Author: tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".
tierneytravels

Oregon Coast in October 2024

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This post is a follow up to yesterday’s post 2024 Travels. When writing yesterday’s post looking back on my big travel events in 2024 I realized I left off a significant trip, an Oregon Coast road trip with our friends MJ and J.

This trip was significant because it was the first time I was able to return to Cannon Beach, Oregon, where my late husband and our dogs would visit yearly for vacation.

First John and I flew into Portland, Oregon and visited his son who lives there. It was awesome to see the quilt I gave my stepson on the sofa in his apartment, apparently being used and enjoyed 🙂

After a day and a half in Portland we drove our rental car to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.

It was awesome and emotionally overwhelming to return to Cannon Beach. With John’s support I was able to visit many of the favorite places that my late husband Terry and I used to always visit including Center Diamond Fabric (the wonderful little quilt shop); the little cafe across from Center Diamond Fabric; the awesome bookstore the Cannon Beach Book Company (with a sofa!); and the Screw & Brew – a hardware store turned into a brew pup!

Although it was a bit of am overcast day, we also walked over to the beach so John could see Haystack Rock:

It was quite the emotional experience to return. Here is what I share on the Instagram post I did back in October 2024 on this return to Cannon Beach:

(I returned to) Cannon Beach for the first time in six years since my life changed forever in 2018. It was hard to be there, but it was good and healing. I got to return to my favorite quilt shop on the Oregon coast and have delicious hot chocolate in one of the cozy cafés of Cannon Beach. The library had a book sale AND we stopped at the bookstore! (Public library + independent bookstore in the same day = Bliss) 

After our jaunt to Cannon Beach, we drove to Pacific City, Oregon to meet up with our friends MJ and J who we rented a home near the beach with for a couple days. After we got checked into our rental house we all walked to the beach to enjoy an amazing sunset:

From Pacific City we went on various days trips, roadtripping along the Oregon Coast for a couple days and returning to our home based in Pacific City. We went on some wonderful hikes, checked out various areas of the coastline, had lots of delicious seafood (Colorado is landlocked so whenever we are near the ocean we eat as much fresh seafood as we can!), and spent one morning doing some beach clean up and returning a jellyfish to the sea.

It was a memorable trip and I think it was healing to return to Cannon Beach. In the spring this year I am going to do something big (and hopefully healing) and return to Central Oregon/Bend, Oregon for the first time in 6 years. Until now I’ve been emotionally unable to return to the place I lived for 14 years and where I left a piece of my heart (and maybe my soul) when I moved away in 2019 after my husband suddenly passed at my home there in 2018.

But as I’ve mentioned to my other widow friends (both online and in person): “Remember: We can do brave things, and we are stronger than we realize!”

tierneytravels

2024 Travels

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here’s a summary of my travel adventures in 2024. I’ve included the link to the blog post about our adventure if you’d like to read/re-read about that specific adventure.

January 2024

Las Vegas, Nevada

Guest Blog Post: Humans Traveling and Dog Camp

February 2024

Englewood, Florida

Sisters’ Trip to Englewood, Florida

April 2024

Hollywood, Florida & Miami, Florida

April Adventures in Hollywood and Miami, Florida

May 2024

Brooklyn, New York

Springtime in Brooklyn

June 2024

Colorado and New Mexico Roadtrip

Channeling my inner Ansel Adams in Taos, New Mexico, Taos Adobe Quilting 

July 2024

Cripple Creek, Colorado

Cripple Creek Road Trip, Part I, Cripple Creek Road Trip, Part II

Philadelphia, PA Area and New York City

July 2024 East Coast Adventures

August 2024

Breckenridge, Colorado/Continental Divide

Breckenridge and the Continental Divide

September 2024

California Coast Road Trip

California Coast Adventure, Part I, California Coast Adventure, Part II, California Coast Adventure, Part III

Richmond, Virginia

Simultaneous Adventures: Richmond, Virginia and Louisville, Kentucky

November 2024

Carolinas Roadtrip (Greenville, SC and Charlotte, NC)

Men Hypnotized by a Computerized Longarm…, Visit to the Upcountry Museum in Greenville, SC, I Fell for Greensville!

December 2024

Miami, Florida

Christmas in Miami

Those are the major trips in 2024 and we did do a lot of day trips to explore our loca region and beyond in Colorado like this one:

RiNo District

Playing Tourist in My Town: Wandering Around the RiNo District

I noticed there are some day trips I posted on my @tierneycreates Instagram account but never blogged about (I just discovered this when I went searching for these imaginary posts I thought I wrote on my blog!)

It was a pretty fun year of travel!

