Hexilicious!

Will I ever tire of Amy Butler?

Never.

Will I ever tire of blue and green?

Never.

How about you, Secret Hexie Partner?

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

We interrupt this quilting blog...

I love living in Oregon.  I am so close to the both the beach and mountains.  And while I am more used to lots of trees and vegetation,

Dusk falls on Mt. Hood as we travel toward Central Oregon.

as we travel around the mountain and out of the national forest, we quickly come to high desert.

Steve, Michael, and I joined extended family for our annual family camping trip to Pelton on Lake Simtustus.  Molly and Peter could not join us this year, but were most definitely 

not forgotten!

The following pictures of the pop-up tent trailer are especially for Penny (Sew Take a Hike):

Pelton Wildlife:

Great Blue Heron

Wild Horses

More Pelton Wildlife:

Ready,

Set,

Go!

And even a little time for quiet reflection....

Just above our campsite

Back home around the mountain again.

And all too soon, passing under my husband's favorite sign designating our two homes.

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Bee Blocks of Summer

My bee block months are June and August (2 separate bees), and you may remember that I'm having the same blocks made for each month (with inspiration and tutorial by Little Miss Shabby), so I should end up with 24 blocks in all.  The June blocks are starting to arrive, and I'm getting my fabric kits ready to mail for the August blocks.  

I tried to quickly capture my first few arrivals before nightfall, then decided to check the mailbox.  Guess what?  More blocks.  

Blocks in the fading summer light (around 9:00 p.m.)

Bee blocks at dusk.

Either way, I think these blocks are the start of something great.  

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Good times, great friends

Yesterday started out a little crazy, and it just kept getting crazier.  

I got to work with great colleagues, then got to go out and play with great friends. 

 I have given away six charm square packs cut from my stash since May, and last night I was given fabric to more than make up for that!  

Jona, Heather, Monica, Tammy

Terri, Mo, Violet, Tracie, and I

had a wonderful time at dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory before the PMQG meeting.

Terri, Mo, Violet, and Tracie

Jona, Heather, and Terri

Monica and Tammy

Good food, quilting and fabric talk, and lots and lots of laughing!

And I got to go home with these lovelies:

Summer in the City,

1974,

City Girl, 

and these gorgeous red and white (Saffron Craig) hexies -- all from Terri!

They are too precious to even take out of the little bag yet.

We then carpooled to the PMQG July meeting, All About Hexagons.

You can read all about the meeting and the giveaway I won here.
And if that gets you excited to make some hexagons of your own, you could start by stopping by Britt's blog.  She's having a hexie giveaway to celebrate her 100th post!  

At the meeting, Violet fed my Amy Butler addiction with these.

After the meeting, Violet drove me back to OSF to pick up my car.  Remember last month when Violet and I talked on the sidewalk after the meeting until just before 11:00?  Well this time we talked in the abandoned OSF parking lot until just before midnight. 

Oops!  I left a quilt and my many fabric treasures in the trunk of Violet's car!  

So, off I went to Violet's house this morning to pick up my things and ogle her stash.  We have very similar taste in fabric, and I was almost speechless in my awe of all her beautiful bolts and stacks of fabric!  Almost.  We still managed to talk a while longer, but I'm not saying how long.

Oh, and she gave me even more fabric!

Be sure and watch for Violet's very own fabric line coming in early 2011 from Michael Miller!  

I can't wait!!!

With wishes, true and kind for good times with great friends -- Joan

Note:  Blogger has had some issues with comments lately, and several people have emailed me that they have been unable to leave comments, but then others have been able to comment.  I submitted a "report," thanks to information from Rossie, so I hope the problem will be fixed soon.  

Out and In

I didn't end up going to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show after all this year.  Last year Molly dropped everything to go with me, and this year I had the opportunity to do something for her, so I chose to do that instead.  And everything just seemed to work out for the best, as these things often do.  It helped me get a little more done at home, organize fabric and projects, and catch up on some bee blocks.  These blocks are all going out this week:

36 patches in Hope Valley

Wonky Stars -- large and small -- in Modern Meadow

Improv block in Love + Kona Cotton Solids

Modified nine patches -- scrappy

It feels great to get all caught up!  It gives me time to admire some of the fabric that has come in this month:

Tufted Tweets fat quarters (purchased from fabricshoppe on Etsy)

Dream On charm squares (from aSundayGirl on 

Etsy)

FMF (from 2ndAveStudio on Etsy)

OOP Amy Butler fat quarters + a few extras (from Shareesalchemy on Etsy)

Thanks to Terri for her link and Flickr mail: "jump on this."

I did!

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Laura Gunn at Modern Domestic

Tonight at Modern Domestic, I was fortunate to be able to meet and hear a presentation by Laura Gunn, fabric and pattern designer.  Laura has two fabric collections with Michael Miller: Poppy Collection and Lantern Bloom.  She also has a pattern company with Patti Pinkston called, Poppy Patterns.  Each pattern is designed to be "sew hip, sew easy".  No buttonholes or zippers on her patterns! 

Laura is a painter who uses a lot of texture in her work.  Her sister-in-law, Heather Bailey, encouraged her to paint designs for fabric.  Here is one of Laura's paintings that was made into gorgeous fabric.  You can really see the texture from the painting in the fabric, including the texture of the canvas.

Laura talked about the process of designing and printing fabric and juggling career and motherhood and presented a demonstration of an appliqué technique using her fabric and one of her patterns.  

Her mother, Elinor Peace Bailey, added some additional information and perspective based on her 30 years in the business, and even did a little sewing demo for us.

The technique Laura demonstrated involved cutting two pieces of fabric for each appliqué shape, placing them right sides together, sewing around them, making a cut in the center of one of the pieces, turning the whole thing right side out, lighting stuffing the piece, placing the piece on the background fabric, and machine stitching around the finished edge.

Elinor used a machine blanket stitch to sew an appliqué piece to the background fabric. Laura recommended this number 10 Bernina foot for stitching close to the edge of the appliqué and the Turn-It-All for turning fabric right-side out.  I am definitely going to get a Turn-It-All!

Here is the top for a pillow showing the technique that Laura and Elinor demonstrated.  The petals in the outer ring are not stuffed, but the inner petals and the center are.

Elinor added a little extra stitching on the petals and leaf for added texture and interest.

Another great appliqué pillow with a few buttons for embellishment.

A simple but beautiful quilt made of Laura's fabrics.

Lots of talking, laughing, and mingling.

I ran into a few PMQG members: 

Wendy, Michelle, and Susan and ended up staying a long time chatting --
 a great end to a wonderful evening.  

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan