Squash House Quilts

New Ruler - Square in Square Tutorial

2012-01-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

I'm sure many of you know that I love gadgets! Recently I saw a ruler I had not seen before for making square in a square blocks. I make a lot of quilts with this block and often have trouble making them come out perfectly square. I know that you can cut the corner triangles larger then cut the block down to size, so when I saw this ruler, I had to have it! So I thought while trying it out for the first time that I would also post a tutorial for the ruler.

The ruler is called Square 2 and it's by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design, Ltd. I got mine online from Little Quilts. Here it is on top of some white paper so you can see the markings.

First you determine the size of the finished block - in this case it will be 4 inches. Cut your center square from the markings on this part of the ruler.

Here it is with the excess trimmed off. Before you leave this photo, click on it and you will see the measurement you need to cut for the side triangles. In this case it will be 3 1/4 inches.

Using your regular ruler, cut two 3 1/4 inch squares. Here I have two layers of fabric.

Without disturbing the two layers, place your ruler diagonally from point to point and cut.

You now have 4 triangles, one for each side of your square.

First sew a triangle to each opposite sides of the center square, making sure the triangle is centered with each side of the square. The directions tell you this doesn't have to be exact as you will be trimming off the excess fabric. I'm all about the details, so I make a little crease in the center of each piece and match them up before sewing.

Here I've sewn all four triangles to the square and pressed each triangle away from the center square after sewing each one.

This is what your back should look like.

Now take the other end of the ruler and align the 4's (as this will be a 4" finished block) with your center square. Click on the photo for a better look. (The directions are written a bit differently, but this seems to work for me).

Keeping your ruler firmly in place, trim off the two protruding edges you see here.

Rotate the block and position the ruler so the remaining two untrimmed edges are exposed.

Again keeping your ruler firmly in place, trim away the last two edges and....

...Voila! A perfect square in a square! There are lots of different ways of making a square in a square like this, but so far I like the convenience of this ruler - you have it all in one spot rather than referring back and forth to a chart!

Vintage Find!

2012-01-25T05:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Mr. Squash and I took an impromptu trip to a seldom visited antique mall in town. One of the things I love about being retired is the ability to do this! We're finally getting some rain which I hope will help melt the terrible ice-encrusted snow we have - I'm not getting enough of my daily walking time! However, I did manage to walk the aisles of the antique mall and look what I found!

It is a vintage, Presto "sealed" coffee jar! One particular booth had lots of them - all in nearly perfect condition - just missing the coffee that originally came in them! I've been looking for a nice jar to store brown sugar in, and decided the biggest one they had was perfect.

The reason I say "sealed, is that it not only has a ring on top, but another glass lid underneath. You can click on the photo for a better look at the writing on the metal ring.

I suspect the glass portion of the lid might have had even another seal on it that may have been disposed of once the jar was opened.

I love that it has the Good Housekeeping Institute Seal of Approval! My mother was quite fond of anything with that seal! Good Housekeeping is still one of my favorite magazines, too!

Here is the jar filled with dark brown sugar. I have a feeling I'll go back for more of these - they came in all shapes and sized - perfect for things like sugar, flour, coffee, etc.!

Cottage Sampler Block 3

2012-01-24T05:30:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to clear off my sewing table to begin a new project. Which new project I haven't quite decided, but I hope to make that decision soon. One of the things that needed clearing off was Block 3 of my Cottage Sampler BOM from The Quilted B.

I love house blocks and was tickled when this one came! For the most part, the block is being made from Etchings by 3 Sisters for Moda. However, there are a few fabrics here and there from Bunny Hill's Lily and Will. In this block it would be the "fencing". I just love this particular fabric and can think of all kinds of ~~excuses~~ reasons to buy some more!

Here are the first three blocks. They go together quickly, so I have a bit of a wait for Block 4! So tell me -- what you you working on right now?

Class Photos!

2012-01-23T05:30:00.000-08:00

Most of you know that I am a Supreme Pattern Tester for Stephanie over at Loft Creations. Last spring I tested Barefoot in the Park for her and the past two weekends I've taught the pattern at my local quilt shop!

Here is my version just to refresh your memory ;>)

Mary Jean wanted to make hers in the same Kate Spain "Central Park" fabrics. You can see her progress here on the left. Rhonda made two versions! The first one next to Mary Jean's is a mixture of Sweetwater's Countdown to Christmas and another line (sorry but I've forgotten the name of it).

Here is the back of Rhonda's first version.

This is Rhonda's second version from BasicGrey's Jovial line. Instead of appliqued circles on this one, she decided to try yo-yo's! Here we were playing with one or three and she decided she might just make one larger yo-yo instead.

I just love the differences in each wonderful version! Rhonda and Mary Jean certainly didn't need me much as they were both excellent quilters! We had a great time chatting and sewing!

Snow Event

2012-01-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

Before moving to the southeast corner of our state, Mr. Squash and I lived north of Seattle in Everett. Whenever we would get a big snowstorm, it was called a "Snow Event", most likely because since around the 1970's it's been rare to see any snow in the winter - let alone a big snowstorm!

One morning over there we woke up to a huge amount of snow on the ground. Schools and businesses closed and even the county government which was quite near to where we lived let people go home early. The local TV news superseded any regular TV programming, and they would position reporters on street corners all over the area! We affectionately called them "Parka People". One evening while having dinner we were watching the news only to see one of the Parka People on the corner right outside our front door! Now that was a hoot!

As many of you have heard, the entire state had quite a Snow Event yesterday and the day before! Here is what our front yard looked like yesterday morning. We got a lot less than the greater Seattle area, which is not to say more fell overnight here. It's not over yet! It's been kind of fun to watch Northwest Cable News today as they have had our old news station on all day and most of the same Parka People are still standing on street corners!

Here is the view in the backyard looking over to the neighbors. The snow fell heavy, wet and fast and by afternoon the temps went from 35 to 25 in a very short time and stayed there!

I fear for delicate new plantings like my little willow tree. I probably should go out and knock that snow off the tree.

We keep checking out the window, but alas, no Parka People in our neighborhood! I guess folks around here just don't consider this unusual! As you can see, my car hasn't left the driveway yet. We tooled around town yesterday in Mr. Squash's wonderful Jeep with the big tires. It comes in quite handy for this kind of weather!

More Christmas in January!

2012-01-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

While it was still fresh in my mind, I thought I would get my Christmas Fruitcake pillowcases made!

In just an hour or so (after first getting help from a dear friend while having some "dyslexia" over a portion of the pattern), I had them all made and ready to try on the bed!

The pattern is a freebie from Jackie over at Canton Village Quiltworks! I made them once before for the Million Pillowcase Challenge and remembered that they were quick, easy and very professionally tailored! I quickly put them on our bed upstairs. The bed itself is green, so the Christmas theme quickly pulls together!

Here is my pillow -- green is my favorite color.

Here is Mr. Squash's pillow. He says when he was a kid his favorite color was blue -- now he's not so sure, but I know he likes red! For now this will all go back in the linen cupboard. I feel so great about having a Christmas theme all ready to go for later this year!

If you like these, hop on over to Jackie's and grab the pattern! It works for any theme or time of year!

Christmas in January!

2012-01-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

Here I am again with another finish! Actually, you saw this back on my design wall a few weeks ago. I tried hard to finish it for Christmas but didn't quite get there. At least I'll finally have a bed quilt for next Christmas and be way ahead of the game!

The pattern is called Roll On by Brenda and Bonnie Bailey from the book Piece of Pie. I used Basic Grey's Fruitcake for the fabric. Here it is on the bed in our guest suite. I quilted it with Quilter's Dream Wool batting which I absolutely love! The quilting lends just the right amount of loft and warmth and the stitches sink right into the quilt sandwich!

Here is the back. A very dear friend gifted me some extra Fruitcake - enough to make matching pillow cases! I'll be sure and show them to you once I finish making them.

Can you tell what color thread I used for the quilting? I'm sure you can't! Believe it or not it is a bright green Isacord. For some reason it just doesn't show up in photos very well - could be because it sinks in so nicely! I was a tad hesitant to use it, but it turns out to be the perfect color!

Here is a closeup on a red block - if you click the photo you might be able to see a bit better. Sorry about the pieces of schmutz here and there - I never notice them until I look at the photos closely!

Next up I'll be quilting my little quilt from Temecula Quilt Company. Also, I taught my first quilting class on Saturday! I had a great time! Only two of the 4 gals signed up showed up which means we had a lot of quality time (and fun) together. We finish the quilt top next Saturday when I'll be sure to show you some pictures. What are we making? Why one of Stephanie's designs - Barefoot in the Park! Be sure to visit Stephanie today - she is debuting another of her fantastic creations!

Halloween in January

2012-01-13T05:30:00.000-08:00

Surprise --- another reveal!! Yes, Stephanie over at Loft Creations has been busy designing, and I've been busy pattern testing as one of her Supreme's!! The newest quilt of Stephanie's is called String Beans!

As I've mentioned in prior posts, I'm able to choose any fabric I want when testing for Stephanie! When I saw her prototype, I immediately thought of my ~~huge~~ modest Halloween stash!

I can't tell you how much fun I had making this quilt! (Actually I have fun making all of Stephanie's quilts!) I loved every minute of ~~pawing~~ sorting through my Halloween fabrics choosing which ones I would use!

I did my best to fussy cut directional prints and also mixing and matching my favorites! Until I began collecting Civil War fabrics, this was the only fabric I bought on a consistent basis over the years. Needless to say I have lots left to make other quilts! I happened to have a pantograph of pumpkins and vines which I think worked perfectly! I was also pretty nervous about using black thread to quilt, but am very pleased with the results!

Here is a better look at the quilting. When it came time to make the binding I realized I was a tad short of the sashing print that I wanted to use. I put out a call to see if anyone had any of the print and would be willing to "loan" me some! My friend Julie over at Me and My Stitches came through! Thanks again, Julie!

Don't forget to go and see Stephanie's String Beans!

Twelve Days Flimsy!

2012-01-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

Are you surprised to see me posting so much this week? I know I am! Believe it or not I've been doing a lot of sewing, just nothing that I've been able to show for a while!

Several days ago I showed you the blocks to my 12 Days of Christmas from Temecula Quilt Co. I finished the flimsy yesterday! I was so happy to see their finishing instructions as I happened to have just the right colors in yardage to finish it in Miniatures!

Here is it sideways, which I like a little better. Mr. Squash asked me what I was going to do with this quilt. If I can quilt and bind it by Valentine's Day it will be the perfect colors to hang on my entryway quilt rack! It will be bound with the red border fabric you see here.

I'm really trying to be a better blogger these days. Unfortunately due to our terribly dry weather, many of my fingertips are badly cracked, which deters from typing!! Seems I just get several healed, then they break all over again! I've been through several different types of liquid band aid which works pretty well, though. I know many of you suffer from the same thing - if you've never tried liquid bandage, I highly recommend it!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another big reveal!

A Winner and Seeing Eye Gadgets

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Sharon whose number came up on the Random Number Generator - aka Mr. Squash! Sharon wins a copy of Loft Creations newest bag pattern - All About Anna! Thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments about my Gramma!

For a very long time I've been on a quest to find the perfect light for illuminating my hand sewing projects. I've been through quite a few and finally came upon what I consider to be my most favorite!

It's called the Beam N Read and I asked Mr. Squash for it for Christmas. He actually hesitated because he said I didn't look anywhere near the age of the cover model, and I told him that was neither here nor there. But it was nice of him to make that comment - gotta love him!

This is what it looks like out of the box. The flat back fits against your body. The strap is also adjustable. It puts out a most wonderful light, yet doesn't seem to bother the person sitting next to you. It stays steady around your neck and also comes with a red and a yellow filter for different applications.

Here is how it looks around my neck. Of all the gadgets I've purchased in the last several years, this tops them all! You can go right to the Beam N Read website and order one there. (This is not a paid advertisement).

Here is a recent reject. It's reading glasses in my strength, with little lights on each corner. They aren't bad, but I have a narrow face and the lights are too far apart for the type of illumination I need. They are from I Lights.

Another recent reject. This is a small Ott Lite. I got it at JoAnn's on a 50% off coupon. It has a clip on the back that you can clip on whatever you're wearing. The front panel opens up and turns on the light, which is quite bright. The problem I had with this one is unless you're wearing something heavy, it doesn't stay upright. Also, you're stuck with whatever height your item of clothing is, so if you need the light to be closer or farther from your work, you're out of luck.

Be sure to come back Friday when I'll have another fantastic reveal!

A Supreme Project & Giveaway

2012-01-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

By now most of you know that I am one of Stephanie over at Loft Creations “Supreme Pattern Testers”. It’s a “job” I love more than any I’ve ever had! In exchange for making sure her pattern directions are tried and true before they are published, Stephanie allows me to choose any fabric I want to use for testing her creations! Who wouldn’t love that! This time she asked if I would like her to send me some fabric for this particular pattern. Stephanie and I have a similar love of the color green, but she said this wouldn’t be green. I said fine and was just delighted with what arrived in the mail!