Postscript

John just read this post and reminded me I left off a major trip we had in October 2024 – to Portland, Oregon to visit his son and an Oregon Coast road trip! It was momentous trip and I think I will do a post on that trip for tomorrow’s post 🙂

tierneycreates

My 2024 Makes: Finished and Unfinished

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve enjoying seeing galleries/summaries of what my blogging buddies made in 2024 and thought I would share the same type of post. I thought I would share my finished projects (no other work to be done on them) and my open/ongoing projects (that I hope to finish in 2025):

Finished

Curiously I did’t finish a lot of projects in 2024 but here are the crafting projects I actually finished 2024:

Unfinished

Here are the pieces I began in 2024 and didn’t finish; or worked on in 2024 that I started before 2024:

You might be thinking: “Tierney, you didn’t get a lot done in 2024”! That’s what I am thinking but then I did a lot of traveling in 2024 – see my next post.

A Crafter's Life, From the Woodshop

The Blanket Remodel and Cabinet Building in Progress

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The Blanket Remodel

I’ve enjoyed the posts some of you have written showing how you’ve reinvented, remodeled, revitalized, refurbished, rescued, etc. an item that was headed to the rubbish heap/landfill; and made it useable again. I wanted to share how I rescued/remodeled a blanket that was not working.

During the pandemic I discovered at Costco these magically soft and cozy blankets: Pendleton Sherpa Fleece Blankets. They were on sale and I bought it in King size.

Found this photo on eBay, I bought the King size version

Photo credit – eBay

Well the blanket has become worn out and I ended up buying a newer one a couple years ago. It is still a super fleecy cozy and I was using it as a blanket in the basement, however it was cumbersome to use to snuggle under on a sofa as it was king-sized blanket (meant for a king-sized bed).

My initial options were to 1) keep using the huge bulky blanket; or 2) donate the blanket. I was leaning towards option 2 but then I realized that the charity thrift shop I donated it too would like throw it own as it the blanket was worn down in several areas and it might not be resellable.

So I decided to cut the king-size blanket in half, overlocked stitch the edge and turn it into TWO blankets!

I don’t have a serger so I had to overlock stitch the blanket and then I trimmed as close to the edge as I could to clean up the fibers (I didn’t take a photo).

John and now each have a cozy large lap-sized fleece blankets to snuggle under when watching TV in the basement!

Cabinet Building in Progress

While I was remodeling a blanket, John has been busy in his workshop making a cabinet for the upstairs primary bathroom. For years I’ve just had shelves about the “water closet” room the toilet in the primary bathroom resides in, and finally John is adding a cabinet.

Here are some images of his project in progress:

When he finishes the cabinet I’ll share the completed piece in its own future blog post.

A Crafter's Life, Special Events, tierneytravels

Christmas in Miami

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

We spent the week of Christmas (12/22 – 12/27/24) in Miami, Florida with my family. One of my stepsons joined us along with my siblings, their kids and my sister-in-law. We came from Oregon, Virginia, Delaware and Denver to meet up for Christmas week!

Here is John on his way to get our rental car in the Miami airport with the artificial Christmas tree we brought along on his back!

John and I rented a couple loft condos in a converted former industrial building so the 8 of us would have plenty of space; and made our condo the main Christmas area with the tree, stockings and meals served there. I put on a fireplace video with Christmas music from YouTube and hung the stockings on the entertainment center for ambiance – ha!

Here’s what our condo looked like with a view of Miami’s skyline:

John made several wonderful meals and it was so good to sit down with the family from all over the country and share his yummy cooking:

I spent an evening on Espanola Way in South Beach with my siblings and their kids wandering around and it was magical!

John got to go on several rented bike rides along South Beach with his son Z who is an avid cyclist in Portland, Oregon (they didn’t appear to take any photos).

Miami was beautiful and decorated for the holidays:

I got to spend a morning wandering around downtown Miami with my sister and visiting the really lovely Brickell City Centre shopping area.

We stopped for some amazing pastries at the Rosetta Bakery.

Our family was so sweet and the day after Christmas they threw a surprise party in the afternoon for John and I at the other condo to celebrate our love and our commitment to family. They decorated the table with my favorite – sunflowers!

My brother, sister and stepson all made amazing speeches and John and I got pretty choked up! It was a very special afternoon.

On our last day in Miami, before heading to the airport, a couple of us went to Coral Gables and spent time in a delightful independent bookstore – Books & Books. It has a cafe, a bar, and endless rooms of books! I didn’t want to leave but eventually we had to head to the airport – ha!

I loved the cozy looking windows looking out to the outside dining at the bookstore.

