We wer lucky to have visitors at Redwork this month!  Sherri and Jodi made the trip from Sandy, Oregon to be with us!

And they brought terrific show-and-tell!  Jodi is participating in the Farmer’s Wife quilt-along.  I just love her colors!

And she brought the original Auntie Dot’s Apron!

That orange print would have been perfect in my early ’70′s kitchen!

Sherri had a treasure trove of vintage show-and-tell, like these fabulous Rocky Road To Kansas blocks.

And check out this tinted linen crib quilt top!

I just have to show you some of the close-ups, they’re so adorable.

Giraffe (which I pronounced with a “t” on the end when I was little) has always been my favorite zoo animal.

Oh, my gosh.  Could these elephants BE any cuter?  Why is it no one ever makes cute donkeys? 😉

I don’t even like pigs and I think these are cute!

Sweet little lambs.

Mr. Sunshine playing peek-a-boo.  What baby wouldn’t sleep well under a crib quilt made from this top?

She also had some adorable Sunbonnet blocks.  I love how there’s a pair–Sam and Sue–from each print fabric.

Just look at this apron.  Someone went to a whole lot of trouble to match up those stripes!  For an apron!  I’m not sure you could get much in that pocket, but maybe a hankie.

And I’m in love with the daisy print on this apron.  Sherri is like the apron fairy godmother.  Just LOOK what she did for me once upon a time!

The other ladies came through, too.  Ann brought her quilt with a kite on it–our theme for the month, and the only kite textile the whole day!

Carol is embroidering Christmas napkins for her sister-in-law.

And Robin and her granddaughters are making eye masks to donate to their local hospital’s chemo department.  What a neat idea.

Anyone else want to come visit?  There’s only one requirement, you have to bring show-and-tell!

 

 

 

In the past, the Sisters Quilt Show has always been a one day affair.  This year, they added a few activities on Sunday and called it Save It ’til Sunday.  I attended a lecture given by Jean Wells at Five Pines Lodge.  As usual, Jean had great slides and lots of inspiration.  But, the best part was the setting…

…and the quilts on display around the cabins at Five Pines.

As you can see, the setting was beautiful.  Just look at the wildflowers blooming everywhere.

I’m sure those trees weren’t planted with a quilt show in mind, but how perfect!

The dappled shade made the temperature just lovely.

And the layers and layers of quilts were real eye candy.

As you wandered the property, there were lots of quilts to see.

I think there’s really something special about quilts displayed in this kind of environment.

It just makes me want to put up a clothesline and hang quilts outside everyday!

There was even a stream running through the property.

The path followed the stream.

The middle quilt here is a stack of knitting needles!

This quilt looks like it could have grown right in its setting.

There’s something so fresh about daisies, and the size of these was great.

I’m crazy about this sunflower quilt where the flowers are made from New York Beauty blocks.

Another stunning New York Beauty quilt.

And look at this quilt that captures the colors of a trip to South Africa, as well as the animals.

It was a truly amazing exhibit.

The High Desert Museum in Bend had an exhibit called Quilts: Bedding to Bonnets, so we decided to check it out.  It was in a small gallery at the museum, but a very lovely exhibit.

Like most people, I tend to forget that the art of quilting–stitching fabric together with tiny stitches, wasn’t always used just for bedding.  I took photos of the descriptions of the articles in the exhibit and will share them with you!

“Petticoat.  Machine quilted white cotton with hand gathered waistband and cotton batting.  C. 1860.”

“Petticoat.  Hand quilted cotton with diamond pattern.  c. 1875.”

“Petticoat.  Calico prints.  c. 1880.”

“Bonnet.  Quilted silk with wool batting.  Used as winter hood.  c. 1860.”

Bed jacket.

“Comfort on the Trail 1841-1868.  Quilts were a much-needed commodity on the Oregon Trail.  Referred to as bedding, quilts could warm bodies, cradle treasures and provide quick cover from the elements.  Guidebooks recommended two or three bedding articles per person to be sufficient.  Quilts were bartered for river passage, supplies, and other necessities.”

“When tragedy hit the Trail, quilts were used in burials to wrap around the body, as no time could be spent to make coffins.”

“‘The bodies were wrapped together in a bed comforter and wound, quite mummified with a few yards of string that we made by tying together torn strips of cotton dress skirt.’  Catherine Haun, 1849 diary of her travels on the Oregon Trail.”

