Sister's Choice Quilts

Fancy Schmancy

This past week has been Concours d'Elegance in Carmel/Pebble Beach.  It is an event that brings millionaire car collectors from all over the country into our area for exhibitions, races, charity auctions and assorted sundry events all involving expensive, antique, unusual and rare automobiles.  People from Salinas, where I live, cannot afford tickets to the main event, even though the admission price has been lowered from $220 to $150 this year. 

Carmel, where I work, has been pretty impossible this past week.  You could not find a place to park your own ordinary car to save your life.  Bugattis, Ferraris, Lotuses, and even the odd Maybach or two were everywhere you looked.  Men with cameras everywhere snapping pictures.  I have had to park blocks and blocks from the store where I work, and while walking to work isn't so bad, walking back to the car with sore feet after a day standing on them is another story.

My husband, son and I got invited to a fancy party during the past weekend, where many of the guests had been participants in the week long Concours festivities.  The party was awesome, especially for People Watching.  My gosh, did I ever see some fancy clothes and jewelry.  One of my friends has been dating a local jeweler, and he pulled a "Harry Winston" and had her decked out in diamonds on her neck, wrist and ears.  Wow, I have never seen such sparkle.  Can you imagine being a beautiful woman, yet being eclipsed by the glitter and gorgeousness of your jewelry?  Think about it friends, maybe there is such a thing as too many diamonds, if that is all people look at, and you fade into the woodwork.

Anyway, I digress.  There were amazing cars every where we looked.  My son grabbed my camera and snapped some pics of cars that were just parked at the party we attended.  I have no clue what they are, but that's just me. 

Everyone has their hobbies, and let me just say, I am so happy that mine is quilting.

The Secret Life of Bees

 

I didn't accomplish much sewing this weekend, but my husband and I did get out to a movie.  The first we have seen in quite some months.  We chose to see The Secret Life of Bees, which we both enjoyed enormously.  I had read the book by Sue Monk Kidd, and loved it.  I was so happy that the director had stayed very true to the author's intentions.  Queen Latifa, Alicia Keyes, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Hudson and Dakota Fanning combined to form a very strong cast of incredible women.  Don't you just love movies about women rising above their circumstances and succeeding against all odds?  This was such a triumphant movie.  Beautiful photography too.  Some of the scenes were like paintings, in that they captured the beauty of a moment so perfectly.

Queen Latifa seemed to be able to manage her bees just fine.  She made it look totally easy.  My daughter Sara, however, is having a devil of a time with her girls.  They keep stinging her.  This is turning out to be a problem because it seems she is allergic to bees.  The first few times they stung her, she had a fairly typical reaction, but this latest time, her arm swelled up as big as a bolster pillow.  She took herself off to the doctor, who warned her that this was just a small taste of what is to come if she continues to put herself in harm's way and continue to get stung.  Some people build immunity with numerous bee stings, others develop a sensitivity that can end up in a very severe (if not deadly) reaction.

So what to do, what to do?  The bees and their hive were an anniversary gift from her husband.  She wants to be a beekeeper.  She feels she has a "commitment" to the bees, as she put it to me.  Harumph.  I told her to get rid of the bees and start cheese making.

There's No Place Like Home

 

Just returned from my trip to Orlando, and I don't know when I have felt so completely exhausted!  I was on the go every minute, attending a fabulous fashion show, eating at marvelous restaurants, attending seminars, and trying to keep up with my friends at The Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center.  It was a complete blast, but this morning I feel as if I am 85 years old.  Maybe 100. 

The photo above is a view out of our hotel room at the Swan and Dolphin Resort.  The shot below is of a fountain in the lobby.

The folks in Florida are friendly and the sights at Disney World were totally awesome, but as I got back home, I couldn't help feel grateful for our California weather.  It wasn't unbearably hot in Florida, but that humidity factor is something else.  The fact of my hair expanding in volume by three or four times was an entertainment in itself.  Seriously, you could just see it inflate like some kind of puffer fish on alert.  No wonder our Southern Sisters are known for their Big Hair.  They don't do it on purpose, it just happens.  I have to give them credit though.  Instead of being totally daunted by the sight in the mirror, they just rock it with a ton of style.  And hair spray.

