"Sundance" is done

On my blog a couple of days ago, I told you about my friend Lori who was doing this fusible applique piece, hated it and was going to throw it away. I rescued "Sundance" and decided he needed to be finished. I didn't work on him on Friday at the Girls Night Out as it was too late by the time I finished my other projects for the Home of the Brave. So on Saturday, I sorted, ironed, traced, ironed again, etc., to make sure that I had all the pieces. Here is Sundance laying on the background - not ironed down yet as there are some pieces to be placed under him.
These are some of the pieces - little squiggly things, some larger squiggly things and some that were easier to work with. The pattern has a number of pages to it; placement of pieces on one page per fabric so you don't get mixed up on what piece gets fused to which fabric. Then there is a layout sheet that tells you where all the pieces are to be placed. Well, that layout sheet was not there so I had to look at the picture and put it where I thought it needed to be.

Ta da!!!!! He is done except for his nose needs another addition to it and the fabric wasn't there. Now you see all those squiggly placements in their home. Considering I didn't have the layout page, I think he looks pretty darn good. It took a while but I enjoyed putting this puzzle together for Lori. She will be so happy to have it done.

Down Under Progress

This weekend is a great one for Phil to work on the "down under" project. I had to stop in to see how he was doing and get pics for the update.
He shoveled out this corner so that he can put the other header on it.

He is trying to explain to me what he is doing. I totally understand.

Believe it or not, he is not taking off from a base in a baseball game. He is putting down a couple of cement blocks so that he doesn't have to dig out more and then pour cement. It turned out really level. More pics after Monday so you can keep up on his work.

Projects of the Day

When I come back from quilting on Wednesdays, I usually have things to put away. Some are done, some are to be finished and some are - ok, what do I do next. As you can see below, I have a few things to finish up on. I have joined a BFF (best fabric friends) Half Square Triangle Exchange so those are in the black/white/different fabrics pile. Then there is the baby quilt (for my niece) that I have to put the binding on and then fix a few errors from the long-arm machine. The green is for my border of the $5 quilt project I am working on. Then I have to find the red pearle cotton to finish the red leaf in the candle mat that is partly hidden. What fun I will have.
So this next picture is a story. (I have lots of them - just warning you!!) My friend Lori, quilts with me on Wednesdays. She and I have lots in common - love to see what is new at the store where we sew and then either break down and purchase or just drool over things. So this picture is a machine applique pattern (with a gazillion pieces) and fabric that she purchased, traced the pieces on to fusible stuff, ironed some on to the fabric and then started to put it on the background.

Well, it became overwhelming to her and she decided to throw it all away. I stopped her - she just couldn't throw away that fabric and pattern. Besides, I loved to work out puzzles and would put this together for her - then she can do the quilting on it.

So, Sundance and I have a date for tomorrow night's Girls Night Out at the Museum for our monthly night out. I will lay it down, figure out what she has already traced and marked and then begin to put it on an applique sheet (one that you can iron it onto and then lift off before doing the final ironing onto the fabric) and see how far I get. I will share pictures when it is done. He will be so cute when finished.

Phil Down Under

We have a huge crawl space under our house. It is about 700 square feet and is about to get a makeover. Most Oregonians don't use their garages because they use them for storage as there are very few basements - it is just too wet in the winter months. But we like to use our garage and want it clutter free - especially since we didn't have one for over 18 years. Thus the makeover of the crawl space.
So, this is the entry way to the "down under" area. Right now you have to use a step ladder to get in and out as it is a pretty big drop once you open the door.

Phil is working on putting headers around the cement part so that we can build a "deck" there to store our stuff.

He is trying to explain to me what is going on. As you can see, it is pretty deep, long and wide.

This is some of the boards that we recently got at an estate sale. They were selling things pretty cheap but we went during the half off sale and got it at a steal. Some nice long boards, 4x4's and lots of shelving..

There are about 16 - 8' x 16" x 3/4" boards that Phil has his stuff on top of, that we will use for flooring of the deck as well as shelves of what is left over. Will make a pretty nice size for all the stuff we don't use but once in a while. We now have my Escape in the garage and Phil's Honda stays outside, but maybe we can fit both in during the winter months. We will see once the storage gets built. Stay tuned for updates. BTW - yes, that is one of Phil's home brews (St. Kev #2) on the boards.

Blueberry picking

It was a beautiful day in Sandy, normal temps, sunny, not a cloud in the crystal clear blue sky. A fine day to go blueberry picking. I didn't have the camera for pics of the bushes - but bushes are bushes. I headed to the bluest of bushes and began picking. They were little but plentiful, oh so very yummy and 7 pounds later I headed for home.
Doesn't look like much but there is actually 7 pounds here. I am just glad that I didn't have to get weighed - I had to check out each of the bushes to make sure that the berries were good. Some had tough skins on them so we didn't want too many of those. So, yes, I got the best ones. :-)

Like I said, they were small. But sweet - better than the ones I bought at the market yesterday.

So I washed them, laid them out on a towel covered cookie sheet and put them in the freezer to freeze as individual fruits. Then I packaged them into freezer bags to stack once they are completely frozen. I will end up with 5 full quart bags and will enjoy them in the winter when fresh blueberries are $5 per 1/2 pint. Of course I will need to stop eating them now or I won't have 5 full quart bags. :-) I just may have to go get some vanilla ice cream and have a treat tonight. ummmmm.

Peas are blooming

Every morning I go out and sit on the back deck with my breakfast. I usually check the garden just to see how it is doing. This morning I noticed that my peas are blossoming. It will be great to have snap peas for dinner and in salads with my spinach. Now we just need some tomatoes to go along with it.

Greg's Visit

Greg came to Oregon to attend a wedding with his friend, Erin and was with us for a week. They went white water rafting on Deschutes River, attended the wedding, went to Multnomah Falls and the Vista House before Erin left on Monday afternoon. Erin has all those pictures as my camera seemed to be tired and stayed at home. But before Greg left yesterday, we did some other things and I did remember the camera for our day excursion around Mt. Hood on Tuesday.
This is Mt. Hood near The Meadows ski resort. There isn't much snow left but the view was beautiful anyway. Aren't those two men handsome??? :-)

There was a great waterfall on a side road that we stopped to see. Very calming and peaceful.

We got great pictures of the Gorge on the road back toward Portland.

We stopped at Bonneville Dam to see the fish that were still trying to swim up the Columbia River. Phil is looking at one of the old propellers from the Dam Powerhouse.

There is a fish hatchery next door with a 10 foot sturgeon there. He was huge!!!

The rainbow trout ponds were fun to watch. Some little kids were feeding them so they looked pretty healthy.

Before returning home, we stopped at Salty's - a great seafood place on the Columbia River. We sat outside and shared very tasty dinners . A great visit with Greg and wonderful memories to remember.