Winners & Biggest Rainbow Ever!

Mr. Squash drew two winners for my giveaway from Prim-Point! They are:

Conni, who commented: "I love fall/harvest time with all of the pumpkins and colors and such that go with it". Conni will be receiving Cyndy's "Frost on the Pumpkin" pattern along with the Crayons and floss for the pattern! And...

Teresa, who commented: "I Iove Halloween, which is my favorite holiday to decorate for, so decorating is my favorite part of Halloween!" Teresa will get Cyndy's "Behold" pattern and kit!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

On Thursday I took the first of two classes to make a table topper called Crazy Eight Strip Teaser! Turned out I was the only one of four who signed up for the class, so I got one-on-one instruction! Actually, all we did that day was cut and sew (and sew, and sew and sew) strips! Here are all my strips - 6 sets of 8 - lined up and ready for the next class! I'm so glad I took this picture as I realized the two light strips on top are reversed, so I will have to do a little un-sewing and re-sewing! I can't wait to finish this so I can have a gorgeous table topper for Fall!

On Wednesday, Mr. Squash and I went over to the Tucannon River again. We left bright and early this time as it was another near triple-digit day. Here I am hooking a very small trout - you can see my lightweight rod is barely bending with the fish's weight. I was getting a little disappointed as that was all I was catching. Now it's been said that fishing should not be about what you catch, but about being out in nature, enjoying the day. Most often that's how I feel, but once in a while I admit it's nice to hook up with a beautiful trout.
So off I went on my own down a little side stream, and on my first cast I hooked a whopper of a gorgeous, brightly colored Rainbow Trout - the biggest I had ever caught! I tried to get a picture of him with one hand while trying not to let him jump off the hook with the other, but he was really heavy and it wasn't easy. If you click on the photo, you might get an idea of how big he was - perhaps 1-2 pounds. It was nice to meet him, then I let him go back to the stream to grow even bigger!
When we got home, Sophie was feeling the effects of the warm day, so rather than sleep on her heated bed, she was sprawled out on the rocker - now that's a happy cat!

Halloween Giveaway!

**Please note that this giveaway ended last Friday, July 30th. It was inadvertantly posted on someone else's blog that it ends Aug 7th. I'm sorry for any inconvenience, but the winner were posted here. Thanks to everyone who entered!**

My friend Cyndy (yes, I know several Cindy's) has started her own pattern company called Prim-Point Designs! Cyndy excels in embroidery, applique and wool applique, and her specialty is color crayon embroidery. Please have a look at her blog and website to see all the wonderful designs she has created! I'm so excited about this - and so is Cyndy. She sent me two of her new pattern releases to give away to you! I'll be giving each pattern away separately.

First is this darling framed stitchery called Behold. Included in the giveaway, is the entire kit to make the stichery (all except the frame), which I put together from my own stash!

The second pattern is called "The Frost is on the Pumpkin". The finished quilt measures 47 x 40 and features Cyndy's crayon embroidery. Now if you've never done this, don't be afraid! I was when I first tried it, but found it to be so easy and so much fun! I'm going to make this one even easier for the lucky winner! The Winner will receive the pattern, all of the floss to make the embroidery....and...a collector's Crayola Crayon tin which includes more than enough crayons to use in the pattern!

Here are the rules:

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite part of Halloween is.

2) If you also post about the giveaway on your blog and link back to this I will give you a second chance to win.

**Important: If you comment anonymously I have no way of contacting you if you win, so please provide an email address in your comment. Thanks!

I will count all comments until Friday at 6:00 PM and announce the winner on Saturday morning! Remember --- it's not too early to get started on a fun, Halloween project!

Chatterbox Apron Finish!

First things first - please come back tomorrow for a fantastic giveaway right here!

Wow - last week really got away from me! I meant to post my apron finish, but we're just having too much fun outside in this great weather! More about that later.

A while back I mentioned that I was making an apron for a friend. She doesn't read my blog so I feel OK showing it to you now. This is the Chatterbox Apron from Mary Mulari. Mary is so nice - I had some website "issues" and she was right there to help - and late in the evening at that! I found some beautiful Fig Tree fabric which goes along with the vintage look of the apron. It's reversible - Mr. Squash likes that you can cook wearing it on one side, then turn it around and serve wearing the other side! Here is the one side:

And here is the other. I should have ironed the fold out on this side, but it's a scorcher today and I don't want to turn on the iron! I remember my mother wearing a very similar style!Look what Cindy gave me when we met at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt show! What a totally unexpected and generous gift - and I love each one! The Schnibbles Hat Trick pattern is a complete kit - in fabrics Cindy knew I would love! The same goes for the wall hanging kit - oh Cindy, you do know my taste! I also love the pincushion she made - complete with a little hand quilting - Cindy, your work is marvelous - thank you, again!
I also won a giveaway from Mary at Marin & Colusa!! I don't normally enter giveaways as my stash runneth over, but the pattern was so "me", I couldn't resist - and I won! Mary also included some Stitching Lines for me - she knows how much I love to use them! Thanks so much, Mary!

This past week we went fly fishing! We decided to check out an area of the Tucannon River we had previously scouted. We found a back way there saving a considerable amount of driving time! It took us up over high hills planted mostly in wheat and also sporting a few wind farms. Mr. Squash took this photo from atop the highest ridge. The road next to the green field of Afalfa was on the way to the river. We didn't fish for very long as it was getting too hot, but we both caught and released several nice Rainbow trout. We're going again on Tuesday -- this time I'll be sure to get more photos!

