Vacation!

#sistersinsisters #celebratingKathysbirthday #stitchinpost #moreyarnplease

Sisters Quilt Show ~

The day of the quilt show arrived. The Sisters Quilt Show is the largest outdoor quilt show in the world.My sister and I have been attending for years, and love everything about the show. The inspiration of seeing hundreds and hundreds of completed quilts is staggering. This year there were over 1300 quilts on display outside!Some of my favorite quilts each year are the western quilts with cowboys and cowgirls and horses and campfires and all-things-western.Always the second Saturday in July, and I highly recommend this event if you have an interest in quilting.

Vacation souvenir ~

Did I mention that I found something in Sisters Oregon that I thought would be a good souvenir for me. Not counting the Mirasol Qina that I scored, as that was necessary for the economy and to be sure The Stitchin' Post continues to stock yarn in their fabric shop....

Roving of merino and Tussah silk... mango is the color... and I thought it was too beautiful to leave on the shelf.... plus I bought a darning egg, as I'd not seen one in years, and I need to darn some socks that my oldest daughter has worn a lot.... great souvenirs, eh!!!

More socks coming ~

The Stitchin' Post is one of the best quilting stores in the country, with great selection of fabrics and many finished quilts lining the walls for inspiration. In recent years they have also carried a great selection of yarn. A few years ago I scored my first Jitterbug ~ good times!!!!

This year I scored some Mirasol Qina, in a lovely golden yellow, at 30% off too! These will make perfect socks for my oldest daughter that seems to be wearing out the socks I've made for her...

Second Saturday in July ~

The Sisters Quilt Show was amazing. Over 1300 quilts displayed outdoors for one day, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM. They are hung up in front of every store along all the streets of this town, and traffic is not allowed on the main street during the show so the public has a better view of the quilts on street (pictured below).

The quilts are sent from all over America (and the world!) to be displayed. They are not judged, they are not in competition with other quilts, they are displayed for the joy and celebration of being displayed at the largest outdoor quilt show in the world. The quilters range from kids to 90 year olds, and all are creative and inspired!

The quilts are beautiful.
The quilts are inspiring!

The quilts are amazing.... we are planning our trip for next year already!

Roadtrip knitting ~

Heading to Sisters Oregon to see the largest outdoor quilt show (hosted by the Stitchin' Post) in the world. My sister and I have been making the trip each July for many wonderful years, and we still enjoy the amazing spectacle of all these quilts.

On the way to Sisters, my sister drove and I knit on my alpaca/silk socks... and made great progress.... and to beat the 90 degree heat, we had a Dairy Queen Moo Latte....Yummy!!

Strawberry hats forever ~

I never get tired of strawberry hats. Every time I see one at a shop or on a wee person, I think, "I should be knitting one of those" and usually I have one on my needles at all times... They are the ultimate cute hat for kids. I've made a blueberry hat too, as a twin for the strawberry hat as gifts for twins (as shown with our dear Cha Cha), but my favorite remains the strawberry.

I love Ann Norling's pattern (she also has a pattern for matching mittens)....and use Cascade Superwash...

The Stitchin' Post always has a display of fruit hats in their knitting section, and I always get excited about knitting more strawberry hats...

gotta love the strawberry....

Lovely yarn ~

Here is more of the sale yarn I found at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters Oregon on our vacation. It is Ella Rae, bamboo and silk, DK weight. At 30% off, plus no sales tax, plus a discount since I was part of the quilting classes, I really couldn't refuse such a sale... The color is deep purple, and it is so very soft. I think I'll be making a Windy City lace hat or two, as my girls both loved the one I made for Anna earlier this year.

Vacation knits ~

Remember I mentioned getting some sale yarn at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters Oregon? Well, I cast on a new scarf pattern on the way home ~ so this is 9 hours of knitting a new pattern with new yarn... and then I ran out of yarn....geez.....

so, now I'm looking for more sale yarn....

Real art ~

On the way to the Sisters Oregon quilt show, there is an amazing group of art work in a horse pasture, with the three Sisters mountains in the background. They are metal sculptures of a cowboy and cowgirl and cow dog herding horses across the field. It is magnificent, framed with the mountains. We look forward to seeing this each year, and as we neared the corner we realized that there were real horses grazing amongst the statues!

It was even more magnificent! We pulled over so I could take pictures ~ can you tell which are the sculptures and which are the real horses? These guys came up to investigate my picture taking ~ they were so beautiful! (See the cowboy, cowgirl & cow dog in the back?)

Here's a view with the mountains.

Here's a video so you can see the difference between horses and sculpture

Quilt fun ~

There were hundreds of great quilts at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year, as always. We didn't sense a certain theme or pattern to them this year, just a great variety of creative handy work ~ and all of them done! Hundreds and hundreds of finished projects! what a concept~

Here are some fun ones: A rooster, for all of us chicken lovers

A flamingo, for all of us flamingo lovers

Two quilted car covers... I'm not sure why....but it was interesting...?

I'm not sure I understand these... but they are fun!

Yarn and Quilts ~

We had a great time on our Sisters Oregon weekend to see the famous outdoor quilt show. The famous Stitchin' Post also has yarn, as this picture clearly shows the sign above our heads. They had a great selection of yarn this year, and I ended up getting some on sale ~ bamboo and silk, how can one resist a sale on bamboo and silk?

I will post a picture of the new yarn soon....

Sisters Quilt Show ~

As you read this, I am enjoying the Sisters Oregon Outdoor Quilt Show. It is always the second Saturday in July, and always an amazing display of creativity, inspiration and talent. There are hundreds and hundreds of quilts on display, including every color combination, style, tradition and age. Each year I go with my sister, and we have an amazing time! Here we are, outside the Stitchin' Post, owner Jean Wells, that started the Outdoor Quilt Show 34 years ago with her own quilts. She started an incredible tradition. Check out their website to see pictures of all the quilts displayed along the main street and side streets of Sisters!
P.S. In the last several years, Jean now sells wonderful yarn at the Stitchin' Post! That's where I bought my first Jitterbug yarn!

Reacquainted Love ~

At the Sewing Expo we also were reunited with Miski by Mirasol ~ a lovely 100% llama yarn that is so soft and melts in your hands while knitting. I knit a blueberry hat last summer out of Miski, as my sister and I found some at the Stitchin' Post in Oregon. I had not found this yarn in any of our local shops but found it at Roberta's shop (Fibers Etc in Tacoma, WA) at the Expo. I bought the creme color and the midnight blue. If you haven't knit with this yet, do yourself a favor and meet a new love.....or become reacquainted with a past love. This yarn is wonderful and the story of the shepherds in Peru that the yarn purchase is supporting makes it more lovely! I think you'll start using this yarn for all your soft and lovelies!

Christmas Joy ~

Happy Christmas to all of you! Another Christmas tradition that gives me great joy is my Christmas Quilt. I made it from a "Quilt Block a Month" pattern/kit by the Sisters, Oregon Stitchin' Post. The pattern/kit was given to me by my sweet sister as a birthday gift. It was loads of fun to sew, as the colors are not traditional "green & red" and the designs are whimsy and fun. I pull it out of the closet at Thanksgiving and reacquaint myself with all the blocks and shapes and colors and whimsy and delight.... I love this quilt!!!!!

Home Again, Home Again (Jiggity Jig)

Coming home from a trip is always a great feeling ~ being reunited with our family and sharing what has happened while we were apart. Catching up on the "goings-on" and recounting stories and funny moments. A really Great Surprise occurred when I walked in the door and saw my birthday present from my sweetie ~ he had made a quilt rack for my batik quilt & he hung it up as well. What a beautiful welcome home surprise!
P.S. Quilt made in a class from Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon during the summer quilt show week. In addition to fabulous fabrics, they also have a great selection of yarn!

Bitten by the Jitterbug

I'm sure you have a favorite yarn - one you can't resist. A Yarn that calls to you in every color, one that is so soft and smooth, with the perfect twist on the needles - glowing with those colors you can't resist. Jitterbug is that yarn for me. I saw my first skeins of Jitterbug in Sisters Oregon, at the most amazing quilt shop called The Stitchin Post. The shop always has a wonderful array of fabrics and quilts on display and had recently started carrying yarn. What a wonderful surprise to have amazing fabric AND yarn in one shop! There was a basket with about 8 skeins of Jitterbug - the colors were so rich and each skein glowed with a perfect mix of colors. I bought the popsicle color with greens and yellows that day, deciding not to buy all three colors mixes in the basket. I dreamt about the purples that night, so had to go back and get the purples the next day - thankfully there was a skein of purples left, as all the other colors were gone, as it was the BIG quilt show weekend and most of their yarn (and a lot of fabric) was sold out! Note to self: If you see a skein of Jitterbug, buy it immediatly as it might not be there when you return.

I couldn't wait to cast on Jitterbug socks with the popsicle greens, yellows and turquoise. I knew they would be such a great project, a mystery of how the colors would stripe or pool or float or twist. The next weekend when our family went camping, I cast on the Jitterbug socks. I cast on this perfect yarn in one of my all time favorite knitting places. Yes, at the river - early in the morning. A glorious morning at the river, camping with my family and knitting Jitterbug socks. Life is really good....