So, did you do it?  Did you join the Nine-Patch Project and make a Nine-Patch block everyday in June, July and August?  I have to admit that I did mine in spurts, but I love the result.

I’m going to cut them up…..

…and arrange them like this.  You can see different arrangements for the Disappearing Nine-Patch in an earlier blog post.

I just went through my photo files.  Here are some other ideas for Nine-Patch blocks.  This is a vintage quilt I own.

I recreated it for an issue of Designers’ Quarters Magazine.  In this version, I kept the centers all one color, but turned the blocks on point.

I love the Outline Stripe I used for the binding.

This is the quilt I got from my Grandma Ikey when I got married in 1974.  It’s just a simple Nine-Patch with muslin setting squares, but it has a flannel backing and kept me warm on lots of cold nights!

I took this picture of a vintage Nine-Patch at Pomeroy Living History Farm.

Here’s a modern red and white Nine-Patch that I found of the web.

I took this photo at the Eureka Quilt Show in Montana last month.  I think it’s really cool.

How cool is this?  Black Nine-Patches with coordinating backgrounds and triangles to put them on point.

I believe this quilt is a part of the collection at the Latimer Textile Center.  What a great combination of Nine-Patches and Rail Fence blocks.

This is a well-loved vintage Nine-Patch from the Eureka Quilt Show.  It’s interesting how the sashing is only vertical.

And speaking of vertical sashing, look at this cute baby quilt made by Marla J.  I love her use of colors and how she set the blocks on point.

Another vintage treasure from Pomeroy House.  This one is actually a 16-Patch, but I couldn’t resist including it.

And there’s something to be said for two color quilts.  These Nine-Patch blocks set on point with plain setting squares makes a Single Irish Chain Quilt.

Last week was the Washington State International Kite Festival here on the Long Beach Peninsula.

The beach approach is lined with vendors.

It’s traditional in my family to have mini-donuts during the Kite Festival!

But the real action is on the beach!

There are people and kites everywhere.

All of these photos were taken by Keith Schwartz from Beachdog.

He even went up in the City of Long Beach’s Fire Department bucket truck for some great aerial views.

This gives you an idea of how big some of the kites are!

We have a boardwalk near the edge of the dunes.  A great place to watch the action!

We also have a dune trail that’s a part of the Lewis and Clark trail.

There are some great historical markers along the trail.

I wonder what Lewis would think of all these kites!  Hmmm…..I wonder if Lewis knew Ben Franklin?

These kites are called “revs.”

A new world record was set at this year’s Festival-64 kite flyers and 64 kites.  It beats the old record of 54 set in Bristol, UK

The kites were flown to the music “Eye in the Sky” from the Alan Parson’s Project.

The formations were amazing.  It was like kite ballet!

So were these.

And these reminded me of the Blue Angels.

It was a fantastic week.

Hope you can come next year!

Two weeks ago Bob and I were headed to Kalispell, Montana.  For a change of scenery, we drove past Libby Dam, and through the town of Eureka.  Imagine my surprise when we discovered it was the Eureka Outdoor Quilt Show that very day!

See the girl in the yellow vest?  She was part of the Quilt Police!  I guess there really are Quilt Police.

There were more than 450 quilts displayed around town.

And Eureka isn’t a very big town.

But it sure is charming.

Great looking new buildings.

Lots of “Western” themed quilts in the show.

You’ll see another member of the Quilt Police in this photo.  They were everywhere, but it wasn’t an unruly crowd, so they didn’t have much to do.

The quilts looked fabulous out in the sun.

I love this center medallion with the delectable mountain blocks around it.

There is a lot of work in the medallion quilt!

I recognize this Sunbonnet Sue and Sam quilts as having been made from an Eleanor Burns pattern.  I did one myself years ago.

Tennessee Waltz is always impressive.  You see curves even though there really aren’t any!

This quilter really achieved a “fractured” look with her choice of color placement.

The edge of this Double Four-Patch really adds interest to the design.

A pretty Picket Fence border here.

In my opinion, brights and black always look good together.

Hollyhocks and nighttime sky?

Lovely and interesting star quilt.

This block brought a smile to my face!

Another great center medallion block.

And another Tennessee Waltz.

I believe this Center Diamond quilt was done by an Amish woman from nearby Rexford, Montana.

Isn’t this unusual and pretty?

Believe it or not, this is a new quilt.  The quilt maker really captured the feel of an old wool quilt.

Interesting Nine-Patch setting.

I love the use of color here.

Lovely cross stitch.

Look at the amazing hand quilting on this quilt.

And don’t you love the graphic design of the Jigsaw Puzzle quilts?

This Bow Tie quilt is newly made, but made from vintage feedsacks.  It reminds me of my Tie One On quilt.

