Good Morning All.  I am enjoying thinking about my blog again. There is something very nice about writing about what I am working on that gets me thinking about it a bit more.  I was very productive when I was sharing before and I loved getting the feedback for all of you.
This piece is one I call "Windy Bay Triptych"  It was created with Re-purposed Wool Suiting.  I love being able to take something that many would throw away and use it for something altogether different.  While living on the Oregon Coast there are many things I loved and recreated a few of them in this piece.
   

I am back!

Well, it has been too long.  It has been almost three years since I wrote in my blog.  So much has happened.  We have moved twice, sold one home purchased another and now have that one on the market.  We are now back in the Rogue Valley and enjoying life. 

I have been a busy girl.  In between moving a couple of times I have continued to quilt and create.  I have been making some Sweater Coats which are inspired by Katwise.  I purchased her tutorial and they started a new creative outlet. 

Here is the first coat I listed on my new/old Etsy Shop.  My shop name is SaylerMadeOregon.  I am learning all about this online marketing and one of the suggestions I read said that I should start writing a blog...  So that explains to you why I am back.  I always thought writing this was good for me and now I have a bit more motivation to get that task done.

I have missed being here and it is fun to look back and see what I was working on three plus years ago.  That being said...  Where has all the time gone.  The older I get the faster time flies.

The second Teeny weeny

A month ago I finished my second Teeny Weeny. Pictured here is the first and second. Earth and wind. The earth piece was done with hand quilting and needle turn appliqué. I tried using fused pieces in by wind piece. I am currently working on my fire piece. I decided to make them the same size but they don't really have anything in common other than their size...

If you would like to read about the challenge take a look at my post from September 29, 2011.

Inspiration

Here are somemore photos from my trip. Every morning I got up and went for a walk on the beach. We were lucky enough to have summer in February so it was too nice not to get out there and enjoy. The patterns in the sand were amazing and the long flat stretch of sand was so nice for walking. I hope to use some of these ideas in my quilting soon! In the mean time I thought I would share them with you. Enjoy.

Here is my value work. I have had a difficult time judging my medium values. Some are on the dark side and others are too light. I will continue to work on that but not on this. I have worked on this one long enough. Time to move on! It will be a queen size quilt when finished. I finally have this quilt assembled and ready to be quilted. I think I will send this one off to be quilted, I just don't think I am ready to quilt something so large.

I am hoping to have some time to play on my other projects this weekend and maybe finish my valentines.... I know they are late. It had been busy around here.

Enjoy your weekend, I will.

Progress

Things are moving right along on my colorful quilt! I am having a good time working on this one but the progress is slow! Looking at this now as a photo I would have made a few color changes but I am not going to go backwoods, I will live with my choices...

The world away from my quilting has been keeping me busy. I have been working a bit more than I am used to I know many of you work full time and don't feel a bit sorry for me but I am spoiled! I am
Looking forward to having my day tomorrow to sew! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Time on the beach

Sewing and playing

I spent the last week on the Northern Oregon Coast with a couple of friends. We took a class, laughed, walked, ate and of course quilted. I had a wonderful time. It was very inspiring to spend time sharing ideas. The three of us are working on the Jacqueline deJonge, Colorful Quilt. They are coming along nicely. However in my naive way I was sure I would be finishing the top at the end of "Quilt Camp". I am no where near close to completing it. I am about 1/3 of the way through it.

I have been absent from my blog. I am trying to figure out how to fit it all in. I may spend some time just adding photos and see how I do with that... Time will tell.

December Work and Fun

I have been a busy girl... Sorry for my very long absence! I have been working at my real job and sewing for friends. Work is very busy around the holidays so I spend more hours there than I am accustomed to but I work with some wonderful people so it is all OK... It also provides more money for fun things like fabric.

The first photograph are the two gifts I created for two of my quilting friends. The two women I went on the quilt run with in February and I purchased fabric at each store we visited and then divided the fabric between the three of us. We were each to make a wall hanging that measured 10 x 55 from the fabric we received and then we would present them to one another at our Winter Solstice Party. The two hangings below are the two wall hangings I received from my friends. I think they are just beautiful. So different from each other but incredible together! I will also make one for myself so the Three of them can hang together.



