on the way ---the mountains were magnificently surrounded by clouds today, so very surreal looking!

Can you see them coming up through the car windshield??

The clouds appeared to be lit from above. It was really a beautiful evening. However, the clouds make it hard to tell what IS clouds, and what is snow capped mountains.

Can you see them now?? It was like the clouds were coming in like a slow motion wave, ready to just cover everything…

Until next year, beautiful Oregon! There is something really special about this place.

So what got done today?

I trimmed up a whole bunch of these……

And only have THIS to show for it! Someone once asked me ((OK, lots of someones….and OFTEN!)) what is the smallest size I keep. THESE are NOT THEM!! I even know there is a selvage craze going on out there, but I haven’t convinced myself that I need to save those either. I mean, some of them are neat ----but I must be a crazy woman to want to start to save something else too! This pile of “shavings” from squaring up was the last of my mess. After this was done, it was clean up time. ((Oh sad face!! ))

As I write this post, everything is packed and ready to go ----we are off to the airport early, and the next time you hear from me I’ll be home!

A Little of This, A Little of That --

I hate to even think that my time in Sunriver is winding down. In retrospect, I’ve accomplished a lot while I’ve been here, but still wish I could have done more!

A bit of a stomach bug has slowed me down a bit, but maybe I needed some slowing down? We were going to go to a music in the park thing last night, but I begged out. I just didn’t feel up to it. And the temps haven’t been exactly WARM either! After 5pm temps quickly drop to quite chilly. It would have been cold in the park, and we still had sewing to do!

As it was, we enjoyed sitting around the gas fire pit on the patio --- YES, it was TURNED ON! ((Is it REALLY July?!))--- and soaking up some of the peaceful nature from where we sat.

These pics of the Deschutes River are from our walk yesterday. Isn’t it peaceful? But even though I feel faraway – All it takes is a phone call to pull me back to reality! Takin’ care of business happens --- Even on a power walk along the river! Randy snapped this pic while we stopped so I could talk!

In the center of the pic, there IS a snow capped mountain hiding – but it looks like a cloud in the picture! I love seeing mountains covered with snow in freaking JULY!! We are headed back to Sisters this afternoon and I’ll see if I can get Randy to stop and let me take some better pics. :c)

Up the river, down the river, the view is vast and awe striking.

I just love this place!

So what have I been working on while I’ve been here? Well MYSTERY stuff for one! And I can’t show you that, can I? But there has been some of this:

and there has been a lot of this:

And copious amounts of THIS:

ENDLESS CHAIN PRESSING! :cD I’m an assembly line girl. I will work one step until all of that unit for the quilt is done, and then I move to the next. We talked a bit about it while we were all here. Randy is a “do a bit of this, do a bit of that, see how it will look together, and go back and do some more” kind of girl….I guess I already know what it’s going to be in my mind, and I Just keep going. It takes a long time before I have enough to show progress, but when it comes together, it comes together fast! ((FINALLY!)) It’s just me pushing it through until done.

And NO --- these three things are NOT from the same project!

But ONE of the projects just gifted me 600 bonus triangles! NOW what am I going to do with THESE?!

I’m sure I’ll think of something!

But until it is time to pack it up and go home – I plan on doing some more of THIS:

Just stretching out like a cat in the sunny spot on the floor….admiring Randy’s great newly finished quilt top! BLISS!

Cheddar Bow-Ties!! 2011 Leader/Ender Challenge!

Every year there is at least ONE quilt that we ALL fall in love with.

This year it was a bowtie using a cheddar solid as a background. Do I have to remind you of how much I love solid cheddar? When I look at antique quilts, those with solid cheddar in them are the ones that jump out at me and straight into my heart.

We decided that this year we would use this quilt as a Leader/Ender project --- not to be completed by this time next year necessarily,but to at least show how far we could get in a year if we used these pieces strictly as leaders and enders in between the seams of other lines of chain piecing on current projects.

This was my first glimpse of this lovely quilt hanging over one of the racks in the antique quilt booth. Did you spy it in the slide show the other day on my post of the antique quilts?

Here it is spread out a bit better….I love that there are no borders, it is just bound with a terrific old indigo blue!

Would you like to join us in the 2011 Bow Tie Challenge? There are no rules, no deadlines, no finished size, no muss no fuss. Basically, all you have to do is cut the pieces ahead of time, keep them by your machine, and when you are in the need of a leader/ender, you’ll use the bow tie pieces and watch them grow in number until this time next year!

Click HERE for printer friendly version!

To get started:

Directions make 3" finished bow tie blocks!

From cheddar background cut: (2) 2” squares.

From bow tie fabric cut: (2) 2” squares and (2) 1-1/4” squares!

((I know 1-1/4” is a strange size,and not one that I keep on hand, so I am cutting all my “sets” for the bow ties from my drawer of 2” strips. I can get the pieces for one bow tie block out of a 2" X 7” strip with 1/2” left over for squaring/trimming!))

Lay the (2) 1-1/4” squares on top of the (2) 2” cheddar background squares as shown….You are going to sew those on the diagonal as for snowball corners!

You don’t have to trim the excess, but I do. These bow ties are going to finish at 3” square, and you don’t want a lot of bulk where these seams are going to come together. I just aim for an approximate 1/4” with my scissors and snip!

The sew the connector units to the bow tie squares in four patch fashion! Press the seams toward the unpieced bow tie squares. Sew the two halves together, and you have ONE bow tie completed!

It takes FIVE seams to complete each bow tie block. So every time you need a leader/ender --- just know that you ARE building something and these ties will add up in no time!

While Lori was working on her Triple Irish Chain quilt this weekend…she was able to complete THESE in no time at all:

Isn’t this going to be fun! I can hardly wait to get home and into my 2” scrap bin to start kitting some of these up. I want to use up a lot of recycled plaids and stripes too.

