A Triple Decker

 I just had to join in

Humble Quilt's SAL.

Lori was calling it Country Roads.

If I were "walkin' down a country road" near me,

  this is what I would see.

And this is my "Country Roads".

26" x 28"

I enjoy working on Lori's little quilts.

She keeps it simple.

Did you catch my humility block?

Not on purpose, just a continually reminder.

I love the look of quilts with no borders,

but I have a hard time leaving them off.

So I added two, one only 1/2" and the outer

border with two different widths.

I dug deep in the sewing stash and used

some ancient fabrics.

The center gold/cheddar is from a very 

early line of Fons and Porter called Cumberland.

The narrow border and binding from a 

Barbara Brackman line called Trailing Vines.

 And on the back, the oldest fabrics,

 are from Country Threads'

first line, Welcome.
Does anyone remember these?

Boy, did that feel good.

Thanks, Lori for another 

fun sew along.

****

I was recently a winner

of Diane's giveaway over at Butterfly Threads.

She sent me a copy 

of the newest magazine from

Simply Moderne, issue #2.

I hadn't had a chance to thoroughly enjoy

this magazine yet so,

 I was really thrilled to receive a copy.

It's filled with stunning photos,

modern style quilts,

and new ideas from young designers,

like my blogger friend,

Rachael at Blue Mountain Daisy.

There's a beautiful full page photo of her

prize winning red and white quilt from the recent

Sydney Quilt show. 

Check it out!

Yes, it certainly lives up to the standards 

of the original magazine, Quiltmania.

I'm going to have to add this to my

magazine subscriptions.

Diane also generously sent 3 of her
own published patterns.

You can find these and more over at Craftsy.

Thanks, Diane.

****

It's been almost

20 years ago since I went to the

International Quilt Festival in Houston

but I'm heading there next week!

I'm so excited.

I'm leaving plenty of empty space in my

bags and I'm ready for some

quilting overload, 

and maybe a bit of overindulgence.

Unfortunately, I'm there only one day

so I'm going to have to move in overdrive.
Did I say I was excited?

Until Next Time-

Flow With the Seasons

 I have a very dear quilting friend

whose stitching philosophy

is to work on seasonal projects

during the same season.

That way she's working with the

colors and styles that represent

that particular time of the year.

I understand her thoughts,

 It surrounds you with 

seasonal expressions. 

Although, I have to admit,

 I'm usually a season or more behind

or on a few occasions, I'm actually ahead.

 Depending on how you look at it!

But this time

I was right on.

I finished working on 

my "Autumn" pillow

designed by Crabapple Hill.

If you remember I started this a 

few weeks ago while

 sitting and waiting for Running Man

to finish running 50 miles.

I had gotten to this point 

by the time he crossed the finish line.

For the last couple of weeks

I've been enjoying the rest of the stitching

 

as the fall colors have begun to appear

in my neck of the woods.

The design incorporated a few bits of wool

for the leaves and rosehips.

It gave the pillow solid spots of color

on the outer edges.

The directions also suggested a 

small wool scalloped border

which I tacked down with french knots. 

 I used a small hand dyed brown piece that

had been lingering in my wool bin.

I liked how it framed the embroidery.

I had three pieces of fabric that I wanted to use.

One for the border,

the marble for the cording

and the dots for the backing,

but sometimes you just have to improvise.

It was a sweet project to work on

and now it's ready to enjoy

during the "current" Autumn season.

Until Next Time-

The Nine Patch Connection

When Barb Vedder

of Fun With Barb

organizer a nine patch swap in June of 2014,

I decided to join in.

And I'm glad I did.

My 3" reproduction nine patch blocks 

were mailed to her,

she did her magic of swapping them around,

and I in return received beautiful nine patches

made from 50 different quilters around the world. 

Barb's tutorial for making fast

and accurate nine patches can be found

on her blog Here.

It's a great method.

I wanted to do something special 

with these blocks.

Here's what I came up with,

nine patches side by side and 

 two borders of appliqued leaves.

The colors just say fall,

 especially with the cheddar fabric behind the applique.

 I did big stitch quilting using

 

both an orange mustard and a medium bark

Aurifil #12 

which is their heaviest cotton thread

 on a spool.

 

It was beautiful thread to work with

and never frayed as I stitched.

I had to order it online from

Pumpkinvine Corner

out of Georgia.

 It was a wonderful project to participate in.

Thanks again to everyone who included blocks.

 I feel connected with so many quilters

just by their sweet little nine patches.

I also wanted to show you the tree I was using 

for my photo shoot.

It was a magnificent old cottonwood tree

living in the field behind my house.

In the spring,

a storm gave it a mighty push 

and down it can.

It would take at least 4-5 people

to circle the circumference of the base.

It's sad to see

this mighty tree toppled over,

but I could tell other critters 

had taken up residence in the fallen branches. 

So her usefulness continues on.

As I age, I hope

that can always be said about me.

Until Next Time-

Santa Fe

Before heading to the 

Bear Chase Trail Run,

Running Man and I visited

 

for some Rand R, as well

good New Mexican Mexican cuisine.

Santa Fe is a very unique place.

There are hundreds of local art galleries,

multiple cultures

 

 to explore

and trinkets to try on.

The farmer's market was

full of all kinds of peppers

sweet and hot.

The architecture is

uniquely Santa Fe

from churches 

to every public building

and of course in the condo we

stayed in,

 which we found through VRBO.

There's so much to do in the area.

We've been here before so

this time we decided to explore the

Museum of International Folk Art.

The permanent display features

a "small" portion of 

Alexander and Susan Girard's

 

collection of over 100,000 pieces

 that they had collected for their 

whimsy,

cultures,

 and beauty.

There really is too much to see in one visit.

This was Polish paper cutting

which looks like it was done with fabric and appliqued.

This mural was done with yarn

pressed into warmed beeswax.

Amazing!

We also visited and learned more about the Puye Cliff Dwellings 

home of the Pueblo Indians

from 900AD to 1580 AD.

The drive through this scenic part of the country 

is wide open and truly the Land of Enchantment.

 

Just one more thing,

if you happen to be a fan of the TV series Longmire,

you can find Walt's Sheriff's office

actually on the plaza in Las Vegas, NM

where some of the series is filmed.

Enjoy your travels wherever they take you.

 Until Next Time-

The Bear Chase

 It was almost 90 degrees

last Saturday.

Way too warm for the end of September.

But despite the predicted scorching weather,

Running Man and about 50 other

crazy Ultra marathon runners took to the trails
to run the 50 mile Bear Chase Trail Run
held in Morrison, Co.

 It's always an early start for
these races.

Even before the sun comes up.

Here's me and my little spot for the
long day.

Running Man's race was for 50 miles, but
there were also runners doing a 100K, (62 miles)
and a 50 K (31 miles)

Ready, Set, Go!
Look at all those crazy people.

The course was a 12.5 mile loop,
which made my job as the CREW pretty easy.
 I just stayed in one spot and waited
for Running Man to show up.

The course was through open fields

 

 and through creeks

With the temp around 90 degrees

everyone was trying to stay cool
by dumping water over themselves.

Not a cloud in the sky

or a tree for shade.

Some of the crews had great set up with
tents and BBQ grills.

 

Remember my little set up?
Some of the younger groups must have felt
sorry for this older crew person and
invited me in under the shade.
Good thing, because I would have fried!

So what do you do for about 11 hours
while your runner is

 hopefully avoiding bears?

You sit and stitch,

 an embroidery by Crabapple Hill, called Autumn.
Hard to see the design,
but look what I had done by the end of Running Man's race.

Running Man was a superhero

and crossed the finish line in 10 hours, 34 minutes.

He looks a little spent,
needless to say,
but he was first in his age group, 60+,
and 16th over-all.

What do you win?
This

and bragging rights.

It was a good day
and a good run

despite the heat.
Easy for me to say!

Until Next Time-