The pattern is called "All About Anna" and is named after Stephanie's grandmother. The top of the bag is It’s a Hoot by MoMo for Moda, and the bottom is a lovely, soft corduroy. I found the handles in Oregon and they come from Cindy's Buttons in Idaho. There are three wonderful outside compartments in front, as well as one inside.

My maternal grandmother’s name was also Anna! Her maiden name was Anna Dovika (pronounced - doe-vee-ka). I always thought it was such a pretty name. As I show off Stephanie’s bag, I thought I would also tell you a little about Anna Dovika.

Here is a photo of my grandmother – or Gramma, as we called her. This was taken on her wedding day. I’ve always loved this photo and her Gibson Girl hairdo is to die for! They didn't have much money in those days which leads me to think this photo must have cost a pretty penny.

Gramma was born in 1878 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Because the Russians were recruiting Lithuanian men for their armies, most of my Lithuanian ancestors chose to come to America for a better life. Gramma came to this country on a ship around 1910, her sister having come ahead of her. She came alone at the age of 32, a single woman who knew not a word of English. My aunt Martha was already married and settled in Seattle, so Gramma had to travel across the country on a train. While she was being processed through Ellis Island, a porter convinced her somehow that he would watch her trunk full of possessions. After being processed, the porter and the trunk were long gone. The story is told that somehow she made it by train across the country with nothing but the clothes on her back and help from the kindness of strangers.

Here is the back of All About Anna. Check out Loft Creations website for Stephanie's version of Anna and see all of her other great designs!

Once Anna Dovika arrived in Seattle she was wed in an arranged marriage to another Lithuanian. She didn’t learn to speak English until my mother went to kindergarten where she herself learned English and in turn, taught it to Gramma. From then on the family was strictly "American" and Lithuanian was no longer spoken at home.

Here is a close-up of the handle. They’re really sturdy, and oh, so cute!

I remember Anna as being strong, lean and full of vigor. She had a wonderful sense of humor, and loved watching the Jackie Gleason show on Sunday with her weekly “stubby” – a beer in a short bottle. She would sneak Cheese Nips out of the cupboard for a snack, and we always knew we were getting close to her apartment as we could smell salami and Limburger cheese coming from her door! She divorced my grandfather at some point and supported her two children as a tailor in Seattle’s Public Market. It was from her that I got my love of sewing.

Thanks for allowing me to tell her story. My heart is warmed each and every time I think of her.
Would you like to win a copy of Stephanie's "All About Anna"? Just leave a comment here and I'll pick a winner at random on Wednesday! If you don't have a blogger account, your comment will show as Anonymous, so be sure to leave me your contact info!

Waiting for Batting

2012-01-06T05:30:00.000-08:00

Last week I told Mr. Squash that I was "taking the week off". From what you might ask? After all, I'm retired! To be honest, I had to think about it myself! I came to the realization that I wanted a week off from pressing household chores to do whatever I wanted! Don't get me wrong, nothing is ever pressing around the Squash House, but Mr. Squash frequently tells me I work too hard! I never consider what I do hard work, but I'll take his word for it (wink)!

What I decided to do on my week off was sew! I spent most of the week finishing up my "Roll On" quilt. I prepared to load it on Vinnie and realized the package of batting I had was not wool! Since this will be a bed quilt, I really wanted wool batting. Darn! So to bide the time while I waited for my batting to arrive, I decided to participate in Temecula Quilt Company's 12 Days of Christmas.

For each of the past twelve days they have posted a 31/2 inch block. Yesterday I finished day 12 and today they will post the setting for this little gem! I had a layer cake of Miniatures by Julie Hendrickson and was inspired to use it after seeing Kaaren's version of this!

I thought the colors reminded me of our Dogwood trees in the winter. I snipped a small branch to try some "artful photography". I don't know how artful I was, but it helped jazz up my photo a tad!

One of my days off was spent driving to Pendleton for the day with Mr. Squash. We stopped at the Woolen Mill store, the fly fishing shop and a handful of antique shops we had not yet visited. After lunch, we picked up mocha's at Starbucks and had a lovely drive home. Along the way I had to pull over and get this shot of the Blue Mountains with some fresh snowfall. Normally they would be covered in white all winter, but we've had a long dry spell. What you see here was pretty much melted by the next day. I love the contrast of the winter wheat against the mountains and sky.

My batting arrived late yesterday afternoon, so I'll be playing with Vinnie for the next few days!

New Block of the Month

2011-12-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas! Mr. Squash and I had a lovely, quiet day in each other's company! I cooked a small Prime Rib using Pioneer Woman's recipe - it was fantastic! I also made Kaaren's recipe for Brussels Sprouts and now have a new favorite! While we didn't have a white Christmas, we did have a beautiful, partly sunny day, which is OK by us!

A while back I decided to do a Block of the Month from The Quilted B. It's called Rosewood Farms and uses mostly the Etchings collection from 3 Sisters for Moda. Not only do I love the colorway, but the farm theme is adorable! Here is the first block.

And here is the second block - see the heart?

This is the original pattern which was done in more rustic colors, but still adorable! To see how the Rosewood Farms version will look finished, click here. I am bound and determined to keep up with each month and can't wait to finish!

I'm also still working on this - it's going pretty fast and I should have it on Vinnie by next week. I don't consider it a UFO because it's the only project I'm working on other than the BOM. Believe it or not, I don't have any UFO's - just lots of complete projects ready to begin! I am trying to decide which one to begin next - first in, first out, or last in first out! Which would you choose?

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

Holiday Chickens & a Piping Trick!

2011-12-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor Ted recently built a chicken coop for his wife, Andrea. You might remember some of my posts showing Ted's work in the Squash House. He is a custom builder and did quite a bit of work for us. My favorite work of Ted's is our custom Maple Bar. Well, Ted has a warehouse with a lot of leftover materials from which he pulled the makings of his chicken coop! He said given the materials he used, the first egg was probably worth around $3,000 - lol! It's really well designed and includes a little door knocker just for the chickens! (Click the photo for a closer look.) They needed a little holiday cheer, so Ted and Andrea gave them their own set of holiday lights! I can just hear the girls laying eggs while they cluck Christmas carols!

I've been doing some secret holiday sewing. I'm a ~~little behind~~ getting caught up and have made a deadline for myself to get it all done in the next few days. Two of the items have piping, something I love, but dread to make. I can never sew the piping evenly into to the fabric and usually wind up scrapping it for another idea. This time I was determined to make it work - and all of a sudden a light bulb in my head went on!

I was given some Lapel Stick to try and I thought - why not stick the piping to the fabric before I begin sewing it!

I finger pressed my piping fabric in half, ran the lapel stick down the fold and onto the front portion of the fold.

Then I simply stuck the piping down the fold and pressed in half before sewing it all together.

Voila! My piping and fabric stayed together perfectly while sewing and it's ready to insert into my projects. Many times I look at the ~~mountain of~~ many notions I've accumulated and wonder why - and then an idea like this pops into my head and all I need to do is reach in the notions drawer!

Fairy Frost

2011-12-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

This morning Mr. Squash and I awoke to what we thought was snow! It wasn't predicted - the weather here has been cold and sunny for quite some time now, but it sure looked like snow! Then I remembered that Freezing Fog had been predicted! Fairy Frost sounds better, don't you think?

Here is a shot right outside the front door. This is our new winter flag - we're beginning to amass a small collection of them! It's something I've always wanted, but this is the first house where it's been possible to have them.

Looking the other way at my car parked in the driveway.

Aside from the Dogwoods, this is my favorite plant in the front yard - European Cranberry. It always puts on a show no matter what the season!

Speaking of the Dogwoods, isn't this gorgeous! Click on any photo for a better look.

On my way back inside I snapped a photo of our wreath. I was going to try making one this year, but on a trip to the farm store this one called my name!

I ventured out the back steps to get a couple more photos. Some years the fog can stick around this part of the Columbia Basin for weeks. I don't remember any last year and I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for this year. But wait....it's Fairy Frost, not fog....

Looking the other way at the Juniper trees which hold some of our firewood. (In case you're wondering, the wood has not spread the trees as you see - they were leaning apart prior to the wood being stacked.)

I have absolutely no sewing to show that isn't a gift. I've also been doing a bit of holiday baking. Today will be a peanut butter fudge recipe I found here. I've made several of Marie's recipes and become quite a fan!

So what about you? How are your holiday plans coming?

Brined Turkey - A First!

2011-11-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I am so thankful for you, fellow bloggers, Mr. Squash, our health and of course -- The Squash House!

I thought while the turkey is in the oven for many of you, that I would share my first turkey brining experience. This year we decided to cook the turkey the day before Thanksgiving along with any side dishes that could be prepared ahead. Today I'm doing the stuffing in a crockpot, rolls and a side dish of Brussels Sprouts. I should have plenty of time to relax before dinner for a change.

SIL in New Jersey emailed just the other day that she brined a turkey and had great results! I've thought about doing it for some time now, so I decided to make a last minute change in plans! You can find the recipe that I used in a video here: http://www.kitchendaily/.com It began as quite an odyssey! Our 5 gallon plastic bucket was not food safe, so after finally getting to the 5th and final grocery store in town, we found a brining bag large enough to fit the turkey and the bucket! Here is the bucket after Mr. Squash hefted it into the frig!

Don't be grossed out by this - it's only the shadows of all the veggies in the brine that fell to the bottom while Mr. Turkey was brining. I only wanted you to see how close we came to having just enough room for him in the bucket! It looks like more, but there is only about 4-5 inches left at the top of the bucket!

Once I took the turkey out of the brine it had to sit for about 30 minutes which gave me just enough time to prepare the basting sauce. First I finely chopped 2 Tbsp of fresh rosemary from my garden.

Then I peeled the rind in large strips from one lemon. Last time I used this peeler I managed to peel my thumb along with a butternut squash! I was very careful this time!

Next was to mince one clove of garlic. This is a head from garlic we harvested this summer - I just love the bright, red color! See that cute little machine? We picked it up on our recent trip to Leavenworth - it's a garlic mincer! You place your clove inside, then roll the wheels back and forth on the counter several times and voila...

...perfectly chopped garlic with no mess! The little chopper comes right out to wash and ready for the next clove! Have you ever seen the "get it or forget it" stories about new gadgets on the news? In my book, this is a definite "Get It"!

Place the above ingredients in a small saucepan along with 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, bring to a simmer and cook for a minute or so. Set aside to cool.

Next cut one large yellow onion into 8 wedges.

Place the onion in the bottom of your roaster, then the rack, then your turkey. Baste your turkey and place in a pre-heated 400 degree oven.

Here is Mr. Turkey in the oven waiting to bring out his wonderful flavor! Bake at 425 for one hour, then reduce the oven to 375, pour one cup of water into the bottom of the pan. Baste with the reserved olive oil mixture every half hour until a thermometer registers 165 degrees. You can find the recipe here: http://www.marthastewart.com/331734/roast-turkey-with-rosemary-and-lemon Martha called for the turkey to be stuffed, but I didn't and still had excellent results!

Wouldn't you know just when I took the turkey out to rest I got a call from an old friend in California. I totally forgot to take a photo of the whole bird nicely roasted, but here he is all sliced and ready to be served later today! I can honestly say it looked as good as the picture in the recipe!

I also made the accompanying recipe for White Wine Gravy: http://www.marthastewart.com/331731/white-wine-gravy I must say that this is one of the best gravies I've ever made! We can't wait to dig into all this later today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Design Wall Monday & A Good Deed!

2011-11-21T05:30:00.000-08:00

In between other projects I'm slowly working away on my Piece of Pie quilt. Friday night after dinner I finally finished all 80 blocks!

Yesterday afternoon I began putting it up on the design wall. This is the most difficult part of quiltmaking for me! I can figure out and stitch almost any sort of complicated block, but when it comes time to put it all together in a pleasing manner my heart begins to palpitate and I start sweating - lol!

I told myself I would just quickly throw this one together and hope for the best. Well, I did put it up rather quickly and began a few tweaks here and there and decided I could do it all day and night and still feel it wasn't quite right! So, with approval from Mr. Squash's discerning eye, we decided it was good to go! The quilting will change it all anyway, so why waste any more time! Next will be sewing the rows together and adding two different borders.

Mr. Squash and I along with our next door neighbors have been feeding an abandoned cat for a while now. I affectionately call her Sugar after a cat I had as a child. It took her some time to make friends, but she's gradually warming to a pet and a scratch now and again. We feed her outside under the eaves where it always stays dry. The other morning Mr. Squash called me to the window where we found her facing the corner here on the ground rolled into a tiny ball against the cold. Well, it tugged at our hearts and we decided to try and find something that would be a weather-proof bed for her.

We couldn't find anything at the farm store, so Saturday we drove to Wags and Whiskers where we buy Sophie's food. We spied this domed litter box with a smooth bottom and thought it would actually make a decent, weather-proof bed. Sophie generously donated her warm and soft bubble bed which fit perfectly inside. In less than a day, Sugar curled up inside and made it her home! She was so soundly asleep inside when I snapped the photos that she didn't even wake up. It feels great to both of us that we brought a little joy and comfort into her life.

For iPad Readers - A Fix!

2011-11-18T09:47:00.000-08:00

Over the past year I've had several emails and comments from those of you with iPads and other laptop devices. You've mentioned that you cannot see the text on my blog. I've tried to remedy the problem many times, but until now there hasn't been a solution. Well, today there is! If you're reading this on an iPad now, you should be able to see this text! The wonderful gals at Cutest Blog on the Block helped me through this, and for that, I thank them very much!

If you're looking for a new template for your blog, or just want a change, do go over there and have a look! They offer lots of free templates and for not much, they will even work with you on a design of your own! And in case you're wondering, I did not get paid for this little bit of advertising :>)

Mr. Squash and I cleaned out all the pots on our patio yesterday. It's nice to know that someone appreciates it and is finding them a good place for storage!

Have a great weekend!

Contrary to Popular Belief....

2011-11-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

...I'm still here! Gosh - if any quilters out there are contemplating retirement - anticipating all the time in the world to quilt - think twice!! I've never been as busy since I've retired! And have I found more time to quilt?? A tad, yes, but not nearly as much as I thought I would have. I'm not complaining, however, but would someone out there send me some more time!

Currently I'm working on a quilt called "Roll On" from the book Piece of Pie by Brenda and Bonnie Bailey. It's a layer cake friendly book - and I just happened to have a layer cake of one of my favorite designs - Fruitcake by Basic Grey! I've made 24 of these with 56 left to go. It's a very easy block to make and goes together quickly. Maybe by Christmas I'll at least have it on Vinnie and then on our bed for next Christmas!

Colors are changing really fast now in town. Here is the view from my dining room the other morning. Our Red Sunset maples are finally coming into their own. Next year they will be even bigger and provide us with a lot more shade!

Today I baked some Starbuck's Oatmeal cookies! Mr. Squash and I both love them and you can find the recipe here. Easy to make and oh, so good!

Sophie absolutely loves her retirement. If she only knew how to quilt so I'd have a helper - lol! I love this photo of her basking in a sunbeam and sitting on top of her heated bed with her catnip sock nearby. Doesn't get and better than this!

Spooky Supreme Peek and Hexagon Madness!

2011-10-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

I finished another Supreme pattern test the other day, but because it's a pattern that won't be released until next year, I can only show you a peek! I had so much fun making this one! Stephanie gives me free rein to use whatever fabric I want, so I decided to delve into my ~~rather large~~ Halloween stash!

This is the front - wish I could show more, but you'll just have to be patient!

Here is a peek at the back. Thanks to a most kind "donation" from Julie over at Me and My Stitches, I had enough of the orange, spider webby fabric to bind the quilt and tie it all together! Thanks again, Julie!

I have Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts to blame for my latest ~~addiction~~ ongoing project - Hexagons! Check out her blog for a wonderful, 3-part tutorial on how to make these little gems! I read the tutorial through several times and also purchased her Hexagon Starter Kit and it's off to the races! I plan to work my way through my entire scrap bin for a one-of-a-kind hexagon quilt! In the photo above are my first 6 hexagons - so easy and so fun with Pam's instructions. The hexagon sitting by itself on the bottom came with Pam's kit which is so helpful! Been wanting to make these like I have? Go have a peek and see how easy and fun it is!

You've seen me post this quilt before, but check out the little figures on top of the rack! They are from a local artist and I've begun collecting them here and there for different seasonal displays!

I took my camera with me the other day on my daily walk. The leaves are changing must faster this year, and oh, so beautiful! Here are 3 of the 4 Dogwoods in front of the house. Soon there will be nothing but the red berries left and the Flicker's will be feasting until they are gone!

Our mailman told me this bush is a Euonymous. There are many different varieties but this one that turns red in the fall is all over town. I'll be looking to plant one at the Squash House!

I loved this Colorado Blue Spruce covered with leaves fallen from another tree.

And how nice it would be to sit on this bench with a hot cup of tea and your favorite quilting magazine on a sunny, fall day!

Autumn Touring

2011-10-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

Gosh - I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted! Where does the time go. A while back Mr. Squash and I went to Leavenworth, Washington for a little Autumn getaway! I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the places we stopped.

This is Prey's Fruit Barn - a longtime staple in the area. They always have so many beautiful baskets of flowers out front!

This odd looking fellow greets you at the door.

I picked up some packages of dried 13-bean mix for soups here and a few apples. We'd never seen this variety before - and they were HUGE! One apple could have served 4 people! It wasn't the best we'd ever tasted, but it's always fun to try a new variety. Click on the photo for the name.

Next stop was another longtime institution - Smallwoods. They have all sorts of fruits and vegetables from local farms and orchards, a petting zoo and fun things for kids to do!

Here is where they had their pumpkins for sale. I wish mine were orange, but alas, they're still green and we just had our first frost. Needless to say, I picked up some that are orange!

They had cute little vignettes all over!

Mr. Squash wants you to meet his new friend - he's great to talk with - never argues and always agrees with what he says!

This was adorable - a cow train for kids! A few minutes after I snapped this photo, it was filled with little ones going for a ride around the farm!

Don't you just love this huge, red rooster!

Check out this corner of their store - I actually know some very good men cooks - I think they have it all wrong!

This is the main street in Leavenworth. All the buildings are made to look like you're in a Bavarian Village - it's what attracts everyone. They even play Bavarian music on loudspeakers all over town! We had a lovely trip and the weather was perfect!

On the way home we stopped at one of our favorite nurseries. Mr. Squash saw this flag and knew it was perfect for the Squash House! Every time a group of kids walk past the house we hear all sorts of comments about how cool it is! Now if I could just get the wrinkles out! I'm so afraid to iron it and have it melt!

**EDIT** - Thanks to a tip from Kaaren - I've gotten the wrinkles out of my flag - it now looks terrific! Thanks, Kaaren!

Quilted and Bound Labor of Love!

2011-10-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

From the moment I saw this Winter Wonderland quilt by Crabapple Hill I knew I had to make it! Two of my favorite things - embroidery and traditional patchwork immediately spoke to me! I'd never undertaken anything this detailed but knew in my heart I had to try! Since our old house was on the market and I couldn't mess up my studio at the time, I thought what better than some lap work to make the time pass. Oh....and we had a lot of time to pass. In the many months of waiting for a buyer I was able to complete all the stitcheries. Then we sold the house and moved to the Squash House. With getting settled and many non-quilt related projects to take care of first, I didn't think I'd ever get to this point! But, VOILA - here is my beauty all ready to snuggle under for a warm winter's rest!

Mr. Squash is my quilt model here. I used Quilter's Dream Wool batting (my favorite) which makes it heavy and difficult to hold up for very long. Great job, Mr. Squash!

Here it is on the bed. It's not a sunny day here, so the lighting isn't optimal, but feel free to click on any photo for a better look!

I used Isacord on the top and bobbin - I love how it just melds into the batting. While I would have loved to try some custom quilting on this, I knew it might be another 3 years before I'd finish, so I opted for a panto called Blowin' Wind by Jodi Beamish at Willow Leaf Studio.

Isn't this just the cutest scene?

I learned a lot making all the different blocks on this quilt. While I've made most of them before, I learned that perfect piecing is the key to making it all come together. I found myself remaking several of them as I wasn't satisfied with any of them being a tad off here and there! I remember after sewing each row together I would run upstairs and tell Mr. Squash that each row was sewing together in perfect precision! I held my breath on the last row and did a happy dance when it all fit perfectly!

Here is a look at the back. This panto reminds me of pictures of Old Man Winter blowing a cold breath from his snowy face!

Just now I'm putting another quilt on Vinnie! It's a secret for now - a very fun Supreme sewing project. As soon as the pattern is released I can show it to you!

Jack & the Brussels Sprout!

2011-10-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Most of us are familiar with the old Fairy Tale, Jack and the Beanstalk. It was always one of my favorites. That, and the tale of Johnny Appleseed. This weekend I decided it was time to pick our broccoli before the slugs made them a fall feast!

When I took a look at what was there after the leaves were cut away, Jack and the Beanstalk immediately came to mind! I was absolutely amazed! From one tiny seed came these enormous stalks just waiting for some of my favorite recipes! On the left is one plant after the leaves were cut away, and on the right is how they look after I removed the crowns and before I cut away the leaves!

Here is a closer view of those luscious sprouts! Before I met Mr. Squash I didn't like them at all! The only way I'd ever had them is when my mother boiled and buttered them. But Mr. Squash loved them so I wanted to find a way that I would as well. Thanks to some great recipes from Martha Stewart and others, I've come to know and love these little gems! By the way, that is celery above the sprouts - I had completely harvested them earlier this summer, but they came back again! How I love the soil in this neck of the woods!

I'm a little slow this year in getting my Halloween decorations up and about, but I did get this little mug rug made for a friend. I thought it turned out pretty cute - and it was all from stash!

Tomorrow we're heading to Leavenworth, Washington for a couple of days. We might even fish the Icicle river one day if the weather is good. We'll also visit a couple of farm stores along the way and see some fall colors in the mountains. I'll be sure and take some great photos for you upon our return!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

Garden Giants!

2011-09-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

According to our local weatherman, big changes are on the horizon for next week! Mr. Squash and I are quite sad to say goodbye to wearing shorts and back to long pants! It's been a gorgeous summer here and we are sad to see it end. That being said, I LOVE Fall!

So, this will probably be my last garden post for the year. We can't believe how huge everything is! We've probably picked at least 75 pounds of tomatoes - and close to the same in zucchini's!

Mr. Squash put out my little garden Jack o' Lanterns the other day! I didn't think we were going to get any pumpkins this year, but.....

...look what's hiding under one end! Aren't they incredible? I'm, crossing my fingers they turn orange before Halloween!

But wait! There is another one on the other end!

Here is what the veggie garden looks like on the west side of the yard. That's Mr. Giant Beanstalk on the left - Blue Lake green beans - my favorite! To the right of that is an English cucumber, and the two giants in the middle are tomatoes! I've cut them down from the top at least a half dozen times this summer otherwise they would take their cages down with them! There are also some pepper plants poked in around the tomatoes - we've had a bumper crop of Jalapenos!

Check out the Dahlia's! Some are taller than me! I must find a better staking system next year!

More Dahlia's and both grapes made it up and over the top of the trellis this year. Next year they might even bear fruit!

Perennials are beginning to feel the onset of dormancy. They gave us a beautiful show this year!

Check out this giant Brussels Sprout bush! It has 6 other brothers and sisters! I hope the little sprouts get big enough to eat soon!

Have you ever seen rhubarb still growing in September? I can't keep up with it. I'm going to try picking and freezing the rest.

These are the last two zucchini's - a green and a yellow. I pulled a lot more earlier in the summer as they were taking over everything else!

Looking from the back fence to the house.

Sedum - Autumn Joy. It will turn a lovely, burnt auburn color soon! I love this perennial.

The alyssum under the new roses we planted this year started out as tiny plugs from the nursery. We don't do anything special to them - they just happily get huge!

Last post I mentioned something very special happened here at the Squash House last week. While my SIL and her husband were here, we witnessed a mother squirrel try to teach her baby how to walk across the top of the fence and up a utility pole and onto the adjacent tree! None of us had ever seen anything like it! She would occasionally grab baby in her mouth by the scruff of his neck and carry him. When he finally made it to the top of the pole - he fell all the way down (30 ft) - but survived only to get to the top again! It was truly miraculous! I made a video of it, which is very rough, but have a look if you're interested! Don't worry, baby falling is not included! Also, I has trouble editing it, so the end is a tad rough.

L'Ecole No. 41

2011-09-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

This past week we hosted Mr. Squash's sister and her husband from New Jersey. This was their first visit to the Squash House. He joked that they should be careful getting off the plane as tourists have been known to be carried away by giant tumbleweeds! Actually, with the hot, dry weather we've had, that isn't all that far from the truth - lol! SIL said they were really glad to finally see the green of our town on the horizon as they made the hour drive here from the airport! She had begun to wonder if we really lived on the prairie amongst the tumbleweeds!

It was a busy week as we played tour guides! We really enjoy having company and showing newcomers to our area all the sights!

I thought you might enjoy photos of this winery we visited one day. The building is the original Frenchtown School which was a log cabin built in 1870 along the shore of the Walla Walla River. It was moved to it's present location and restored for the winery. Here is what you see as you drive up and park.

Getting a bit closer.

Inside all the original woodwork has been lovingly restored. This might have been the library at one time.

Here is a class photo from 1960 when the school was called the Lowden School for the town in which it resides. Look at all those happy faces - most probably children of the families who farmed wheat in the area.

I loved what they did with the lighting in this room, which I believe is a meeting room!

More gorgeous woodwork! Do you see some quilt possiblities here?

Here is a closeup. I would love to translate the circular "flower" into a quilt block! Sort of a swirled Dresden! How many little hands must have touched this wood over the years! I can almost hear them running up and down the stairs!

This brass bell outside was made especially for the winery.

Later in the week we all watched something amazing happen in our backyard. I'm still trying to edit the video I made and will show it to you next post! I'm also slowly catching up on what all of you have been up to!

Need Your Help - Fabric Search!

