Our love of life is centered around our family home. Grandchildren have spent time living with us during their transitions in life or summers for fun, jobs, working on the interior of their van and paddling in the river waters. Holiday celebrations have been enjoyed here.
This quilt represents some of our relaxing and comfortable environment shared with our Australian Shepherds (currently is Lovey), the waters of the Tualatin River, the many birds that come for nourishment, hours spent on the oh so many flowers (lots of Hydrangeas). There are many trees to give us a cozy, secluded, environment. Friends have given us many fun hours here sewing, eating, and playing Bunko over the years. Just relaxing by the window sewing or reading is a marvelous pleasure. Oh yes, home!

When I am sipping my morning cup of coffee during my morning quiet time or with a friend at a local coffee shop…”Coffee Helps”. That is why this represent my Happy Place. This is a fusible web pieced quilt. The inspiration was a pattern I saw on Pinterest called “Blue Cup of Coffee”. I purchased the PDF and discovered it came without any construction instructions. I learned a lot as I completed this project.

The title of this quilt is Spools by Camille Roskelly (Thimble Blossoms). I am not a designer so found this pattern on line. After finishing the front I discovered the fabric for the back (Quilting takes me to my happy place) at Sharon’s Attic.

I used the techniques that I learned in Patricia Belyea Complex Curves workshop. I really like working in curves for organic or nature-themed work.

When my husband and I trek around Europe, he has a quota of seeing three churches a day. The quota has added much adventure and understanding history to our trips. The floors of many churches are beautiful, complex, and remind me of quilt designs. I have hundreds of church floors in my photo archives! This challenge quilt was inspired by one of the many tile floor patterns in the Cologne Cathedral in Koln, Germany. I am looking forward to the next hunt for European churches with my husband.

This quilt is made with 2 x 1 1/2 inch piecing, hand turned edge vines and circles made with Applipops ( thank you, Judy L). I used the traditional method of drawing my design on newsprint, transferring the design to freezer paper and sewing inset curves. Because of heavy seaming, the quilt was machine quilted with ditch, edging and shadow quilting.

The design on the church floor still is more detailed and beautiful than my quilt!

My Happy Place is my flowers and hummingbirds.

My quilt is called “Light My Way” because my happy place is being by a lighthouse. I took these photos of lighthouses in various places around the world. I transferred the photos to fabric and fused them to the background. It was a challenge to get the proper proportion to fit a vertical lighthouse in a circle. A major problem occurred when the fusible did not stick very well due to the glue on the back of the photos. (The photo fabric is glued to paper in order to print it.) The background was structured one strip at a time, cut freehand. Each row was cut the same shape as the top of the previous strip. It was important not to stretch each piece or it would not lay flat. The quilting was free motion to appear like moving waves and clouds. Working with the photos brought back many memories of visiting favorite lighthouses in many different locations.

On the left is a photo of my “she shed”. Michael and Keiko did the insulation, dry wall, painting, and flooring before I moved in my Jamone 7700MCP in July of 2019. The heart represents the Love that went into it and brought me to Oregon. The applique of the sewing machine is how I keep busy most of the time. The quilt blocks are more than I care to tackle at this time, although I like the cathedral window one on the lower right. There is also a quilted outline of a cat in the lower left corner.

My happy place is small pieces, small English Paper Piecing, small fussy cutting! 1/2” hexagons and diamonds. Put scraps together to make backing.

I’ve named this quilt “After the Storm”. My happy place is the Oregon Coast, especially after a storm in winter. It’s a very sobering feeling to be the only person on the beach after a storm looking for the sand dollars and other flotsam and jetsam that washes up.

I had just started this project when Kellie Willey presented her program to the guild on miniature quilts. As a result, I changed the thread and needle I was using in my machine. I also used the inch and a quarter single fold binding she recommended.

The primary techniques used were paper piecing based on the Storm at Sea pattern, machine quilting, and embellishments. The narrow orange border is 1/8th inch wide.

I love to gaze at the endless ocean horizon line . . . especially at sunset . . .
especially in Hawaii!!
This 20×22″ quilt represents an Hawaiian sunset.
Made using a collage technique, raw edge pieces of fabric glued, raw edges exposed, organic quilting.

When I heard the prompt for the 2022 Challenge, I immediately thought of my sewing studio and how content I feel when working on my sewing machine. The pattern is from Quiet Play and was a fun way to use the Alison Glass and Tula Pink fabrics in my stash. Thanks for the enjoyable challenge.

For me, this challenge spurred many levels of creativity. A favorite Friday night includes Scrabble, Hors d’oeuvres, and a glass of wine (or two) with friends and family. The words on the board also hold special meaning, as my happy place at times, may not be a “place” at all. I found the panel online, and the fabric at a shop in Astoria.

In a pool, doing laps…now that is my happy place!

There is something about being in the water and moving through it with ease and grace that centers me. Even on days when it’s a little harder, it is still one of the best places that I could be.

I used two different techniques when I made this challenge quilt. The black tile strips look like they are fabric that has lines in it. Nope! Marcia Sanderman taught us at a quilt college how to make 1/8″ sashing and that I did over and over and over again!
I learned to make the curved insets in a Hilde Moran class and found them the perfect place to embroider the words that describe my time in the pool.

My favorite place; snorkeling & watching tropical fish

“Down By The River”  I LOVE clearwater rivers because I can see all the beautiful stones that lie underneath the water. Northern Idaho has several of these rivers. Spending time along side of them puts me in my “Happy Place” every time. I used organza and silver metallic thread to try to create the illusion of water flowing over the stones.