Quilter’s Affair 2019 Classes

This year, my sister and I took 2 classes at A Quilter’s Affair in the week leading up to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

For our first class, we decided to take an English Paper Piecing class (EPP) with Violet Craft because we really haven’t used this quilting technique before and we both thought it might be a great technique to do while traveling.

We used the Fruit Basket pattern, and we both picked the strawberry for our practice block, and we learned some great tips in the class.

Start of my strawberry block:

Strawberry 1

Here’s a pic of us together with our strawberry blocks in August when my sister came to my house for a visit. I’m on the right with the blue shorts.

I have started working on the pineapple block, but I must admit that I haven’t made too much progress. I’ll pick it up again when the weather turns rainy, and I do less hiking and yard work.

For our second class, we took “Gertie’s Birdies” with Sally Frey. We used the pattern Feathers by The Pattern Basket. We signed up for this class because birds have a special inside meaning to us and these chunky little birds just looked so cute.

I made 3 birds in class using the Sweet Tea collection by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics plus some solids by Cherrywood. I love these fabrics because they remind me of summer!

Here is a look at the birds from other quilters in the class at the end of the day. My 3 bird blocks are in the top left:

I’ve finished another 3 bird blocks in the months since our class. I plan on making 3 more so I can complete the smaller quilt, which will be a perfect little summer wall hanging.

The Quilter’s Affair is so much fun, and I’m glad my sister got to come this year. We hope to go again next year!

Here’s a view of the Three Sisters during an evening hike we took:

Happy quilting!

-Jen

Supernova Friendship Block Swap Update + Broken Top Hike

Hi quilty friends,

Summer is quickly ending so I hope to have more time this fall and winter to catch up on my many projects in progress.

One project that I’m working on this year with a partner, Cindy, from What’s One More Project is the Friendship Supernova Block Exchange. You can read more about this unique swap in my first post here. In my first post, I have pictures of our month 1 blocks.

In this post, I’m happy to say that we have now swapped 2 more blocks (July and August) for a total of 6 blocks all together. We have 2 more months (September and October) for the blocks before we finish sewing our quilt tops together.

Here are the blocks that I made for July and August (1 to keep and 1 for my partner):

I took a picture of the first 6 blocks on my design wall in random order (3 made by me and 3 made by Cindy):

Supernova, First 6 blocks

Supernova, First 6 blocks

Isn’t it looking fabulous??!! I just love how this quilt is coming together so far.

For those of you who have visited or are familiar with the Sisters, Oregon area (home of the fabulous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show), you might be familiar with one of the mountains called Broken Top. This mountain is next to the Three Sisters and is featured in many patterns, including the row-by-row pattern by the Stitchin’ Post this year. I used this row as the top row in my quilt here.

My family decided to squeeze in one last camping/hiking trip before school starts here next week. We camped near Broken Top and took a moderate to aggressive, 4-mile roundtrip hike to a beautiful glacier lake near the top of the mountain. The color of the lake water is amazing – a sort of blue/green/turquoise color and absolutely gorgeous!

The road to the trail head is very rough and not really suitable for passenger cars. You need a vehicle with higher clearance to navigate some sections. Broken Top itself is 9,177 feet. I’m not sure what the elevation is here at the lake, but I’d guess around 7,500 feet or so.

Unnamed Glacier Lake at Broken Top

Unnamed Glacier Lake at Broken Top

Another view looking back at the lake from farther up the trail:

View of Broken Top and Unnamed Glacier Lake

View of Broken Top and Unnamed Glacier Lake

If you turn from this viewpoint in the opposite direction, you are rewarded with a stunning, up-close view of the Three Sisters. Here’s my dog with his hiking boots to protect his paw pads:

Broken Top Hike with View of the Three Sisters (and Brutus the dog)

Broken Top Hike with View of the Three Sisters (and Brutus the dog)

My 9-year-old did great on this hike and had a great time. I think we wore out the dog because he slept for about 2 days straight after the hike! If you are ever in the central Oregon area, I’d highly recommend this hike for the impressive views.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Scott Lake Quilted Postcard, Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Each year, the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show has a special fundraiser called Wish Upon a Card. Participants make fabric postcards to be auctioned during the quilt show week.

This year, I decided to make a fabric postcard featuring Scott Lake with the Three Sisters in the background. For inspiration, I used a photograph that I took at Scott Lake last fall during a camping trip.

Here’s my original picture:

Scott Lake at Sunset

Scott Lake at Sunset

It’s such a beautiful place and worth the short drive from Sisters if you are visiting the area.

I printed out my photo and then started to look in my scrap bin for fabrics to use. I’m entering the Michael Miller fabric challenge with this postcard so I needed to incorporate a piece of the Beadwork fabric into my design.

I decided to use the Beadwork fabric to represent the green meadow on the far side of the lake.

I built my postcard by layering the sky and water to form a solid foundation piece. Next, I carefully cut out and appliqued the mountain, lake, and tree shapes to this foundation using various colors of Aurifil thread. I added rocks to the water, a cloud to the sky, and a stick along the grass in the foreground.

Once all the shapes were appliqued, I used embroidery floss to add extra details such as the hint of tree trunks and late summer snow on the mountains. Finally, I layered the completed fabric postcard top with interfacing and cardstock and bound the edges using a black color weave fabric by P&B Textiles.

