4/8/17

A Quilt Grows in Oregon

The power came back just before 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning. Some folks in the valley are still without power, and so we're feeling pretty lucky. We were barely inconvenienced once my blog post was published. After Mike left for work, I went back to sleep for a while, and then got to work with some hand-stitching. Of course, we were without heat, and so the kitties took to their lap-warming responsibilities with gusto.


Ordinarily, Smitty (who was there first) would have chased Sadie off. These were desperate times, however, and so he was surprisingly tolerant of her interlapping. (Ha! Did you see what I did there?)

Early in the storm, we lost another branch of our big tree out front. It's the second huge branch that's come crashing down this winter. The first time, it took out the dwarf Japanese maple that was growing below.


This branch has taken such a big portion of the trunk with it that I'm afraid the tree might be doomed. It's sad because we've spent quite a bit of money trying to keep this tree alive. You might recall that it was treated (expensively) for tip blight over the past couple of years. It was planted by the previous owner, and it has the prettiest star-shaped clusters of needles on its branches. We'll see, but Mike and I discussed taking it out yesterday. We'll plant something else in its place, but it still hurts the heart to take out a big tree.

Also, I needed to publish hurriedly yesterday, and so I completely forgot to tell you about every blooming thing Matthew and I saw as we walked to our cars after breakfast Thursday morning. We were walking in an old neighborhood off Portland's Hawthorne Boulevard. One house had a rock retaining wall and there were lots of flowers blooming between the rocks. I was envious of their tulips.


Obviously, these traffic-heavy Portland neighborhoods are not troubled with pesky deer eating their tulips.


Apparently their squirrels know better than to eat the bulbs too.


Not sure what this is...lobelia, maybe?


No flowers here, but I liked the way the rain drops had collected on the leaves.


So when the power came back on yesterday, I was ready to get back to the Quiltmaker's Garden. This section was left laid out on the ironing board yesterday, and so I sewed it together.


That completed the strip of three sections for that portion of the quilt.


With that finished, I back-tracked and did the strip to its left.


Then, I moved to the right and completed the strip with the watering can.


All the two-patches are a little tedious to sew over and over and over again, but I'm still having fun sewing this quilt together. It's like the best jigsaw puzzle ever. Finally, I added the right-most section in the image below.


By then, I was getting tired of sewing two-patches together. Here it is all laid out. It's a little more than halfway finished now.


The kitties were apparently tired of rearranging the sections, only to see their work undone once again by the mad quilter of the house..."mad" taking on several different meanings there. By bedtime, they'd rearranged it once again.

Recall the assembly diagram:


I've worked my way from left to right through the middle section. There are still lots of two-patches to be sewn together before I've made it all the way to the right. Next, I'm going to move to the lower sections where the gray "pavers" and pink roses are. I'll do those next before returning to the two-patches. The first section is laid out on the ironing board, waiting for me.


This morning, I'll do some more hand-stitching, but then I'll get back to work on the quilt. I doubt I'll finish it today, but a finish by the end of the weekend seems completely within reach.

18 comments:

Terri in BC said...

I'm glad you are having fun assembling this, after having to deal with the paper piecing, etc.! Keep up the good work.

crazy quilter said...

Oh it is looking wonderful! The finish is in sight!

Quilting Babcia said...

Your quilt top laid out on the floor looks a lot larger than I had anticipated. It's looking great!

Lady Jane said...

wow, this is going to be just beautiful. Hugs, LJ

claudia said...

You really went to town on this quilt! It's looking great!

gpc said...

Interlapping. Yup, that's what keeps me coming back. :)

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Lapping time with furkids is the best. I think all our rain/flooding/cold has killed my early possible bloomers. Your quilt is looking awesome! All that hard work and bad words are coming to such a lovely end.

WoolenSails said...

That is a shame about the tree. We have the one we planted two years ago and I always worry that something might happen to it, so far it is still alive. We never have luck with new trees and this one is special. The new quilt is a really happy piece for spring, hoping we will get blooms soon, but I did see daffodils in one area today.

Debbie

MoeWest said...

The plant with the raindrops on it is Lady's Mantle. It gets yellow flowers but if you leave them you'll have new plants growing from the seeds. I think this is the plant with blue flowers: http://www.perennials.com/plants/brunnera-macrophylla-jack-frost.html
I have one of these and they are very nice. Your quilt is looking great!

Brown Family said...

That must have been some storm! sorry you lost power. I know what you mean about loosing a tree. The one we just had removed, was here when we moved in way back in 1982, so it was probably 40 years old.

Your quilt is coming along nicely. I understand the tedium or so many little blocks!

piecefulwendy said...

I'm so sorry to hear about the tree. We have a lovely willow tree by our creek that has been chewed around its base by muskrats. We don't expect it to survive either. I agree that it's sad to lose a big tree. Your quilt is coming along really well. It is pretty with all the colors, and I'm sure the kitties are enjoying the time rearranging as you go. Haha.

Gretchen Weaver said...

I'm glad the piecing of this project is coming along so well. Sometimes we need to take an extended break from a project and then it seems to come along fine. She is looking beautiful!

Dana Gaffney said...

I'm sorry about the tree, David takes out "hits" on trees every once in a while and I just want to chain myself to them, but where we live trees can be dangerous. Those tulips are gorgeous and those people are lucky they don't have deer to eat the bulbs, but you're luckier because you have deer :)

Nita said...

Hummmmm. A treadle sewing machine to accompany your battery-operated headlamp would solve your no-sewing-during-power-outages problem, lol. I am enjoying watching your progress on the gazebo quilt. It makes me think that perhaps I could be brave and tackle something complicated, too. :)

Kate said...

Glad you didn't loose power for long. You've made lots of progress on getting that quilt put together. It's gorgeous.

quiltzyx said...

Closer & closer to the finish line you approach!

Gorgeous tulips you & Matthew passed by, wow! Just when I think I'm making progress on being able to walk a little farther, things happen...like falling down stepping thru my door at home. Ugh. Somehow I managed not to crash onto my knees, but instead ended up sitting almost cross-legged on the floor. Must have caught the toe of my shoe on the sill. But the next day(s) all my joints were complaining about being twisted around. Sheesh. Back to the beginning again. I couldn't get up from where I was, so butt-walked across the kitchen floor to the carpet & then managed to stand up again. Glad there wasn't anyone filming THAT with their phone! LOL

Dar said...

Your gazebo quilt is coming along beautifully. It won't be long now. Sorry to hear about your big tree. I always worry about ours too since we have a bunch of them on our property. They were here when we bought the property, but it's so sad to lose one. Speaking about losing your power, well I just bought me some insurance so if that happens to me, I'll keep on sewing. A friend moved back to Canada recently and this week she let me buy her treadle from her because her husband didn't want to take it. No room in the truck. Lucky me. Now to clean it up and get it to working so I'll be ready when the power goes out!

heartsease54 said...

The assembly on the quilt is coming right along, a lot faster than the sewing of it did. Watching you struggle along with it has made me so glad that I decided not to do that one. Those little blue flowers are Forget-me-nots, one of my favorite flowers. Glad your power came back, we got wind here in Montana too, bad in some areas, but for once, our power stayed on.