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!

Snowman Invasion (Conroe, TX)

We have been busy running errands, walking, and making this year's travel plans, but not a whole lot going on to post about lately.  We moved to the Conroe/Willis campground on Conroe Lake about two weeks ago.  It is only a short walk to the lake from our site.  We opted for a site with a field behind us for the cats.  Being springtime, the cats are not getting out as much as they would like due to rain and mud.  

Lake Conroe from the campground's beach area

Here are a few more photos of birds I took while we were staying in Columbus.  The pecan trees were too tall for me to get as many shots that I would like of the different birds.  We saw a few woodpeckers and some birds we could not identify. The Meadowlarks ran around the motorhome searching for food which caused our cats to go spastic. 

 I saw a few bluebirds and large flocks of Cardinals - sorry no photos of them....

 And of course, plenty of sparrows.

On The Cutting Board

A repeat customer said she was interested in buying 10 snowmen towards the end of summer.  I got excited at the challenge to come up with 10 original looking snowmen.  I pulled out all kinds of scraps, dug through my tubs for different textures...and somehow most of them ended up with blue scarfs.  Now, how did I do that? Hmmm?

Looks like a friendly invasion of snowmen!
"We want your hot cups of coffee, tea, and chocolate!"

Oh, and you are not miscounting.  I made 12 instead of 10 so I could add the extras to my shop.  I might add a couple of more so I can have a better variety of scarf colors.  At least, one with a red scarf and another green scarf.

I have also been working on some more Happy Campers.  In the past, customers have asked for a class-c shape, so I thought I might add one or two to the shop along with a motorhome shape.  It'll depend on how well they sell if I will make more for the shop. 

When I am not in the mood to work on the mug rugs, I have been hand-quilting this wall hanging.  I'm trying to keep my multi-tasking/short-attention span under control by allowing myself to only work on only a few projects per week until they are done and not start new ones.

It hasn't been easy since I have so many ideas bouncing around.  I started writing them down since I am afraid I will forget before I have a chance to start the new project.  Now, if I can just remember where I put the list...I know it is here somewhere....

Happy Quilting!

Which Witch? (Ft. Stevens State Park, OR)

We move to Newhalem Bay State Park on Saturday just south of Seaside, OR.  I'm not sure how strong our WiFi signal will be, but if you don't see a post - that will be the reason why.

I haven't been taking pictures.  When it is not raining, Dan and I are taking fast-paced walks around the park on their lovely paved paths.  We got caught in one rain storm.  We were soaked by the time we got back to the motorhome and that was with our raincoats on!  I'm so glad I decided not to take my camera.

So, I'll share some more photos that I did not post in my last blog of flowers from Seaside.  

I love this nasturtium.  It looks like it has teeth.

The leaves under this one is pretty cool. It looks sort of like a Rudbeckia.

I have always loved the color of the Bachelor Buttons.  Gorgeous!

We did manage to get our cats out a couple of times.  They all did a lot of exploring.  I lost count of the trees Hitch has climbed since we got here.  We talked to another cat owner walking her cat by our site yesterday.  Dusty decided he did not want to be friends, but he did mind his manners and only growled at her cat a couple of times.  Hopefully, our cats will like the next state park as much as they liked this one.  

On The Cutting Board

I haven't been keeping my nose to the cutting board this week.  I'm not sure what my problem is considering that I have lots to do.  I want to make my own Halloween wall hanging so I started by looking through a long list of sayings.  This one caught my attention.  I thought about adding just a witch's hat hanging from the bottom of the 't' with a broom leaning on the 'n'...

 Then I thought the hat would be cuter with feet.  I looked online for pictures of witch's shoes.  With a combination of photos and clipart, I came up with this pair.  Well, if the hat has feet/shoes, she should have hands....

Then I thought that maybe the hat should have legs with knobby knees.  This is all free hand work.  No clipart this time.  I actually found some sites online that show you how to draw hands, feet, faces, etc.