2011-09-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Have you wondered if I'm still quilting? The answer is a big YES, but what I've done lately I can't reveal just yet. I've been doing more Supreme Sewing for Stephanie at Loft Creations. As soon as she releases the patterns, I'll have some great projects to show!

EDIT: Thanks to Julie over at Me and My Stitches, I have found the amount of fabric I need! Julie - you are the best! If you haven't been there, do go over and see the gorgeous "quilting" jewelry Julie makes! Thanks SO much, Julie!!

In the meantime, I am in a desperate search for a half yard of this fabric:

It's from an RJR line called "Halloween Magic" from (I believe) 2003. I would be happy to "pay the price" or even trade for any other Halloween fabric from my stash! I know there are many of you out there who have collected Halloween fabrics for a long time. I would be forever grateful if anyone has some they can spare!

I decided I would make this table runner for Christmas this year! The fabrics are Marcus Borthers and Windham from Civil War reproductions. I think it might even work year round! The pattern is quick and easy, too! Nothing like getting started early! Let's see --- Christmas is only 99 days away - eek!

Thanks in advance for searching through your Halloween stash for me!!

Wilderness Surprise!

2011-09-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Those of you who have been with me for a while know that Mr. Squash and I were married in the Eagle Cap Wilderness by our good friend, Otis Waggoner. Early this summer we got a call from Otis asking if we would like to be a part of his wife Teresa's surprise 60th birthday party! Of course we wouldn't have missed it for the world! Otis, Teresa and their friend Jim were planning a week long elk hunting trip in the Eagle Cap wilderness just prior to Teresa's birthday. Their plan was to ride to camp the first day, then the second day, ride over to the Minam Lodge for feed for the horses and stay for dinner. Otis wanted to gather as many of their good friends as possible at the lodge so we could surprise Teresa when they rode in!

After much planning, calling, arranging transportation in to the lodge (bush plane, horse riding and just plain walking the 8 mile trail), rooms at the lodge, cake (Mr. Squash and my job) and timing, Otis had it down pat and Teresa was none the wiser!

Lots of great photos here and a video toward the end. The plan was that they would ride in around 3pm and blow their elk bugles as they got closer so we would all know to hide and be ready. Teresa wouldn't be suspicious of the elk bugling because they do it on the trail all the time. Mr. Squash had the great idea to provide party hats for everyone - and they were a big hit!

Here is part of the group (which we think numbered around 40 at one time) waiting down by the barn. No one was shy about wearing a party hat! Jerry, Otis' brother had his guitar ready to sing Happy Birthday!

Jenny went even found an extra hat!

Rod was having trouble with his hat.

Some of us, like Corry, looked better in their hats than others!

Mr. Squash looked pretty debonair in his hat!

Bill and Mike are comparing hats.

Here they come....let's all hide!

SURPRISE! This photo is a tad blurry, but below the arrow is Teresa with her hand over her mouth in total shock!

She's just beginning to realize all the folks who've come to celebrate!

OMG - someone she hasn't seen in ages!

Otis is happy as a clam that his surprise worked!!

Teresa just now realizes another old friend has come! Her expressions really said it all!

Another old friend came all the way from California!

Hugs and tears everywhere!

Teresa is totally overcome with emotion! And still wearing her chaps from the trail!

One of the gals made Teresa her very own birthday hat! Click on the photo for a better look! A big 60 on the front!

Check out the back of the hat!

How great a picture is this!

Mr. Squash and I flew in the cake - Otis wanted it to say this! Believe me, the logistics of driving for 2 hours, then taking a bush plane in 90 degree heat with a cake is not easy! But we got it there in one piece and it even tasted great!

I tried to make a video with my new camera of Otis and Jerry playing songs for Teresa while she opened presents. They are singing about crawdads - you may have to turn up your speakers.

Everyone had a fantastic time and partied well into the night. Here we are the next morning getting ready to say goodbye to our dear friend as she rides back into the wilderness.

Caverhill Lodge Fishing and a Party!

2011-09-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

Finally - the last post on our trip to Caverhill Lodge! We had the best time fishing! Each morning at the breakfast table, all the guests would discuss which lake of the 12 available to fish. You would always have a lake to yourself for the entire day! The lakes were either accessible by a trail walk, or from the main lake on a small boat. Once you got to the lake there were always one or two boats with motors ready and waiting!

These are the two beautiful flies Mr. Squash and I used on our first day of fishing! I love the one on the right because it's called a "pumpkin leach"! Fitting, wouldn't you say? These flies were fished down below the surface of the water and wouldn't you know - we had no luck whatsoever with them! After an hour or two we switched over to dry flies, which are fished on top of the water and it seemed we could do no wrong!

Here is Mr. Squash happily at the helm headed out for a day of fishing!

Here I am that same day patiently waiting for a strike! I was rewarded soon after this photo with a fish jumping out of the lake and nearly into the boat with us!

We were catching them so fast that there wasn't time for many pictures of them! Here is the first fish I caught on the trip - certainly not the biggest and one of many!

One day we decided to take the long walk to Bramon Lake. Check out Mr. Squash on this part of the trail! That's a trail, you say? Thank goodness it didn't go for long that way! We even saw fresh bear tracks that day, but I'm happy to say the bear stayed hidden!

Each lake had a sign so you knew you were in the right place. Larry and Marlene had thought of everything, including an area with a tarp and some cut firewood in case a sudden storm came in!

Mr. Squash is saying: "Okay, what now?"!! Our best day of fishing was here! For not being boat or lake fishers, we did pretty well.

You always knew where to go with these great signs on the trails!

Yay - the lodge isn't far now! This was painted on a fallen moose antler!

On the last evening, Linda was surprised on her 50th birthday with a wonderful cake decorated with a trout! She and her husband, Howard, were just learning to fly fish.

Larry was using his little buddy here to tell Howard the party was over and to retreat to the living room! There was always something fun when you were around Larry!

That evening, Howard found a guitar at the lodge. It was just a "prop" but playable all the same. So, he got out his book of songs and chords and we all sat around singing old folk songs and having a grand time! We met a lot of great folks there and wish they would all come back again at the same time we do!

We just returned from another surprise birthday party at the Minam Lodge! I'll tell you about that in the next post - it was SO much fun! I have a new camera and it's taking me some tome to figure out how to unload and process everything, but I promise to have a post up in a day or two!

Caverhill Yard Art, Vintage Quilt & Food!

2011-09-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for your patience - getting all our photos organized and posted has turned into a much larger job than I thought! Today I thought I'd show you some of the various artsy things around Caverhill Lodge. One of the things our hosts do in the off season is produce the Art Market Art & Craft Show every year. Marlene started the show over 20 years ago and has brought together some amazing Canadian artists and crafters. Many of the things on display at the lodge came from the show.

I love this goofy bird perched on a stump near the dock! If you click on the photo you'll see that he's made out of all sorts of old tools and re-bar!

Nothing too unusual about this hammock until you look at the logs holding it up! I forgot to ask, but I'm sure Larry carved these himself.

John Henry isn't really yard art, but I had to show him hard at work mowing the lawn!

Larry made this very apropos sign at the door to the lodge!

Here's a great way to use the seat from an old tractor! You could sit here with your morning coffee and watch the sun rise!

The squirrels had their own feeder - probably also made by Larry! He loves old signs! Check out the barbed wire to keep the non-squirrel population away!

After fishing a while on the first day we were relaxing out front near the dock. Larry was bringing in two more guests on the Caverhill Queen, a man and a woman. I said to Bob - for no reason whatsoever - that she looked like a fellow quilter! Guess what - she was! Now that was a hoot, and kind of spooky! Do we quilters give off some sort of pheromone or scent that attracts us to one another - lol?!

That evening I was mentioning this to Larry. It turns out that his great grandmother was also a quilter! He pulled out a very old quilt she had made. Actually, she had made the blocks (crazy patch) but never sewed them together. Marlene found them, added borders, and sewed the quilt together. She also added Larry's initials and his date of birth and his great grandmother's initials and the year she passed away.

I wish I had gotten more than these two photos, but there were too many people around at the time to spread it out. Here is one of the crazy patches - you can see that she used whatever materials she could find at the time. It seems to be mostly made from wool and very heavy cottons.

On to the food. Gosh - we can't say enough about how good it was! Larry cooked breakfasts - usually bacon, sausage, omelets, freshly made cinnamon rolls, always fresh fruit (at every meal) and so many other goodies! After breakfast our lunches would be waiting on this sideboard. There would be sandwiches in plastic containers, fresh cookies, and we would load up a cooler bag they furnished with anything from the jars - nuts, chocolate, more cookies, and hard candies!

Larry carved this burl fruit bowl which was always my last stop in filling up the lunch sacks!

Here is how the dining room table looked set for breakfast and dinner. Somehow I never seemed to have my camera ready when the food came out - I suspect after fishing hard each day I was more interested in eating than snapping photos!

Here are our chefs! Marlene usually cooks most of the time, but she was away for the first few days dealing with her aging parents. Beverly was trained in culinary school, but she made a point of saying she has learned more from Marlene than anyone else! Dinners were never boring! Each night we had the most wonderful dishes - better than any multi-star restaurant!

I did manage to get a photo of this incredible appetizer! It was a homemade bruscetta topped with a remoulade of fresh, cherry tomatoes and homemade Parmesan crisps! Every dish was always artfully plated and so wonderfully good! I think if Mr. Squash had to choose what he liked best, it would have been the desserts! Not only did he get generous portions, he also usually got to finish mine!

In the evenings after dinner we would retire to the living room(s) where all the guests would tell stories of their fishing adventures of the day! I loved this little stove! It takes one log, placed on end and, according to Larry, heats the entire room all winter!

My next and final post about our Caverhill Lodge adventure will be about our daily fishing trips! Stay tuned!

A Speck in the Forest

2011-09-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

The title of this post says it all for me! After seeing how far into the wilderness we were and how vast British Columbia is, I really felt like a speck in the forest - yet Mr. Squash and I had more than all the comforts of home (well, that is if you don't count having all my sewing studio with us)! So many of you asked me to take lots of photos, which I did, and I'm eager to show them. However, since there is so much to see and tell, I'm going to split this trip into several posts.

After driving more than 500 miles from home, we finally turned onto a logging road for the last leg of our trip. The road was thankfully marked with little blue signs at each Km which I had translated to miles prior to the trip and Mr. Squash kept watch to make sure we didn't stray onto any small side roads. At nearly 15 miles and climbing steadily, we arrived at the tiny pick-up dock on Lake Caverhill. Our host, Larry Loney, picked us up in the Caverhill Queen along with 3 others and we headed across the lake to the lodge.

Here is the sight that greeted us upon our arrival at Caverhill Lodge.

Larry walked us down to our cabin, The Ice House. Despite the name, it was far from icy and actually quite grand! I forgot to take pictures before we messed it up, but we had a king-sized bed with down comforters, a large armoir, two large antique rockers, a large wood stove, and a small bathroom with an composting commode and sink with just cold water. Larry explained that we would be assigned a "real" bathroom closer to the lodge in the "Shower House", and this one was pretty much for those night callings! That was fine with us!

This was the view from our cabin looking out onto Lake Caverhill! We faced West and witnessed some incredible sunsets!

Larry asked that once we got settled in to come on down to the main lodge for the requisite paperwork. Along the way were some incredible buildings. All the buildings were hand-built and/or restored by Larry and his wife Marlene! This was the real Ice House! Our cabin was the old ice house which was later remodeled, hence the name.

Check out the sign on the door! And do you see that curious creature on the lower left...

...that would be John Henry - the resident mule and lawnmower! John Henry has free rein of the property all day long - he wears that bell around his neck so Larry knows where he is. Larry and John Henry had quite a bond! John Henry was waiting at the door of the Ice House for a carrot, which I got to feed to him!

Beverly, the chef, asked if we would like to see inside. Here is what we saw - those are actual ice blocks from lake when it freezes in the winter! Larry cuts them and they last way past the last time guests come in! They keep the ice house at an even 33 degrees, no matter the outside temps! What impressed Mr. Squash is that they even passed muster with the Canadian Health authority!

Along the way to the lodge we met the other resident pet - Hailey! She is half Blue Heeler and half Border Collie. Of all the ranch/lodge dogs we've met and come to know, Hailey is right there on top! She was so sweet and fun to play with!

We passed by the tool shed here. Nothing gets thrown away - everything seems to have a purpose and place! The lodge was originally built in 1948 and some of the buildings, such as this still stand. When Larry and Marlene came along 25 years ago, most of the building were in disrepair. They've done an incredible job making it a little piece of luxury in the deep woods today!

Here is the smokehouse. Larry explained that he would smoke any large trout we caught if we desired and we could take them home with us. We opted out, but one of the guests did have some smoked.

When the smoker was in full swing, it make some lovely shadows amongst the trees!

This is a composite of the back of the lodge. Inside held even more treasures which I'll save for another post. We loved stopping here for fresh coffee every day after a long day out fishing! This is also where all the meals were served - and oh, were we ever fed like kings and queens! More about that in another post.

After filling out our paperwork, we wandered around a bit more. This is just one of several more cabins on the property. They each had great names and fantastic views of the lake!

Next post we'll walk around the property a bit more and I'll tell you about the meals - certainly one of our favorite highlights!

Back Home Again!

2011-09-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Mr. Squash and I had a fantastic time on our Canadian adventure! We arrived home on Monday around 10:00 pm. Going up we spent two nights on the road "just because" and coming home we thought we could do it with just one night on the road. We didn't even make reservations anywhere on the way home because we weren't sure when we would be leaving Caverhill Lodge. Ooops -- that was a mistake! By the time we crossed the border and landed in Omak, WA, there were no hotels available and it was about 2:30pm. So, we were feeling good, had a great book on tape and decided to push for home! After stopping for a quick salad in Moses Lake, we made it home - and Miss Sophie was really happy to see us!

I've been busier than you can imagine since then catching up on laundry, picking and cooking tons of tomatoes, responding to email and generally getting organized! I thought I would break our adventure into several posts. Today I'll start with the trip up to the lodge.

We traveled up to the Canadian border via Grand Coulee Dam, which neither of us had ever seen. On a little-traveled road it seemed as though we drove through endless fields of wheat! Many farmers are still going through harvest and the scenery was gorgeous! Here is the dam - much like many others we've seen and they never cease to amaze us! We ate our lunch here and headed for the border.

After successfully crossing the border, we spent the first night in the resort town of Osoyoos, which is situated on a huge lake of the same name. Not much to say there other than that it was a gorgeous day and lots of folks were enjoying the lake! The next morning, as we drove north, Mr. Squash noticed this quilt shop and insisted I stop! I was so enthralled with all the fruit orchards and wineries along the road that I didn't even see it!

While a very small shop, the proprietor was really nice and allowed me to take a few photos. She even had a Gammill longarm purchased from the same place I got mine! Her selection of batiks was wonderful, but I held myself back!

The Quilt Cupboard you see was full of finished quilts you could buy!

After seeing this sign, I did allow myself a few "small" purchases - I mean, how could you not - LOL!

This beautiful quilt hung just inside the front door.

After tearing myself away from the shop, we continued on to our second hotel in Kamloops. Many of you, especially those of you who live in Canada, know how vast a country it is! How I wish there had been a place to pull over and take photos along the way. The vistas and views and the enormity of it all was breathtaking! We crossed one long pass that I thought would never end - the high point was nearly 5,700 ft. and all you could see all the way to the horizon was forest and mountains! It's probably good that we couldn't stop as we would have never gotten to Kamloops!

I have so much more to tell, and I will next post, but I'll tease you here with a few photos from Caverhill Lodge. This was looking at the lodge on our boat ride in from the where we left the car. Our cabin isn't in this, but would be off to the left of the photo.

Even though we were in the wilderness, we had all the comforts of home...or at least we thought we did!

Wouldn't you know!

Stay tuned - much more to come!

Zucchini Relish and a Blogging Break

2011-08-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

I must say that given our unusually wet and cold spring, our garden has outdone itself so far this summer! We can hardly keep up with the harvest of tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, lettuce, peppers and garlic. Not long ago Ferne over at Sew Sweet Thymes, quilter and gardener extraordinaire, sent me a recipe for Zucchini Relish. I'd recently purchased a pressure canner and would really like to get good at it! The last time I canned anything was in high school with my mother at my side - and you don't want to know how long ago that was!

So here is my first solo attempt at preserving - Sweet Zucchini Relish. As of this posting, the lids have all sealed and they're ready to go! If you would like the recipe, just send me an email and I'll be happy to pass it on!

I've also decided that I need to take a bit of a blogging break. Mr. Squash and I are headed to Canada on the 23rd for our annual "Big Fishing Adventure". This year we're going someplace new - Caverhill Lodge. With so much to take care of in the garden and yard as well as getting ready for the trip, I think I'd best spend a little time away from the computer. I'll be back sometime during the first week of September. I promise to take lots of pictures and to have lots to blog about soon!

No Recipe Salsa!

2011-08-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but our garden is beginning to really come alive! Tomatoes and peppers are in a race to out-grow each other! So.... I thought a fresh tomato salsa was in order for a lovely afternoon snack on the patio!

Here is what I had on hand - freshly picked tomatoes, sweet banana peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, lime, salt and (not pictured) half a sweet Walla Walla onion.

This is what the finished salsa looks like!

Add that to a bowl of chips and you have your sunny afternoon snack!

For those of you who would like to know the quantities I used:

Fresh Tomato Salsa

2 medium tomatoes and a handful of yellow cherry tomatoes, chopped

half a sweet Walla Walla onion, chopped

appx 5 Tablespoons fresh Cilantro, chopped

1 small Jalapeno pepper seeded and finely chopped

1 sweet banana pepper seeded and chopped

juice of one lime

appx 1 teaspoon coarse salt

Mix everything together - add or subtract quantities per your taste, let sit in fridge for about 15 minutes or more and serve with your favorite tortilla chips!

Trip Part Two and Garden Update

2011-08-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Whew - I am in full "Summer Mode" around the Squash House. Keeping up with the garden this time of year takes a lot of time and energy. Plus we have had glorious weather for several weeks now - who wants to be inside?!

**Update** - Aug 8th -- If you are interesting in purchasing any of Fran's cookbooks, please be sure and go over to her blog today for a fantastic deal!
I promised to tell you about the rest of our fishing trip which really doesn't have anything to do with fishing! On the way to the river we stopped in every little town we came across. One town, Condon, Oregon, had the cutest shop that contained gifts, garden supplies, a cafe and espresso bar and even a decent kitchen shop area! I immediately zoned in on this cookbook by Fran Gillette.

If you are missing the kind of cooking many of our mothers did in the 40's and 50's, this is the book for you! All my old favorites and more, plus wonderful farm stories and memories of Fran and her family are in this book. The photography is also stunning! Fran has 6 cookbooks now and I think I many want to work my way through each one!

We also had a chance to visit the Kam Wah Chung museum in the city of John Day. Photography was not allowed and even if it was, the inside of the building was quite dark in order to preserve everything. Back during the height of the American Gold Rush many Chinese came to John Day to help in the mines. Along with the workers came two gentlemen, one a doctor and the other a businessman. They formed a partnership and despite the feelings about Chinese among the white population, came to be revered and respected members of the community until their deaths. The building had been preserved down to every last detail after Doc Hay died and is now open to the public. It really was interesting!

The garden harvest is getting bigger and bigger by the day! Here are more zucchini, tomatoes, and the first broccoli harvest! I just finished baking a Chocolate Zucchini Cake - delicious!

Speaking of zucchini, we made the decision this morning to remove several bushes. Two people can only eat and/or give away so much summer squash - lol! I've frozen quite a few bags of grated zucchini to be used in breads or soups and stews this winter, and am planning many more recipes for this versatile squash in the next couple of weeks! The tall plants in the bed next to the front are going today!

Here we're looking at carrots, celery, green onions, peppers, eggplant and lettuce. The carrots are very slow this year and for some reason this is the 2nd year that green onions have barely produced.

Check out this row of tomatoes! Would you believe I have trimmed them all down several times already? They are beginning to ripen here and there and my fear is that they will be ripening rapidly when we leave for Canada later this month! Mother Nature definitely keeps her own schedule!

The blueberries in front here are almost done giving up their juicy, dark blue fruit! Dahlias are beginning to rapidly bloom, too! But best of all are the grapes on the trellis in the background! Both sides have reached the top and over! If all goes well, they may even bear fruit next year!

In case you've wondered, I am sewing, but unfortunately it's another Supreme Sewing Job that I can't show you until the pattern is out! I do plan to work on some things of my own soon and will be sure to give you a peek or two soon!

Bass, Quilts and Taxidermy!

2011-07-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

Mr. Squash and I are back from our trip to Oregon. We had a fantastic and very interesting trip! I'll have to split this into two posts so you don't get overwhelmed with photos!

Our Bed and Breakfast in Service Creek, permanent population 30, was right on the John Day River. Even though we were in remote, East Central Oregon, we had wireless Internet service and all the comforts of home! The first evening we fished a little from the river bank and each caught a couple of bass and I caught a small rainbow trout which I later learned was a baby Steelhead (my first Steelhead ever)! Here we are above the next morning ready to set off in the driftboat with our guide, Bill.

One of the first sightings was this Osprey nest. It had a mother and the baby above in it. As soon as the mother saw us, she left the nest and began circling the area to protect the baby. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a clear picture of the both of them together. We saw a lot of other birds -Sandpipers, Cedar Waxwings, Redwing blackbirds, Hawks, Kingfishers, and more!

While I caught the first Smallmouth Bass, Mr. Squash caught the largest - above!

Look at the gorgeous scenery! It was like this the entire 5 miles of river that we drifted!

Here is our guide, Bill. He said he doesn't smile, but we managed to coax one out of him! He was very knowledgeable about catching bass, and did not disappoint with the numbers! Between the two of us we caught and released 45 fish! See that black bucket in front of Bill? Around 10AM he started some charcoal in it and cooked us a dutch oven lasagna for lunch! It was wonderful! In the late afternoon, he even made us fresh strawberry shortcake!

There weren't many folks on the river, but on and off during the day we kept seeing this fellow and his two sons in their canoe.They were so nice and we would exchange "fish stories" along the way! We asked how long they were out - he said several days with camps on the river along the way! I told him to be sure to check the my website when they got home so they could see this photo!

Here I am with my largest catch of the day! Thank goodness for neck buddy's, hats and long sleeved, lightweight shirt and pants - it got up to 92 degrees! We had a lot of fun and lots of laughs with Bill! By the time we got out of the boat it was 5pm! I'm sure we'll do this again!!

We took out time driving to the B&B, stopping in all the small towns along the way. No town was over 200 in population and services were minimal in each. However, in Fossil, OR, we decided it was time to get a snack and some water. We walked into the original General Store in town (over 100 years old) and what did we see but loads of hanging quilts along with nearly as much taxidermy! The store contained a small quilt shop on one side, sporting goods in the back, and groceries out front.

This was a vintage crazy quilt.

On the quilting side there were lots of original-to-the-store antique sewing displays and this gorgeous antique sewing machine cabinet. I'd never seen one so gorgeous! I didn't post a photo of the fabric area as it was very small and plain.

Wouldn't you love to have this old ribbon display!

We like to think that Mr. Moose is saying "Hello, would you happen to have a marshmallow?"!!

This quilt was made by the guild for their county's Centennial in 1999. It was a wonderful combination of embroidery, photos and applique! Click on it for a better look.

Next post will be the second part of our trip! I am totally behind in catching up with posts while I was gone, but intend to read them all in the next day or two!

Pungent Beauties!

2011-07-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Mr. Squash and I are taking off tomorrow for a few days in Oregon. We plan to fish the John Day River for Smallmouth Bass with a guide on Wednesday. On Thursday we'll travel a bit farther to Canyon City, OR and visit with our friends, Otis and Teresa for a couple of days. If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that Otis married us 10 years ago in the Minam River. It was his first and only wedding ceremony - and we still feel honored! We love this part of Oregon - it is home to the Painted Hills and the John Day fossil beds - a gorgeous geological wonder! We'll be back on Saturday.

A few days ago I harvested the garlic! Last fall I planted a hardneck variety called Russian Chesnock Red. I love hardneck garlic as it is more flavorful and seems to keep longer. Here I tied them in bunches to get them ready to dry.

You can be assured that no evil will come to the Squash House with these bunches of garlic hanging from the trees near the patio - they say that garlic wards off evil!! I hang them for a few days, then peel off the dirty outer layer, shake off as much dirt as I can, then allow them to dry a little longer before I cut off the tops and store them for use!

Here is a clove I dried a while back. I was testing to see if they were ready to pick. This couldn't be a more perfect head! I smell a pot roast in our future! I make a recipe given to me by a friend most often. She says the first time she ever made pot roast, she thought a clove of garlic meant the whole head! But she said no one complained, so she's made it that way ever since!

I've been doing a lot of hand stitching lately. This square is almost completed. It's a pattern from Crabapple Hill and I only have 11 more to go - lol! I'm using distressed linens in different shades of tan for the stitcheries and for the main fabric shades of blue, brown tan and black. If it's anything like Winter Wonderland, I might finish the stitcheries by this time next year before I get to sewing it all together!

Finally! A Solution!

2011-07-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading my blog since I got Vinnie, my Gammill 18-8 Premier longarm, you know that from time to time I've mentioned experiencing tension issues. After my last quilt I found that Isacord in the top and bobbin worked really well. That was great, but you know.....I'm a cotton gal through and through! I liked the look of Isacord, but I also really, really wanted to get cotton to work. Recently I heard from a couple of different blogging friends as well as a quilt shop worker that magnetic bobbins from Fil-Tec worked really well. I decided to give them a try. They worked amazingly well - and cotton to boot!

I just finished quilting this little Schnibbles table topper on Vinnie. I used Fil-Tec's Cairo Quilt cotton thread in the top as well as the same in their magnetic bobbin. I also used Warm and Natural batting. I set my Towa Bobbin tension gauge at about 200 and off I went! I didn't need to make a single adjustment!

