Brief Vacation Report

We have to go to the local Safeway to get internet, so this will just be a quick post with a few pictures of today's adventure, kayaking on Sparks lake.

Here's the view across the lake of Mt. Bachelor
Randy and Phil in motion.
Dave and the Klepper.

Having a good time, wish you were here.

Monday Mashup

How about some gorgeous hand spun yarn. This was given to me by Jayme, she spun it on the spinning wheel I lent her. Lovely mix of colors, now what to make with it??? Notice the Milo foot in the picture.

I am not happy with Milo this morning. I awoke to a crash, somehow he knocked over a vase that I'm pretty sure was on a low shelf. My suspicion is that he was chasing his little mousy, which I managed to catch and throw outside. I'm getting pretty good at that.

Yesterday I set up the quilt frame and started quilting. The kitties though it was a new fort for them to play in. Later I noticed that the quilt was bulging low and found Sophie sleeping in a comfy hammock.
I went to my Optometrist which is on the south side of town, I don't normally go to that area much, and I finally stopped at this little nursery I've noticed but never went to, The Gardens at Padden Creek. What a great find, it's bigger that it appears from the road and they stock different plants that I'm used to seeing. This is a great ground cover, Persicaria "Painter's Palette". They had a different variety growing in their garden which I loved, but I'm happy with this one.
My other purchase was this interesting plant, Spiney Bear's Breeches acanthus spinosus. Isn't it unusual. Oh, I hope they survive and grow. And I have to go pick up my new glasses this week, I just may have to stop in again.

Knitting Done

This post is being composed on the deck enjoying a sunny Saturday morning! Yea Netbook.

Lovely morning for a photo shoot of recent knitting.
Completed baby vest for Rhys. Stephanie, if you see this, I'm taking it to Bend when we meet your folks next week, so it won't be in the mail till after then. Took me a while going through my button stash, but when I found these blue stars I knew they were the ones. I just hope the points don't get stuck in the yarn, making them difficult to use.


Brown Socks finally completed. They've been on the needles for over a year.
doesn't the mossy rock make a great place to pose the knitting on.
and a new project started, a cardigan sweater, very fun design.

Garden Tour

There was a local garden tour this past weekend, and I did manage to tour one property. I particularly wanted to go to this one because they were also selling garden art there. The property was spectacular, 8 acres on a bluff over the bay. Silly me forgot my camera so these pictures were taken with the cell phone.

The front entrance garden had a Mediterranean theme, you should have seen the mosaic tiled wall. I really liked this stone "pathway".

Wonderful water feature!

I was totally intrigued by this flower, they were prepared with a sign.

A fun sculpture with blue bottles.

These are the pieces that came home with me, they are made from concrete.
Lovely orange lilies. They managed to bloom despite the lack of slug protection they had this year.

Disappearing 9-Patch

I've been doing the Disappearing 9-patch block a lot lately, its great for using scraps and for making quick charity quilts. You can find many variations of this design, in a nutshell you make a 9-patch block, cut it into 4 equal pieces, and then re-arrange. If you need more info let me know and I'll find the link that got me started.

The What Knots are doing these quilts to donate to Bonnies' Team for local chemo patients, mine is the Red and Yellow Quilt that I recently completed. I've also done a Batik Quilt top, waiting for quilting.

The DIL of one of my long time on-line friends is going through chemo, so our group is putting together a quilt for her. I'm collecting the blocks and am now playing with the arrangement, there are so many possibilities

#1, I haven't tried this before, I saw a neat one done with sashing which I may try on a later quilt
#2, this is the same arrangement as my Red and Yellow Quilt
#3, same arrangement as my Batik Quilt.

#4, a very symmetrical arrangement.

What do you think? I'm leaning toward #1 or 2. There are still a few more blocks in the mail so I have time to decide, but I think I'm about ready to start.

Things to make you smile

This dancing baby image came in one of those multi-forwarded e-mails, but I just love the expression on the baby's face.
Things that are blooming. I am so bad about remembering the names of plants, I've decided to make a picture file for easy reference. But I'm going to post this even though I haven't looked up the name yet, but when I do it will go into that file!

edit: Name of the plant is Peek-a-boo Deutzia
Same as above, a view of the bush.
This is called a Warburg Daisy, but that may not be the correct spelling.
*** correction: "Wartburg Star" Aster tongolensis
Aren't these the sweetest little flowers, and they are tiny. I'm still trying to figure out what encourages it to bloom, I'm thinking regular watering really helps.

Quilt Complete

My red and yellow quilt is complete! In a fit of "artistic inspiration" I added the blue circles, they are fused down and then stitched around. I used the circles as my quilting inspiration. Doesn't it look lovely posed in the buttercups?

Here's a more formal shot, laying on the grass. It's a happy quilt don't you think?

size: 34" x 46"

New Cat Bed

When I went down to Seattle to pick up Kim on Friday I detoured over to Ikea and had a grand time browsing around, and I indulged in a few things. This cat bed caught my eye. I knew the colors would be great for Milo, he just blended in to his old bed.
Looks like he thinks it's comfy, those petals make a good head rest.
Yep, he can curl up in the middle just fine (OK, I went a little crazy with the pictures)
I got my red and yellow disappearing 9-patch sew together, nicely posed on the grass.
Right now it's draped on my ironing board, makes me smile when I glance at it.

Quilt Group Day

We start the day with the What Knot Quilters

Gail showed us this great top using large scale fabric.
While digging in her stash, Vicki found this completed top she made from a row robin the group did a few years ago. She is inspired now to quilt it.
Laurie showed the completed baby quilt, the light blue piping around the edge really pulls it all together.
Joan's sister Mary made this baby quilt with vintage flannel fabric scraps they found while cleaning out their mother's place. Lots of memories in this one.
Georgie has been working on this butterfly quilt for a few years, all hand done. It will be a masterpiece when finished.
Linda showed her row robin she's doing for the Moonlight Quilter's guild. She's really perfected the "peaking over the top" method of showing quilts.

In the evening I attended the Moonlight Quilters meeting, guest speaker Dr. Bob of Superior Threads. A very fun and informative program. I now have a Ph.D. in Threadology, just ask me!

Motorcycle

Here is Dave's new Motorcycle. 'nuf said.

I think there is a new sewing machine in my near future, I'm considering a mid-arm machine.