I mentioned in my post Things to Do When You Have a Bad “Cold”, that I’ve been working on a scrappy improvisational “log cabin” block style quilt. I thought I would show you my progress on the piece so far.

All I’ve done is lay the blocks out for now on my design wall, this is not the final design. I have a name in mind for the piece but I am keeping that under wraps until I see if the final design will work.

Each block is 6.5 inches x 6.5 inches and was made using scraps of Northcott Fabrics’ Stonehenge line which I love, as well as some small yardage pieces of Stonehenge I had in my stash.

The scraps primarily came from this quilt I made a couple years ago:

This was my pile of scraps that I started with for the piece currently up on my studio design wall which include scraps from the quilt above and scraps given to me by quilting friends:

Eventually I decided not to use the Stonehenge animal print scraps that someone gave me (and recently I donated a pile of them to a local charity thrift store so they can be enjoyed by another crafter).

Here are photos of me chain piecing the improvisational log cabin blocks via a technique I learned from Jackie Erickson at the Stitchin Post when I lived in Central Oregon.

Jackie told us in a class I took at the Stitchin’ Post that “log jamming” that is technique originated in Africa – the using of scraps to randomly put together fabric and create a larger piece of fabric, etc.

While writing this post I googled “log jamming quilting” to see if I could find any official history on this technique and found a VIDEO by the Stitchin’ Post about log jamming!!!

If you want to see a demonstration of the technique, here is the video – enjoy!

Jackie has a pattern she sells on making a log jam quilt and here is the link to it: Modern Log Jam.

I have used the technique I learned from Jackie on so many quilts over the years (as well as taught the late Terry the Quilting Husband to make quilts this way also – see post What’s On The Design Wall: Flannel “Log Jam” Blocks) that she holds a special place in my heart (and she is an awesome teacher!).

In her class she would use a shopping bag of random scraps and you just pull from that bag and “jam on” while chain piecing.

Okay I went off on a tangent on log jamming, and let’s get back to the story on this current log jam quilt in progress…

Originally I wanted to frame all the blocks in a cream colored Stonehenge fabric I had in my stash, but it turned out I did not have enough. So I used a smaller brown yardage as well as a couple fat quarters from my stash that I thought would coordinate.

Here are the resulting four (4) types of blocks:

Yes, I have not cleaned up all the loose threads from all that chain piecing I did. But I’ll do that as I sew the blocks together in whatever their final configuration.

For now they all sit on my design wall awaiting my further musings on layout…

Beastie Adventures, Quilt Shop Tours, Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Beastie Adventures: Sisters, Oregon

June 24, 2018June 25, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

After a moderately successful trip to the public library, I figured the tierneycreates Beastie (see Beastie Adventures) and her dog Mikelet were ready to a day trip to Sisters, Oregon.

The annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is approaching (July 14, 2018) and I needed to drop off a Sponsor Quilt for the show.

Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) thought we might as well make a day trip out of it and bring Mike our miniature schnauzer. I thought we might as well also bring the tierneycreates Beastie and her miniature schnauzer Mikelet!

(I will have two quilts in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year and I will share more about that in another post.)

The Drive to Sisters

TTQH recently got a new (well, a new used, 2016) car so we got to ride in “air conditioned luxury” to Sisters. No TTQH did not get a luxury car, it is just that his previous car was a 2005 Ford Focus with no air conditioning. We only had manually rolled down windows if we wanted to attempt to cool down in heat!

It got a little crowded in the passenger seat as tierneycreates, Mikelet and Mike all wanted to be in the front passenger area with me. At one point tierneycreates and Mikelet moved to the dashboard for a better view of the road:

Mike and Mikelet got along well when supervised and Mike shared his view out the window with Mikelet:

Mikelet is to the left of Mike, he sort of blends in with all that gray fur together

The drive to Sisters was beautiful, punctuated by the Three Sisters Mountains:

When you get into Sisters, the mountains are visible everywhere, as shown in the photo below of a Farmstand/Nursery we stopped at for a wander:

And pretty much everywhere you drive/look in the area such as in this neighborhood next to downtown Sisters:

An independent woman, tierneycreates tried to walk Mikelet around Sisters on her own, but at times she agreed to be carried as with her tiny legs she is a bit slow:

Big Mike asking tierneycreates and Mikelet to hurry up

The Stitchin’ Post

I’ve been to the amazing Stitchin’ Post quilt shop a zillion times and since the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show drop off location for quilts was in another building, I was going to skip a visit to the Stitchin’ Post this time.

