Friendship Quilt Pincushions

I thought I had already blogged about this estate sale find. All of $1 - that's right - one dollar!
The quilt was in pretty poor condition but it was a friendship quilt.
Back in the 1930's, 40's and even into the 50's, these quilts were very popular.

Each lady hand-embroidered their block with their signature done in their signature embroidery stitches. Embellished or not.

This particular quilt was done mostly by ladies from Oregon (swoon) in the 1930's using feedsack fabrics and tiny little hand stitches throughout. No machine piecing done.

If I hadn't of bought it, it would have gone to a landfill.

I sat on it for about a year before thinking of a way to upcycle it into something 'new'. 

All of the blocks were the same, hand-stitched six-sided stars with hexagons created  in-between. There is a fancy name for this block . . .maybe one of my readers knows it?

Seaside, Oregon. Complete with fishing boat and fish jumping. A crab! and a seashell.
Some ladies embroidered their town in addition to the date.
 This block was age-spotted but I couldn't leave it out of my pincushion collection.

 Cutting out 6 inch circles, preparatory to making the pincushions.

I gave the remaining holey quilt to a friend. There is still some usable parts of feedsack but I was done with it.

I made 20 pincushions.
Stuffed with lavender and polyester stuffing.
Finished off with floss and buttons from my grandmother's stash.
For sale in the etsy shop.

 More information on Friendship Quilts.

Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament

 The Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament was last weekend (2nd weekend in August). My son has been competing the last few years. This year, he was still playing when I finished my Saturday work so I zipped ( haha - 2 hours!) down to Seaside to watch him play.

Last year, he was eliminated just as I finished work. This was my first visit to Seaside in a long while.
Seaside is the beach you go to if you want to do some shopping in the outlet malls, or play games in the arcade or visit the Seaside Aquarium.

The beach does not rank as my first choice (native Oregonian). Oregon has nearly 363 miles of beautiful beaches if you need to feel the Pacific between your toes .
The soft sand at Seaside extends out about 1/2 mile - the hard sand another 1/2 mile before you can even touch the salty ocean. Shells, Schmells, nada.
For a volleyball tournament, way cool.

Brian's partner has played club ball but the soft sand was exhausting. Her legs were like jello after just a few games on Friday. By Saturday? most teams were suffering - except for the Californian's. They are about the only teams to actually practice on beach sand.

The other problem with Seaside is too many people.
The day started in clouds and eventually the sun burned through around 4pm.

The wind is also an interesting factor in beach volleyball. Switching courts, reminding oneself to play harder against the wind, or softer with the wind.

Who is Naomi and what did Kevin do?

We were entertained around 3:30pm  by a Cessna 150 towing this sign from Kevin. It circled the volleyball courts at least five times before heading back to the airport.
Not your usual "Please marry me" sign.