Knit One Quilt Too

Pumpkin Time

Life is super busy again.  I guess this is life with teenagers.  One is quite possibly going back to school in the next month or two and the other is in a full-on college readiness mode.  I see a future of campus visitations as we start to think about all the future brings. 

Meanwhile, last week was full with unschooling adventures including this trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maize.  Friday was the most beautiful day of the whole week- about 75 and sunny!  Woohoo- it was perfect for a day outside.

The corn maize this year had a safari theme, hence the jeep above.  One interesting thing was that the corn didn't grow as tall this year so there were places that it was only 3-4 feet high.  Most of it was tall enough to be a real maze.   

 

I've been feeling a little like this lately!

We actually got a bunch of the COOL kids together for a photo.  That's Smith Rock State Park in the background.
 

 

After the Corn Maize, it was time to head to the U-Pick pumpkin patch.  A lot of the pumpkins were rotten.  Probably from all the crazy weather we had in early October.
 

Mt. Jefferson is a fine backdrop for this field of pumpkins.

Some of us had a hard time leaving all those other pumpkins in the field!  Much discussion ensued over which ones were to come home with us.

Ryan had a great time loading them up.

This cat is really cool.  It looks like it was carved in while the pumpkin was still growing.

We ended the weekend with a birthday party for my mom.  I made this table runner for her from some lovely autumn fabrics.

 

Mom and Dad got home safely from a two month trip to Alaska in their RV.  They had many photos and stories to share.  To round out the evening we had apple and pumpkin pie.  Yum!
 
 

Autumn Table Runner

The start of autumn seemed to call for a new table runner.  The solids are still calling my name very loudly, so I made some free pieced log cabins and got going.  I just love these colors.  I have another set of these blocks with more of a southwest color scheme and I think I'll make another one. 

I just did some simple straight line machine quilting to get it done quickly.

The back is just as pretty as the front, making this runner reversible.  I just had to use some of my favorite millefiore print to break up the solids a little.

 

It's still just October, isn't it?

 

 
 
It's 34 degrees at 7:30 am and it's snowing!  This is way, way early for our area.  We usually get our first snow in November.  I woke up early and spent a while on the computer before opening the blind.  Imagine my surprise.  I mean, seriously, snow on a rosebud in October???

Edited to add more photos.  Also, I know snow isn't unheard of around here this early, but such a lot of snow is pretty unusual.  This amount of snow has broken a record for early October.  Yesterday the town shut down, including the Fall Festival, at which Chloe was supposed to be working.  There wre downed tree limbs all over the place and many power outages.  The snow and ice are still here at home this morning even though the temp is supposed to get up to the high 40's.

The aspens and other small trees were really drooping until we went out and shook the snow off.

 

Around town, the clean up crews are out in force picking up tree limbs.  Several parks have closed because of dangerous tree conditions.
 
 

Meanwhile, the pansies and mum came through with flying colors.  The tomatoes are living inside for the foreseeable future and we hope they'll continue to ripen at least a bit further.

Can't believe my luck!

 

Well, it really happened.  I won the Sisters Quilt Show Block Contest!  Click here to see all the winners (mine is labeled 2009 QBC winner).  I had been saying this was my year to win and I couldn't believe it when someone from the Stitchin' Post called to say I got lucky.  My block was in the category of teacher's favorites, so it includes some of the best blocks in the contest.  Though I have to say all the blocks were really outstanding this year.  So, you can see them all above.  Now, the quandary: how to put them together?   I like the 4 x 4 arrangement, but would need to add something to fill that empty spot. 

One of the cool things is that the win includes 1.5 yds of shot cotton.  I get to choose from 8 colors.  They said I could use it in the quilt or not, as I like.  I tested the idea of the solid red and the solid peacock blue.  I'm leaning toward the blue since there isn't much blue in the blocks to begin with.  I have a bunch of that color in the stash already so could use the winning fabric to fill a hole in my stash (ie- I'm about out of the chartreuse, one  of my favorite colors).  I also tested it with this millefiori print that I absolutely love and have tons of, but the blocks blend into it.

