Binge Sewing!

I have been home a little less than a week now, all by myself...hubbie will come home sometime this week...and have been doing nothing but hanging out in my sewing room.
That's right...no cooking, no cleaning and no laundry!
I do shower and get dressed each day, but usually not until late in the morning. 

Needless to say, I have gotten a few things done.

'Autumn Pinwheels'

by Primitive Gatherings
I worked 2 days at TOWQS and just could not help but buy a NEW project.

Lots of stitching to do now on the wool vines and leaves!

Thank you, Lisa, for the inspiration temptation.

Pieced the center of 'Idaho Lily' for the Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots Club.
Next, prep the applique and make the 76 half square triangles that are 1" finished.

I made two blocks for a new Mystery Sampler quilt with a spring theme.
Here is a sneak peak:

There is one downside to binge sewing...you just might have an OOPS!

I spotted some "leftover" strips sitting on the ironing board from the first little KD quilt and thought...why not make a small quilt out the them.
As I was cutting into the 6th strip, I noted that they were all nicely cut into 1 7/8" wide strips.
OOPS, they were the strips for the scrappy binding.
Oh well, I had some other scraps to replace them with and now I have this cute 12" x 12" quilt to start my one day, small quilt collage.

Hope you are having fun times in your sewing room, but without the OOPS.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow!

I took my last wildflower hike yesterday to Fourmile Falls, which is actually 4 miles round trip.  Most of the wildflowers were fall asters, but my DH enjoyed feasting on the wild raspberries.  Then a farewell luncheon at Farrago Market Cafe for salmon tacos...a must do if you are ever passing through Pagosa Springs.

Just like my At Home in the Woods quilt, I started working on a perennial garden 4 years ago.

Here is the result of the years of experimentation.

The Russian Sage, Midnight Sage, and Purple Coneflowers have been steady performers and the Snow in Summer is the best ground cover.  Beware though, the Coneflowers and Sage free seed themselves everywhere!

Spring is predominated by Bearded Iris, but they are long gone now.

Then there is the jewel of our garden:

Colorado Columbines.

My daughter carefully tends these babies when she visits and most have been started from seed.

She has several varieties, including white, yellow and pink ones.

This year I added some red-orange Gaillardia to the mix and hope it is a survivor. 

This entire patch is free seeding volunteers and transplants from the native areas of our land.

Along the border of the property, cheery sunflowers grow.

There have been many failures over the years.  The plants have to tolerate some severe conditions.  Pagosa Springs is a very arid location and the garden must tolerate long periods of drought. Then there is the severely cold winter.  Some years there is no snow pack, which is the hardest on my garden. The snow actually insulates the plants and provides water until we can return and start up the sprinkler system.  But the biggest challenge of all is the deer! 

Now it is time to pack up and head back to the Valley of the Sun.

I will miss the afternoon thunderstorms and the cool nights of sleep, but I am ready to return to my sewing room and community. 

Okay weeds, you can reclaim the garden!

Miss Izzy will miss romping through the grass, playing in the dirt and just exploring the great out-of-doors!

Decorating with Quilts

I started this quilt in 2010 and only work on it while at the cabin.

At Home in the Woods,

by McKenna Ryan.

It will occupy a large, blank wall at the cabin.  

The only problem with working on a quilt over a period of 4 years is you do not have access to the original fabrics anymore.  I have one more long block to fuse and a few accents and it will be ready for the border.  What I like about her patterns is how the shapes spill into the border.  The star of this quilt, in my opinion, is the Aspen Tree in the upper left border.  You can only see the beginnings of it right now. Perhaps it will be a flimsy by Summer 2015.

In order to finish this project, I visited the Durango Quilt Shop. Our local little shop here in Pagosa Springs closed in March...boohoo! The Durango shop has a fabulous collection of batiks! The best thing I came home with though was a new fusible...Soft Fuse Premium.  I am impressed, but have not tried it on wool yet. It is, however, extremely superior for a fusible applique project like this one. Very light weight and strong.

The cabin is the perfect place for decorating with quilts.

 A flannel quilt draped over the chair with a Kim Diehl design on the wall.

 A Kathleen Tracy quilt draped over the staircase railing. See that big blank wall...that is where the McKenna Ryan quilt will hang.

 Bear in the Woods, by Liberty Homestead alongside some of my photography. I am a wanna be wildlife photographer. LOL! The quilt hanger is by Summer Sky Creations. They do a great job at custom hangers!

Seasonal small quilts.

Small quilts on the dining table, designed by Miss Rosies Quilt Co.

A log cabin quilt on our bed, designed by Kim Diehl.

The guest bedroom with another Kim Diehl quilt on the bed and a Jo Morton design on the wall.

Hope you have enjoyed the quilt tour.

How do you decorate with quilts?