Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, OR (18-33)

August 15, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

August 6, 2018

One last garden visit with my sister: We spent a morning strolling through this peaceful setting, a haven of tranquility surrounded by bustling Old Town in the heart of Portland. The Lan Su Garden, modeled after 16th century Suzhou-style Chinese gardens, was assembled by Chinese artisans in China and reassembled in Portland in 2000.

The entrance garden sets the tone –

We walked through the portal to the lily ponds beyond.

Blooming water lilies and colorful koi are visually captivating.

Paths through the garden wend through outdoor rooms and intricately carved and ornamented buildings.

bonsai

Calligraphy studio

An art exhibit displayed exotic and ordinary biota fashioned from clay.

In another room, we drew fortune sticks, and then found our numbered fortunes in a drawer.

My hard working teacher sister had number 6. I am lucky to be her sister, and lucky about many other things, so I felt good about pulling number 38.

Another path leads by a waterfall grotto and views of a different kind of blooming lotus:

The paths are made of patterned stone – each stone carefully placed. Some remind me of quilting patterns.

Windows are also patterned beautifully.

We stopped in the tea room for some delicious iced tea and almond cookies.

Tea room

View from the tea room, city rooftops beyond the garden

Back in the entrance way for a parting view, including the dragon fish on the roof.

Afterward, we paid a short visit to nearby Powell’s City of Books – she found a title she was looking for, and I saw this beautifully covered collection of science and math books.

Crafting:

I have turned the heel on my second Cornwall sock and so am racing toward the toe and contemplating what to knit next…

My daughter returned to college in Ohio, leaving me one of her latest creations as a parting gift.

James, the sock monkey

Once again no hike this week – we were trying for Burnt Lake on Friday, but it was sooo hot, and the air still smoky, and many dominoes fell out of place so we abandoned that trip. It might be a good fall hike.

One of the new bowls I bought for my birthday.

Welcome Blanket (18-31)

August 1, 2018 / margaretquilts / 2 Comments

Welcome Quilt 8-31-2018

I read about the Welcome Blanket Project a couple of months ago, and decided to make a quilt to donate as a side project to the baby quilt I was making for an expected niece. The goal of the Welcome Blanket Project is to welcome refugees and immigrants to the United States with the gift of a blanket. The project requests 40 by 40 inch knit, crochet or sewn blankets. Many of the original blankets are based on knitted half square triangles, so I decided to use a half square triangle pattern in my quilt.

In past years I participated in internet-based fabric exchanges, both on Flickr and Ravelry, which resulted in a collection of 5 inch charm squares in a rainbow of colors, and a large variety of prints. Some of the fabric squares are lovely, some are not to my taste, but all are different.

charm collection

more charms

I decided to try a technique of ‘making fabric’ by sewing the charms together in random strips, cutting the strips into narrower strips, then sewing the strips together, the result being a new chunk of fabric collage. I made this chunk of red/pink/purple fabric a few years ago, but then let it sit while I was waiting for inspiration as to what to do with it.

For this quilt I layered the ‘made fabric’ with a piece of white fabric and created half square triangles that I arranged in a star shape for the center of the quilt.

I needed to add about 8 inches to the star to bring the quilt to the 40 inch size as requested. After auditioning several border types, I added a thin purple border, then a scrappy piano key style border using more of the 5 inch charms, plus scraps from my scrap bins.

I wanted to include the word WELCOME somewhere on the quilt, so I sewed this appliqué strip for the back of the quilt. The red backing fabric was leftover from making Raggedy Ann dolls for my kids when they were young. The batting was the other half of the strip I bought for the baby quilt.

Quilting and binding: I stitched triangular spirals in the center triangles, and straight lines in the border. I had enough overlap from the backing to create a simple wraparound binding, so that is what I did, mitering the corners for stability.

I think the finished quilt is a perfect representative of the spirit of the WELCOME BLANKET PROJECT. It is created from a medley of 5 inch charms from all over the world – some I like, some I don’t, but stitched together with scraps from my existing stash they work as a colorful vibrant fabric. I hope the family or individual who receives this quilt will enjoy looking at all the different fabrics that come together in this one textile made to provide both comfort and warmth to a newcomer.

Welcome Quilt

Tour de Craft, Week 3

The Tour de France ended with a new champion, Geraint Thomas, and lots of excitement in the Pyrenees and final time trial. My one finished craft project was the Welcome Quilt. I added a few more inches to my second Cornwall sock, though I haven’t turned the heel yet.

Cornwall Socks

I didn’t even go for a hike this week as the weather has been too hot and once again there is wildfire smoke creating haze. My sister is visiting, and we are up to our own adventures, and there will be more in the week to come.

Elk and Summit Meadows, Mt Hood, Oregon, and ‘Tour de Craft’ (18-29)

July 17, 2018July 17, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Elk Meadows trail 7/13/18 (Hike #41)

We started this hike on a hot day. The shade of the forest didn’t really take the edge off and my “condition” has been affecting me this week.

By the time we started up the eight long switchbacks, about a mile and a half into the hike, I realized I was never going to make it to the top of the hill. We decided to turn back. I had been hoping to see bog orchids and gentians, but I did see the mountain blue bells for the first time this year.

Lots of other flowers along the way:

Mariposa lily

Columbine, penstemon

Penstemon

Hemlock

Paintbrush

Meanwhile, we braved the log crossing on the Newton Creek twice.

Here is a “real” cairn doing a cairn’s job – marking the trail to the log crossing.

Zooming in on Mt Hood’s Newton/Clark Glacier:

Today we only went 3.2 miles, 500 feet. Last year we made it all the way to Elk Meadows and saw all the flowers.

Summit Meadows

We stopped and poked around in this meadow off the Trillium Lake road on our way home. We have skied or snowshoed this road a few times,

November 2017

and always wondered what the meadows would look like in summer.

I think we are late for the bigger bloom, as the paintbrush were faded, but the pink spirea along the road were lovely.

Paintbrush

Aster

Spirea

I zoomed in on Mt Hood for a closeup view of the ski area above Timberline Lodge.

Tour de Craft

I have only dabbled in spinning, so can’t really participate in the Tour de Fleece, but I do love to watch the Tour de France – for the views of France, and the drama and the stunning athletic effort that goes into these races. We DVR the coverage, then watch/fast forward through in the evening while I knit or quilt.

I have made a lot of progress on my Welcome quilt – I was planning to whip it together quickly, but I keep getting new design ideas….but that is the point for me – to play with the fabrics till I am satisfied and have learned something new by trying something new. Fun.

And I finished the first Cornwall sock and cast on the second.

Garden

Cape Horn again, June 16th, 2018 (18-23)

June 19, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Cape Horn Trail, Washington, June 16, 2018, (Hike # 37)

We hiked the upper section of the Cape Horn trail, from Strunk Road to the Waterfall Overlook, with stops at the Nancy Russell Overlook. The last of the larkspur and lupine were hanging on. Prolific flowers were cow parsnip, tiger lily, candy flower, columbine and penstemon. 3.5 miles, 600 feet. Previous hikes: May and November, 2107.

Upper trail

Into the woods

Tiger lilies and cow parsnip

Waterfall

The views:

East along the Columbia River toward Beacon Rock

West toward Sand Island

The flowers:

Tiger lilies

blackberry

lupine seed pods

snow berry and wall flower

salmon berries

speedwell veronica

penstemon

columbine

candy flower

cow parsnip

checker mallow

tall bugbane

Oregon sunshine

larkspur

cow parsnip

lupine and oxford daisy

CRAFTING

I’ve turned the heel on the first of the Cornwall socks:

I began the Jane Austen House cross stitch kit, a souvenir from my visit there in April.

GARDEN

We have planted tomatoes, basil, jalapeño, cucumber and parsley – time tested and always consumed in our household.

Garden flowers in bloom:

Re-entry/Tom McCall Point (18-17)

May 16, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

After two and a half weeks in London, Cornwall, Devon, and a visit to Jane Austen’s house and quilt in Chawton, we are back home in Portland, Oregon. I barely had time to jot notes of our adventures, let alone write blog posts. Historical sites, museums, hiking, and travel days; navigating narrow hedgerows via Lady Google. Wildflowers were in bloom, and the weather mostly cooperated when it really mattered. I am writing this at 4 am because I am still adjusting to the 8 hour time shift. I plan to add blog posts about our adventures as I go through my photos.

Tom McCall Point, OR 5/13/2018 Hike #30

Meanwhile, we took advantage of our jet lag by going on a hike at sunrise on our first day back. Tom McCall Point is a favorite seasonal wildflower hike in the eastern gorge (3.6 miles/1100 feet).

The early morning low light gave a luminous glow to the landscape.

Tom McCall Point – our goal

Looking back toward the Rowena Plateau trailhead and the Columbia River

Deer in the meadow below

The views opened up as we climbed higher.

Mt Hood

Early spring flowers were mostly past, but the balsam root at the top was splendid, along with lupine, penstemon, and bicolored cluster lilies.

BiColored Cluster Lily

Balsam Root

Balsamroot

flax

rose

lupine

penstemon

fiddle neck

pea

fringe pod

lupine

parsley

There were only a few other people hiking that early.

Dan approaching the summit, Mt Hood beyond

Mt Adams

We had the summit to ourselves for twenty minutes before heading down.

We also took a short hike at the nearby Memaloose Overlook – I had read that bitterroot (Lewisia) can sometimes be seen blooming on the rocky cliffs nearby. We didn’t find any, but did spot some pink Clarkia blooms for the first time this season, so it seemed a worthwhile side trip.

Clarkia near Memaloose Overlook

Knitting

I knit a couple of inches on my Cornwall socks while on the plane. It turns out I chose a color that reflects well the fields and seas of Cornwall.

Garden

And while we were gone, the spring turned to summer. The yard is a bit overgrown, and new flowers are blooming.

native iris

columbine

Chinese fringe flower

phlox

rhodies

Catherine Creek, WA and Blogiversary! (18-16)

April 24, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Bitterroot Trail- Rowland Wall Loop 4/20/18 (hike#16)

The Bitterroot Trail branches off north of the vernal pools/fairyland swales that are just above the main parking area.

View up Sunflower Hill, where we are going.

Fairy ponds with camus

The trail follows the steep western edge of Catherine Creek, and we get great views of the arch as we continue north.

Bitterroot Trail

Catherine Creek Arch

Long distance views appear as we gain elevation.

Mt Hood to the west

View to the east of the Columbia River

A variety of spring flowers line the trail all the way up to our destination above the power line corridor on Sunflower Hill (named before cattle grazed away all the balsamroot).

Filaree and tomcat clover

Slender phlox

Tritelia

Shooting stars, camus

Manroot

The first clump of balsamroot we see marks a trail junction.

We have gone up to the top of the hill from here in the past. Today we decide to head downhill on the Rowland Wall trail.

We find a rocky promontory for a lunch perch. On this beautiful blue sky day we have a clear view of Mt Hood.

View to the west – the Labyrinth area and Mt Hood

As we continue down the rocky cliffs atop the wall east of Rowland Creek

we see our first blooming paintbrush of the season, and bitteroot foliage whorls, one of which is massive!

paintbrush

bitterroot foliage

buckwheat

I note the trails that criss cross Rowland basin below us, spying out options for future hikes.

Camus swale

Vernal pool

3.5 miles, 1000 feet.

Bitterroot-Rowland Wall Loop

Some of the other trails we have hiked at Catherine Creek

CRAFTING

The Elgol Cross Stitch is getting closer to completion; just the sky colors of pale pink, cream and white remain to be filled in.

I cast on the Cornwall socks for travel knitting; k2p2 ribbing, top down vanilla sock.

Blogiversary!

My first post, April 22nd, 2017, documented a hike up Coyote Wall. I have posted just about every week since then. I will be traveling for the next three weeks, so there will most likely be a delay in posting about our upcoming adventures.

Weldon Wagon Road (18-12)

March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Weldon Wagon Road trail 3-25-2018 (#12)

Early flowers were out along this trail through the oak woodlands and open slopes in southwest Washington above the White Salmon River near Husum. This was my most elevation gained so far as I recover (4.5 miles/1300 foot rise), and I felt good. Progress!

Lower trail through oak woodlands

Views to the open slopes ahead.

A seat with a view at the halfway point

Last spring, the exposed upper slopes were a bright green and yellow balsam root meadow. Today we saw just one plant blooming along the trail,

and otherwise, the meadows and woodlands were still waking up, sprinkled with grass widows, buttercups, a few prairie stars, toothwort, yellow bells, blue eyed Mary, and Columbia Desert Parsley.

hound’s tongue

lupine foliage

blue-eyed Mary

yellow bells

grass widows and buttercups

yellow parsley

Columbia Desert Parsley

buttercups

Heading down in the afternoon

LOOKBACK: to May 2017 when the balsam root was in bloom-

May 2017

Knitting

Another scrappy tortilla washcloth for the 2018 stack:

I reknit the toes of the socks I finished last week so that the stripes would match.

The reknit toes

Elgol Cross Stitch update

I have been filling in the foreground with shadows and light – mostly pinks:

Cross stitch depicting the view from Elgol on the Isle of Skye.

Blooming in the garden

Tulips opening

Euphorbia

Shadows on a neighborhood stair

Rooster Rock and Memaloose Hills (18-11)

March 20, 2018April 9, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Rooster Rock 3/15/2018 (#10)

We took a short afternoon to explore the trails at Rooster Rock State Park. To the east, the beach trail gives views of Sand Island and the burned skylines in the gorge.

Looking east toward Sand Island and the beach trail

Sand Island

Burned Angel’s Rest and trees along the skyline

To the west we hiked to a close view of Rooster Rock. This park is very popular in the summer, but quiet today in the off season. (3 miles).

To the west

To the east

The waterfall above Hidden Lake

A robin

Looking east, Rooster Rock

Reflections

Rooster rock

Memaloose Hills 3/18/2017 (#11)

This is the earliest we have hiked this April-May wildflower eden between Mosier and Rowena in the eastern gorge.

Pinnacles along the lower trail between I-84 and Rt 30

Grass widows, gold stars, and a view across the Columbia River toward the labyrinth.