The week flew by fast and we didn’t get to do all the things we planned (like go to the beach!) but it was a very special Christmas!

Hope your holidays were wonderful, I’ll be catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts I’ve missed in the near future 🙂

Beastie Adventures, Guest Blogger

Holiday Greetings from the Beasties

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello! This is the tierneycreates Beastie guest blog posting (if you are new to this blog, my story is on this post –  I’m A Monster!!! and you can see all my posts at this link: Beastie Adventures).

Human Tierney and Human John having been busy spending time with family this week to celebrate the holidays so I told Tierney that John Beastie and I would send out a Happy Holiday Greetings to all her blogging buddies for her!

Here are John Beastie and I in our BEAUTIFUL Christmas Sweaters:

And here is our full collection of BEAUTIFUL Christmas Sweaters (Tierney added two more sweaters to our collection this year):

I know you all are probably VERY envious that these beautiful sweaters do not come in HUMAN sizes. Nope they are just in Beastie sizes! Tierney tells me they are actually Christmas Tree Ornaments but I do not believe her – they were made for Beasties, I just know it!

Well John Beastie and I hope you have a safe holiday filled with wonderful memories and lots of smiles!

Bags Bags Bags, From the Woodshop

Last Minute Gifts

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I mentioned in my one of my recent previous posts that I was working on some last minute Christmas gifts.

Well I finished the gifts last night – two tote bags for two people in my life who love the Star Wars saga:

They have roomy interiors:

And both external sides of the tote bags have pockets. I used coordinating solid fabric for the inside of the pockets for some contrast.

Now all I can do is see if the tote bag recipients like them!

Oh and John worked on a last minute gift too – a set of cutting boards make from the scraps that his friend gave him of their new wood floors. I think they will be pretty pleased when they see the offcuts/scrap wood from installing their floors turned into something useful!

Upcycled Hope

Now Hung

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Oh look at me – now that I’ve caught up on all my blogging buddies’ posts (well I think I have), I’m trying to pretend that I am back to posting regularily 😉

Here’s a follow up to my mid November 2024 post – ScrapHappy November 2024: Update on Denim Quilt. The denim quilt you all are probably tired of reading about, is now hung on the wall leading up the stairway from the first to second floor of my house.

Here are photos:

John built the wooden hanger for the piece which I place through the hanging sleeve I added to the back of the quilt.

I am very pleased! We really needed something on that blank wall and the quilt seems to be what it needed!

Postscript

RECYCLED HOPE VS UPCYCLED HOPE

This quilt will become part of my “Recycled Hope” series of quilts which I describe as follows:

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.

One of the comments on the post ScrapHappy October 2024: Recycled Hope I wrote in October 2024 about this series, went something like this (paraphrased): “shouldn’t your series Recycled Hope be called instead Upcycled Hope?”

I thought about this and researched on line various definitions of “recycled” vs “upcycled”.

Recycled: “having been used before and then put through a process so that it can form a new product” (Cambridge Dictionary)

Upcycled: “to recycle (something) in such a way that the resulting product is of a higher value than the original item : to create an object of greater value from (a discarded object of lesser value)” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

After reviewing those two definitions and thinking a bit, I’ve decided to eventually rename my series – UPCYCLED HOPE!

I’ve added to my list of things to do to update my tierneycreates website…

A Crafter Needs to Eat, From the Woodshop

From the Woodshop: New Entertainment Console

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’m not sure what the proper name is but I am going to call it an “entertainment console”…

John recently finished making us a new entertainment console for under the television in the basement den area. Thought I would share some photos from his build to completion:

John designed it from scratch and I continue to be impressed with his work as a self-taught woodworker! He put holes larger enough for cords at several locations in the back so we had space for the DVD player and gaming console cords!

Postscript

John got a new flat top grill this summer and even though the weather is very late Fall/early Winter-ish he is still trying to occasionally use it. He made his first attempt at shrimp friend rice on the outdoor griddle and it came it out awesome!

Oh and I got obsessed with these pumpkin muffins this season and I highly recommend them. I’ve made a couple batches of them so far and they freeze well:

Sally’s Baking Addition Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Papercrafting, Special Events

Card Making Party, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is the second post in the two post series on the Card Making Party I had on Tuesday. The first post, Card Making Party, Part I, shows our set up and work in progress.

This post is a gallery of what everyone made.

I only made three cards as I was pretty busy hosting:

But my guests were more prolific – here is a sampling of the cards they made:

There was an art quilter in the group so you might be able to pick out some of her cards! The snowman was made by my friend who is a retired 1st grade and Kindergarten teacher – she simply looked at an image on her phone and cut out the snowman from paper scraps, and then embellishing it with paint pens!

