Don't Buy Retail...

It was gorgeous today. I opened the door and windows of the Thread Shed so I could see the sunshine, feel the warm breeze, hear the cattle moo-ing and smell the horses. If I couldn't be outside, then I was bringing it in with me!

I spent the day finishing up the applique' stitching on the sunflower quilt top.

Then I spent a couple more hours trimming all the stray threads off the back side of it. It is ready to be basted and machine quilted..........we have a date on Friday.

With this warm, beautiful weather my favorite sport comes to mind....thrifting.....yard sales.....second hand stores.......the sport of champions! I was raised by a mother who trained me well. Most of our home today is furnished and decorated with second hand items. I love things with character.

Click Images to Enlarge:

My friend Linda, who has walked many a mile with me hunting down second hand items, sent me this entertaining video. Click here to view ESTATE SALE

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The Yard Sale Queen,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

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Flowers Chicks & Grapes...

Monday I spent the day putting together this backing for the sunflower quilt top I completed last week. The quilt top measures 100 inches square. This backing measures 108 inches square. It is too large to see the entire backing on the design wall, so 3 feet of the bottom portion is laying on the floor. If you tip your head to the left, you can view the strips of fabric horizontally rather than vertically. I plan to sandwich the quilt together so the back is horizontal. I will keep you updated as the free-motion quilting progresses...

Click Images To Enlarge:

The iris are really putting on a show this week

The baby chicks are 6 weeks old. The barred rock peeps are all feathered out with their black and white poke-a-dots. They have become the friendlies of the baby chicks. They run over to the food and water each morning when I come to do chores.

You can see all 3 breeds... Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons & Barred Rocks. They no longer look like baby chicks...more like miniature hens.

Just in time for hanging laundry on the line... the pink lilac bush, just outside the back door, is beginning to bloom... and it smells yummy. It is located a few feet from the clothesline... the aroma lures me outdoors to hang the clothes.

The grape arbor is beginning to leaf out. I strung out a soaker hose around it yesterday. This fall the leaves will turn purple with bright lime green veins. I press them in the phone books, then toss them all over the table on Thanksgiving.

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Enjoy,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Raffle Quilt......Workshop

4th of July Quilt

Quiltmaker: Jan Bressler of JanniLou Creations Quilt Shop, Philomath, Oregon

Pattern Designed by: Judy Niemeyer of Montana

Click Images to Enlarge:

I spent Saturday with the members of the Mary's River Quilt Guild. We participated in a paper piecing class to create the 4th of July quilt pictured above. This quilt will be our 2010 raffle quilt.

After a thorough paper piecing lesson, lead by instructor Jan Bressler, the volunteer quilters were paper piecing units like the ones above. The gorgeous batik fabrics worked well with this design.

Earlier in May a group of volunteers gathered to cut all of the fabrics needed for this quilt.

This is Jan Tallis, who completed the very first paper pieced unit of the day!

Jan is responsible for producing the MRQG Newsletter.

Volunteer quilters began arriving at 9:30 am ready for a full day of paper piecing.

Linda, Marcia & Kelly kept things lively in the back of the room

Paper Piecing is all about sewing on the lines

This is one of the main paper pieced units with a curved arc unit added to the top

By the end of the day there were piles of completed units all over the classroom.

This is a HUGE help to our raffle quilt committee.

Please see Debbie van der Sommen to check out a packet of blocks to paper piece.

The block packets will be at the next Mary's River Quilt Guild Meeting, May 28, 2009, 7pm, Benton County Museum, Philomath Oregon

When I arrived home Saturday evening, I pulled down the driveway.....Dancer & Freckles were there to greet me with a view of Mary's Peak in the background.

I had a fun day with the quilters and it was good to be home.

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

A Day On The Coast......Sand Images

We took the dogs to the coast to run on the beach. The tide was way, way, way out. The images of the sand were spectacular. They reminded me of marbled and hand dyed fabrics........yes, I have a one track mind. Look further to see what I did to the images once I was home and imported them into my iPhoto program...

Click Images to Enlarge:

Original sand image

I darkened the image a bit to enhance the lines

I added some brown to make the image look like wood

Now it was time to play with some colors

This reminded me of dyeing fabric.....without all the work

The blues could be used in landscape quilts for sky or water

I could see this pink tone in an applique flower

This light wood color reminds me of the floors in our house

I tried out red just for fun!

This is the second original sand image I chose

Be sure to click these images to enlarge them.

You can still see the sandy texture after they are manipulated and colored up.

The detailed images are wonderful.

Again, I darkened up the exposure a bit to enhance the lines and textures

I added more brown to the image, which reminded me of myrtle wood

I continued to add more and more brown to the image

After manipulating the images with temperature controls & saturation, they began to glow. I really like these.

This is definitely in the plans for transfer to fabric.

This would make a great background for a silhouette image...

A third original sand image

Here I go again manipulating the image, enhancing the lines....this is addicting. If you have an iMac, you should give this a try. The controls are built right into your iPhoto software, directly in the program where your photos are downloaded.

If any of these images inspire you, please download them and put them into your artwork. I don't get carried away with all the copyright issues. My motto is.......Share What You know........Share What You Have.

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Enjoy this sand art video......click HERE to view.

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

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To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

From The Oregon Coast,

LuAnn

Working Cattle

We spent the day working cattle Wednesday.

Click Images to Enlarge:

While the guys were rounding up the cows and calves, I wandered around with my camera. This is what the corral looks like empty before the cattle arrive.

It took a couple of hours to get all the cows and calves rounded up and herded down the river to the corral. Once in the corral they are sorted off: cows in one pen, calves in the other.

The cows are run through the squeeze chute first. They are wormed, vaccinated and get new fly tags in their ears. The tags keep the flies off their face during the summer months.

Here are a few of the mama cows being sorted off into different pens.

Every head of cattle is branded with the DK brand on their right hip.

This is one of the bulls. As far as bulls go, he is a gentle giant and beautiful too.

This is the pen of calves. I rarely get to see them up close when they are out in the pasture with the mama cows. This is always the best opportunity to photograph them each year.

I hate to play favorites but.........how cute is this little guy!

I have a soft spot for baby calves. At one time I bought bull calves from the dairy, as many as 50 a year, and raised them on a bottle. It was a great way for me to be a stay-at-home Mom and have an income.

This is an up-close image of part of the corral. I love the metal strapping that is wrapped around the posts and intertwined with weeds and ferns.

This is teasel.....Brad calls them Horrible Weeds.

They are leftover from last year. I like when they get to this state and they are all dried out and prickly.

More Horrible Weeds in front of the sheep barn.

They inspire me to put them into a photo transfer quilt sometime.

If you are inspired by any of these images, you are welcome to download them and put them into your artwork. I would love to see a photo of what you do with them.

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To see more Cattle posts CLICK HERE

To see more Home posts CLICK HERE

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE