Stitches in Bloom Quilt Show – Oregon Garden

Posted on January 30, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit the Stitches in Bloom quilt show at the Oregon Garden in Silverton. This part of Oregon is lush, green, and famous for the nearby waterfalls at Silver Falls State Park. Since it is so green, the area naturally has plenty of rain and this weekend was no exception!!. The $10 admission to the quilt show did include entrance to the gardens, but it was chilly rain so I decided to stick with the show. I definitely need to make a return trip in the spring to see the garden in bloom.

The show had some great vendors, and I picked up a wonderful wooden quilt frame, a paper piece pattern, a wooden quilt coaster, and some fat quarters.

Here’s the wooden quilt rack that I picked up:

The quilt is one that I made a couple of years ago called the “Bear Went Over the Mountain” by Susan Schwarting. The fabric is from the Lake of the Woods collection by Julie Ingleman for P&B Textiles. P&B Textiles has the pattern available for free on their website; however, the fabric collection is probably out of print now. I think it goes so well with the oak quilt rack above my brown leather couch!

I took a few pictures of quilts displayed in the show. We were not able to take flash pictures so many of my pictures turned out too blurry, but I did manage to get few decent ones.

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What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Happy quilting,
~Jennifer~

Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day!

Posted on January 24, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Today is Visit Your Local Quilt Shop day – where fabric lovers show their support to locally owned fabric and quilt stores!

I visited Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe today for my photo op! I needed to pick up some more black and white fabrics so it made for a perfect lunch time excursion.

Here’s a pic of me at Hollyhill getting ready to purchase my fabric, snapped by one of the friendly cashiers:

Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe

As a special gift, Hollyhill gave a free fat quarter out to anyone who stopped by today. I got a nice, bright pink one! I think it may be a perfect zinger color to add to my black and white blocks.

Black, White & Pink

I’d love to hear if you made a stop to your favorite quilt shop today!

Happy fabric hunting!
~Jennifer~

Kilauea Kreations Quilt Shop on the Big Island

Posted on November 27, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

Over the Thanksgiving holiday week, I traveled to the Big Island of Hawai’i with my family. I had planned to visit a few quilt and fabric stores, but only had time to visit a couple of them.

One quilt store that I visited is Kilauea Kreations in Volcano Village, very near to the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

This little quilt store is tucked away and can be easy to miss in the little town. In addition to quilts, there are a number of other hand-crafted items that you can buy here. However, my main goal was fabric!

Kilauea Kreations Quilt Shop

Inside the store, I found a nice selection of batik fabrics. I had a hard time narrowing my fabric choices down to just a few. I picked up 2 fabrics at 1-yard each and 4 different fat quarters. I definitely wanted more but hubby and son were waiting for me!

The store also had a selection of Hawaiian themed quilt patterns and blocks as well as finished quilted projects. I picked up a Turtle Walk pattern for myself since I enjoyed seeing the green sea turtles (honu) on the beach earlier in the week. It’s a small wall-hanging, about 12 inches by 24 inches finished. I’ll write another post when I finish it (hopefully soon).

Inside Kilauea Kreations

The lady at the cutting counter/check-out area was so friendly and helpful! I definitely recommend stopping by this quilt shop if you are visiting the Big Island.

Of course, what trip to Volcano Village would be complete without a look at the main attraction – the Kilauea Caldera! Here’s a great shot that we took at the Jaggar Museum on our last evening. We used a wide-angle lens and a long exposure to capture both the glow from the lava lake as well as a few early evening stars!

Kilauea Caldera during Early Evening

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!
~ Jennifer ~

Upper Butte Creek Falls – Experimenting with Photography

Posted on September 24, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

I’m taking a little deviation from quilts and other craft projects to talk a little bit about photography. My husband and I are very much amateurs, but have decided to learn more about our DSLR cameras and how to use the manual settings. We have a Canon Rebel XT and a Nikon D90 and have been taking the cameras outdoors over the past several weekends to practice. In particular, we’ve been practicing with waterfalls.

I wanted to take better waterfall shots where the water looks like “angel hair.” With my point-and-shoot camera, I can’t get this cool effect but knew we could do it with either the Rebel or the D90.

Here are a few untouched photos that we took this weekend of Upper Butte Creek Falls in the Santiam State Forest in Oregon.

: Upper Butte Creek Falls from Trail

: Upper Butte Creek Falls – September 2012

: Upper Butte Creek Falls and Rocks

So, what do you think of these early experimental shots? And how would you edit and/or enhance them in software?

Another question I have is on our Nikon D90. We only have the standard kit lens, but really want a better one for outdoor (read landscape) photography. What lens would you recommend?

I hope you enjoy viewing these photos!
~Jennifer~

NW Quilting Expo Slide Show

Posted on September 23, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I’m going to try my first slideshow post, featuring some photos that I took this week at the NW Quilting Expo in Portland. There were so many beautiful quilts! These pictures are only a portion of the displayed quilts so if you ever get the chance to visit the expo, I highly recommend it!

After viewing all these beautiful quilted pieces of art, I am inspired to create my own for next year’s show. How about you?

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Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

NW Quilting Expo – Two Rivers, Three Sisters Traveling Exhibit

Posted on September 22, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

The NW Quilting Expo takes place this week in Portland, Oregon, and I took a day of work to go see it today with my mom. There were so many great vendors and quilts on display! I picked up a few cool new projects, some beautiful batiks, and a fun new tool or two.

One of my favorite portions of the show was the Two Rivers, Three Sisters Traveling Exhibit. It features many quilt panels by different artists representing two rivers in Oregon plus the Three Sisters Cascade mountains. I tried to list the artist of each panel, but had a hard time reading some of the names on my photos. If you know the name of a missing artist or if I’ve misspelled a name, please let me know!