The Rest of the Vacation

The rest of the time Lisa spent here with me in California is kind of a blur.  We were on the go every minute.  No, that isn't my home you see above, but a very cool bed and breakfast place called The Seven Gables Inn in Pacific Grove.  It is right across the street from the ocean and has spectacular views.  Can you imagine waking up in the morning, looking out the window and seeing this:

   

I tried to give her a whirl wind tour of my area, and we tried to spend no more than 10 minutes at any one spot so we could get it all in.  (Just kidding).   We went to the Inn at Spanish Bay for lunch on Monday.

We drank wine:

We ate:

And ate:

Life is short, so we had more dessert:

We shopped some more at The Back Porch in Pacific Grove, a great little shop, especially for batiks and Asian fabrics.  At the retreat I won over 30 batik fat quarters in shades of purple, blue and green!  I will tell you about the game we played in another post.  Any way, I was the winner, and we had to go to Back Porch to add to my batik collection.  Lisa, the copy cat, decided she has to make a batik quilt now too, and ended up with such a stack of orange and pink batiks you can barely see her there behind the fabric.

We spread our loot out on the bed to compare purchases.  Here are Lisa's orange and pink batiks.  Pretty yummy aren't they?

We also played with Ozzie, since he is a fellow who is pretty hard to ignore.  I took this picture as Lisa was clucking like a chicken to make him look at her.  Pretty cool visual, huh?

Despite her clucking, Lisa was the ideal house guest.  I highly recommend you inviting her over.  We had a marvelous time and now I think we need to start planning our NEXT get together!

Just a Little More Shopping

You know you want to see more shops, right?  I have saved the best for last.  The following photos are of Thimblecreek in Concord, CA, which Connie, Lisa and I went to on the way home from the retreat.  A lot of very famous designers got their start at Thimblecreek:  Joanna Figuera of Fig Tree, Sandy Klop of American Jane, Verna Mosquera, Laura Nownes (Quilts, Quilts, Quilts) and others.  Just wallow in these pictures for a bit.

Breath-taking applique work.

And for all you kitty cat fans:

Whew, that was fun.  Here is a snap of Connie, browsing.  She had the most amazing thing happen at the shop.  She found an antique wooden display box for a ribbon company that had her same last name!  She asked if the box was for sale, and it sure was.  It was absolutely the coolest find.

We shopped and shopped, but never did drop. 

Our Own Private Shop Hop

I couldn't quite decide where to begin to tell you all about the past five wonderful days.  I thought and I thought, and decided to cut to the chase and tell you about the shops Lisa and I visited along the way up to the retreat at San Damiano.  In my shopping stupor, I forgot to get photos at most of the shops, but the pictures I did get are of some very cool display projects.

We stopped at a total of  11 quilt stores in five days.  They were, in order of our visit:  Prairiequeens, Eddie's Quilting Bee, The Granary, Natural Expressions, The Quilter's Studio, In Between Stitches, Quilter's Inn, Thimblecreek, Back Porch, Beverly's, and a little shop with just a sign saying "Quilt Shop" on our way to the airport on the last day.  We have enough inspiration to keep us making quilts for a very long time, and Lisa bought so much fabric she had to send a huge box weighing over 28 pounds home by UPS.  I will say that she did not mail home the gifts she had bought for her three kids.  Those, she carried on the plane, so she obviously has her priorities straight!

Here is a happy looking Lisa at Natural Expressions in Los Gatos.  She is smiling because she just bought eighteen yards of backing fabric for $2.00 a yard.

When we went into the door of the shop, I began to ooh and aah over some bolts of fabric and starting loading them into my arms.  Lisa looked at me and said, "Nicole, you already HAVE that group of fabric.  You just blogged about it recently!"  Oh.  I do?  I did?   All I can say is that it is a very good thing to have friends to keep my in check and from buying everything twice. 

Here is a display at In Between Stitches in Livermore.  It is made of that new Mary Englebreit fabric.  Pretty adorable isn't it?

And I totally swooned over this quilt.  They had kits at one time, but sold out.  I must do this quilt.  Have you ever seen anything more adorable?

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the retreat and the projects the other girls were working on.  Be prepared to be impressed!

Off We Go

I am so excited!  Today is the day my friend Lisa (Stashmaster) flies down to California for a visit and to attend the quilting retreat I have organized.  I pick her up at the San Jose airport at 8:30 AM, and we will spend the rest of the day hitting all the quiltshops between San Jose and Danville.  Our first stop will be Prairiequeen's where April told me we could enjoy some VIP shopping before the store is even open!  Then we'll go to The Granary, Eddie's Quilting Bee, The Quilter's Studio, Laurel Leaf, and In Between Stitches.  I will take tons of pictures so you all can share my local quilt shop haunts.

All my projects are set up and ready to go, my sewing kit checked and double checked, all my sewing machines are tested and dusted, the snack food and drinks are packed.  All I need is to figure out what clothes to wear.  Maybe I should keep it simple and just wear my jammies all weekend.

I even got the rules for how to play Left, Right, Center from Tami in Maine!  Thanks so much Tami, that is going to be very entertaining for all the gals at the retreat.  It turns out that you need a special set of dice with the letters L, C, R on them.  Everyone starts out with three fat quarters.  When the dice gets rolled, you pass a fat quarter according to the letters on the dice.  The game ends when one person ends up with ALL the fat quarters.  Doesn't that sound like fun!??  There will be ten of us playing, so someone could end up with enough fat quarters to make a fun scrappy quilt. 

After the retreat I am taking Lisa to my father's house to experience one of our family Sunday dinners.  There should be quite a crowd, since everyone is dying to meet her.  My sisters Andrea and Trish are in charge of dinner, so it will be terrific.  Then, I am spiriting Lisa down to Salinas where I live and will treat her to a day and a half of exploring the Monterey Bay area.  She will get to meet Ozzie.  Dum dum dum dum.  I hope he behaves himself and doesn't eat any of her shoes.  How embarrassing would that be?

As you can tell, I am very excited about the upcoming weekend.  I will be too busy to blog, but expect tons of stories and pictures when things calm down.  How I wish all of you blogging friends could be with us!  Wheee!  Here I go!

A Perfect April Fool's Day

Our family has it's own personal April Fool.  That would be my sister Andrea, who was born on April First.  We lived in Port Huron, Michigan at the time of her birth, and there were already three of us daughters, but no, it seems that was not enough.  It had been raining for many weeks, and most of the roads were awash with mud.  Mom decided she had been cooped up in the house for long enough with us girls, and despite her advanced pregnancy, thought it was high time for her to venture out and have The Works at the local beauty salon.  She was in the middle of some sort of hair service when she started leaking.  You all know what I mean.  She calmly explained the slowly forming puddle under her salon chair to her stylist and asked if she might use the phone to call her doctor.  The rest is history and my wonderful sister Andrea was born that evening.

There are many many of us girls in the family at this point.  Eleven I believe (apologies if I forgot someone).  Most of us live near one another, so we decided to make a day of it and go up to San Francisco and treat Andrea to a fun day.  You must go to her blog and read her take on the experience.  She tells it better anyway.  I am kind of going in reverse order, beginning with our end of the day cocktails.   Nine of us were able to be present for the outing, and there we are in the photo above:  My daughter Sara, my sister Trish, Me, my sister Kate (sitting at the table with her arms crossed), my sister Andrea, my cousin Claudia and her daughter, my second cousin (?) Stephanie.  My nieces Emily and Camille had run out for Starbuck's frappuchinos and my niece Madeline had to work, my niece Lizz was in Southern California and my sister Mary was in Wisconsin. 

The photo above was taken at the end of the day, at the Grand Hyatt hotel bar.  Look at the view of Coit Tower out the window.

That is San Francisco, friends, in all its glory.  What a magnificent city.  And what a day we had.  It was April Fool's Day, as I mentioned, and it turned out that on our way into the City, we passed a demonstration.  I thought it must be a demonstration of protestors objecting to the Chinese treatment of Tibet or some such thing.  But no.  It was a demonstation of clowns who worship St. Stupid, whose day it also is.  I am not kidding.  At least one of the clowns had disrobed and was displaying his nether regions to all and sundry.  As Andrea said on her blog, "It's San Francisco".  The police seemed to be arriving as we passed by.

