Seattle signs and symbols

Dave and I took the ferry over to Seattle a few weeks ago and my camera's eye noticed signs and symbols of the famous city. From coffee to a moss-covered bike, yoga, rainbow pride and the iconic Space Needle, they were all there.

Speaking of coffee, we came across Starbucks' new shrine, its Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room. For more info go to roastery.starbucks.com

We didn't stay in it long because it was too noisy and crowded and it was much nicer to be walking outside. On a rainy day, however, I could see spending time there.

This last photo captures three great Seattle symbols: a ferry, the ferris wheel and the Space Needle. I took it as we were about to take off for home. It was sunny and warm so we sat on the upper deck and enjoyed the ride.

Have a colorful day

Sisters -- learn, eat, shop

A friendly volunteer with a shopping cart
helped Linda J. schlep her supplies to class.

I already showed you the quilts at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, but there's so much more. Leading up to the Saturday show was a week of classes at the Sisters High School, eating out with friends and  shopping in eight quilt stores.

When we arrived at the high school bright and early the morning of July 4 for our first class, we were greeted in the parking lot by young volunteers with shopping carts to help us transport sewing machines and other supplies to class. 

I didn't need help because I only had a small bin of fabric and a few bins of embroidery supplies. I took a three-day class taught by Rosalie Dace on creating texture with hand stitching. We mostly practiced embroidery stitches, but the last day we could work on whatever we wanted. I layered some organza that I dyed last year at Sisters with some other silk and then embroidered it with bright colors.

During lunch breaks, we all ate in the commons area of the school. I signed up for the $10 sack lunches provided by a local grocer. They were huge and delicious. You could also order in another line a la carte or bring your own lunch.

The town is full of flowers and greenery.

For dinners we hit the town(s), eating at three Mexican restaurants and a few other places. I LOVE Mexican food and can never get enough.

My Sew Day friends and I at a Mexican restaurant.

Besides eating, we did a LOT of shopping! We hit eight quilt stores in the Sisters-Bend-Redmond area, but my favorite was The Stitchin' Post in Sisters. I went back there at least four times for fabric and books. Here are some photos from The Stitchin' Post.

It was a wonderful week. If you ever get a chance to go, do it.

Have a colorful day

Next up: Basket quilt

Today I pulled out dozens of my most colorful fabrics and started a basket quilt. I was inspired by a quilt in Gwen Marston's book, "Liberated Quiltmaking II," which I just bought in Sisters.

Gwen's basket quilt from her book.

Her blocks are 11 inches high, so that's what I'm making mine. I won't do as many blocks as she did  because I don't like to quilt big quilts. But the blocks go together so quickly that I could piece them all in a couple of days. I love the piecing and fabric selection, but I'm not fond of quilting.

Some of my background fabrics.

 Have a colorful day

STITCH island getaway

Here's the view from the ferry yesterday on the way over to Anderson Island for our STITCH meeting at Andrea's house. It was perfect weather and a great day to be on the water. 

After we finished waking up with coffee, we had a small but inspirational show and tell. Only four of us made it to the meeting, and only Carol and Andrea had quilts to show, but they were all colorful and beautiful.

The woman dressed in Kaffe Fassett fabrics is Andrea's version of a Gauguin painting. She took a class to learn how to enlarge and translate a photograph into a quilt, but I forget the teacher's name. This is just the top ... no trimming or quilting yet. Andrea used her own dyed fabric for the face and arm.

The next two are Carol's wonderful abstract quilts. I love the circle quilting in the yellow and grey quilt.

Next up was our potluck lunch, but I forgot to get pictures, which is unlike me. We had pesto pasta salad, fruit salad, turkey sandwiches and brownies. Yum. Then it was out to the deck to relax with the flowers and watch the water. A deer came into the yard but bounded away before I could get a picture.

We spent quite awhile just relaxing and talking and being lazy before we finally packed it in and headed back to the ferry for the return trip. It was a perfect day!

Have a colorful day

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

The 41st Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show went up on Saturday after the overnight rain cleared just in time. It was the culmination of a week of classes and other quilt events in the small high desert central Oregon town.

More than 1,000 quilts were displayed for the day on downtown businesses, hung from porches, roofs and walls. An army of volunteers hangs the quilts every year, and there has only been one year so far when they had to be taken down because of rain.

The town's glorious flowers and quaint western style buildings added to the visual appeal.

The quilts above are hung on the side of The Stitchin' Post, the town's famous quilt store started by Jean Wells, who also started the quilt festival four decades ago.

I have a lot more photos, but I'm still frustrated with the process of figuring out how to get them easily onto the blog with this Apple computer. Maybe I need to go to the Apple store and ask a nice teen-ager to help me. With any luck, I'll be able to remember the convoluted process I used and post photos about the classes and shops tomorrow.

Have a colorful day