Bandon by the Sea

We spent the weekend camping near Bandon, a little town on the southern coast of Oregon. Since having lived in our camper for a whole month after the fire, we've regressed to tent camping. 13 years ago we spent our honeymoon in a tent and since then camping has been a big part of our life. It was like going home. Except we were in Oregon, not Texas, which is arguably friendlier for camping! No fire ants, no 100 degrees, no cactus, no scorpions ... shall I go on?

We spent a good part of the first day wandering the beach near the campground looking for rocks. I seem to have infected Jacob with my love for them, which warms the cockles of my heart. : ) Here are just a few from my new installment:

There is a magnificent display of haystacks (great big rocks in/near the ocean) in Bandon. We were still a ways from them when I took this picture, so you might not get a feel for their true size. Believe me when I say they are the size of buildings!

Here are a few fun shaped ones with a little rivulet running between.

And here's Jacob among some of the smaller rocks. Fortunately he ran into some boys about his age at the campground, so his social calender was set. Unfortunately, together they became a wild pack. Alone Jacob is a good kid. The pack pushed limits constantly, including trying to burn every single inappropriate thing (in the campfire) they could get their grubby little hands on. I'm so glad I have just one!

On the second day we got up early and went down to the beach for a super-duper low tide event that only happens once or twice a year during waking hours. We were able to get really close to this hole where the day before it was a tiny speck.

We also saw lots and lots of starfish, sea anemones, mussels, barnacles and other various sea creatures in the tide pools and clinging to the sides of the haystacks.

These 4 here looked to be doing some kind of crazy dance before they were exposed by the low tide. They seemed frozen in embarrassment.

The best part of the whole day (we all agreed) were the sea caves! It was so cool to see what the water can do to rock over time, and especially to see what most of the time is underwater.

We feel very fortunate that all this is only a 3 hour drive from where we live in Eugene. What lucky duckies we are!

The Finished Quilt

It's done! Yay! I stiched in the ditch for the quilting part (my husband thought I made up that term but it's real). And I learned the most common way to finish the edge (binding) from a couple of Youtube videos, and it magically turned out perfect. The hardest part was figuring out how to get a good picture of it. If I could have laid it down outside I would have, but it was too wet.

Here it is laid out on the floor inside so you can see the whole design and a little of the purple back (no my squares did NOT all line up ... didn't know that was important until the end). As soon as I finished, Jacob said, "Can you make one for me?" So that is my next project. What I like about quilting is I can have it all out and do a little bit at a time - whenever I'm bored with everything else.

Frozen

For the past couple of weeks Eugene has been frozen. The temperatures have been hovering just below freezing, day and night. And we've had lots of fog but no rain. Consequently we've had lots of moisture collecting up in the trees, among other places, and then freezing. It's been very cool to look at, so yesterday I spent about 2 hours outside taking pictures. It was fun but I nearly lost my fingers to frostbite. I guess I shouldn't joke when there are places suffering negative numbers right now! Anyway, here are a few of my pictures.

The Endless Quilt Project

I have been going through a major block with my painting these last couple of months, so after the busy-ness of the holidays I decided to get back to a quilt project I started last summer. I have also decided to only paint when I feel like it, going forward, so I'll probably be able to actually finish the quilt soon!

This is my first quilt, so I started by flipping through some books on the subject. I have to admit I didn't read a whole bunch, but rather just looked at pictures, and am now (halfway through) realizing some mistakes that could have been prevented. (sheepish grin)

I decided on a simple design (so it wouldn't take months & months - ha!) based loosely on one I liked in a book and jumped right in. We have a fabulous fabric store here in Eugene - every fabric is one I want! I had a hard time narrowing it down, but I finally chose this as my general theme.

I made a bunch of these squares, all with slightly different layouts. This one (above) is not completely stitched.

Just the other day I started laying them all out on the studio floor (much to the annoyance of my family who now have to avoid stepping on it). Next I will stitch all these parts together, and then put on a border.

I just bought the back piece, which is going to match the purples. Next I will put my quilt "sandwich" together and do the quilting itself. I went back and forth about whether I should do it myself or pay to have it done, but I decided to go for it.

After that I'll bind the edge, which I have dutifully watched several videos about (thank god for Youtube!!!).

When it's done I'll use this quilt for travelling. The blankets in hotels are never to the liking of my knees. My husband says my knees are crazy, but whatever.
: )