Our next stop was a tour of the Bush House, featuring red and green quilts from 1840 – 1860.

Again, considering it’s October, the grounds were lovely.

Mr. Bush, I presume!

This house had the most elegant wall papers.

Many of them had fantastic, coordinating borders.

And there was truly a treasure trove of oil paintings.

Our guide was a hoot, tailoring the tour to our interests.  Here he demonstrates the player organ.

Another beautiful painting.  I especially love the seascapes.

And this old map of Salem is pretty cool.

Check out this hot water bottle in it’s holder.  The “bottle” is made from copper.  I have a holder like this that’s embroidered ‘hot water’ but I never knew the insert would have been copper.

Near the kitchen was a different style of painting.

What a great stove.  I’m sure some grand meals were prepared on it.

The punched tin pie safe is pretty neat, too.

Kitchen weren’t “public” places in Victorian homes, so no reason to have doors on the cupboards.

Even though this kitchen light fixture is plain, it still has an elegant grace.  I think it may have originally been a gas fixture.

This mug is so similar to an ABC plate that my mom has.

Of course every historic home had a hole where they buried trash….

….and today people love to dig through them to see what they can find.

The good china was in the butler’s pantry.

Very pretty.

Another beautiful oil painting.

Mr. Bush again.  I was in love with this frame.  It was made by someone locally.

It was the pinecones that sucked me in.

Ah, finally, the quilts!  This Arkansas Lily was hanging on the banister upstairs.  Often times in the old red and green quilts, the green will have faded to a soft tan.

This light fixture was a combination of gas and electricity.  People just weren’t sure that new-fangled electricity was going to catch on!

A gorgeous medallion quilt with eagles.

Again, you can see that the green dye was fugitive.  But remember, these quilts are 150 – 170 years old!

I don’t think ladies of the day carried as much stuff in their purses as we do!

This quilt is in pristine condition.

I hope you can see the beautiful quilting on it.

Of course a lady always had hand work at the ready.  Idles hands are the devils workshop, after all!

Another beautiful Lilly quilt.

I love the scalloped border.

Here’s an interesting piece.

This Palm quilt was stunning.

I love how the border anchored everything.

One of the bedrooms had this gorgeous wallpaper border.

I believe this is a variation of the Whig Rose pattern.

The fan quilting is amazing.

And I love the pitcher, or urn, appliques.

One last oil painting to share with you.

This Pomegranate quilt also uses a popular color from the 1840′s—cheddar.

Again, this quilt looked like it was brand new.

This Mariner’s Star is quite spectacular.

The floral border is unusual on a quilt like this.

Oops!  Someone left out their underwear box!

Part 3 still to come–photos from the quilt show!

I had an email from a local woman two days ago.  She said her dad sent her some unfinished quilts and she’d heard from Andi at Jelly Bean Quilts that I was the one to talk to about them.  Thanks, Andi!  I love to see old quilts and quilt tops, and these were a treasure.

She had two nearly identical tops with alphabet blocks embroidered and appliqued.  This top is finished except for the last block on the bottom right which seems like it should be XYZ.  I’ve seen quilts made from this pattern before but don’t have a quilt or the pattern in my collection.

The second top has a few problems with its border and sashing strips, but luckily, she has extra fabric and I think she will be able to fix it.  She believes her grandmother started these quilts and that her mom worked on them at some point.  She wondered what I could tell her about them.

I was pretty sure that it was a serial quilt.

A serial quilt was a series of blocks that were published, one at a time, in the newspaper.

Women would clip them out, collect them all and make a quilt.

This was a great promotion for the papers.

No woman wanted to miss a block!

The Kansas City Star was famous for serial quilt patterns.  But I didn’t think this was a Kansas City Star Design.

The blocks are certainly charming, though, and the stitchery and applique are nicely done.

I’m not even going to mention there was orange!

After Cheri left, I did a little web search and learned that this was a Florence LeGanke design.  She designed under the name Nancy Page, and her patterns ran under the name “The Nancy Page Quilt Club.”

It turns out the last block wasn’t XYZ, but YOU.  Nancy suggested you personalize the quilt for whomever you were making it for.  Seems odd to me!  Perhaps she offered some other options.

I did find some photos on the net of other vintage ABC quilts.  This one was finished with XYZ.

And here’s a combination of the You and XYZ.  I think I like this best.  This is actually a preprinted fabric available from Grandma’s Attic.

I thought I’d share a couple other photos I found.  I like the alternate setting blocks used in this one.

The quilting in the setting blocks is simple yet effective.

It looks like these letters were chain or stem stitched rather than satin stitched.

Here’s a pretty yellow version.

I think the crosshatching on it is perfect!

But this quilter had the most unique setting.  She made her own ‘X’ and ‘Z’ designs, and used the original YOU as well.

And she personalized it, too.  How clever!

Just like last year, the Latimer Quilt and Textile Museum had a booth at Quilt Expo and did a bed turning.  This year, they did applique quilts through the years.

They started with the oldest quilts.

Red and green quilts were very popular in the 1840′s – 1870.  This one has some added cheddar.

