Monday, August 17, 2015

Another One of Those Crazy Weekends

It's been one of those crazy, busy weekends that seem to be the new normal around here. Lots of great family time with me going a hundred miles an hour trying to keep up on all the dishes, laundry and cooking. My sister helped me to make nectarine pies for the first time and wowsers, those are the bomb. I discovered that I absolutely adore nectarine pie!
The Eagle Quilt
I managed to work on a little, tiny, bit of  hand quilting here and there, but wanted to show you the applique that got finished up just before the hordes descended. There are over a hundred leaves in the border so it got a little tedious at times, but I love the variety of the fabrics in the fabric print. At first, turning under the seam allowance {and losing that full, larger leaf look}, I started to worry that my leaves were too far apart to look good. Now I can see that it turned out just fine. The berries are not everyone's favorite addition, but personally, I love the little sparks of red.
Another border finished up!
In other news, we have had a very nervy weekend. Much too similar to last years fire experience to sleep well at night. Starting early Friday morning, there was a thunder and lightning storm that started off a bunch of small fires that of course, grew quickly in the high temps we've been experiencing.
Across the river and over the mountain...
The entire county has been on level one evacuation notice with some areas on level three. Oh, it makes us so jumpy. Both of these pictures are taken right here in the town of Pateros. The top pic is from my mom and dads porch and the bottom pic from our own porch later that same night. My mom had to drive past several fires burning directly alongside the highway just to get home that evening and her nerves were totally shot.
Looking in a completely different direction, just over the mountain...
We have not at all been enjoying the feeling of being nearly surrounded by wildfires again, but so far they have not jumped either river that borders our town or directly threatened us. We all have this feeling of impending disaster though which makes it very hard to settle and it doesn't help to know that these same fires have already jumped the Columbia river in two different, more narrow, places downriver.

The town of Chelan however, just 24 miles away, has been experiencing much the same sort of devastation that we faced last year. So scary and heartbreaking for them. It's a much larger town where our oldest daughter works, we do our banking, grocery shopping etc. and do most of the work for our landscaping construction business. Too many wildfires in the state to take care of all of them properly so they are working to save lives and homes first. It's obvious they have made a tremendous effort to save the town of Chelan though and of course, some of us cynically wonder if it helps to have the millions of dollars in tourist money supporting the town to garner the quicker response. Also, two state senators have vacation homes there so I'm sure that helps as well. Not that any of this helps initially {or afterward when faced with lost homes and possessions} as the fires did a crazy amount of damage before they actually started getting brutally serious about trying to stop the inferno from leveling the entire town. 

I think this new way of 'managing' fires instead of trying to put them totally out {at the first sign of fire} is completely out of balance. The wind picks up, changes directions and all of sudden they have huge 'unforeseen' problems. Hopefully with these latest disasters, the state will take a good hard look at communication issues, initial response efforts and fire fighting protocol. There were many, many years during my childhood when wildfires were raging throughout the outlying mountainous areas and never were they allowed to get so out of control that entire towns were at dire risk. And yes, I do know that fire resources get stretched very thin when the amount of fires statewide increase. Okay, off my soapbox and done with my rant! I'm not sure how much quilting I'll get done this week as we all seem to be glued to our phones and computers trying to stay on top of local fire news.

25 comments:

  1. The Eagle quilt looks amazing!
    Sending thoughts, prayers, vibes - whatever! - that the fires do not head your way and do not become more serious for the area.

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  2. Iove the leaves and berries! Such a wonderful project. I've been thinking about an eagle quilt myself because I've seen so many this summer :0) they are such gorgeous birds. I'm sorry to hear about fires again in your area. I hope they don't get anywhere near you!

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  3. Hi Audrey your eagle quilt is beautiful... And I love the berries... I'm keeping all those in fire prone areas in my prayers. Hugs Mary

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  4. Your quilts is lovely, leaves, berries, eagle, all beautiful.
    Fire? I've not been reading your blog long, but have gotten hints that you or yours have suffered fire losses. Nearly everywhere has their disasters they must watch for. Our are hurricanes. As disasters go, I will take them. We have warnings in time to prepare. Fire? No thank you. Please stay safe. Thinking of you.

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  5. I'm imagining how delicious those nectarine pies must be. Your quilt is brilliant, I love everything about it. I live in a major fire region too and understand your feelings. It's that they are unpredictable and can move so quickly. I hope they get the fires under control.

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  6. Dear Audrey, I heard about the fires in the news, and wondered if it was your area again. I am praying for all of you, and also for wisdom for those in charge to deal with things... I'm thinking again of just how relevant your fire quilt is! Your eagle quilt is beautiful, and I like the berries, too! sarah@forrussia.org

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  7. I had been wondering how close the fires are to you, I have been watching it on the news now and then, we have family in Oregon on the coast and in other areas as well. Hope all goes well, having gone through this last year makes it all more real to you I am sure. Love the quilt and like the berries!

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  8. I'm so sorry you are experiencing the stress of the fires again this year. I do hope you will stay safe and that the fires are under control soon. For what it's worth...I like the berries too! :)

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  9. Yes, the berries are good, they add a little extra to the green leaves. Stay safe & I hope all the fires are under control and put out as soon as possible.

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  10. I'm sorry too that you and your family have to deal with another summer surrounded by nearby fires. On a happier note, your eagle quilt is one of my favorites. Keeping you in my thoughts.

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  11. Wow, your eagle quilt is gorgeous! And I love the berries - they're Just Right!

    I've been thinking about you. It's definitely been a bad summer for fires. I'm sorry to hear that the fires are too close for comfort. I hope the firefighters get them under control soon. I'll say a little prayer for you and yours.

    We've had a few smaller fires here, but lots of smoke from the mountain fires. Uncomfortable and scary. We actually had ash all over our cars last week from a fire - just not sure which one, there's so many!

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  12. i really like the addition of the red berries.

    Everytime I read about the fires i think of you ..I am so glad you updated us.

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  13. i really like the addition of the red berries.

    Everytime I read about the fires i think of you ..I am so glad you updated us.

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  14. Oh my that is so darn scary after all you've been through. Hope you get some relief soon.

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  15. There are so many fires burning in the PNW it is crazy! http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2015/08/tales_of_luck_loss_emerge_from.html
    The fire protocol doesn't seem to make much sense. We have a fire raging on the reservation that is burning trees and scrub brush with 600 firefighters, when the above link takes you to John Day where 26 homes have been destroyed and maybe there are 1/2 as many firefighters working on that one. I don't get it.
    I cannot imagine how jittery you must be feeling. xoxo

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  16. Such a lovely quilt. I like the red berries. In fact, I like red so much I'd probably add more berries (ha.) Nice value range, color choices and layout.
    I'm saying prayers for frequent rains to arrive soon and douse these fires.

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  17. In my lifetime I've been through a housefire and a barnfire. Those were terrifying enough - I can't even imagine being where the whole world was on fire. Take care and stay alert. I'll be worrying about you.
    In the meantime, you always make applique look so tempting...

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  18. Oh Audrey, how upsetting for you. I wish there was something I could do to help you feel safe.

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  19. The eagle quilt looks awesome, the fire situation... not so much. We are all just trying to hang in there till Fall gets here with some rain. The smokey haze in our valley has made for lousy air quality. Hope that's the last of the fires for your area. I think that's quite enough. Take care!

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  20. I am so sorry to read this. I am sending really good vibes your way. Please be careful and take care of one another.

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  21. Fabulous! Love the leaves and the balance of piecing and applique (and the berries). My grand-dad used to make nectarine pies but I had forgotten all about them till now - yum! I can't imagine how it feels to be in your shoes now, but so hope that everything is soon under control and that you feel safer.

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  22. Good to see the eagle quilt again. The leafy border suits it so well.

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  23. Dear Audrey,
    your applique on the eagle quilt looks beautiful. You must be a very patient women.
    Sorry about the fires, hope everything will be o.k. soon.
    Greetings,
    Sylvia

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  24. LOVE your eagle quilt. the leafy vine border looks terrific.
    the fire photos are so scary -

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  25. LOVE that leafy border! It's the perfect next step after the pointy piecing. Is that the last border?

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