“Princess Feather with Star Pattern.  Quilts like this one were often used in political fundraisers for the Whig’s Party.”

“To achieve green, the fabric was dyed yellow then blue.  c. 1850.”

“Sunflower Quilt. Sunflower patterns are appliqued on.  The densely quilted top has a shell pattern around the border.”

“Red, white and double pink colorings with novelty prints in the Indigo blue.  c. 1850.”

“Silk Fan Quilt. The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 was held in Philadelphia to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  The Japanese exhibit influenced Americans to adopt Japanese styles and motifs throughout their homes. The Silk Fan Quilts was a popular motif for decades after the exhibition.  c. 1890.”

“Whole Cloth Quilt. This white-on-white cotton quilt was made by Sarah Dibble Conley of Minnesota, 1856-1950.”

“The variety of quilted designs showcase the quilter’s talent.  The quilt’s unique feature is that it was made of one large piece of cotton, which was expensive to buy in the day.  c. 1900.”

A lovely little vignette.

“Women’s Relief Corps Ribbon Quilt. This quilt consists of ribbons of the Womens Relief Corps from the Oregon Pioneer Association Meetings.”

“These meetings were held around the state of Oregon and in other states.”

Participants were given ribbons to wear, showing what year they had crossed the plains.  If you note below, there is also a ribbon that says “GAR.”  That stands for Grand Army of the Republic.  It was also popular to hold reunions for those who served in the Union Army during the Civil War.  This ribbon would have come from one of those gatherings.

c. 1925.

“During the Great Depression, women continued to quilt with renewed enthusiasm.”

“American Legion Auxiliary Quilt. Community quilts like this one were made with bold, original designs and a strong sense of purpose.  The people whose names were embroidered on the quilt were involved with post 9 of the American Legion Auxiliary in Salem, Oregon.”

“Past officers names are designated with titles.  Two of the names also have gold stars.”  I believe those two women lost sons during the war.  c. 1931.

I don’t know why there weren’t individual signs on these quilts.  I know this pattern as Hummingbird or Snowball.

Even a utility quilt like this Nine-Patch was made to look beautiful with its four block setting, green sashing and pink cornerstones.

This darling Noah’s Ark Quilt was undoubtedly a kit quilt.

This Ohio Rose in yellow is absolutely gorgeous.  Both the applique and quilting are exquisite.  I love the swagged border.

If you look closely, you’ll see that this butterfly quilt has yellow sashing, but it has faded to almost whilte.

In another section of the museum was this wagon with another vintage quilt.  I snapped this photo both for the quilt and the canvas that says 1852.  That’s the year my great-grandmother crossed from Missouri to Oregon Territory.

Special Exhibits are always exciting to see.  There’s a quilt guild in the Portland area called Cover to Cover Quilts.  Every six months they read a book and make a quilt based on it!

I’m sure you can guess their latest project–Alice in Wonderland!

Even the Mad Hatter was there.

And the Hookah smoking character.

And the Cheshire Cat.

Oh no!  Alice goes down the rabbit hole!

Most of my knowledge of Alice comes from the Jefferson Airplane Song!

The Cheshire Cat.

“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!” (Actually, I am, but I wanted to get this post up before I leave!)

Another great exhibit that I enjoyed was this one, sponsored by Greenbaum’s Quilted Forest from Salem.

Fiber Artists were asked to make their interpretation of a tree.

They were amazing.

Sisters is located in Central Oregon.

It’s on the eastern edge of the Cascade Mountains.

All the area beyond Sisters is high desert–sage brush, junipers and lava rock.

It’s as close to the old West as you can get.

If you love the outdoors, it’s a great place to live.

I always think of quilts like these as Central Oregon quilts.

They are so influenced by the the world around them.

I find them truly works of art.

These are what I call the Novelty or Pictorial quilts.  Some are whimsical and some are works of art.

This VB bus sure fits the whimsical category!  I love the attention to detail, like the tiny barbecue and the ice chest!

More summer fun!

This reminds me of gathering eggs in the hen house.  Yes, I’ve really done that!

I wish this were our forecast!

Around the edge, this quilts says, “There’s No Place Like Home.”

Hmm, I wonder if I need a quilt like this in my potting shed?

What little boy wouldn’t love this quilt?

OMG!  Isn’t this adorable.  I’d even like it without the robot.

I was delighted to see this.  It’s made with my friend Glenna’s fabric.

So was this one!

