Latimer Quilt and Textile Center

 

In my last post I shared that my "live-in gardener" and I had taken a day adventure to the sea. The shortest drive is through Tillamook, Oregon. Now you may have heard of Tillamook Cheese; well it comes from here. There is even a factory tour you can take and the area is surrounded by dairy farms. We didn't stop there as there were too many people, but we did continue down the road to walk on the beach in Oceanside. We weren't the only ones escaping the heat. It was rather glorious, a respite from the hot weather.

 

And then for an added treat we decided to drive about a mile into the country, surrounded by dairy farms to this old school building. Many locals don't stop here; so we knew it would be quiet and always a delight.

 

This is the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center, a vibrant, living, working museum whose mission is to preserve, promote, display and facilitate the creation of and provide education about the textile arts.

Located in beautiful Tillamook, Oregon, the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center offers bi-monthly exhibits featuring vintage textiles or contemporary fiber and textile art by local and nationally recognized artists. They have a research library for on-site use, a gift shop full of handcrafted items, books, yarn and vintage fabrics.

 

I found a nice piece of fabric I couldn't resist. Now if you knew me for a long time you would know I used to have a huge stash of fabric, but when I retired I said no more sewing. My machine was worn out and no longer working. I got rid of 97% of my sewing things and said that was it. Then the pandemic hit and I wanted to sew some little things. I bought a small machine on Amazon and have done a few small projects. And here I am, I bought 4 yards of fabric!!! What was I thinking? Hopefully in a future post you will see what I think I will make.

 

Here is the fiber room for spinning fiber and weaving. I just love seeing the projects on the looms. It almost makes me itch to get back into fiber, at least a tiny bit.

This is typical of local American Indian art with button embellishments.

At first I thought the butterflies were felted wool, but actually they were painted fabric stretched over wire. I know one of my readers does felted wool occasionally and I am thinking it would be fun to try butterflies with some wool I have tucked safely in my freezer. Ha! You say "in your freezer?"  Yes, the wool is safe from moths in the freezer.

 

Having a degree in apparel design, I am always intrigued by apparel art.

And what's not to love in gorgeous quilts?

And we all love shiny things. Even the crow in this quilt loves shiny things.

Painted silk was so striking!

And one more apparel creation.

 

 The day we were visiting there was only two people in the building, the woman taking care of the center and a man learning to sew.

If you ever find yourself in Tillamook, Oregon the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center is a peaceful place to stop for awhile and fill your head with beauty.

 

Have a terrific weekend. Go out and find a little adventure in your part of the world.

Hugs!

A Very Special Teatime

 In winter time there usually is one teatime by the fireplace.

Yesterday was that day.

A day not too cold, but just right to sit for awhile and nibble.

 There was a bit of sipping too, tea in fact.

A lovely tea from India called Sungma Organic Musk, a second flush 2018 Darjeeling.

 An old family quilt served as a tablecloth.

Vintage teaware is my delight.

And a painting of roses, a bouquet from France.

 The nibbles were egg salad, always my favorite, and toasty hot mushroom on toast.

 Then a carrot cupcake with chocolate hearts on top,

a definite nod to the upcoming Valentine's.

What inspired me to make teatime in the middle of the week you say?

This old recipe box I have had sitting on my shelf for years.

One of my favorite tea sandwiches comes from this box; 

so I decided there must be more to explore.

So from time to time I will share a recipe as I try them.

Today was Hot Mushroom and I loved it.

The box comes from the very first time I went to afternoon tea many years ago.

A friend took me to the lunchroom of the Palo Alto Auxiliary at the Allied Arts Guild

in Menlo Park, California. The lunchroom was a non-profit project to maintain beds

for children at the Children's Hospital at Stanford University.

The Recipe for Hot Mushroom tea sandwiches:

2 cups chopped mushrooms, do not chop fine

2 green onions including some of tops, chopped

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup flour

white wine

1/3 cup sour cream

Saute mushrooms and onion in 1/4 cup butter. 

Cook about 2 minutes.

Add flour and cook 2 more minutes.

Combine mushroom juice with white wine to make 1 cup liquid,

add and cook 3 minutes. Cool. Add sour cream.

Spread on toast and broil.

My toast was cut with a heart cookie cutter,

but you cut the bread any way you would like.