 

I'd love to hear thoughts on how to put this together.  I intend to have it done for the show next year.

In other show news, you can see the juried postcards from the quilt show here.   As it turns out, one of my cards was chosed to be framed for the silent auction.   It's the polka dotted blue bird down near the bottom right.  I got a nice card saying it made $80 in the silent auction.  I looked for it on quilt show day, but couldn't find it and never got a photo of it framed.  I'm glad it made a good donation for Wendy's Wish.  Unfortunately, it seems that this year was the last for this postcard fundraiser.  I really had fun making them.
 

Fiber, Fiber Everywhere

One of the things keeping me busy lately is spinning and pursuit of the lovely fibers to spin.  In August I was able to attend a couple of spin-ins with friends in Sunriver at Pam's Wild & Wooly booth.

On the last day we had a potluck including the delicious cake above made by Pam's daughter. 

In early September I went to the little wool gathering in Shaniko.  This tiny town in northern Oregon used to be the Wool Capital of the World!  Now it's very small, but everyone comes out for the wool gathering. 

These hats are totally cool.  Can you imagine wearing that bunch of hair on top of your head?

 

The other day I got to go to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby.  It was a beautiful day and lots of fun.  I kept forgetting to get my camera from the car so I didn't take a single photo.  Horrors!  I did get what I went for though- a WooLee Winder (below) which, I predict, will change my spinning life for the better and several beautiful batts to spin.  Below are photos of some of the goodies I came home with. 

WooLee Winder and a gorgeous batt from Lisa Souza.

The large size basket sold by Kruger Farms.  These were selling like hotcakes.  The kate and everything inside I alreadyhad.  This will accompany my wheel and I where ever we go.

My very own Uzbek Leyla, she is felted by artists in Kyrgyzstan.  Check out the vendor here.

Birch bark batt with gray merino, white suri and black huacaya alpaca.

This wild batt has all sorts of stuff.

I also went back to Sweet Grass Wool for another braid of merino/silk.  I decided to pair it with a solid merino roving by Ashland Bay.

OFFF is a very different festival than Black Sheep, but they are both wonderful.  I was thinking I'd settle on a favorite and only need to set aside time for one, but I don't think I can.  The only problem with OFFF is that it's on Ryan's birthday next year.  I will try to get back though and to make time to sit and spin under the big tree.

Autumn

You know it's the beginnning of Autumn when the pumpkins start to appear.

And the tomatoes move inside.

And said tomatoes are slow roasting in the oven (oh, the heavenly scent!).

And you start up the fireplace after a long summer.

And move the spinning wheel close to the fire for an after dinner movie.

Tonight's pick was Casablanca.  Autumn is here!  My favorite season of all.  Today we had hail and this week is much chillier than last.  In fact, today's high was about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday.  It gives one the urge to dive into the fiber, yarn and fabric.  I've got lots to say about that in the next post.

15!

Today was Ryan's birthday!  Since my last post we've had Labor Day weekend, a week at the Oregon coast and a week of various birthday activities.  We've also had a visit from Mark's brother, a fiber gathering, a quilting class, a mom's night out and various other evening activities!  It's been some month! 

For now I'll recount the birthday activities this week.  It started with a birthday sleepover with some good friends.  It was a Redwall party.  Redwall is Ryan's favorite series now and we are in the midst of book 4.  Chloe made this fantastic banner for the door (it's now on the wall over Ryan's bed).  The boys took the theme to heart and staged a siege.

There was much feasting and carrying on with the delicious Redwall menu Chloe made based on the Redwall Cookbook (including the delicious cake above).

 

Ryan was totally thrilled with the beautiful sword handmade by Mark and painted by Chloe.  "I am that is", is a famous phrase from the book.

