Trip to Oregon first stop was Acorns & Threads

Where I met up with these love zoom friends who are avid cross stitchers I know from Acorns & Threads.  It was so lovely of them to come to visit with me in person.  The classroom annex is a lovely place to stitch.  We had to shift to make room for more stitchers the day I went on the First Thursday stitch.

I left the group early so I could drive up to Bend where I stayed for 4 nights and explored and met up with some more friends. On the Friday I met my friend Michelle at Black Butte Ranch.  They have a small quilt show just before the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  It was a bit of a challenge getting there as there was a car fire causing traffic delays our friend Carrie couldn’t find parking so she headed back to Sistrrs to do some shopping before the big event.

The quilts are made by residents in the Black Butte Community,  the winds were quite brisk so some of the quilts were flapping away.  They had lovely taped harp music and it was delightful to sit and enjoy the venue.

Te Sister’s mountains off in the distance.

This and the next quilt were made by the same person same pattern just different fabrics.

Wandering around the Teachers Pavilion I ran int 3 of the 4 Twisted Sisters.  The fourth was on a cuise in Norway!  They are always a colourful group of women.

This year I missed the firemen putting up the staff quilts on the side of the Stitchin’ Post building.

This was a fun scrappy quilt the different fabrics especially in the tree trunk wer quite wonderful,

On a closer look there wa a little lonely green sheep.

So many wonderful greens and browns and a kit if thought went into this piece.

Next to the tree quilt was this amazing piece by a second artist.  It looked so textural and real.

It was cooler than usual but it’s so hard to manage to see everyone.  Sometimes an overall view is the best way to enjoy the show.

But some pieces need that up close and personal photo.

These were all in a row and were breath taking.

I love crow quilts especially when a full moon is involved.

In the teacher’s pavilion there was a display of Sue Spargo wool quilts.  Several years ago I lucked into buying a kit for the Peacock and on this trip I found the pattern on sale so it will become another wool project on my to do list.

HomeGrown which I saw in 2019 when I took a workshop with Sue in Calgary at Out of Hand.

Earth ‘N’ Twig another older block of the month by Sue.

Squash Squad by Sue Spargo stitched by her friend Tonye Phillip’s on display in the Stitchin’ Post.

Rooted a newly released Lite block of the month a good one trying Sue’s style of wool embellishing stitching.

Of A Feather also a new released block of the month pattern.

On the Sunday after there is an event at the 5 pines Resourt just outside of Sisters.  Sarah Fielke an Australian quilter the the guest presenter,  I’ve started several of her blocks of the month.  This is one that caught my eye after it had commenced.  I’ve done most of the appliqué blocks but not the pieced ones.

The one on the right is another that I’ve started but not finished.  I really don’t have a lot left to do one it.

Folk Tales most of the inside appliqués are done but not the borders or pieced sashing.

Enjoying the quilts and walking amongst the pines is a lovely way to finish a busy weekend.

This was Sarah’s trip out of Australia since July 2019 coming to Sisters is one of her favourite trips to take.

The quilt on the right is another block of the month.  These are all published and she has video tutorials for you to access each month.

Sarah loves making quilts with words.

 On a construction note the new exterior is starting to be revealed on the cul du sac side  some have patios finished others still needing railings and glass sidings to be added.

They’ve been removing the scaffolding from the top to the second floor and removing the construction curtaining.  When I leave my condo I now come out to natural light which took a bit to get used to after 4 months of blue tinged light.

I came home to new windows throughout my condo some finishing was still needed to be done and they ended out taking my big window out again as the frame wasn’t quite square.  But they had it back in within 3 hours so the finishing carpenter could do the wood trim for me.  Now to decide what colours to paint in which room and what kind of window treatments ti I want to get.  The old vertical Venetian blinds went to the garbage recycling when they came down.

A few of my purchases, the Peacock pattern.

I couldn’t resist this cute notepad perfect for in your handbag or tote.