This quilt is exquisitely quilted.

Some of the dye has eaten away at the pink fabric, leaving tiny holes.

The pattern below is called Coxcomb.

Here’s another variation of it.

Green was a very unstable dye, and you often find that what was once green in these old quilts now looks tan, like this one.

The fabrics in this quilt are remarkably bright.

And the workmanship is superb.

It’s so nice to find a dated quilt.  Imagine, this quilt is 141 years old!

I know this quilt pattern as Princess Feather.

Now we get to the 1920′s and 30′s.  Dyes have changed from vegetable and mineral based to aniline (chemical) dyes, and the results are vibrant pastels like in this Sunbonnet Sue.

Look how much orange was available!

And I love the shoe buttons embroidered on her shoes.  I don’t think I’ve seen that before.

This Balloon Lady also had great color.

And don’t you love her little shoes peeking out from under her dress?

This design has some Art Nouveau influence.

The lines are so fluid and graceful.

Here’s a quilt top with a poppy pattern.

I love the combination of applique and embroidery.

This interesting Dresden Plate has lime green centers and cross stitched flowers!

This is an interesting use of yo-yo’s.

This red and green quilt is made with more modern dyes.  Can you tell the difference between the earlier quilts and this one?

But for the fact it was made in the 1930′s, this quilt reminds me of 1960′s flower power!

If I’d made this quilt in the 1960′s, it would have been hot pink and orange to match my bedroom!

Here’s a Hawaiian quilt.  Don’t the flowers look like they’re smiling?

Here’s a modern Baltimore Album quilt.

A modern pictorial quilt.

A contemporary batik quilt.

And another contemporary batik quilt.

Thank you, Latimer, for sharing with us.

Yes, I actually did it.  Bob and I took Lola, our 1972 Airstream, on her first camping trip.  Well, her first camping trip with us and my first camping trip EVER!

We went to Stub Stewart State Park in Oregon, only about two hours from home–perfect for a first outing.  And, a beautiful campground, I might add.

Son Doug and his family met us there.  I’ve mentioned before that I have cute grandkids.  Well, here’s the proof!  This is Carson.

And Peyton.

Carson thought the gravel parking spots were perfect.

And the play area was really neat!

We had a beautiful day on Saturday.

On Sunday it began to mist.  But, we decided to do a hike through the woods anyway.  I’m not sure this was the best trail to take!

I love the forests here in the Northwest.  They’re so dense and lush.

And I love the odd shaped trees.

Or this one, that has dozens of “arms.”

Multiple trunks are always interesting.

Crooked AND moss covered!  What could be better?

There were lots and lots…

…and lots more ferns.

And giant clover.

I mean GIANT!

I find old snags cool, too.

As well as old stumps.

Even rotting stumps!  Notice how dark it was in the woods.  My camera flash went off!

“Grandma, look at me on this big stump!”

Have you ever heard of “disk golf?”  It was a first for me.

There’s a course and these baskets for catching Frisbees.  Who would want to throw a Frisbee in the woods?  Wouldn’t all those trees get in the way?

From the highest part of our hike, we could see the campground.  See Lola there in the mist?  Doesn’t she look beautiful?

Every year our local School Foundation has an auction.  This year, the theme was Superheroes.  You were encouraged to come as your favorite superhero.

Robin, The Boy Wonder, was there.

Here he is schmoozing with Clark Kent, aka Superman.

I guess I don’t know my superheroes well enough to recognize them all, but I’m sure this superhero is fighting for our school children everyday.

As is this one.

Is there really a superhero called Rip Current?

Ah, I do remember the Incredible Hulk.

And Popeye, of course!

I didn’t think Cat Woman was a hero, but, whatever.

And Poison Ivy???  But she sure looks cute.

You didn’t have to limit yourself to a comic strip or movie superhero.  To some of us, superhero means different things.  Like Gene Simmons, for example!?!

I must tell you that, many years ago, I had this lad in my preschool class.  See how tall he looks compared to everyone else?

Perhaps these boots have something to do with it.

Ah, I like Ghandi as a superhero.

I planned to dress up as Abigail Scott Duniway.  She was an Oregon Trail Pioneer and fighter for woman’s suffrage.  All those women are my heroes.

The auction was a huge success.  Everyone involved is a superhero for our kids!

The Rod Run to the End of the World (also known as Ocean Park) was this weekend.

I don’t know how many cars are there, but it’s a lot.

How to decide which ones to take pictures of???

It was really quite easy for me…

…just take pictures of the orange one!

There were lots to choose from.

But then I thought I should take a few aqua ones, too!

There were a lot of convertibles at this year’s show.

And I know this one isn’t orange or aqua, but I really liked it!

Love the wide white walls on this one.

More aqua.

And more.  Do you love it, Monica?

I remember learning to drive a stick shift in a certain boy’s station wagon that looked a lot like this!

Now, it’s not what I’d call orange, but this creamsicle was quite pretty.

No detail left undone.

And here’s his little brother!

There were some nice orange pick-up trucks.

