Off To Buggy Barn (Spokane, WA)

Okay, you caught me.  I played hooky last Tuesday.  No blog.  No message.  I hung out my sign "Gone Shopping" on the motorhome and I did not look back!  My sister-in-law Kristy invited her sister Sue and I to join her in a morning of fabric shopping out in the country.  It's a good thing she called me instead of asking in person.  I was doing a lot of jumping up and down and dancing....yea, it probably wasn't pretty.

So, we headed off to Reardan....down a country dirt road...through rolling wheat fields to a farm.  Farm?  That's what I said...farm.  Our destination - Buggy Barn!  

The quilt shop is actually in an old carriage house stuffed so full of fabrics, kits, books, and quilts that I got whiplash trying to look in all directions at once.  There were quilts on the walls, doors, and on the ceiling!  Even the bathroom walls were covered with enticing wall quilts.  Sigh!  It was heavenly! 

The Buggy Barn Quilt Shop

 

After buying a few choice items, I took some pictures of the farm.....

Quaint country drive to the house

 Buggy Barn also has an Annual Outdoor Quilt Show on August 25 & 26.  It looks like a lot of fun.

For being a small shop out in the country, they certainly were busy for a Tuesday morning.  A testimony to Buggy Barn's friendly and very helpful staff.  Not to mention, a shop packed full of so many delightful items.

New for The Cutting Board

One of the items I could not resist was a cute Bunny wall hanging called Bunny "Door" A Doodle by Leanne Anderson.  It was hanging in the bathroom.  What can I say...I had some extra time to inspect it and the more I looked at it the more I wanted to make it.  The kit came wrapped up in this little box.  What a great packaging idea.

Here's a photo of the wall hanging.  Isn't it cute?  A perfect Spring and Easter greeting for our door.

It was hard to believe that all the fabric fit inside this tiny little box with the pattern and instructions.  Of course, I still need to come up with backing, binding, and batting to finish it, but that will not be a problem.  I'm sure I have something stashed away that will work just fine. 

Check out all the cute designs in Leanne's website "The Whole Country Caboodle".

I could not resist this embroidery and quilt pattern by The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs.  Natalie Bird's designs are so adorable!

 There are sixteen embroidery designs and four quilt related patterns.

Hitch wanted to help, so I let him hold the book open.

I was able to fulfill my fabric mission too.  One item I know I did not have in my stash was enough yardage to match the Fancy Sue blocks.  The material in the blocks were donated to Project Linus and I did not have a single yard of matching fabric.  With some help from Kristy and one of the staff, I found a nice shade of rose floral fabric.  I think it will help set off the blocks rather well.

I put the blocks aside last winter.  I still need to finish a few more blocks.  Now that I have fabric for sashing, binding, and backing, there's no excuse not to finish this quilt.  Unless...I get distracted with embroidery or a bunny wall hanging or ......

Happy Quilting!

Memorial Day

I'm staying home today and tomorrow to work on some projects.  I wanted to take a moment to remember our fallen soldiers.  I found the following posters in Pinterest and felt they were a great way to remember.

Source: e-forwards.com via Maryann on Pinterest

Source: fmnewsnewyork.com via Maryann on Pinterest

Since we spend a lot of time on or near military bases, there are reminders everywhere.  For me, I find myself remembering throughout the year through the many memorials and tributes to our soldiers...

Warrior's Walk, Ft Stewart, GA

Fairchild AFB, WA

Fairchild AFB, WA

Have a safe weekend

Calling All Quilters!

Recently, Quilting Gallery updated their Quilting Bloggers Directory page.  I stopped by to see the update and it is great!  Now, I can see the latest posts with dates.  I can click on the blog's name or one of the listed posts.  This is a great place to find quilters from around the world!

I have been with this website for quite a few years.  Michelle does a wonderful job of running contests, keeping us up-to-date with quilt shops and other quilt related information.  If you have a quilt blog and would like to share your quilt projects with other quilters, click on the link above and join the fun.

Rainy Days & Soggy Dandelions

We have been getting some scattered showers and gusty winds for the last couple of days.  The weather man says the weekend should be a little bit better. 

It has been rather nice to listen to rain on the roof, but I am ready for some sunny days.  I know the cats are ready to get outside.  

Happy Quilting!

Not So Wordless Wednesday (Spokane, WA)

There's not a lot of photo ops in the RV park, so I decided to take more photos of Dandelions using my fish-eye lens to give the view a different perspective.  I also decided to multi-task by walking Hitch while taking photos.  At first, Hitch was not too happy that I wanted to spend time in the field while he wanted to go climb a tree.

Then he got a little curious...

Whatcha doin'?

Then he decided he needed a closer look....

Hey!  That's a funny looking cat!

Can he get any closer??

