Mirage

For a "fantasy" themed landscape quilt challenge over on Valerie Hearder's yahoo group. 

Why yes, I am getting a little tired of the eternal winter around here-- gray, dark green, shadows, and rain-- so this is where I went to in my own personal fantasy.  The exact opposite, hot and parched.  Is that an oasis in the distance, or am I hallucinating from the heat?

This is a small quilt, about 10-11 inches by 11-12 inches, and uses a variety of hand-painted fabrics and commercial quilting cottons.  The shading on the dunes was painted by yours truly using Shiva paintstiks, and the dunes were appliqued down using a fusible web.  I hand embroidered some tiny french knots to add texture to the "desert floor" and machine top-stitched the distant mountains and water of the mirage using metallic machine threads.  Then I added beads because I can't help it, it's gotta have bling. 

Dreaming of the desert

So here's a sneak peek of the "fantasy" themed landscape quilt I hope to finish this weekend. 

1855

When the sun came out over the weekend, we took the kids to Point Defiance Park for a bit of serendipity.  We ended up at the beach, where they joined with a dozen other kids in some engineering, making a canal that lead from a culvert outfall to the shoreline.  We ended up in the forest, looking at the Rhodedendrons that aren't yet blooming.  But most eventfully, we ended up at Fort Nisqually, a recreation of an early Hudson's Bay Company settlement in the area as it may have looked in 1855.  I hadn't been there in years, and it seemed like whenever we went by they were closed.  Not this time!

It was a great opportunity to give the boy the map of the fort and let him lead the way. 

He led us to the storehouses and blacksmith.

He led us past old tools and wagon wheels.

He led us up into the fort bastions, where we could looked out the defensive window slits to the sound below.

He led us to the kid's games area, where little sis tried her hand at some lacing cards.

And he led us to the Factor's House, which was the residence of the Fort's leader and his family.

I was the only one who cared about the samplers on the walls in there, though.

And of course we had to circle back around to the kid's games area.  The biggest kid (Daddy) loved the giant, heavy top.

What do you think-  are we dreaming?

Signs of spring

I think spring is almost here.  Our plum tree is starting to bloom. 

I found a little Narcissus in the lawn.

And yesterday, the most wonderful sight:

Our shadows!

Time to rotate in the springy stitchy finishes to the walls.

Finish: Chatelaine Designs' Mini Mandala V

New Dovo and Kai scissors reviewed

I bought these a few weeks ago now, but looking through my photos I realized I forgot to post them!  I went to the big sewing expo over my birthday weekend and I found these:

Gorgeous, right?  They are super-pretty 5" Deco-style Dovos.  The show special made them a steal compared to many Dovos.  The ladies at the booth I bought them from said they were being discontinued, but it became pretty obvious pretty fast that I know more about the brand than they did when they asked me what all the different kinds are used for.  Hmm.  Anyway I've already tried these out to cut some small applique pieces for a landscape quilt I'm working on and they give a wonderful swooshy snip.

Also, these blunt-end Kai embroidery scissors. 

I've posted about the almost surgically sharp blade of their standard embroidery scissors.  They are fantastically sharp, so much so I'm almost afraid to use them, especially with the kids around, so I was pleased to see their blunt nose model. 

The standard super-sharp Kai embroidery blades are on the left, and the blunt is on the right.  They are lightweight, inexpensive (under $15) and came with a free lanyard as the show special, so I think these are going to be my new go-to travel scissors. 

Patterns in Pendleton

There were not so many posts last week, largely because I was traveling.  Work sent me to northeast Oregon again, this time to look at some great old turn-of-the century theater buildings.   It was very dark and difficult to take pictures inside, the theater in one of the buildings was basically frozen in time, sealed off from the more modern users of the buildings (most recently a Domino's Pizza, of all things).  Even the old theater chandelier was still in place, dusty and in need of renovation, but very cool in spite of it.

Anyway, my flights left from the airport in Pendleton, which gave me a little time to poke around downtown and go to the old woolen mill.  Pendleton is an interesting little city with a lot of history, famous for it's rodeo and woolen blankets, and a lot of modern details to enhance the history.  I noticed that the concrete of the sidewalks downtown was made to look like old wooden boards.

Some of the buildings have been pretty well preserved. I mean, if it weren't for the stoplights and late-model cars, this old western wear store looks just like it could have in 1895.

And of course I had to stop in at the Pendleton Woolen Mills factory.  Pendleton Woolen Mills has an intersting history-- it became famous for "Indian Pattern" blankets in the early 1900s, using patterns created by a white artist with a love of native art.  The blankets were adopted by many members of the nearby Nez Pierce tribe, and then through clever marketing, the company has been going strong ever since.  I have always loved the bold patterns on their blankets, and I have one hanging in our living room.  I managed not to buy anything this time except a key ring and a reprint of a 1915 catalog. 

Sadly, I didn't have time to take the factory tour, but a portion of the factory is visible through a window at the back of the store.   Look at all the giant spools of wool yarn!  Again, sadly, they don't sell samples of the yarn.  How cool would that be?

Even so the factory store is pretty fun to browse through.  Hundreds of gorgeous blankets, and even a little museum of antique blankets and other native artifacts. 

I *almost* left with this pillow. 

Maybe I should go back?  But that would mean another set of flights in tiny 9-passenger airplaine...the last one had a very exciting landing during a windstorm back to Seattle.  I will say though that the Pendleton Airport parking lot is the prettiest airport parking lot I have ever seen.

How to get more color in your life.

For reference, when left to my own devices, these are the kinds of fabrics I tend to pick for my stash:

And these are the ones the kids picked out for birthday presents to me:

I need to find a way to use more stripes!