A Whirlwind of a Summer!

Summer seemed to be over in a blink of an eye this year.

My daughter and her girls spent June and part of July with us at the cabin. 

Always a wonderful time for all of us, although I don't get much sewing done.

Hometown, by Sweetwater, 

was the first project I completed.

It will be a Christmas gift for my son's family.

My daughter helped me finish In the Woods by McKenna Ryan. 

Both flimsies need their borders added to them, 

but I will have to do that when I return home.

Not enough room here to cut accurate borders.

Autumn Abundance bedrunner by Kim Diehl.

This one is ready to head to the quilter.

Next year, it will adorn my bed here at the cabin! 

Lastly,

Roadrunner by Alison Lang.

This will be made into a pillow.

On a personal note,

we joined my son and his family in Coronado for the 4th of July.

Then in August, we traveled to the Baltic Sea to do some bike riding.

I loved Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm.

St. Petersburg, Russia was fascinating to visit,

but I am thankful I live in the USA.

For most of the trip I rode an E-bike (wonderful invention for the aging rider,)

but on our tour of the summer palaces of Catherine the Great,

we rode these cute little Russian bikes.

We are packing up now to head back to the heat!

I look forward to reuniting with my quilting bee friends!

Thank you for reading, Cheryl.

Home, Sweet Home

I love to travel, 

but sometimes the best part is returning home.

The best part of the trip was spending time with my sister.

The scenery was not half bad either.

Now the hiking....

I was not prepared. 

As for stitching...not much got done.

I read 2 books though.

Highly recommend Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Since returning home,

jet lag has made for some productive hours in the middle of the night though.

This is Gila Woodpecker by Alison Lang.

Just needs some buttons and embroidery on the cactus pad. 

I love this one and it will be made into a pillow for my home in Arizona.

While doing laundry today,

I prepped this table runner from Kim Diehl's last book.

It is all ready for some machine applique when I get back to AZ. 

My sewing table at the cabin is not conducive to either machine quilting or machine applique.

My girls have returned to Arizona and school,

but here they are enjoying their last days of cool weather in the mountains.

I miss them.

A little this and a little that!

We have returned to the cabin and I have worked on a few new projects.

This is a pattern from 1894 Cottonwood House called 'Charmed.'

I love the rusted jingle bells on his crocked little mouth.

My husband made the bread board for me to mount it on.  I just need to stain it.

The first block of Raven, from Blackbird Designs. 

Another stocking from Kim Diehl's book.

And lastly,

Hospitality door hanger, again from Kim's book.

Not much else since these two precious granddaughters came with me.

Therefore, we have been playing at the river, enjoying a good old fashioned 4th of July celebration and camping in our new camper, Rockie.

And finally,

our newest family member.

Next on my list...

the tree skirt from Kim's book.

My daughter and I are also making the girls quilts for the camper.

Hope you are enjoying your summer!  I know I am.

It has been awhile...

so thank you for still following my blog,

We have moved back to the cabin for the summer,

 so perhaps I will have some time to actually write a few more posts.

I have been busy since I last posted.

During the 9 hour car ride to the cabin,

I sewed the bindings onto several quilts.

A Stroll through the Garden,

by Norma Whaley.

Okay, this has got to be one of my all time favorites and I am not a 'prim' girl.

Desert Dwellers, the row I designed for TOWQS Arizona Row by Row Experience.

Sorry for the poor picture.

The Saguaro cacti are chenilled.

The applique is wool.

Thank you to my co-worker, Lin, for such a great idea for our row.

I am making the shoppe sample of Merrie Halloween, 

designed by Buttermilk Basin.

It is offered as a BOM.

I am not known for my embroidery skills, but you know something...

I am really starting to like it!

I was blessed to be able to attend Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City in May.

One of the things I enjoyed most was hopping to all the quilt shops in the area.  The ladies at My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe in Logan were so nice and boy, oh boy, do I envy their space!

However, Village Dry Goods in Brigham City was my favorite.

Why? 

They had a wall of reproduction fabrics that made my heart skip a beat.

American Quilting was inspiring as well. 

 Their workroom was to die for.  

Has to be when you have hundreds of participants in your Mystery Sampler program!! 

A lot of my time when I work is spent making kits.

Yikes, I cannot imagine making hundreds of them.

The one thing I came home very excited about was Kim Diehl's latest book,

Simple Christmas Tidings.

It was so exciting for me to meet her.

You all know how much I love her designs.

I actually brought home an autographed copy of the book.

And I had to rush home and start making projects from it. 

Luckily, I had the same fabrics she used in her originals.

I want to make almost everything in the book!

I also came home with new projects from My Red Door Designs and 1894 Cottonwood House.

I made two of My Red Door Designs projects.

One here and one is on display at the shop.

I have not made my Jack from 1894 Cottonwood House yet,

but I will share when I do.

The last two things I came home with were a Sue Spargo Embroidery book...

I told you I was getting in to it...

and the pattern, The Raven, by Blackbird Designs.

Yup,

I am in my middle childhood again...

so full of enthusiasm and creativity. 

Heading back to the valley of the sun on Sunday for a few weeks.

Excited to welcome my son's second son on Tuesday.

Cannot wait to meet him!

(oh yeah, forgot...I also joined Panama Pyramids on Facebook.  My magazine should be at the house when I get home.  I have not bought the templates yet.  Want to place wagers on if I ever start them. Love the quilt and what a great use of scraps.  Besides, picking different fabrics for each pyramid is right up my alley.)

The Stages of Life

Recently,

I have contemplated the stages of life

 as they relate to my quilting endeavors.

First, is the infancy stage...

I am so full of hope and vitality that
I buy multitudes of new patterns and want to make each one.

Just a few in my queue and
I am anxiously awaiting a few more from My Red Door Designs this week.

Then comes middle childhood, where my imagination and creative juices go wild,
 hence working on several projects all at once.

My Garden, by Kathi Campbell of Heart to Hand,
is a new BOM program at The Olde World Quilt Shoppe.

Another Kathi Campbell project, October Garden.

During my adolescence,

I have a great passion for the project and make good progress.

Just the binding to go on this wall hanging,
Home is Best by Norma Whaley of Timeless Traditions Quilts.

Then the project moves into early adulthood where I see it as a responsibility; 

but I want to make my mark,
so I actually finish a few things.

Heart Table Mat, designed by Norma Whaley.

 Flower Baskets, by Lisa Bongean.

Coxcomb Medallion, by Lisa Bongean.

In the midlife of the project,

I start to contemplate whether completing the project will truly enrich my life.

Scrap Basket Blossoms,
from Kim Diehl's book, Simple Applique.
Two of the side borders are quilted, but I doubt I will finish the other two.
I made this quilt while teaching Kim's applique technique.

As a benevolent, mature adult,

I consider donating the project to raise funds for a worthy cause! 

And in those last few years,
I am sure wisdom will help me let go of the projects that just don't matter.

Summer finale!

 As the summer draws to a close,

I have some progress to share.

Farm Girl Finery,

designed by Kim Diehl,

is a flimsy,

Last summer I signed up for Primitive Gatherings BOW, Sunflower Gatherings.  As the packages started arriving, it became obvious to me I had bit off more than I could chew.  

Finally, this summer, I have my abbreviated version pieced.

I am still debating on a border treatment. 

I certainly have plenty of fabrics and wool left over, but they can go in the stash.

My inclination is to leave it as is.

It will be a great wall hanging at the cabin, where I do all my flower gardening.

I did have a small finish...

the September Buttermilk Basin Banner.

I love anything with pumpkins!

My granddaughter helped me plant a garden this summer 

and some of the only survivors are the pumpkins! 

 I will have at least 2 dozen of them in October,

if the hail storm that is currently passing over does not beat them up too badly.

Pesky chipmunks feasted on my carrots, green beans and spinach.

They even ate the jalapeno pepper plant.

I think they snickered at me while I weeded and watered my 'organic' garden.

It was entertaining to watch a row of carrots disappear each night.

We will be heading home soon, so I know this is all the progress I will make on the UFOs and WIPs I brought up with me. Not bad, 3 out of 5 completed.  

Hope you all had a great summer.

Now for fall...

my favorite time of year!

Frosting!

That is what Mary @ Quilt Hollow does to a quilt top!

'Lunch Box Social'

I have long admired her quilting and I finally have one frosted by her!

Cannot wait to get it back and bound!

Here is the back...yummy!

I might have to display it as a whole cloth quilt with a pieced backing...haha.

Let's see....... what can I send to her next?

Cracking the WIP!

Summer is over and it is time to get back to some sort of discipline when it comes to finishing up my WIPs. 'In the Meadow' is ready to go to the quilter. I just need to get a backing put together. 'Lunch Box Social' is off to the quilter.  I finished my 'Autumn Pinwheels' by Primitive Gatherings and it is on display at TOWQS.

I will also continue to work on my blockhead projects, 'Christmas Magic' and 'Le Jardin.' And I hate to say it, but 'Sunflower Gathering' will become a WIP.  I will make it my goal to make a block a month. Perhaps I will make Wednesdays my WIP day like many other bloggers have.

But, and this will come to no surprise to anyone, I have to have a new project for the month...

Kim Diehl's 'Penny Garland' from her book, Simple Appeal.

