Chasing Summer- July Update

 Summer has been great but I've missed you! 

I'm slowly getting this quilted! YAY

I guess when you out of practice this happens! 

Love the Lady Liberty backing!

I was looking for some little flags and Sunny was generous and shared with me! Thank you again!

Our summer weather has been seriously amazing (fires and smoke started a few days ago) so I've been getting out when I can. Here's a recap. 

Made it 8600' on Mt Bachelor and because I was solo I wasn't keen on going over another snow field. It was fun. I was able to get a free ride on the chair lift down. (after I hiked back to the chair lift)

We had a DeJarnatt family camp. 

Cory and his two remaining siblings.

There were 3 tiny dogs that Elsa would have liked to play with but they ignored her- so she slept!

My niece and her family came to Central Oregon before  family camp for vacation and they experienced THIS! We are grateful that everyone was okay and the pickup was in the driveway and not under the trees in the grass. So much to be thankful for. 

Among the burnt debris somewhere was Cory's mom's wedding ring. 

FOUND! After about 2 hours of meticulous sifting. We aren't sure how it will clean up, but finding it was a start. 

This past weekend I day hiked. 

Then backpacked with a friend. 

Mt Washington with the sunset glow.

After 12 miles I was whooped!

Look at this amazing breakfast view!

We really enjoyed watching the world cup and reading social media of the non-American fans discovering the USA! It was quite a unifying time. (If you were looking for it)

I think Erling Haaland found a few new fans!

Can't wait to get to Europe in September!

I hope ya'll are doing great. 

Miscellany Monday

I found this cool cigarette/cigar flannel inserts appliqued together with a fancy stitch. I think I've seen a quilt with silk cigar ribbons but not sure about the flannel ones. I found some info HERE  about tobacco inserts.  You can see more photos of my unique find, including closeups HERE. 

On another note, this was left as a comment but is anonymous so have no way of reaching out:

Saw 12 days of Christmas poem related to quilting on Pinterest. Your blog was credited with image in 2021. Can you help me find this pattern?

I need clarity on what you are looking for. Happy to help if I can!

I met my sister and her grandson for a weekend of camping. The tamaracks/larches are usually showing their color by now but it looks like fall color is slow coming this year. The weather was beautiful! 

Elsa snugged up against Zack. It wasn't cold but looks comfortable. 

Magone Lake. 

Planning on getting my sewing room cleaned up so I can SEW this week! 

Next week I'm heading to the Houston quilt show. I won't be there on the weekend, but if you'll be there during the week let me know!

Have a wonderful week.

Love one another.

 

Pillowcases Dresses and More

As I am preparing to go to Uganda I dug deep into the dresses you made for my last mission trip. 

I know I mentioned the schools we went to were so large it was hard to give them out. 

We are working with a Ugandan  nonprofit one of the days. This non profit helps vulnerable women and children. I'll know more about it and be able to share more when I return. I will give them dresses and let them distribute them when needed. These are the 25 dresses I am bringing. Maybe you recognize one you made! 

Isn't this pocket adorable?! Love that stitch!

I've been organizing my fabric! Yay! it will make sewing/quilting/finding fabric so much more efficient. More organizing= less sewing

Hubs and I got away for a quick overnighter backpacking trip. 

He'll be holding down the fort while I'm in Africa

It was really nice but lots of mosquitoes!

I hope you are having a lovely week. 

 

Stringin' on a Friday

My friend Suzette sent me a photo of some "mindless" string blocks she is working on. Our hospitals are getting full to capacity with Covid patients and smoke has been heavy in the town she is in. She finds this kind of sewing is soothing and I agree!

I'll add that our governor has called in the National Guard to assist the local hospital. Not only are they shorthanded, but overwhelmed. I hope they get some relief from the added hands of the National Guard.

Here in Madras we have been relatively smoke free, which is so surprising. Nearby in Bend the air quality last week was the highest in the state. I remember that heavy smoke from last year and am super grateful we've had decent skies. Our temperatures for the next 10 days are mostly in the 80's and high 40's at night.  That sounds delightful!

I thought I'd dig into the archive and share this humble string quilt from the Aurora Quilt Show. 

And for those of you that don't follow me on other social media here is the inside of our glamping tent!

It's not called glamour camping for no reason! lol

A fan for summer and stove for winter! 

It was very comfortable!

 I'm relaxing and sewing this weekend! Whoop! Whoop!

I had to repair a pair of my hiking pants and my machine would not cooperate! I think it took about 30 minutes to sew a 1" tear on a seam. I think it was my machine's way of telling me it's been neglected! Alright, I got the word!  LOL

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, friends!

 

Beyond the Cherry Tree & More

Good morning! The cold night time temps means it's time to once again bring out the whopping 100x100" quilt for hand quilting in the evenings. 

I got the table extended a bit so I can trim up a larger quilt and get it ready for binding, but thought it would be a good time to spread this out and see where I am on it.

I laugh when I see this block. It has 57 leaves! I was hand appliqueing this quilt but when I got to this block and got a few leaves hand appliqued on, I knew I'd never get it finished, so I started machine applique and finished the quilt that way. All except the bias stems. I opted to do them traditionally by hand. 

My borders have the cross hatching going one direction and it looks like I need to continue the other direction. I also think I didn't outline all of the border applique. I figure I can easily go back and do that after the quilt is completed. 

Here's my center blocks. That's a lot of grapes! 

I'm looking forward to getting up close and personal with this one again. Maybe I'll complete it this winter!!

Hubby and I and the 2 dogs went for a last outing in the camper. The temps took a dive over the weekend and inside the camper our water froze! I think it is the coldest time we've been out camping. We had fun but both agree we are fair weather campers. 

I look forward to seeing the larches (also called tamarack) change color. Did you know they lose their needles in the winter? 

Always squirrels and chipmunks getting ready for winter. Elsa thinks they are great fun to watch. 

Surprisingly the trees around the lake weren't changing color as ones not around the lake. This one was the exception. It was about 35 degrees and that sun sure was welcome!

This is such a great time to head to the mountains. Hunters are out but the campgrounds are pretty much empty. 

It takes our aging Porter time to recover, but he sure likes it outdoors. 

All that squirrel chasing poops Elsa out. 

I hope you all are having a wonderful week. 

Sneak Peak

Here's a little peak....

50 Shades of Brown will be our fall quiltalong! It is based on a seal skin mat I saw in an antique store near Zion! It will be unique and I hope you'll sewalong!! 

Now, the rest are photos of an amazing camping trip we went on this past week. Every other year we have a deJarnatt family camp/reunion so we stay connected.  It was a lot of fun.

Friday Cory and I went on an 11 mile hike on a trail called Trail of 10 falls!!

They start looking all the same, so we opted to take a trail less traveled. 

 I'm completely enamored with the deep forest with multiple layers! I considered starting a new sewalong quilt called 50 shades of green!! LOL

Here is my nieces youngest boy. He said I could be his 3rd grandma. He has such a personality and under that hat??? Bright red hair!  

Have a terrific week. I'm sure feeling refreshed. 

Much love