Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2012

We spent some time RVing last summer with our BFF's the Nances, at the Crown Villa RV Resort in Bend, Oregon. While Nick and Rick went fishing on the Deschutes River, Lynn and I quilted outside for a couple of sunny warm days, which was really had fun.

After a couple of days, we headed to Sisters, Oregon, about 30 minutes from Bend.

Every year, for the past 37 years, on the 3rd Saturday of July, in a small town in Oregon, named Sisters (named for the 3 mountain peaks which were named after 3 sisters), there is an one day outdoor quilt show. For those who have never been to it, it is truly a "must see" to be added to any quilter's "Bucket List" of places to see. 

Most of the 3000+ beautiful quilts, from all over the US and beyond, are displayed outside on building walls,

fences, large quilt racks, railings and balconies, etc.,

all over the town of Sisters. It is a sight to behold!! 

The quilts are amazing and one day is hardly enough time to really appreciate and see each and every quilt, especially last year. The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show on July 14th, 2012, will be remembered, not only for being a fabulous great quilt show, but also, for being the only year the quilt show was rained out! It was our first visit to this quilt show.  We had only seen about half of the quilts, and the quilts were all removed and taken down within an half an hour, by 3:30 pm. It didn't just lightly rain; it also hailed and poured rain for several hours!

We loved seeing all the beautiful quilts and do plan to return this year.  We are praying (probably along with many others) that the show will not see any rain this year!!

After our time in Bend, we headed back to California, spending some time with the Nances at their home in Redding.  Then we caravaned to Lake Almanor and spent a week with our other camping friends the Lauries and Merandis. It's a rustic campground, right on the lake's edge, but it's seeing our friends that draws us there!!

  Great vacation, as always!! 

You can see more of my pictures from the Sisters Quilt Show on my flickr page.

To see our summer vacation pictures click this link.

Pinterest to Real Life

I know I am not alone when I say I enjoy using Pinterest, and love all the inspiration I can "pin" for things to do in the future, recipes to try, crafts to make, or places to go. This past Christmas season I actually made the time to do a few things I have"pinned" on my Pinterest Boards!

I knit these Colorblock Hand Warmers, aka fingerless mittens, for my daughter, Nicole.

The pattern is found on the purl bee! I knit these using only variegated yarn rather than several colors. They were easy, well, once I figured out how to cast onto 4 double pointed size #2 needles; the figuring it out was not easy.  I must have cast-on the yarn about 20 times before I finally figured it out!(for those who aren't familiar with knitting needles, #2 are very small, which added to the difficulty of starting the project!). Thanks purlbee.com for the free pattern. They turned out very pretty and Nicole loves them!

I, also, made matching Super Hero Capes for our two grandsons. Thanks to CraftBuds for the free downloadable pattern.  Here's Brody "modeling" his cape (as well as his new "Ninja" headband.

Since he has an older sister who loves to play "dress-up" he likes to wear his cape.

Micah was a bit more reluctant about modeling his cape, but he still looks cute. He isn't quite into "dress-up" yet!!

I love this pinspiration for displaying Christmas cards using clothes pins and decorative ribbons and then hanging them on a door or the cupboards in the kitchen

and on our pantry door.

The original idea came from the Greener Grass blog. (I'll be posting a picture of mine in a couple of weeks, so check back to see then!) Thanks, Melissa, for a great idea that I plan to use for years to come!

I was hoping to make the "deadline" for  Simple Homemade's "From Pinterest to Real Life" link-up last week;  but, alas, I was traveling on the deadline. My daughter is the Editor and once a month she blogs about her "pinterest-inspired creations" and invites others to "link-up" their posts on their creations made from pinterest inspiration.  If you do love Pinterest, you can see what other creatives have made by heading over to Simple Homemade!