Aye, the pot o’ gold!

Isn’t this charming?

This butterfly quilt was for sale from one of the antique dealers.  Even though butterfly quilts are my favorites, I didn’t buy it.  I already have one like it in my collection.

Who says orange doesn’t look good with pink and green?

Moon over the mountain?

I love this cat pattern.  Not so much the “things” in the borders.

I thought this was very whimsical.

I wonder what the inspiration for this quilt was.

Very pretty.

This Mammy quilt was nicely done.

Great fabrics in the clothing.

I’m starting to see some interesting and modern versions of the Grandmother’s Flower Garden.

I love sunflowers, and the pieced backing on this really makes it sparkle.

Wow!

The bird in this quilt looks more real than the lady’s eyebrows!

The realistic ones fascinate me.

When I was organizing my pictures, I decided to do a separate section for applique.  Like all quilts, it’s amazing how diverse “applique” can be!

It’s always so interesting to see how the same pattern is done by different people.

This looks like it was a fun challenge.

Here’s an Asian inspired quilt.

The mottled green in the leaves and stems of this quilt are really cool.

Wow!

Not only is the applique on this quilt stunning, so is the quilting.  Imagine being brave enough to quilt with black thread on white!

This quilt was wool.

Here’s a lovely Baltimore Album style quilt.

Sorry I don’t know how to photoshop out the sign that was hanging from this porch, but I thought the quilt was worth sharing.

This Hawaiian sampler is so pretty.

Another Hawaiian influenced quilt.

Oh, I have the pattern for this.  It’s on my to-do list.  It cracked me up that the maker left the buds out of one basket!

Note:  I get a lot of questions about this pattern.  It’ is from the book A Bouquet of Quilts from C&T Publishing.

This quilt really popped!

Does this say Flower Power or what?

So graceful.

The split leaves on this quilt are great.

It’s hard to beat bright in my book.

This is a very interesting combination of piecing and applique.  It’s done with Asian fabrics on a black background.  If you look carefully, you can see a bamboo design stitched into it.

I think I may like poppies even better than daisies!

This quilt makes me want to get out a Matchbook car and have some fun!

Time to share some more wonderful quilts, like this Tumbling Blocks.

This is a cool Tumbling Blocks variation.

I wish I could think of the name of it.  It always reminds me of an aerial view of skyscrapers!

As a lover of scrappy quilts, I’m always attracted to string pieced quilts like this one.

This one isn’t as scrappy, but still used some string piecing.

Ooh, Spider Webs!

This was a quilt for sale by a vendor.  The little “strings” in it were about 1/4″ wide.  Why didn’t I buy it???

A very pretty pieced and appliqued quilts.

It has an interesting border, using string piecing.

I thought the simplicity of this quilt made it very charming.

There was a whole display of quilts made from these wonky strings.

I really like this with the hand prints.

I didn’t see a lot of Redwork or embroidered quilts.  This Halloween one from Yesterday’s Charm is pretty cute.

And this Snowman Christmas was adorable.  Lot’s of work, but worth the effort, in my opinion!  The final block, Z, is the snowman snoring.  I’m sure the quiltmaker felt that way, too!

Isn’t this an interesting variation on the Log Cabin?

I’m assuming this was strip pieced, if not, Holy Cow!

Braid quilts are fun to make.  I’m surprised we don’t see more of them.

The addition of the cherry applique really perks up this plain quilt.

Wow, I’d like to learn the technique used to make these “shattered” blocks.

Wow, I’m loving this quilt.

I think solids are finally coming into their own.

I wonder how long it took this quiltmaker to collect all the right shades of blue?

I’m crazy for daisies and loved this quilt.

I thought this was really striking in its simplicity.

This quilt is made with buttons!

 

The quiltmaker added embroidery for stems and framed each block.

Wow!  Talk about visual impact.

I made a quilt like this for my Secret Pal in Guild one year, and cut one out for myself.  Guess I should dig it out an get it finished!

This is a pretty color combination.

Brights on black are a winner in my opinion.

I loved this.

 

Lots and lots more to come!

 

Last weekend, we celebrated a Swedish Midsummer here at home.  I would rather have been in Sweden, but this was the next best thing.

I was up early to get started….

The front porch was decorated with flowers, birch branches and Dala horses.

It all starts with the midsummer pole.

We had fox gloves and rhododendron blossoms adorning it this year.  Melissa and Matt helped!

