"Oeuvre" (the works of a painter, composer, or author regarded collectively: "the complete oeuvre of Mozart" a work of art, music, or literature: "an early oeuvre" ORIGIN late 19th cent.: French, literally ‘work.’ - Oxford Dictionary.)
This week's progress on my en Provence mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville) ~ I got the right second & third row quarter section done. All of it is sewn together now except for the bottom row. Now to put the 2 (middle) bottom row blocks together, then my 16 blocks will be done.
We went to about the far corner in the photo below, then turned and made our way down the road to find a good lunch spot.
We sat in the cleared spot just in front of the tower in the photo below for lunch. We enjoyed views of the water to our right.....
and a view of where we had come from to the left.
After lunch, we got a bit chilly so we packed up and headed down the road. We took a turn at the first tower below to check out the view. Normally we would have followed the road farther down till it connected to the standard Smith/Cub Creek trail.
My husband noticed a narrow trail that took off to the right just at the top of a small hill.
The photo below shows where we headed into the woods. I sketched some "road" and "trail" lines so you can see where we went. When we entered the forest we found a really good trail that meandered comfortably a ways then headed "DOWN" the hill pretty aggressively. We decided to follow it and see where it came out or to put it another way - where "we" wanted to come out! Either way we were committed to see where it lead.
We followed the trail quite a ways and then walked cross country through some blackberry bushes and marsh bushes and grass to the road. The road that we came down to connected to the trail we had taken up earlier in the day. We walked out to a small view spur trail and I took this panorama of Cain lake (on the left) and Lake Whatcom (on the right).
We rejoined the trail and hiked about 2 more miles down to the trailhead.
As we headed down the trail we watched for places where our "adventure" trail might join the one we were on. Sure enough about 1 mile down the trail we saw a side spur. We decided we would come back again on another day and hike "UP" our trail and down the Smith creek trail for a good loop hike.
I thought this tree branch outstretched across the trail was whimsical looking, like a moss and Licorice fern coated arm. It would be a good Limbo bar, "no back-bend needed" - YES!
Garmin Stats:
total miles hiked - 9 miles
minimum altitude - 347 feet
maximum altitude - 2539 feet
total ascent - 2490 feet
total descent - 3123 feet (due to our downhill adventure side-trip)
"Oeuvre" (the works of a painter, composer, or author regarded collectively: "the complete oeuvre of Mozart" a work of art, music, or literature: "an early oeuvre" ORIGIN late 19th cent.: French, literally ‘work.’ - Oxford Dictionary.)
Getting there, another 1/4 section in the middle, 2 bottom row blocks and trim left to do on my en Provence mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville).
Today's hike found us starting at Boulevard park. I usually blog a Trailblazer hike on Thursday's but the reason I started hiking with the Trailblazers has changed. At that time my option was to hike alone during the week and I didn't think that wise or enjoyable, so I was very excited to find a group to join that had regular weekly hikes. You can read about my first day as a Senior Trailblazer HERE.
It's now possible for my husband to hike with me on Thursday's so I now have a weekly "hiking buddy".
Yay!
Anyway as I was saying, we started at Boulevard park. It was a bit dark and breezy for our start.
There is a bush by the Woods coffee shop in the park that likes to bloom in the winter. People that aren't from around here are always excited to see it and think it's a freak early bloom, but it blooms there every winter.
As we walked up the Taylor dock "South Bay" trail, we saw a poor sailboat that had been beached in the last wind storm. We were hoping that someone would move it while the tide was still high. With the keel being at an angle it would be nearly impossible to move at a lower tide.
We walked through Fairhaven and joined the Interurban trail to the North Chuckanut Trail head parking lot. From there we went to the Hemlock trail and then on down to Chuckanut falls for lunch.
Contrasting colors
A sea of ferns on the hillside
Chuckanut falls
The falls were flowing pretty full, it made for a nice view while we ate.
https://youtu.be/YNBVcPh1mXg
Many times when I am out on the trails, the mossy trees remind me so much of the Olympic peninsula's rain forest.
After lunch we went through Arroyo park and crossed Old Samish hwy again to the Interurban trail. We then made our way into the Hundred Acre woods.
I looked up into a branch and saw raindrops on the fir needles, in the light it looked like sparkling diamonds.
If you enlarge the photo below you will see many diamonds sparkling in the right of the photo.
Sparkling water drops
After meandering through the forest trails we soon made our way to Fairhaven park.
Back on the South Bay trail we ended where we began - Boulevard park, and what was the update on the beached sailboat? Sad to say it was still there and the tide was on it's way out.
We enjoyed our day together, and capped it off with a warm coffee from the Woods coffee shop.
We only had a few raindrops fall on us as we hiked.
Pretty perfect if you ask me.
"Oeuvre" (the works of a painter, composer, or author regarded collectively: "the complete oeuvre of Mozart" a work of art, music, or literature: "an early oeuvre" ORIGIN late 19th cent.: French, literally ‘work.’ - Oxford Dictionary.)
My en Provence mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville) is starting to come together. It measures 82 inches wide without the added border and binding. It will fit nicely on our bed.
I have the top row blocks/sahing completed and sewn together as well as the bottom left and right corners, now to just connect the bottom row with 2 more blocks/sashing and do the 2 middle rows.
Our clear cold days are perfect for enjoying the views around us. Yesterday and today my husband and I enjoyed walking together along two waterways in the county. Yesterday's walk was along the North Lake Whatcom trail (also know as the Hertz trail).
I'm recovering from a bad cold so just walking this week trying to get over my sniffles and cough.
I found my prize "hair ice” again along the trail.
The waterfall along the trail was a little icy.
The view of the reflection of the trees and blues in the water and sky were just about perfect on our return trip to the car.
Today we went to Hovander farm and walked a loop on the trail along the Nooksack river to Tennant lake and back from the boat launch.
There was some ice along the banks of the river at the boat launch ramp and some small bits of ice floating in the river.
The creek from the farm towards Tennant lake was completely frozen over right up to the foot bridge.
We walked up the view tower near the Fragrance garden and enjoyed the view of Mount Baker in the distance and some swans on the lake. We weren't able to walk the boardwalk trail around the lake, since it is closed for hunting season.
Some cold walking for this "cold" (in the body) person. but it felt good to get out and feel the sun on my face.
I laid down on the pavement to try to soak up some solar rays (ala sunbathing style), I was bundled up in my layers to keep warm, with only my face out in the elements. The sun's rays felt good on my face but my back got cold quickly from the ice cold pavement. A quick walk back to the car and to the local Woods coffee shop for some hot cocoa.
Bliss........ just what my body and tummy ;-) wanted today!
"Oeuvre" (the works of a painter, composer, or author regarded collectively: "the complete oeuvre of Mozart" a work of art, music, or literature: "an early oeuvre" ORIGIN late 19th cent.: French, literally ‘work.’ - Oxford Dictionary.)
Today there is an online link up party for us to submit what our progress looks like on our "en Provence" Quiltville mystery quilts. We'll have another link up in a couple of weeks I guess too. It's fun to see the variety of fabrics people have chosen and it makes each one look unique even though we're working on the same quilt. You can check out the Monday link up photos HERE.
As I said in last week's Mon Oeuvre POST, I would be cutting, sewing and trimming all week. I got all of that done.
After I got all of the units sewn together, I laid out a sample block and sashing section to get an idea of what my quilt blocks will look like.
Each of the rows of blocks will have the sashing rows between them.
What a fun experience. So far, I've really enjoyed it.
One of the changes I personally will be making affects my posting about the Trailblazer hikes. I won't be hiking with the Senior Trailblazer's on Thursday's anymore. This decision wasn't made because of the organizational changes going on now in the group, the timing just happens to be coincidental to some changes going on in our lives at this time.
As I was thinking about our changes, a song that was popular when I was teen kept popping into my head. "Turn, Turn, Turn" sung by the Byrds was originally a Bible passage from Ecclesiastes.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
"Oeuvre" (the works of a painter, composer, or author regarded collectively: "the complete oeuvre of Mozart" a work of art, music, or literature: "an early oeuvre" ORIGIN late 19th cent.: French, literally ‘work.’ - Oxford Dictionary.)
We've been given 6 week's of clues now. The clues are given each Friday morning. We had a surprise on New Year's day, the finish Quilt was revealed! Wow, this is what the official Mystery Quilt looks like. Ours will be different because of our own choices of fabrics. The "Reveal" -
I got the Essential Triangle ruler in the mail this week so I've been cutting & cutting to catch up.
Here's my Half square triangle cut pieces for clue #5 & my Hourglass cut pieces for clue #6 with my new ruler.
The "Reveal" posting by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville had the remainder clues in it for us to finish the quilt. I have those all cut up now too. Here's my clue's 1 - 4 completed. Clue's 5, 6 & 7 cut and ready to be sewn, pressed and trimmed. I laid clues 5 & 6 down on the directions sheets (not sewn together yet) so you can see how the hourglass & half square triangle blocks will look. The last clue was easy, just solid yellow squares.
