Dyed Red With Embarrassment (Pacific City, OR)

On The Cutting Board

I'm so embarrassed.  I was almost finished with Harvey J.  He was shaping up so well.  I wanted to wash out the pencil outlines along the edges before I started quilting.  I had used a new pencil and it was not washing out as easy as my old pencil.  So I used a little soap....should not be a problem since I pre-wash all my fabrics especially the red.  BUT, I was wrong.  The dye in the red embroidery thread ran.  I thought it was just the red showing through the wet aqua.  As I ironed the lower end, the red disappeared as the fabric dried, but the top stayed red!  OH NO!

This is the mess I had to share with my customer.  I told her I would start another, but I am out of the light aqua and would have to use something different...

..and I actually like the new fabric better.  I hope she does too.  I took the following photos this morning.  To me, the embroidery pops out so much more with this color.  I can't wait to see the finished project!

Oh, and I pre-washed the red embroidery thread. I was worried the thread would end up a tangled mess so I wound it around a plastic cup and sunk it in warm soapy water.  It worked very well.   I always thought the embroidery threads were die-cast and would not run if wet.  Well, I will never assume that again. I plan to do that from now on with my reds and purples.

More Beach Photos

 It has been too foggy to take photos of this area, so here are a few more photos from the Newport area...

 Most of these were taken on the Ona Beach State Park walking south to the Seal Rocks State Park.

 A very nice place to walk and to explore during low tide.

 I just love the rock formations.

Aren't these gorgeous?  I don't know what they are except they grow on a bush in Waldport.

Well, back to work...Happy Quilting!

Flower Power (Pacific City, OR)

Our  WiFi is very slow at our camp site in Pacific City.  Loading photos is almost impossible to do from here.  I did think ahead when I was at the campground's Family Center and uploaded some my favorite flower shots from our walks in Central Oregon.  The flowers here are so amazing.  They are everywhere - gorgeous gardens and wildflowers along the road.  I saw a beach house with an English garden with an old picket fence....my dream home!...sigh!  Since I can't have a garden, I will settle for collecting lots of photos of flowers.

Maybe I should try to make my dream home and gardens out of fabric with embroidery.  Oh!  Now, I have another project to think about...

We have been spending quite a bit of time in the campground and the nearby beach for our walks.  This campground is built on a steep hill with beach access across the road.  We have only been here since Monday and my poor legs have been telling me all about those steep hills we have been walking!

We are somewhere in the middle of the campground on a dead-end.  The cats love exploring the area.  Even Max has been happy with his new home and comes out to explore.  It helps that our site is surrounded by thick bushes that separates us from our neighbors and road noise. 

On The Cutting Board
Besides our walks and walking cats, I have been busy working on my second custom order "Harvey J".  I added two tea cups and a rose to the big window.  The owners are newlyweds so I wanted to make it look cozy and romantic.  They live in the United Kingdom and have traveled through Europe with their motorhome.  We tent-camped for almost two weeks while traveling through England, Wales, and Scotland when we were stationed in Germany.  I would love to go back and do that again with a mortorhome.

 This photo was taken this morning.  I made it small enough to load so viewing might be a lot smaller than usual.   I'm pretty sure I can have this mug rug done by Monday....Tuesday by the latest.  It has been a joy to create.

Happy Quilting!

The Order of the Day - Beach Walks (Newport, OR)

Travel day!  We are heading north up the Oregon Coast to Pacific City.  Would you believe it is warmer there?  Not by much, but I'll take a few degrees of warmth.  We spent a lot of time on the beaches here.  Walking from Ona Beach State Park to the backside of Seal Rock State Park.  I prefer the fog to the windy days.  

Seal Rocks

It really changes the way the beach looks.  I like playing Loreena McKennitt's smooth Irish music while I am walking in the fog.  It seemed to fit the mood of the beach.

