Go West (Blaine, WA)

We have moved from central Washington to the west side of the Cascades.  Going over the North Cascades highway never gets tiresome.  Of course, we have only gone through this mountain pass a couple of times.

North Cascades Highway

We spent a couple of weeks in Concrete, WA.  We enjoyed eating at a few of their restaurants and viewing the first and longest all-concrete bridge built in 1918.  I could not get a good photo so click on the bridge link to see a photo.

Concrete's Historic Byway

Concrete is a small town not too far from Sedro-Woolley where they were celebrating "Blast From The Past" with a car show, a downtown street festival, a quilt show, and many other activities.  We could not have asked for nicer weather to enjoy the outdoors.

Despite the sunny day, I preferred the indoor activities a lot more.  I did mention a quilt show, right?

The "Blast of Baskets" quilt show was put together by Woolley Fiber Quilters (love their name!).  They did a fantastic job of displaying over 200 quilts inside the Three Rivers Inn Restaurant.

Not a whole lot of floor space, but enough to be comfortable for viewing quilts and taking photos. 

 It was hard to take straight on photos of the larger quilts, but I managed from different angles to get most of the quilt into the frame.

I'm posting only a small amount of the quilts that I enjoyed viewing.   To see more quilts, click on the Woolley Fibers Quilter's link above.

 I love this "COW-LENDAR".  I spent some time looking at each cow.  My favorite was the June Bride.

Below is the People's Choice.  I can see why.  Beautiful color combo and applique!

You know that I love to do most of my work by hand, so I really liked the little 'Hand' displayed on the name and description tag.  It made it a lot easier to find the handmade over machine work.

I wish I could have got better photos of the following embroidered quilts.  It was a little dark in this area.  I was so surprised to see the same pattern I had bought hanging in front of me!  While getting my nose close to the stitches (forgot my eyeglasses) and discussing the quilt with another guest, the assistant mentioned there was a second one further down the row in blue.  She could not decide which one she liked better.

Not just one, but two "A to Zzzz Snowman" Quilts!  Oh My!  I got stuck in my own loop when I kept going back and forth between the two.  Which one did I like better?

I finally took a photo of both to put them side by side when I got home.  I still can't say.  How about you?  Do you like one more than the other?  I love both of them, but for me to make this quilt in only one color would be a major challenge so I will stick with my multi-colors.  By the way, I have only finished the "A" block.  I have a lot of embroidery to do before this one is finished.

It is bad enough that I already own two quilt patterns with detailed snowmen to embroider.  Then I saw this one.  Isn't it adorable?

It is probably a good thing that I have not been able to find this pattern online.  The quilter named her quilt "I Can Build a Snowman".  So far, I haven't had any luck finding these cute guys online.

I like the way the quilter added sparkling snowflakes into her quilting.  It looks like they are falling all around the snowman.  I never thought to quilt over the embroidered design, but it seems to work quite well with this quilt.

On The Cutting Board
While in Concrete, I finished a few more Happy Campers.  The first one I finished was a custom made for a wonderful Camp Host back in Crescent Bar.  We used some fabric that she was using to decorate her motorhome.  Her sample fabric is a lovely piece with a fruit orchard theme with many colors.  We had no problem matching fabric colors from my limited stash.

I wanted to represent Florida in some of my Happy Campers so I came up with this design with a Flamingo and a palm tree.  The aqua stripes with the pink polka dot came out the best.  Now, I wish I had bought more than a fat quarter of this fabric.  I have just enough for one more in this size and a top for another camper.

Of course, the blue and yellow one looks pretty good as well.  Reminds me more of the sunny hot days of Florida.

I also made two new horse trailers.  Here's one of them.

And another bear with a dreamcatcher.  I was lost as to what I should make with this dark chocolate fabric.  I think I finally found the perfect match for it.

I plan to list the new Happy Campers in Etsy this week.  In the meantime, I am trying to finish a few UFOs that have been taking up space.  Time to get them done!
Happy Quilting!

Visiting Our Old Hometown (Concrete, WA)

We are in Concrete, WA after spending almost three weeks in Crescent Bar on the Columbia River  Not too far from where Dan and I spent most of our teen life in Wenatchee. So it was interesting to go back to see the changes.  There's plenty of new growth with businesses and new home sites.  Even my parents old house was gone having been swallowed up by the old elementary school's growth expanse.  A lot of the old orchards are gone in the city limits, but we were seeing new orchards and vineyards sprouting up all over the valley.

A view of Columbia River during one of my walks

While sitting in the campground surrounded by the canyon wall, I could not get over how still everything felt.  It was so quiet compared to our winter in Key West.  I guess I got use to the constant motion and noise such as ocean waves, jet skis, birds or all the above and more.  People were moving around, but I think the canyon walls soaked up most of the noise.  Not to mention the ever present view of the sky-high walls giving me the feeling of being solid and unyielding.

We drove up to Lake Chelan to see where Dan grew up in Manson before moving to Wenatchee.  It is a beautiful place to grow up as a child.

Lake Chelan:  ducks resting in the shade of birch trees

There are more homes on the hillsides, but the downtown area maintains the small town atmosphere.  Below is a photo of the old library now owned by the local dentist. 

The sign out front invites people to walk around the old library and enjoy the garden.  We were careful around the backside of the old building when we noticed bees moving in and out of a hole in the wall.  From keeping books to keeping honey, it looks like the library has become a new home for the work-a-bees.

Large poppies in the Library's garden

On The Cutting Board

I finished several projects during the last few weeks.  All of the finished Happy Campers are now listed in my shop.  I have already sold a couple of them!  Summer is getting an early start this year.

I finished two of my new bear designs.  On this one, I added a dreamcatcher.  Making the dreamcatcher was a lot of fun, so I am hoping to make more.

I have other bear designs in the works.  At least, I managed to finish these two.  I call this one "A Bear in the Woods".  It is nice to be among the pine trees again

Only one Happy Camper with a puppy, but there will be more to come.  You can count on that!

And of course, I made a few aqua and red combos.  They are the favorites with a lot of my customers.  I love this aqua polka dot fabric.  I love it so much that I bought two yards of it.  Now, I wish I had bought more so I can make a quilt from it as well.

I finished two wall hangings.  One of the witch ringing the bell and this one below.  Perfect for a warm welcome this summer.  I haven't listed them yet.  I'm trying to setup Etsy's new shipping system.  Once I figure out how to ship them, I will get them both listed.

A Spring's Welcome

But, that will have to wait.  I want to finish my latest custom order for a wonderful camp host.  So, I better get to it.  I promise to post a photo of her cute motorhome when I am done.
Happy Quilting!