Everyone who attended said this card making/crafting party was “Exactly what they needed”.

Papercrafting, Special Events

Card Making Party, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s cold out and Colorado Winter is upon us (even though it’s not officially Winter yet), so it was time for a fun crafting get together distraction!

Tuesday I hosted a card making party for three of my friends in studio. In this post I’ll share the set up and crafting in progress; in the next post I’ll share the cards we made!

I converted my studio table (putting away the cutting mats, rotary cutters, pins, etc.) into a card making supply station and the lunch buffet station:

We were not short of food options! One of my friends brought her homemade chili and I had made broccoli cheese soup! We didn’t coordinate the menu, people just brought what they wanted – and both of us were thinking we needed a hot liquid dish to warm us up!

My studio table went from this before the party:

To this (in order to accommodate 4 crafters!):

I set up a “crafting placemat” (some pretty hard-sided Rifle Paper Co. placemats I found thrifting) at each crafter’s station, along with their own light and some basic supplies (scissors, glue stick, etc.). I also included a little holiday gift for them – a mug for their coffee//tea filled with goodies.

After diving into the lunch buffet, everyone got to work making lots of cards!

Sometimes even taking to the floor for special card making techniques (small hole punching using my eyelet kit).

Knit and Crochet Away!

The Purple/Violet has Returned!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is a quick follow up on this post – Variegated Yarn Surprise – about the random ball of yarn I found in my stash with an unknown variegated color surprise since I am not sure where the ball of yarn came from (and I never saw it as an unwound skein) but I decided to knit a hat with it.

The first color I encountered was a purple or violet and then it did not seem to repeat.

I went through the purple turning into dark blue, medium blue, blue-green, chartreuse, dark lavender, teal, lavender again, chartreuse, blue-green, blue, blue-violet AND finally back to the purple/violet!

I was about to give up and thought that purple was just a one time thing in the color palette – ha!

Now that the purple has shown up again I am going to start decreasing the crown to work on finishing the hat once the purple turns into it’s next color (my guess is it will transition into blue-violet and blue again…well can look at the ball and sort of see it..).

It’s been fun being surprised by this ball of yarn!

Independent bookstores, tierneytravels

I Fell for Greensville!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is the last installment on the series of posts I’ve shared about our trip to the Carolinas (Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC) earlier this month. You can check out the previous posts Men Hypnotized by a Computerized Longarm…  and Visit to the Upcountry Museum in Greenville, SC for background on this trip and some of our other adventures while in the Carolinas.

In this post I’ll share some photos and experiences from the  Fall for Greenville Fall Festival that we attended during our 2 day trip to Greenville, SC. The “Fall for Greenville” Festival as is known by the locals as the “Fall Down” festival as it is 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday) of wine tasting, craft beer tasting, “bite of Greenville” food festival, and in general one huge downtown Greenville outdoor party!

According to the Visit Greenville website:

This family-friendly three-day smorgasbord of food and entertainment showcases 50+ local restaurants serving some 250-plus dishes with more than 50 beers on tap, wine vendors, and over 80 musical acts on six stages—it is an absolute must-do for food and music lovers alike. Sample wines, and learn about local beers. Sample wines, and learn about local beers. Top-name acts shine a spotlight on Greenville’s robust music scene with free entertainment on stages along downtown Greenville’s charming Main Street. Consider yourself invited to the Southeast’s most popular outdoor street festival

We spent two days at the festival and wandering around downtown Greenvile and here are some highlights.

Awesome Bookstore

During our first day at the festival we had a nice wander around M. Judson Booksellers, an amazing independent bookstore in downtown Greenville inside a historic courthouse building.

The coffee shop inside the bookstore had book themed drinks!

Nighttime at the Festival

The festival was so cool to wander around at night and it got really crowded at night (it was basically a huge community party). The weather was wonderful, we only needed a light jacket at times and we had fun joining in the community party!

If you are claustrophobic this would not be the festival for you at night!

Wine Tasting

We attended a wine tasting festival inside the festival (yes they had “festivals” inside the main festivals including a craft beer festival) and we even discovered some wine with quilting themed labels (photo is difficult to see but I put in arrows).

Cool Shops

Downtown Greenville is filled with lots of cool little shops including this one – Vintage Now Modern that we had a wonderful little wander through.

We loved the sign in the image above!

So Much Good Food

We had samplings of so many tasty dishes as the festival which was also like a “Bite of Greenville” festival with 50+ local restaurants showcasing their best dishes. Below is John enjoying some exceptionally tasty taco samples; and John and E posing with their new free aprons they got from the local newspaper’s booth (they both love to cook).

