Friday, September 30, 2011

"Peace" (Project Linus/100 QFK) Quilt

As I mentioned last May, I have been wanting to make a charity, or comfort quilt to donate to a child, in memory of my dad.  Kate, of Swim, Bike, Quilt, invited the blog world to contribute to 100 Quilts for Kids Project about the same time as I saw an article in the local paper about the local Project Linus chapter.  I knew I had to make one!  I named it "Peace", because my dad, a Presbyterian minister, signed most of his correspondences with a simple but meaningful word, "Peace".  I hope this quilt helps a child and his or her family find a bit of peace.

I started these blocks a few years ago, and ran out of enough striped fabric to make a big quilt.  I'm afraid I've been getting more and more high school graduation invites than baby shower invites lately, so this was the perfect project to make!  I finished up the striped squares, cut out and added the aqua squares (also from my stash), and added a pretty orange from the local quilt store to finish it up!

For the back, I used up the "leftover" blocks and fabric, as well as some more stash fabric.

Since I had to take my new machine into the shop this week, I decided to just do straight quilting with my walking foot.  It turned out nicer than I expected :-).  I'm glad it's close to Halloween, since I was able to find this wonderful orange binding fabric in our local quilt store!

I hope this is the first of many quilts I make for this deserving group!  Thanks again to Kate and her organization!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

A few more Pendleton Round Up Rodeo pictures

It's hard to believe that the Pendleton Round Up Rodeo ended just a week ago!  Between gobs of tomatoes to preserve, and a week-end camping trip, I've had little time to blog.  But I wanted to share a few more pictures from the Round Up activities.  My 2 favorite things about the rodeo are all of the wonderful arts and crafts, and the Westward Ho Parade.  I especially think that the leather work on the saddles is just so incredibly beautiful.  I even find myself lusting after a nice pair of leather cowgirl boots....  The "Westward Ho!" Parade is all entirely non-motorized, showcasing the West's culture and history.  I love it!  There's some other pictures thrown in as well!  Enjoy!








Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Seeing red


Can you see what's getting between me and my sewing? LOL

I think we just MAY have planted a few too many tomatoes...

Here's the baby quilt top that I finished for the 100 quilts for kids campaign.  I hope to sew the back together today (after I get these tomatoes taken care of). 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

WIP Wed and Rodeo


Here's what's on my sewing table today... the beginnings of my next postcard swap cards... I'm glad I made an extra set for me, because these are going to be cute!

I also have been wanting to join in with Kate's of "Swim Bike Quilt"'s blog's 100 quilts for kids campaign.  A recent story in the local paper about the local Linus project was what finally got me motivated.  I also realized that I have a few UFO's that I either lost interest in, or that are too small for anything other than baby quilts that would make a great quilt for this.  Here's one of them:

 I've been trying to make more Kindle covers for my Etsy shop as well.
Here's one I just finished that I love!



The tomato situation around here has almost gotten out of control.  I've canned or frozen 3-4 dozen pints now, and picked another 20-ish pounds just this morning :-O.  But I'm not complaining.  I keep reminding myself how wonderful they'll be in January!!

Finally, it's rodeo week here in Pendleton, and our little town has once again been transformed.  My boys have had all week off school, so I've done some running around with them.  Here's our Main Street:
Here's the Rodeo grounds (first of 4 "shows" started today):
There's a lot of fun people watching to be done.
There's also tons of merchants and artists to peruse...

Of course it's Wednesday, so I'll be linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed, and The Needle and Thread Network's WIP link up!  Come join us!

Friday, September 9, 2011

A few more postcards

It hasn't been all canning and preserving around here.  I sewed up a very cute purse for my 5 yr old niece that I forgot to take a picture of :-(.  Her birthday was this week.  But I also made birthday postcards for my brother-in-law and my niece.  Can you guess which is which LOL?

I just have to brag about my brother-in-law.  20 years ago, he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Mane!  His "trail name" was "grasshopper".  That's why I sewed up this card for him.  Yes, I know it only has 4 legs, instead of 6.  I used clip art, as a pattern and failed to notice this until it was done.  I'll just tell him that one of my boys (or the cat) ripped the other 2 off :-O. LOL.


I am still swapping postcards with the Postcard Cottage Yahoo Group.  My August's theme was "Flower Power".  Here's what I sent out:



And here's what I got back!


Getting these little gems in the mail never fails to just make my day!  What fun!!!!

It turns out that my biggest fan is my little 5 yr old niece.  She sleeps with them at night!  Is that cute or what?!?  I just had to make her another one!
Didn't I tell you that these are the perfect summer projects!!!  Quick, easy, not hot, and extremely satisfying!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Putting food up

It's hard to believe, with a teen and tween boy in the house, that we'd have any food to preserve this year, but we do.  I'm going to the store today to buy more canning jars!  I haven't done that in a long time (bought more jars).  I have a few dozen now "put up" with tomatoes, and dilly beans, plus a dozen-ish pints of frozen grated zucchini in our freezer to use later in bread.  We've also been eating lots of it daily, and I've made 2 big batches of fresh salsa that got devoured within a day or 2.  I'm also so lucky to have a family that gets excited each time stir-fry is served for dinner (which has been frequently)!

Unfortunately, we already had a freeze in the garden that wiped out a big chunk of it, including half of my okra plants, and all of our pumpkins, but it taught us a valuable lesson.  It only hit one section, and it is a section that has never produced well.  Plants there for the last 2 years have been stunted, or failed to grow well.  Now we know why.  It's a tiny micro-climate in our garden, a low spot that cold air drains to.  With that knowledge, we'll plan our garden much differently or try to protect plants there.  We may even move the garden a bit, but that's hard to do with the deer fence.

Speaking of deer, we've had some hanging around our house lately.  We think they're what killed 3 young Aspen that we planted this spring.  There are antler rubs all over the trunks, and most of the bark has been rubbed off.  One is even snapped in 2.  Bummer.

Another loss we discovered,  upon digging up our potatoes, is that those have been eaten by gophers or some other underground creature.

We ate the last of the corn last night, and I'm afraid except for the tomatoes and winter squash, most of the garden is slowing WAY down, despite the hot afternoons we're getting this week.  Usually by this time each year, I'm more than ready for this transition, but this year I'm not quite there yet.  Maybe I will be after a few more dozen jars have been put up....

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

WIP Wed

Need I say more?

Friday, September 2, 2011

Glacier National Park and beyond

We had a wonderful visit from my mom the last week or so, right before school started.  She fled hot, hot Texas for a wonderful trip to Glacier National park and other high altitude destinations.  I spent much of my childhood going on camping trips with my family, and this was a chance to reciprocate.  With Glacier National Park a day's drive from us, and a place high on my bucket list, we set off mid-week, boys and dog in tow.  It's fire season, so my husband couldn't go with us.  I was amazed at the beauty of Glacier National Park.  It even captivated my boys enough to get them to actually turn off their electronic devices and look out the window!!
We also spent some time exploring local rivers and lakes, high in the mountains.  My boys never turn down a chance to swim, no matter how cold the water is.

Now that my mom's back in Texas, the kids are in their second day of school (BOTH are now in middle school!), and my husband's busy with wildfires, I'll be doing some catching up in the garden-and-housework division...  Hopefully I'll be able to get my sewing machine humming again soon!