I have been using the Soft Fuse Premium I spoke of before and I can report that it works well on wool.  Not perfect, but what fusible is. It is easy to trace the shapes on to, the paper peels off with the greatest of ease, and it is almost imperceptible since it is so lightweight.  It has one downside...the wool shapes do not adhere to the background as nicely as cotton did, but only with lots of handling do they come off.  Therefore, I can only place 6-7 shapes down at once before I have to stitch them on.  Maybe that is not a downside, since I would tend to place all the shapes and then claim I would stitch them down later...yeah, maybe much later.  I like the design portion of the process way more than the work portion. As a result, all those shapes are stitched and I can now proceed to design the outer border of wool shapes. The middle wreath gives it a Christmas feel, but when the multicolored shapes go on, it will be a year round topper for a round table in my home.

Decorating with Quilts

I started this quilt in 2010 and only work on it while at the cabin.

At Home in the Woods,

by McKenna Ryan.

It will occupy a large, blank wall at the cabin.  

The only problem with working on a quilt over a period of 4 years is you do not have access to the original fabrics anymore.  I have one more long block to fuse and a few accents and it will be ready for the border.  What I like about her patterns is how the shapes spill into the border.  The star of this quilt, in my opinion, is the Aspen Tree in the upper left border.  You can only see the beginnings of it right now. Perhaps it will be a flimsy by Summer 2015.

In order to finish this project, I visited the Durango Quilt Shop. Our local little shop here in Pagosa Springs closed in March...boohoo! The Durango shop has a fabulous collection of batiks! The best thing I came home with though was a new fusible...Soft Fuse Premium.  I am impressed, but have not tried it on wool yet. It is, however, extremely superior for a fusible applique project like this one. Very light weight and strong.

The cabin is the perfect place for decorating with quilts.

 A flannel quilt draped over the chair with a Kim Diehl design on the wall.

 A Kathleen Tracy quilt draped over the staircase railing. See that big blank wall...that is where the McKenna Ryan quilt will hang.

 Bear in the Woods, by Liberty Homestead alongside some of my photography. I am a wanna be wildlife photographer. LOL! The quilt hanger is by Summer Sky Creations. They do a great job at custom hangers!

Seasonal small quilts.

Small quilts on the dining table, designed by Miss Rosies Quilt Co.

A log cabin quilt on our bed, designed by Kim Diehl.

The guest bedroom with another Kim Diehl quilt on the bed and a Jo Morton design on the wall.

Hope you have enjoyed the quilt tour.

How do you decorate with quilts?

Grandmother's Vintage Sewing Machine

Years ago, my parents gave me a box that contained my Grandmother's sewing machine.  All I knew was that it was an Elna and needed repair.  I never opened it and packers put it into a collection of boxes over the years as it moved from place to place with us.  This year I finally opened the 4 layers of packing materials and this is what I found.

An Elna Lotus SP, designed by Raymond Loewy.  

I learned from the International Sewing Machine Collector's Society that it was made between 1969 and 1977. The Museum of Modern Art in New York selected this compact machine, with its clean lines, for their 'Design Collection.'

 Like a lotus, its petals open up to reveal a compact, but utilitarian machine, with a variety of stitches and functions. The top of the machine has its own built-in tool caddy, but a few of the tools are missing.

Raymond Loewy also designed the Avanti.

I had a friend in college who drove one. I thought the car was so James Bondish and he was just the coolest for driving it! Unfortunately, I never succeeded in getting more than a spin around the block (in the car, that is.)

How does it sew??  It has a beautiful stitch, but is probably better suited for garment sewing.  I have a very hard time getting it to stitch over bulky seams and I have to give it a little manual help every once in awhile to get it to start a seam. Each time I use it, I learn a little more on how to make it function the way I need it to.

Why am I sewing with it???  We moved up to Colorado in mid-July and I brought both my daughter's Bernina (lighter than mine) and the Lotus.  The Bernina will not turn on, so the Lotus is all I have to sew with.  I have restricted myself to sewing things I can over-size and custom cut to help deal with the lack of precision.  I sure miss Bernie and now have more empathy for students with older machines!

And besides, I have not done all that much sewing. Here is what I have accomplished:

From Kim Diehl's book, Simple Appeal.  The name of the quilt escapes me. 

I love the graphic nature of the quilt, but had a hard time picking the border.   

My progress on 'Sunflower Gatherings' by Lisa Bongean.  The wool applique extends into the pieced setting blocks, so each block is only partially done.  Wow, each block is so detailed with lots of embroidery...not my favorite thing to do!  Like my Pennies from Heaven quilt, I think this will also be a scaled down version of the original.   

And finally, 

'Mini Around the Pumpkin Patch'

Red Button Quilt Co.

16"x 19"

I did not lug my Sashiko machine up here, so this one will have to wait to be finished until I return home in mid-August.  

Now back to gardening, hiking or anything else we can think of to do in the glorious out of doors!