It’s amazing how graphic a simple Nine-Patch can look when set on point like this.

At the end of town is a public park filled with old buildings from the area.

They were ALL decked out with quilts.

The quilt at the top of the schoolhouse won the People’s Choice Award.

The old library.

It looked like a picture postcard!

Even the train station was decked out.

I think these two guys are doing their Lewis and Clark impression…”We proceeded on.”

There were quilts no matter what direction you looked.

It was a bit windy, but everything stayed secure.

Layers of quilt….

The irregular ends of the sashing strips on the Tulip Quilt are very interesting.

Hunter’s Star.  I’m going to be teaching this at our Retreat this fall.

This Broken Star with Lillies is a stunner.

Of course I couldn’t resist the Thirties Sampler.

The Flying Geese sashings on this quilt are so nice–and the quilting is very special.

I’m a sucker for Pinwheel quilts.

This pile of quilts was in the General Store.

I was delighted to see Jackie Robinson at the show.  This is just one of the quilts she had displayed.

This vintage Nine-Patch in a strippy setting looks like it was well loved and well used.

More Pinwheels.  This time with an interesting alternate block setting.

I think String Quilts are my new favorites!

Fabulous Art Deco design.

After two hours of looking at quilts, I could have used a “Moosage,” but it was time to head down the road!

Bob and I just enjoyed a great week in and around Kalispell,  Montana.  I always know we’re getting close to “home” when we start seeing signs for the Clarkfork!  CLARKFORK!

For a change of scenery, we went through Libby.  There are several of these eagles around the town.  They’re quite impressive.

And the river is very rocky!

Bob had good luck fishing, though!

We decided to take an even more scenic route and go past Libby Dam.

It’s on the Kootenai River.

It was built in 1975 and Bob remembers traveling through the area before the dam was built.

The reservoir behind the dam backs up for 90 miles–clear into Canada!  The  lake is called Lake Koocanusa–Koo for Kootenai, Can for Canada and Usa for USA!

It was really windy.

If you don’t believe me, ask this tree.

Good to know!

They aren’t kidding.

Rock is everywhere!

I wondered what these big plants were.

Turns out they’re called mullen.  They were very plentiful!

I couldn’t resist snapping this  photo.

As we got closer to Kalispell, someone had planted orange flowers–just for me, I’m sure.

I love these old granaries.

Maybe they’re common in farming areas, but they are unusual for me.

Gotta snap a barn or two!

Along the rivers we saw lots of osprey nests.

We visited Flathead Lake.

This is called a Bruck–a bus/truck combination.  It took passengers and freight from Kalispell to Whitefish to catch the train.

We met some people who live on Whitefish Lake–this is their incredible view.

They took us on a two hour boat ride around the lake.  Amazing vistas and amazing homes.

Of course you can’t be this close without a visit to Glacier National Park.  This year  is the 100th anniversary of the park.

Cool, huh?

We drove the Going to the Sun Road.

Photo op!

There were about 6 mountain goats sunning themselves here, but no place to pull over to get a good photo, so took this  out the window of the car.

Glacier is an amazing place.  If you don’t believe in global warming, how’s this for a statistic.  100 years ago there were 200 glaciers in Glacier Park.  Today there are only 50.

A sign to add to my neon sign file.

And it’s good to know that Montana is open!

Finally, I can tell!

Back in April, I had a crew here from Quilts and More magazine, doing a photo shoot in my studio!  It was incredibly fun.

The crew included Adam and Joe….

…and Elizabeth.

Sometimes Joe was my stand-in.  Imagine having a stand-in!

Sometimes I had to do the work.

It was fun to peek over their shoulders and see how fantastic their photos are.

Now the magazine is finally out.  It’s on newsstands now, or you can order it from me.

It has the Getting to Know Karen Snyder feature written by Linzee  McCray….

…and a table runner that I’ve designed, called Center Piece.  They even asked me to provide kits for it!

There’s more to this story, but I can’t tell yet!

Way back in 1974, when I was 20 and my Grandma Ikey was 90, I was getting married.  Grandma Ikey had two Nine-Patch quilt tops that she had made several years before and tucked away.  One was supposed to be for my brother when he got married, and the other for my cousin Jim when he got married–her two grandsons.  However, I was the first to get married, so Grandma gave one to me as a wedding gift.

This quilt became very special to me, because my other grandma, my Grandma Kennedy, and the members of her Ladies Aid Society, did the quilting on it.  I slept under this quilt for years, had it dry cleaned a few time–I didn’t know any better–and have always treasured it.  My brother did get the other one, also finished by the Ladies Aid, and his is in pristine condition.

