Tag: art

Make time to travel

July 22, 2025
Picture of Mount Hood taken at Panorama Point, Oregon

Once Quilt Camp was over, we packed and headed out west to explore places long on my travel bucket list – the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood, Astoria and the Pacific Coast Highway. It was an incredible seven days. We flew into Portland (PDX), but didn’t spent much time in the city. What little I did see of downtown Portland was typical of any other large city – meaning I’d avoid the downtown area and shop/stay in the suburbs.

Our journey was basically one large loop – Hood River, The Dalles and back over to Astoria, following the Pacific Coast Highway as far as Newport, then over to Corvallis with a stop in Salem before heading back to Portland. Things we liked best: National Neon Sign Museum in The Dalles, Western Vintage Auto & Air Museum in Hood River, Columbia Gorge Maritime Museum in Astoria, Latimer Quilt & Textile Museum in Tillamook (just up the road from the Tillamook Creamery), Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville and the Deepwoods House & Gardens in Salem.

Photos from Latimer Quilt & Textile Museum in Tillamook, Oregon
Vacation souvenir from Fiddlesticks Quilt Shop in Vancouver, WA.

Oregon has no state sales tax, plus had great end of season sales, so we did some much needed shopping at the only full-fledged Eddie Bauer retail store in the state. At Montavilla Sewing Center, I also found the left bi-level 9mm foot for my Janome 8900 that none of the 3 Janome dealers near me had. While there, I also asked for a price quote on the Janome 9480 with the ASR. Extremely competitive, but as this model’s now been available for over two years, I expect prices will drop again soon.

Our last day/night was spent in Vancouver, Washington – just across the bridge from the Portland airport. This also the home to Connecting Threads, in case you receive their quilting catalog in the mail. We thoroughly enjoyed dining out on the patio at the The Cove and walking the along the river trail. I also visited the lone quilt shop of our trip – Fiddlesticks Quilt Shop where I purchased all the fabric needed for the upcoming Giant Dahlia class with Michelle Yeo.

Are you familiar with The Country Register? It’s a national publication focusing on individual states or regions. A number of quilt shops, textile museums and craft events have printed copies available. I always like to pick up a copy whenever I travel. When browsing through the Oregon, Washington, Idaho edition, I noticed that Michelle Yeo is also teaching at a shop in Oregon the week after she’s with my guild in Atlanta. I didn’t fully appreciate how much my guild subsidizes the cost to bring teachers to us until I saw the fees to attend the same class in Oregon.

Make time to travel – it forces you outside your comfort zone and allows you to experience new sights, sounds and tastes that you probably won’t experience at home. Dining al fresco on the waterfront of the Columbia River and enjoying huckleberry jam on my toast are two things that come to mind. Well, a jar of huckleberry jam did make the trip home with me.

Holiday Festivities

December 18, 2024

It’s been a quiet December. A number of local holiday gatherings have conflicted with family plans and therapy dog activities this year. The one event I could attend was lunch with my Friday Sew Squad. Unfortunately, I had to pass on this one because I had the upper respiratory ick that’s currently making the rounds. Ditto for the neighborhood holiday gathering that was rescheduled due to weather.

When not sleeping, I read and made HSTs for the Bonnie Hunter Winter Mystery Quilt. My chosen color way is blue (Bonnie used red), aqua/teal and green (Bonnie used coral) with an assortment of white and cream fabrics. As with the FG for Week 1, I had to rework the instructions to incorporate my green charm squares. The HSTs are done and I’m happy to say all the miscellaneous green charm squares in my stash were used up in the HSTs.

Half square triangles for Bonnie Hunter Old Town mystery quilt.

After four days, I felt human again. My final Monday enrichment class was yesterday. Sadie and I made our last therapy dog visit for 2024 today. One of my private sewing students completed her craft apron. The finished project is absolutely adorable; however, the project’s poorly written directions made it a true pain the posterior to make. I’ll modify the instructions with our methods for her to follow as she wants to make aprons for her crafty homeschool friends.

Student modeling her craft apron.

All the family gatherings happen between now and next Monday. This means I’m really looking look forward to a quiet Christmas at home! I plan to make good use of the three week break before 2025 therapy dog visits resume and classes at the SQTM begin.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you in 2025!

Which sewing machine to take to my upcoming retreat?

April 28, 2024

This is my current dilemma. I’m flying, so I’m limited to machines that will fit in my Travelpro underseat rolling tote. Here are my options:
1) Singer Featherweight
2) Elna STAR (similar to Janome Jem 720)

Option 1: The quilt shop organizing the retreat sells and services Featherweights. I will be in good hands should anything go wrong with my machine during the retreat. I’ve also been wanting to switch out the tension assembly for one with a numbered tension dial. They could take care of that for me and giver the machine a once-over at the same time. Sewing space is limited (4′ wide), so having the built-in wider bed means I won’t have to carry a separate acrylic extension table.

Opton 2: This is my usual machine for sew-ins, classes and retreats, especially when I need more than a straight-stitch capability. It travels well and does exactly what I need it to do. The only drawback is that full throttle is a mere 650 spm. It’s fine for applique and most piecing. For long strips when you want to sew fast, it’s akin to driving a moped instead of a motorcycle. I’ll also have bring the small acrylic extension table.

I checked with the retreat organizer. The staff are bringing their personal FWs to the retreat. No retreat projects require any zigzag stitch capability. I’m taking a FQS Layer Cake Shake kit made from leftover 10″ Christmas squares and the 2024 Middle Georgia Shop Hop blocks + the FPP center block to work on at the retreat. No zigzag stitches required. I’ll be perfectly fine with my Featherweight!