August Break--Pattern!

 

August 2 brings us patterns for the day and this is one of my favorite views with hubby in blue shirt and grandson.................................

 

 

How is this for a pattern?  A maze that winds and winds--can you find your way out?

Some days we feel like we are in a maze and can't seem to find our way to the solution.  May your Saturday be filled with uncomplicated pathways to success.

Let's Break!

We are following the suggestion of  Susannah Conway on her blog and taking the month of August to post photos of each of our days!  It was a couple of years ago that I posted a photo each day for a year.  It was inspirational to look around my environment and see ordinary things in a different light.  When I came upon Susannah's website, I thought what a great thing to do during the.month of August.  So, I'm taking an August Break to once again see the world through a camera lenses.  Hope you will journey along with me and take a break!

Today I am sending this card to a friend who is recovering from a staph infection.  She is home bound so I' m hoping my little note and card will bring some cheer to her day!

It Was A Good Day!

I love those Good Days! And this day was especially good! I had two Quilt of Valor quilts to donate and a new friend, Jessica, said she was collecting QOV quilts and would drop them off at the state location. I stopped at Jessica's house and oh WOW! what a nice visit! Jessica is the leader of our Bonnie Hunter Quilt Group that meets monthly.   And I couldn't just drop off and run--no, I had to take THE TOUR! 

She showed me one of the QOV tops that her Thursday night group is making.  Look how simple but so majestic when it's finished.  It is 3.5"X 6.5" rectangles with border and then sashing is offset rectangles.

Here is the corner inset!  This is on my 'to do' list!

in her studio is a bulletin board with sets of blocks that she is working on--Jessica is so darn organized!

Her Thursday group is working from this book and you can see some of the blocks on the above board.

Now, we walk into her studio studio!  oh my gosh!  look at this fabric stash!  I'm so jealous!

 most all of her walls are covered with lovely quilts.  I really like the way she displays her creations.

Here is a sampler quilt that she bought.

This was a raffle win--can you believe?!!

Love these blocks!

This quilt comes from Women of Grace & Charm--so I just had to order this book!

Look how great this is................

And then there is this one cabinet stacked with lovelies--I was overwhelmed with her displays.

We walked into her quilting studio where her long arm is set up.  She was stitching away on my friend Judy P's polka dot quilt.

--with all those circles, this block needed some straight lines.

and petal stitching adds interest to this area

What a great look!

 

Here is the finished quilt--WOW!

Thanks Jessica for a Very Good Day!! 

Check her out for any long arm quilting, classes or vintage quilt collection

Do You Wine? Or Do You Whine?

Do you like to wine or do you like to Whine? We like to WINE! And we'll take a little cheese with that WHINE! So, there is no Whining allowed when we hit the road to one of our favorite summer time events==Keystone, Colorado WINE and Jazz Festival. We come for the Jazz and definitely stay for the wine!

The weekend begins with light crowds and colorful tents set up for wine tasting.  We are sitting at the main Jazz music tent listening to some good notes but heading to our first seminar of the weekend.

The lupines dot the landscape throughout the grounds.

such color along the path to the center where we'll taste some remarkable wines--oh, mine!  there are friends from last year's event!  Lead me to my table........................

Here is our first seminar "Pink is the new Yum!" and we are ready to indulge--several Roses' from across the world.  Can we say "Yum" with a big Y!  Light and refreshing--perfect for the summer hot evenings.  Let's us enjoy this 1.5 hour time with a knowledgeable sommelier and toasting with our wine friends.

After a short break and some food from one of the many vendors in the courtyard (and more jazz music too!)  We are back to our table for the second seminar of the day==World Cup Cabs!  What a fun seminar!  We tasted two wines in each region to narrow down to one final winner!  You'd never guess what the consensus was??  By Large vote--NAPA Valley Cab!!  Lots of tasty Cabs--no Whining here!

We are awake--we think!--and ready for two more delicious seminars--First up for the day--"Champagne Cocktails"--only we misread and thought it was just straight Champagne,  this might be more interesting--don't know if we'd make these cocktails with our champagne--just a little whining here though!

And that leads us to the last seminar=="Spanish Essentials".  We have had Rojas wines before while in Madrid for the summer, so we didn't whine when we had Spanish wine from different regions--some great and lovely tastes on the old buds!  Soon, it was all over and we must bid good-bye to our wine friends--hugs and cheers all around with "see you next year"!  Must Whine a little here.

Our days end with views of Dillon Lake and the surrounding mountains.  And a so long to another fun wine event................so long, farewell till we meet again.  Okay, I'll really whine now!  and take some more cheese please.

 

Huggable Quilts!

It was time to check in with my ex-patcher friends. I had been away from their company for several weeks--so I was anxious to see what they have been doing with their creativity!  And I was not disappointed! 

Even though everyone has been going their separate ways throughout the summer, there is always something to 'show-off'.  Here is a happy quilt with thirty's fabrics that Judy M has quilted.

She did some stippling around the flower petals to give them definition; also, she added lines for each petal.

I love these fabrics! 

Annette has a job!  a Wonderful Job! at a quilt shop--where she does handwork and makes samples for the shop.  Here she was finishing up the binding on this loveable quilt.

Don't you just love the quilting?!!

This simple but smashing quilt has been created from 3" squares to make four patch block.  Some lucky little girl will snuggle up with this!

The quilting is whimsical!

Linda was finishing up the binding on her granddaughter's quilt--she captured many bugs in these jars. 

Sandy quilted dragon flies buzzing around the whole quilt

Judy M was working on this wool applique quilt--what fun!

The kit contained all needed fabrics--

I left the ex-patchers gathering filled with satisfaction! 

Allegiance to Our Military

It is finished! Our Allegiance Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilt!! Hurrah! Over four weeks this mystery evolved--easy peazy steps to complete this wonderful conclusion!

Looking at the layout was confusing for me at times--I was glancing at the wrong rows!  Sewing blocks to blocks, thinking I was going the right way, only to discover I was working two rows before....

Love the colors!  Very Patriotic colors!

One half finished.....................

Second half ready...............

1/2 + 1/2 = whole!  Great look!!  Off to the quilter and then onto a worthy military! 

Tour De France and Tour De Fleece

This is the month of Tour De France!  While I'm not much of a bike rider, I got on the band wagon for this adventure this year.  It is also the month of Tour De FLEECE!  As in fiber, lots of fiber that needs to be spun and the motivation to dig out the wheel and spindles; dig into the stash and begin the treadling! 

 

I volunteered to be team captain for our January Spin-in group.  At first, participants were reluctant to sign up but before long we had 25 members!  Wow!  what a team!  Members are willing to spend little time each day of the Tour De France Race to  spin their wheels for our Tour De Fleece challenge!  We don't have lots of rules--just spin a little or a lot each day, any time of the day of the race.  We can rest on rest days if we wish.  There is just one slight problem.....................................

I Forgot! that I would be traveling some of that time I was to be captaining--(is there such a word?)

WHAT SHALL I DO??

It hit me--like out of the blue!  I can still spin, even on a plane, even on a train, even in a car--I'll take my handy dandy little bag with me.  You know when my former sister-in-law gave me this little bag--I wondered "how will I ever use this?"  Of course, she just bought it because she liked it==alas, I found the perfect things to go in my little bag......................

 

My spindles! and my silk fiber sliver!!  We are set for travel anywhere, any place

Here are my little spun singles that I've wound from my full spindle--all neat and ready to be plied.

In the meantime and before I hit the road, I can still Captain the team as I spin away on this hunk of Bombyx silk brick!

There is a lot of silk here!  and it is perfectly aged too--Silk leftovers from my daughter's wedding dress--yes, I did spin the silk for her dress, wove the fabric and made the dress--that was 25 yrs. ago!  So, you see, this silk is well aged and needs to be spun.

I'm hoping to spin and spin, then weave yardage for pillow cases--I think that would be the absolute best thing for my head! 

Okay, I'm off to cheer on the team!!