Today we had a different celebration at the park with our homeschool friends.  Chloe and Ryan decorated a whole lot of cupcakes this morning.

 

Later on we went out to dinner to round off the day.  More to come on our other activities and perhaps even some fiber arts.  This weekend is busy again with an event with Chloe's Venturing group and then Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival on Sunday, but I'll be back soon!

Bye Bye Hummers

I took these photos last week when I was drawn outside to watch the hummingbirds fighting over the red flowers below.  These beauties are Rufous Hummingbirds.

They went on and on with their tussle, even though there was a feeder not 10 feet away.

 

Just last night I made some more hummer food even though I hadn't seen one for 24 hours.  Just in case there was a straggler who might be hungry.  No takers today though.  I'll leave it up in case one comes in from the north, but I do think that means fall is really on it's way.  Hummer season is only so long here. 

Cockrell Quilt Collection

The High Desert Museum featured a collection of antique quilts just in time for the Sisters Quilt Show.  The Susan Cockrell Collection is worth a good look.  If you are at all interested in these quilts you should check out the website which has a detailed description of each quilt.  These quilts have been dated between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  There is a lot of beautiful hand quilting.  Some of these have the tiniest stitches. 

The quilt below was put away and finished at a later date, thus the bright blue sections.

I like how these blocks in the quilt below are not consistently turned.

Detail shot shows the incredible quilting.

 

This next one reminds me of Gee's Bend quilts.

I like this improvised block.

There was a quilt set up for visitors to get a chance to quilt on.

The next one is a real stunner!

I saved the best for last though.  I love the unique nature of the block designs.  It looks like the quilter was making it up as she went along.

 

Here are some detail shots. 

Lots more inspiration for me!  Well that's it for quilty photos for now.  My sewing room got a thorough clean out this week and I'm all ready to settle in for some fall sewing.  That will include taking care of several WIP's.  I hope you are all enjoying the last few weeks of summer!

Sisters Quilt Show :: Colorful Quilts About Town

Welcome to the last bunch of photos from this year's Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!  I managed to squeeze in lots of photos, so get comfy.   I like this one above because I have several colorways of this Kaffe Fassett border print and it's cool to see it being used as the focus fabric.

These are some of the quilts made for the Quilter's- The Musical show that was put on during quilt week.  These quilts were sold after the show.

Love these cock-eyed trees, but would love them even more if they were done free style.

I would love to try this in a liberated fashion.

The quilted cars were a big hit. 

Color was the order of the day, even with transportation!

The two quilts above were part of the next generation exhibit.  I'm not sure how old these kids were, but they are wonderful, aren't they?

There were a few quilts featuring local scenes, including the Old Mill District in Bend (above), and the quilt below featuring lots of Bend scenes.  I like the originality of the one below, so there are several close ups.

"Samantha's Stuffed Animal Zoo" and "Mama's Knitting Nook".

Our local children's museum.

 

The library- one of our favorite places in town.

Look at these tiny sleeping bag quilts!

Speaking of the library, the next two photos were taken in the Sisters library which always has a nice display (not to mention air conditioning and very nice bathrooms).

 

Lastly, I had a hand in the Mt. Bachelor Quilter's Guild quilt banner.  I made two of the log cabin squares (paper pieced, I might add!).  Isn't the center pretty?  The guild had an old banner quilt that disappeared at some point so this one was just finished to replace it.

And here are my two quilts in the show.  Well, that was lots of fun.  I have one more quilt exhibit to get caught up on and then I think that's the remainder of my summer photos.  I can feel fall peeking around the corner and am looking forward to another fabulous season.  I'm already signed up for the Collaborative Chicks.  These will be monthly classes with teachers at the Stitchin' Post and we'll be making 6 different quilts from Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again.  It looks like fun, and the best part is that participants will have the opportunity to be in a special exhibit at next year's quilt show!