From the ledge above the lower trail one can look over to a cliff that hosts a great blue heron rookery. We only saw a few birds here today (grey spots), but in a previous year there were countless herons on this cliff.

Look for the grey blobs on the green slope near the top of the cliff

From the Hwy 30 Memaloose viewpoint one can look directly across the river at Catherine Creek in Washington.

It was interesting to see the early season flowers – gold stars, yellow bells, glacier lilies, early buttercups, Columbia desert parsley, and a few others.

Columbia Desert Parsley

Grass widows

Yellow bells and blue eyed Mary

Buttercup

Oaks toothwort

Yellow parsley

Glacier lilies

Fern

We hiked up a nearly barren Chatfield Hill, with extensive views at the top.

Hiking up

View to the west from the top

To the north and east

To the east, Tom McCall Point and Columbia desert parsley

Since the full flower bloom was not out, we returned by the loop through the oak woodlands on the north side of Chatfield Hill.

I hope the next time we take this hike it will be in full wildflower glory: a view from today compared with April 2015.

March 2018

April 2015

4 miles/800 feet.

Quilting

I spent a day photographing 13 of my quilts, and adding labels where omitted. I am getting closer to writing the stories of these quilts, which is why I actually started this blog!

Knitting

I finished the Strong Heel Socks, though I plan to reknit the toe where the knot in the yarn interupted the stripe sequence.

And in the garden:

Star magnolia

Crawford Oaks Trail (18-9)

March 5, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Columbia Hills State Park, WA, Vista Loop 3/3/2018 (#9)

We walked the lower loop from the Crawford Oaks trailhead, passing Eight Mile Falls.

Eight Mile Falls from the trailhead

Signs along the way document the depth of the Missoula floodwaters – always an exercise for the imagination that this landscape was scoured many times!

Eight Mile Falls from the trail

Back toward the river and Horse Thief Butte

Eight Mile Falls from the trail

The trail continues on a oak lined road along the creek, then crosses the creek.

Gold Stars and oak trees

We then headed south toward the river on the Vista Loop, along along the Missoula Flood scoured benches of volcanic rock, with views east and west in wide angle view.

View east along the Columbia River

West view back toward The Dalles; shoulders of Mt Hood behind the clouds on the right.

The trail crosses the power line corridor a couple of times.

Mt Hood is behind those clouds.

The crest of the Columbia Hills was draped with snow.

Dalles Mountain Ranch and Columbia Hills

Early spring blooms were sprinkled throughout the dried grasslands.

Gold Stars

gold stars

grass widows

parsley

fillaree, salt and pepper

yellow bells

A lovely 5 mile/1000foot hike – I had no problems, but I could feel my quads and triceps were a bit out of shape.

Quilting

I finished the crosshatch quilting in the center of the Jane Austen quilt, and made the binding. Still pondering center motifs.

Knitting

One sock done, another started. The strong heel fits fine – not sure why it isn’t more widely known, especially for people who don’t like to pick up stitches, and don’t like the wrap and turn short row heel.

Also, another scrappy tortilla is in the pile.

In my garden:

The first wind flower

In the meantime:

It has been almost two months since my surgery. I feel almost normal, but unfortunately, the growth hormone levels have not actually decreased as low as expected. It could still happen, but if not, then there will be trials of medication in store for me. I am visualizing a completely healthy and functional pituitary.

Late season snow (18-8)

February 27, 2018 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

More Snow in Portland 2/26/2018

Intermittent snow and rain all week. I went for several long walks in the neighborhood but no hiking adventures.

Quilting Progress:

Stitch in the ditch on the Jane Austen replica quilt. I have finished the center sashing with an off-white 50 wt thread, and am working on the outside diamonds using the same diamond pattern and a navy 50 wt thread. I still haven’t decided what quilting design to use for the center medallion. And I am contemplating the binding choices. I would like to finish this quilt before we (hopefully) see the real Jane Austen quilt in England later this year.

Knitting Finish!

Bound off the Girl in the Neurosurgery Ward shawl (Girl From The Grocery Store by Joji Locatelli), and posted it as a Ravellenics WIPs Dancing project (Ravelry username knitwish).

And another win!

I won a copy of Margaret Goes Modern, a collection of quilting short stories, from the author, Frances O’Roark Dowell! Frances is one of my favorite quilting podcasters and a great storyteller. In her podcast, The Off Kilter Quilt, Frances speaks about her quilts in progress, her writing projects (she is a successful children/young adult author, recently branching into quilt-inspired adult fiction), and her adventures in parenting and other life adventures. I listen to many knitting and quilting podcasts, preferring the homegrown variety where the podcaster shares a bit of their own life, complaints or noncomplaints about the weather, jobs, traffic, etc, along with their creative endeavors. From these podcasts I feel I get some “real” news about life in other parts of the world from the point of view of someone living there. I am looking forward to reading this book!