And aqua ones, too.

This one was in the parking lot.  I wonder why he didn’t get to go to the show.

This orange flatbed has chrome and orange sides.

Even the guys working the show must like orange.

I remember a lot of these from high school days.

This one was a particularly pretty shade of orange.

I always wonder why you have to have cables on the hood.

This got me to thinking about a boy with a purple Road Runner…..

And look at this–a hot pink car with an orange engine.  When I was in high school, my bedroom was decorated in hot pink and orange!

Black and orange is a good combination.

But I think I like all orange best.

It’s amazing how spotless these cars are.

I wasn’t familiar with “Boss.”

But there were two of them!

I love looking at the cars, but under the hood doesn’t do much for me.

Bob, however, seems to like looking in there.

My mom always told me not to ride on motorcycles…

…or in Corvettes!

In 1966 my mom drove a Mustang, very much like this.  My brother got to learn to drive in it.

I got to learn to drive in a 1970 GTO!  I didn’t even know my mom was hot back then!

And look at this cute toddler.  Isn’t she adorable?

“Hey Mom, I want out of this car!”

“Maybe I can do it myself.”

“MOM!”

“Let’s try another one.”

It was a fun day.  Perfect weather, good burgers.  Maybe next year my car will be ready for the show.

My Grandpa Kennedy bought it new in 1954 and gave it to me in 1970.

I drove it for a few years and for the last five we’ve been doing a frame off restoration.  (I just learned that “frame off” jargon at the show yesterday!)

Today a representative of Camp Victory picked up the pillowcases you had all so generously donated.  There were 114 of them!

There were cats…

…and dogs.

There were cats with yarn balls,

and cats with careers.

There were sushi cats…

…and surfing cats…

…and hungry dogs.

There were sports pillowcases…

…and dancing hippos.

There were dragonflies…

…and butterflies…

…and ladybugs.

There were rainbow dolphins…

…and flowers…

…and people from around the world.

There were mermaids…

…and clotheslines.

There were stars…

…and stripes and polka dots.

Even Elvis made an appearance!

There were many, many more.  The 5 – 18 year old girls who attend Camp Victory will no doubt be thrilled with their new pillowcases.  I am humbled by your generosity.  Thank you.

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!

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.

Of course, if I had my way, I’d have been in Sweden for midsummer.  But, not this year.  So, we had a midsummer celebration here in Long Beach.

First, the Swedish cabin in our woods needed some attention.

We’d been using a ladder to get up to the loft, but I wanted stairs that were carved out of one log like I’d seen at farm museums in Sweden.

Josh Blewett, a local chain saw artist, did these for me.

It took a lot of “oomph” to lift it up.

And then it needed some tweaking.

They had to take it down…….

….and put it back up a couple of times.

In the end, it was a perfect fit.

I took the inaugural climb, and Josh joined me in the loft.

Last summer in Sweden I bought a wind vane that’s based on an historic design.  Note: It’s always good to buy heavy items made of metal to put in your suitcase–especially early in your trip.

John Bahner made a beautiful mounting bracket for it–even duplicating the heart that’s on the vane–and got it done in time for the weekend festivities.

The setting around the cabin is so beautiful this time of year.

I love the delicate ground cover called miner’s lettuce.

It even manages to find its way into the crotch of the trees.

The log by the troll house had a nice crop of mushrooms.

I think the trolls may be cultivating them.

On the morning of the midsummer celebration, Bob had the maypole in place and ready to go.

I spent the morning making garland.  I wish I had birch leaves, but alder had to do.  Bob and my cousin Susan help me bring everything to the maypole.

Cole supervises as I wrap.

The onlookers–my mom, my brother, my uncle, my dad, my uncle and my cousin.  Quite the family affair!

The decorated maypole.

The three guys get ready to lift.

Can they do it?

Higher……

….and higher……

Yeah!  It’s finally in place.

Locked in.

By afternoon, we had sunshine and blue skies–perfect for picture taking.

Midsummer means lots of flowers for decorations.  These are on the cabin.

I especially love the wild fox gloves.

This is probably my favorite bouquet.  These flowers grow wild behind my studio.

A little something for the living room.

It’s traditional to decorate the entrance to your home with birch trees.  Since none grow around here, I bought two at the nursery.  Now I’ll plant them by the cabin.  I figure if I do this every year, I should have a whole birch forest in about 80 years!

My collection of Swedish horses came out for the occasion.

Dinner’s nearly ready and Sally is pouring water.  We had the traditional meal–meatballs, dilled new potatoes, pickled herring, rye bread, lingonberry sauce and cucumber salad.

And two desserts–strawberry whipped cream roll and princess cake.

Later in the day we relaxed in the cabin.

The weather was perfect for being out.

Before the day was done, we had to have our picture take in the lupine.

The lupine in Sweden grows wildly and abundantly.  I’m trying to get the lupine established in this area of our yard, but I have a long way to go.

So you can see what I mean, here’s a picture taken two years ago in Sweden.  Can Cole really have grown so much in just two years!?!

Glad midsommar!