Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2017

 This was my second trip to Sisters, but this time I brought Paul. We stayed in Redmond for the week while I took classes and then enjoyed the show on Saturday. Last year I didn't take enough pictures. I hope you enjoy these.

Hilde Morin's quilts are fascinating. She was teaching this week and I popped in to see her student's work. I don't know if I have enough geometry skill for this.

If I like a quilt, it's usually made by Freddy Moran.

Tula Pinks' Tula Nova was wowing the audience.

Sue Spargo's work was also on display. How I admire her handiwork. The attention to detail and mixing cotton and wool are impressive.

And the following 5 are mine. Two sold at the show and three later on.

I caught Sujata and Scott chatting in the teachers' booth. I also got to thank Tula Pink and Sarah Fielke for coming. I have a class with Sarah next week in Mt. Vernon. And when Sujata is in town, she joins our little quilt group to sit and stitch.

Maria Shell Class

 I had a great opportunity to take a class with Maria Shell at Sisters, Oregon. She is a great quilt artist from Anchorage. The class was based on making fabric designs from solid colors. 

She had quite a few examples of her work. It gave me so many ideas for future quilts. You know that feeling when your brain explodes? Maria is Nancy Crow trained so her design instincts are incredible. 

This collection below is my attempt at making fabric. I decided to use the blue block for a quilt. I used a triad color scheme, which is probably the most extreme, to make Metro Grid.

How I love secondary designs and this created quite a few. I also like the principle of small, medium, and large pieces. Black and white are the neutrals here. One of my favorite quilts.

 Do you see the secondary designs forming? The centers of the blocks almost look like sashing. I liked adding the little plus sign blocks on the inner border.

Octagon Shimmer

 I started Jennifer Sampou's Octagon Shimmer shortly after seeing it at Sisters last July. I have plenty of fabric, but it always helps to have our sewing group at Calico Creations, where an incredible supply of Kaffe is next door. Cinda also provides huge design walls for big quilt planning.

This is nothing like the cover quilt, but closer to my favorite colors. Here is the original from Sisters.

It doesn't even look like the same pattern, but I assure you it is.

The quilt is created with kite-shaped dark pieces with colored strips on either side to create isosceles right triangles.

A lot of planning is required since each side is a different color. I was disappointed that shipping caused creases in the quilt, but it didn't matter because it sold anyway.

Kiftsgate Rose

 About 10 years ago I planted a Kiftsgate rose in a bed under our douglas firs. I had seen one growing in Sultan by the middle school and decided we had the perfect conditions. My hope was that it would grow up through the trees and it has.

The flowers are very simple 5 petal roses with yellow centers and they don't smell like much.

And their thorns have mangled plenty of my shirts. But I still love them. Originally I strung a line of jute up to the lower branches, but now they have found their pathway and will reach the top someday.

Vocal Ensemble

 One of my friends posted this picture from high school on her facebook page the other day. Our group was called Vocal Ensemble. Those blue sequined tops were very shiny, maybe to distract from our singing. San Pasqual High School wasn't known for its musical ability. Or sports, really. I'm on the far left, squinting into the sun.

Dena Prestininzi in the middle was really the only great singer among us. Eric Sevy, the blondest of us all, is currently an associate professor of chemistry at BYU. When I looked up his faculty listing, I noticed he was wearing a bow tie in his picture. That's how I remember him.

Dena and I at the 1987 Music Awards banquet. Good times.

Marnie's High School Graduation

 Our last high school graduate has walked! Marnie graduated from Stanwood High School with her classmates yesterday. We enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa Willard here with us. We were also prepared with lots of cushions and quilts to keep us comfortable in the stands.

Chuckles does not understand what is being celebrated.

Grandpa and Jim enjoying some time together after the celebration.

Monroe Cemetery Visit

 Since Grandma and Grandpa are visiting for Marnie's graduation, it was a good opportunity to visit Grandpa's parents' graves in Monroe. It is on the way to the cabin. Once we visited and accidentally left Frazier there. It was a long 10 minute drive back. 

When George Howard Calvin Willard was born on 22 November 1914, in Peoria, Illinois his father, James Howard Willard, was 29 and his mother, Georgiana Davis, was 27. He married Lillian Faye Harman on 6 June 1935, in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were the parents of 1 son and 1 daughter. He died on 8 September 1981 in Everett, Washington at the age of 66, and was buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Monroe, Washington.

When Lillian Faye Harman was born on 10 February 1915, in Garfield, Salt Lake County, Utah, her father, Charles Royal Harman, was 25 and her mother, Clara Lillian Simmons, was 22. She married George Howard Calvin Willard on 6 June 1935 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were the parents of 1 son and 1 daughter. They built a cabin in Baring, Washington, next door to Dick and Dorothy Frazier. In retirement they ran a restaurant off of Highway 2 in Sultan. After Howard died, Faye lived with her daughter in Tumwater. She died on 14 January 1997, in Olympia at the age of 81, and was buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Monroe, Snohomish County, Washington.