I am absolutely amazed at the stitches on the back - they are as good as the front and no thread showing through from the top! Fil-Tec has lots of variegated cotton threads, too! I thought I might also try some of the Masterpiece cotton threads in my "thread graveyard" that I have left over from all my experimentation in trying to achieve "tension Nirvana" - LOL!

We've had several harvests in the garden the last couple of weeks, but today is the first of the dahlias to bloom! I mixed them with a few Coreopsis and placed them on the kitchen table on a lovely gift a while back from Stephanie. Don't they just compliment one another?

These were picked a while ago and I didn't get a chance to post them until now. Our first celery, blueberries and yellow squash. Also the jalapenos and sweet banana peppers are producing like crazy! We can pick all of these almost daily now - plus two other types of summer squash.

Check out this lettuce - doesn't that look like a nice, cool, summer salad just waiting to happen? I feel so bad for all of you who are stuck in oppressive heat! If I had room, I would invite you all to the Squash House for a little respite!

Minam Lodge Wedding 10 Year Anniversary!

2011-07-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago next month, Mr. Squash and I said our wedding vows in the Minam River located in Northeast Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness. You can read the entire story on my sidebar. Having just returned from a short trip to the Minam in celebration of our anniversary, I thought it would be fun to show you how we got there this time! And just let me say that it has been a most wonderful 10 years of marriage to Mr. Squash - I look forward to many more!

Now that we live much closer to the area, we thought it would be fun to fly in from Enterprise, Oregon. This is the airport - flight office, control tower, bathroom, living quarters upstairs - all rolled into one!

We flew in with Joe Spence, a very nice fellow who could probably fly in blind for the amount of times he's made the trip. Thank goodness his sight is just fine, though! Joe has probably flown all sorts of things into the Minam - chickens, dogs, building materials, household goods, huge propane canisters, not to mention lots of folks from all corners! Here is our plane above - Joe is gassing her up for the 15 -20 minute flight.

Here is the waiting room along with our bag and fly fishing rods!

After a short taxi down the runway amidst fields of alfalfa, wheat and hay....

...we successfully lift off over Enterprise. That is the Wallowa Mountain Range in the distance - we'll be flying over the lower portion to the right.

Isn't this gorgeous? The yellow field is Canola. This whole area is sparsely populated and mostly farmed with cattle and hay.

We've just hopped over the first of two ridges before the canyon where the Minam River flows. Look at that pristine lake - and they're even farming every bit of land here!

Here is the Minam River - click on the picture for a better look.

Uh, oh.....we have whitecaps on the river! At this point we wonder it is will be low enough to fish!

How cool - the shadow of Joe's plane on the trees below!

This is the runway at the lodge! Joe said it was completely flooded by the river as little as two days prior! He was very glad to see they had mowed a path for him to land!

Mr. Squash jumped right out of the plane next to the "Pilot's Lounge", geared up and ready to fish! (Well, not really, but he could have!) Yes, he's wearing a firearm on his belt. Some pilots camped down by the river a while ago said they had heard cougar screams, so it pays to be protected. Oh - and he's not fishing with two rods - one is mine!

This is the lodge from the runway. You can tell how much rain there has been by how green everything is and the very tall grass! Our cabin was on the far right.

I'm sorry to say fishing was pretty much non-existent! The first day we walked down to the river in front of the lodge. After a few casts we realized the water was too deep and fast to fish. We'd never seen the river this high in July! So on day two, we geared up and hiked a couple of miles to the other side of the river and down another mile or so to see if there were any good spots on that side. At this point you are in National Forest Wilderness.

Lupines along with lots of other spring-blooming wildflowers were abundant. Hey - did I just say Spring? Yes - the forest still thinks it is!

We usually love to fish this area of the river - it's full of deep pools where the trout love to hide. Look at it now - nothing but raging water and whitecaps! We could not get any closer than this.

Carrie gave me some flies for Christmas last year. I told her I would be using at least one of them on this trip - the nymph on the left. I used it nearly the entire day before I decided to try another nymph. The flied caught my vest, but not any fish - and not for lack of trying!

This is the lodge dog, Cisco. She was SO sweet. Every morning she would greet us with a "whole body wag" and cute little noises! We love Border Collies - perhaps someday there will be one at the Squash House!

There may not have been any fish to catch, but we were rewarded with an incredible view of the moon on our last night! We'll return again this year and hope that the fish are home!

Shabby Chic at the Squash House

2011-07-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Mr. Squash and I headed out early this morning to an estate sale in a tiny, Oregon town about 29 miles from us. It was listed as "Caledonian Farmhouse Estate Sale". There were to be antiques, vintage clothing from the 1800's, vintage fabric and lots more. When we got there I saw a woman with an armload of gorgeous, antique clothing - she must have taken it all because I didn't see any more. There was also no fabric to speak of left. But....

...almost immediately I saw this odd cupboard. I went over to take a look and started to get excited! I've been looking for something to organize my fat quarters!

When I opened the door, I was instantly sold! I just couldn't believe my luck! The shelves are just wide enough for nicely folded fat quarters and I'll be able to fit lots of them inside as it is 50" tall! I have just enough space left in my tiny studio for it to fit! It's most definitely Shabby Chic - not really Squash House style, but I'll use it as is for now until I figure out a fun way to paint it. I'm thinking a Primitive Milk Paint - any other suggestions?

I went in search of someone to hold it for me while we looked around. Who should I find, but someone from our fly fishing club along with his wife, who were part of the sale! We only know about a dozen people in town and seem to run into them all quite frequently - even this far from home! They live near us, but joined with the farmhouse owners for the sale! It's truly a very small world.

Speaking of fly fishing, Mr. Squash and I are flying in to the Minam Lodge for a few days of fishing on Monday. If you haven't read my Minam River Wedding story on the left sidebar, grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy the story! We'll be back on Wednesday with what I hope are some really good fish stories!

That Summer Thing...

2011-07-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd better post something so you know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! It's that summer thing...know what I'm talking about? Warm, sunny days that hit you almost like a tranquilizer! The urge to be productive is nearly non-existent in favor of an iced tea in the shade and a good quilting magazine! OK - I haven't gone quite that far yet....but soon!

I've worked on a few projects in my studio - a lot of prep work for another stitchery quilt, a bit of fabric sorting for a bed quilt, and some other little things. The star above will be the first of 80 that I need to make for the bed quilt. I'm using my vast collection of shirting's and my ever-growing assortment of Civil War fabrics. No two stars will be the same. I used Monique Dillard's "Fit To Be Geese" ruler on this star. If you don't have one - they are awesome! In fact, Monique has several rulers that will make your quilting so much easier. She is starting a blog book tour on Monday, July 4th to introduce her newest ruler, the "Fit To Be Quarter" ruler! Be sure to visit her blog on Monday for lots of fun and giveaways!

This wonderful scissor fob came from my new friend Julie over at Me and My Stitches! Isn't it just me? Julie is a very talented jewelry and quilt pattern designer and a really nice person!

I made this peach cobbler today - does it ever look good!

Some of you asked for updates as Mr. Squash refinishes his library table. All is going well. Here he was stripping the top. Underneath the old varnish is some gorgeous oak!

Here he is today working on the sides. He wants you to know that he's smiling under the mask. It will probably take him most of the summer to complete the project and I'll keep you posted with updates from time to time.

It's almost picking time for a few things in the garden! Check out this celery! I still can't believe I can actually grow it myself! It's one of the few things I never considered planting!

This is a yellow bell pepper. Both the yellow and orange bell peppers have lots of fruit on them, but it will be a while until they are ripe enough to pick. I can't wait to saute them on the grill with some Walla Walla sweet onions and garlic from the garden!

There is a little zucchini attached to that flower! It should be big enough for a loaf of zucchini bread tomorrow - LOL!

Look! A real tomato! This is an heirloom beefsteak. We have 12 tomato plants all together - we might just have to set up a small farm stand out front later this summer!

There is fishing on the horizon - I hope to have a report from the river soon!

Squash House Garden Update

2011-06-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Another picture-heavy post here, so sit back, take your time and I hope you enjoy!

First of all, Mr. Squash wanted to say hello to you, dear readers! He's relaxing on the patio with a Crystal Light after washing both cars in near 90 degree heat! Don't you agree he deserves to rest?

Here is Barbara, the clematis we planted last year. Last year she only had one bloom. Now there are several open and many more to come! Below it is a bareroot tea rose called Calibra that I ordered from Territorial Seed this year. It should open in a day or two and have beautiful, yellow and orange striped petals.

Moving clockwise around the backyard here are the first two raised vegetable beds. All the seeds were planted on May 11th! They are a sorry bunch due to our cold and wet spring! Left is all lettuce and spinach and right is carrots, green onions and radishes.

Next we have celery, orange and green peppers and garlic which was planted last fall on the left and more celery and brussels sprouts on the right. I never in a million years thought I could grow celery, but it's coming along quite nicely!

The last two raised beds are yellow bush-type summer squash and broccoli on the left and two different types of zuccini on the right. In front are several lavender plants we just put in the ground, but they will most certainly fill up that entire area by next year.

Still going clockwise is rhubarb I planted last year - it's been moved 3 times, yet doesn't seem to mind! I'm told you have to wait until year three to eat the stalks. Apparently it makes a stronger plant by doing so. Our old potato tower is on the right - filled to the top now! The rose in the left front is a miniature red rose - one of the largest miniatures I've ever seen! See that neat, rusty sunflower to the right of the campanula (purple flowers)? That's what we brought home from the garden area at Elephant Antiques!

The perennials are coming along well, but because of the nasty spring not as far along as I would like.

On front here is Aegopodium. Since we bought the house it has never gotten over 2-3" tall. This year it's nearly 24" tall and growing under the bricks and into the grass. It will need a very severe dividing this fall. The trellis you see in the background on the fence is supporting a Trumpet Vine that we hope will spread left and right across the fence. To the left, if you click on the photo you can also see our new bird house! Oh - and check out the herbs in the wine barrel in the backround! I am totally amazed with their progress!

Here we have the blueberries which I wrapped in bird netting last night as they will begin to ripen soon. We're worried more about the squirrels getting them than the birds. They walk right up to the plants and just stare at the berries hoping to get them to ripen faster! Behind them are Dahlias that are just beginning to come on. There is also lots of room left up against the fence to plant. Also the green grape on the left side of the trellis is doing well - the red one the right not so well, but now with warmer weather it should come on strong.

We've sort of haphazardly thrown things in this area. So far so good. All the violas on the right self-seeded from last year!

Last fall we cut the spireas here nearly down to the ground. They are making a good comeback. Lilacs that have already bloomed are the taller plants and the smaller ones with little white stickers are more dahlias.

Except for the two tomatoes in front and my Honeycrisp apple tree, this is a sorry area. Again, seeds were planted on May 11th. Of the at least dozen Blue Lake bean seeds on the left trellis I planted, only 4 have come up. Cucumber is next to that and a few peppers sprinkled along the drip line. Another Trumpet Vine is along the fence.

See that little plant in the cage in front (raccoon and cat protection)? It's my poor little pumpkin. If it survives, I left all that empty space for it to roam about.

Here is the front gate. H. Bernard clematis on the left is all the way up to and over the trellis top, but yet to bloom. On the right is my new Scent From Heaven climbing rose.

I finally nailed the garden next to the front door this year! The window box is thriving with fuschia, creeping jenny, bacopa and coleus.

Moving to the left is lavender I planted last year, my new Oakleaf Hydrangea and next to the box plant the European Cranberry which has finished blooming and forming it's beautiful red berries for winter.

Here is the view from Mr. Squash's lounge chair!

Finally today, I thought I would show you a before and after. The photo above was taken after our 100+ MPH windstorm in January of 2008. The Blue Spruce on the left was broken about 12 feet up and the one on the right is broken off about 20 feet up.

Here is that view today! The maples trees are finally filling out...first year they sleep, then they creep and this is the year they leap!

I hope you enjoyed today's garden update!

Miscellaneous Monday!

2011-06-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

Since my last post I have been "all over", in a manner of speaking! A little of this and a little of that - least of all sewing I'm sorry to say, but which will soon be remedied.
I have a few things to show you from around the yard - more to come after the lawn is mowed on Wednesday. Mr. Squash and I prefer to put our best foot forward :>)

Two of our four new Hybrid Tea Roses have bloomed. This is Black Magic.

Here is the entire plant. Mr. Squash made sure we got a red rose - his favorite!

This is Tahitian Sunset. I love tea roses for cutting!

The name of this escapes me at the moment - as soon as I click "post" I'll remember it!

Here is our gorgeous peony. We were away when it was in it's prime - it's just about time now for some serious dead-heading.

What are these, you say? They are garlic scapes! We got some down at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I came home and realized that we must have some of our own on the garlic we planted last fall. Sure enough, I picked a large bag of them yesterday! They have a very mild garlic flavor and can be eaten raw, cooked alongside some fresh asparagus, in omelets - the possibilities are endless! We had them last night in omelettes from a recipe I saw on Octoberfarm!

