In The Quilting Zone (Sutherlin, OR)

Yep, I have been in the quilting zone for the past few days.  I'm taking advantage of the foggy weather and getting lots of quilting done.  I found this Sunbonnet Baby Sue pattern in a book almost 20 years ago.  I just love her chubby little belly!  There was no pattern for an Overall Baby Sam, so I made my own.

I had so much fun appliqueing these cuties that I might have to make another one in the future.

For the quilting, I did meandering on the yellow background.  I almost did the white background too, but I think I'll leave it with just an outline around each baby.

 I wasn't sure what to do with the snowball quilt.  I thought about doing a snowflake or an echo pattern, but I like curves more than straight line stitching.  I drew different swirl patterns inside each snowball.  I was able to follow my patterns.....most of the time.  This is the first time I have tried following a pattern while free-motion quilting on the sewing machine.  It is a lot easier to do by hand!  That is for sure!

 Right now, it looks a little messy.  I'm hoping this will look better once I wash out the ink.

On the Jungle Stars, I did a stitch-in-a-ditch to show off the stars as well as the squares.

 And an outline around these two guys.

 I have one more top to layer and quilt.  I finished the applique last night.

Next on the list is to make binding for all four quilts.  I need to get them done before we go back to the coast.  There is a good chance we will be on a limited power source and binding takes a lot of ironing.

Plus with all this cold weather, I'm looking forward to sitting under the quilts while I'm sewing on the binding. Ha!....there is a method to my madness...
Happy Quilting!

Feathered Friends and Jungle Stars (Sutherlin, OR)

We drove to the reservoir the other day.  Unlike the ones we have visited in the southwest, this one looked more like a lake and had a lot of bird activity.  We were barely parked and the engine turned off when this hawk popped up.  He was so close to the car that I was afraid to get out of the car, so I took a few photos through the windshield.  I'm surprised this one came out.

 

After a few shots through the windshield, I tried to get out of the car as quiet and as slow as possible.  No good.  He flew off, but he did not go very far.  I was able to follow him along the shoreline where he was trying very hard to balance himself on this point.  He finally did and had to show off by standing on one foot while watching me. 

In the meantime, I kept hearing a loud chirping behind me.  I turned around to find this little guy making all sorts of noise.  I believe he was mad at me for interrupting his lunch.  He certainly did not mind telling me all about the trouble I had caused him.

Cormarants were everywhere.  I love the way they were all lined up on the pier.  I was hoping they would not mind me getting closer....

but they did...  Well, I managed to upset every bird in the area.  I guess my work is done for now.  Next time, I will take my 500mm lens and maybe I won't disturb my feathered friends.

On The Cutting Board

All right!  I finished the two owl mug rugs.  I just need to add a label to the backs and they will be done. 

I was able to finish the elephant within two nights, so another quilt top is ready to be quilted.

Tonight, I will start appliqueing a car and a train to this top.  Once this top is done, I will have a total of four quilt tops to quilt and bind.

Well, I better get back to my projects.
Happy Quilting!

Knot What It Seams by Elizabeth Craig (Sutherlin, OR)

Knot What It Seams by Elizabeth Craig
This was a quick and fun read.  This is the second in a new series by Elizabeth Craig about a small southern town filled with some unusual folks - a sheriff that would rather be reading Thoreau than catching a murderer, an elderly driver thinks sidewalks are part of the road when she drives (pedestrians beware!), a mail carrier that likes to use people's mail to blackmail them....and then there's the quilting guild called The Village Quilters that is made up of even more quirky members.

The main and the more sane character is Beatrice, a recently retired folk art museum curator from the city.  She is also a new member of the guild, but a novice quilter.  She finds herself in the middle of a mystery involving dead quilters, quilters' with extreme competitive attitudes, judges with even larger egos and opinions of what they consider a show quilt.  In the meantime, Beatrice's next door neighbor and leader of The Village Quilters is busy trying to lure some of the best quilters from the other guild.  There was more talk of competing than quilting in this story, but I still enjoyed it....quirky characters included!  It would be a dull world without them.

On The Cutting Board

Speaking of quilting...here's what I have been up to for the last few days.  I'm almost done with the two owls.  I just need to quilt them and they will be ready to list in Etsy.  

Owl Mug Rugs

I finished appliqueing the lion to the Jungle Stars quilt and I have started working on the elephant.

I used permanent fabric markers along with crayons and some embroidery to accent the elephant and lion's face.  

And, I started working on the second quilt with the same design using paper foundation.  It certainly goes together a lot faster than most of my quilts.  I have three rows done within a short six-hour time.  That includes setting up and breaking down my sewing areas.

I had more of the focus fabric for this quilt so it will have six blocks across and six blocks down.  I don't have to worry about adding borders like I did to the Jungle Stars.