You can find more information about this traveling exhibit at this website.

It was impossible for me to take one shot of the entire exhibit so I took many!!

Here’s a little overview display card with thumbnail pictures of the various quilts in this project:

Quilt Display Card

The first picture features the first three quilt panels. Artists from left to right are: Sheila Finzer, Jean Wells Keenan and Valori Wells Kennedy, and June Jaeger.

The second picture shows the 4th and 5th quilt panels. Artists are Catherine Moen and Janice W. Hearn.

First Three Panels

4th and 5th Panels

This next group shows the 6th and 7th panels. Artists: Pat Welsh and Mary Stiewig. Then the 8th through 10th panels. Artists: Sarah Kaufman, Helen Erisson, and Beth ?.

6th and 7th Panels

8th, 9th, and 10th Panels

Up next, you’ll see the 11th and 12th panels. Artists: Tonye Belinda Phillips and Cindy Young.

Then, you’ll see the 13th, 14th, and 15th panels. Artists: Mary Nyquist Koons, Judy Johnson, and Donna Cherry.

11th and 12th Panels

13th, 14th, 15th Panels

And the final panels are shown below. Artists: Carol W? and Donna Rice.

16th and 17th Panels

Deer Country Quilts in Seeley Lake, Montana and Hiking!

Posted on August 22, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

Since my last post, I went on a long journey to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Montana and then over to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks for some sightseeing and hiking. I traveled with my husband, son, and nephew. Since the guys outnumbered me, I managed to convince them to stop at 2 quilt shops during the trip.

The first quilt shop was Deer Country Quilts in Seeley Lake, Montana. While all the guys went fishing, my sister and I got to spend some quality time with all the wonderful fabrics in this shop.

Quilt Shop in Seeley Lake, Montana

This shop had a great selection of batiks that I drooled over for a while before selecting a few pieces to add to my stash. I’ve also been really interested in paper piecing lately so I picked up a kit featuring some vibrant purple and green fabric called Twilight.

I tried to take a picture of the inside of the quilt store, but it came out a bit dark.

Inside the Shop!

The interior just invites you to explore all the great fabrics! Wish we would have had more time, but we had to meet up with the guys and have dinner.

During the next week, we spent a good portion of each day hiking in Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP. We experienced quite a bit of smoke in the area due to wildfires throughout the west so our views were obscured, especially in Grand Teton. We definitely had a great trip!

Happy sewing!

~Jennifer~

Making a 30 minute cuddle blanket

Posted on July 22, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

My almost 7-year-old son asked me recently if I could make him a new cuddle blanket for traveling and going to grandma’s house. I agreed. He then gave me very specific requirements: it must be soft and it must have birds on it! So off to the fabric store I went in the hunt for fabric.

I had a difficult time finding a bird print that wasn’t too babyish or too girly. I knew he wouldn’t want cute little owls on a pink background! As I was searching, I spotted the perfect fabric. It had crazy penguins and ice cream cones and it was a soft flannel.

I purchased one yard and took it home to wash it.

Next, I trimmed off the edges to make it even. I folded each edge in 1/2 inch and then a 1/2 inch again for a nice hem. I pinned it and sewed each edge using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. The whole sewing portion took under 30 minutes!

Here’s what the finished blanket looks like, a bit folded on my ironing table:

And here’s what it looked like right before grandma arrived:

That’s one happy kid!

I used a print called “Scooping Up a Little Happiness” number S#H4010 by Hoffman Fabrics.

These little blankets make great little gifts for kids!

Happy sewing!

~ Jennifer ~

Visiting Center Diamond Quilt Store

Posted on July 16, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

This weekend, I went on a camping trip with my 2 favorite guys – my husband and our son. On the way down to the campground, I managed to convince them that I needed to stop at a quilt store. Lucky for me, they didn’t mind waiting for a few minutes while I browsed inside Center Diamond in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Center Diamond is a great little quilt shop along the Oregon coast. I particularly love their collection of batik fabrics. It’s definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.

I was searching for a turtle batik for a while and happened to find one while visiting. I picked up several coordinating fabrics that just feel summery to me. Wonder what I’ll make?

Turtle batik and other fabric

Aren’t these little turtles just wonderful?

Happy crafting!

~Jennifer~

Visiting Lavender Fields

Posted on July 8, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

Today, we went for a drive to visit some local area lavender fields. I wanted to get some dried lavender and some essential lavender oil to make some soap. I do sell my handmade cold process soap so if you’re interested in purchasing a bar or two, let me know!

First stop – Lavender Thyme Herb Farm in Canby.

We really enjoyed the gardens and lavender fields at this location. Ian loved all the butterflies, the walking path with the fun garden chairs, and walking over “Toe Biter Creek.” The lavender was beautiful! The fields were humming with many happy bees.

I purchased some dried lavender and enjoyed talking with the owner, Taffy. I plan to make up some lavender soaps and take them down to her to sell in her Potter’s Shed Shop.

Onwards to our second stop, Willakenzie Lavender Farm in Yamhill.

What another great location to visit! We were greeted by the friendly farm dog and one of the owners, Debbie, came over to say hi and introduce us to the farm.

With sweeping swatches of purple and views of the hills behind, this lavender farm has some great photo opportunities!

I purchased some lavender essential oil and enjoyed chatting with Debbie in her gift store. She has many wonderful lavender and alpaca items for sale here.

Speaking of alpacas, you can meet them at this farm while touring the gardens.

If you happen to be in Oregon in July, be sure to stop some lavender fields or, better yet, come out during the Lavender Festival. The year the dates are July 14-15.