Stumps & Birdhouse

I have been itching to do some stitching........but the sun came out today and lured me outdoors again! Here in wet and rainy western Oregon, you NEVER waste a sunny day indoors.........you just don't know when you will get another one!

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Last summer we put new siding on our house.......in the course of doing that we had to cut down a a big hedge on the backside of the house. This spring we are left with 8 stumps to remove.........and today was removal day.

After some digging, Brad hooked a chain around the stumps and pulled them out with the pick up winch.

Those little stumps had a lot of roots on the underside. Check out the size of the last one that was pulled out.........it was a whopper!

While Brad worked on the stumps, I started painting the bird house he built for me. He used wood that was salvaged from our barn loft. Yes, this is a 2 story farm house for birds.

Here it is with a coat of gray primer on it.

By the time I had the primer painted on, all the stumps were out of the ground.

I was able to get one coat of white paint on the birdhouse before the weather quickly changed to cold and rainy. It chased me back indoors for the day.

The daffodils in the front yard have reached their peak. They were gorgeous this year. I am sad to see them go. The flowering cherry trees are just beginning to bloom. They remind me of popcorn popping. You can't see the blooms yet in this photo, but I will take another photo next week so you can see the popcorn trees.

This is a daybed frame we put behind the Thread Shed a couple of years ago. It is a perfect fence to hold up the yellow glads that will be growing here this summer.

My sewing machine is set up just inside that big picture window. I have beautiful, morning sunlight to sew by.

Next week, when we get the 4 newly painted bed frames set up for the hollyhocks, I will post a photo.

For now my plans include a hot cup of tea, and an evening spent cutting images from books for future paper quilts. I have a class to teach in May making paper quilts.

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Looking Forward to More Sunshine,

LuAnn

Bed Frames & Bedding

If I can't be sewing, then I want to be gardening.

This time of year I have to split my time up between the two. Spring has arrived here in western Oregon and the yard work is starting to call me outdoors. My project today was to prime and paint brass bed frames. I found them over the winter at second hand stores for $5 each.

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This frame was half primered before I remembered to get the camera out and take a few photos of my progress. The brass is just too bright, so I decided to tone it down a bit with some green paint.

Brad set posts in the yard and leaned the frames up so I could paint on both sides.

The frames looked great just standing there in a row in the backyard. If the paint wasn't wet, I would have draped a few quilts over them for a photo shoot!

We found 3 cans of green paint in the garage........each can was a different shade of sage green, so each bed frame is a different color..........I like that too. I am not big on matchy matchy in my quilting fabrics, and I guess I feel the same way about paint colors as well.

This is a king size frame and will make a perfect flowerbed fence out by the Thread Shed.

Some of the hollyhocks by the Thread Shed grow taller than the roof top. These bed frames will be the perfect support for such tall flowers.

Have you priced flower or garden fencing? It would cost a great deal to fence the 20 foot stretch down the side of the Thread Shed. And......the fencing is so flimsy it wouldn't hold up those 8 foot tall hollyhocks. These 4 bed frames cost a total of $20 and will make a perfect flowerbed fence.

We made time to mulch around the grape arbor Brad built a few years ago. After 3 years, the grape vines are producing yummy grapes, and gorgeous red and purple leaves in the fall. Alongside the arbor is a patch of lavender and 2 blueberry bushes. I don't have time for weeding, so we heavily mulch all the beds in the spring and fall.

There was still time leftover to clean out the hen house and fill it with fresh bedding. The hens seemed to enjoy it.

This is the front side of the Thread Shed. It has fresh mulch to keep down the weeds. The camelia is blooming now. The soaker hose is stretched out and ready for irrigation.

It's never officially Spring until we hang up the owls. They keep the birds from building nests on the house, garage and thread shed.

I am hoping to get out to the Thread Shed soon to get in my quilting fix. But I need to scrub the paint and dirt out from under my finger nails first.

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p.s. To see more flower and garden images Click HERE

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Be Inspired

Thread Inspiration

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Just looking at all this thread gets me inspired!

I am ready to begin the stitching on the Pepper Dish quilt I showed you last week. All the applique is on and it is time to choose some quilting threads. Your thread stash is just as important as your fabric stash. When I begin cutting fabric for a new project, the quilting thread choices are already on my mind. They are another design choice in creating your quilt. While I am working on the quilt top, my mind is also on what backing fabric to choose, and what quilting thread to use for the top and back side of the quilt sandwich. All design decisions. Don't wait until the last minute to choose your threads. Get them out where you can see them............let them inspire you!

Sometimes a simple phrase can inspire people. It could be something impactful, funny or thought provoking. This video is full of those kinds of phrases. Perhaps it can be an inspiring start to your day or week. Click here to view it.

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To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

To see Slideshows CLICK HERE

Be Inspired,

LuAnn

What A Beauty

Brad came in this morning from the hen house and told me we had a visitor. A beautiful, and un-welcome visitor. I grabbed the camera and headed outside in my jammies. A chicken hawk had made it's way into the wire fenced chicken yard, and now he was trapped inside. Here he is hanging on his side on the wire. The underside of his wing is white and brown checked. You can see it fairly well in this photo. Click image to enlarge and see more detail. Tip your head to the left and you can see him better.

