June is a mixture of weather!

As you know, we live on the Oregon Coast.  We never know what the weather will be!  Poor forecasters, they don’t know either -  because no one lives West of us and the whales are NOT talking!

I love it here (almost always) because it’s always 50 degrees sometime during the day.  BUT this week was a killer.  Forgive me, Nebraska friends - but it was 85 here this week - and we thought we were going to die!  

We were walking along the jetty in the port - and we’re well acquainted with weather in the port.  Usually the temp is modified by a cool breeze off the ocean.  Wasn’t happening that day!!  We turned around at the half-way mark and went home to sit by a fan!!  Not used to desert temp breezes!

So, today … I woke up early, temperature 58 - and headed to Harris Beach for a cool walk.  There was definitely a bonus - the breeze was cool again.  Hallelujah!  We live across 101 to a walk-in entrance to HB.  But I’m a big chicken about walking across 101 traffic.  DH has to hold my hand!!  But 7:30 am on a Sunday - not a car in sight!!  

I was on my way - a neighbor told me there was a path to the beach, not in really good condition, but …. I found the entrance and the beginning of the path.  It wasn’t a ‘park path’ - more ‘adjacent to the park path’.  

And I wouldn’t say it was in any condition for a 73 yr old walker!!  BUT the sun was sneaking in behind me and I didn’t want to turn around.  The grass and weeds were grabbing my shoes and jeans - I had to keep my eye on the path.  It went along a stream, lots of  foxglove patches; blackberry vines and swarms of insects!!  Trees were down, grass was waist high … an adventure for sure!

My exit path to the beach - finally!

The beach all to myself!!  Well worth the struggle!  It you enlarge the photo and look at the hill between the two main rocks - you can see Rainbow Rock Condos - Building E. And good old 214 apartment!!  We still miss the view from E214.

The Quilt show was on Memorial Day weekend.  It was a beautiful show, I entered 6 projects.  And you know I never ‘plan’ on winning a ribbon.  But as DH says, ‘I’m sure more cheerful if I do.’  I won second place for my “Oh Baby!” Crib quilt.  Sent DH a text telling him it was safe to come home!!

 

We had our Quilt of Valor presentation on Sunday afternoon.  Presented 14 veterans with a quilt.  Always moving and fun to be part of.  It always takes a while to recoup from the show.  But it gives me time to figure out what I want to enter next year.  And once I think of sometime - well, I have to find the UFO and figure out how to get it ready in time for next year’s show!!!  

Did I mention May is a very busy month???

 But I didn't think I'd wait this long!!  Sorry.

Mother's Day Weekend, I sent DH down to Eureka to play golf!  I had some serious quilting to do to finish some projects for the Quilt Show and the Country Store.  And he brought back on Mother's Day our favorite pizza from Ferndale!!  Win! Win!

Mother's Day was a nice day and I headed for Lone Ranch Beach - wonderful low tide AND someone made a labyrinth on the beach!!  I've walked labryinths before and have seen them on the beach.  But this was the first time I walked a beach labyrinth.  It was lovely.  I was going to post online to tell everyone to get out there.  But by the time I walked it and headed up to the car.  The wind was erasing it.  But here are some pictures.  Wonderful, isn't it!?

I wish I knew who made it - it was wonderful, but the 'signature', was one of the first things to blow away!

The Brookings outdoor pool has opened and I'm aiming to go to aerobics 4 out of the 6 classes.  So far, so good!!  I went 5 times the first week, 3 times the week we went to Portland - so it's averaged out this far!

DH had a bowling tournament in Portland area.  And we hadn't been up to see the gang since fall!!!  So we warned them we were coming and off we went.  Our first stop was University of Oregon where PK is a freshman.  We got there just in time to take a quick tour and have pizza for lunch together.  We warned her she would have to guide us back to our car - we had no idea where we were on the map!  They were setting up for an event and there was a very calm Llama - picture opp!

Then on to Portland.  M was playing Ultimate Frisbie - a combo of soccer; football and frisbees.  Fun to watch even in the freezing drizzle!

