Our friends K&M are Retriever aficionados, and they appear to especially like Labrador Retrievers (“Labs”). They’ve had various “labs” as part of their family for years (Yellow, Chocolate, etc.) and now they’ve recent adopted a new Black Labrador Retriever puppy named “Murphy”.
While I was on the Oregon Coast (someday I will finish up my series of posts about that trip in July) I found this awesome fabric which was a tribute to Retrievers including Labradors, Goldens, Flat Coated Retrievers, etc., and I made them a drawstring project bag filled with treats for Murphy as a “Puppy Warming” gift.
Here is the front and back of the drawstring bag so you can see more of the fabric and all the different type of Retrievers included:
Here are photos my friend K sent me when they received the surprise Puppy Warming gift in the mail from me, including photos of the adorable pup Murphy!
I can’t wait to meet that cutie in person someday!
I’ve been busy preparing to restock by Textiles & Smiles Etsy shop and getting ready for another scrappy fabric quilting retreat at my house, I am having with a different set of friends. Below is the basket of scraps they can work from:
In between that, some road trip adventure with John, and the completion of a home renovation project (well John did most the work), I’ve managed to make a little progress on the scrappy solid color medallion wallhanging I’ve been working on – Strings Attached.
Since my previous post What’s on the Design Wall: Strings Attached, I’ve sewn all the section of the center medallion string pieced star together and done the first border:
There were so many Y-seams! It seamed like every seam (smile) was Y-seam – yikes! I got a little more proficient on Y-seams after doing so many in a row but I don’t have any great insight, tips or wisdom to impart, sorry.
Here is a reminder of what the completed quilt will sort of look like:
It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.
On August 15th, ScrapHappy Day, I’d hope to share the completed quilt top for the VERY SCRAPPY wallhanging quilt I am currently working on – “Strings Attached” from August 2021 issue of AmericanQuilter Magazine, pattern by Lori DeJarnatt (see post What’s on the Design Wall: Strings Attached), but alas, I’ve gotten no further than what I shared on August 9th when I last posted about it.
So instead for ScrapHappy August I am going to share the story behind this VERY SCRAPPY quilt – Recycled Hope VII: All the Trimmings
I made this quilt during the COVID pandemic and it holds a lot of meaning, and I will share the “Artist Statement” on this quilt in a moment for the full background. First I want to tell you about my “Recycled Hope” series of quilts:
The Recycled Hope an ongoing series of improvisational art quilts using recycled materials to include denim as the primary fabric on many of the pieces, combined with other recycled materials. “Hope” and the interpretation of the word “hope” is the primary theme of infused into these pieces.Most of the fabrics were not reusable as clothing or home decor and were destined to end up in a landfill. Reimagining recycled clothing and other materials into art quilts satisfies my hopeful desire to honor the environment and make art that is eco-conscious. Ending up in an art quilt is a better outcome than ending up in a landfill.
Okay now that you know the background on this series of quilts (if you want to see the rest of the quilts in the series, check out my Portfolio page) here is the story behind this SUPER SCRAPPY quilt which measures 72.5″ L x 57.5″ W:
Missing my Quilting Community during the 2020 Coronavirus Quarantine and inspired by Amanda Jean Nyberg’s pattern “All Sizes”, I created a quilt from 15 years of scrap triangles collected from my quilting friends at quilt retreats and “sew dates”. Most of the scraps in this quilt are from the trimmings of blocks by many quilters as they made their quilts. Instead of going into the trash, nearly 600 scrap triangles from the trimming of quilt blocks compose this cozy quilt. This piece gave me hope that someday I can return to attending quilt retreats.
Hopefully for next month’s ScrapHappyDay post I can share newly completed work (smile).
HAPPY SCRAPPING!
As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:
Toward the end of July 2023 we met up with dear friends on the Oregon Coast. I am doing a series of blog posts about our adventures on the Oregon Coast – check out the blog category – Oregon Coast Adventures– for the other posts (note when you click the link this current post will be the first one that shows but keep scrolling).
After flying into Portland, Oregon, renting a car, and stopping in McMinnville, Oregon (see post Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon) we drove to Depoe Bay, Oregon and spent the night at a little motel right on the bay. We came in a day before our friends we to arrive so we could do a little sightseeing on our own and leisurely make our way toNewport, Oregon to meet up with them.
The motel itself was nothing to “write home about” but it had a tasty free breakfast included and some amazing views.
This was the view from our motel room window:
And here are photos of the beach area a little bit down from the motel where we did a little exploring before heading to a delicious fresh seafood dinner.
And of course I had to take a photo in B&W:
I love this photo! Looks kind of mysterious and moody!
Next post in this series I’ll share our adventures when we got to Newport, Oregon to meet up with our friends.