However I caught tierneycreates peeking into the shop when we walked by it:

So I agreed to take her in and show her around.

Of course, as a Beastie, she couldn’t help being mischievous and before I knew it I was trying to keep up with her and all her wanderings.

I tried to show her around the fabric, such as this beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabric display:

But soon of course I found her in the yarn/knitting section the moment I was not watching her:

When we took this photo, I noticed one of her boots were missing!

I had to backtrack to all the places I’d seen her hanging out and finally we found her boot in the back of this display of yarn:

We talked about her being more careful in the future with her boots!

As we left the Stitchin’ Post, tierneycreates insisted on a photo with the iconic sign:

Paulina Springs Books

After the Stitchin’ Post we wandered over to Paulina Springs Books, a wonderful little indie bookstore (I love Independent Bookstore – check out my 12/23/16 post on Independent Bookstores) off of the main downtown street in Sisters.

Mike and Mikelet checked out the Dog Book Section:

In case you do not see him in the photo, Mikelet is next to the book *Unconditional: Older Dogs, Deeper Love* by Jane Sobel Klonsky

There were several authors at the bookstore for book signing (I think it was a special event) and tierneycreates and I stopped and visited with writer Julie O’Neil, author of the book Living Without Walls: One Woman’s Journey from Fear to Wonder in the High Sierras.

Julie is a world traveler and on her way next to Honduras to work with children. I got a signed copy of her book for my world traveler friend Michele.

Julie was gracious enough to let tierneycreates be in the photo, though my Beastie friend forgot to look at the camera, I think she was checking out a shelf in the distance to browse.

Sure enough, the moment I turned my head, she headed over to a shelf that caught her attention – books about Oregon.

I understand her curiosity about Oregon. It is her new home after all as she recently moved here from Ireland!

The Biscuit Scam

It was at Paulina Springs Books that Mike learned a very neat trick: be cute inside of shops and you will get dog biscuits. Even though Mike can be a little grumpy (he is territorial with anyone coming near his beloved TTQH) he still charmed the staff at Paulina Spring Books and next thing we knew they were feeding him dog biscuits.

This happened at several more shops, to the point that Mike started pulling TTQH towards the front door of every shop we passed hoping we would go inside and he could score another biscuit.

In Mike’s defense, he is very cute and who would not want to give him a biscuit?

Time for a Break!

After a late morning/early afternoon of wandering around Sisters, it was time to stop for lunch. We found this place:

The staff was very nice and brought water out for Mike and Mikelet while we were waiting for our pizza to be ready.

Mikelet however was a little challenged accessing the water bowl:

But he was absolutely fascinated by the pizza:

We were not too sure about tierneycreates and “adult beverages”. I gave her a little sip of my local microbrew and she started to kick her boots off…

We decided Beasties and alcohol are not the best mix and we had her stick with water.

After lunch, and a stop at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show quilt drop off warehouse, we headed back home (in glorious air conditioning!)

Postscript

Had to add this one – a random photo of the tierneycreates Beastie on a glass horse outside an art gallery in Sisters, Oregon.

Special Events, Studio, What's on the Design Wall

Pajama Sale and Finished Pieces

November 12, 2017June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Annual “Pajama Sale” at the Stitchin’ Post

Saturday November 11th was the annual PJ Sale at the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon. Each year I attend with quilting friends and last year I started bring Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) to the sale (as a bonus he drives there in the cold, dark and sometimes snowy weather as the sale starts early).

Each of our wonderful quilt shops in Central Oregon has their own special focus when it comes to fabric collection. The Stitchin’ Post has the best selection of unique art quilter focused fabrics in the region. It also carries fabrics that would appeal to traditional quilters.