We try to get to the beach while the tide is out.  The rocks are filled with all sorts of sea life.  Lots of star fishs, shell fish, and birds.  This seagull has a regular smorgasbord every day.

hmmm...where to start..

I'm slowly getting our photos uploaded to our Flickr albums.  Just click on Flickr to see our photos.

On The Cutting Board

I'm mailing out my first custom made mug rugs and starting on a new one.  I'm still learning the process of doing Custom Orders.

I have all the smaller projects open for custom orders.  Quilts will not be included in this offer.

So, I'm starting my next custom order and I'm very excited to do this one.  This is Harvey J.  Isn't he a cutie?  I can't wait to see what he will look like as a mug rug.

 My sister mentioned her love of Black Bears and would I be interested in making some Black Bear mug rugs.  I have been looking at my clipart and have a few ideas.  The problem is the bear being all black.  I'm not sure how he is going to look if I use a cream color to outline his face, tail, and paws.  I plan to give it a try just to see.

Of course, I can always do silhouettes with a tan muzzle, but I would like to add some character to the mug rugs.

Well, I need to get going.  It is a short travel day, but I have lots to do....I'm so excited, I don't know where to start!

Happy Trails!

In A Fog (Newport, OR)

Check out the screen print below.  Not Castleville and yes, I do play a couple of games online.  I like the graphics and they are fun to play.  

No, I'm talking about the rabbit in the circle.  That is one of my mug rugs being used for an Etsy ad.  I'm thrilled they did that, but wouldn't it have been nice if they had notified me and had a link to my shop?  Oh well, I guess I can't be too picky about getting some free attention.  Right?

So, I have been working hard on finishing my friend's two mug rugs.  This is what they looked like two days ago.

Yesterday, all three were ready for their quilting, a button, and a patch on the back.  I'm not sure which of the other two she will want for her friend - the one with the cups or the kitty peeking out the window.  They will be done by Saturday.

Since I started talking about making two mug rugs for my friend, I have had two more requests.  I decided it was time to research Etsy's Custom Orders to make it easier for customers and for me.  I plan to keep the Custom Orders for mug rugs and wall hangings only.  I don't have enough room to special order "yards" of fabrics for quilts.  Where the smaller projects use fat-quarters or less than a half yard.

With the custom order button, a customer opens a request for a special order.  Once we agree on a project, the customer will pay upfront.  The payment will be held by Etsy.  The order is completed when I ship and notify the customer....then Etsy pays me.  I'll see how this goes for a few months.

On The Cutting Board

Before I received the new requests, I had already started two owls....

....and two more vintage trailers.  The other Vintage Trailers are still available in my Etsy shop if you are interested in one of them.

More Photos of Sisters

Here's a few more shots from Sisters.  I haven't taken many photos here in Newport because it has been very foggy.  My main goal lately is to walk as fast a possible to get out of the chilly wind!  Great way to burn some calories!

Now that's a view - quilts and the snow covered mountain

vintage truck showing off its own beauty next to the quilts

Happy Quilting!

No Sweat (Newport, OR)

We moved to Newport, OR, last Monday.  Probably one of the few areas left in the U.S. that is not suffering from a heat wave.  Weather has been foggy and cool - around 60 to 70 degrees.  Quite a change from Bend!  I bet quite a few people wish they were here right now.

Newport's marina

A couple of days ago, the sun came out, but it is still on the cool side.  Jacket weather for me....beats sweating in the relentless heat.  I'm quite content to wear a jacket for most of the summer.

from Cape Foulweather

Our Wi-Fi is the pits (mega SLOW) here, so I plan to keep this short since it keeps warning me that my post is not being saved.  I spent most of the last 4 days just trying to upload photos.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few more photos of Sisters during the quilt show...

This is one of my favorites

Such a cute idea!   Recycled cowboy boot/birdhouse.  All I need is a house and a tree to hang it in.  Maybe, once we have our lot picked out...