And, for the first time, we had a rooster on top!  In Sweden the rooster is another symbol for the renewal.

Time for the ceremonious raising of the pole.

As you can see, our small one only requires two (strong) men.

Cole helped lock it in place.

The rhodies were a nice addition.

And speaking of nice, we had a really nice day.  Even my mom, who doesn’t usually enjoy nature, was comfortable sitting outside.

Dad was here, too.

And Melissa…

…and Matt.

Of course Sally was here, and so was Ray, but he was taking pictures and didn’t end up IN any pictures!

Cole was here.

We all danced around the maypole, even my dad!  That left no one to take pictures, but that was okay.  Dancing is always more fun than taking pictures.

Then we spent a little time in the cabin.

All seemed quiet around the troll house!

I have two new chairs on the porch.  They were made by Josh Blewett, who also made the stairs in the cabin.

I found a good supply of wild daisies to pick for decorating.

And Melinda shared some flowers from her garden.

Mom, Melissa and Matt enjoying the sofa.

Then Melissa and Matt had to check out the loft.

Here’s one of the weavings my Swedish cousin, Berit, has made for me.

And the corner cupboard I bought in Sweden in 2008.

This wonderful embroidery is new-to-me.  It talks about the red cottage with it’s weeping birch tree and remembering your childhood days.

This candlestick is a copy of one from the 16th century and it has a LOT of symbolism.  Rooster – Watchfulness; Three candles – the Holy Trinity; Two jagged arches – Christ’s Crown of Thorns; Ten holes – the Ten Commandments; Heart – Love; Twelve leaves – the twelve Apostles.  Whew!  You can see another beautiful weaving of Berit’s under it.

In Sweden the lupine is always blooming profusely during midsummer.  The best we could do were these wild foxgloves at the edge of our woods.

Inside I pulled out some of my Swedish souvenirs. The three dolls in the middle are dressed in parish costumes.  The blue one is from Transtrand where Melissa’s grandpa’s family came from.  The boy and the girl in the red dress are dressed in Nås clothes.  Nås is the town Anna Lena came from.

These adorable candle holding girls I bought in Sigtuna, Sweden–the oldest city in Sweden.

Of course midsummer isn’t just about a maypole, it’s also about FOOD!  My sister, Sally, loves dishes and has, shall we say, several sets.  She brought her blue and yellow ones, which were perfect because they are the colors of the Swedish flag.

There are two styles of plates.

And lots of adorable serving pieces.

Our meal consisted of hard bread.  One of my favorite Swedish finds is this Dala horse server.

The hard bread is a brand from Dalarna–my “home” province.  My grandma always told me Dalarna was the prettiest part of Sweden!

We had a variety of cheeses to go on the bread.

And, of course, pickled herring, served in a special herring boat.

It wouldn’t be midsummer without meatballs and lingonberries.  I made 150 meatballs for 9 people!

We had new potatoes with fresh dill.

Pickled beets.

And cucumber salad.

And, of course, we had TWO desserts.  I made a Princess Cake.  It’s my third one.  This year I wanted to do something different, so made a long loaf rather than the traditional round cake.

And we had to have a Strawberry Torte.

It was so much fun to be with family and sharing a bit of our Swedish tradition.  Maybe next summer I’ll be in Sweden, wearing my Nås dress and dancing around the may pole.

 

 

On the back side of our house, we have a pergola–which is like an arbor, only an arbor is free standing and a pergola is attached to a structure like a house.  I’m sure you can rest better now, knowing the difference!

It’s the first thing I see in the morning when I look out our bedroom window.

A few years ago we planted wisteria on it.

It’s finally growing in really well.

And this year it’s blooming like mad.

 

I just love it!

And it smells sooooo good.

The fragrance reminds me of carnations.

My flowers seem to like our cool, wet spring.

The irises are very lush.

The ceanothus had some winter kill…

…but that hasn’t stopped it from blooming.

Even the columbine is doing well.

I’m trying very hard to get some lupine established on the edge of our woods.  Note the little star shaped flowers underneath it.

These lupine came back from last year.

The little star flower I mentioned above is miner’s lettuce.

It’s completely a wild volunteer and grows in drifts along the edge of our woods.

Foxgloves are another wild flower we have in abundance in this area.

As you can see, we live in an area with lots of lush plants around us.

Tucked in amongst it all, is my Swedish log cabin!  You can read more about it here, here and here!