Back from Oregon

Tom had another radar project to work on in Springfield, Oregon, so I tagged along. while he is off doing his thing, I get to explore the town we're at, as well as hang out in the hotel and sew. My wee Janome, of course, came with me--and some quilty things for me to work on. Here's a photo of one of the quilts I took with me to finish. Another U.F.O. (almost) bites the dust!


It is made of 2.5 inch strips that my friend, Carol, sent me. Carol lives in New Zealand, so these strips are all beautiful New Zealand prints! Any of you reading this who are quilters are probably acquainted with "jelly rolls" of fabric--the 2.5 inch strips precut and ready to sew. Ahh..but New Zealand fabric! I love New Zealand fabric! It is so bright and vibrant, with wonderful designs. New Zealand flora and fauna, Maori patterns...wow! I think my favorite of this bunch, though, is the Kiwi bird playing rugby in his All Black uniform. The All Blacks are the New Zealand team and believe me, New Zealanders take this game and their team very seriously! They all seem to be avid fans and have quite a rivalry going with the Australian team. When we visited New Zealand in 2005, we happened to be in a grocery store when the game between the Australian team and the New Zealand team was due to start. We were, of course, the only customers--everyone else was at home in front of the telly! We hadn't known that, not even having a tv in the motorhome we'd rented to travel the country in. The people working at the store also wanted to be at home to watch the game and actually came to the aisle we were at, to help us finish our shopping! It was pretty funny how fast they scurried us out of there! While visiting Catherine and Paul in Lower Hutt, we finally managed to catch an All Black game on tv. I really liked seeing them perform the Haka before the game. That's a thing the Maori warriors used to do, to scare the enemy---involving making scary faces and loud noises. Here's another reason I like New Zealand fabric! All the memories that it invokes! ;-)

This morning, as it is the official start of summer, I was able to open my Summer Solstice Swap package from my friend, Paula. Paula and I are in an online quilt group and this is one of the many fun swaps we do. This swap had several categories, like a non-meltable treat, something to spoil your quilt swap partner, fabric (always have to have fabric), a favorite summer recipe, a homemade quilt item and so on. Eight categories. Here are a couple of photos of the goodies. My favorite is the sewing kit Paula made. In this photo, you see Mini-Mattie version 2.1, who was waiting in a box for me when we got home. I missed out on the mini-me swap this year, so my friend, Mattie, decided to send me one. Isn't she cute? Almost as cute as the real Mattie! Mini-Mattie helped me unwrap all the goodies from Paula.

Here is a close up of the sewing kit Paula made:
And here is mini-Mattie, hanging out at my sewing machine, with mini-Susie, who came to live with me as a result of last year's Mini-Me swap (mini-Yvonne resides in the U.K.) As you can see, they are bonding over the chocolate mini-Mattie brought along. In M.M's bag, there is a romance novel and a quilt pattern. She brought fabric and a project to work on.

BTW, a nice quilt shop in Springfield is Quilter's Junction. www.quiltersjunction.com They are very friendly there, even offering to fit me into the class they were having later that day---AND loan me a sewing machine so I didn't have to go back to the hotel and get mine! oooh, and they have a lovely collection of Fossil Fern fabric. Mmmmm!