I'm Back and I Won!

I've spent the last week in Las Vegas and no I didn't win at the slot machines but I did win a kit for this adorable little valentines quilt from Daisy Cottage Quilting. Isn't it just the sweetest little quilt, I can't wait for it to land in my mailbox. If you haven't seen Sharon's online shop it's worth a visit she has some wonderful kits, patterns and BOM's, all the things we quilters can't resist.

I didn't gamble much more than a few dollars, just wanted to try out a few machines for fun. DH had a business trip to Vegas and I went along for a little shopping, shows and sight seeing. We visited with some family and friends while there as well. I always forget how much walking is involved and boy my feet were sore but it's fun to see all the excitement of it all.

Yesterday I spent a few hours in my sewing room and finished a little heart table runner. While away I've been watching the "Be Mine Blog Tour". Each day designers posted a Valentines Day project with a tutorial. I just loved Sherri's table runner and got to work on it as soon as I got home. I'll show a picture as soon as it's quilted.

Happy Quilting.

It's been a rough week so far with an unpleasant accident between my finger and rotary blade and then waking up looking like someone had taken red paint to my eye ball, it doesn't hurt but it looks like I've been in a fight or something....not sure what happened. I hope I don't scare anyone.....I get scared when I look myself in the mirror....eek, maybe I should make a patch....yeah....the first quilted eye patch....I could patent that and sell lots....LOL. Anyway, my finger is recovering and the doctor said it will be about a week for the red to go away. I had big plans to finish the alternate blocks and sashing for the Cobblestone Lane quilt, it's still in progress and really nothing to show...my big plans fell apart.  Well onto more exciting things.....In just over a week, I'll soon be half way around the world visiting here and here....maybe riding a friendly camel...LOL. No sewing will be going on but I have plans for stitching while on the plane.

Have a good weekend, Thanks for stopping by, until next time.

Road Trip and Class

This is a quick post to show what I've been doing. Driving to Spokane takes almost all day to get there from where I live but it's worth it to find this cute shop. Hubby and I took a road trip to the Buggy Barn. Here is what the shop looks like from the street. Only a quilter would drive so far to find shop in the middle of a wheat field. I signed up for a class with Cheri Payne (Wednesday's Best) and Barri (Bareroots) to make a Christmas Quilt. These sisters have combined their talents for this class with Cheri designing the piecing and Barri designing the stitchery. There is a picture below of the Quilt.

Buggy Barn sign behind the flowers.

Front door to the shop. This is only the second time I've been here and I'm always amazed at how much fabric can fit in such a small space. When you walk in the door it's very intimidating with so much to take in all at once.

Inside the shop samples are everywhere, it's a bit overwhelming to say the least.

Even in the washroom is fabric and samples.

More pictures of the shop. There is so much to see in every nook and cranny.

I love this old wagon, wouldn't it look awesome decorated for fall with pumpkins all around it.

My class was to make this quilt, I finished the pieced blocks in class. The appliques are done with the most gorgeous wool pieces and the stitchery blocks spell out "Christmas". The class included all the fabric and wool to make this quilt and a delicious lunch was also included.

Bareroots newest BOM pattern with sweet little houses, it really is much better to see it in person.

Cheri and Barri signing books and quilt labels.

Gotta run, I'll be back soon. Thanks for dropping by.

More Pictures and a Quilting Treat

Has it been a week already since I've been home....where did the time go??? It took me a few days to get back to my time zone and a normal routine again....what ever that might be. I thought a few more pictures of Portugal were needed, it's a difficult task of picking only a few from the over 700 photos we took. I'd go back to Portugal in a heart beat....such a beautiful place. If you want to skip the scenery photo's scroll down and you'll see the stitching I did while on the train trips we took.

This is Porto which is North of Lisbon. The boats are the old method of tranporting the grapes to the wineries. There are several wine caves we visited....and yes they gave us generous samples of port....we had a good time tasting.

More beautiful trees.

The green sign closest in the picture was our hotel in Faro, as far South as you can get in Portugal is the Algarve. When the hotel was renovated a few years ago they found Roman artifacts...pretty cool to be sleeping over a Roman Ruin site.

Lots of this blue tile work everywhere, both inside buildings and outside.

Just another street view. The narrow streets are fascinating. One door is the entrance to someones home and a bar right next door....how convenient for them.

This is Pena Palace in Sintra and the most beautiful I've ever seen, it's considered the Romantic period because of the ornate detail of the building. The palace dates back to 1839, walking around inside was amazing, I wish I could show so many more of this place.

This guy was over the main entrance, he would scare me away...for sure. I don't know how he fits with the Romantic period.

A little something I've made this week for a friends birthday.

Here are the bunny's I stitched while traveling around Portugal. Stitching with one colour made it easy to pick up and stitch whenever I had a few minutes.

I'm looking forward to getting these bunny's pieced into a quilt.

Weekend Getaway and Gifts

I love this rusty garden decoration. If it wasn't so hot I could be sewing but then again I wasn't home for the last 5 days either. It's so hot here today, I just turn into mush and all I can do is sit and snooze, I don't know why the heat makes me sleepy, (no we don't have AC) I had to drag myself of the couch to get this post done...I bet you're a little happy I did...at least I'd like to think so. Hubby and I took a driving trip down the Oregon Coast on the weekend. It truly is a beautiful drive along the ocean with many little towns to stop and explore. We didn't get very far down, we'd need an extra week to see it all.
Oregon has many areas of covered bridges, we tried to find several of these but found the maps were not very good. Here are a couple we came across. The red one was built in 1890 and the while one I think was about 1920's or 30's.

I only went to a couple of quilts shops, believe me there were dozens I would have liked to stop at...that will have to be for another trip with my quilting peeps (that's such a cute name, I borrowed it from Yellowfarmhouse...teehee). Here is a couple of bundles I just had to take home. If you like reproduction fabrics then this shop is for you and me too, it's a jammed packed little house full of nothing but reproduction fabrics . There wasn't any fabric in this shop that I didn't like. The top bundle is Jo Morton plaids and the bigger one is Sturbridge Village Calicos. Sorry I'm such a bad blogger, no pictures of the store to share, I was so excited to see all the fabrics I forgot about pictures. The owner tells me she is working on a shopping friendly web site...oh my gosh I can't wait....I hope she gets that going real soon.
I've been a little slow in showing a some wonderful gits I received. I''ve been doing a block swap with a few other bloggers. We are just about finished with the swap and Darlene (what a sweet dear) sent each one of us this adorable "Stitching Angel", she is so cute and whimsical with rusty wire curls for hair. Thank you Darlene, she is a wonderful remembrance of our swap together.
Isn't this a cute little sheep, it's a wool pincushion or it will be when I get the stitching done. Karen sent this to me all ready to be finished. Thank you Karen when it's not so hot I'll be getting this sweet thing done.

I hope you've had a great weekend. I can't believe how fast July has whizzed by...holy cow we are well into Aug already. Keep cool.