The Beauty of Downtown Greensville

Downtown Greenville was very picturesque and here are a couple photos showcasing some of the lovely sights including an image of the downtown area taking from a rooftop restaurant we ate dinner one evening.

After the Festival

After two days in Greenville, SC, the next day we headed back to Charlotte, NC (where we originally flew into from Denver/our friends live in Asheville, NC and they drove from there).

In Charlotte, after a joint lunch in downtown, the men and the women headed out on their own separate adventures. S and I went thrifting and the John and E met up with some of E’s Charlotte-based friends and went to a cigar and bourbon bar.

S and I also discovered a wonderful shopping, business and dining area created from an old industrial area – Camp North End.

While there we had delicious vegan ice cream (S doesn’t eat dairy) and a wonderful stationary shop where I indulged in some nice pens.

I fell for Greenville while visiting for the first time – awesome trip!

Special Events, tierneytravels

Visit to the Upcountry Museum in Greenville, SC

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is sort of a continuation of the posts Variegated Yarn Surprise  and Men Hypnotized by a Computerized Longarm… about our trip in earlier this month to the Carolinas (Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC) to meet up with our Asheville, NC based friends E and S who needed a break from their post Hurricane Helene life in Asheville.

While in the Carolinas, we roadtripped (E and S brought their temporary rental car as their car had been totaled by a tree in the hurricane) to Greenvile and visited the he Upcountry History Museum to view the traveling show Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West. My quilt, Langston Hughes: Pioneer Poet is part of that show.

Here are some photos of the museum’s interesting interior:

We headed upstairs to see the show and I discovered my quilt was on display as you first enter the exhibit!

I filmed a walk-through of the exhibit and uploaded it to YouTube (and I was so proud of myself figuring out how to add music so you wouldn’t have to just listen to my breathing!):

While I was there they museum’s Special Projects/Media Relations Director Meg Hunt came up to meet me, chat with my group (John, E, S and me) and take some photos.

Yes I am terrible at selfies…

I really appreciated her taking the time to visit with us.

Okay next post on the trip will be about our fun time at the  Fall for Greenville Fall festival.

Created using Layout (app)

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Men Hypnotized by a Computerized Longarm…

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I mentioned in my previous post Variegated Yarn Surprise, early-ish in November John and I traveled to the Carolinas (Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC) to visit our Asheville, NC based friends E and S who needed a break from their post Hurricane Helene life in Asheville.

Originally we were going to visit them in Asheville (we made plans before September’s flooding disaster) and instead of canceling our trip (they are discouraging visitors to Asheville as they try to clean up from the massive damage), we decided to meet up with them in Charlotte, NC and roadtrip to Greenville, SC where my quilt Langston Hughes: Pioneer Poet was showing at the Upcountry History Museum as part of the traveling show Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West. We also decided to attend the Fall for Greenville Fall festival.

I’ll post more about those two events, but for this post I wanted to share a fun stop we made during our roadtrip – a visit to a quilt shop, Carolina Quilt Studio, where the John and E became enthralled with a computerized longarm quilting machine at the shop.

I knew S, who is an elementary school teacher and a very crafting-orientated person, would keep herself entertained wandering around the quilt shop while I looked around, but I wasn’t sure if I would be torturing the husbands if I spent too long in the shop.

Well halfway through my wander around the shop I discovered the husbands had “set up camp” around the shop’s computerized longarm quilting machine that was quilting a quilt.

They were absolutely fascinated with it and didn’t want to walk away from it. They joked that if someone gave them some chairs and a nice glass of bourbon they’d be good for a while! (After we left the shop, John and E keep talking about the “cool machine” that did the quilting and asking how much something like that costs…new career for their retirements perhaps?!?! Ha!)

In addition to the husband-hypnotizing computerized longarm quilting machine, the shop had Shop Dog that wandered about looking for pets:

I am sure if they could have provided comfy chairs and bourbons, John would have placed the dog on his lap and settled in for hours of computerized longarm quilting machine viewing!

I found a couple items at the shop – some Art Gallery Fabrics for 1/2 off in their clearance rack and then this – a bin of FREE fabric scraps where customers could take whatever they wanted:

I was well behaved and carefully curated what I was going to take – only if it was a scrap I could really see myself using in a piece in the future and only larger scrap pieces. I ended up finding some nice Art Gallery Fabrics scraps in the bin. S, who is a teacher, found some free panels to make ornaments in the bin and plans to use them for a student craft project.

The quilt shop staff were very nice and I recommend the shop if you happen to be in the Greenville, SC area!

Knit and Crochet Away!

