September Sew-in at Anacortes

Once a month a group of quilters - who all met online - get together in Anacortes, WA in a little cottage to sew and eat and laugh.

One thing we do while there is have show and tell - and the fun we have looking at everyone's great work. This month was exciting, as always.

This is Diane's first quilt - gorgeous isn't it? She had started to hand quilt it - then put it away and only recently got it out, and brought it because one of the sew-in members asked to see it. We are all very happy that she brought it and can't wait to see it finished.

Vicki brought a lot of her flimsies ( unquilted tops) to share with us - each one a treasure.

I love the border on another of Vicki's flimsies - the rainbow effect just suits this top.

A wonderful sampler that Vicki made - that girl can sure make quilts!!!

Another of Vicki's UFOs - this one is partially quilted - and wonderful!!! There is an annual tulip festival near Anacortes and this quilt reflects that with the rows and rows of "tulips". The fields of flowers are amazing to see and walk through at the festival.

I tried to convince Vicki that this wallhanging needed to come to my house for a visit - I don't think she agreed with me.

Another flimsy from Vicki - she certainly did show us some fabulous work.

Our group has a tradition of making heart quilts for our members - in times of joy or sadness. We each piece a block, called Jake's block, of a patchwork heart. Someone volunteers to put the blocks together into a top and one of the machine quilters in our groups quilts them and someone else usually does the binding. If someone can't participate in making a block they might send money for the batting, or supply the backing, so it is really a group project. Some of the ladies even make two or more blocks - always in the recipient's favorite color.

This month we presented a baby quilt to one of our youngest members, Michelle, who is expecting on September 26. This is their third baby, and it will make three girls - three wonderful little princesses for their family.

One of the member presenting the quilt to Michelle - we really surprised her!


Diane set the quilt together - a very clever setting for the heart blocks, and JoAnn's husband machine quilted it. He has a longarm business on the side and does fabulous work. We always appreciate it when he does the machine quilting for us. This one was done in pink thread with butterflies - just perfect for the coming princess. Two other members, Sheila and Robin have also quilted some of the tops.


This is the back of the quilt - don't you just adore the pink leopard fabric? And the extra heart blocks are used on the back - so you can see the shape of the block, before Diane set them together for the quilt top.

Daisy - Michelle's mother-in-law, made this darling princess quilt for Michelle's oldest daughter. This was not a surprise - Daisy is making quilts for all her grandchildren.

A close up of some of the princess panels. Daisy has it pinned for quilting.

And that was our day - there were a couple other quilts that I didn't get a photo of - and Diasy's camera wasn't working so she had none to add. It was a grand day - I look forward to next month.

It's been a while - and look at this quilt!!!!

I've missed all you bloggers - I have been reading but not posting - it's been a hectic week or two and today I have some down time - down because I've got a nasty cough and cold and can't do much else but sit here in front of the computer - and nap in the easy chair. Just finished my second nap of the day - so here I am.

On September 5th I went to an all day sew-in with friends in Anacortes, a lovely little town about an hour south and west of Bellingham - you'd think you couldn't go much more west of here, since we are on the coast. We rent a little cottage in Anacortes that is set up for crafting and spend the whole day stitching and eating and talking and eating and laughing - and, well you get the idea.

During show and tell I took out that antique quilt that I bought for a quarter - and in the super bright sunlight of the day - made some fabulous discoveries.

Names - on the quilt blocks - tiny white embroidered names.

There was Isabella F.

and Emily H.

Eilene M.

Edna F. - is she related to Isabella F.?

Ruth Mary D.

Marion H.

and Jeanne D or Joanne D. - this one was very worn

And in larger embroidery - the date - 1933 - the photo came out a little blurry
but it is very plain on the quilt.

I don't know why I didn't see the names before. If you look the last post you can make out one of the names very faintly in one of the photos. So who were these ladies, where did they live, was it here in Bellingham, or someplace else? What was their connection? And why no last names, only initials? Were they related to each other or just friends? Did they get together and quilt this quilt or did they make this for one of the members of their group? Oh the questions - but no more answers. The lady who sold it to me (for a quarter) lived in an apartment down the road and she was moving to S. Bellingham to live with and care for her great grandmother so I will probably never see her again to ask these questions. When she sold it to us she didn't seem attached to the quilt - just wanted to sell things. I'm so happy that I have it - and the memories that are tied up in the quilt - so I guess I'll have to make up my own story about the quilt - but that is for another day.

And my next post will be of the show and tell from the Anacortes Sew-in -

see you there.

Vintage thingie Thursday and Thrifty Thursday

It is time for Vintage Thursday Thingee - and I've got some great things to share. Please join us at Coloradolady, where Suzanne is our hostess, to see vintage thingies!

And stop over at Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday!

We stopped at a yard sale last Saturday - a lady had put all her stuff out on the lawn near the ponds in our community. We aren't allowed yard sales here - so we were surprised to see her there. We asked if she was from the community and she told us she was from the apartments across the road, but that this was the perfect spot for a yard sale.

