2014 Dahlias

 Kasasagi

 Urchin

 Cherry Wine

 Willo Borealis

 Woodland's Mirinda

 Horsefeathers

 AC Rosebud

Hannah's Sunset

Quilt Photo Shoot

 I took my completed quilt in the yard to get some photos.  This is a larger quilt than I normally do so I didn't have anywhere to hang it. As I was posing it in various places Milo followed and supervised.

 This spot had good light but I lost the top corner, it's laying over a bush.

 This may be the money shot for now.   I am standing on higher ground looking down.

Quilt pattern:  Soul Searching by Kathy Doughty.  I took the class from her in Sisters, OR last summer.  Size is 72" x 84".  It was machine quilted by Darla Running.

The Old and the New

Completed Quilt:  These were blocks made by my friends in the What Knots, and I've had them since 2006.    I used the "quilt as you go" method where each 12" block was layered with batting and backing and quilted on my regular machine.

Then the blocks were attached together.  On the front that was just the matter of a seam, but on the back it required a sashing strip to connect the blocks.

So this is what the back looks like.

And here is the quilt artfully posed.

Since we are now empty nesters, we have to indulge the cats.  We bought them this cat tree and some new catnip to entice they to use it.  So far only Milo has climbed on it on his own.

This is the best time of year for lovely sunset views, and we've had several.  In another month the sun will be setting farther north, which is behind those trees on the right side of the picture.

A new tool I was compelled to purchase is the Quick Curver Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  It was on sale at Fabric Etc and the designer is going to be doing a workshop for my guild.

This Poinsettia block is a free pattern on their web site and I had fun practicing my machine quilting on it.

Picture in the snow before it went to it's new home (a Christmas gift)

Any picture can be clicked in for a larger view.

Quilt Retreats

 I've been quite the spoiled girl, attending 2 quilt retreats in a month.  But I did get a lot of sewing done.  These first 2 pictures were taken at the Willow Pond retreat by Cindy.  She documented a lot of the group's fun on Facebook.  The quilt top above is suppose to be my Bonnie's Team donation, but I'm running a bit behind on getting it quilted.

 Several ladies admiring Val's quilt, but that's me in the background at my machine.

 Next retreat was at Warm Beach and I brought my recently completed Zig Zag quilt made from Kaffe fabrics to photograph.

 Bunny had the great idea to pose the quilt on an old wagon that was a decoration near our sewing hall.

 My first project was to sew together the blocks of this quilt.  I started it in a class at Sister's, then managed to get the blocks all sewing during the earlier retreat.  I knew this facility had great walls for designing, so I was able to complete this top.  This is a really big quilt for me, 72" x 84"

 Most of my time was spent on this quilt.  I had purchased the stripped Kaffe fabric a couple of years ago (or maybe last year) and had this inspiration to make a triangle quilt with rows of color.  It went through several arrangements.  My daughter Kim stopped in for a visit at the retreat on her way to Bellingham from Seattle and I had her play with the blocks.  She decided I needed to have a light source and did most of this arrangement.  The blocks are sewn together in horizontal rows but those rows still need to be stitched together.

 And for a little break I made a few more blocks for this selvage quilt that is also a long term project.

Back at home, the spiders have been very busy on the deck railing and yard art.

Paducah Pineapple

 A finished quilt that was started in 1999.  That is when I took a trip to Paducah, Kentucky to see the American Quilters Society Show and meet up with some internet friends.

We made a side trip to Hancock's of Paducah and here is what I wrote in my journal.

"Although I had heard stories, I was not mentally prepared for the reality of Hancocks.  Breezed right though the main sales area to the discount area in the back.  All the fabric there were flat folds, and all were $4.49 per yard. 

