Forest Fantasy - Fully Pieced

We are having an incredible fall, here in the Pacific Northwest.  I honestly can't remember the last time it rained.  Things are so dry that I actually had to water yesterday to keep my rhododendrons alive.  I'm not complaining, however.  I really like taking my walk at lunchtime when it isn't raining and when I don't have to worry about a change of clothes for the way back.  I also enjoy standing outside with my morning cup of coffee and breathing in the smells of the pine trees.  These are the moments that remind me why I live here and I enjoy them all so very much.  

Having finished my yard work, and what I think might be the last time I mow the lawn this year, I turned by attention to finishing up piecing the Forest Fantasy quilt.  I think that it is fitting that the weather cooperated and I was able to take its picture outside with the woods shading part of it.  My next step it putting together the back and then getting long-arm time.  Maybe I will be lucky enough to get that taken care of this Friday. Next up, my long neglected Spinster quilt.  But, Spinsters are patient so I know that she's fine.  

You know what's awesome?

Getting a new sewing machine. That's what's awesome.  So, when we last talked, I mentioned gently beating my old sewing machine to death for being difficult.  I would clearly have to get another one, but which one and can it take a punch?  A friend of mine mentioned that she got a Pfaff and loves it because it has a walking foot attached which means that your top fabric will be held in place against your bottom fabric (I may be paraphrasing the awesomeness of the attached walking foot). She also mentioned that I should go check out the vendors at the Puyallup Fair (pronounced "fair") because lots of vendors come to the fair and they bring with them fabulous deals.  I asked the handsome and brave AH to come with me and we (I) played with sewing machines and fell in love with the Pfaff.  It was on sale and I had the handsome and clever AH with me to carry it to the parking lot. How could I resist this perfect storm of excellence in sewing machine buying?  I couldn't.  Since then, I've been playing with the Pfaff and I have to say that I love it.  It sews like butter - not that margarine crap, actual butter.  I've been cranking through the blocks for the Forest Fantasy quilt and loving every minute of it.  

 

First, I sewed the blocks I've made earlier together. 

 Then, I sewed those blocks together to make a lovely square and now get to sew these into strips.

Much progress has been made and did I mention that I love my new sewing machine?  Because I do love my new sewing machine.  Oh, and the old one was given away to a good home where she miraculously started working again.  Probably because it feels as if it is in a safe place and no longer subject to righteous beatings.

Rage gets the best of me.

98 HSTs

Seriously, 98 HSTs

Before I get to an explanation for the title of this post, I'd like to share the latest step in the Forest Fantasy quilt.  Behold 98 HSTs, squared to 4.5 inches and ready to attach to the blocks I made in the previous step.  I've pinned them all together and started sewing them into place but things have come to a screeching halt here.  This is where the title of the post comes in.

A few months ago, my machine decided to spend an evening eating my fabric.  I'd put it in place, get ready to sew, and instead of running it through, it forced the fabric into the bobbin area and I got shredded fabric.  A few rounds of this, including cleaning and resetting everything, and I was in no mood to deal with the machine's new found quirk.  Dear reader, I hit that machine like a boxer going in for the finish.  The machine broke, or rather the lid broke.  Suitably chagrined, I managed to work around the broken lid.  The problem being that the lid has to be in the up position to wind the bobbin.  This is something I figured out and managed to develop a work around. Until yesterday.  I forgot to implement the work around, the thread got incredibly tight while winding the bobbin and broke.  Before it broke, it managed to bend a metal disk that, apparently, is very much needed for threading the machine. Nothing I do now will allow me to thread and I'm stuck.  Tomorrow I either get to go to the sewing machine dealer and explain that I have no idea how my machine broke, perhaps the cats had something to do with it, or break down and buy the new one that I've had my eye on.  Either way, it might be awhile before sewing takes place. In the meantime, I have lots of very pretty hiking pictures to share. And, I'm learning to count to 10.

A trip to the North Cascades

It's funny how plans change and things work out for the best anyway.  Last weekend, the plan was to spend four days backpacking in the Olympics.  Unfortunately, the National Parks no longer allow backcountry camping without reservations and those reservations were long taken.  Consulting the books, AH and I decided to head north and spend a couple of blissful days hiking the North Cascades.  Summer only comes here briefly, but when it does we all know why we moved here in the first place.  There is simply nothing that feels better than standing on a trail experiencing the Cascades on a sunny day.  No wildlife was spotted, but the views were simply marvelous. 

We needed to go up there.

Mt. Pilchuck trail

The trail was filled with granite boulders to climb over.

Skyline Divide Trail

Beautiful Mt. Baker

Follow the trail to amazing views

Alpine rapture

Beautiful wildflowers

What a wonderful weekend.  I hope to get out again before the weather changes.  Let's hope for a pleasant fall.  

Visible and Invisible Marmots

Visible Marmot at Spray Park

 I was just reminded that I did not deliver on the marmot pictures.  That must be remedied.  This guy was running away from us at Spray Park on Mt. Rainier.  He was happily munching on his dinner while sitting in the middle of the trail.  This caused quite a traffic jam as all the hikers around him were doing their best to give him space and let him finish.  Turns out, this guy is quite a good eater and the park ranger on the trail slowly moved towards him to encourage him to finish up.  Mr. Marmot then took off at marmot speed towards us and really seemed confused, even for a large rodent.  Still that's about as close as I've been to one in recent memory.

Mist covered day at Eagle Peak on Mt. Rainer

Avalanche Lilies

Invisible marmot - to the right of the rock.

Deer at Eagle Peak

Wildflowers on Mt. St. Helens

View of the Crater at Mt. St. Helens

I'm putting up pictures of several hikes here.  I've been getting a lot of hiking in lately.  In fact I went yesterday but forgot my camera so no pictures of that hike. (Sunrise at Mt. Rainier).  But, we did see a bear yesterday and it was far enough away to be cool and not frightening.  CF took pictures of it, so I should be able to share some invisible bear pictures too.  For now, back to the work week and planning my backpacking trip this weekend.  I get to buy a shovel.  For making "catholes."  Yup.

Modern Block of the Month - Finished

Modern Block of the Month - Front

Quilting closeup

Back

The rigorous cat testing process

I finally finished sewing the binding onto the Modern Block of the Month quilt.  It is hard to sew bindings onto quilts when it is warm outside because this is the one week of the year around here when I don't want to curl up with a quilt on my lap.  Nevertheless, I really wanted to finish this so I dug down deep, poured myself a gin and tonic, and finished this last night.

As you can see, I had some help:

It feels good to get some of these WIPs out and finished.  I also have been doing a lot of hiking lately but haven't been posting the pictures due to an outbreak of extreme laziness.  I have a marmot picture to share as well as some beautiful flowers so I will try to get organized and share those soon.

Forest Fantasy

Forest Fantasy

I mentioned several months ago that this would be the next quilt I'd be working on.  My good friend and hiking buddy, CF, picked out this pattern and asked that it be done in blues, greens, and browns.  I'm using Art Gallery Fabrics, mostly from the Nature Elements, Oval Elements, and Pure Elements lines and probably some random solids that I don't feel safe attributing to the Pure Elements line.  This is a pattern that requires a lot of prep work and cutting to start, but it will really come together quickly when the prep work is done.

There is, however, always significant opposition in letting the prep work go smoothly.

Pretty colors

 The first step is to strip piece and make 196 pairs of brown and colored fabric. Next, they come together to make squares like so...

98 squares

And, finally 98 squares come together.  The next step will be a sea of HSTs.  I know, I'm excited too.