Puget Sounder's First Voyage

Puget Sounder is the name of our new-to-us boat. It has a raised salon, which just means that rather than being like a normal sailboat, the area down below has big windows and lots of natural light.  We may change the name of the boat, but so far, we haven't come up with anything.

Friday morning we took off with another couple on their boat and motored to Port Townsend. There was good wind and we could have sailed, however, the other couple just wanted to motor. By car, Port Townsend is a 40 minute drive. By boat, its three hours...go figure.

Dash was the first mate. He thought sailing was great.

Port Townsend was sunny and beautiful when we got there. We walked around like tourists, checked out shops and had a great dinner at Sirens. Saturday was more of the same, but this time the boys got to go with us. It was great exposure for Dash and Moose made friends with everyone.

The plan on Sunday was to have a leisurely breakfast and then head back. The weather had other ideas though, so we were up early and sailing back by 7:30. The seas were rough, but not as rough as they were predicted to be later in the day.  This is Dennis at the helm on the way home. It was cold, windy and rainy--not the best weather.

Fun trip! Now I'm in the car heading for the airport to sew with my sister for a few days. Life is busy!!

Dory

Portland MQX Report

I had a great time at MQX again this year. We had four people in our room and if you combine the number of hours we spent asleep during those four nights, it would probably be enough sleep for one person! But then, who needs sleep?? I met many new quilters and got caught up with others that I see so rarely. I even Kay Bell, a fabulous quilter from Scotland that I've e-mailed with and her roommate from South Africa.

I took so many really good classes. When I start browsing the catalog looking for classes, I'm drawn toward the ones that offer creative fills. I get so tired of using the same ones. My first class was with Sue Heinz of Kismet Quilting. She was offering a class called Fill Harmonics that was so great! We learned to take a gridded pattern and do it in the round. That class, alone, was worth the trip.

This is the first example and the most basic one we drew. It is based on the clam shell design, and once we got the hang of it, it was really quite simple.

This one is a tad more elaborate! I'm going to have fun with these!!

I wasn't disappointed with a single class this year; something that is rare. I did have one instructor that wasn't prepared (apparently, that's her teaching style), but I still learned something from her. It wasn't a total loss.

And the quilts! Oh, my...the quilts entered were so incredible. I think I'm doing well with my quilting until I go to one of these shows. Then I see what a piker I really am. However, I'm not giving up. I'm going to practice and practice and I even have an idea for a wholecloth quilt that is percolating. I am not one to do the typical wholecloth; I don't want to design 1/8th of the top and then repeat it around. I want a specific design (probably horse related) and then I will fill the outside with quilting. That's what rattling around in my head right now--who knows where that may lead.

Below are some great pics of designs I learned as well as bits of quilting in the show quilts that I photo'd.  More to come later after I've downloaded everything from my camera.

I love this design and hope to do it on my next quilt with stars!

The "e"s and "l"s exactly opposite each other really appealed to me in this one.

There were several similar designs like this done in this quilt. I loved how unique they were.

I loved the secondary design and the thread colors used in this one. What do you think?

I Love my Customers!!

I tend to take things a little too personally, even though I know better. I had a customer that lived in Reno; however, it had been almost two years since I'd heard from her. I kept telling myself that it wasn't personal, it wasn't that she didn't like my work; she'd just found someone closer to home and didn't have to mail her quilts.

I believed this until she called just the other day. She had a quilt for me to do...and she went on to tell me that she hadn't done any quilting since the last one I'd done for her. But she's getting back into it and she doesn't care that I live in Washington now; she'll mail the quilts here. She even sent me a photo of the quilt she's currently working on that will be coming my way when its finished! Whew...it really wasn't me!!!

This is the quilt that MariLynn sent...I love the embroidered flowers in every other block. She wanted some simple quilting that would help to "hide her mistakes," her words, not mine.  The quilt is flannel and so soft! I just love flannel fabric.

Here's a close-up of the quilting in the embroidered blocks. I did a swirl to frame the embroidery and loops to fill the sashing. Since the loops are free-flowing, your eye isn't drawn to any inconsistencies in the sashing.

I'm including this picture of the back. The quilting doesn't show, but the texture is fun. 

MariLyn's quilt made it home just the other day and I received a phone call. She loves it!!