Variegated Yarn Surprise

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am fascinated by variegated yarn and how colors in the yarn flow into each other in a knitted or crocheted piece.

I needed a smaller project for a recent trip we went on to the Carolinas (Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC), which I will blog about in a future post, and so I randomly selected a variegated ball of yarn I found in my stash to start a new knit hat.

The yarn was either gifted to me by a friend; or was a ball of yarn I that I thrifted. The yarn was already rolled into a ball so I do not know what the original skein of yarn looked like. I could see some of the different colors on the perimeter of the ball or yarn but the whole set of colors was going to be a surprise to be revealed as I was knitting the hat.

Here is the yarn in the new yarn holder bowl I recently bought:

Here I am starting the hat on the Carolinas roadtrip I went out with our Asheville, NC based friends (who needed a break from their post Hurricane Helene life in Asheville – we nicknamed our vacation “The Clean Shower Vacation” they only recently got running water and the water they have is very murky and gross to shower in):

Here is the variegation in the ball of yarn unfolding as I work on the hat (it’s been a fun surprise):

I am waiting to see when the dark purple which begins the hat will resurface.

Fabric Scraps Obsession, ScrapHappy, Studio

ScrapHappy November 2024: Update on Denim Quilt

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong run by Kate and Gun. 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.

Update on the Denim Quilt

For this month’s ScrapHappy post, I am updating you on my post Now Quilting the Denim Quilt! on beginning the quilting the denim quilt I pieced from denim scraps (recycled old jeans) and home decorating/upholstery fabric samples scraps.

I finished quilting the quilt using an “organic matchstick” pattern and two different threads.

I decided to put a “facing” on/”face” the quilt instead of adding a binding on the edges. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of “facing” a quilt, here is the handy YouTube video I used to remind myself on how to do a facing as it seems like years since I added one!

Here is the newly faced quilt on the ironing table in my studio getting a good press:

Here is the back of the quilt showing the thrifted cotton tablecloth I used as the backing:

And finally, here is the quilt (still needing the facing edges sewn down) nearly completed:

Thanks to my friend Rick G. on photographing this quilt using his equipment.

So what name did I finally decide on for the quilt and what is my Artist Statement? The answer is below:

What Direction Do I Go?

54 inches by 53 inches

In my early 50s the direction of my life radically changed with the sudden passing of my husband who’d been part of my life since I was 20 years old. Part of my identity and all the direction of my life evaporated and I was left with the following life question: What Direction Do I Go? Made entirely with recycled fabrics including the batting, this quilt reflects my struggle to find a new direction.

I decided to stick with my original concept for the quilt that I discussed in an earlier post when I was piecing this quilt.

Here are the other bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin,  Alissa, Tierney, Hannah and Maggie

tierneytravels

California Coast Adventure, Part III

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Okay time to close out my series of posts about a road trip we took in early September with our Northern CA based friends. You can check out parts I and II in these posts: California Coast Adventure, Part I and California Coast Adventure, Part II.

We ended our road trip with a trip to Santa Cruz and spending a very fun evening on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Amusement Park.

I haven’t spent time on a beach boardwalk amusement arcade and amusement park area since I was a child growing up in Long Island, NY. I really felt like a kid again on the boardwalk!

First we went through the arcade area and John and I got into an intense game of Pacman:

Then we headed to take a ride on the famous Looff Carousel which was featured in the 1987 movie The Lost Boys (as were other parts of the Santa Crux Boardwalk):

Image credit: Wikipedia

Me trying to take a selfie while holding on to a moving carousel horse!

The boardwalk was amazing at night and my friend K and I enjoyed wandering around looking at the rides and the naughty nutritional choices (ha!) while our husbands went to go ride the famous Giant Dipper historic wooden rollercoaster.

Somewhere towards the end of our roadtrip we stopped at an amazing farmstand along the highway. We passed by miles and miles of gorgeous farmland including lots of artichoke crops.

When we got back to K and M’s home we had to spend time with their sweet Black Lab puppy who we picked up from dog camp on our way back to their house.

John got attacked with puppy love our evening back!

On our way to the airport the next day to fly back to Denver, we stopped for lunch at Fixins Soul Kitchen in the Oak Park area of Sacramento. Our friends have taken us there before and we had another exceptionally yummy meal!

We also stopped at a lovely independent bookstore around the corner, Underground Books before heading to the airport and I purchased a new tote bag.

At the airport, we saw a curious sight – a man appearing to be traveling with a doll in his backpack. I got closer to investigate on the shuttle train to our flight gate and I’ll close this post with the photos I took and you can come to your own conclusion about his travel decisions…

Thanks for reading about our adventures over these three posts!