The hens did not like him one bit and would charge at him with their neck feathers all ruffled out. He flew around the fenced in chicken yard looking for a way out.

He sat still long enough for me to get a close up photo.....below.

Right after this photo was taken, Brad opened the hen house door and he flew inside the hen house and out the door to freedom. We watched him fly away down to the river. He perched in a tree and stared at us.........and we stared back. What a beauty!

If I can't be sewing or quilting, then I want to be gardening. We planted 3 Burning Bushes by the garage today. Someday they will really put on a show in the fall.

This little bear was found at a second hand store over the winter months. He weighs better than 50 pounds! He has such a beautiful patina. He is quite old, but still in great condition. He is perfect to watch over the newly planted bushes.

The yellow Thread Shed is directly behind the bear.

To the right is the red hen house, where the chicken hawk was trapped earlier.

The camelia by the Thread Shed is beginning to bloom.

The daffodils out front are the biggest and tallest and brightest we've ever had!

Spring has arrived in Oregon..........what a beauty!

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To see more Garden posts CLICK HERE

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From The Garden,

LuAnn

Where Inspiration Comes From

Inspiration can come from most anywhere, especially the outdoors. Just being outside in the fresh air and sunshine gets your blood pumping and gets you motivated and just happy to be alive.

I went on a fishing trip with my favorite guy to the Rogue River. It was a sunny day and the river was gorgeous. The river water was so clear you could see the bottom.

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All day long I couldn't take enough pictures of the water. It glistened in the sunlight and was so pure and clear.

The water was such an inspiration to me, I just knew I had to use these images in a journal quilt.....a memory quilt to remember this day.

I decided the water images would be the perfect background. I printed out my favorites, collaged the images together, and the background was complete.

"You Rogue"

I added a few photos of Brad and Suzy over the top of the water images and it was done. I photo-transferred everything onto fabric and quilted it.

The water that inspired me while fishing, continued to inspire me when I returned home to work in the Thread Shed.

Here are a few more images I have taken recently that inspire me. I don't try to analyze why they interest me. I just try and enjoy the enthusiasm that they create in me.

Abandoned store in eastern Oregon

Frozen faucet at the sheep barn

trip to the Tetons

Hens and Hollyhocks in the yard

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What inspires you?

LuAnn

To see more journal quilts CLICK HERE

The quilts I create are very much inspired by my life here on the farm and by my family. Every time I see an image of a bear, I think of my oldest son, Nicholas. I call him my "Big Bear." His childhood room was all decorated with bears.

I also think of apple pie when I think of Nicholas. Like all self-respecting mothers, I have been known to use food to bribe my kids to come home and see me! Nicholas lives in town now, and we sure miss him.

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Nicholas and Me

My husband is also an apple pie lover. When the boys were young and there was a fresh apple pie on the table.........it wasn't safe for long! The kids would come in the door with the neighbor boys and inhale the pie along with a gallon of milk.

I eventually learned to bake 2 pies........one for the kids.......and one for my husband to hide!

This was made in 2001. It is one of the first original quilts that I designed. My favorite part is the bear paw blocks set on point that travel around the outer border. It is Nicholas' graduation quilt.........."Big Bear"

Bonners Ferry Library, Bonners Ferry, Idaho

My son's love of bears inspired me to make his graduation quilt. I will always think of him whenever I see a bear.

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Wishing You a Lifetime of Inspiration,

LuAnn

Inspiration

My surroundings inspire my quilted textiles. I never leave home without a camera in my hands. For me, quilting and photography just belong together. My camera is an extension of my sewing machine. It captures what inspires me and saves that inspiration in a digital or printed format until I am ready to put it into a textile form.

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I spent the day riding along on the tractor baling hay with my favorite guy. I am fascinated by the way the big round baler works. I enjoy watching out the cab of the tractor as the big bales are released from the baler and roll out into the field. It wasn't until we were done for the day, and up on the road a distance from the hayfield, that I realized just how gorgeous all those big, round bales looked as a group in the field.

All my best photography seems to happen when I am with my hard-working husband, Brad. I rode along with him one afternoon as he moved the cattle across the river. He dropped me off to block off a road from the cattle, while he rode ahead to get them moving along. As I patiently waited for the cattle to come into view, I noticed just how beautiful the sky was at that moment. It wasn't long before the cattle came along and ran right through my photo.........the timing was perfect.

Every Monday I gather with the quilters in my tiny community to create quilts. We are so fortunate, at the end of the day as we leave for home.......this is the breath-taking sunset that greets us on our way home.

I was building fence with my husband last spring and couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of the Westfork barn. This weathered old barn wood is beautiful. Just looking at this image again has inspired me to print it on fabric and use it as a background for a journal quilt............I will keep you posted with my progress.

If this image inspires you, please use it in your next textile project. I would love to see what you create with it. I have downloaded it at full resolution, just click on the image to enlarge it and print it out.

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Enjoying Life on the Farm,

LuAnn