Speaking of ideas, I have way too many bouncing around in my head right now after the quilt show.  At this rate, I will need to have 10 life-times to finish all my ideas.  Of course, I would end-up with even more ideas if I lived that long!

I love the warm colors in this sampler.

I am slowly uploading photos to our Flickr albums.  I will post the links soon.

On The Cutting Board

Okay, 4 mug rugs will be listed tomorrow morning in my QuiltinCats Etsy shop.  I have already announced the listing in my QuiltinCats FB page and people are showing an interest in them.  

Red and Aqua

My fingers are crossed that they will sell quickly.

Pretty Pink Floral

I'm having so much fun making these that I am already planning to make more Vintage Trailers.

Mint Green and Lavender

I'll wait until next time to show you the new ones that I started on last night.

Peachy Dots

Before I get too involved in the new mug rugs, I plan to finish up the horse themed vintage trailers for my friend.  I finished embroidering the tan areas for the other two mug rugs.  Two are for her and the third one might go on Etsy as an extra.

I added a tea cup and a kitty in the window for my friend.....oh, and a horse shoe on the door for Good Luck.  She just became a Grandma for the second time!  I wish her and her family all the best!

I hope to have these three done before the end of this week.

Happy Quilting!

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (Sisters, OR)

Welcome to Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!  I have waited a whole year to see this one show and the wait was worth it.  So many gorgeous quilts, inspiring quilts, and ones that had me wondering 'how did this quilter do this?'...

This is Sister's raffle quilt inspired by the poster designed by Dan Rickards - see below this quilt.

"Streams of Color" was designed by Jean Wells

Poster by Dan Rickards

This is a street view at 10 a.m.  It was probably more packed by noon, but I was too busy viewing quilts and having a great time. 

There were quilts everywhere....on the side of buildings, down alleys

hanging from balconies and over people...

covering a car..

made into a balloon...

as well as painted murals of quilts...

What a gorgeous day!  Not a cloud in the sky.  Not too hot with just a slight breeze.  We could not have asked for a better day.

I did not try to collect information on each quilt, so if you recognize a quilt or the quilter, please let me know.  I would love to add their information.  It was so busy with people wanting to look at the quilts or wanting photos..yes, like me...or they were hung so high up that I could not have read the information without a ladder.  Imagine me explaining to the officer why I'm doing that!

This is just a small portion of the photos I took of the quilt show.  I will try to upload them to Flickr soon.

How about this furbaby?  There is a second dog below this one.  They were both being fed ice cream while their owner took a break from pushing them around in the stroller.

I saw this dog portrait quilt across the street from the two dogs in a stroller.

So many quilts.  So little time.
    Lovely Hawaiian Iris quilt.  I like the color scheme..

Eye-catching samplers...

Cloud 9+

I have talked about Marie Bostwick's Cobbled Court Quilt series in the past.  I love all five of her books.  Her latest book:  Between Heaven and Texas is about Mary Dell's life.  I haven't read this one yet because I want to listen to the audio book.  I can't wait!

Marie announced on her FB page that she would be signing her books at Paulina Springs Bookstore on Saturday during the quilt show.  I told Kristy that I wanted to go to the bookstore first.  The quilts can wait because I'm going to meet one of my favorite authors.  We had a wonderful time visiting with Marie.   Thanks Robin for taking this picture!

Kristy, Marie, and Sandy

Kristy and I became friends with one of the Quilt Expo Vendors: Robin Halliday.  Robin works with felt more than with quilts, so she spent most of the day with us viewing quilts, taking photos, and learning more about quilt patterns.  I learned quite a bit about being a vendor and owning your own company.  We had a great time with Robin at Sisters.  

Dee and Robin

Robin and her partner, Dee Brown are the owners and designers of The Quilted Trillium.  

You can see more of their designs on their website.

I'm sorry to say that I did not buy any of their patterns.  My plan was to stick to a list this time so I would not come back to our motorhome with piles of fabrics and patterns with no place to store them.

Happy Quilting!