Fabric Scraps Obsession, From the Woodshop, Studio

From Journal Cover to Pillow

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Pausing my series of posts about my September trip to the California Coast to share my conversion of a journal cover to a pillow.

I made this journal cover from fabric scraps in the first Journey to Art Quilting class I took with Jean Wells at the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon, likely around 2013 or 2014.

We were working on improvisational quilting exercises; and I remember I added the turquoise in because Jean said your piece needs a “surprise”, something unexpected, and she called it “a poison”.

For some reason I just just feeling tired of this journal cover and no longer wanted to use the journal it covered, I wanted to fresh start for creative journaling. However I didn’t want to get rid of the piece.

So I decided to make it into a pillow!

The class with Jean was very memorable, it was actually a workshop series where we met monthly (or it might have been bi-weekly). The piece which eventually because Abandoned Water Structure and was sold to the City of Seattle’s Portable Works Collection was started in this workshop:

Long arm machine quilted by Guadalupe Designs

For more on this piece see the post “Your Body of Water” Exhibit, Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery (in this post you will find the original image that inspired this piece – an actual abandoned water structure outside of Maupin, Oregon)

Oh and back to the pillow – for now I am keeping the pillow in the basket in the entry to our home in a basket under a table John built (see post From the Woodshop: Floating Top Hall Table).

Postscript

We had a chair at the top of the top floor stairs landing that I like to sit in and stitch. The other day John the Woodworker made me a little table to hang over on of the chair arms so I would have a table there.

It’s a cozy place to hang out and quietly stitch.

tierneytravels

California Coast Adventure, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is a continuation of yesterday’s post California Coast Adventure, Part I about our 4-day road trip with our Northern California friends K and M along the Northern and Central California Coast.

We spent part of a day in Monterey  visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium and wandering around the Cannery Row area.

We got s kick out of the penguins at the aquarium – they were so fun to see in person (though part of me wished they were back in their native habitats wandering around…)

After the aquarium we had some delicious dumplings at Jack’s Bao:

We also stopped for a yummy ice cream sundae treat on the water:

That same day John, a golfer, got his dream and got to see Pebble Beach the world famous golf course where golf championships are held.

We had a wonderful wander around the luxury resort and even snuck a little step onto the edge of the famous golf course.

We hung out near the cafe and I whipped out the granny square crochet project (I always travel with a project!).

I’ll continue our adventures in the next post!

tierneytravels

California Coast Adventure, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Catching up on sharing adventures we had this Summer and Fall.

In early September we flew to Sacramento, California and went on a spectacular 4-day road trip with our Northern California friends K and M to and along the Northern and Central California Coast. Our roadtrip included stops in:

First I have to say: California is a very beautiful state and the Northern and Central California coasts have many breathtakingly beautiful areas! I keep thinking the Oregon and Washington coasts were the best on the Western Coast of the US but then I visit Northern and Central California coasts and WOW!

The first part of our trip involved hanging out at our friends K and M’s home outside of Sacramento and getting to know their relatively new puppy Maeve, a Black Lab. She is very sweet and very puppy (quite active):

They have a lovely home on a beautiful piece of land that backs up to the woods. I love this sign in their kitchen:

K is a quilter (I met her years ago when I lived in Washington State at a quilt retreat) and she has a cosy quilting room/studio in her home:

The first day of our roadtrip involved stops in Marina and Monterey.

Beach, ocean, blue skies, boats, delicious seafood, sea lions cuddling; and a woman drawing Mandalas in the sand.

We stayed at a lovely place (we rented an Airbnb house) in Marina for a couple nights of the trip so we had a home base for exploring the area.

In the evening we visited the Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey where they were having FestaItalia, the Italian Festival.

Then it was back to the Airbnb house to head to bed after a long day one of sightseeing. More of our adventures in the next post.

A Crafter's Life

And Now For Some Art Quilts

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is a continuation to yesterday’s post (Paper Piecing Paradise) where I shared that a week or so ago quilting friend and her partner; and attended the opening of two quilt shows at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

The second show opening at the museum was SAQA Wild. Per the museum’s website the show: A collection of Art Quilts submitted by Studio Art Quilt Associates members from an invitation to let their imaginations take them on a journey to a WILD place – ANY wild place. The exhibit includes pieces from 30 artists, many from our own state of Colorado!! WILD is a small word, with BIG opportunity especially when you live in the area of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. These art quilts use texture, shape, color and a multitude of techniques to take you to their WILD places.

Here are my favorites of the art quilts on display in the show:

Lots of art quilt inspiration in the show!