During the Pajama Sale, if you get there before 8:30 am (doors open at 6:30 am) AND you are in your PJs, you get 35% off nearly everything in the store!

I did not buy that much – a couple books and notions. My favorite part of the PJ Sale is hanging out with fellow quilters all in our PJs wandering around a quilt shop and then going out to breakfast afterwards – in our PJs! It is like the morning after a huge sleepover, ha!

I figured no one wanted to be on my blog photographed in their PJs so the photos below give you a feel but do not have any faces:

One lady had an over the top robe from the 1970s. I asked her if I could take a photo and suggested she turn around unless she wanted to have herself in her robe featured on my blog, ha!

The photo does not quite capture the brightness of the 1970s robe – it was over the top and of course made of some type of synthetic material

We went to the Gallery Restaurant in Sisters for breakfast after an hour wandering around the sale. It very quite fun with a group of us gathered around a large table in a restaurant, all in our PJs (except for my friend’s 96 year old Dad who lives in town and another husband who joined us in their regular clothes).

2017-11-11_08-24-38_046 — Breakfast after early morning quilt shop shopping! (This was actually TTQH’s breakfast as I only like my eggs scrambled)

One of my friends had a spectacular set of PJs with the words “Queen Bee” all over them:

I wore my traditional schnauzer themed PJs (they are actually Scotties in gray and black and I pretend like the gray ones are schnauzers).

Finished Pieces

Cozy Cobblestones came back from the long-arm quilter, Cindy of inastitchquilting.com and this weekend I added the binding.

It is now hung in the living room above the TV:

Cindy did wonderful job quilting the piece and here are some photos of her beautiful work:

Her quilting really compliments the blocks made from Northcott Fabrics’ Stonehenge line! I am so glad I met her through blogging!

This weekend I also finished one of the table runners I discussed in posts such as “What’s on the Design…Ironing Board?” and “Can We Talk About Table Runners?“. Here it is freshly ironed after I quilted and put on the binding:

It measures 16.5″ x 44″ which seems to fall into a fairly standard table runner length.

I’ve not decided if I am going to quilt the other four (4) table runner tops I made or stick them away for now (oh no they will become “UFOs”!!!). I do not think I will re-open the tierneycreates Etsy shop at this time. I’ve had some recent art quilting related exciting news, that I will share at a later date, that makes me want to focus on my efforts on building my art quilt portfolio rather than trying to make stuff to sell on an Etsy shop.

There are only so many hours in the day!

Postscript

In my previous post, A Good Mess, I shared some statistics from a recent national survey (The Quilting in America 2017 survey) on how much money the average quilter spends a year on quilting related supplies and activities. The two numbers were $442 and $500 per year depending on how “dedicated” the quilter is.

I really enjoyed the comments some of you made on these figures; and wanted to share how I nearly FAR EXCEEDED this number during the Stitchin’ Post’s Pajama Sale on Saturday!

There was glitch in their cash register and my total came to $730,000! The Stitchin’s Post staff behind the register, a couple other customers and I had a huge laugh over this! I asked if my purchase also came with a new luxury home, a car, and an outfitted sewing studio with a stocked fabric closet?

They re-rang my purchase and with my 35% off discount (we arrived at 6:50 am and I was in my PJs) my purchase came to $73 instead of $730,000.

Knit and Crochet Away!, Quilt Shop Tours

For the Yarn Lovers

April 25, 2017June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Or should the post title be: “For Lovers of Yarn”? Either way, here is a post for people who love yarn and/or knit, crochet, spin, weave or other fiber arts involving yarn.

Last Thursday I was at the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters Oregon for our monthly art quilter group meeting. Before the meeting, I wandered around the shop “ooh-ing and ahh-ing” at all the treats for purchases (fabric, yarn, notions, art, books, etc.). The yarn department/section seemed exceptionally lovely this visit (I think they re-organized the shop), so I took photos to share with my yarn-loving readers!

Yarn Department, Stitchin’ Post

My friend Pat was kind enough to be the hand model in several of the photos.