I always said that someday I’d be a quilter.  About 1993, I got a free quilt pattern in the mail.  It was from Oxmoor House and was for a Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  I thought, “I should make this.  And I should make it king sized so it will fit my bed!”  Ah, ignorance was bliss!  I also remembered that my mom had given me some old fabric and blocks from my Grandma Ikey after she passed away, and that among them were some Flower Garden blocks.  Amazingly, I opened a drawer in my storage room, and there they were–16 Flower Garden blocks, or at least the components to make them.  I knew I wanted to use them in my first quilt!  It took me 2-1/2 years, but I finished that king sized top.

As I was working with the blocks that Grandma Ikey had made (I had to take them apart and re-cut them as they were a different size than my pattern) I began to think that some of the fabrics looked familiar.  I was pretty sure they were the same as some in my Nine-Patch.  So, I got it out and started to compare.  Sure enough, there were some duplicates!  Like this yellow and green flower print.

There was also this cute little blue flower.

You can see it’s more faded in the Nine-Patch.

Sometimes there were only enough hexagons for a half block, but that worked great for the edges of the Flower Garden.

Well yesterday, Bob and I and my parents visited our cousin Betty, whom we rarely see.

She had two quilts that our Grandma Ikey had made!  This star quilt.

And this fan quilt!

I was thrilled to see them, but even more excited when I started recognizing some old friends among the prints!  The white daisies on this pink background really speaks to me–I’ve always loved daisies.  Here it is in Betty’s star quilt….

…and in my Nine-Patch quilt…..

…and in my Flower Garden quilt!

This very abstract blue print was in one of the stars…

…and in my Nine-Patch.

The other print in this star was also familiar.

It’s not only in my Nine-Patch….

…Grandma Ikey made my baby doll a dress from this print!

And here it appears with a blue paisley…

…which is also in my Nine-Patch.

This fan blade had lots of matches to my quilts.  The center blade with the little Lemoyne Stars print….

…made its way into my Nine-Patch, although it’s much more faded here.

And the dark brown with the aqua flowers….

…is REALLY faded in my quilt.

Did you notice the little tulip print in the above block?  It turns out Dolly has a dress made from that print, too!  I love her rick rack!

INSERTED 8/3  My sister emailed me last night.  She had gotten her dolls out to check out their dresses, and here’s what she found–and said.

Here are Chatty Baby and Chatty Cathy all decked out in their tulip dresses.  Please note that my dolls can stand up by themselves, because they are not missing any legs.  Chatty Baby is upset, because she can’t find her scarf.  (I suspect the reason Chatty Cathy is looking away from Baby is because Cathy lost her own scarf and stole Baby’s.)

Then this morning Sally emailed me this….Chatty Cathy has a headache this morning from wearing the scarf too tight. Serves her right, I think.

How do you like the blue gingham sundresses?

I love the pink gingham — wide rick-rack for Cathy and narrow rick-rack for Baby.

Does the white fabric with yellow roses look familiar, SW?

As a matter of fact, it does.  It’s in my Flower Garden quilt!  Thanks, Sally, for sharing!

The dainty blue flowers, next to the bottom blade…

…make an appearance in the Flower Garden quilt.

And the last blade, with it’s wild pink, red and black combination…

…shows up in the Flower Garden quilt.  I think Dolly had a dress from this, too, but I don’t seem to have it.  Maybe my sister does.

And one of my favorite prints, which I remember is in my brother’s quilt too, is the gray and red one.

It’s in both of my quilts….

…and Betty’s fan quilt.

It’s amazing the connections among these four quilts–five if you count my brother’s.

Yesterday my mom told me that Grandma Ikey once said that when she and her niece, Elsie (who was two years older, but that’s another story) would buy fabric for a project, before they even cut into it, they were planning what they’d make from the scraps!  Spoken like a true quilter.

And I have one more quilt to show you that’s from Grandma Ikey.  This is the crib quilt she made when my brother was born, and that Mom used on all three of us kids.

I live in a charming beach town called Long Beach, Washington. Long Beach is on a Peninsula that is 28 miles long and 2 miles wide–just a little finger of land.  But, it’s a beautiful and diverse place.  Of course, I see it everyday.  Actually, lots of times I don’t see it, if you know what I mean.  But last weekend, an acquaintance was here with her husband.  They were celebrating their anniversary.  Virginia sent me photos that she took of the area, and it’s incredible to see “my hometown” through someone else’s eyes!

This is our photographer, Virginia, inside the trunk of a very large tree!

The three bodies of water surrounding the Long Beach Peninsula are the Pacific Ocean, the Columbia River and Willapa Bay. The southern most end of the Peninsula is attached to the mainland.

The bar, where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean is very treacherous.  North Head Light House guards the entrance from the north.

‘Cause you sure don’t want to run aground on these rocks!

