Red Button Adventure

I found this kit (pattern and buttons) at Sew Many Quilts in Bend, Oregon. I had heard of them and wanted to try one. Once I got home I realized that I needed reds a creams to create the piece so I picked them up from my local quilt shop.

The piecing part went quickly, now I am down to the embroidery and hand quilting. It is an adventure in things I had not tried until now.

The pattern is from Red Button Quilt Company called Little Red Three (#503).  They carry a couple others that I am interested in trying. Will wait until this one is done and hung up before I decide on the next.

The buttons are what really fascinated me. They are so tiny and I am not sure how they can make them this small. The ones in this kit are flower shaped. They also make round ones that are 1/8".

The reds are used are a mix of civil war and random reds and creams that went together and did not fight with each other. Until next time - I craft so I don't unravel~!

Oregon Diverse - Home Again

What I brought home - on to new projects:

Something for a wall hanging with orcas.

These lighthouses are so fun. Another wall hanging I think.

Two ideas for country quilts, these could do camping one summer.

Fun things for a future project. Loved the witch. And the Valori Wells Trinity quilt is made from leftover strips of which I have plenty.

This was a gift from one of my travel mates. I will try to get this one done for this Halloween.

Oregon Diverse - Special Report - Gossamer Yarns in Bend

I saved this as a special post because yarn shops were scarce in our travels around the state.

At one point we decided that Portland housed all the yarn shops so they could hog the fiber tourism.

We found Gossamer Yarns in Bend to be a fabulous shop with great staff, a fun bathroom with cool wallpaper and the best bike in town.

And the largest selection of Lamb's Pride Brown Sheep yarn I have ever seen.

The big find was the Freia yarn that was featured for a super cute sweater that one of my traveling partners wanted to knit but could not get the yarn because it was so popular. I even bought a skein for a shawl cowl that I will show you more about later.

Oregon Diverse - Part Two

The focus of the trip was the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, OR. This show was started 39 years ago by Jean Wells, the owner of the Stitching Post. What impressed me the most was the fact that the entire town participates in this show. There were over 500 volunteers involved in the preparation, execution and clean up.

Then picture above is about 6:30 a.m. the morning of the show as we were finding the breakfast. Look how quiet the main street looks...just wait.

The fun began with the firefights hanging the quilts on the end of the Stitchin Post. The crowed gasped as they "nailed" the quilts to the building. Really, nails.



This is a sunset from the house we stayed out about 7 miles north of town. Those are the three peaks called the Sisters.

 

We had the pleasure of visiting the Panorama Alpaca Ranch east of Sisters for lunch and a chance to go in the pasture with the new babies. This year they had seven total, the one closest is the only girl born this year.

 

And there were quilts everywhere. Over 1400 were hung for the show. Some of those were in businesses and stayed up all month. The rest were outside for just that day. They even have a Quilt Rescue crew that are tasked with taking them all down fast in case it rains. They told us that last year it did and all the outdoor quilts were down in 30 minutes, that is impressive.

The street above was about noon time. The numbers for the day neared 20,000 visitors. It was amazing how many tour buses were parked on the outskirts of town.

 

I love this crazy log cabin effect. It is one of the scrap ideas I brought home to try.

And the Portland Airport. The fun is over and it is time to go home.
We had lots of fun.

Oregon Diverse - Part One

A trip, that the planning has taken over six months to realize, is finally here. Off the group goes to Oregon to see everything they can from coastal delights to the finale at the 39th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

This is the first part of the trip that includes: lavender, alpacas, the hunt for yarn shops, coastal sites and wonders, cool and foggy weather, whale sightings, cheese, plus lots of giggles and making new friends.

This lavender farm is WillaKenzie Lavender and has acres of lavender and alpacas, located about halfway between Portland and Lincoln City on the coast.

 

It took a couple days to get this sunset from our house on the coast but it was worth it.

Everyone got their own traveling pillowcase, fashioned from their favorite colors, and a special souvenir lavender sachet bag.

Coastal pictures from the southern day trip to Florence in search of clam chowder, quilt shops and yarn shops. We did some whale spotting at Devil's Punchbowl and were successful just no pictures because they were too far out.

On our northern day trip we were excited to finally find a yarn shop however it was closed on that day. Only thing to do was gaze through the window and wish we could see what a Tsunami Hat was all about.

A picture from the Tillamook Cheese Factory, a smaller operation than I thought it would be. Then we learned that the real work factory was in Eastern Oregon. It was fun to learn the history of the cheesemaking and have samples and shop in the gift shop.

All in all a great first half of our trip. We did visit three very nice quilt shops: Quilter's Cove in Newport, Wenz-Daze in Florence and Jane's Fabric Patch in Tillamook. For yarn shops we only got into A Yarn for All Seasons in Newport; all others were either closed for good or just the day we were looking for them. So elusive the yarn fibers.