There were probably at least 20 huge tables piled high with these flat folds, from all different manufacturers, but I didn't come across any batiks.  They bring in more fabric every day, so I guess it pays to return, that is if you have more money to spend.  Since I really don't need, no let me rephrase that, have room for more fabric, I was trying to be conservative, and my way of doing that was to buy fabric for a specific quilt.  One of the patterns I purchased was Lynn Grave's foundation paper piecing pattern for a pineapple quilt, with the intention of making it for Kim's bed.  So since her colors are currently blues and greens, I even had a color scheme to start with.  My goal was to get 5 fabrics in various blue and green combinations, and then a gradation of 5 gold fabrics to go with them.  I headed up to the cutting counter with just my 10 fabrics, but the lady next to me had lots of blue and green fabrics also, so we traded a few. "

I don't have any good reason why this quilt took so long to complete.  I love the pattern and I love the fabrics.  In this time period we did build our house (living in a mobile home) and my kids went from elementary school to being adults.  For some reason many other quilts got completed but not this one.  There was a time when I had the blocks together and was stymied about the border.  It sat for a few years after a botched attempt at machine quilting, and another couple after I took the quilting out (maybe 1/4 of the quilt done) and had just a top again.

Size:  58" x 70"

To quilt is heavenly, but to finish is divine!

Flower Wrap Up

Here are more flower pictures, most have been posted on Facebook, but I thought I'd put them together here.  Last year I still had Dahlia's blooming in November, so this may not be my last flower post this year.

September Morn (2012 purchase)  Late bloomer that year, early bloomer this year

Just Married (2012 purchase)

Zinnia's in crayola colors.  My friend Linda bought me a FLAT of Zinnia plants, I had them everywhere in the yard.  We had a warm summer so they did great.

Camano Ariel (2012 purchase)

Japanese anemone, this is a perennial that I've had in my yard for many years.

Black Eyed Susans

Verkist Red Fire

Carl Chilson (2012 purchase, last to bloom both years)

Pandora Elegance (2011 purchase)

Bright Star (2012 purchase)  This was one of the first to bloom and I posted an earlier picture before I identified it.  This late bloom has more petals than the earlier ones.

What Knot's September Meeting

 Chris is busy making baby quilts.

 And Verna is making quilts to give away too.  The upper one is a wedding present and the lower one is for one of her brothers.

Photo of the Week

The Garden Spot in Bellingham has been having a weekly photo contest on their Facebook page.  I've entered twice, and won twice because I've been the only entrant that week.  The best part is how they describe my picture and my garden.

September 13, 2013:  We enjoyed this photo because it captured the connection to the natural world that gardening gives all of us. We were pretty impressed with the lush perennials and ferns in the background as well!

August 10, 2013:  Karen Glenn Mason’s shade garden really wowed us. We enjoyed the subtle use of texture and color in creating this serene space, the broad-leaved hostas in harmonious counterpoint to the spiky sword ferns. The use of boulders really gave it a true ‘Northwest’ feel. And we thought the garden art added just the right touch of whimsy to this shady retreat.

APWQ Show

Yvonne and I drove down to Tacoma on Saturday to see how our quilts looked hung in the APWQ (Association of Pacific West Quilters) show

 Here is Yvonne posed with her lovely quilt "Birds with Bling" which was accepted as part of the competition exhibit.

 She was afraid it wouldn't hold it's own with neighboring quilts, but it stands out nicely and we heard lots of compliments for it.

 I entered my Dahlia quilt into the member's exhibit of floral quilts, it was jurried in but wasn't in the competition for prizes.  Here it is in the exhibit, it was dwarfed by the large quilt next to it.

 Close up view if you need to see it again.

 I had a couple of shopping goals for the vendor booths, and I can tell you that I completed them all.  I replenished my stash of Kaffe fabrics from Island Quilters.  I need to take a road trip down to their store on Vashon Island.

This is the quilt that caught my eye in Sisters, and luckily they had it hanging again at the Stitchin' Post booth because I didn't take a picture before.  I collected a few more fabrics for this quilt but I haven't put them in my stash yet to see if I bought duplicated of ones I already have.