If you are every in Central Oregon and you are a quilter, knitter, crocheter, or any type of fiber arts crafter I highly recommended a visit to this shop!

Studio

Quilt Seating!

December 26, 2016June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am on five-day holiday from work and I planned to spend time working on my project backlog.

One of my backlogged projects, was deciding what to do with a small (baby or doll sized) quilt top I made from a collection of 2″ inch squares. I decided this weekend to recover the stool I keep under my computer desk in my studio with it!

Here is what I started with – a lovely stool given to me by a friend (who originally bought it second hand):

The butterfly fabric was nice but the fabric was dated, had a weird velour-like feeling and did not bring me joy.

So – on top of the current cover, with a layer of batting placed underneath, I recovered it with my 2″ squares (aka “postage stamp”) quilt top:

It fits my studio better and goes with the general studio theme of quilting and creating.

Postscript

Here is my next project in queue from my backlog – Tango Stripe, a pattern I bought in 2011 or 2012 by Jean Wells of the Stitchin’ Post:

I am very excited about this quilt, I fell in love with the store sample at the Stitchin’ Post (see list on my blog of “Central Oregon Quilt Shops” for links to my local shops).

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Return to Sisters (Oregon)

July 17, 2016June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The feature photo was snapped on my phone and is a section of the Three Sisters Mountains – I captured in the photo the “Middle Sister” and the “North Sister” mountain. Below is a snapshot from the information at the Three Sisters Viewpoint (you can stop here for a wonderful view of the Sisters Mountains, part of the Cascade Mountain Range on your way heading to Sisters or leaving Sisters, Oregon).

REUNITED

Last week in a series of posts I shared my adventures at the 2016 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS), held Saturday July 9, 2016. Friday, I took off from work and returned to Sisters, Oregon to pick up my favorite hat and vest I had left at the Stitchin’ Post during a class I attended at the end of May (see post Adventures in Appliqué).

So now you are thinking: “Tierney, why are you just now picking up your favorite knit hat and vest in the third week of July when the class was the end of May?” You are starting to suspect that the hat and vest are not really that dear to me, right?

Wrong. I did not realize the hat and vest were gone until a couple weeks ago. I did not connect/remember needing a hat and vest at the end of May 2016 (I forgot we had a cold snap at the end of May before it heated up nice and toasty in Central Oregon). When I realized they were gone a couple of weeks ago, I thought I had lost them during the late winter or early Spring, I grieved their lost (the hat was knitted by a friend of mine) and moved on.

While I was at the Men Behind the Quilts: Quilt Auction and Calendar Preview (see post Countdown to Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show) I ran into my teacher from the appliqué class and she asked me if I had picked up the hat and vest I left at the end of May. I was overjoyed!

I tried to pick up the hat and vest on Saturday July 9th when I stopped by the Stitchin’ Post during SOQS, but it was a mad house there and one of the lovely staff members pleaded with me to try back the following week.

When we returned to Sisters on Friday July 15th and I was finally reunited with with my hat and vest (imagine a scene from a Disney or Hallmark movie where the animated hat and vest are running in slow motion into my open arms and I give them a loving embrace – queue sappy music and closing credits…).

A LITTLE MORE ON THE SOQS

I follow a wonderful blog Woolie Mammoth which focuses on “quilting happenings” in Central Oregon. It’s blogger Anna, also has a YouTube channel where she shares her adventures on the road quilting. Recently she posted a video of what it is like to drive down Cascade Ave (Highway 20 as it runs through the town of Sisters) before the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and then what it is like to walk around the show:

2016 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Here are a couple random photos I wanted to share, that I do not think were included in the links I provided in previous posts to the Stitchin’ Post Facebook and the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Facebook pages.

First my blogger buddy Claire of the wonderful blog knitnkwilt.wordpress.com had one of her modern improv quilts in the show. It was fun to watch the progress of this quilt on her blog:

Without Orange There Would Be No Blue (2016) by Claire of knitnkwilt

Here is another quilt I loved at the show of Our Lady of Guadalupe, it was tucked away in a sweet garden spot at the beginning of the SOQS. I thought the colors were so wonderful:

At the SOQS we parked in one of the neighborhood in Sisters, Oregon and here is a wonderful stained glass insert a Sisters resident had in their fence:

Here are the cute furry creatures we took with us on a day trip to Sisters, Oregon on Friday:

While in Sisters, we stopped at the beautiful Sisters Coffee Company which looks like a mountain lodge. In the Fall and Winter (and in early Spring) it is nice to sit around the roaring fire in the stone fire place, sip your tea or coffee and read a book. They do not care how long you stay!

And finally, here is another photo of the quilt I shared in my post Adventures in Appliqué. This quilt was made by women in Uganda in collaborations with the Sisters of the Heart Foundation which was run by my appliqué instructor, Janet Storten. This quilt along with other quilts by women in Uganda were hung around the Sisters Coffee Company.

Okay, that is enough on Sisters, Oregon for now. It is a pretty special place to me!

Fabric Scraps Obsession, Studio

“Log Jamming”: The Sequel

May 2, 2015October 22, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is a followup to my post What’s on the Design Wall: “Log Jamming” :

Last Tuesday evening I took the Log Jam Class at the Stitchin’ Post quilt shop, this time with the actual instructor, Jackie. Jackie is the Queen of the Log Jam (and a wonderful and fun instructor) and I picked up a couple tips I missed when my friends and I made our own class up earlier this year (when our instructor had to cancel so my friends taught me how to “log jam” as discussed in the post What’s on the Design Wall: “Log Jamming” ).

Taking the class again (well taking it for real with the official instructor), got me even more addicted to log jamming. I also learned that the log jamming technique is based on an old African sewing process. I thought it was something the quilt shop had developed, I did not realize it had so much history. Log jamming is such a great way to work through your fabric scrap collection!

So far I have completed 56 – 6 1/2 inch log jam blocks and I have another 30 some in progress. Not sure when I am going to stop working on the blocks and make them into something. Maybe I will just create a huge pile of log jam blocks enough for a couple King-size quilts. But, alas, that will still not put a dent in my fabric scrap collection…

Below is a photo of the basket of coordinating scraps I use while log jamming and my current stack of blocks. My plan is to keep log jamming with this palette until I exhaust this palette of scraps (or I become exhausted from using the same palette!)

Basket of scraps for log jamming and stack of completed blocks

Fabric Scraps Obsession, Studio, What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall: “Log Jamming”

March 21, 2015October 22, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A couple of weeks ago I was scheduled to take a quilting class called “Log Jam“. Log Jam is an innovative way to rapidly create scrappy log cabin quilt blocks. If you are a new quilter or not a quilter, a “log cabin” block is a quilting block made by starting with a small center square and building consistent standardly sized strips of fabric around the center square. The log jam concept throws the requirement of consistency sized strips out the window. “Log jamming” makes the log cabin style quilt block construction process laid back, casual, scrappy and fun! When making a log jam quilt you can use a specific palette of scraps, solid colors, or random scraps to make the piece very scrappy.

Unfortunately only three people registered for the class (myself and two of my friends) and it this did not meet the threshold to hold the class. The quilt shop was so wonderful and let us use their classroom anyway and hold our own class (two of my friends had taken the class before). So we spent 6 hours having a blast “log jamming“. The “log jam” method involves the kind of quilt block making you can do while chatting and giggling with friends – it is fun and less structured. We ended up being very silly and singing songs while we were working on our log jams. I even modified Bob Marley’s song “Jamming” to “Log Jamming”!

Now the 27 blocks I made log jamming are sitting on my design wall. I am trying to decide what I want to do with these blocks: maybe a table runner for my series of my Modern Quilt Table Runners on my Etsy shop or maybe one quilt with the blocks set into a solid background or floated. Every quilter should find space for a design wall – it helps to lay your pieces out to see where you want to take them!

If you live in the Central Oregon area, the Stitchin’ Post has a wonderful Log Jam class that my friends and I highly recommend you take!