Oregon Quilt Shop Safari

Quilters ADHD---starting a new project before finishing the one I started last week. I think I am bored with the yellow and blue project...too many little triangles that all need to meet...I get bored easily when I am not making up the design as I go...so much for following patterns! The first five rows of the blue and yellow quilt are all together, only four more to go then the borders go on...but now I am working on the red tulips!!

On Saturday, I continued on the Quilters Safari, this time stopping at four shops in Junction City, Eugene and Springfield. Our first stop of the day was the best! Thimbles and Threads in Junction City, has it all...great fabric variety, friendly & helpful staff, easy to find and lots of great ideas. I came home with more Asian fabrics...someday the birds (see below) will be finished!

Next we went on to Eugene, to the Quilt Patch. Another great shop with way too many choices. Wonderful selection of Oriental prints, batiks, traditionals and everything in between. A special thanks to the folks that offered for us to follow them to the next shop, rather than try to get directions. We are so thankful, as we would have been quickly lost!!

In Springfield, we first went to Quilters Junction. It was there that inspiration struck...I've had a piece of fabric from Victoria, B.C. last summer, just waiting to be used...It had a dark background with bright red tulips...called Ruby Tulips, by Michael Miller. There was a similar type fabric used in a 9-patch Pizazz pattern. See the blocks in the photo in the top of this posting.

Last stop--Something to Crow About, also in Springfield. Lots of Americana, country and period fabrics. Even my friend Karen caved in and had to some of the wonderful star fabrics.

We are so blessed in Oregon to have so many wonderful Quilt shops!

Oregon quilt shops

Loved this clip that came in one of those chain mails. It's been an interesting week in Oregon...more sunshine...rain and hail. Quilt Safari started yesterday & stopped at three shops in southern Oregon on my way home from a meeting in Medford. Here's the link to the website: http://www.quilterssafari.com/

Now about the first three shops: J & J in Canyonville has wonderful, friendly staff and great selection of fabrics...so what did I buy? Really cool red and blue tea towels with stars! Next it was on to Roseburg & Material Possessions. Cute small store with just the perfect cream/white star on cream background. Once again, very friendly and helpful staff. Ice cold water was just what I needed to get back on the road!

Third store, also in Roseburg, the largest of the three, Country Lady. Found four different oriental fabrics and a gorgeous red paisley for the Christmas collection. Loved the fabric and the store but was disappointed with the fact that they would only tear my fabric! Apparently, "the boss makes us do it". Got home and washed the red paisley only to find that I lost several inches to raveling edges, and distortion of the design after it was washed. Rarely do I get cranky about things like this...but who is the customer...the boss or the person buying the fabric? Next time, I won't be shopping there! I'll be heading out later today to continue on the safari!

Tokyo Quilt Show

I'm sure spring has arrived here in Oregon, as yesterday we had sun, rain and hail all in 15 minutes. It was even raining with the sun out. The flowers are incredible this time of year. I'm still working on the yellow and blue quilt from my last post. Seems to be taking a bit longer than I expected due to all the half triangle blocks that join together. Of course I'm in one of my more perfectionist moods, trying to make it to too perfect, not cutting off any of the triangle points.

In January, I went to the Tokyo Great International Quilt Show. My reason for starting this blog was to share some of the 750 photos that I took. I'm just beginning to sort and organize them for a presentation in June at Mary's River Guild.

So, here are some spring time flower quilts that I adore. In the program books the names of the quilters are in Japanese, as are most of the titles. The first one has incredible beading details. I loved the colors of this second one, that I call Hydrangea.

The third quilt is many small blocks connected with buttons and loops. The cream color is actually the wall and not a part of the quilt. You can see the loops without buttons on the far left side of the quilt. This one had an English title "Garden of Witches". I never found a witch block...sometimes I wonder about the translations.

A Perfect Sewing day to cherish !!!!!!!!!

There are those days that we just need to cherish ... where life is just so sweet! After a quick walk this morning, listening to the birds and watching the geese fly over head (have you ever noticed how the shape of the formation is always changing...how do they not fly into each other?) I spent the day sewing away. I uncovered this project during my cleaning frenzy yesterday. Every Blue and Yellow quilt I've ever made I've given away. So, when I fell in love with these fabrics last spring, I decided to make the pattern just as the display quilt was made...which is very unusual for me. But it was a mindless kind of fun...no decisions to make...no trial and error...just a quick fresh spring project! The pattern is Saratoga Star by Touchwood designs (touchwoodquilts.com) and fabrics from the LakeHouse line. All of the three different blocks are completed and are now ready to be joined and borders added later this week.

As I watched two movies today, I enjoyed tea in my new cup! Last week at Guild, I won an incredible basket full of goodies, including this cup, a wonderful sugar tong and jasmine tea--my favorite!! I even made it through a movie that included someone losing their spouse, without it taking my emotions for a run. Having spent many years with him so ill, having a day to just sew and watch it rain made this day even more special. So often we take these simple pleasures for granted and miss out on the opportunity to fully cherish them. Now if I could only figure out how to rotate this picture...oh how I appreciate your patience with my lack of photography skills.

Asian Fabrics Magazine # 8

Wow...have you seen the latest Asian Fabric magazine, the one with the fish on the front cover!! I was so excited when it arrived. Thought it had the perfect layout for the birds. The table quilt with fish seemed to be just the thing, until I realized the picture on page 12 was not one quilt but two on top of each other. Oh well...at it least my brain is pondering how to make it work.

I took a few days off from work to go through boxes and organize the garage, as we moved two years ago and still have not unpacked everything. My wonderful son helped so much on the first day, that I spent the second day in my sewing room. I can't believe I sorted fabric and organized my space for three hours.

I'm feel a bit unmotivated...and uncreative, which is really unusual. I'm sure that is a result of the comparison disease...you know you go to guild, hear a wonderful speaker and come home and find yourself unconsciously comparing yourself. Elinor Peace Bailey was so funny and a wonderful last evening! Loved her and her dolls! Wonderful, funny and a laugh filled evening!

I'm off to the sewing room...to work on one of the many projects I've uncovered during my cleaning frenzy...

Crazy Birds

These birds are driving me crazy!! I've had this fabric since last August when I found them in a shop in Okinawa, Japan with my sister. They are from Kona Bay. I love the movement of the tail feathers, and want to keep as much of them as possible, so I've decided to try making some type of medallion quilt. I'd love any ideas or suggestions you might have!

I've been collecting the fabrics to add to the design. They were so heavy the design wall (a queen size batt tacked to the wall ) crashed to the floor! Guess it's time for a better one...am thinking about the foam insulation boards covered with batting.

My sewing room is a total disaster zone...have been avoiding it for several days after dumping supplies from my last class in it...am going to work on cleaning it up just a bit so I can decide on a project to work on today. Happy spring!

Valentine Log Cabin

Last weekend, I taught a class based on this quilt (pattern is in Alex Anderson's Start Quilting book) at my FAVORITE quilt store Thimbles and Threads in Junction City, Oregon. The class was a blast with four wonderful new quilting friends. I only teach basic beginner classes, as I love to see students gain skills, knowledge and techniques while having fun! Once you have the basic skills down, there is so much freedom to create anything you can dream up. The quilt police, your mom, your Home EC teacher or your 4H leaders are not allowed to be in class with you!! You must banish them from your thought process!

Of course I couldn't just follow a pattern...I added an extra set of light logs, as I wanted the quilt a bit bigger. There are lucious valentine themed fabrics...I love the light one with red sqiggles on the first border.

Sorry for the quality of photos...I'm still trying to figure out how to get the best photos for this blog. Click on the photos for a better look at the fabrics.