The bulk of our time the past week or so has been hunting for a new furniture refinishing project for Mr. Squash. He thought an antique library table would be a great project and he can use it to tie flies on during the winter! We looked all over our area but saw nothing that suited him. So we hopped in the car and drove to the West side of the Cascades near where we used to live before retiring. The city of Snohomish is full of fantastic antique shops. We spent an entire day looking in every shop that had furniture, but all we could find were beautiful tables that had already been refinished. At the last shop Mr. Squash asked the proprietor if he had any unfinished tables anywhere. He said he was just getting ready to close up shop early and we could follow him home - 20 or so miles up the freeway to his warehouse. And there it was! This solid oak, Mission style table for half the price of the refinished tables we saw!

Take a close look -- in a couple of months you will see the gorgeous oak under the shabby surface it has now!

We had a really nice trip - saw some old friends and had a couple of nice dinners. We were also surprised that so many people remembered us -- Starbucks, the quilt shop (that was a no-brainer - hee), the wild bird shop - and even Gold's Gym where Bob used to work out every day (the hotel provided him with a free pass for the day). It was a little like Norm walking into the bar on Cheer's!! We stayed in a little boutique hotel on the water and made stops at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to stock up on the way home!

Antique Secret Garden

2011-06-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

Warning....this is a picture-heavy post so grab a cup of coffee or tea and join me on an incredible garden walk!

Last week I wanted to post a Squash House garden update, but our gardener is way behind in mowing the lawn due to an abundance of rain as of late, so it will have to wait a few more days! Instead, I'm bringing you a garden Mr. Squash and I saw on Saturday! We visited our favorite antique store in Oregon - The Elephant's Trunk - and came to find out the garden was open for the season!

One fellow is responsible for the entire garden and has been it's caretaker for some years now. We were totally blown away by the creative vignettes and mix of perennials, annuals and antiques! I know we came away with loads of inspiration - hopefully you will as well!

Mr. and Mrs. Dove welcomed us to the garden!

This is the kind of summer cooking I love to do!

What a lovely entrance to one side of the garden.

Hmm....wonder what the deer antlers are doing here?

Nature's best pest control - the Ladybug!

Lovely sitting area.

I love this little fountain, but decided not to take it home to further encourage our squirrel population!

Ideas everywhere you look!

The kind of deer you WANT to visit your garden!

Solitary reflection area.

I would never have thought to use an old baby carriage frame like this!

I hope everyone enjoyed this garden as much as we did! We even brought something home from it that you will see in my next garden update! I've also begun working on a bed quilt and will have some blocks to show you soon!

Supreme Finish - Vintage Spools - A Little Quilt!

2011-05-31T05:30:00.000-07:00

Here I am again with another finish! Stephanie of Loft Creations has created her second, original quilt pattern and it's a cutie! It's called "Vintage Spools"! I had so much fun testing this pattern as one of Stephanie's Supremes! Be sure to follow the link over to Stephanie's to see her quilt!

I used French General's Rural Jardin for the entire quilt. These colors to me are a bit reminiscent of something Japanese - I love it! The "spools" were made from one entire charm pack, which makes it not only easy, but inexpensive! How many of you have lots of charm packs just waiting for something to make from them - be honest - I know there are a lot of you out there!

I quilted Vintage Spools on Vinnie using a panto called Plumage from Willow Leaf Studio. I first saw it on Wendy's blog and knew I had to add it to my growing collection!

I love this line of fabric from French General - actually, I love all of them! One thing I noticed and it made a difference in cutting strips is that each fabric from their line has a border that runs just above the selvadge which I found strange - it actually takes away a tad from the amount of usable width and really doesn't look good when included.

I chose to make some of my spools solid...

...and some of them variegated!

Here is another solid. You can really do whatever you want! When quilting it on Vinnie I had a problem with the rick-rack folding over in spots when the hopping foot crossed over. At first I tried glueing the waves down but that became tedious and really didn't work. After several attempts at figuring out how to hold the rick rack waves down, it dawned on me to just run a basting stitch down either side of it!

Many thanks to Stephanie for allowing me to test another design for her! And be sure to visit her Etsy shop for Vintage Spools as well as the rest of her patterns!

The other night I tried my hand at pizza from scratch. It all went perfectly according to plan and looks good, but we were disappointed in the whole wheat crust (too sweet and heavy) and I need to get a tad more seasoning either into the sauce or the pizza itself! Next time I'll atttempt a thinner crust using regular flour and experiment with seasonings and toppings!

Another Finish -- Really?

2011-05-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

Yes! Vinnie and I are a team! We've gotten much more familiar with one another and the pile of finished quilt tops is quickly becoming smaller and smaller!

I mentioned in a previous post that this is Lil's Simpler Tymes pattern by Jeanne Horton of the Country Sampler using her Simpler Tymes fabric. Once again I am photo-challenged in our house. The lighting isn't optimal so I always try to include enough shots of my quilts in different lights and settings. Here we are in the living room.

I tried one on the dining room table - not much better. When Mr. Squash first saw the finished flimsy he remarked that it looked like a cup of hot chocolate, so I think that's what I'll call it - Hot Chocolate!

I used Quilter's Dream Wool batting for the first time and I'm sold! The high loft was a little scary at first but it squished right up with the quilting and I had no trouble with tension whatsoever! I also love how it really shows the quilting as opposed to something much lighter like Warm & Natural!

Here it is on my design wall - this photo gives you a little better feel for the blocks - double square in a square. I sure wish I had gotten Monique's Square in a Square ruler when I was making this! Nest one for sure!

Again on the dining room table -- the back is pieced together with leftover fabric from the front. I can't believe how much you can cut from fat eighths! I still have lots of fabric left over! I quilted Hot Chocolate using a fun pantograph called Frisky Feathers by Lorien Quilting! I'm sure this pattern will be used over and over!

Would you believe I've even finished another quilt? I can't show it to you just yet, but will very soon!

Oh, Deer and a Winner!

2011-05-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

Before I announce the winner of Barefoot in the Park, I thought I would tell you a little about our trip to Wallowa Lake. Mr. Squash and I left Monday morning for the two hour drive to the lake in Northeast Oregon. We decided to take our time and meander here and there to places we've passed by before but never stopped. The first leg of the drive took us over Tollgate Pass at appx 5100 ft. When we got near the summit it was snowing and 30 degrees! We knew it was going to rain, but didn't expect snow! Once we began dropping down it began to rain and kept raining nearly the entire time!

We passed through the small towns of Elgin, Minam, Wallowa, Lostine, Enterprise and Joseph before coming to the end of the road at Wallowa Lake. All the towns were very small, but we drove down the main streets of each one and managed to stop in a few cute little shops and antique stores.

When we finally got to Joseph we discovered it was a tiny resort town just waking up from a long winter and spring and getting ready for the onslaught of tourist season beginning Memorial Day weekend. We were specifically looking for the fly shop, which we found - but check out this blurry photo of the shops in the small complex. Do you see the second business from the top? YES! Not only a fly shop but a quilt shop in the same complex! Wheeeee!!

In the photo above is the fly shop on the left where the little boats are and the quilt shop just across the way. Oh, was I in heaven! We managed to drop a few dollars in each place and both came away satisfied!

Then it was on to our cabin in the woods at the lake. The resort turned out to be old, well-worn but very clean. This old building was across the way - what it had been wasn't apparent, but it reminded us of something out of a Stephen King novel!! We had a nice cabin with a fireplace, king bed, kitchen and bath and TV all to ourselves. Being that it was so wet and foggy we couldn't explore anywhere on foot, so we were glad to be warm and cozy. I didn't even take pictures of the lake - you really couldn't see anything!

In the late afternoon this small herd of deer appeared in the back. I took this photo from the living room window.

I went out to the car to get something and decided to look around back and see if they were still there, which they were. I clucked my tongue and wouldn't you know they came running to me!! We had a half box of wheat thins that we didn't want to finish, so we decided to see if they wanted them. My goodness - I had three of them right up to my face all at once! I would hand out crackers and they had no problem taking them gently from my fingers! I even poured the crumbs at the bottom of the bag into my hand and they were eagerly licked up by this guy! Here I was trying to tell him I didn't have anything else!

We had a very nice trip and scoped out some summer fly fishing spots! When the river comes down from snowmelt - probably late June, we'll go back for sure!

Now on to the winner of Stephanie's PDF for Barefoot in the Park! I asked Mr. Squash to pick a number, which is 18 - Happy Cottage Quilter! Congratulations! Stephanie will get your PDF to you right away! I really enjoyed reading about where everyone would go for their first picnic this summer! Thanks to all for your great comments!

Barefoot in the Park - A Supreme Reveal with a Giveaway!!

2011-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Seems all the whining on my last post about too much rain was heard by Mother Nature! We've had nothing but sun and warmer temps all week!
This is an exciting post for me! As most of you know, I am one of Stephanie of Loft Creations "Supreme Pattern Testers"! I love my "job" because I can do it any time I want and fabric choices are totally up to me! What makes this so exciting is that it is Stephanie's first, published quilt pattern! She is a very talented bag designer, and I'm so happy that she's now designing quilts! I am very proud to have tested this wonderful quilt for Stephanie!

Introducing - Barefoot in the Park! Not only is there this side.....

but another - two quilts in one! When I told Mr. Squash what project this was, he said could I make a quilt that was really a Picnic Quilt? I said absolutely, and that's what I did! Except for the setting triangles which are made from Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda, the entire quilt is Central Park by Kate Spain! I was so pleased that Sunkissed coordinated so well with Central Park!

I've had this project done for some time now and attempted to photograph it in several different places and sunlight. Until this week, there really wasn't good sunlight on any day! Above is Mr. Squash standing in the alley behind our fence on a stool holding Barefoot - what a trooper he was for this photo attempt!

Here he is holding up the second side of the quilt! Thankfully no one was in the alley giving him strange looks at the time!

We've actually used the quilt on one rather chilly outdoor picnic already - a lovely trip to Palouse Falls. Then a few weeks ago we had visitors from Seattle and were going to serve them lunch on the patio. It just wasn't warm enough, so I put Barefoot on the dining room table and we had an indoor picnic! I found these adorable luncheon plates and napkins at the grocery store - the design mimics my quilting like they were made for one another! I quilted it on Vinnie using a panto from Timeless Quilting Designs called Hearts in Bloom.

It was a tough decision about which side of the quilt to serve lunch on!

Stephanie is going to give a lucky winner on this post a PDF copy of Barefoot in the Park! To enter, tell me where your first picnic of the summer is going to be held! I'll pick a winner at random on Tuesday, May 24th. Mr. Squash and I will be out of town Monday and part of Tuesday, so I'll post the winner on Wednesday!

I leave you today with a photo of my new gardening shoes! They're Mucks and oh, so comfy and cute, if I don't say so myself!

Rain, Rain Go Away and a Finish!

2011-05-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Obviously you haven't seen much of me for a while - and I really don't have any excuses other than it's just been one of those non-blogging periods! I'm sure most of you who have been with me for a while have experienced the same thing. Our weather here has been cold, wet, dreary and very unseasonal. We should be 15 degrees warmer than we are, but Mother Nature is saying no deal just yet, and it adds to a lack of creative spirit. This past weekend we had the entire months normal rainfall - eeek!

Now having said that, it doesn't mean I haven't been creative! I've done a lot of secret "Supreme" sewing which I still can't show you, but hopefully by the end of this week I'll be able to reveal one of those projects along with a giveaway! In the meantime I managed to get a few photos between rain storms of my recently finished Designer Mystery Block of the month from Fat Quarter Shop.

These were taken in the backyard - they aren't great, but if you click on the photos you might get a better view of the quilting. I used an all over pantograph called Antique Lace by Patricia E. Ritter. This one was taken with me facing South. I used two loungers to try and prop it up!

In this photo I was facing North - a little better light with brighter sky behind me. Just when the sun peeks through the clouds and I get set up for a good photo, I lose it as I snap the camera!

Here is the back folded over. I decided to use the binding fabric that came with the finishing kit. It doesn't look all that bad with the backing I chose. All in all I really like this quilt! It's supposed to be a holiday quilt, but I think it can be displayed year round!

While I was out on the patio I decided to take a photo of the large planters in one corner. In a month or so they will look totally different - I'll try to remember to show you a comparison!

Mr. Squash has been asking me for an old fashioned Pineapple Upside Down Cake! I found the recipe on Beverly's Back Porch here. If you make it, be sure to include the reserved pineapple juice in the cake batter before the flour mixture is added (the directions don't specify where it goes). I can't believe how perfect the cake turned out in a cast-iron pan and how good it tastes!

Mid-Week Garden Report!

2011-05-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

I know I said I would post a quilt finish on this post, but I've been waiting for better light for a good photo, so I'll make you wait just a tad longer! Instead, I'm bringing you a mid-week garden report. Mr. Squash and I have been very busy filling up the raised beds with soil in preparation for seed planting next week. Talk about labor-intensive! We fall into bed every night and sleep soundly! We also have found that our bodies are protesting this hard work much more than when we were a little younger! But it gives us a good feeling to know the outcome should be spectacular by mid-summer!

