Category: Uncategorized

Since I’ve been in a bit of a dry spell in my creative life, I’ve been looking at Instagram and Pinterest a lot for ideas and for projects to make. Some of the things I’ve looked at are quilt patterns. Some are fabric and color combos. Some are fun things to make that I don’t necessarily need.

Here’s something I ran across the other day that I think is so freaking cute!

This is a free pattern from Tilda. You can find it online here.

I nearly made one of these on impulse the other night. Imagine how adorable this would be out of some bright Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics. I resisted the impulse, but I think it’s likely I will make one of these before too long. I have no idea what I would do with it, but I kind of feel like I want one.

I ran across another fun project today that was shared on Instagram by Aurifil Thread. it’s an accordion pouch that has four different compartments. You can use it for sewing supplies, to store your circular knitting needles, all kinds of uses for this one.

It was made by Strawberryquilts on Instagram, one of the Aurifil ambassadors this year. She didn’t share a pattern. Just said she found a tutorial on Youtube. So I did a little search and found this tutorial.

It looks like this would sew up really quickly. I might whip one up this weekend. I could use one of these to organize all my circular knitting needles. I might alter the pattern a little… making it a little taller than in the tutorial.

Several months ago I purchased a set of drunkards path templates.

Holy cow! What a crappy photo!!! But it’s just a picture of templates, so you get the idea.

I’ve wanted to make a drunkard’s path quilt for years. And last week I saw this one on Pinterest. And again, whoever pinned this didn’t give credit to the person who made it. I’d really like to acknowledge them.

(UPDATE: My blog reader, Kitty Ann, let me know that this is the quilt above. Peaceful planets by It’s so Sally.)

When I saw this I immediately thought of a stack of batik fabrics I put together a couple of years ago that I intended to use for a star quilt. Instead of using those batiks, I made that quilt with batik scraps. So that stack has been sitting in a drawer waiting for a project.

The templates are pretty big so this would probably whip up quickly.

And as I type this I’m laughing at myself, thinking… “Just what I need… yet ANOTHER project!!!”

Oh, and I got some good news tonight. My friend that visited in September has confirmed her plans to visit again in late February! So we find ourselves planning what quilt top we’re going to make together when she’s here.

We’re thinking it might be this one: the Libby Quilt by Kitchen Table Quilting. We saw this made up at Boersma’s Quilt Store in McMinnville, Oregon, when she was here a few months ago. Here’s the quilt they made and had displayed in their store.

I had most of the fabrics in my stash and was able to find the couple I was missing. My friend had to buy more to get all the fabrics needed. And if. you recall, I had a bit of a process in finding the right background fabric. Here’s what I have for this project.

I did end up finding a background fabric I liked better online and have purchased some.

I think it’s likely we’ll make either my quilt or hers. They are exactly the same. I feel like it should make up relatively quickly, especially with two of us working on it.

So I am encouraging my friend to bring her fabrics and we’ll make her quilt top. Then I’ll either feel inspired to make one for myself, or I might decide to scrap the idea and use the fabrics for something else.

The last thing I want to share tonight is this Instagram video of a zebra sculpture my friend Adam Thomas Rees made. He’s an amazing artist and the process for making his pieces is really fascinating.

Here’s an image capture from his video. It doesn’t do the piece justice. It’s just an enticement to get you to take a look at his video.

His pieces are made from Fimo clay. He makes ‘canes’ that have a clay design in them, then he reduces them to get different sizes of the same image. Then these images are put together on the surface of the sculpture.

Here’s a video from his Youtube page that shows how he makes a fire burst cane.

He’s also a really talented painter. He did a portrait of my Forrest about five years ago. It hangs on the wall behind my sofa. And I love it!

I had asked him to paint a portrait of Forrest and gave him absolute free will to choose a photo and do it in his own style. Before it was done, I lost Forrest at the age of 14.5 years. Adam shipped the portrait to me about a month later. I cried when I opened the box. It’s my Forrest!

Another pretty lazy weekend day. Took the boys for a tree-mile walk this morning. It was nice when we started out, but by the time we got home we were in a downpour. That was sort of the pattern for the rest of the day.

After our walk I got everything in the car that I needed for Rico’s herding lesson, then hit the road first to pick up an order at Joann’s that I bought last night. Then we were on our way to Battleground, Washington, to find some sheep.

I had allowed a lot more time that we needed to get there for our lesson at 2:15, so I stopped and took the boys for a nice field run at Washington State University first. They were happy to get out.

When we got to the sheep ranch, it was absolutely pouring rain! The poor woman who had the lesson before me was soaked to the skin, and so was her dog, the instructor, and the sheep! I was much more lucky. Our entire lesson was in the sun! Rico did some amazing work and wore out his little brain! I videoed the final outrun, lift and fetch exercise we did just so you can see what it looks like.

We worked mostly today on driving, which is pushing the sheep away from you. The dog’s natural tendency is to bring the sheep to you. So driving requires a lot of training to get the dog to do what’s not natural to him. Rico did some really amazing work today. He was moving those sheep all over that field following my voice commands the whole time. I wish I had gotten some of his outstanding driving work on video.

When we got home I puttered around the house a little then had an early dinner. Then I hit my sewing room thinking I’d finish the Frankenbag I’ve been working on. But that didn’t happen. I was a little stuck because I wasn’t entirely sold on the lining fabric I had chosen yesterday.

I decided to go with the jewel Roman glass fabric instead.

I think it was the right decision. And I managed to get the lining pieces cut and fused, and got the pockets and placket pieces cut and fused.

I didn’t feel like I had enough oomph left to finish all that detail work so I pulled out a project I haven’t worked on in some time.

It’s my Aboriginal scrappy trip quilt.

I had seven blocks done previously and I made four more tonight. The four that are separated out on the lower right are the new blocks.

This quilt gets less and less crazy and less and less chaotic the more blocks I add.

And the pattern becomes more visible with each additional block.

These blocks are made out of strip tubes. I had previously made some of them and just had to cut and sew tonight. I’m using Bonnie Hunter’s Scrappy Trip Tutorial. If you’ve never made a trip quilt, you should give it a look.

Each strip tube makes two blocks. So each of the blocks on the design wall have a duplicate that hasn’t yet been sewn. Those spare block parts are waiting patiently in a zip loc bag in the project box.

My two other trip quilts have had 42 blocks. They are generous throw size quilts. I very well make this one the same size, but it would probably work if it was a little smaller. That would mean I have to make ten more strip tubes. That doesn’t sound too bad. But I have a lot more blocks to sew still.

Bender chose a very interesting way to snooze earlier tonight. I don’t know what he was thinking.

It might be more comfy to actually be ON the bed, rather than under it!

It’s amazing how I can get to the end of the day and wonder where all the hours went. Today was one of those days.

I had a nice sleep in and a good breakfast. Then took the boys for a nice 3.5 mile walk in a light rain. It was balmy and the rain wasn’t bad. It was a perfect temp for walking.

Once we got home I realized that I was missing a sheep herding webinar I had signed up for. So I grabbed my computer, joined the zoom meeting, and headed for my sewing room to spend some time on the Frankenbag panels I started the other night.

I managed to finish up the piecing of the panels as I listened to the webinar.

That’s the two panes as I designed them. But I decided to spin them around and see how I liked it. Here’s what I ended up with for the orientation o these panels.

After finishing the panels I laid down on the sofa and watched a movie. By the time the moving ended it was time for dinner! I feel like I lost at least four hours in this span of time… never to be seen again.

I had a dinner that always takes me right back to my childhood… tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich… and It was soooo good!

By this time my dogs were thinking they needed more activity.

Then they finally gave up…Until I asked them if they wanted to go for a walk.

So out we went for a 2 mile walk. It was really nice out. About 47 degrees in the dark, with a nice full moon illuminating a cloudy sky.

When we got home I was back in my sewing room and quilted the bag panels.

And a little more eye candy…

I managed to get the handles made and the body of the bag completed before I called it quits.

I do like the panel oriented that way.

Here’s the other side of the bag.

I like that the two sides of the bag are different.

Before I stopped for the night I tried a few options for the lining of the bag. I’m out of that jade millefiori fabric, and I didn’t want to use the black for the lining because it’s so dark. It would be hard to find what you’re looking for inside.

After a few options I landed on this zig zag design for the lining.

That pink sharks tooth is an option for the pockets, but I’m not sure I’ll use it. I might use the black fabric instead. I’ll take look and decide tomorrow.

And that was my day. It felt like a really short day.

I have a sheep herding lesson with Rico tomorrow, Then I’ll probably stop on the way home and let the boys run in the big field at Washington State University.

I’m actually going to have to work a full five days next week. it’s been so long since I’ve done that. Then we’ll have another long weekend.

After focusing on a larger project that isn’t at a particularly stimulating stage, I like to cleanse my quilting palate and reward myself with something fun and quick.

So, after finishing my Jewel Frames quilt top last night I decided to play with more of the fabrics left over from that quilt and make a couple of panels for another Frankenbag. I didn’t like the colors of the blocks that are still sitting in that project bin, so I dug out some pink fabric that’s left over from the pink, orange and purple Another Sixteen patch quilt I made a couple of months ago.

I cut some strips and squares and started sewing and cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing.

I started with a couple sixteen patch blocks.

Then I cut some pink squares and bordered them with black and then cut them into quarters and put them back together in a strip.

Then I tossed some pieces up on my design wall to see how it looked.

I still need to figure out what to do with that section at the lower left. I may do something similar to the vertical strip on the right. I want that section to be interesting because I like having the option to flip the orientation of the panel.

Here’s everything on my design wall as I called it quits tonight.

I won’t show you the mess on my cutting table!

I’ll probably finish these panels tomorrow night and see if I can get them quilted.

It rained most of the day today and the wind howled until later tonight. We finally got a break in the rain so I took the boys for a nice three-mile walk after dinner. It was actually nice and warm for January, but the wind was pretty crazy. I was paying attention to the trees as I walked in case one decided to fall on my head.

Bender and Rico were good boys considering how little activity they got today. They snoozed quietly most of the day as I worked. There’s something very relaxing about sleeping dogs in the room.

Peas in a pod.

I had a goal to finish this quilt top on my long New Years weekend and I did it. I came in just under the wire and sewed the final seam and pressed this quilt top at 10 pm tonight.

I realized yesterday that I had made a mistake when sewing the first four rows of this top together last week. I had added the green sashing to the last block in each row, but had neglected to add the cornerstones to that piece of sashing. Here’s what the sashing on those first four rows looked like (bottom of the photo).

Here’s what they’re supposed to look like.

So before I dug in to finish sewing these blocks together today I had to rip out that sashing and add sashing with the cornerstones. Not my favorite thing to do.

After ripping off the wrong sashing I made one long strip with cornerstones to apply to those four rows all at one time.

Once I had that sashing fixed, I was ready to crack on and finish sewing the top together… except… I had to make more sashing and cornerstone pieces… I didn’t have enough to finish the last row of the top.

I sewed sashing pieces to a strip of the cornerstone fabric, then pressed and trimmed.

It’s pretty efficient to do it this way.

For reference, here’s a blog post from the past describing how I add sashing and cornerstones to my blocks. I do it block by block, rather than doing my sashing in long strips.

When I started sewing this afternoon I had three rows of blocks to sew together, plus a section of four sewn rows and a section of two sewn rows. So I ended up with a third section of three rows. That’s a total of nine rows. This quilt is nine blocks by 9 blocks. This quilt is so big I folded each section and pinned it to my portable design wall.

This photo shows the final two sections as I prepared to pin them for sewing… five rows on the cutting table and four rows on the design wall.

You can see that I used a hammer to keep that large piece on the cutting table while I prepared to pin.

I pinned the two sections together, rolled It all up like a burrito, then accordion folded it in preparation to feed it through the machine to sew the final seam.

Then I tossed that bad boy on the ironing board for the final pressing.

This is not my favorite part of making a quilt top. I really hate wresting with those big pieces of fabric. I’ve developed some things that make it easier for me, but it’s still a hassle.

I was thinking I would add a border to this quilt top using the black shaggy fabric that I used for the cornerstones.

I had thought that I’d need a border to make this quilt top big enough for my bed. But it measures about 98 x 98 inches without the border. The quilt that’s on my bed right now is about 91 inches square. Although I think it would have looked cool with that border, I’m relieved that I don’t have to do any more sewing on that large top!

Here’s a little big of eye candy. I just love a freshly pressed quilt top.

Don’t look too closely at my corners.

It’s just so yummy!

This next one shows how all the cornerstones are different… which I love!

I had a pretty productive final day of my long weekend. After breakfast this morning I made a batch of chicken tortilla soup in the crock pot and set it to high. Then I headed out to run some errands. I stopped by the post office to mail the teal and pink bag I finished yesterday. Then I stopped and bought some dog food. Then I ran out to the car dealership and had them put in some new headlights in my car.

Once I got home I took the dogs for a nice 4.5 mile walk. It was cloudy but dry. Then I puttered around the house a little before I had a nice dinner of home made soup.

I’ve been making this soup for a few years. It’s really tasty and spicy and warm. When I first started making it I used a recipe that a friend gave me that wasn’t fantastic… it required a lot of doctoring. So I make this now without a recipe. But for me, that’s the best way to make any kind of soup! There are a lot of recipes for chicken tortilla soup on the internet that are better than the recipe I started with.

I put four containers in the freezer and kept a container in the fridge for meals this week.

Rico is not happy that I have to go back to work tomorrow.

He felt a little better when I told him it’s only a three-day week.

After a nice stiff eggnog late last night, I had a good night’s sleep and a good sleep in. Once I had my breakfast and some yummy coffee I hit my sewing room to finish up the pink and teal frankenbag. I’m really happy with how this one turned out. I think my friend will love it.

Here’s the other side of the bag.

And some eye candy of the details. Zipper pocket.

Double slip pocket.

Zipper placket.

And, of course, my tag that I love so much.

And that little detail of the zipper pull on the placket and zipper pocket.

I just might have this in the mail today.

Well, it’s literally been months since I shared photos of frankenbags that blog readers have sent me. It’s entirely possible that you sent me photos and I’ve misplaced them. If so, sorry. Feel free to send photos again via email.

So, here we go. This first one is from Sara Rajagopalan has a fun and eclectic combo of fabrics. And you know I love that bold black and white.

Next is this bag made by Riana Nel. I love the bright colors and the bold horizontal stripes of black and white fab rico.

This bag was made by Peggy Nelson. She’s used a lot of fun colors and blocks. It’s a fun combo of color and design.

Next is this one from Nancy Pendergast. First off, green is my favorite color so this appeals to me. And I love batiks. So win, win!

This next bag was made by Linda Klysner. I love the bold red and the crumb piecing. And I love that so many people are including zipper plackets.

Now I have to confess. I may have gotten the names wrong on that red bag and on this next bag. Sorry, but It can be difficult to keep track of all of these bags! So, I think this one is from Leslie Schroeder. Sorry if I got them confused! I shouldn’t save two red bags right next to each other!

This next holiday themed bag is from Diane Sabo. It’s a fun way to use up those left over holiday panels.

Here’s another holiday themed bag that was made by Diana Ceccardi. It’s a fun and whimsical way to use those holiday fabrics.

This next one was made by Barbara Hughes. those animals prints are so much fun!

Finally, this last four bags were sent in by Althea Grills. She’s been busy. I love that first one with all the curves. and that bright one with all the color and triangles is really fun. this is a nice bunch of bags.

Now I’m gonna have another cup of coffee then hit the shower. I’ll follow that up with a nice long walk with my boys. Then it’s into my sewing room to chunk away at the Jewel Frames quilt top.

About an hour to go until the west coast of the US steps into 2023. Farewell 2022! Good riddance! Welcome 2023, full of possibilities and promise.

Took Rico for his weekly sheep herding lesson this morning and was horrified to realize that I had left my rubber boots in my utility room. Dammit! I was afraid that I wouldn’t get to do a lesson after driving all the way to Battle Ground, WA. Poor Rico would have been distraught if that had happened. He definitely knows where we are and what we’re going to do when we make that drive. He starts screaming the minute we take the freeway exit ramp!

But we were able to work on some closer in maneuvers and my feet stayed almost mud free. And Rico was such a good boy. We both did some really difficult work. Our brains were very tired at the end of our lesson.

After our lesson I stopped at a big field on the Washington State University campus and let the dogs have a good run. I’m so glad we did this! It was good for me to get out and stretch, and they had a blast!

Here’s our last dog photos of 2022.

Running, running, running.

You can’t see me!

After we got home I had lunch, did a little bit of work to see how our last day of fundraising was going, and then I went through my finished quilt tops. A friend of mine used to do long arm quilting as her business. She doesn’t do it any more, but still quilts. She offered to trade me quilting for finished quilt tops. So I picked out the ones I was willing to trade and shared them with her. Here’s the four I’ll be trading for her quilting skills.

this sort of improv batik number with the indigo sashing.

This Lucky Stars quilt made from KFC fabrics and a really cool batik background.

This blue Algorithm quilt. It’s the first Algorithm quilt I ever made.

This scrappy batik 16 patch. I think this was the second 16 patch I made. it was made from left over 2.5 inch strips that I had cut from scraps.

I have four quilts I’m going to have her quilt for me. click on each one to see photos.

The red KFC Fractured quilt my friend helped me make this fall.

My Ice Storm quilt with the Octopus backing.

My orange, pink and purple Another 16 Patch.

My red Algorithm quilt that I love!

After I got all those quilt tops organized we took a nice three mile walk as the sun set this afternoon.

It was a good walk.

My boss delivered a fantastic dinner of tamales with all the fixings just after we got home from our walk.

It’s become a bit of a tradition. I look forward to delicious tamales every New Years Eve.

We took another walk after dinner. I was very aware that there might be drunks out on the roads so was very careful. We saw two cars. One was definitely celebrating New Years a little early. I had to jump off to the side as he gunned his car and didn’t move over at all. I’m glad I was paying attention. I’m guessing he thought it was funny. No wonder car insurance for young men is so expensive.

And now we’re home and snuggled in. We just watched a nice and sweet movie and the dogs are out cold.

I’m going to play pickleball in the morning. I haven’t played for five weeks! It will be a really good way to start the new year!

Happy New Year! Health, happiness, creativity and inspiration to you all!

We finished up our three days of on-air fundraising this evening and I’m wiped out. I will do a little work tomorrow then I won’t be back at work until Wednesday.

Today was a busy day, but since I was up early and working late. I took a little break this afternoon and made a little progress on the Frankenbag I started last night.

I got the handles made and the outer bag all sewn together. I decided to flip one of the panels because I really liked how the bottom of it finished up and I wanted it to show on the top of the bag.

I’m really glad I saw that because I think it’s pretty cool. Plus, this means that the two sides of the bag will be more different.

It took a minute or two to decide if I would make the handles brown or black.

The right choice was definitely black. Plus, the black handles make black zippers make more sense.

After dinner I got the lining cut and fused the interfacing on. I also cut and fused the zipper placket. I was pressing the black fabric in the center of this photo so I could cut out the pockets when my friend called. That put an end to my productivity.

My boys were a little bored tonight. We had a nice three mile walk this afternoon, but it was raining this evening so we stayed in the house.

Bender perked up when I asked him if he wanted to go to bed.

Rico got into a little bit of a pickle with his shredded frisbee.

His face tells you how he feels about this situation.

Rico has his regular sheep herding lesson tomorrow morning. Then I think we’ll go for a nice field run if the field isn’t completely under water.

I have no plans for the remainder of the weekend, except to get some sleep, get some sewing done, get in our daily walks, and maybe go to the coast on Tuesday if the weather holds.

I had even intention of sewing two more rows of my Jewel Frames quilt top together tonight, but like a terrier getting distracted by a squirrel, I chased after another new project.

Several months ago a friend of mine told me she would love me to make her a Frankenbag for a trip she’s taking. She wanted it made out of pinks and teals. I’ve pulled different fabrics over the last few months but hadn’t landed on a combination that felt right for her. And tonight it hit me.

In going through my Jewel Frames project box the other evening I noticed that there were about a half-dozen spare blocks there… just waiting for a project. It hit me the other day that they would make a great Frankenbag for my friend. So tonight I pulled them out and pulled some other fabrics to combine with them.

Because I know someone will ask, here’s a link to my Frankenbag tutorial.

I liked this combo better than the fabrics I had pulled previously because it was darker, for one. And it was less frilly. A really frilly pink and teal bag didn’t feel right for my friend.

So I decided to dig in and start working on a couple of panels for a bag. I limited the fabrics to the fabrics that are in the quilt blocks.

I left two of the blocks intact and sliced up two others, then reassembled them into a vertical column. Then I sewed strips and pieces on until both panels measured about 17.5 x 17.5 inches.

I got both panels finished, made my quilt sandwiches and actually got both panels quilted! That’s actually a lot of productivity for one evening.

I just LOVE the view of these panels as I’m quilting them. I might have mentioned that before.

Here’s the panel that will be the front of the bag.

And this one will be the back of the bag.

There’s not much difference in these two panels. The only real difference is the section below the large pink block. And, frankly, most of the difference will be hidden when the gussets are sewn in. the parts that are different will be on the bottom of the bag. But I’ll know what’s there! Plus, the right side is the side that gets the tag sewn on.

I’ll line this bag and make the placket out of that jade millefiori. The interior pockets will probably be made from the black paperweight.

Here’s a little eye candy for you.

I’m going to finish this up this weekend. She needs it by February, so I want to get it to her in plenty of time for her trip.

After I finished working on this tonight I took a few minutes to set up my “radio studio” on my cutting table. I’m going to be live on the radio at 7 am for our end of year fundraising drive. I have to do it from my sewing room because I need to be hard wired into the internet rather than on wifi. My router is in my sewing room. So that’s where I am when I’m on the radio.