So please do come back here tomorrow for a great giveaway - you won't want to miss this one!

My Assistant and Garden Update

Before I get to the title of this post, please go see Mary over at Marin and Colusa for a great giveaway in honor of her 145th post! I've been following Mary for some time now and have previously posted about her fantastic product Stitching Lines! In fact, I've been using the Stitching Lines on my Winter Wonderland and don't know what I would do without them!

Here is Mr. Squash, my wonderful Assistant, using our new Oxo cherry pitter on some fresh pie cherries we got at the local farmer's market on Saturday. He was eager to help as he knows he benefits greatly from this (wink)!

The pie turned out great! I use an old standby recipe from The Joy of Cooking - works every time! We got the peaches at the farmer's market, too - what a great time of year - so many fresh fruits and veggies - I could easily be a vegetarian right now! As soon as the fresh tomatoes come in, life will be perfect!
Stephanie asked me the other day, "How does my garden grow?" Since I haven't had a garden post for a while, I thought I would show you some of the progress. Here is the Chocolate Cherry tomato - the fruits are nearly half the size of my palm so far....either the plant was marked incorrectly, or they will be the biggest cherry tomatoes I have every grown!
Here are some green beans and a few sugar snap peas I've harvested. This is the third picking of green beans - they're just starting! The sugar snap peas, however, didn't do as well as I would have liked - I think they're pretty much done.

Check out the raised beds below - talk about "monster" growth! Even the nasturtiums and marigolds have gone crazy! We noticed a hummingbird a while ago, so I put a feeder out for them. I can't believe how social they are - one hovered right near us for quite some time the other day!
Sorry about the shadows here, but I really wanted you to see the squash - pumpkins on the right, zucchini to their left, then pickling cukes and acron squash on the middle trellises, and more green beans on the far left. I've harvested several large zucchini's in the past week!
Finally, the sunflowers....every seed germinated and nothing has died - we still don't have flowers on them, but I expect them to pop any minute! Now the trick will be who gets the sunflowers seeds first - Mr. Squash and I....or the squirrels!
I'll have some sewing to show you in a day or two!

Teacher's Quilts from Sisters!

This is the last post from our trip to Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. I have so many more photos - I could be at this for a long time! Hopefully I've given you a good assortment of what we saw. These are photos of many of the teacher's quilts which were displayed in one large tent. It was very crowded inside, so I apologize for not knowing who the quiltmakers all are!

I'm sure many of you recognize the first two from Sue Spargo! She is most certainly one of my favorites!



The next two are by Sarah Kaufman of Bend. They are called "Folded Log Cabin" quilts. Sarah has a book on this technique which will be released soon - I've already pre-ordered it from Amazon here Check out the bottom of the first one which she's embellished in denim!

The two "car quilts" below were amazing!

The animals below seemed so real!
This quilter has a wonderful sense of humor! Click on the photo to see more detail!





Mr. Squash and I really fell for this salmon quilt!
I wish I knew the designer of this final quilt - the detail and quilting is extraordinary!
Below is a closer look at the looped binding! I lightened the photo up a tad so you could see the detail better. The photo above is more true to color.
Now that we're home I have loads and loads of inspiration to keep me going until next year! I think I might spend the rest of today in front of my sewing machine! Many of you have commented that you wished you could have been there! I say let's rent that huge house Mr. Squash and I stayed in next year and all go together! What do you think?

How About More Quilts from Sisters?

This is one of two more posts of quilts from Sisters! Mr. Squash also helped with the photography - he has a great eye! I wish I could have gotten photos of every quilt, but there was just too much ground to cover! Anne explained to us that quilts can be entered from anywhere! There is no specific judging, either - everyone gets a ribbon! Now that's my kind of quilt show!

We arrived in town early enough on Saturday to see the yearly hanging of the quilts on the side of the Stitchin' Post by the town Firemen! It gives you an idea of how warm it was when you see a firement up a ladder wearing shorts! At least he wasn't putting out a fire!

Anne had to leave before the quilted car arrived! I hope you're seeing this, Anne! If I understand correctly, the pieces were made by several quilters and they are all attached to each other with velcro to cover the car completely! This was quite the sight! I wish I had time to edit all of the quilt photos, but if I did I would be at it for days and you would have to wait to see them! You should be able to click on each photo for a better view, though!
I love the star quilt below!
Another favorite!
We saw this section toward the end of our day - she is a quilter in her 80's and still going strong. The detail is amazing!
Love this photo below from Mr. Squash - if you could have seen Cindy's face, she had the same expression as Anne and I - where to go now?? By the way, Cindy made that wonderful backpack just for the show!




Two peas in a pod below!
Check out this little dog in her carrier below! Don't you just love it?


Mr. Squash got this close-up of a gorgeous appliqued quilt!

That's all for today. If you thought this was great, wait until you see what I've got for tomorrow!

Since we arrived home I've been working on damage control out in the yard! We had 95-100 degree heat while we were gone and I guess I should have set the irrigation system to run a bit longer - live and learn! I lost all my herbs and a few flowers and there are also a few spots in the lawn that could have gotten more water. The raised beds and the rest of the veggies are OK, though - whew! Oh - and the weeds? They seem to love not being watered because they're everywhere!!