No sewing this week!

It was quality time with the grandkids! Mr M has grown quite a bit in 3 months!!! He's a chowhound. But he's sleeping thru the night and that makes visits oh so much easier on everyone! After my babysitting gig for 2 days, I brought Miss P back to the beach with me for a little vacation for mommy and daddy!

We'd been here about 5 minutes and Miss P had unpacked her books and the toys here! And that's how my week went! We had lots of fun!

Sunday report

We're having a beautiful weekend on the coast - but this morning started out really grey and threatening ... now it's sunny and 51! Sometimes I think I'm back in Nebraska with the changeable weather.

Last Monday I completed the Coast shop hop. DH drove me and we hit every kind of weather! It was amazing. It was icy underfoot when we left at 7:30 am. Rain started, then it cleared, we needed our sunglasses. But about 2 hours south we hit a snow shower that was almost a white-out! They got half an inch in 30 minutes! Then the rain, the sun again ... we spotted 4 rainbows that day and made it to the Brookings shop and back by sunset. 300+ miles! I didn't spot anything I had to have in the stores - like the first half; just bought a few 1/3 yards of blue batiks and the block kits from each store. Living out here may force me to change my quilting style - I've only been quilting with country scrappy colors for 35 years!!! Oh dear, did I hear friends saying they'll believe it when they see it??? When I finished a kaleidoscope quilt years ago, I'd been working on it 10 years and a friend told me "only you would still be working in the same colors for 10 years!" Well, believe it or not - I'm eerily drawn to batiks lately!!!

I finished hand piecing 13 album patches for my Oregon Sesquicentennial wall quilt. [Boy, was I born in the right century!] I've enjoyed hand piecing - but I have to admit I was setback when I realized I'd have to hand piece the sashings too, I knew I'd quilt it by hand, but sew the binding on by hand!!! YIKES! Good thing it's small!

Yesterday I decided I needed to sew at least 15 minutes. I haven't gotten out my machine lately. Pulled the cutting mat from under the bed. And I cranked up Prairie Home Companion on the internet - we can't get an NPR station in our condo - concrete walls to withstand the coast weather. But I keep forgetting that I can listen to PHC anytime on the computer. I ended up sewing for 4 hours! It was just what I needed!

I sewed top and bottom borders to leftover Yellow Brick Road [YBR] blocks; pieced the back together; cut the batting; framed it and pin basted it. Then I machine quilted the block lines - now I need to decide how I'll quilt inside the blocks. But I won't wait too long - I've been procrastinating on this quilt for months! No, I don't know why either!

I sewed down the binding on a charity quilt I picked up at the guild meeting.

I figured out which sashing to use for the album patch - hope to mark it this afternoon before I head to Portland to babysit for two days. Although - I don't ever get anything done up there - when they are napping, I'm napping too! Nanas can do that! LOL!

Hopefully, pictures of the finished YBR quilt next week - it all depends on whether I'll bring Miss P home with me so momma can have a break!

Shop Hop report

It was a good traveling day - went from beautiful Portland to freezing fog in the mountains to sun and haze on the coast! I am not in Stashbuster's "No-buy" this year. Good thing!!! I did the Quilt Run 101's 5 northern stores and except for a great kid's quilt kit at Canon Beach - I did pretty good!!! It was all brights and I don't do brights so had to get it in a kit.


"Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see" came out in fabric and it's fabulous! All brights with Eric Carle's scrumptuous animals ... what nana could resist?!?!?!?! GS Mr M's room is decorated in animals ... and GD Miss P loves that book [well, almost every book!] so how do you give it to both??? Not making it twice!!! I know there are some grandmas out there that have figured this out - share your strategies, Please!




I did buy 2 yards of fabric from the Moda Tranquility line. I had the folk art bird panel and charm squares - have been looking for the blue flowers for border fabric and found them in Wheeler. I did the little happy dance when I spotted it!!! IT WAS ON MY LIST!!! - so only a little guilt! I've linked the Moda website to the pieces I'm talking about - they are pretty muted on the website - in real life they are such funky colors that it's hard to pull from the stash - I'll be able to pull some but not enough for a border. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it - for now! LOL!

Then stopped at my nearest Joanne's [45 minutes away] and used a 40% off coupon for Warm and Natural - 90"wide x 10 yards. That should keep me busy for awhile. Does anyone else have this problem - when stocking up on batting - no matter how much I buy - I'm always a yard short by the end!!! I just don't know how it knows! I've used up all my usable extra pieces and I hate to cut into a king batt for anything else. So I should be set for awhile. I also bought a blue plaid to border a charity YBR - just enough - I hope! There was other stuff there but I managed to pass it by and not buy!

