Quilt Show!

Went to a quilt show today with a friend and saw some AWESOME  quilts!  The theme was "Red and White~~A Quilter's Delight!" and those of you who know me, know that I love embroidered Redwork, so you can imagine what I feel about red and white quilts!!  Here are a few of the quilts that I snapped with my phone camera (sorry these are not very good pics, but you get the idea):

Love this design!

Machine embroidery/quilting

I wanted to remember this pattern!

Then there were the colorful quilts:

Applique in the middle 

Love the side design!

Complicated, appliqued and gorgeous!

Hope you can see the artistry in the quilt stitching in this one:

So sorry that the pictures didn't come out better!   I had a wonderful eye full and came home with tons of ideas!  Yay!  Now to see if I have any time to work on any of those ideas ;)

Another Fall Color

In our neck of the woods, it's Salmon country.  The Pacific Northwest (PNW) has abundant rivers, streams and water ways most of them draining into the Columbia River and out to the Pacific Ocean. On a recent trip to Mt Saint Helens, we stopped at a fish hatchery.  Outside the hatchery we saw these Coho Salmon coming up stream, trying to get over the spill way and into the hatchery waters, the likely place of their birth. On that particular day the gate to the hatchery was closed, so  all these fish were backed up at the headwaters. These particular ones range about 12-18 inches long.  We were astonished at the sheer number of fish.  Hope you enjoy seeing just a portion of their journey in the pictures we took that day. (You might need to look closely to see the red in the water or maybe enlarge the photos to see the fish.)



Waiting for the gate to open



This bright red spawning color is another to add

to our autumn palettes, don't ya think!? 

Wordless Wednesday-Inspirational Quilt

Seasonal Color!

Orange, pumpkin, tangerine--all colors of the season! I picked a few Etsy items that I love. I hope you like them too!

First--a quilt with tangerine, perfect comfort for the imminent cold weather!

See QuiltLover Etsy shop for more!

Beautiful little tangerine booties for a newborn

by 99Lollipop

This hand dyed and hand painted scarf makes you is ready for the season:

by luv2silkpaint

And this lovely little brooch for a touch of seasonal color!

by PaperFish

I'm sure that each of these Etsy sellers would love to have you visit their shop!

Vacation???

Even tho' I am on vacation (house sitting) I feel the urge to create! Enough of being idle! My mind is full of possibilities to create! I'm mulling over some color combinations , having been inspired by Joen's book. (See bottom of the page for the book recommendation . . also, I have included a quote from her book [page 22] in the next paragraph.)

Right now, I am thinking of blues. I've not worked with very many blue fabrics, I've always seemed to chose other colors. Do you seem to gravitate toward the same certain colors or color groups? Trying something new can be a bit scary at first, I guess we just get comfortable with what we know--in a bit of a rut?!? Anyway, I want to stay with the monochromatic scheme (LIKE MY BREAST CANCER QUILTS) and do another small quilt. I want to see how different gradations, hews and tints will work together. While I am doing this small quilt, I will be thinking over how to do a winter landscape quilt, since nature has "scores of examples of monochromatic color schemes . . . A cold bleak winter day can display hues from one family alone. The monochromatic scheme can be sophisticated and elegant." I am thinking in blues, or greens . And then there is the little peach quilt for little Raya, and a watercolor quilt I want to do, and the . . . oh well, we're always thinking about new creations, aren't we? --lp

Craft Holiday!

I'm currently taking a holiday FROM crafting! I visited the family for the Thanksgiving holiday, and this week after the holiday, my husband and I are house sitting! All my craft materials are at home, so I have set up this blog, worked on my husband's website and am doing research for a new quilt. I am currently reading Joen Wolfrom's book: Color Play. I highly recommend it for any of you even tho' it specializes in "Imaginative Color in Quilts." It would be a good resource guide for any crafter. I will even use it when I plan my spring gardens, picking plants within color groups that are pleasing to the eye.