Hmm...it doesn't smell like a cat.

After this one, I had to clean the lens... 

On The Cutting Board
I finished the border on my Art Nouveau wall hanging.  I love the way the border frames the flowers.

Now it is time to do some hand-quilting!

Happy Quilting!

Still Blog Hopping (Spokane, WA)

I'm going to be honest and tell you that I haven't written a thing for today's post.  I have been spending the last two days blog hopping.  As of this morning, the Blogger's Quilt Festival has over 500 entries and I have barely scratched the surface!  So many gorgeous quilts, wonderful stories, and so little time!  I think I will be spending the next couple of months visiting the different sites.  I have been getting a lot of inspiring ideas!  Sigh!  So many creative ideas, I really need to take notes.

I did spend some time outside before the rain came.  Our first week was filled with sunshine and all the cats were begging to go outdoors.  Of course, I had to take pictures...which the cats were not happy about...

Stop playing with the camera!

Pay no attention to the cat...er..Wizard! behind the curtain!

Now that it is raining, I should get back to my quilting and get off this computer.  Well, maybe after I visit a couple of more quilting blogs....

Lilacs are blooming

Happy Quilting!

Blogger's Quilt Festival (Spokane, WA)

It's time for Blogger's Quilt Festival!  This is my second time participating in this wonderful event hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  Thank you Amy!  I love visiting quilters from around the world it is so inspiring to see their beautiful creations.  

This is my Delightfully Dizzy quilt.  I won a gift certificate from Amy's last Blogger's Quilt Festival.  The gift certificate was for The Quilted Fish.  The shop had some great designer fabric that I have never used before, but decided to try something new.   

I have to admit that when the Delighted! fabric by Riley Blake arrived, I was feeling outside my comfort zone.  The more I arranged and re-arranged the two packages of 10" squares, the more I like them.  I decided to use Cake Mix pattern from Layer Cake Recipe.  

I found matching green fabric for the border and backing.   The blocks had to be made smaller than the pattern's original block size.  I had just enough for five blocks across and seven blocks down.  Perfect for a small lap-size quilt.

36 x 48 inches

As the quilt came together, the fabric took on a life of its own.  I not only found it delightful, but cheerfully dizzy as the colors and patterns swirled together.  Hence the name Delightfully Dizzy!

I had to add some kind of appliqué before I sandwiched the layers.  I knew I wanted to mimic the flowers without actually duplicating them.  I was quite happy when I found an old appliqué design from one of my Baltimore Album pattern books.  Funny how something from an older design can fit so well with a new design fabric.

This quilt started out as a challenge and ended up being so much fun.  I have a feeling I will be challenging myself again with fabric outside my comfort zone.

Thanks for stopping by!   I hope you found my quilt delightful, but not too dizzy!

Happy Quilting!

True Lover's Knot Block (Spokane, WA)

On The Cutting Board

A couple of years ago, I read Emilie Richards' Lover's Knot.  I became interested in the quilt pattern and did a little research.   When I looked up the True Lover's Knot I found two different patterns.   One used the Bow Tie block:

The other one used a variation of the Orange Peel pattern which is what Emilie described in her book:

I don't know why, but I am attracted to curved patterns.  I have made a few Drunkards Path blocks in the past.  I love sewing the curves by hand and this one wasn't going to be any different.  I made templates using paper pattern rubber-glued to quilter's template plastic.  I dug out my trusty add-a-quarter-inch-seam wheel and some 1930s fabrics.  I use 0.7 mechanics pencil to get a nice crisp line to mark the pieces.  Plus, the tip fits nicely into the wheel's center.

I find marking and cutting my  pieces by hand to be very relaxing.  Using the rotary cutter is fast, but can be hard on my back and shoulders.

To pin curved pieces, I crease both in the center...

 

and that is where the first pin goes.  I slowly pin and adjust all the way to one end before starting the other side.

I know it looks like a pin cushion, but it saves me from having to re-position them if they shift.

Pins and lines match up - looks good on both sides...

Time to sew using the running stitch...

Soon, I have my first block... Don't you think the Retro colors are perfect for a traditional block? 

Okay, my fingers are starting to itch...I need to get back to my quilt blocks...but first here are a couple of photos from this area.....

Spokane

Everywhere I look in Spokane, I see flowers.  Of course, most of them are in people's yards and I don't want to be standing in front of their house taking photographs.  Spring time here in Spokane is wonderful!  Not great for the allergies, but it is worth taking a pill to enjoy the beauty.  

I saw some Quail on my way to the dumpster, so I ran back to our motorhome for my camera.  I only got a couple of pictures.  This guy seemed to be the leader.  While the others moved away, he stayed behind to see what I was doing.  Once the others were safe, he took off.  

Happy Quilting!