Okay...Now, I have two designs and I'm not sure which Witch I want to use for the wall hanging.  Which one do you like?  Well, I need to give it some more thought...

I finished the pink trailer.  I might add a Welcome sign on the left side of the door with another big flower since there is so much empty space.  I need to wait to iron on the sign until we are back to having full electrical power.  We are limited in the state parks.  Right now, I prefer using our power for warmth and hot tea.  I can iron later.

In the meantime, I am working on the second trailer.  This cream color top will be added to a deep pink with teal polka dots trailer.

Reading back through this blog, I do believe I have found some motiviation to get back to the cutting board and get some sewing done!

Happy Quilting!

Walking Among the Tall Pines (La Pine State Park, OR)

We only had a 3-night stay in the La Pine State Park.  We wish we had booked it for a couple of more days.  We had a very nice time there.  We stayed busy walking the scenic trails among tall Ponderosa Pines along two rivers:  the Deschutes and the Fall River.  The campground is filled with little critters running every where.  The cats preferred to be outdoors stalking the ground squirrels and chipmunks, but we never let them get too close.  Quite often they just had to settle for watching the little guys from the windows.  At least, they stayed entertained while we were out for our walks. 

On the Deschutes River trail, we walked through an area of a recovering burn area.  Even the burned Ponderosa gave a feeling of being grand.

Below are some photos of the Deschutes River.  The trail is a loop that circles three campgrounds and follows the river.  An easy 3 mile walk with hints of rain and earthy-aromas along the way.

This is my favorite view of the Deschutes with the mountain in the background.  This viewpoint is actually on the McGregor Trail at the viewpoint...and what a view!

That is one hairpin turn!  I used my wide-eye lens.  I kept the lens level with the horizon to keep out the distortion, but some of the closer trees are distorted.  It is the only way to get all of the river into one shot without using panorama settings.  Which would mean trying to paste the photos together.

Lots of different wild flowers blooming among the pine trees.

The next day, we walked to the Fall River.  This walk included parts of the Deschutes trail and the McGregor trail which connected to the Fall River trail.  Close to 9 miles of walking and it was worth the walk.  There were very few people on the trails.  So nice not to have loud people shouting to each other or playing music while we are trying to enjoy the silence of the woodland.  So peaceful.

Below is a photo of the Fall River's fall that is only about 10 feet tall, but has a good roar going.  

I can't get over how crystal clear the rivers are here and so blue!  Gorgeous!  I read somewhere that this river is a favorite among the fly fishermen.  I was hoping to see a few of them casting their lines...oh well, maybe another time.

One last photo of lupines growing near the river.

Red, White, and Blue Treasury
With the 4th of July coming up soon, I decided to put together a Treasury with one of my wall hangings.  I still have three left and a few Uncle Sam mug rugs as well.  I can easily make a few more treasury collections.  So many delightful ways to celebrate the 4th of July through Etsy!

Happy Trails!

Getting Ready For July (Cove Palisades SP, OR)

We are staying in Cove Palisades State Park near Madras, OR.  An interesting campground in a canyon on a peninsula surrounded by two rivers: the Deschutes River and the Crooked River.  

river splits

The road leading into this area is very narrow with loose gravel on steep slopes on both sides.  Did I mention the logging trucks?  Yea, they were sharing the narrow road along with other boaters and RVs.  Did I also mention it was a little scary at times?  Then, there's the narrow bridge...Dan had to drive down the middle of it.  There was no way we could cross with oncoming traffic.  Lucky for us, the driver across the river saw us and waited while we crossed the bridge.  She was a sweetie to wait!

Narrow bridge and road

Once we were settled, we were quite happy with our new home.  This is a popular summer weekend get-away for the locals.  The campground went from a ghost town to party central on Friday.  It was rather entertaining to watch people quickly setting up their areas.  Talk about rushing to relax!