Here’s a look at the finished fabric postcard side-by-side with my printed photo:

Scott Lake Fabric Postcard and Picture

Scott Lake Fabric Postcard and Picture

Here’s a close-up look of the fabric postcard:

Scott Lake Fabric Postcard for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Scott Lake Fabric Postcard for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

I really love how this fabric postcard turned out, and I’d be so thrilled to be one of the finalists!

I plan to attend the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year, and I always stop by the wonderful postcard exhibit and auction.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Star Surround QAL Finish, Wicked Blog Hop, and More

The last two weeks have been very bittersweet. My grandfather passed away on September 8th at the age of 92. Although the whole family knew this day was coming, it was still quite a sad shock!

My grandfather absolutely loved the outdoors. He was an avid hunter and fisherman throughout his life. We decided to celebrate his spirit by going camping this weekend at Scott Lake.

Here are two of my favorite photographs:

For the sweet part of the past two weeks, I finished the Star Surround QAL. Thanks to Melissa at Happy Quilting for designing and hosting this fun project!

I decided to straight-line quilt to echo the star shapes in each block using my domestic sewing machine while my cat helpers sunbathed just out of view:

Quilting the Star Shapes

Quilting the Star Shapes

Here is what my final Star Surround quilt looks like all quilted and bound:

Star Surround Completed Front

Star Surround Completed Front

Star Surround Front with Three Sisters in Background

Star Surround Front with Three Sisters in Background


Star Surround Closeup

Star Surround Closeup

Star Surround Completed Back

Star Surround Completed Back

The back also uses fabric from the Mama Said Sew line plus a label and some more Essex Yarn Dyed in black. I hope that enjoyed looking at my completed project with central Oregon as a background!

Finally, a bit of fun and wicked news! I have joined the Wicked Blog Hop, hosted by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt. This blog hop runs from October 22nd – 31st so I do hope you’ll come check out all the great blogs featuring wicked Halloween projects.

Have a great week and happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, All About Cows! (Post 2)

Happy Saturday everyone!

This is my second post about the fabulous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show from last Saturday, July 13th.

I wanted to highlight a really cute exhibit called the “Whimsical Cow Stampede” featuring cow quilts from the book, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks by Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland. This book is on my must-buy list!

These quilts all used the cow pattern with a twist!

I think these cow quilts are so adorable especially since I have a Cow cat.

We decided to have a picnic lunch outside of Sisters to escape the heat and went up to Scott Lake. You can see part of the Three Sisters in the background. This is quiet little lake with a small campground that we’ll probably camp at in the future. Just remember to bring mosquito repellent!

Scott Lake, Oregon

Scott Lake, Oregon

I have more to pictures to upload from the quilt show so watch for my next post coming soon!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, Post 1

Hi everyone,

I had an amazing time last Saturday looking at all the wonderful quilts displayed in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. I took plenty of quilt show photos and will post them over the next few days.

I’ll start by posting this great view of the Three Sisters:

Three Sisters in July

Three Sisters in July

I love living here in Oregon, amongst these beautiful Cascade mountains and tall evergreens!

In this post, I’ll show you the three quilts that I displayed this year. The Hummer Storm quilt we found right away, but the other two quilts were a bit more difficult to find. We finally did find them at opposite ends of town.

I love this picture that my hubby took of my Hummer Storm quilt because you can see our son also taking a picture of me and the quilt with our little point-and-shoot camera:

Hummer Storm at Sisters

Hummer Storm at Sisters

Here’s a look at Yahoo Stars:

Yahoo Stars at Sisters

Yahoo Stars at Sisters

And Happy Halloween:

Happy Halloween at Sisters

Happy Halloween at Sisters

We started the day bright and early during the quilt hanging process. We finished touring the quilt show around 11:30 when our little guy decided he’d had enough of the quilts and wanted to go for a hike.

Proxy Falls, Oregon

Proxy Falls, Oregon

I hope you enjoyed this first post on the quilt show. Stay tuned for more quilt photos in my next post!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop Weekend

This weekend, I went shop hopping in central Oregon with my mom. It’s a gorgeous drive from the Willamette Valley over to central Oregon taking approximately 3 hours depending on photo stops! We had beautiful weather with clear blue skies and temperatures in the upper 70s.

I love seeing the Cascade mountain range still in wintery snow coats against the blue sky. By summertime, much of the snow has melted so the vistas, while stunning, do not have the same pizzazz as they do in the winter and spring.

Just outside of Sisters, Oregon, you’ll find this stunning scene of the Three Sister and Brokentop:

Three Sisters and Brokentop

Three Sisters and Brokentop

Home of the famous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and the Stitchin’ Post, this quaint town was our first of eight quilt store stops. We picked up our passports, a pattern, and a fat 1/8th. Each store in the shop hop contributed 1 piece of pattern that will create a mystery quilt. In addition, each store provided a free fat 1/8th which you could use to make a special shop hop quilt designed by Jean Wells of the Stitchin’ Post.

This is the shop hop quilt using fat 1/8ths plus additional batiks: (sorry for the blurriness!)

Shop Hop Quilt

Shop Hop Quilt

In total, we visited these 8 shops totaling about 450 miles from home:
The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Quiltworks in Bend, BJ’s Quilt Basket in Bend, Sew Many Quilts in Bend, Homestead Quilts in La Pine, Material Girls in Redmond, Quilter’s Attic in Terrebonne, and The Quilt Shack in Prineville.

Here’s a little slideshow featuring some of the stores, quilts, and scenery from the shop hop:

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It was a fun quilt shop hop, and I hope you enjoyed this little taste of central Oregon.

Three-Fingered Jack

Three-Fingered Jack


Enjoy!
~Jennifer