Back To The Oregon Coast (Florence, OR)

First I want to thank all our Veterans today and to my husband who served in the USAF.

We left Sutherlin to go to Eugene for some repairs on the bedroom's slideout.  The air bladder that seals the slideout has been leaking air for the last two months.  Dan had slowed down the air loss, but it was time to get it replaced before winter set in.

The cats were not happy campers when we spent the night in a motel.  Because it was a last minute reservation, we ended up in a room at the end of the building with the staircase along our headboard's wall.  Every time someone went up or down the stairs the whole wall shook.  Dusty growled several times until he finally gave up and sat as far away from the wall as possible.  Hitch and Dusty slowly adjusted to their new surroundings while Max found a way to hide inside the bed.  He finally came out late that night to nuzzle me several times for reassurance then to eat and use the litter box.  Come morning, he was once again inside the bed.  We had fun lifting the bed to get him out when we were ready for checkout.

Don't tell the cats:  this coming Sunday night, we are going back to the same motel for another four nights while we get solar panels installed.  We have asked for a room away from the stairs.  I doubt that will make a difference for Max.  It will be a very long week for everyone.

Dusty and Hitch claiming their spots

Our two weeks in Florence has been nice if a little foggy and wet.  The best part about the weather has been the red mushrooms popping up.  We are not seeing as many of the red mushrooms as we have in the past.  This is the best grouping Dan spotted while on one of our walks.  

 We visited the South Jetty (South Beach) park to check out the beach that we could barely see and the dunes which were buzzing with lots of activity.  We found the fog had added drama to the sand dunes and to....

the beach.

We drove up Hwy. 101 and stopped at the overlook to view the Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Heceta Head Lighthouse

I never tire of seeing Oregon's rugged coast.  It's amazing what a little fog can do to change the atmosphere of a welcoming lighthouse to spooky feeling. 😊 I took this one a couple of days before Halloween. 

I noticed about four of these statues around Florence.  I took photos of the two sea lions in the downtown area.

Dancing with Sea Lions artwork

I found this article about 20 "Dancing with Sea Lion" statues that are scattered from Florence to Newport. I will be keeping an eye out for more when we come back to the coast.

On The Cutting Board

I have closed my Etsy shop for the next week while we wait on our motorhome.  I will have quite a few new items to list when I open back up on November 20.

I finished my True Lover's Knot.  All hand done with scissors, pencils, and needles.  No machine was used until I sewed on the binder.

It did take a couple of years from cutting out templates to quilting the layers, but I feel it is one of my best quilts.

I finished the binding on the other two and they too will be ready to be listed.  I was worried about binding the rounded corners.  I was very surprised by how easy it was and the corners are not curling from being too tight.

I love the way my playful cat quilt came out.  I tempted to keep it for myself!

I have also finished up quite a few new Happy Campers to be listed soon.  I just need to spend some time taking photos for the listings.

I have more mug rugs waiting to be embroidered so I will have something to do while sitting in the motel room when I'm not soothing nervous cats.

Happy Quilting!

Living In A Fog (FLorence, OR)

We visited the Heceta Head Lighthouse (Ha-SEE-Ta) a couple of days ago.  The fog bank was sitting low and giving the area an eerie Gothic look with sunshine.  I went nuts with the camera.  I'll try not to overdue the photos.  I get the feeling this place sees more fog than sunshine.

From the parking lot and beach area, we got a great view of one of the original houses.  The house is now a B&B and the head lighthouse keeper's home.  

There were more black birds than seagulls all over the beach area adding to the atmosphere.

It's too bad a second house that probably housed the assistants was dismantled and the lumber sold.  I would liked to have seen the other one.  This one is a wonderful well-maintained Queen Anne-style home.  I just love this porch.  A great place of a cup of tea...and to have

such a gorgeous view!  So peaceful with just the sound of birds and the ocean crashing against the rocks below.  

You can see the lighthouse between the flag pole and the house.  The keepers have a short walk up a hill to the lighthouse.  Not too bad of a walk as long as you are not carrying a heavy load.

The lighthouse was started in 1892 and was first lit on May 30, 1894.  Restoration was done in 2011.  The lighthouse looks almost brand new.  The lighthouse is still active and its beam shines out to sea for 21 miles.  Making it one of the strongest lights on the Oregon coast.

On The Cutting Board

I finished and mailed my latest custom orders.  I hope my customer is happy with them.

I'm back to working on some unfinished projects for November.  I started the one below during the summer.  Now I'm not happy with the shadow coming through the face.  In the above photo of the Cupid/Angel, you can't see the print beneath her face.  Two layers of fabric really makes a difference.  From now on, I'll be doubling the peach fabric!  She is still cute despite the shadow.  I plan to finish her with some oak leaf quilting and a teal border.

This pattern is a smaller version of the one above for embroidery only.  Both are designed by Nancy Halvorsen.   I decided to add coloring to this one with crayons.  I have been following Mamacjt's blog.  She is the one that got me started on thinking outside the box or crayon box.  The regular Crayola crayons work quite well.

The instructions are easy enough.  After the pattern has been transferred to fabric, iron a sheet of waxed paper to the back to stabilize the fabric while coloring.  I did not do that this time because I had already started stitching when I decided it needed more color.   After the coloring is done, pull off the waxed paper.  Heat iron on cotton setting, cover project with muslin, and press until you smell melting wax.  Ta-da!

Next time, I will use some waxed paper.  I want to see if I can get a deeper darker coloring into the fabric.  First, I need to finish these two...so back to the projects...

Happy Quilting!