Mud Pumpkins

I realize it's been awhile since fall now, but I really have to tell you about this pumpkin patch that we went to.

It had this corn maze that has to be the. most. elaborate corn maze ever to exist.

I mean, look at it! It's the shape of Charlie Brown and Snoopy! Also, they consider me tall at this particular pumpkin patch.

Or it was for kids or whatever.

Okay. So, this corn maze was in Portland. It rains here. So there was mud. But I mean, really. It was a crazy mess.

But they give you adorable clues and even after exploring both routes, I have to say:

WE DID IT! Really, it was so muddy that it did feel like quite a feat.

Like all good tourist traps, they had things for us to stick our heads through.

Also, I climbed this hay bale stack.

Just look how accomplished I felt.  I say again: WE DID IT!

Our New Beach

When we moved to Portland, we were delighted to learn that there's a company beach condo that just any old fool employee can sign up to use.  We heard it was fun in all weather, so Eddy was kind enough to book it for a long weekend to celebrate my birthday!

Perhaps the most important characteristic of the condo itself and the beach it sits on is that it is dog friendly. Here's Norman enjoying his first trip out on the patio.

Did I mention that Norman really loves the beach?

The thing to do in the area around the condo is definitely cheese tourism.

The Tillamook Factory is definitely a favorite.

They have fried cheese curds there. And non-fried cheese curds there. We ate so many cheese curds.

Aaaaaand some more cheese tourism.

Sticking our heads through stuff as usual.

Just so much fun at the freaking beach.

No-Name Bunny

I've been into paper piecing quilts for awhile now.  It's a method that allows you to make more intricate patterns than traditional quilting with easy Y-seams.

I recently tackled this rather intense pattern, which I sized up (you know, because it wasn't going to be a challenging enough project.)

Even printing and preparing the pattern was pretty intense.

These pictures are all to communicate that I was pretty much freaking out at this point, basically begging Eddy to save me from my own ambition.

I made the first piece and it wasn't so bad.

I made some really big pieces (with a little help, of course.)

Then it started to come together.

Once I made all the pieces it still looked a bit of a jumbled mess.

Piecing was a *bit* of a challenge.

But I eventually got him together.

Then it was time for quilting.

I made a special template for the background quilting. I sort of wanted it to remind me of the famed Sherlock wallpaper.

Here he is all framed up in his new home atop our living room mantle!

We gave him a really cool name and then promptly forgot what we named him. Poor no-name bunny!

The Mom Visit

Over the summer in Portland, we also had a really fun visit from my mom.  Mostly we just did a bunch of fun summery Portland stuff.

One day we drove out to the Columbia River Gorge.

Best Multnomah Falls picture ever.

We also took a day and drove out to the ocean to a place where you can feed sea lions.

Look at those faces! How could you *not* throw them approximately 3,0000 dead fishes?!

We also went to the Goonies beach where I took some cranky pictures because I was hungry or something.

We also enjoyed the International Rose Test Garden back in Portland because the weather was just right for it.

Thanks for coming to visit, mom!  Can't wait to do it again soon!