We had a last minute change in our holiday plans. Our kids had very busy schedules so Mark and I decided to pack everything up and travel to our daughters home for Christmas and our son who lives in the same town came to join us. It was such an enjoyable time. All I cared about was spending the time with my family and we did that so I am a very Happy Mom! I hope all of you had a safe and fun holiday.

Butch Wishes each of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Photo Enhancement

A few weeks ago I won a blog drawing for a Quilting Arts DVD from Diane Rusin Doran. I wrote about it here. I have been playing with photos and learning how to manipulate the photos and prepare them for printing on fabric. I have been working on single photos at this time but I hope to spend some time soon layering several photos together to form a single image. Above is the unaltered photo, and below is the enhanced photo which I will use in my first project.
I love the intensity of the altered photo and the images will reproduce so much better on the fabric it will be printed on. Unfortunately I have not been able to work on this very much. Life seems to keep getting in the way...

I spent the last week on the couch trying to survive a terrible cold. I have not had one like this in years... fortunately! I kept trying to work on photos and applique but it just was not going to happen. Instead I napped and napped some more. I am feeling so much better now!!!

Now I am preparing for my family. Our children will be home for Thanksgiving along with my Mom and Dad and Brother and his wife. I am very excited about all of them being here at the same time. I am looking forward to some quality time with all of them. Unfortunately my Sister and her family will not be joining us and we will miss them!

I hope all of you are going to have an incredible week, and for those of you here in the US, I hope you are going to be able to enjoy some time with family and friends.

Something starting with S

Here is my addition to my pet robin. The rule was "something starting with S" Being me I decided it could not be something simple like a stripe or star or other things as obvious. I did my version of sawtooth... I like it and I like the addition of the yellow. Next I need to come up with "Braid" and I will be all caught up.

I have also decided I want to add more of the purple which you see on the right half running from the top to the bottom. I want to incorporate more of this color. My problem is I don't have much more of it left. I am going to send off samples today to a couple of my favorite quilt stores to see if they have it... Wish me luck.

One rule at a time

Our Quilt Guild had a challenge last February, every month we would each put a "rule" in a bag and one was drawn. We have been doing this for 9 months. This is my progress so far. I am not really liking it but I am going to keep going. The rules have been as follows:
Square in a Square
Checkered
Triangle in a Square
Applique
Circles or Dots
Stripes
Braid
Flying Geese
Something starting with "S"

I have the last few rules to complete. I am using Shot Cottons, these fabrics have been very enjoyable to work with . I went into this with no real plan other than wanting to use Shot Cottons. If I were to do this again I would really concentrate on my fabrics colors. I think I got carried away here....

I am hoping to get the top finished this weekend...

Pumpkin Carving Party

Mark and I were invited to a Pumpkin Carving Party. It was an incredible afternoon and evening with friends being creative, making a mess and watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean! We had such fun.
Mark was not sure he wanted to do this and even he had fun carving his spider. The hostess provided patterns for us to use. I had never used a pattern for carving a pumpkin but it proved to be very fun. You tape the pattern on the pumpkin and follow the pattern by poking holes along the lines. After marking your pumpkins we removed the patterns and began carving by following the dots... I enjoyed the process. Next year I think it would be fun to draw our own.

These are my friendly ghosts... I hope all of you are having a wonderful week.

Proud Mamma

I wanted to share with you some work from my daughter. Stevi is an incredible photographer and has opened an Etsy shop! She is running a special this month where she is offering free shipping.

She has an incredible eye for beauty. Go take a look and let me know what you think. Please feel free to share her site with anyone you think would enjoy her work!

I have been busy working around the house and have not been stitching very much. I hope that will change soon. I am off to carve pumpkins with friends today so I will share photos of that soon.

It is my lucky day!

I entered a blog giveaway the other day for this DVD by Diane Doran, I am so very excited, when I got up this morning and checked my emails, I had a message from Vivika Denegre that I had been selected as the WINNER!!! This is the perfect DVD for me. I won it by visiting a wonderful new blog, Vivika DeNegre Art Quilts. I love Vivika's work, she makes wonderful art quilts. Her blog really struck a cord with me since she has some quilts where she has incorporated vintage maps in some of her work. You should go and visit! I really have a thing for maps. In college I took classes in cartography and had always hoped to draw and color maps for a living...
Here are a couple of photos I toke last month and think they will be very fun to incorporate into a quilt using the new processes I will learn all about with my new DVD!!!