A quick update to the post What’s on the Design Wall & “Agriculture Report” on the string pieced wallhanging I am making called “Strings Attached” from August 2021 issue of AmericanQuilter Magazine, pattern by Lori DeJarnatt.
I finished string piecing the 8 sections of the center star:
And then tried my hand a the first “Y-seam” (when 3 or more seams come together and they DON’T make a right angle per the geekybobbin.com) to join the first two star sections:
You can see in the photo above I got so excited joining one section that I started laying out the first border (instead of just piecing the whole center star first).
In the comments in the first post on this quilt, one of my blogging buddies asked me to share any tips I had on doing “Y-seams”. My first tip would be: “No, avoid them” but since I really wanted to make this piece I could not get around it.
Luckily the pattern designer had dots on her template for the center star sections that were a 1/4 inch away from the edge of the points; and she instructed the reader to make the same dots 1/4 inch from the points of the four squares and four inset triangles (the blue fabric) and match them with the dots on the star sections.
Sounds scary (and it looked scary) but it worked. I just got to do this 3 more times and then I can assemble the center star. I wonder if I can then get some sort of Certificate of Completion (I would frame it!) for those Y-seams – ha!
Toward the end of July we met up with dear friends (the kind of friends that you’d also consider family) on the Oregon Coast.
These are friends I met in Bend, Oregon where I lived for 14 years until my husband Terry suddenly died in 2018. I haven’t been able in the 4.5+ years since moving to Colorado to bring myself to return to Bend, Oregon for a visit (such an awesome life…nearly perfect… was lost there and I still have some trauma from coming home and finding my life partner on the floor dead in the house I’d plan to live in with him the rest of my life…too painful to return yet…) and I didn’t want try to ask my friends to come all the way to Denver again to visit us, so the “compromise” was to meet up the Oregon Coast (via Portland, Oregon).
It wasn’t much of a “compromise” as I love the Oregon Coast; and John (my new life partner) hasn’t been to the Oregon Coast, one of my favorite places in the world (or the places I’ve been in the world), and I was so excited to share it with him.
Central Oregon Coast map from aaroads.com/guides/us-101-or/
The plan was meet up with our friends in Newport, Oregonon the Oregon Coast the next day after flying into Portland, Oregon. We rented a car and here was our travel route (with lots of beauty along the way to see on the Pacific Coast Highway/Highway 101):
Image from Google Maps
But along the way we decided to stop in McMinnville, Oregon for lunch and to visit a quilt shop I had visited many years ago (I think before blogging as I could not find a blog post about it, ha!) – Boersma’s Sewing Center.
John sat in “the husband area” (ha!) with the vacuums (they sell sewing and vacuum related items) while I browsed.
After the quilt shop we headed to a lovely brewery (Two Dogs Taphouse) nearby for a delicious lunch:
We loved that they had a cozy sitting area, actually like a living room, that you could relax in with your beer and your food and watch TV:
After lunch we stopped at Third Street Books (how can I pass up an independent bookstore?) on our way to our car:
And then off to Depoe Bay (the town before Newport as you head south down the Oregon Coast) where we would be spending the night until we met up with our friends the next day in Newport, Oregon.
I was going to blog more about my recent Oregon Coast trip but there are so many photos to sort through so I thought I’d just post about a new wall hanging I am working on and my “Agriculture Report”. (What is an “Agriculture Report”? Well One of my blogging buddies @quiteayarnblog has an ongoing series of posts called “Agriculture Report” whose title always cracks me up because it is an update of what is going on in her garden.So I had to adopt that term for my garden report)
WHAT’S ON THE DESIGN WALL
I have so many projects in queue – unfinished projects and new project with imaginary and actual deadlines – but I was having a “squirrel” moment and cleaning out old quilting magazines and came across this pattern, String Attached, in an old issue of AmericanQuilter Magazine – and had to make it!
I am not sure why I fell in love with it but I did. I’ve done very little “string piecing” in the past but I thought it would be a great way to work down my collection of solid color fabric scraps:
I dumped them out and selected fabric scraps for the little quilt. I decided to stay away from dark or medium purple but to have red-violet and pink instead. I also tried to select fabrics similar to the sample one in the pattern.
The pattern calls string piecing on foundation paper but I decided to use muslin instead.
And here is the beginning of the center star on my design wall:
I am hopeful so far but I have some Y-seam type piecing to do when I get all 8 points to the center star done – yikes!
AGRICULTURE REPORT
My little upstairs patio garden is doing well this year, probably due to the ridiculous amount of rain we’ve been getting in the Denver Metro area. John and I joke we are now living in “Den-attle” or “Sea-enver” (Denver + Seattle).
I have tomatoes, peppers, and various herbs growing along with some Marigolds for pest control.
I was excited the other day to harvest my first tomatoes of the season!
Yes there were three cherry (small) tomatoes, but it was still exciting (smile).
tierneycreates 