I have to be ready to go at 6:50 in the morning, so I plan to make it an early evening… well, an early evening for me. I’m planning on being in bed by midnight. To help me along, I’m enjoying a nice stiff egg nog as I type.

I won’t tell you how much whiskey is in that, but it should be as effective as an Advil pm!!!

I took the boys for a nice long afternoon walk while it wasn’t raining and before it got dark today. All the flotsam and jetsam from our wind storms had been cleaned from the path since we walked yesterday.

I forgot to mention that I ran into a co-worker on this trail during our afternoon walk yesterday. He often rides his bike on his commute and he came up behind us and slammed on his breaks when he recognized Bender and Rico! It was really fun to get to talk to him in person. He has dogs and knows my boys.

I usually keep a gate up across the guest room door so the dogs don’t spend too much time in there. It helps keep that room clean. I forgot to put the gate back in place today and Rico definitely exploited that oversight.

He was a little miffed that I woke him up from his nap.

I’m not feeling a rush of creativity yet, but I am feeling a bit of a draw to my sewing room the last few days. It feels more utilitarian than creative. But I can live with that. I’ve seen this pattern in my creative life before. When I’m not inspired to create, it’s a good time to tackle some UFOs… chunk away at the repetitive and almost meditative tasks needed to wrap up a project.

So I hit my sewing room after work this evening and sewed two more rows on my Jewel Frames quilt. Then I took a break and took my boys for a walk. When we got home I sewed those two rows to the two rows I finished the other night.

That photo just shows half of what I have done so far. This quilt is big and It won’t fit on my design wall. This piece is folded in half. I pinned it up on this small design wall because it’s all pressed and I don’t want to have to deal with creases and wrinkles.

It’s all going together quickly. I just love looking at the design and colors as I work with them.

That must be one of the reasons I sort of enjoy pressing a quilt at this stage… when it’s coming together but is still of a size that it’s manageable. And I love putting my hands all over it as I press. I enjoy it less as the quilt top gets bigger.

More eye candy just because it makes me happy to look at it!

Ane one more just because I can…

Four of nine rows are sewn. That means five more rows. I might have this top done on Friday night. Then I will add a couple of borders. I’m on track to finish this before I wrap up my New Years holiday on Tuesday.

We said farewell to Ernie and Bogart this afternoon. Their mom was feeling well enough after her surgery to have them back at home. They’re such good boys while they’re here. It’s really easy to have them around and they get along so well with Bender and Rico. And Ernie is such a good cuddler. I’ll really miss him now that he’s gone.

I will also miss having all four dogs accompany me to the bathroom five times a day!

We had another wind storm over the last couple of days, with lots of rain. I got about three inches of rain from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning. I emptied this dog water dish on the patio on Sunday afternoon. It was full Monday morning!

And then it continued to rain and the wind howled. So many trees and power lines came down. So many people have been without power. I was lucky that I didn’t suffer another power outage. I think I heard that six people have died in Oregon with that most recent wind storm. Most were killed when their cars were hit by falling trees. And this storm was a different storm from the ice storm last week. We’ve had some really crazy weather.

It was calm and dry today and I took some photos of the damage around the neighborhood.

Mostly what I saw was lots of smaller boughs on the roads and driveways.

Most of these are from Douglas fir trees. In the areas where there are no Doug firs, there are few boughs on the ground.

Our regular trail was pretty much covered in some sections.

We did come across a spot where a tree had fallen across the trail and smashed a fence.

Looking at the other side of the trail in this spot, I noticed that this tree was just completely uprooted and tipped over. You can see the root ball at the upper center of this photo.

With all the rain we had the ground becomes saturated. Combine that with the high winds and it’s not unusual to see trees just topple over.

That was a big tree! I’m hoping it came down when no one was near.

I ran across another tree that fell right along the curb along our walk. This photo was taken today, but this tree was already down during our walk last night.

You can see on this one that the tree just split and fell.

These wind storms can be really scary when combined with huge trees and lots of water.

I also ran across the downed three that caused my power outage last week. Another huge tree. This one was all due to wind.

And more of this tree across the street.

That pile of logs is in the EXACT spot where I scored that green rain coat a few weeks ago.

We’re supposed to see a lot of rain later this week but we’re not supposed to see the return of the winds we’ve had so much of. I was so glad to see the winds finally stop yesterday!

I noticed today that the daffodils in my front yard are finally up. They’re usually up a week or so before Christmas. So they’re late this year. We’ve had a relatively cool winter so far.

I was happy to see they’re up.