Here is our very first (and probably only) apple tree! It arrived yesterday from Stark Brothers Nursery. It's a semi-dwarf Honeycrisp Apple - my all-time favorite apple! It will grow to a maximum of 5 feet high and 4 feet wide. Stark Brothers assured me it would pollinate from the neighbor's mature apple tree which is just over the other side of the fence here. See that mulch I spread around the base per their instructions? It was sold to us at Home Depot as garden soil! It's nothing but shredded wood and we were quite disappointed! But at least we can use it as mulch!

These lilac bushes were a total mess when we moved in. I trimmed them severley last fall and didn't expect to see any blooms for a while - but here they are just beginning to bud out!

Look at this Columbine - click on the photo for the full effect. It isn't even totally bloomed yet!

I finally got the wine barrel planted with herbs. There was red wine in this barrel and it is still stained red and crystallized - I wonder if it will impart any flavor to the herbs (wink). I also moved the dragonfly in front of it - trying to find just the right spot for him!

Speaking of garden art - we got this wonderful fence flower and the craft show recently. It's just painted, corrugated metal! Oh - and that mossy roof behind the fence belongs to the neighbor!

I gave up on last year's Rosemary bush - should have brought it in over the winter. So I got a new one and once it's grown some more I plan to trim it into a tree shape!

On the cooking front I have really been wanting a griddle to make pancakes and English Muffins. I've made pancakes on the gas grill, but the heat is not consistent, so I figured a griddle was the way to go. We stopped in the local kitchen shop and found this very cool Cuisinart griddle/panini maker! It has interchangeable grills - flat and ridged.

Here is how it looks in the flat position. Depending on how many pancakes you want, you can use one or both sides! I want to make just about everything in the recipe book that was included!

Ode to the 60's Supreme Sewing Project!

2011-04-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

Where were you in 1968? I was in my first year at the University of Washington (yes, I'm old, but my mind says I'm still young!). Things that come to mind -- peace, love, Hippies, Beatles, Twiggy, Petula Clark, bell-bottom pants, guys with long hair, Jimmie Hendrix, Janis Joplin, I kept my bra on - some didn't, Haight Ashbury, Woodstock, incense, tie-dye, Harikrishnas on the "Ave", Vietnam; the list is long and goes on! It was a time of self discovery for individuals, me, and the nation as a whole. It was also a time I will never forget! I made some very good friends that remain so to this day!

So....remember this sneak peek from February? It was a Supreme Sewing Project for Stephanie called "Modern Mary Jane". As soon as she asked me to do it I knew what fabric I would use! My local quilt shop had just gotten in some new crushed velveteen by Anna Marie Horner. I knew I had to have it because it reminded me of the 60's in a sort of psychedelic way! I got it out to try and decide what to pair with it for the bag and the first thing that came to mind was denim!

I asked Mr. Squash if he could spare an old pair of jeans or two for the project and he gladly obliged!

Modern Mary Jane is a really fun and quick bag to make! It's also roomy enough to carry on a trip to the Farmer's Market! For the pockets on the back I used a decorative stich on my Bernina and copied a design from my favorite jeans! I quilted around the circles, sewed in a lining, attached a button and I was done in no time at all!

Even the coordinating cotton lining is psychedelic! Once again I am honored to be one of Stephanie's Supreme's! This pattern is now available in her Etsy store!

In my last post I promised I would show you what else we dug up in the yard this past weekend. When I first hit the little enamel covered plate with my shovel, it was upside down and I was sure I had hit some sort of water or gas main! With a little gentle probing I realized it wasn't attached to anything, so I dug it out. The tin was buried about 14 inches down so it had been there a long time! It's shaped like a pie dish, but only a little over 5" diameter. There were also a lot of pieces here and there of broken china, but these three had patterns on them. And of course the marble - how I remember playing with those as a child!

Here is a closeup of the broken china. Those on top seem to be a Christmas pattern even though the red is more orange. I'm guessing the bottom piece is from a tea or coffee cup or saucer - it has a pattern similar to some that my grandmother had! I would love to know if anyone recognizes either pattern!

Next post will be another quilt finish!

Garden Makeover

2011-04-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! The weather in our corner of the state was glorious! We've been collecting really well-priced gallon perennials for a few weeks now, and also found some astounding plants on a recent Costco run, so we decided it was perfect weather to get them in the ground! All of these photos were taken in the late afternoon, so please forgive the shadows.

Here are the raised beds we put up last year. I can't believe how big the Arborvitae have gotten in one year! Those blue, cone-shaped "sculptures" are water walls for Mr. Squash's New Jersey tomato seeds. They keep the soil warm and allow you to plant your tomato starts weeks early - even befor the last frost! And yes....there are tomatos inside of them!

This year we added three more raised beds to the right of the existing beds. We had to take down some very old junipers that had gotten out of hand and begun rotting. While they were gorgeous to look at from one side, they were beginning to block the light to the vegetables. When we took them down we not only had room for more beds, we can now enjoy our elderly neighbors gorgeus trees and ancient lilac! They also act as a complete prviacy screen! Later this week we'll be filling the beds with composted soil. The area to the left of the birdbath will be full of lavender and marigolds! Oh - and Mr. Squash repaired the birdbath which had cracked so bad from the winter cold that it would not hold water!

Carnations are some of my favorite flowers - I also think they are my birth month flower. These mature beauties came from Costco! They will bloom clear through August. In front are yellow cosmos, behind is our Hakuro Nishiki Willow we planted last fall. It's leaves are just coming out and not in full splendor as yet.

We've also been collecting garden art! This dragonfly was made out of an old wrench and other spare parts! A local retired farmer turned artist makes these - this is the smallest - he has made life-sized dinosaurs, too!

This half wine barrel is going to be my herb garden this year. I planted Saxifrage in front - as they mature they will totally fill that area! See the brown drip line behind the barrel? We decided to have all the drip line in the backyard replaced this year (150 ft). I remember saying to Mr. Squash that it would be nice if they would invent brown drip line which blends better than black. When the irrigation fellow came - his name is Rains -- how fitting, out of his truck came a huge roll of brown drip line! It was meant to be!

Here is a wider view of part of my planting area. There is a lot more to put in there, and in a few weeks you won't recognize this view! The short, light tan plant to the back in a very old nine-bark. We cut it back this far each year, but by mid-summer it will be 15 feet tall! Behind it is an Oregon Grape and a small holly. To the right I planted a white Buddleia (Butterfly Bush), and some of the plants in the middle are Astilbe, Bleeding Heart, Sedums, Stella d'oro Day Lily, Heuchera, Gallardia. At the moment I can't think of them all. Again...there are more to be planted!

Another phenomenal find at Costco was mature Blueberry bushes! We got three - two Jersey and one Duke. They have tons of buds each which are sure to bring us some ripe fruit this summer! I also have some climbing plants that will be placed along the fence line.

What's this, you say? It's a small blueberry bush start that I felt needed to stay under a cloche until the weather got just a tad warmer. It works similar to the water walls - there is a vent at top which can be opened and closed.

Moving around to the front of the house...we lost all of our azaleas this winter so we found some gorgeous replacements at Costco! The Columbine next to it was planted last year and absolutely thrives in this spot! I ordered another Columbine from Audobon which is planted in the pot you see along with some Creeping Jenny. There were three Hostas in front - one you can see on the left is coming back, another in front of the white marker is just beginning to show, but the third is lost, so I planted another one in it's spot. This is the north side of the house - not an easy spot to grow anything! I have yet to plant the window box to the right of the front door.

I just love our new spring flag! Here I planted two more Azaleas, another Hosta, and you can see to the left of the Azaleas the three lavenders I planted last summer that are making a comeback. We lost a huge Euonymous to the right of the round shrub whose name escapes me at the moment, so I planted a rare, red, Oakleaf Hydrangea!

This is a closeup of the Hydrangea. Not much now, but it is supposed to get quite large! Next post I'll show you some "finds" from our digging!

Treasure from a Friend!

2011-04-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's mail brought a totally unexpected handmade gift from my friend, Daphne (no blog). Among other things, Daphne is a whiz at making jewelry! She and her husband visited us at the Squash House last September. We were talking about beading and I asked her if she would like to look through some beads I had that I knew I would never use. Little did I know, some of those beads would come back to me in the form of this beautiful necklace!

The colors are mostly shades of purple with the larger beads looking like pearls almost in a sort of blue/gray color.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Here is another necklace Daphne made for me a few years ago. ( I photographed these on the same table - why the oak looks different is beyond me!)

I just love the yellow heart that hangs from this one! Daphne's talents include beading, quilting and floral design which is her "real" job! She decorates weddings and also has clients who have her decorate their houses seasonally! Thank you so much for this wonderful surprise, Daphne!

I frequently use the "Post Options" on Blogger. It allows you to set your post to publish at a later date. More often than not it will turn my posts from "scheduled" back to "draft" and not post unless I do it manually. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have a solution to this?

QIP Monday

2011-04-18T05:15:00.000-07:00

QIP - Quilting in Progress! I loaded this Fat Quarter Shop Block of the Month on Vinnie yesterday. Just doing an all over pantograph as I'd really like to get this one finished, and to be honest -- the New York Beauty scared the heck out of me and I was ready for a simple finish this time!

It's difficult to capture the quilting in a photo, but you can kind of see it. That backing was something I had yards of in my stash (why - I have no idea), but it goes perfectly with the quilt so I decided to use it! I may even bind the quilt in it - what do you think?

I turned this photo into Black and White which makes the quilting stand out a tad more if you click on the photo. I'm using a silk batting from the Tuscany collection by Hobbs and I really like it! The loft is minimal just like Warm & Natural and there is little to no lint when quilting! Next up I'm using Quilter's Dream Wool which I think will become my standard.

These three tools have become very dear to me since I began quilting on Vinnie! The mirror and flashlight are for checking the tension on the underside of the quilt when it's loaded on the frame. The seam ripper -- do I really have to tell you (wink)? Fortunately the seam ripper hasn't gotten much of a workout yet -- knock on wood!

Speaking of tension. I queried a couple of longarm friends about thread recently. Linda over at The Quilted Pineapple said she really likes Isacord. I knew I had some in my thread box from a couple of embroidery projects on my Bernina, so I thought I would give it a try! Turns out I love it! The tension was instantly perfect and I do like the way it looks. Plus my LQS has the entire line in stock - how fantastic is that!

I don't have any new quilts started at the moment, but Stephanie will have something fun for me shortly! Today I am playing in the dirt. Mr. Squash and I will be setting out three more raised beds for vegetables!

Honey....Have you seen my Canoe Shirt?

2011-04-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I have!

This is was Mr. Squash's favorite shirt for many years. It ~~has~~ had little canoes and oars on it and is was very soft. He wore it so much that the collar nearly detached from the shirt and there were numerous little repair spots, so I tucked it away and hoped he wouldn't ask where it was. This was about 6-7 years ago. Of course he eventually asked where it might be, so I made a lot of excuses about it needing repairs and having no time to make them. The following Christmas I repaired it and wrapped it up as a present! He was thrilled!

Then the repairs finally gave way and for some reason I put it away in my scrap fabric basket.

You guessed it....he asked about it again recently. I sort of indicated that it might have gotten "lost" in the move, but I'd find some time and look for it, even though I knew where it was all along! Yesterday I was going through my scrap basket looking for some old pattern instructions and I came across the shirt. The basket was so stuffed that I decided it was time to remove the shirt and either do away with it or make something fun. So here is the reincarnation of the Canoe Shirt! Mr. Squash is delighted! I even left the pocket open in case he needed to stash a cookie or his reading glasses or something else in it!

Now he can sit in his chair with an old friend!

Look What Vinnie Did!

2011-04-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

I finally finished quilting and binding New York Beauty. I hope you aren't too weary of hearing about this quilt!

These pictures were taken before I washed it. There are still lots of chalk marks on it, but they don't show as much as I thought they would. I was going to wait to post until it was all washed, but found out the hard way that a quilt this size in my front loader needs something else heavier in with it in order to spin dry properly! (Four washings on different settings and it finally clicked - I was ready to call the washing machine repair people!) Oh well, at least this way you can get a better look at the quilting! It was all done freehand except for the large blue border where I used a stencil with a floral pattern that mimicked the print in the fabric. I used a very bright King Tut 40 wt variegated thread called Pharaoh's Treasures which had every color of fabric in it.

I looked at lots of NYB's quilted and came up with what I thought might work for this. In the small border I made use of the dark vertical lines in the print and just quilted up and down for a sort of zig-zag effect. As for the blocks, I quilted loops and swirls in the larger outer portion, loops inbetween the points and mimicked the points inside of them. Then on the small quarter-circle I quilted a sort of leaf pattern.

Wow - did I ever learn a lot on this one such as which chalk I like best (a combination of Pounce and Fons and Porters chalk pencils), when to take a break (before your neck and back begin aching), when to use or not use the micro handles, how to use the straight rulers, and how to use the automatic tie-off feature on Vinnie which I now really like. I give myself a "C" on this one and promise to do better next time!

If any longarmers are reading this I would love to know which brand of disappearing ink pens you use and like. I'm thinking next time I might want to use them in some of the lighter areas as opposed to chalk.

Next up on Vinnie will be Lil's Simpler Tymes. Stay tuned!