Quilting cat...

She's resisted the whole lap cat thing so far, but is completely happy to run down the stairs ahead of me, curl up on her chair, and snooze while I sew.

She isn't very good about sitting still while the camera works; instead, her head flits from side to side in search of something (anything) interesting. 

Which means that most of my photos of my cat are slightly blurry. 

A bug in Diagon Alley...

Sometimes you just can't resist. I'd just noticed the hand-painted sign at the entrance to this alley in Puyallup, then glanced down the alley to see an old VW bug, centered perfectly at the other end.

Balanced...

I still remember the day I bought the fabrics for this quilt. DW was on a business trip, and I was in the mood to take a drive, so I headed south toward Mt. Rainier. My route took me through a little town that had a quilt store, and of course I had to stop. 

Browsing through a quilt store never gets old, and that day I bought two bundles of fabrics designed by 3 Sisters, in green, blue, light blue, rose, red, yellow, coral, and brown. They are very fresh and country and fun, and they made me smile. They still do. 

I like to put the blocks up on the design wall in a random order, then take a digital picture. Unlike my own eyes, the camera has no preconceptions about color or value, just shows things as they are. This trick helps me come up with a more balanced layout. 

Quilts from scraps...

March was the month for quilt shows. My little group of quilting friends, Material Girls, had a lot of fun traveling around and getting inspiration from the beautiful work of other quilters.

It made me think that maybe I could enter a quilt or two in my guild show this summer. I've been going through my completed tops, picking a few to hand quilt, and maybe I will be brave and enter one in the show.

Not this one... I love the pattern and the colors, and the tiny blocks, and that the whole quilt is about 24-in. square. But there are a small few seams that don't match up, and it's not perfect enough.

But I have others, including these two. They're made from the same pattern, a Friendship Star. The first is one of about a dozen small quilts made from reproduction Civil War fabrics, or the fabric colors from that era. I love the muted red, gold, green, rust, and brown colors. This little quilt is about 20 x 26 in. and has two borders, a narrow gold and a dark brown.

When I cut the fabrics for the Civil War version, I also cut one from 1930s reproduction fabrics. But once the blocks were done, I decided to change the layout. I added 1-in. sashing strips and cornerstones, a 3/4-in pink border, and finished it with a 2.25-in. blue border. I just finished this quilt today, and I love how it turned out.

These little quilts are some I made over the past couple of years, when I decided it was time to make something from all the scraps I've accumulated. I had such fun choosing patterns, and putting together quilt kits using scraps. They are all either Civil War fabrics or 1930's reproductions, and all the blocks are classic patterns from the late 1800's. When I'm finished, there will be about 30 different quilts.

Centennial barn...

A week ago, we spent a few days in one of our favorite places: the Walla Walla valley. Home to wheat fields, wineries, and a beautiful old downtown, we love it there. On one of our morning drives, we came up over a ridge of hills to find this stunning red barn surrounded by the bright green of new wheat.





Some research found that this farm is one of Washington's Centennial farms (and one of many in Walla Walla County). A centennial farm is one that is still in the same family that first homesteaded the land.



Linking up today with Tom's Barn Collective.

With family...

Easter has become a day to gather with DW's family, to catch up with our busy lives, and share the blessing of food on the table. The nieces are beginning to move away, so the family is growing smaller. But most of us still live near enough to get together, and I'm grateful for that.

There was plenty of food to share (there always is in a family with a lot of avid cooks). Ham, scalloped potatoes, garlicky green beans, rolls, and yams. But these chicks made from deviled eggs stole the show. With carrot noses, caper eyes, and decorated with dill weed, they were completely cute.

Shadows and clouds...

We roamed the hills today, exploring the wheat country that surrounds Walla Walla. It's beautiful here, anytime. But today, the winds were bringing constant change above us: black storm clouds, rain, and occasionally, a glimpse of blue sky.

Winter is being chased out of the valley, storm by storm. The snow that blanketed the Blue Mountains on Thursday was refreshed on Friday and Saturday, but with today's warmer temperatures, the snow is starting to melt.



Spring will be quick, then summer will arrive, with brilliant blue skies and hills of green and gold as the new wheat ripens.



We stopped early today, with a hundred and thirty-two new cache finds under our belt. That called for a tasty beverage and pizza, which we found at The Stone Hut. Relaxing and talking about our time here was the perfect way to end the day.

Back roads in a favorite place...

A drive through the hills, with snow. Discovering new roads, and new views... and a new barn to photograph. Muddy roads and geocaches, then wine tasting and a new-to-us restaurant for a late dinner. A good day.

Patterns...

We roamed the back roads around Walla Walla on a mostly gray day... it rained and snowed and hailed, and every time I got out, I tracked gobs of mud and gravel into the Pilot. But late in the morning, the weather lifted for a time, and gave glimpses of blue and fleecy clouds. I was drawn to the contrasting patterns of the day... rounded hills of winter wheat, green under last year's stubble, highlighting the paths of tractors. The straight grooves of newly graded gravel roads. And those beautiful clouds.

Lone trees and eagles...

We're heading for a few days in Walla Walla, but took a detour on the way. To drive the fishermen's paths up the Snake River, toward Ice Harbor Dam. When we lived here, we always took visitors to the dam to watch tugs and barges go up-river through the locks, and watch salmon climb the fish ladder.

I stopped to photograph a beautiful lone tree, with bare branches dark against the grey sky. When I stopped to frame my shot, a white head poked up. An eagle, not very happy that I was just 40 feet away from its nest.

It took flight, and it soared.