Out comes the 5 yard piece of solid cheddar I’ve been hoarding!

Lori wants to continue to do hers with cheddar prints, and I’m a solid cheddar girl, so we’ll see how different these look as they take shape!

Randy, getting in on some camera action too! Oh we have had just the BEST time this year!! And this crazy woman is already making 2" finished ((YES FINISHED at 2"!!)) bow ties as HER leader/ender project. Be watching her blog for updates!

Are you game? Let’s do it!

So What Did She Buy?!

Every year I tell myself that I don’t NEED to BUY another quilt…seriously. Where can I put another one? Isn’t enough enough? It’s like adopting kittens, but at least I don’t need to feed them. What will I do with them in the long run? I have no idea --- have one heck of a yard sale at some point I guess, or flood ebay with listings?

I figure they will live with me as long as I need them to live with me. As long as they give me inspiration and add to my life, I’ll rotate them out and enjoy them.

Do I feel guilty about the price? Not really. Most of the ones I buy are on the cheap side, under $100, and I can’t hardly buy good running shoes for much less than that.

My purchases usually stick to the "antique quilt or top" category -- But look! This little quilt is NOT an antique!

There was a booth selling small quilts, and the money was going for scholarships. I spied this one that Kristin made, and snatched it up right away. JUST LOVE IT! Thanks so much, Kristin! It is going live in my studio, I am so happy with this!

I also bought THIS beauty:

I just fell in love with the pattern of this "Jack in the pulpit" variation and the fabrics in it. The sashings look brown, but they were once upon a time green. You can tell when you look close.

One of the things we do when we get home is spread our goodies on Randy's bed for close inspection! I'll let Lori and Randy show their own, so check their blogs for updates.

Some of the fabrics in this quilt are pretty cheesy and loosely woven, but the piecing is pretty dang good! The date on it says circa 1900, but there are fabrics much older than that in this quilt. And that’s how it would be if anyone were dating my scrap quilts 100 years from now. Just this week I was sewing a 30 year old piece of calico I bought in 1981 into a quilt. It’s easy to see how a quilt can contain many decades of wonderful fabrics.

Jack In The Pulpit, Sisters, OR 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

You can click the above to see close ups of my favorite blocks! This quilt NEEDS a bath. And I’ll probably do a soak in the tub with orvis soap when I get it back home just to see if I can help lift some of that old age and plain ole dirty musty-ness out of it.

The backing is homespun! And you can really see the quilting detail on the back side:

It’s a very nice piece of history, an unusual block design, great quilting, and I will love having it around!

I also found this top, for the way too cheap price of $30.00:

The spools are adorable, even if they are plenty lumpy! At some point it looks like someone has added extra blocks to turn this into a top. The fabrics added seem to be from the 1980s. That includes the green border……which may or may NOT need to be removed for me to like it. Maybe it’s growing on me, or maybe it just doesn’t look THAT bad in this picture…but I think I might change it to something else. The other fabrics in the quilt are much older..there are 1930s and 40s and possibly some 50s in here.

I love these giant green polka dots! This block reminds me a lot of the spool block I did for Quiltmaker Magazine a couple months back…only…I wimped out and did NOT use the set in Y seam method. ((Or as I call it the W-H-Y seam method!!))

Isn’t this wild 1940s red FUN! Many of the blocks were hand pieced, and then set together by machine.

Loved this block with the funky stripes too…..and here you can see a bit of that 1980s green border. What do you think? Does it need to go?!

This is a top that is sturdy enough to machine quilt up nice and cute and actually USE it on a bed…so that’s my plan for it.

There were a few other quilts seen around town, here and there that didn’t make it into my previous slide show….so just to re-wet your whistle:

		More Antique Quilts, Sisters 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I wished I could take them ALL home, really --- but just like cats, where would I put them!? Still-- aren’t photos just grea for inspiration?

Best of all, it was fun to share in the excitement with friends who feel the same way about them as I do. It’s infectious!

I already can’t wait for next year…..do you think this quilt will be back again?! We’ll have to wait and find out!

Just a “LITTLE” Walk!

One of the things I love most about coming to Sun River, Oregon is the simple ability to just put on the running shoes, open the front door, and GO. And we do! OFTEN!

I will admit that I wimped out on Sunday ---- I had a low grade headache most of the day and just felt kind of crummy. I think lack of sleep and over excitement just finally made me take an easy day…

But yesterday, Lori, Randy and I headed off in the morning to get some power walking in.

We wanted to head down by the Deschutes River, and the morning was perfect. Can you smell the pines from here? I wasn’t fast enough with my camera, there were several deer hanging out on the edge of the road, and when they saw us get closer, they all moved off into the brush and disappeared.

Lori and Randy stopping a bit in the shade! I just love being surrounded by nature. ((However, that doesn’t include the copious amounts of ants that have invaded Randy’s drive way and patio!! I think the world could do well without ants….just sayin’))

Hot, Sweaty, Dusty, and worth it! And yes, I was the one who thought it was too cold to be out in shorts, so I opted for denim capris….I was regretting it by the time we hit the river, I could have just jumped in! Temps change rapidly in central Oregon. Even though it was really chilly early in the am, it was 80 by the time we hit the river….

How far did we go? 6.6 miles! Whew!!

And in case you think we’ve been slacking on the quilting front? THINK AGAIN!

The machines have been going non-stop every other minute of the time we’ve spent together.

Lori had to leave yesterday afternoon --- we miss her already! We are like a tricycle with two wheels….we are leaning to one side without her as our third wheel to balance us! And I can hardly wait until the end of August when Lori is joining me as my assistant for the Caribbean Cruise I’m teaching on with Sew Many Places! I know the weeks are going to fly and we’ll be together again soon.