Blogger's Quilt Festival (NE Oregon)

I am entering Cuddly Critters into the Baby Quilt category in the Blogger's Quilt Festival held and hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  Thank you Amy for hosting this festival.

My husband and I retired in 2009, sold our house, and have been traveling in our motorhome with four cats.  I still manage to get in some quilting time.

Thanks to the internet and emails, I am able to keep up with all my friends and co-workers.  This includes my one and only student intern.  Recently, she sent me the good news that she and her husband were expecting their first child.  I knew the exact quilt I wanted to make for their little one. 

42x42 inches

This pattern is a perfect cuddly quilt for her baby with four little critters hugging stars. Actually, the name in the magazine is "Starbear Friends", but I like Cuddly Critters better.

All the embroidery and appliqué is done by hand.

close-up of kitty's eye

Ready for the quilt. 

It is a challenge to live and travel full-time in our motorhome.  Space is limited, so the quilt moved around the motorhome as it progressed.  From the dining room table...

The Hugs Squad shift change

....to outside...especially when there is a lovely view on a gorgeous day.

...to our front window on a folding table....Nothing gets between me and my quilting!

   

Here are some close-ups of all four Cuddly Critters.....

bear

dog

raccoon

cat

and one of the waiting couple!  Such a sweet family photo!  Thanks you two ~ for letting me post your picture.  I cannot wait to see photos of  the little one.  hint! hint!

Baby due mid-May....about now

Want to see some more beautiful quilts?  Please click on the link below.  Thanks for stopping by!  If you leave a comment, I will be happy to return the favor.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

So, if you will excuse me, I am off to do some blog hopping!
Happy Quilting!

Glamping 101 (Idaho)

We spent 4 days in Boise, ID and now we are on the road again today.  Speaking of traveling, I have added a new page for our Travel Map 2013 and it is up-to-date...well, until this evening.....so you will have to guess where we are until my next posting...

A couple of days ago, we were heading downtown Boise when we drove by a park filled with Canada Goose.  Photo Op!  I spotted some goslings with their parents.  I am so glad I packed my telephoto lens.

mama guarding her babies

whatcha lookin' at?

lots of warm fuzzies

tails! I won!

Glamping 101

Over the years, I have seen Mary Janes Farm magazine on the shelf.  It wasn't until recently that I picked one up to see what was inside.  You can probably guess which title caught my eye..."Fanciful Quilts"...of course, you know me so well.

Once I brought it home, I found I liked and read quite a few of the articles after I devoured the quilt article.  Has anyone heard of "glamping"?  Yea, me neither until I came across this ad "Glamping with Mary Jane".   Looking a little closer, there were photos of vintage trailers, women in evening dresses with cowboy boots.  In Mary Jane's book, she gives you recipes, ideas for the backyard, advice on housekeeping on the road along with much more advice.  

Curious, I did a little researched online.  This is what I have learned:  Glamping = Glamour + Camping.  Glamping adds glamour to any outdoor activities such as camping, barbecues, and other gatherings. 

According to Mary Jane, this kind of glamour camping started with the African safaris.  Yep, I can see that especially in the "Out of Africa" movie.  I would love to go on a safari with huge tents, gourmet meals, and comfortable beds.  Ernest Hemingway's safari style.  Of course, the only hunting I would do is with a camera.

Apparently, you can now rent outdoor tents setup like the one below around the world including USA.  Doesn't that look grand!  There are even tree houses to rent.  I would love to do all of them.

source: West Elm

The reason I am bring up Glamping is the inspiration I got from seeing all the renovated vintage trailers.  They did such a wonderful job of not only making them functional as well as adorable.  I do believe I got bit by the Glamping Bug.

source: UrbanFarmGirl

There's an International Glamping Weekend coming up in June.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the glamping photos and more vintage trailers.

source:  Get Campie

On The Cutting Board

Below are some examples of my Glamping inspired mug rugs.  I thought the small trailers would make for a cute mug rug and I had a lot of fun making them.  Oh, did I mention - they are my own design.  No clipart.  No pattern.     

Okay, so my plan was to introduce you to my latest listings, but both of the trailers sold within 24 hours!  That certainly made my day!  Whoo-hoo!!

I have two more in my projects folder.  I just need to get busy and get them done.

Happy Quilting!

The Hugs Squad Manages Patchwork Time (Somewhere in Idaho)

We left Utah two days ago.  We are back on the road heading north to Spokane, WA with a few stops along the way.  We will take our time by staying a few days here and a couple of days there along the way.  Plenty of time to relax before getting back on the road.  A no stress travel plan.

I got in a little sewing time during the last week.  As you can see, I have lots of supervision from the Hugs Squad.  The Hugs Squad's official job is to make sure I do not spend too many hours sewing without a break.  Break time must include a cat in the lap getting undivided attention...usually with a big bear hug.  If only I can get through to them that 15 minutes of sewing is not a long time in human life.

Shift change with the time managers

Before we left Utah, we did a quick trip to downtown Salt Lake City to visit a new/used book store.  This was on the side of the building.  I just had to share.

There were so many ornate buildings scattered throughout the downtown area, but we did not have much time to walk around after spending most of our time browsing through the bookstore.  I love the balconies on this one...........

and the face on this building.  Maybe next time I will be able to view and take photos of some of the temples in the city.

This little guy came running right up to Dan's feet looking for a handout while he was setting up the motorhome for the night.  So, Dan came in for a couple of nuts and told me that I had a great subject just waiting to have his picture taken. 

nom! nom!  almond...gooood

 He is one friendly fellow or very hungry.  He got so close that half my photos were a blur.  And the more I think about it....he was probably just hungry because he left as soon as realized I wasn't going to give him anymore nuts.

no nuts...no photo!

A Patchwork of Poison by Karen Lowe
This is the first book I have found since Barbara Michaels' "Stitches in Time" where the mystery is center around the quilt and its maker.  This one is even better!  As a teenager, I read a lot of Gothic mystery/romance books.  Some of my favorites were Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, and Barbara Michaels. Karen Lowe takes me back to those days with a different twist.

Set in present England, Bron is getting ready for her first fiber/quilt art gallery exhibit when she is approached by a young goth girl named Cat with her family's heirloom quilt.  Soon Cat and Bron are busy unstitching the secrets and history behind the quiltmaker and her quilt.  Mysteries abound as one person goes missing and another is found dead.  Are they all tied to this one quilt?

Karen does a wonderful job of merging the past and present.  The description of the historical quilt has my imagination going big time!  Great historical mystery story.  My fingers are crossed that Karen will make this the first book of a new series.
Happy Quilting!

A Patchwork of Kindred Spirits (Hill A.F.B., UT)

This posting is  filled with a variety of kindred spirits.  There was a lot going on this week, so I will bring them all together to make a scrappy patchwork blog.

A Quilted Kindred Spirit
First, I want to share this wonderful block made by Julie Fukuda.  This block represents me and my lifestyle.  How cool is that?   Okay, I sound like a kid, but no one has ever made a block with me in mind.  Take a good look at the fabric - birds and cats...yep, sounds like my world and welcome to it!

This block will join other “followers” blocks to be made into a memory quilt.  A major undertaking! Follow the link to read Julie’s description of how she decided on pattern and fabrics:  My Quilting Diary 

Center block - Wandering Foot ...yep, that's me!

We have never met in person, but I feel a very close connection to Julie. I have talked to friends and family about Julie from Japan and her quilting.  Usually, I confuse them because I always talk like we were just together yesterday.

Julie and I met through a group blog for quilters who love to sew and quilt by hand.  Julie shares the beauty of Japan through her blog and photos, so checkout some of her other posts while you are visiting.  I have learned quite a bit about Japan's culture, traditions as well as meeting the people.  Often we exchange emails along with our blog comments finding out that we have more and more in common. Despite the fact that we have half-a-world between us, we are kindred spirits.  May our paths cross someday.   Thank you Julie!

A Furry Kindred Spirit

Jay and Beverly made it back home, but not before they picked up a hitchhiker.  

I go with you!

They came across this little guy running down the middle of the road in Colorado's back-country.   Worried he would get run over, they tried to find the owner even though they were pretty sure he was homeless from his condition.

Colorado looks very attached to Jay

Dirty and half-starved, this little guy needed help as soon as possible.  After talking to one local rancher about people dumping unwanted animals in the area and a trip to the Vet, they decided to adopt him.

Meet Beverly's new cuddlier - Colorado

Colorado (isn't that the perfect name for him?) knew he had found the perfect couple to adopt him. Isn't he a sweetie?  Not only does he look quite happy, he also looks like he is going to be quite comfortable with his new family.  Of course, we have yet to hear the opinions from Jay's cat Charmin and Beverly's dog Mojito about the new family member...

Hello You Handsome Devil!

Hugs to all!  (photos by Jay and Beverly)

Fictional Kindred Spirits

Another kindred spirit is Marie Bostwick and her characters.  To celebrate Marie Bostwick's latest published book "Between Heaven and Texas", Michelle is hosting a blog hop with 12 free star pattern tutorials for you to download.  The blog hop started on April 29 so stop by Quilting Gallery  to view the stars and enter the blogs' give-aways.

I have all of the Cobble Court Quilt books.  I love the way Marie sews her characters' life into a colorful patchwork quilt with warmth, understanding, and friendship.  I'm waiting for Marie's book to be sold in September on Audible.com, so I can spend my quilting time listening to Mary Dell tell her story.  Can't wait!!

On The Road

In the meantime, we are getting back to our old schedule, dusting off projects, and catching up on all the things we were ignoring while in Zion.  I'm already missing Zion and our walks, but this area does have some nice views.  Here are a few photos from Hill A.F.B. near Ogden, UT.  Below are two photos of Salt Lake from the air base.

 My favorite view is from our front window.   Nothing like a panoramic view of snow-topped mountains.  Yes, I do prefer the snow there and not here.  Just in case you were wondering.....

Feathered Kindred Spirits:  The Ravens and the Magpies tend to gang-up with an aggressive, not to mention, possessive attitude when we are outside.  They actually follow us around as we walk the cats.  All heck breaks out when Hitch climbs a tree.  They definitely do not like a cat in one of "their" trees.  The funny part is seeing a variety of birds landing in one tree to squawk at Hitch.  Hitch usually runs back to the motorhome with his tail all fluffed out.  Hmm, I wonder if he speaks "bird".

Happy Trails!

More Zion Moments (Zion National Park, UT)

Travel Day!  We are heading to Hill AFB near Ogden, UT.  I'm not sure about traveling north so fast.  We went from 94 degrees to 54 degrees in less than two days and this morning........34 degreeeeeess!  Darn, now I need to pull out my sweatshirts again.

A view from Springdale.  Outside Zion NP's gate.

So, before we move on, I wanted to share some more photos of our stay at the Zion National Park.  I posted some different photos in our 2TooManyCats blog if you want to see more photos.  And of course, one of these days, I will upload all the photos to Flickr along with all the others that are overdue...

Day 2, we decided to do something easy and more level.  We took the Riverside Walk to the beginning of the Narrows.  We spent some time watching a few people coming back and heading out into the Narrows.  Quite a few were wearing dry suits.  The water was deeper than I remember from our last visit and it felt very cold.  The visitor's center said the temp was 46 degrees.  Brrr!  I don't want to walk for two hours in that cold water!

Everywhere I look..I see tourists with food!
They are coming in by the busload!

During our walk, we saw lots of squirrels, lizards, flowers, and stunning views.  I had a very sore neck from looking up all the time.  Actually, I had a sore neck from most of our hikes.

It's a good thing there were flowers to view once in awhile or I might have had a permanent kink in my neck.  Such a delicate flower with hardy roots living in the side of a rock.

Day 3, we drove to the east side of the tunnel.  From the parking lot, we hiked the Canyon Overlook Trail.  I know the photo below is not the best, but I was trying to get all of this tree's root into the photo.  The root starts in the lower right hand corner and goes a good ten feet across the path (pass Beverly) to tree.

With that kind of root system, I can see why the trees are able to live and hang onto the cliff's sides now.  That is one hardy tree!

Day 4, we hiked the Watchman's Trail.  I was a little more worn out by this one with the higher elevation on a warmer day, but the views were worth every minute of the hike.

We came across some different flowers as we climbed higher...

...and coming back down the trail, we found this gorgeous cactus flower had opened to the sun.

My favorite was this lizard.  Jay and Beverly are standing right next to this rock.  We were not sure if this guy was wanting to pose for them or if he was guarding his rock.

Day 5, last but not least, we did the Pa'rus Trail and Zion Human History Museum.  I think we were all feeling a little tired by then and ready for an easy walk...allll downhill.

Well, our time came to an end too quickly.  Where did the time go??  We had to say good-bye to Jay and Beverly.  We had a great time visiting and getting to know Beverly.  I hope we can get together again soon.

On The Cutting Board
I plan to pick up my needle and start quilting while we travel north.  In the meantime, I want to Thank Kat from Kat and Cat Quilts for nominating my blog for the Liebster Award.  I do appreciate the recognition and I hope you will stop by her blog to say hello or visit her Etsy shop:  Kat & Cat Quilts .  She has some beautiful quilts in both!  I like this pattern that she offers in her shop.

Fly South, charm pack quilt or throw
pattern by Kat & Cat Quilts

Happy Quilting!