Finished Melon Patch Quilt [and Oregon Vacation]

Wow. The summer has been going by so quickly. I haven't been around for the last month, but I've definitely been busy! Since I last posted, I finished two quilts and went with my family to Oregon for my BFF's wedding. We got back on Friday, decompressed for the weekend, and are recharged for a new work week tomorrow. Or as recharged as you can get having to start a new work week. =(

This is the quilt I made for Natalie and her new hubby, Ross.

I used a fat quarter bundle of Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush in the potpourri colorway and Kona white to make this melon patch quilt.

If you remember, one of my quilt guild friends, Andrea, asked us to make melon patch blocks for her month in our local guild bee.

I loved it so much that I wanted to make an entire quilt out of it. Although, I opted to alter the composition a bit to make series of white blocks and series of colored blocks as opposed to alternating white and colored quadrants.

The quilt measures approximately 64 inches square. I quilted it in meandering loops, and machine-embroidered a label on the back to commemorate the day.

It's not perfect, but it works.

I made her open the quilt while I was there so I could see her reaction, and she didn't disappoint!

They bought a house a few months ago and so they held the wedding there.

It was nice and cozy even if it rained a lot. (Isn't the picture of Natalie, Ross, and Ross' daughter in the upper corner so adorable?!)

We drove up to Oregon a couple of days before the wedding and spent some time sight-seeing. We visited Multnomah Falls on our way to Salem and had a good time hiking up to the falls.

My sweet baby unfortunately had an ear infection and then woke up with a crazy rash the day of the wedding. She's still a cutie though and was a good sport despite not feeling well.

The day after the wedding, we left Salem and headed to Rockaway Beach on the coast where we rented a beach house for the rest of the week. My kids absolutely LOVED playing at the beach. I, however, do not love cleaning up sand several times a day.

Over the next few days, we spent time exploring the coast. We visited the Peter Iredale shipwreck. My son is absolutely fearless. Here he is climbing on the shipwreck. Good thing he didn't cut himself on the rusty ship's frame.

We also headed up to Astoria and climbed the Astoria Column, where I incidentally ran into a coworker who I didn't know would be in Oregon. Small world.

We tossed off a couple of balsa wood airplanes. My son would have climbed up and down the column all day if we had let him.

On the fourth of July, we drove out to the Cape Meares lighthouse near Tillamook. I've been to Oregon several times and I can never get over how absolutely gorgeous it is! The mister kept saying that we should move out there. If I could handle constant rain I could maybe consider it.

Throughout the trip, we did a lot of kid and baby carrying. Thank goodness my sister came with us and offered an extra set of hands so we weren't outnumbered.

That night, we headed down to the beach to watch the fireworks. My three-year-old was pretty much terrified, but the rest of us had a good time.

We headed to Boise the following morning and then the rest of the way to Utah the following day. We had a such a great time, but it was good to get back to our routines at home.

Later this week I'll be posting about the quilt I made for the beach, so stay tuned.