Cape Disappointment Light House guards the river side.

Great name, Cape Disappointment.  Named by English Sea Captain John Meares.  He was looking for the Columbia River, decided this wasn’t it (even though it was), named the headlands and sailed off!

On the hike up to Cape D, you pass Dean Man’s Cove.

Baker Bay is a sheltered harbor.

It’s home to the Ilwaco fishing fleet.  This is salmon country.  Notice the fog just burning off.

Where there’s salmon fishing, there are also canneries.  I can’t believe how charming Virginia’s pictures make it all look!

This statue is of a California Condor.  It’s based on a description in the Lewis and Clark journals describing the “large buzzard” they saw feeding on a whale carcass.

Jim and Virginia had dinner at one of the port restaurants and snapped this nighttime picture.

The only high areas of the Peninsula are in Ilwaco–and they provide some great views.

This is looking south.

We have lots of conifer trees.

And lots of trees covered with lichen.

The English ivy may be pretty, but it’s a non-native, invasive weed!

Ah, the beach.

I really should go down there!

As you can see, we’re not in a very crowded area!

Sandpipers.

Some gulls.  I’ve been seeing these lately, and they’re not the usual California seagulls.

Some chainsaw art along the dune trail.

Here’s our common California gull.

Eeew!  I haven’t seen a jelly fish for a long time!

Low tide.

Early sunset.  While the rest of the nation has been sweltering this summer, we’ve pretty much been under a permanent fog bank with temps in the 50’s and 60’s.

Beach cottages.  We have a lot of grass covered dunes between the houses and the ocean here.

Weathered cedar shingles are the norm around here.

It’s such a great beach look.

It’s peak bloom time right now for the wild roses.

I love how something so ordinary can be so beautiful.

Sea captain?

Daisies are also at their peak right now.

And don’t you love the saturated color of these hydrangeas?

The wild foxgloves are almost finished blooming.

At the north end of the Peninsula is the village of Oysterville, the first settlement here.

At the local cemetery.

The historic Oysterville church.

Oystering is still big business on Willapa Bay.

Good advice!

Thanks, Virginia.  It’s so nice to see all the wonderful things in my own backyard through someone else’s lens.

I had a super fun day on Wednesday.  Nan stopped by the studio, we visited, we “did” lunch and then we went to the Klipsan Antique Mall!

Look what I found!

I had forgotten my glasses, and at first I thought this was machine quilted.

But no!  Just incredibly tiny hand quilting.

It was too great a treasure to pass up.

And the ice cream cone variation on the border just makes it that much more special.

Added July 25…….

Thanks to my friend, Melinda.  She recognized this as a Ruby McKim pattern, right down to the border!  Thanks, Melinda.

I’m so far behind on my posting, but I just have to share these wonderful quilt with you.

I love historical villages, and we were lucky enough to hear about Kolona Historical Village while we were in Iowa.

And even luckier that in one of their TWO quilt galleries, they were having a display of Depression Era quilts!

Like this beautifully embroidered and hand quilted basket quilt.

I thought the border was stunning!

These blocks really reminded me of the Kate Greenaway children that the original Sunbonnet Sue is based on.

I loved that she was doing all kinds of chores, including harvest!

How’s this for a Dresden Plate.  And who says they didn’t use orange in the Thirties!?!

This sweet little doll quilt was made special with a scalloped border.

Postage Stamp quilt like this one fascinate me.  Even the white background is pieced 1″ squares.

This Trip Around the World quilt was probably a kit.

This is the same star pattern as the first quilt I ever hand quilted!

I thought the applique and quilting were superb on this quilt.  I don’t think I’ve seen this pattern before.

The salmon pink in this Grandmother’s Flower Garden is a bit unusual.

Another Flower Garden.

This quilt is from a Nancy Page Quilt Club serial design.  Each week instructions for a new flower was printed in the newspaper.

I love how this maker coordinated her prints in the birds and flowers of each block.

You can see another Garden Bouquet quilt on the foot of this bed.

This beautiful design is from Marie Webster, who contributed quilts to Better Homes and Gardens Magazine for years.  She also ran her own mail order company selling patterns and kits.

I thought this bluework quilt was charming, but loved the bed skirt even more!

The traditional Sun Bonnet Sue.

What a pretty orange and blue print.  ;-)

Dogwoods.  I’m not sure, but I think this might also be a Marie Webster design.

A beautiful Ohio Rose.  This quilt is on my list of “to make” quilts.

I’m not sure of the name of this quilt pattern.  Anyone?

There were even some feed sack dresses and aprons on display.

Quite stylish, don’t you think?

I have a crocheted apron like this!

You might be poor, but you could still look good!

The staff here was wonderful.  If you’re anywhere close, I suggest you visit!