 We hiked up the side of the canyon yesterday.  One mile and 600 feet elevation later...this was our views of snow capped mountains in the distance and of both rivers (above photos).

 We have only been in this area once before for one night and it was a long time ago.  So, we plan to do some exploring of eastern Oregon for the next month.

Monday, we will move to LaPine, OR just south of Bend.

Hitch wore himself out running from tree to tree and chasing very brave lizards.  He wore me out trying to keep up with him.  I'm a little worried that he is re-energizing for his next outdoor visit....I should rename him - Solar Kat.

Sunshine on my belly.

On The Cutting Board

I finished four 4th of July wall hangings designed by Nancy Halvorsen for my Etsy shop.  This is the first time I have set a goal for myself.  Not only did I meet my goal, I finished and listed two days ahead of my due date!  I'm going to give that goal setting a try again for my next set of Etsy projects.

SOLD!

"Land That I Love"  sold the next day!  Thank you!  I hope to sell the other three before July.

9x9 Let Freedom Ring

I'm making some smaller wall hangings as well.  They were a lot of fun to make, so I might try making some mini wall hangings soon.

9.5x7.5

I did a little tea-dye staining on the backgrounds of the two small wall hangings.  I thought making the primitives look a little aged would add a little more character to them.

9.5x7.5

Happy Quilting!

Saving For A Rainy Day (Spokane, WA)

Saving fabric, that is...and we are certainly getting our fair share of rain.  We have been in Spokane since last Friday.  The weather has been decent up to yesterday afternoon when the wind picked up and blew in a cold wet front.  Time to dig through my stash and get started on some quilt kits.

5 new quilts to work on

I have been wanting to do this for a while, but you know how it is...I think about it before bed and forget about it by morning.  I finally wrote myself a list of projects I wanted to get setup into kits.  So, far I cut the Sunbonnets' borders, printed foundations and cut fabric for two Tumble quilts, cut fabric for another Crazy 8's quilt, and last but not least, a snowball quilt with a penguin theme (not in photo).

I have also been working on some wall hangings and mug rugs.

With the kits, I don't have to worry about all the time it will take to find the right fabric or to setup and breakdown.  I do need to spend more time this week putting a dent into my scrap bag that I just added to...again!

Here's a couple of photos of my last quilt project.  This quilt along with the kits (once they are finished) will be donated to a children's charity.  I am finally making a dent in my stash!

Ocean Blue

with otters, whales, and dolphins

I finished and just listed this morning a Nancy Halvorsen's "Let Freedom Ring" wall hanging in my Etsy shop.

I have been busy visiting entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I have seen some gorgeous quilts.  I think I have seen about a third of the entries.  So many quilts, so little time.  On 24 May, Amy will open her link for voting, so I need to start taking notes of the ones I like the best.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Gosh!  I'm a little lost for words. *Wondrous*Enchanting*Mystical*Magical....I found myself craving cakes and I'm not that big on cakes, but I could almost smell the sugar in the air...my mouth watering...mmmm.  Sarah's stories always ignite my imagination and she never fails to entertain me right to the end.  Her books are like a comfort food....so relaxing and she always leaves me begging for more!

17 year old Emily comes to live with her grandfather in a small southern town in North Carolina filled with unusual characters and secrets after the death of her mother.  Emily's mother never spoke of her childhood home or about her own father.  Emily sets out to learn about her mother's past and what the charming people of Mullaby are hiding.  All I can say is once you start reading this one, you will not want to leave..I mean stop reading it!

Sarah Addison Allen has a new book coming out this year called "Lost Lake" and I haven't read "The Sugar Queen" yet.  I'm saving it for later.

“Books can be possessive, can’t they?  You’re walking around in a bookstore and a certain one will jump out at you, like it had moved there on its own, just to get your attention.  Sometimes what’s inside will change your life, but sometimes you don’t even have to read it.  Sometimes it’s a comfort just to have a book around.” 

~Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen