New Sewing Area

I finally got the sewing area organized and ready to sew last week.  I was a tester for Jess' Mystery Quilt over at the Quilt and Needle Forum.  It's going on this weekend,  you should all go check it out.  Jess has once again designed a unique pattern for us to stitch. 

Anyhow.... here a a few photos of my area before I got it all messy.... LOL

I need to make a few minor adjustments,  but it seems to be working well so far.....  Now... If  I could just finish organizing the craft storage room.....

December Already....

I can't believe that December is already upon us.   We have beautiful sunny skies, but cold temps for our region.  It was only 27 degrees this morning when I came to work.    There is so much to do to get ready for the holidays.  Seems like weekends have already started filling up with activities.    I do love this time of year, though....

more pics of new house...

Well,  here is a picture of Mt. Hood from the upper deck.   Now, if we could just convince our neighbor to cut down the big tree on the left....  it's about an hour drive to get to the ski slopes, but neither of us ski anymore... the sunrises over that eastern ridge have been beautiful to watch.    

This is the view we have from the dining room table and upper deck, looking south east towards our closest neighbor.  Their house is just beyond these trees, completely hidden from our view.   We can hardly wait for warm summer evenings to enjoy sitting on the deck. 

We have furniture.... in the dining room.

And the living room.... That wooden Indian was actually in a hollywood movie!  He got shot in the chest during gun shot scene and has a wound.

 We found these cute western lamps at a liquidation store for $5 each.  The lamp shades were more than the lamps!   I have two more to make a floor lamp out of....

I can hardly wait to resurface that hearth and add a timber type mantel!   River rock?  Field stone?  The really sad part is that I found a picture in a drawer while cleaning that showed the fireplace BEFORE they did this to it.  I wanted to cry....   Remember the plans for an addition and actual front door entry way?  It will eventually be where that window is.... it will wrap around the back side of the fireplace  and extend 10 feet out.  Room for a nice coat closet....

Still working on the bedroom... we want to switch to a king size bed, since the room is 12x 24.  Mike didn't want to take pictures of the unpacked boxes on the floor.                    

Here is the family room... It also needs some facelifting done on the fireplace.... but since we can still see the fieldstone definitions, I'm going to try paint first....  What were they thinking? This is the view I'll have from my sewing machines.

This is the wall we redid, taking out a tiny 9'x9' room that was enclosed.  You can see my machine peeking up over the half wall.  Those are the boxes I still need to unpack.  The weird, loose stuff that is harder to put away....   the french doors open to the garden and lower deck / patio area with our hot tub on it.   

      

The birds have found the feeders I put up... I've trimmed back one of the wisterias, but still have the largest one to go.....

Lets go check out the craft room....

Well  you can see I still have some work to do in here.... I need to put a ceiling light in... finish organizing the fabric stash...  and find the center work table surface....   I will post more later, but need to accomplish something first.    Can't do it sitting here blogging, that's for sure, so until next time.... here is hoping everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving day. 

Our New Home...

This is the inside of our new living room.   I just love the warm wood ceilings.   Need to do something about the white rock fireplace, but time will take care of that.
We are decorating with a "cabin" or "lodge" theme.  DH and I are still discussing what goes into a lodge or cabin,  but it seems to be working out ok so far.   I'm more of an eclectic person.... He is more focused.  He wants all log furniture.... I would like to stick with some of our antique furniture.    Time will  take care of that as well,  I'm sure.

This is the south facing view....  reminds me of Smurfville.... lots of blue.....  (now don't get me wrong.... I love blue..... but this doesn't shout  "CABIN" or  "LODGE"  to me..... I envision rock foundation,  wood and stone pillars,  wrought iron railings,  and brown wood tone siding.   I won't mess with the blue roof.

We won't be making exterior changes until after our other house sells, and the weather improves next spring.  That will give us time to think a little bit about our final plans.

From the corner of the upper deck,  we have a sliver of a view of Mt. Hood, which right now is covered with new fall snow.    I might have a pic of the view somewhere.... I'll take a look and see.

We are surrounded by trees.  In fact... we can only see one house from the decks or from inside.   A friend of ours that lives up the street from our previous home was out to visit, and he just couldn't get over the openness and no houses crowded nearby.


This is the driveway, and Mike's garage on the North side.   See what I mean about the blue?     We found plans in a closet for a 200 sq. ft. addition which would place an actual front door entryway where that one window is that you see.     (This was the one window that was not updated to new vinyl windows when they did that project. )

I'll take pics of the house with our furnishings and post soon.  (when I finally get the boxes totally out of the way, LOL)

It's been awhile since I've been here....

Well,   last time I was posting, we were getting ready for the big move.   I am happy to report that it's nearing it's end.     We still have the last hold-out spots to move, such as... under the basement stairs,   the attic,  (I'll need to do this to decorate for Christmas),  the garden shed,  the garage misc.,  and the back shed where camping and boating stuff are stored.  The biggest hold up is we need to build more shelves down in Mike's big shop.

I am one spoiled girl !!!    I packed and unpacked lots of craft and sewing supplies.  The trick is getting it all organized into two separate spaces.... one for storage, and the other a work area that is supposed to be kept neat. Ha! I'll try my best.....   Pics to come later.....  We are still in process.    I must say that I've unpacked all but a dozen boxes that have come into the house.  And I wasn't allowed to stack any boxes in the garage or shop, so that has kept me on task.

We have already enjoyed watching the sunrise over the ridge on more than one occasion from our hot tub on the lower deck....    The cat seems to be adjusting.....  The birds have found the feeders...

 Life is good,  and I am so thankful for all I have been blessed with.

  Happy Thanksgiving!  

Christmas Stocking exchange

I'm participating in a block exchange over at BlockCentral.com. You should come over and check us out. What a great group of wonderful people! Here are the first 6 of 14 blocks I need to finish before Dec. This may be a true test, as I am getting ready to move, and need to pack up my sewing room. My September to do list is much shorter than August's... but since I'm back to work as well, it has really limited my time for sewing or quilting this month.

Curious Kittens tablerunner

I made this tablerunner as a gift for a friend last week. I found this really cute fabric and added a little bit of black, grey and gold from my stash to set some of the cute critters. I had planned to put the pawprint as an outside border, but the size was getting away from me, so used it on the binding instead.

August's To Do List....

I go back to work on Tuesday. That gives me just two days to finish my list of to dos for the month. It was a huge list, and there are only 3 things left to do. I actually finished up several extra projects and exchange blocks that were not on the original list. I feel good about my accomplishments.

We are seriously trying to find a new home and some acreage just out of town, and that means I'll have to move my fabric stash and my scrapbook stash. It didn't seem like very much when I hauled it into our basement one or two shopping bags at a time!

The two quilt tops pictured above are comfort quilts for the small community of Corbett, which sits in the Columbia Gorge, just 20 miles east of Portland. I quilt with a lovely group of ladies out there.

The one with houses is flannel. Those house squares were rescued from a donated piece that looked like swiss cheese. (someone had fussy cut out the houses they wanted and discarded the rest) it looked pretty hopeless at first, and one of the gals wanted to put it in the garbage. I saw some potential, spotted some more flannel pieces in another box, and remembered some flannel at home that would help.

The blue dresden plate is made of some pillow panels that were printed and sold in the 1980s. There were only 5 in the donation box. It took a group effort, but someone pieced the alternate blocks.... someone else did the four patch, another member added the wide blue print from her stash, and then I brought it home and added the piano keys. It's ready to be quilted by another member.

Applique Tutorial

Well, I've signed up for another internet block swap.... this one is a Christmas Stocking Block Swap at blockcentral.com . I found an easy way to prep the stocking sections for applique, and wanted to share it with everyone. This will work with any simple shape applique you want to do, and can be adapted for both machine, and hand applique. Try it!


Step 1: print your pattern




Step 2: Using plastic template material, trace your pattern, add seam allowance and cut out.















Step 3: Using whatever method and pattern you decide, create your pieced fabric. Just make sure it's large enough to accommodate your template.








Step 4: Lay the template on your fabric, and trace around it








Step 5: Trace around the shape and cut it out.


Step 6. Lay the template on a lightweight non woven interfacing. I used some grid type pattern material, 'cause it was what I already had. Trace and cut out.

Step 7: Lay the interfacing on the top of the right side of the stocking....

Step 8: Stitch around the shape. All the way around. Do not leave any opening. The more complex the curves, the smaller you want the stitch for a smooth edge. I used a 2 on my stockings.












Step 9: Carefully cut a small hole in the center of the interfacing. clip up the middle and towards the corners. Just enough to be able to turn to the back.

Step 10: Using pinking shears, (mine are scallop shears) Trim the curved areas to make it easier to turn and to reduce fullness.

Step 11: Roll the interfacing to the back, finger pressing the seams so that the interfacing does not show from the front.

Step 12: Turn over and press the interfacing, so that the cut edges are close together. You do not have to stitch them together. Press lightly.

Step 13: Turn to the right side, and press well... making sure that the interfacing is all on the back side.

Step 14: Position on the background square. (If you will be machine stitching, I suggest that you use some starch on the background before pinning the stocking down. This will make it easier to stitch.)

Step 15: Add the top cuff. Then applique with your desired method.

I hope you enjoy using this method. It makes it so easy to get a nice clean edge, with no raw strings to deal with.

Boysenberry Jam

I can't say I've been as industrious as some. There are many out there this time of year, making jam, jelly, relish, putting up veggies no matter how hot it gets in the kitchen.... My hats off to all of you.... I used to help my mom do alot of canning. For some reason, DH does not like home canned food. I made jam the first year we were together, and he never ate it. I'm not going to all that work if he would rather have it from the store shelves....

I made this quilt a year and a half ago. All the colors reminded me of good, boysenberry jam! This quilt went to our good friend Jane, who loves purple.

Disapearing Nine Patch Quilt

I think the back of this quilt is as pretty as the front! This is a Disappearing Nine Patch. I made this quilt as a community comfort quilt for an outreach program in Corbett, Oregon. I quilt with some ladies who live in the community. I try to finish at least one quilt for their comfort quilts each year as part of being in the group. We were attempting to use up some donated scraps that were in the back room. I noticed as we were cutting strips, that were were several in this color combination and decided to take them. I finally got it done an quilted this last week! This is such a versatile block.... It's great for using up stash..... something I personally have a lot of. I'm a lucky girl!

Getting Things Accomplished

Well, I had promised myself that I would clear the pile of projects that needed finishing. As you can see from my August to do list, I'm cruising right along.... it feels great to get some of these done.... I am part of a group that started some quilts for a local hospice house 2 years ago. One of our members purchased a whole lot of clearance fabrics, (bless her heart, she is not a quilter, and thought she was doing us a favor... I'm not sure how many hospice patients want a Christmas quilt..... but we're gonna find out! I did make doll quilts for another local charity out of many of the prints a couple of years ago. It just seemed more appropriate use of the novelty prints.) The pattern we used is called "One Block Wonder" I used this because it is very forgiving when non-quilters are helping out. No two seams match if you rotate every other block, and there are no star points to cut off. Even then, it was a challenge to quilt a couple of these, as they look pretty wavy when laid out. I have had to keep myself from undoing the work of others in the group.... Since I'm the one with the largest sewing machine, I'm the one that has done the majority of the quilting..... a couple of members have given it their best attempt. That was all we asked. these are two of those quilts.... We have more in the works...