We have had a couple of incredible days here! No wind and lots of sunshine! We spent a couple of hours on the beach yesterday with Butch (the dog)... He is still trying to sleep off the effects of chasing the tennis ball a few too many times! I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend. ENJOY!!!!

Quilt Raffle

Well, here it is. This is the Gold Beach Quilt guild Raffle Quilt. We have been in the planning and sewing for the last 10 months or so. I was part of the design committee which consisted of 6 members. The quilt itself was worked on by 20 members of the guild who did the piecing and the hand applique. One of our members, Shelley Knapp who is a professional quilter did the quilting.

I am very happy with the completed quilt. It is a Queen size, 82" x 106". It is currently hanging in a local bank. We will be holding the drawing next year at our local Quilt Show, on September 16, 2012.

I have tickets available if any of you are interested. The tickets are a dollar each or 6 for $5.00. You don't have to be present to win. So if you are interested drop me an email or leave a comment and I will contact you.

The money we raise will go to our educational programs, and purchasing batting and flannel for our Quilts for Comfort.
We provide a flannel quilt to every newborn in the county.
We provide quilts to the County's American Red Cross, providing quilts
to families in need.
We provide lap quilts to people receiving hospice care in Curry County.

Thanks for allowing me to post an advertisement. :-) I hope all of you have a wonderful week.

Playing with Value

Here is a bit of the progress on my Color Value Quilt. I found this pattern in the book by Christine Barnes, called the The Quilters Color Club. The pattern came from the book. I enjoyed picking out colors based on value. As you can see I do well with dark's and light's but not so good on the medium values. I am liking this though. I am also doing a bit of thinking and trying to decide whether or not to use any sashing. The pattern does not use any but I am not sure. I may just use the striped fabric for the border and maybe a strip between one row of blocks... What do you think?

I will probably be moving squares around today and playing with it a bit. We are having some rainy days so it is a good time to play in the studio. Oh, and I guess I may have to do a bit of ironing today... :-( Not my favorite thing. M is running out of work shirts so I guess I better be a good wife and do a bit of ironing.

Earth Teeny Weeny

I took part in the Port Orford Guild's Teeny Weeny. This time the fabrics were "Earth"... We were given 16 strips of fabric one from each of the participants. I added the background fabric. I had fun with this. Years ago before marriage and children I worked as a Cartographer for a geologist in Wyoming. I drew maps and one of the other jobs was to assemble logs from various core samples of the earth. After they were arranged I would connect them and color them for a visual representation of the earth. So when I got my fabrics and thought of the earth, that is where my mind went.

It was a very fun project and I am happy with the result. I did Needle turn applique and hand quilted this piece. I also tried something new and made a facing like binding. I did not want the piece to have a traditional binding but it needed a clean finished edge.

I am excited for next week when we will share our creations with the group and I will get the next batch of fabric which will be "air"...

Oregon to Colorado and back

A few weeks ago I got to fly to Colorado and spend some much needed time with my Parents and then I drove a car back to Oregon. It was a wonderful adventure. I flew into Denver, Mom and Dad picked me up and we spent the night in Denver and then went to the Denver Art Museum the next day to see the show called "Marvelous Mud" It was so great. There were so many incredible pieces of Ceramic art work. I was inspired. There were wonderful pieces around every corner. The museum itself was a beautiful piece of architecture.

Then we traveled south to my parents home in the Mountains of Southern Colorado. It was fun to be with them. Time passed to quickly for me, I enjoy spending time with them and it seems to never be long enough. One of the reason's for my trip was to pick up a car they were giving me. So I had a 1,700 mile trip ahead of me to return home.

My travel home went well and I did really enjoy myself. I am now here and hoping to get back to my sewing and back to quilting. I have missed being in my studio.

A couple of weeks ago our community Hospice had a fund raising Rummage Market. It was a huge success and brought in over $46,000 for end of life care for those in our community. It is such a worthy program. I volunteer for these sales. It is a fun social event as well as a worthy cause. The above photo is one of my favorite purchases. It is a hanging lamp. It has a few wiring problems so I am still thinking about how to fix that or have it fixed. But for $7.00 it was a great purchase and is already hanging where it will live. I think it is so beautiful.

I have it hanging with one of my little Port Hole pieces in our bedroom.

I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe weekend.

Thinking of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks...