A Sunny Day Ride

I am a city girl who loves to visit wide open spaces. So my husband and took a ride to Mt Rainier. At 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. .

wildflower meadows

Northwest Quilting Expo 2012

Went to the NW Quilting Expo in Portland OR on Saturday with a car full of friends, that's the way to see a quilt show! It's almost a three hour drive, we chatted and laughed the whole way down and back.

Miller Quilt's

Rochell’s Fine Fabric and Quilting

The merchant mall was any quilters dream with 80 vendors. Including Margret Miller's Miller Quilts and Rochell's Fine Fabric and Quilting. And by the way Margaret was the featured artist with a lovely exhibition and great workshops.

And oh the quilts! The Twelve by Twelve Art Quilts were there. Twelve quilt artists challenged to make a quilt a month for four years.

Margaret's Exhibit

Plus quilt from Umpqha Valley Quilter's Guild, Evergreen Piecemakers Quilt Guild (I belong here), Studio Art Quilt Associates, Portland Modern Quilt Guild, Columbia Fiber Arts Guild, Metropolitan Patchwork Society, A family of Quilts, Cover to Cover Book Club and the Hoffman Challenge! Wow what a line up! 

And last but not least"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" sponsored by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative
"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" is a traveling quilt exhibit about Alzheimer's. Long, narrow "Name Quilts" are made from 55 purple patches, each marked with the name of a person who has/had Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. I quilted number 25 and have never seen this powerful exhibit in person.

APWQ Auction

 Ready, Set , Go

September 18-28 
Online Auction

Cathy Hoover Modesto, CA

From Alaska to New Mexico, Saskatchewan to Hawaii, the Pacific West is a region that's full of diversity in folklore, history and natural wonders. The 27 quilt artists who created and donated this latest collection of quilts for the Association of Pacific West quilters (APWQ) let their imaginations soar to interpret the theme "Spirit of the West" in this unique collection of quilts.

Your winning bids support the Association of Pacific West Quilters, a non-profit organization. Producing the annual Pacific West Quilt show is the principle activity of APWQ as it continues to provide an impressive venue and competition for quilters across the region.

Nancy Chong Gold Beach, OR (cropped)

Please help spread this news to your family, friends, customers, students ... and anyone you can think of ... who will help make our online auction of these spectacular quilts a great success.

Benefit Bidding is our online Auctioneer. This company has experience of many different kinds of online auctions for non-profit organizations like APWQ.  

Trish Grant 

Bellevue, WA

Artist Statement

We have many happy memories of Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach, from participating in the Fourth of July parade and searching the tidepools along the beach.  I prefer to work realistically and select

Haystack Rock (cropped)

ted a photo of Haystack Rock that we took during one of our many trips theres. It's a good day when I have time in my studio and time on the tennis court!  

Techniques & Materials

I enlarged the photo in black and white and fused cotton pieces to the background with Steam-a-Seam II.

Fall is Here! A Trip to The Fair

Ten decades ago, the Puyallup Valley community joined together an in effort to create a "Valley Fair." The Fair provided a place to exhibit animals of all kinds, and it also became an area to show the crops which flourished in the valley's rich land. Then, as well as now, people came from near and far to visit the Fair. The founders began the Fair, yet it was the Fairgoers who made it the success it has become.

In 1900, the community had no idea the tradition which had begun, nor could they have imagined the treasured memories each decade would bring...

 Over 1.3 million guests now visit the Fair. Fair Scones celebrated their 100th Anniversary and served their 100 millionth scone during the 2011 Puyallup Fair.

Even though the Puyallup Fair is sometimes called the "state fair," there is no official Washington state fair. The Western Washington Fair Association is a private, non-profit organization which exists for only one reason, and that is to please the Fairgoer. The Fair puts smiles on people's faces, it educates people of all ages, and most of all, it creates memories for everyone.

"Do the Puyallup" and celebrate the tradition - and the new century!

Quilts! in Bellingham WA

 I was reading the paper and look what I found. Looks like a great exhibit right in my own back yard.




EXTRAORDINARY QUILTS that encompass the full range of American quilts and quiltmaking make a powerful statement for the quilt as a major American art form.

The show includes a host of masterpieces, from a huge and spectacular c. 1830 Medallion Star with broderie perse appliqué and a magnificent Baltimore Album quilt to pioneering modern quilts by Jean Ray Laury, Nancy Crow, Michael James, and Susan Shie. The show also includes remarkable Amish, Native American, African-American, and Hawaiian quilts, drawn from private and museum collections across the country.

Whatcom Museum
(Art Galleries + Family Interactive Gallery (FIG))
250 Flora Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday Noon - 5 PM
FIG Extra Hours:  Tuesdays and Fridays Opens at 9 AM

Virginia Avery

I just learned of the passing of Virginia Avery. She would have been 100 on her next birthday, the end of this month. What a lady!

Jinny was one of the quilt world’s pioneers. Back in the early 70s, she decided people needed someone to teach them to quilt, and that person was going to be her. She was good at sewing clothes. Never mind that she really hadn’t actually made a quilt.

Thanks for so much inspiration, Jinny, in so many ways. Learn more about Jinny at The Quilt Show. (Available until the end of September 2012)

Seattle's Capitol Hill Fabric House

Fabric artist and quilter Luke Haynes covered this Capitol Hill house with mainly acrylic pieces from Goodwill. He had the help of 30 people stitching for two days. The house on 15th Avenue East will become Ada's Technical Books in a couple of months.

Gotta Love Those Purses!

 The trip out to APWQ meant a new purse. I have a lovely turquoise jacket, no purse to match. So you guessed it, I do now.  The purse is easy to construct so I can spend all my time with the embellishment. The purse has two sides and I used the opportunity to be creative twice. Love the results.

I love a purse with structure, so these handles work for me.