If you aren’t familiar with SAQA, it stands for Studio Art Quilt Associates. When I lived in Central Oregon I was an active member of our local SAQA group which at first was headed by Jean Wells an international known art quilter, author and former owner of the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon which held the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

I participated in their local shows and challenges for about 5 years.

After moving to Colorado in 2019 after my life partner, “Terry the Quilting Husband” died in 2018, I lost my “art quilting mojo” as well as my tolerance for group activities so I didn’t join the local SAQA group. (And in 2020 we had the COVID pandemic that stopped group activities for quite a while).

I’ve met some wonderful quilters in the 5+ years I’ve lived in Colorado and have been invited to join various guilds and groups but so far I’ve declined.

I remember the card my friend W sent me in 2020 that reads: “Give Yourself Grace“, and I continue to remember to do that. Perhaps I will join a quilting group in the future, perhaps not. Currently I am enjoying just working solo on project ideas and catching up on my backlog.

Adventures in Paper Piecing, Special Events

Paper Piecing Paradise

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve been working on an English Paper Piecing (EPP) quilt forever and my most recent post on this quilt was in May – All 99 are finally done!.

Someday the quilt I finish will look sort of like this quilt from Issue 1 (October 2016) of Quiltfolk Magazine:

Well a week or so ago (not sure exactly as most of October seems like a blur) my quilting friend and her partner; and attended the opening of two quilt shows, one of which I will share in this post and the other in the next post, at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

The first show of the opening was all ENGLISH PAPER PIECED QUILTS – English Paper Piecing. There were so many amazing quilts and I am inspired to complete my quilt someday (smile).

Thought I share photos of my favorite quilts in the show, including the details on some quilts to show the immense EPP work that was done to make these quilts.

My photos don’t do the quilts justice and some of them I had to take at off angles as the exhibit was super crowded and it was difficult to get a photo of a quilt without a group of people in front of it.

The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum has a gift shop/quilt shop inside of it and it was open for the evening show. I wandered around the shop and then John wandered around it and found some fabric he liked – a mathematical themed print. I am going to make a laptop case for him out of it and will show share an image of the fabric when I post about the laptop case.

Here is John buying the fabric for his laptop case – his first personal fabric purchase in quilt shop:

Special Events, Studio

Now Quilting the Denim Quilt!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is a sort of follow up to my post: ScrapHappy October 2024: Recycled Hope .

Finally I am machine quilting the denim quilt I made last year which is currently called “What Direction Do I Go?”.

Here is up on the design wall before quilting:

Here it is in progress while I am quilting with the first color of thread (I used two colors):

Here it is partially finished (I am over halfway done with adding a second color of thread):

I am quilting it in a style I call “Organic Matchstick” quilting. Yes I totally made that phrase it. Matchstick quilting looks like this:

Image credit – Epida Studio – epidastudio.com/how-to-quilt-it-matchstick-quilting/

My quilting is a bit more “organic” with an occasional line touching or a little wiggle (why yes I of course planned that – ha!)

Here is the back of the quilt, I love the feel/texture of the quilting:

I cannot wait to finish it. I plan to do a “facing” instead of binding the quilt. Okay well back to work for me!

Postscript: Halloween Cuteness

Oh and here is some Halloween cuteness (yesterday was Halloween). We stopped over a friend’s house last night and they had two of their dogs in Hawaiian shirts dressed up as “Magnum. P.I.“ (if you remember that that 1980s show starring Tom Selleck):

Here are Pepi and Lewis doing their best Magnum, P.I. impersonations. Dolly the Aussie Shepherd was having no part in it!

Bet you can’t tell the dogs apart from Tom Selleck, right? Ha!

We had quite the giggle over the dogs’ costumes 🙂

A Crafter's Life

Pumpkin Picking

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The middle of October, John and I went “Pumpkin Picking” at a Rock Creek Farm in Broomfield, Colorado with his 15 year old granddaughter, her parents and their dog. It was a gorgeous day.

I made my stepson, his wife and his daughter all “Fall Fun Bags” for the day with Autumn themed snacks, tea (all three of them love tea like I do), and other treats. I used recycled paper handle bags and decorated them with customized gift tags.

Here are some photos from our pumpkin picking fun include John and his son E being silly in the pumpkin field:

We also took them for their first trip to Buc-ees, a place I am not sure how to describe except as a “convenience store on steroids with a gas station”, for lunch.

I waited in the back of John’s truck with their dog (we sat outside in the truck bed), while they got their food (and treats) at Buc-ees.

John’s granddaughter had an awesome time (it’s a success when a teenager is fully engaged and having fun on a family event, right?) and we had a family picnic in the parking lot of Buc-ees using the truck bed!