Kaya & Soma running along the Pacific Ocean in Lincoln City, Oregon.  Something I learned about the pups this weekend is they love to chase the sea gulls on the beach.

Tim and the pups walk along the edge of the water.

Happy day to you!

~Molly

These are some of my favorite pictures from the Tillamook Quilt Trail.

I liked this barn and the close up picture of it below.

There were some beautiful looking old barns found along the trail.

The picture below is the quilt block I liked the best:

I like the dark green and how it contrasts with the solid colored patterns.

It was good to be reminded of where I was along the West Coast of Oregon and the power of nature.

I hope you have a great day!

~Molly

Patterns In Nature:  The Sunset From Our Backyard!

Have you ever heard the saying?:  Red at night, sailors delight.  Red in the morning, sailor’s warning.

The meaning of the saying is if the sailor sees red in the evening sky, the next day is predicted to have nice and sunny weather.  If the sailor sees red in the morning sky, then a storm is coming his/her way. 

Out and about this weekend in the City of Tillamook, I captured a few pictures of the   Walking Quilt Block Tour of the many wooden quilt block signs hanging inside of businesses and outside on stores, on churches, and on city municipal buildings. The above sign was found on the Tillamook County Courthouse Building.

The Quilt Trail of Quilt Blocks can be found in the City of Tillamook and on the surrounding barns and businesses in the rural County of Tillamook.  This blog post will focus specifically on the quilt signs found in town.

Using a computer print out of the map from the TILLAMOOK QUILT TRAIL.ORG Web site it was fun to do a walking tour to find these quilt patterns uniquely tucked into places around town.

The pictures look more interesting to me with the quilt sign placed in the context of what is happening around it.

I hope you enjoy looking at these quilt patterns as much as I enjoyed taking pictures of them.

It was fun to use the map as a sort of Hide & Seek experience in locating the quilt blocks.

It was a warm and sunny September day in the Highway 101 Area!

I have just a few more pictures to show you!

 

A Thrift Store

I found Quilt blocks on small businesses…

and on large businesses, too!

Check back, because I have more pictures to show you in another post!

Happy Monday!

~Molly

From time to time, I don’t have a stencil that will work for a hand quilting design to highlight the particular beauty of a quilt.  This is when I make my own quilt stencil.  You can do this, too!  It is easier than you think. Use the following pictures and instructions to make your own quilt templates.

Here are the supplies needed to make a hand quilting stencil:

A piece of wood for a cutting board, a photocopy of the quilt pattern, heavy plastic (found at a fabric/craft store or from used notebook covers), a single edge razor like an Exact-O Knife or a box cutter), and…

one or two fine point Sharpies (or permanent markers).

This is a pattern from Nancy Page’s Cutting Pattern Leaf One Quarter found when you click here:  Q Is For Quilter Web Site.  Enlarge or reduce the picture to the design size required for your project.  Use a light box or a window when holding the copied pattern to your quilt project to make sure the alignment  works the way you want it to look on the quilt.

 

Place the heavy plastic over the quilt design and trace along the lines with the Sharpie pen.

 Remove the master copy underneath and use the single edge razor to cut a space in the plastic to mark the lines you will be quilting.

Place the finished template on the quilt and use a tracing pencil or a colored pencil to mark the quilt.

For this stencil, I did not cut for the seam line of the plastic Leaf Pattern, because I will use the seam of each fabric leaf as a guide to align the stencil in place.  As you can see from the picture above, I only marked every other line when I traced this pattern to create a variety of quilting designs on each of the leaves in the quilt.

This Is The Quilting Stencil I’m Working on Now:

If I can do this, I know you can do this, too!

Have a good day!

~Molly

Happy First Day of Fall!

~Molly

The other day, I came around the corner of the yard, and I saw these leaves growing over the fence.

Looking directly above me, I found these cute little figs growing.

Technically, the fig tree is in the neighbor’s yard, and just the branches are in our yard. I am still counting this as the 11th fruit to be found in our yard!

Oh Happy Day!

I hope your week is going well!

~Molly

This pillow case is from Western Pennsylvania and belonged to one of my relatives.  To be honest with you, I don’t know how the folk design was put onto this fabric. I like it though, and I am drawn to the design, as well as the texture of the look of the cotton fabric.

The pineapple, which represents hospitality, is found in each of the corners.

Happy Sunday to you!

~Molly

The Peach Morning Star Wall Hanging is completed!  I am so excited to have another wall hanging ready to sell!  I am working on setting up an Etsy Account to sell the projects that are ready to go to new homes!

This is a gallery of pictures of the progression of work on this wall hanging.   The above picture is of the top sewn and not completely marked.

The top is marked and in the quilt frame ready to be quilted.

The ends are rolled one or two times!

More rolling of the ends of the quilt into the center!

The wall hanging is slowly shrinking as I finish hand quilting more and more sections!

The four inner squares are finished!

This is what a completed square looks like after the wall hanging has been washed!

The edging of the quilt up close!

It has been a joy to finish this project.  I am really happy with the results of the cotton batting and how authentic the wall hanging feels to the touch!

I hope you’re having a great weekend!

~Molly

On a visit to Pal Alto, California, I found this piece of Burl Wood in a picnic area.

This is a close up of the pattern in the wood. The natural design caught my eye.

Since finding this piece of wood, I’ve learned Burl Wood is the toughest part of a tree and many wood workers like to use it to make jewelry, unique boxes, and other items.

Have a great day!

~Molly

I finished painting this sign for the Quilt Room.

I saw a movie on Netflix a few years ago called, “Outsourced.”  The movie is about a U.S. company who outsourced all of their ordering and customer care needs to a business in India.  The business in India who took these calls was named the Fulfillment Center.  I thought “Outsourced” was a good movie, because it helped me realize the number of people in other countries who are essentially working the ‘night shift’ in their area to be awake to process calls from consumers in the U.S. who are purchasing items from a catalog or a business on-line.

For some reason, the Fulfillment Center theme has stayed with me ever since.  I think this is a good name for the quilt room, because this is the place where I am fulfilling my hope of crafting items for people in a tangible way.

If you could name a place the Fulfillment Center, what would it look like and where would it be located?  What would it do for you and for others?

~Molly

I am starting a new series called:  Patterns In Nature

Featured today:  Sunflower Seeds

Hope you enjoy it!

~Molly

 While I was away, Tim picked the Northern Spy Apples from our trees.  It was nice to come home to the smell of harvested apples.

There is nothing better than freshly picked apples from your own backyard.  They are ready for making pies, applesauce, and other yummies!

Needing your own rush of the smell of apples ready to be picked?  Hood River, Oregon, has a driving loop through apple orchards this time of the year called, The Hood River Country Fruit Loop.  More information about this wonderful drive can be found by CLICKING HERE

Take Care

~Molly