Our Maid of Honor from 53 years ago(!) lives in Portland area and we quickly made a Friday Lunch date to meet at our favorite restaurant - Oswego Grill.  We had a great time catching up.  And cussing and discussing politics and grandkids!

Saturday started the Bowling Tournament and I stayed home with DD.  Their house is on the market so there was lots to do, then leave with Groot (dog) and go to the office, Target, Quilt Store, and lunch from Panera Bread!  Lots of catching up and figuring out stuff!  Pizza for dinner that night.

West Linn Prom was Saturday night.  M (HS junior)  and his 12 man posse got dressed up and went to dinner at Olive Garden then back home.  DD told him he would be going to the prom next year!!  I managed to get a selfie with him on his way out.

                                 

Sunday was second day of bowling tournament and I went to watch.  It was a little hard to get packed and out of the house at 6:30 AM.  But we did it without waking anyone up!!  And when bowling was over for our team, we skedaddled out the door and down I-5.  Stopping for Arby's for lunch.  Home before dark and all is well!

Tomorrow is the big start!  Although I made 4 dozen Oatmeal, cranberry, white chocolate cookies that we split between the Quilt Show Cookie table (we're know for the good cookies for a $1 a bag!) and the poker game Rick is going to.  

We turn in quilts tomorrow afternoon and at 4 pm we start working on the show space and hanging the quilts.  We tried to dig up more help - neighbors, TaiChi group ... After the show is hung, we have a free pizza party with quilters bring salads / desserts.  THAT got their attention, we'll see if they show up!!

Then we'll be working the show - everyone asks us what's all in the Azalea Festival - don't ask us!  We never get out of the elementary school where the Quilt Show is.  It's a lot of 'little town' fun!  I'll report next week! 

Ready or not - here it comes!! SUMMER! and the Brookings Annual Quilt Show!

Quilt of Valor Presentation

Sunday, May 26, 2019   2:00 pm

Kalmiopsis Elementary School Gym

650 Easy St  Brookings OR

If you are in our area - please join us.

And although I'm not nearly as panicked as I was last year ... this year is still B*I*G! 

The QOV quilt is the one I made this year.  I love Double 4patch - it's so graphic and don't tell anyone ... so easy!  I got this free pattern from maryquilts.com.  A valuable resource for quick gift quilts.

This morning, Fierce Beyond 50, had this timely reminder!

Is it me or is May just as chaotic as December? I feel like I’ve been high-tailing it from one act to the next, whipping through costume changes and practicing my lines, scrambling to get into place before the curtain rises. Sorry for the acting analogy ...but I was very into theatre back in the day. Though none of the things on my calendar are there without my permission, during busy seasons like this, it’s so hard to take a break or scale back. There's nothing on my agenda that isn't good or worthwhile, but for me to enjoy all of them, I have to protect that much-needed me-time. What do you do when your busy schedule crosses the line from invigorating to stressful?  No matter what you do to recharge, just remember to do something just for you!    And take a bow, Fierce friend! Because you deserve a round of applause for all that you do day in, day out.

Fiercely Yours, Marie Founder, Fierce Beyond 50 Check her out!  My 'not the best plan' recharge is ME tucked under a quilt, phone silenced, with a good book, chocolate or Mike's Lemonade!!  Okay, I make to-do lists too! I'd like to say "more later"  But that hasn't been happening lately - and I don't think you'd believe me anyway!!  (tee-hee)  BUT ... hope springs eternal!! doni

C'mon down!! Brookings Annual Quilt Show is ON!

The day has come - the quilts are hung with care and my 'honored guild member' booth is filled.  I had to take home a dozen small quilts - I decided to go with my graphic 'first quilt' baby blocks pyramid!  I saw it in the Quilt Engagement Calendar and was way too dumb to know I couldn't do it!!  But it makes a statement!!

Yes, there are other quilts!!  But I was too pooped to walk the show!  More pictures of the rest later!!

 Let the party commence!!  Come see me!!

T-5 days to the Brookings Annual Quilt Show

T-5days to the Brookings Annual Quilt Show (part of Azalea Festival) Come one, come all!! AND -once in a lifetime opp- I'm Featured Guild Member!! I'm "curating" (note the latest buzz-word) a display of quilts I've made in the last 43 years!!!

Brookings Oregon
Kalmiopsis Elementary School 650 Easy St
Saturday May 26: 10-5
Sunday May 27 10-4

Details of "Welcome to the Neighborhood" my latest finished quilt! Come and see it!! Quilting by my good friend, Cindy Young.  Riverjoy Quilting

Quilt Show was a great success!

So bring on the lazy crazy days of summer, I'm ready for them.  More lazy, less crazy if you please.

Here are some highlights of the show.  I brought home a 2nd place ribbon for my Guild Challenge - A View From the Deck.  So I guess I'll keep quilting!!

Had a minor success selling at the country store.  First time I haven't just donated my items to be sold by the guild.  It's surprising what didn't 'go' with bargain-basement prices too!!

The Viewer's Choice this year was a Wall Quilt!  It won THREE ribbons, each one well deserved!

We had NINE hand quilted entries!  Last year we had to talk the Chairman out of taking the category out of the show.  Instead we lowered the size requirement from a double bed to 'bigger than a crib' quilt.  Several of us started hand quilting but didn't get it finished - I'm one of them!  So-o "Next Year" is the rally cry!!

But by far the highlight of the show for me, was the QOV presentation.  We set out a full rack of chairs, and at the start time, pulled out another rack, set them up and there was still a standing room only crowd!  The Coast Guard Honor Guard was very impressive and set the tone perfectly.

The Veterans receiving the quilts were all very appreciative and loved their hugs!  It went so well for our first try!  I'm waiting for photos from our 'official' photographer.  But here is the group shot of all with their quilts.  More to follow.

So-o-o-o, what to do next?  I have a baby quilt to be finished before June 21!, A pair of Christmas Stockings for a July wedding.  And a memorial wool quilt to be finished for my BIL from his brothers shirts. Or ... something new??

Who knows!  For today, sitting under a quilt with a good book sounds perfect.  We already walked the low tide.  Saw five Starfish and a bazillion rocks!  The sand is so low, there are lots of rocks for the picking!!

Happy Memorial Day!

Brookings Quilt Show was great!

Every Memorial Day Weekend our small town is over-run by Azalea Festival.  There are lots of activities (I hear!) and tons of people come over to get out of the heat, rain, or just for a summer drive - you pick!

The quilt guild has a show that Saturday and Sunday - and that's why I only hear what else goes on!

Here are some of the highlights from last weekend! In no particular order!!

I never expect to win a ribbon - but as DH says, it's always better if I do!!  Here's the text I sent him, telling him it was safe to come home!!  He was golfing in CA during the madness!

I was demo-ing how to sew selvedges during the show.  You can use any string/strip pattern.  This daisy pattern was a class we had years ago.  I wanted it bigger - but not to make additional blocks.  Proposed border hanging there - hmmmm, now I'm not sure! Back to the drawing board!

This was Best of Show!  It was wonderful.  Her daughter had to wait for years for this quilt.  The quilter kept changing the pattern and adding more!  Sounds familiar!

My friend, P, was the Honored Quilter this year.  And, oh my, we had fun getting her ready for the big day!  Our small group gave her "Minion Coupons" and every meeting we'd pick quilts for the booth, sew on labels, sew on bindings, consult and we made her wear a tiara from the Dollar Tree too!!! 

A closer look.  P has many hobbies, jewelry, knitting, anything with a needle ... it was a very interesting display!  Well done!

Love the color drift in this!

Starry starry quilt!

This kids' quilt was adorable!  Enlarge the picture to see the fussy cut kids and pets in the corner stones!  Anyone have this fabric??

This quilter from Cave Junction - just up and over the mountains - consistently enters a great NW themed quilt.  Another winner here! 