Second half of the Quilt Run coming up later this week - if I can just stay strong-willed!!! Send good vibes!!!

doni back @ Oregon coast

Back in the groove

Don't know if it was finally spending a whole week at home! or the two days babysitting in Portland ... anyway, I'm feeling more like myself! Now to get out the projects and get started on the February UFO - I thought I'd have two weeks head start - but that means you actually have to start it!!! Didn't happen!

I've been enjoying going thru old issues of quilting magazines ... looking for a two fabric quilt for a paint chip challenge. I got two fairly good colors - a light blue/green-ish and basically muslin. Thought everything was 'jake' until I read the description and "Striking" is in the description. How on earth can I get 'striking' in with soft colors! First challenge was to find the blu-ish color fabric and I did! Two color block - not my style! Maybe I'll make a feathered star. I've always wanted to make one. Oooh, and it has to be ready in June! January seems a little late to start!

And also looking for circa 1859 pattern for yet another challenge. This year starts the sesquicentennial of Oregon. We're supposed to reproduce a quilt that could have come to the state in 1859 - using their methods at the time ... hand piecing and hand quilting only! GULP! It's not going to be big!!! Remember the basket stamp that came out in the 80's? It was based on an 1857 quilt ... I love that little basket ... but by hand??? Oh dear!

January Blues!

January Blues: Anyone else got them? I've been having a heck of a time since we got back to our condo in Newport. I had a list ... but I've been laying on the couch reading - I am walking the beach each day too. But can't seem to work on that list at all.

To cheer myself up :> I picked 5 of my favorite photos from last year - no doubt they are repeats but here they are! They are in no particular order - because Blogger does this weird photo load thing for me ... and I can't seem to intersperse them with the text ... oh well, there they are anyway - up at the top!

1. Howling like dogs on Thanksgiving! We had so much fun. That's J's Dad, Miss P, J and J2!

2. A sunset from our condo - reminding me of this beautiful state we live in!

3. A & J2 with her college graduation quilt - one of my favorite quilts this year! Green Disappearing 9patch - much easier on the eyes than the pink quilts!

4. Miss P and DH running on the beach.

5. DH and me last week on the balcony at Brookings. Our friend in 'high places' took the photo - thanks K!

DH thinks I just need my "Miss P fix" and we'll be up there Friday to babysit this weekend. Haven't seen the kids for 2 1/2 weeks - doesn't sound too long - but perhaps it is! There's nothing like chasing a 2 yr old and all that cooking to make you appreciate your more sedate life! LOL!

I'm back!!

Well, today was the 2nd full day at home so far this year!! We've been on the road - visiting with friends in high places; celebrating two birthdays ... it's been loads of fun ... but I'm ready for a week at home! I did finish this UFO on the road: TaDa!!! It's BK's Rockin' 9 patch!

I picked up this top at a vendor's booth at the Lincoln Quilt show before we moved. It was so cute - BK said she picked the ugliest fabrics she had but you wouldn't know it! Whoohoo! And it's done! Pardon the crooked picture - I've got to work on that!

A New Year's Resolution this year [again] is to finish one UFO each month. February is a bugger so I needed some extra time ... here's hoping!

The second picture is what happened to the quilt right after the picture posted Jan 1st! Miss P thought it looked like a good size for napping!!!!

I promise to get back on my usual schedule ... talk to you soon!

Happy New Year! Can you believe it's 2009?

I managed to finish one last UFO in 2008 - it was a great learning project! Yes, it had that many challenges!

A group of Lincoln quilters went to Paducah in 2006 (?) or 2005! J and I were at the vendor's mall by the pool and a vendor that sold lapel pins had a darling quilt on their wall - no pattern for it, but it was a simple square in a square; aka happy block; or a 2 round log cabin with same color rounds ... so we noted the particulars - how big the blocks were, how many ... and planned to make it. Next step was the yummy hand-dyed fabrics sold in a package. Expensive, but somehow we thought we could get two projects out of the package. Let me just say - math is not my strength!!! LOL! We couldn't - in fact - I barely got the one out of it! Sorry, J!

I don't usually work with solids and here I was running out of them but I wanted it bigger. What to do? I saw a few quilts with what I call 'disappearing' borders. Where the border blends with the center - no distinct line. Okay, I did have small squares left - I liked the way a batik played against the solids ... so I worked on the border. By the way - let me know if you think this works ... I already had a big vote of "NO" from DH!

AND the final new thing I tried on this quilt was - I quilted without a drawn line in the border. Yes, I realize that I may be a 'Type A' when it comes to this kind-of thing! LOL! But I'd NEVER wandered from point to point before! And there's a good 3" line there! Okay, I'm a convert - the world did not end and the lines look pretty straight! I'll do that again - a great time-saver!

Oh, I'm really proud of finishing this today ... I also did wash, cleaned bathrooms, made turkey salad, packed us, drove to Portland, made tacos for dinner, gave Mr M 2 bottles, and played with Miss P! A jam-packed ending to a year of changes! Goodnight and happy 2009!