Memorial Day Greetings

This a a great day for remembering those who fought to protect our freedom.  Gary and I made a trip to the cemetery to put flowers on his parent' graves. It was beautiful there with hundreds of colorful flowers bouquets covering the grounds. Many of the markers had flags flying. It really had an impact.

On Saturday, we watched Porter and Payden.  Porter suggested we make something for Memorial Day so I found an old piece of wood and Gary cut it into three pieces. With some sand paper, paint, masking tape and a star stencil, we produced these wooden star plaques. I hung one outside and Gary asked "Is that the Puerto Rican flag? I then had to explain to him about "representational" art! (He wasn't impressed.)

I made a couple of these stars and stripes pillows to get ready for the season.

This was from a previous post I think, but it goes along with the theme. I found this old sheet music cover and matted it with ticking and framed it with an old frame I found at Goodwill. I sold it at the "Olive Kat".  Thanks for visiting my blog. Today marks the beginning of summer to me. I like having new seasons and new beginnings to look forward to. I would love to hear your ideas, input and comments. Thank you!

Calico Flags Are Flying

Today begins the Spring 2012 Bloggers Quilt Festival and I am attempting to join in. The link is amyscreativeside.com/bloggersquiltfestival  This quilt pattern appealed to me for a number of reasons. First of all, I love Americana. I also love vintage looking calicos and I always prefer white backgrounds on my quilts for some reason.

The color combinations were also perfect for my living room where I hang seasonal quilts all year round. This quilt will cover Memorial Day, 4th of July and probably August as well!

The pattern also makes a cute pillow!

In The Mood For Cherries

I can't resist a cherry motif on just about anything. They are so persistently cheerful! I do find myself with quite a stash of cherry fabric!

I added a border after appliqueing these dish towels. It's so quick and easy and gives me handwork to do in front of the TV.

I just finished this apron. I'm actually making two: one lined with a small cherry fabric and one lined with red and white dots. These I will probably sell at the "Olive Kat" or on Etsy.

I had fun with this applique, trying to match it to the design on the fabric.

May Sisters'n'Stitches

Hiding behind this Beautiful Americana quilt is Pat K. She is HAND Quilting it!! We were small in numbers this month but we had a great time, laughing and stitching and eating!  Our hostess, Mari made us some enchiladas that were out of this world. For dessert, she served flan that was the best I've ever tasted.





We imposed on Margy to display her "still in progress" Cathedral Window quilt. It is so amazing. We all agreed that using each color in a diamond pattern really enhances the quilt.

These are our three measly ornaments. We will add them to next months group for exchanging.

Candy's hexagon quilt is coming along. It's now reached table runner size! Lorali also worked on hers between bites. Seriously, the food was Soooo good, we were all munching happily.  We missed the rest of you but knew you were having fun at the beach or other places. Next month we will meet at Candy's for our summer send off.

Woodland in Bloom

It's pretty hard to resist making a visit to Woodland when the Tulip Festival AND the Lilac Festival are going on. It was worth dodging a few raindrops to see such beautiful evidences that Spring is here and life begins again.

The Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens are beautiful. They have made some lovely improvements, including this brick pathway that meanders through dozens of varieties of Lilacs.

This Arbor on the property hold a special place in my heart.  It is where my son Matt and his sweetheart Veronica were married.

Just down the road from the Lilac Gardens is the Holland America Tulip farm and it is spectacular this time of year. 

A camera really doesn't do it justice. In person, the colors are so vibrant, it is really a stunning view.

There are so many varieties and colors. This one caught my eye because it almost looked like a rose.

I also loved this pink striped variety. I won't post all the rest of the pictures I took, but I would encourage anyone to go see for themselves!

A Sunny afternoon in NW Portland

I got to spend Monday with my favorite (and only) sister, Cheryll who was visiting from Salt Lake City. We went to Northwest Portland and strolled along 23rd St.

We came upon this Flower Shop which was so charming. It reminded me of the flower shops in Paris which have their flowers out on the sidewalk with a colorful carpet of petals below them. It's one of my favorite memories of my one and only visit there.

The lavender was heavenly.  We had lunch at Papa Haydens, including one of their magical desserts. We also spent some time in my favorite paper store, "Paper Source".

It was a wonderful, sun filled, therapeutic day!

Olivia Beach Cottages

Gary and I were able to spend a couple days on the Oregon Coast last week. We stayed in Depoe Bay and did some exploring in Lincoln City.  There is a planned neighborhood there that I always enjoy driving through. 

It's called Olivia Beach Cottages and even though they are only a few years old, they have a quaint vintage feeling to them and I really love them.

I love that even the garages and little out-buildings get special attention and details.

I also love the pops of color on the shutters and door.

Pretend you don't see the trashcans in this picture, because the cedar shake cape cod style house and garage is so cute!

Even though they are not "on" the beach, they do represent beach living. This neighborhood centers around a private park for residents.

This was the view from our condo. It was a beautiful, relaxing visit!

Springtime in Quilt Land



Here are the "show and tell" goodies from our April meeting of the Sisters 'n' Stitches. This modern version of a log cabin quilt done by Barb was really fun and  bright with sun flowers.



Another gorgeous bag by Barb with different textures and designs.



It's kind of hard to see the stitching on this trivet (I think that's what it was) by Margy but it was really pretty.

 

Pat's yellow and black checkerboard quilt was fabulous and so was the quilting by Darlene!



Here is our collection of ornaments for this month and a few from last month.



We all ouued and aahed over this embroidery Margy did on her blouse.



Even though Lorali is hiding behind this creation, it is really Darlene's and it is really cute and clever: it is a thread catcher if you are quilting or a scrap catcher if you are scrapbooking.



This is my pastel "Posy" quilt.