This quilt used the Christmas Themed blocks won at our Christmas party two years ago.  J did an awesome job!  My block is right next to the ribbon - the tree and the 3 ships sailing.

Say Uncle Bouquet won a ribbon too!  TWO ribbons this year!  Great fun!

Two days to just hang out with friends and look at quilts!  What could be better??

R on the left, is 90 years old.  And yes, she had a quilt in the show! She went on our Portland bus trip last fall and we all wish we had as much energy as she does!

Grandma J giving the GKs a tour of the show!  GKs of quilters learn to appreciate quilts early!!

We had our cookie sales table - and although we can't eat them in the building, "Cookies To Go" are very popular for the ride home!!

We had 8 quilts on display for the QOV program.  They are tucked into their pillow cases with their thank you notes - ready to go to a Veteran this summer.  Next year I'm challenging our guild to make 20 quilts - we'll get the stage to display them!!

It's officially summer - and the Brookings Quilters are lazing around a bit this week!  Getting caught up on sleep and novels!!  But also thinking about what we'll make for next year!!

It's (almost) summer!! Wahoo!!

This month has been very summer-y.  We're still low on rain; but we're having high beaches and the summer's usual very low tides.  Makes it such fun to walk the beach.  Always something interesting down there.

Look who's back!!  The Starfish!  Pardon moi!!  Sea Stars is now their official name. We haven't seen them for months. I don't know where they go in the winter here - but we don't see them hanging around on the rocks.  I suspect they either go deeper in the sand; or farther out in the surf. For more information about Sea Stars - go here

Then last weekend we found we'd been invaded by the Blue Sailors again.  Here is a close up of what we found - they are such a bright blue.

And here is the L*o*n*g view.  They were everywhere, they were everywhere! "By the wind sailors" are part of the jellyfish family.  They float about the ocean following currents until a wind or current drives them to the beach.  Here is a link to more information about them. Fascinating!  We love living by the ocean - full of surprises everyday.

Besides taking advantage of the Oregon great Outdoors; I've been quilting like a maniac!  The Brookings Quilt Show is this weekend during our Azalea Festival. Our guild is about 40 strong and we have a quilt show every year!  This year there will be at least 190 quilts in it!!  Yes, we are a busy group!

One of the fun things about moving to a new quilting community is that they haven't seen your work!  So every year I bring out an old favorite for the show.  Now - I've got 5 things in the show and only one of them is more than a year old! So I'm not cheating too much.

Button Basket was made while I was working at the University.  I sat in my favorite window seat during lunch and stitched away on the border!  Very relaxing!

In Art Quilts I've entered the R Family Portrait from last fall.  It was J&L's 10th anniversary.  L wanted a family portrait in counted cross stitch, but I thought that was too small for what she had in mind.  So I made this.  I'm happy to say it was a great success!  Artistic license was running rampant, but I think I recognize them!! Do you?

When I lived in Newport, a friend S and I fell in love with the Crabapple Hill pattern named "Over the River and Through the Woods".  I remarked I wouldn't want to do that much embroidery and S said she wouldn't tackle that much piecing ... so we agreed to do double duty on our favorite parts!  S does awesome embroidery.  P a friend here in Brookings was finishing a blue rendition. Another friend here in Brookings, C long-armed them and they are both in this year's show. I love when an  UFO bites the dust!!

The guild challenge this year was "Nautical".  I was convinced that I didn't have time to enter but I love challenges!  Then while clearing out the sewing space I found an old book of cool nautical designs that I had never taken the time to sew.  (I'm sure none of you have ever been in this position!!) I started this and finished it the same week!!  It's small, but I really do like it!! "Rain or Shine, the Weather's Fine!"

I also finished piecing a Quilt of Valor for this year.  I love this pattern.  Basically a Bento Box, but you can use any size half-square-triangle to start and any size strip for the "logs".  It looks very modern when viewed from afar!  An interesting and kind-of masculine look is my favorite quilt for men.  W, a good friend in Newport, has volunteered to quilt donation quilts for me as her contribution.  Win-win! AND it's done for our show and the annual deadline for donating the quilts. 

It's a free tutorial by Jean MaDan, a fellow Stashbusters quilter.  If you are interested you can find it here.

Thanks for joining me for a "monthly" report!  No promises of being more prolific, but I do feel guilty when I stay away this long!!

Catch up time!!

The Brookings quilt guild has a show every year during Memorial Day weekend, celebrating the Azalea Festival here.  We had an excellent show this year!  Lots of fun and great quilts for eye candy and we won't even mention the awesome vendors we had!

I'm happy to report that "Birds of a Feather" is finally DONE-DONE!  Oh-so-many years in the making!  It was practically still smoking when I turned it in!  And look-ee what it brought back home with it!!

It all started with a BOM sponsored by Quilted Moose in Gretna.  Debbie has a way with kits and BOMs.  I don't even like applique and I was in!!!  A group of us went to Gretna on BOM Saturday, got our blocks, stopped for lunch and then gathered in Lincoln to work on them the rest of the day.  We had such fun.

As you well know - I CANNOT follow a pattern exactly!  And this project was no different.  There was no blue fabrics in the kits.  Who can stand to have eggs in a nest that aren't blue??  So I started changing it around from the very first month. And of course, I fell behind, years behind!!  So I didn't like the last blocks, didn't make them!  C and I made up our own layouts.  I added an initial block.  In the star, in machine embroidery, I optimistically said "2007" - hmmm, it wasn't finished then!  Not ripping that out and seriously, who's going to notice or care? I used fusible and machine blanket stitched the applique.  I hand quilted it.  there were several 'time-out' periods for it.  But it's done-done now!!

I've been busy with Fabric Post Cards this spring.  Here are the latest ones.  "Childhood Memories" where I featured all the games we used to play.  I remember endless nights of Hide n seek.  Hopscotch and especially sitting on the cool garage floor on hot summer days and playing Authors and practicing shuffling!!

For  "Traditional Blocks" I made the 3" schoolhouse featured on the web this year (last year?)  It needed a little something to fill in the block, so I added trees.  I loved how it turned out.

 

I had to head for the laundromat this week.  Kingsize quilts do NOT fit into household machines! And it was way-past time for a washing.  I went to Harbor and I found that I can never get front loading machines.  At least not with glass doors.  I was fascinated by the quilt going around this way, then that way!!  Did you ever read Corduroy??  The artist in the laundromat getting inspired and sketching???  It's like that!!  Even when you're almost 62!

This spring I got busy making Quilts of Valor.  I made 4 with help from friends.  Here they are!  The first was a disappearing 4patch, quilted by Cindy Young in Brookings.  We had a display at the Brookings show - It's on the quilt rack, on the left.  That quilt went to the Quilts of Valor organization.  The next two are disappearing 9patches, quilted by Martha Lane in Lincoln NE.  They went to my BIL and a good friend's husband.  The fourth is a spider web UFO, quilted by Wilma Roles in Newport and it was presented to my SIL's dad.  It was great to present these.  They were well received and I highly recommend you get involved with this great cause.  I already have blocks started for the next one!

 

 

This spring at Finishing school we had access to an AccuQuilt machine.  I cut a bunch of 2 1/2" strips from kids prints.  Tried my hand at a lasagna quilt.  Well, first of all, I had way more than just a jelly roll!!  I think I could have wrapped the first strip around our whole complex!  It made almost a double bed quilt!  So I cut it into 3 baby quilts and a doll quilt!  All were donated to charities supported by my quilt guilds.  I watched the Missouri Star You-tube video and that was helpful.  If I ever did it again, I  would separate boy strips from girl strips!  If you don't, you do end up with a mish-mash that doesn't fit either!!

 

Here is my Brookings challenge - theme was "Bucket List".  From the start, I pictured piles of finished quilts!  Talk about a dream!!  It won a 3rd place ribbon in the Challenge Quilts at the show too!

                                                 

Here's Mr K!!  He's one now and oh-so-busy!!  I think the other two pictures were complete blurs!!