Best Laid Plans (Spokane, WA)

..........often go awry.  Yep, that's the way the last couple of weeks have been for me.  First, it was the sudden attention our cats wanted during our travels along with bad weather.  So, not a whole lot of sewing going on during that time.

With two weeks in Spokane, I planned to catch up on my sewing projects, take photos, and get some items listed.  I did not plan on turning into a......a shuffling, snuffling, wheezing, sneezing Zombie moaning for more Tissues!  Those lovely trees outside our motorhome were dumping super-strength mutated pollen.  Usually, I can take a Claritin and be fine the next day.  Not this time.  I spent over a week fighting allergies so I did not get a whole lot done the first week.

On The Cutting Board

I'm happy to say that I am back among the living and getting a few things done.  I have twelve Happy Camper tops embroidered and ready to sew together.

I have two new ones with a black bear profile that I'm in very excited about listing.

Here are three smaller Happy Campers in different colors.

And of course, four of the all-time favorite color combo of red with aqua or teal Happy Campers.  I have more to work on and hopefully, they will all be finished before June which is not too far off.

Oh, and here's a photo of a T@B trailer.  It was parked next to us for one of the nights while we were in Montana.  Isn't it adorable?  You can see where my inspiration comes from for my Happy Campers.

T@B Trailer

As soon as I started to feel better, I started working on some projects for myself.  I have been wanting to finish my SW pillows since last winter.  Ta-Da!  All four are now done!  If you like the Native Flair pattern, you can order the epattern from QuiltWoman.  I'm tempted to make a lap quilt to match the pillows.  After, I finish a few other UFOs.

Speaking of UFOs, my armchair sewing caddy has been on the To Do list for a long time.  I finally had to make a new one because the other one was falling apart.  The fabric had faded from exposure to the sun, over stuffing it to the point that the seams were popping, and the straps were frayed from moving the caddy from one chair to the another chair.

This time, I made the new one a little wider with deeper pockets.  Now Dusty will not be able to chew on my pens and pencils sitting in the top pocket.  To make the pockets stronger, I used one long tube of folded fabric and sewed down sections instead of separate squares of fabric.  I'm quite happy with the way this one came out considering I only spent a couple of days working on it.  I just wish I had used a heavier interfacing for the back.  I'll have to remember that for the next time.

Tomorrow is a travel day.   We plan to stay a few weeks in mid-Washington at Crescent Bar before we start our move towards the west coast.  

In the meantime, I think I am going to enjoy something I have not been able to do since we left the NW area.  I'm going to have a cup of hot Wild Huckleberry Tea while I read through Mary Janes Farm before I do a little more sewing this evening.
Happy Quilting!

Behind But Not Forgotten (Crescent Bar, WA)

I'm a day behind on posting.  The last two days have been a bear of a day with not much time to sit and think about what I was going to post.  We traveled on Friday.  A short, but very windy trip that left us tired when we arrived in Crescent Bar, WA.  We both went to bed early last night.

Before we left Spokane, we spent one day sitting in a waiting room while our motorhome had some work done on it.  And I mean 'one' full work day from 7 a.m. to after 4 p.m..  My behind can tell you all about the sitting. I did not bring my computer to work on my pending blog post.  Yet, the day was not wasted....I finished the embroidery on this project.  It took 5 hours to complete.  

Except for short walking breaks and lunch, I kept at this just to see how much time it would take to finish.  I actually thought the motorhome would be done long before the embroidery.  Boy, was I wrong!  It is rather nice to know how long it takes me to do this part.  Of course, I still have no idea how long it takes me to collect the fabric, cut and fuse pieces, or to finish it with quilting.  I'm sure it takes me several work days.  But since I enjoy making and don't consider them work, I have no plans to finish timing myself.

Walk This Way

Here's where Dan and I have been spending a lot of our time for the last few weeks.  Fairchild A.F.B. has a very nice running/walking track near their fitness center.  Don't let the photos of empty tracks fool you.  That place is busy no matter what the weather or time of day.

The track has a soft rubber surface that makes it very easy to walk more miles without feeling the mileage.  All the green grass with the hill in the middle is visually appealing and has my mind just a-wandering while we walk.

I like the postpile rocks at the top of the hill.  It has the mysterious European look to it.

The walk up the hill gave us a lovely view of the field and the surrounding area.

According to FitBit, the walk up the hill completes two flights of stairs.  We go up and down...up and down...
Well, that's it for today.  I need to get to work on my last project so I can get it listed real soon.

Happy Trails!

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!

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!