We knew that soon the management of the community would see her and scare her off - but we shopped anyway. I started asking prices -

for a nice serving bowl - 25 cents, two for the price of one. . .

a cute folding sand chair that the boys could use - 25 cents . . .

some pretty silverware - 25 cents for all of it. . .

a pretty little pickle fork - free . . .

a mandolin - 25 cents - lots of extra blades for this too . . .

Everything was spread out on an old quilt and Don asked - how much for the quilt - and she said - are you ready, maybe you'd better sit down - go ahead, ohhh you already are sitting down. She said - a quarter!!!!!

Well, we couldn't get that stuff unloaded off the quilt fast enough. She apologized that the quilt was in bad shape -but I said - I can always use parts of it - and for a quarter - well, what can I say - what a deal!!!!

I love the tulip design and the thirties colors . . .

Most of the quilt is in fair to good condition . . .

The edges are badly frayed on one end - I imagine that this was wrapped about some boxes and stuff in the back of a pickup on moving day and allowed to flap in the wind - from the extent of the damage I'd say it was a long trip. But most of the quilt is in fairly good shape, considering its age and the treatment it has gotten.

Ohh poor little quilt . . .

All raggedy and frayed . . .

But I shall clip off the frayed edges and find some matching fabric to rebind the edges and it will be a happy quilt once again. After repairs it will be a good throw size for napping on the sofa.

I'm so glad we stopped at that yard sale - got some other things there too - for 25 cents each, but they were't vintage - just great deals. On the way home we noticed that the lady had moved her sale across the street to a narrow strip of grass near the apartments. I hope she sold everything, and it is pretty likely - since she had such good prices. Glad we were first.

What are they doing down there?

There is a very small park in Bellingham - it sits high above the bay on a cliff. There is a parking lot, a few trails, a sign that you can read all about the park - not much to read - it is a small sign - an apple tree and a bench. The train runs right along just below the park, but high enough on the cliff that you can see it when it passes the park. I often wonder how they keep that track from sliding down into the bay - especially with all the rumbling of the train.

We like to buy hamburgers from a drive-in called Morrie's. They feature triple decker burgers, the best milkshakes in town and wavy french fries to die for - and if you want some teriyake, they have that too. Then we drive down the coast a little ways to the park - and park and eat our feast. There seems always to be someting interesting to see from atop the cliff overlooking the bay.
One day we kept seeing these "kites" - and discovered that para sailing was in full swing. They swooped and dove and dipped and ran along the water - and up the cliffs and over and above us in the wind currents - what a fine day for the sport.

We often saw three or more of the sails from our car - we never thought to walk over to the edge of the cliff and get a better view - but we did use the binoculars - or "bird - noculars" as Ben calls them.
In this one you can see the little tiny guy flitting along the waves far below - he was moving pretty fast too.

Another gal way down below and lots of sails . . .

They never got tangled - and I don't know why not. . .

Whooosh . . .

See the guy in the lower front - being pulled along - they had such fun!

All in all - a good day for a car picnic of burgers, fries and a milkshake - and some fun with para sailing.

I took over 100 photos - but only showed you a few - aren't you glad?

To the Mountains

We love the mountains of Washington. We have mountains to the east and north - they are amazingly beautiful and change with the seasons. Before Don's surgery we took a long ride in the spring on a gorgeous day. It was nice to get out and be with nature for a while.

The Sisters are heavily covered with snow during the winter - and most of it melts each spring. They are the first mountains to lose their snow. When we first moved to WA we couldn't remember if these mountains were the Sisters or the Brothers - so we still call them the Siblings.

Looking out across a valley at The Sisters . . .the peace and quiet in this spot is amazing. . .

Along the way we passed these horses grazing in a field - they looked up at us and went contentedly back to grazing . . .

We drove past a lake and could see Mt. Baker in the distance. Mt. Baker is our most famous mountain in this area. It is over 10,000 feet and a skier's paradise in the winter. It set a new record for the most snowfall ever measured in the U.S. in a single season. The U.S. Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that the Mt. Baker Ski Area in northwestern Washington State reported 1,140 inches of snowfall for the 1998-99 snowfall season, that is over 95 FEET of snow - or just over 31 yards - that is a lot of snow! Makes me cold just to think of it.


I took this picture of the lodge on the mountain in March of one year (not on this particular trip to the mountains) - after a lot of the snow had melted and the roads were open to cars. The lower windows in this picture are on the third floor of the lodge. The snow formed huge walls along the road - much taller than our car. We didn't go any farther than this - it was just too scary - and there was an avalanche warning posted so we didn't want to be involved in that.

Do you see the old man on Mt. Baker?

Along the way we saw this fabulous wisteria tree - what a grand idea. . .

And a line of these old metal wheels - leaning against piles of rocks to form a fence. You just never know what you'll see on the way to the mountains.