Some mini buttons for some cross stitch patterns I bought.  I went back to Acorns & Thread for Biscornu Wednesday.  I didn’t have one to stitch but I did buy two patterns and linen for them.  They were out of the patter when I was there the previous week.

Some tiny Mill Hill beads for the two projects,

At the shop they had a stack of 3 biscornu that were stitched on 3 different counts of linen.  They did the crab one as both the smallest and largest sizes.

Then they made the dragonfly and frog one the middle size and stack them  one on top of each other.

These are the linens u got.  A soft turquoise and two blues which are different in real life,

I also bought a third pattern while I was away which has arrived.  An octopus and coral design.

Word of the Year

Last year my word was Inspire.  Both as a seeker of it and hopefully being an inspiration for others to find in things I have done or do through the year.  A past word has been Create.  This year I think I'm making the phrase Inspire Creativity to be my touchstone.

I came across this Instagram Post that someone I follow had shared and decided to play along.  What are the first four words you see?   I'll tell you later in the post what mine were.

January 1st I decided to start this cross stitch called Begin by Bent Creek.  Well it didn't quite go as planned.  I had to change the colour of the linen I chose as I didn't realize how long the piece was plus the recommended borders for finishing the piece.  I was lucky to find something else that a friend had found in a thrift shop that she gave me along with several other pieces of linen. Irene has my gratitude for gifting me with these pieces of linen and also a wonderful fish depression glass bowl her eagle eyes found for me last year.

I love things with words on them.  When I saw this key chain I knew it would make a great thread ring.  It also speaks to my love of travel and the connections you make along the road with friend, family and sometimes even strangers who become friends.

Here was my piece by day 2.  Of the 9 threads listed only 4 had symbols.  I have two friends in Oregon who are also going to do this piece so I reached out to them. Sadly Robin's copy was like mine lacking and Anna was moving and hadn't yet found her box with charts and linens when she first was looking.

I've also started a Wintersal with Stitchonomy. I chose to get the kit with Aida cloth and the threads which are very well organized.  I'm not sure exactly how many different colours we were sent.

After a series of Pacific Storms we had an unexpected change of some blue skies with wind blowing us around.

I love watching the cycle of the Witch Hazel during the Winter.  The orange variety blooms a week or more ahead of the yellow one.

They remind me of spider crabs a bit don't you think?

The Winter flowering Viburnum is also opening its lovely scented blossoms. Both of these plants have such strength in their beautiful colourful displays.  We have a lot of rain and occasional snow and they weather thru it all.

I took some pictures earlier in the week during the rain but they look so delicate against the blue skies.

This was my journal I used last year.  I started it in February so I still have one more month to use it.

Each of the dividing pages has some special thoughts for the month.

This is the 18 month one I got for this year.  It is a larger book and has some goal setting prompts in it.

The new one has a pocket in front to keep certain special papers.

It also has goal setting pages with various prompts on it.

A good goal for us all.

Part 4 stitched and part 5 arrived a short while ago.

I decided from the picture that the next tree was a solid colour and stitched it.  Later in the day I got an email from Anna her copy is a different edition its printed on brown not white paper and her version had the proper key to it.  I'm so grateful for this as Bent Creek has yet to respond to my query about the key.

If you have been reading this closely you will have found what the words I first found were.  

Gratitude, Connections, Change and Strength.  

My gratitude to good friends and family and the staff caring for my mom and other residents of the care home where she live. 

 Connections that have been made thru my blog with Anna and then meeting her friends in Sisters and Portland. Also thru workshops and quilting groups which have been a lifeline during this pandemic time. I cant wait to be able to travel and see them all again along with family in other provinces.

The ability to Change when you can't just drop everything and go to the store when you want to.  Having the Strength to hold onto the hope that things will improve if everyone takes the time to respect the science of what the Doctors and care givers are presenting to us.

Doing this  so we can continue to make new Connections and Changes in our lives and have the Strength to show and share Gratitude to all in this time.