Enjoy!

Take an afternoon off in the middle of the week
and have tea.

Aurora Colony Quilt Show

 Every once in the while the Aurora Colony Museum here in Oregon

calls to me to come and visit;

so when I saw they were having their annual quilt show I had to go.

I always love imagining living in Emma's house on the grounds.

Wouldn't it be fun to sit there with a cup of tea and a friend to watch the world go by?

 The theme this year was Stars!

 What I loved seeing was all the variations on the theme.

But even more than that, I loved feeling wrapped in the love of these beautiful quilts.

 It isn't a large museum, just the size I can really savor for awhile.

 I  kind of like them all close together.

It just fills my senses and my heart.

 Though I loved them all this one was my favorite.

Wondering if it was the inclusion of the flowers with the giant star.

 The blue squares were the submissions from local quilters.

Each year after the theme is chosen quilters can submit a square

and the top 24 are selected by a panel to be made into a quilt.

One year I submit a Sunbonnet Sue for that year's theme

and even though I am not a regular quilter my square got selected for the quilt.

It was fun to see it in the final quilt.

 After viewing the quilts I took a stroll through the grounds.

There is alot of Oregon Trail history in this museum

and for awhile I love imagining a different time.

The local herb society cares for the herb garden

and it was fun to chat with one of the women involved.

I came home with a natural herbal salve, which

helped to heal the remainder of some sun damage I had from the summer sun.

Do you search out small museums and quilt shows?

If you ever come to Oregon I would love taking you here.

Aurora Colony was originally settled by a religious sect.

Jane Kirkpatrick has written some wonderful historic fiction

on people that settled this community.

Hope you are having a good week, dear friends!

The Lilac Lady

"Hulda Klager was two years old when her parents brought her to

America from Germany in 1865. The family moved to Woodland, WA.

and purchased a farm in 1877 when she was thirteen.  Her home,

built in 1889, is located on four acres of the original farm.

Even though Hulda was busy with the demands of home, marriage, and

family she was able to make time for her flowers.

While she was recovering from an illness in 1903, she received a book

about Luther Burbank.  His work to improve plants through propagation

caught Hulda's attention. Her own first tests began with an apple tree

at the farm. Hulda's work with lilacs began in 1905. By 1910 she had

14 new varieties to show for her efforts.

In 10 years she had enough varieties to host her first open house during

the spring bloom. She continued this event until her death in 1960.

As her reputation grew, Hulda became known as the Lilac Lady."

The sitting room above is where she greeted guests and served tea.

Tea served in her bedroom.

In the closet there were several dresses and quilts on display.

There were quilts displayed throughout the home.

It was beautiful day to walk in Hulda's garden.

I could definitely sit and dream here in that distant chair.

www.lilacgardens.com for more information

It was a perfect day to smell the flowers.

A Very Special Quilt Show

 Recently I attended a very special quilt show,

actually an art show.

I hadn't seen these friends for many years, though we

keep touch on Facebook.

When I started working in the world of apparel in 1985

I met these two very creative ladies.

It was pure delight to reconnect.

The purpose of the meeting was a reception for

my friend, Anne (the one in the middle), quilt art show reception.

 I just love this picture of my two friends.

It just makes me smile to see their delight.

Let me tell you just a little about these beautiful art pieces.

Ann admitted she loves color and stripes.

You can definitely tell by seeing her quilts.

She hand dyes 100% Cambodian cotton fabric

and from there makes stripes of color.

Sometimes she doesn't know where the inspiration

will head until she starts placing her stripes on her flannel wall.

Then the inspiration takes flight in the most beautiful ways.
Anne is a true artist with a passion for color.

 It is really difficult to share the size of these pieces

or the true beauty; but maybe you can imagine a little.

 This picture and the one right below are the same quilt,

but I just loved the structure of the building too.

The posts worked so beautifully with these pieces of art.

 Isn't this amazing?

When I looked closer the quilting was beautiful too.

Anne has someone with a long arm quilt machine do the quilting,

and her creativity also helps Anne's quilts shine.

  The one below was my favorite.

Oh I wish you could see it up close.

Each quilt is definitely a work of art.

 

It was an evening of delight and eye candy for my heart.
Thanks, Anne, for sharing your passion with each of us that know you.