Those are the younger girls Camille and Emily in the background.  This is what I needed after driving in the City and seeing naked clowns:

We had lunch at a fantastic dim sum restaurant called Yank Sing.  Dim sum is a term that loosely describes any sort of snacky yummy bite sized wonderful thing that is Chinese and fattening.  Potstickers, steam buns, shiu mai, Peking Duck rolls, and so many things we had no name at all for.  Who knows what we were eating?  Who cares?  It was amazing.  Cute Chinese girls come by your table with trolley after trolley full of these tasty morsels and offer you plates of them.  You pay by the plate when the dust settles.  They just count how many plates your table had and then you pay the piper.  I have no idea what those little things are in the picture below.

They celebrate birthdays at Yank Sing, and this was the offering they brought to the table in Andrea's honor:

We had such a marvelous day.  Thank God for sisters, daughters, nieces, and cousins.  If Mom and Grandma were looking down at us from Heaven, they were having a ball too.  I am so lucky to have all these women in my life.

Life Goes On

Hi there.  Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  As you may have gathered, things have been kind of lively in my family life, with the health care drama for my MIL, and having to be running 75 miles up and down Highway 101 to tend to things.  Happy to relate that things have settled down, and my dear MIL seems to actually be enjoying her stay in the new convalescent hospital.  She and her roomie  have bonded and have made plans to keep in touch once they get out.  With luck, my dear one will be home this weekend.  She is able to get around a bit with her walker and gets stronger each day.

I would like to extend my gratitude to each and everyone of you who commented on my last post. I will be answering all of your comments when I get home.  It means so much to me to have you dear blogging friends sharing your stories and offering your support.  You are all terrific and I love you lots!

I have been up in Palo Alto staying at my father's house, and of course that means, while I tend to business, I get to see my grand dog Remy.  Here is a picture of Ozzie and Remy sharing a toy this morning.  They are so adorable together!

One of them starts by picking up a toy and waiting for the other to come try to snatch it away.  Ozzie seems to sense that he has the advantage in this game, so he waits patiently for Remy to get a grip on the toy, then the tussle begins.

I think I like this game better than the one where Ozzie rolls Remy around the living room like a hedgehog.

There are some lovely things I have to share with you in my posts later this week.  My first experience teaching a quilting class is underway and going great!  I want to share with you the photos I took of my student's quilt.  Also, I have some fabulous new fabrics I want you to see.  Check in tomorrow and I will have lots of newsy things.

Gotta run, the puppies are starting to play too rough.....

Square Peg in a Round Hole

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Warning:  Soul Baring To Follow

I am not sure just how I feel about my day yesterday.  My favorite quilt shop asked me a couple of times if I would be interested in teaching for them.  The concept we came up with is that I would teach Miss Rosie quilt patterns and make them accessible and less mysterious to those who have always wanted to make one, but were afraid they might be too complicated.  So, I scrambled to finish a sample quilt, which was hung in the shop to my excitement and pride.  Yesterday was a big Open House/Third Anniversary Sale for the shop, and there was a mob of people who turned up to take advantage of the fact that everything (yes, everything) in the store was 30% (yes, 30%) off.  Fabulous sale.  (And sure, I bought something too!)

The teachers were gathered back in the classroom, with sign up sheets, examples of their work, supply lists, and were to be available to interested prospective students to answer any questions regarding the classes they planned to teach.  Out in the shop area, the lines for cutting and the lines for paying were very, very long.  I don't know if people were so exhausted after the ordeal of making their purchases that they had no energy to come back and talk to us teachers, but I have to say, it was kinda quiet back there.  We even had a table of food to entice folks back in!

Oh, there were a number of souls who came back to talk to us, admire our projects, and ask questions.  The Sashiko teacher got a lot of sign ups.  The darling teaching team of Nancy and Dolores got a lot of interest.  The incredible ribbon embroidery lady had quite a group of admirers.  Michelle, who teaches beginning sewing even had a young girl sitting next to her making a pair of jammy bottoms.  And then there was me.

I had three of my Miss Rosie quilts out and kept trying to engage people's interest.  But the response just wasn't there.  The time my class was offered was all wrong.  I was told it should be at night or on the weekend.  Some women just didn't have the imagination to see that they could use any combination of fabrics to make a quilt, not necessarily the palette I chose to work with.   Some told me they preferred a less traditional style of quilt.  One woman told me it looked too hard if she couldn't finish it in a day.  One of the other teacher's tried to comfort me by saying "They just don't know you yet, give it time".   At the end of the day, a total of zero people had signed up for either of my classes.  Maybe I didn't work hard enough to sell myself, who knows?

But I felt rejected.  Maybe that is too strong a word.  Maybe the kind of quilting I do just is for me, and not of that much interest to the women who patronize my favorite quilt shop.  I know some of them read my blog, and the last thing in the world I want is to make anyone think I feel bad.  In retrospect, it is a bit embarrassing to me that I had the notion that my work would have general appeal.  I made 30 copies of my supply lists, and feel quite sheepish that my exectations were so high.  (My face is red, and I cringe when I think of it).  I am having one of those "what was I *thinking*?" moments.

I'll get over it.  And who knows, maybe I will still get some sign ups!  But, eeew, today I feel sort of low.

Rhinestone Cowgirl Princess

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Greetings from Nashville.  I didn't think this whole country thing was quite my style, but I have to admit, it is growing on me.  Think Rockabilly, line dancing, ribs, big hair, cowboy hats, fringe and rhinestones.  Oh my, I can definitely say that it is fun, even if I won't be adopting the rhinestones and fringe in my wardrobe.   And the guys line dancing in their boots and fitted jeans isn't too hard to take either. 

Talk to you Monday!  We will see who gets the prize for Messiest Work Table, plus you will get to hear about another new venture I will be undertaking:  teaching Miss Rosie classes at my favorite quilt shop!!!  Now that is a dream come true for sure.

A Little Bonus

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Well, here I am in Nashville, getting my training on how to be a fashion consultant for the new company I am going to be respresenting, and having a wonderful time.  One teeny little detail that was mentioned, but not really *emphasized* was that there would be Shopping Opportunities.  That being the understatement of the new century.  It turns out that in between my training classes, I can take a little break in this huge warehouse sized room full of past season's clothing.  Which is on sale for 65% off.  I may have to send my dirty laundry home by UPS so I have room in my suitcase.

Fashionista

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I am taking on a few new things lately.  One is that I have been accepted to be a fashion consultant for a Southern California designer's clothing company!  Loving clothes almost as I love quilting, this is a great opportuinty for me to indulge that passion.  Tomorrow I leave for my corporate training in, of all places, Nashville, Tennessee.   I will post a couple of times while I am away, and will return your emails on Monday when I return.

On Monday we can see whose mess is the messiest and the loser winner will get a little prize to add to the mess on their cutting table.  Check out these folk's links and let me know who you think deserves the prize.  Jane, Julia, Sharon, Lisa, Perry, Cindy, Lee, and Pam. If I haven't mentioned you, do send me another email with a link to your messy photo and I will include it in the contest consideration.

Bon voyage for now.  Or should I say "Yee Haw"?

An Unexpected Surprise

It has been fiercely stormy here where I live, near Monterey.  We have been hit by a series of major storms in the past week, which have downed power lines and trees, caused widespread electricity outages, and generally wreaked havoc with local businesses who have had to lock up and go home since they were in the dark.  Carmel, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach and large areas of Salinas were without power this past Friday.  My son and I stayed home, close by the fire, sipping tea, with a crock pot burbling on the counter.  Of course, when we lost our electricity, the whole crock pot dinner idea went out the window, but my clever boy knew how to get the pilot re-lighted and we just transferred our dinner from the crock pot to the gas range.  When my husband got home from work, the three of us dined by candle light and listened to the wind howl and the rain pelt down.  The power came back on later in the evening, to our relief.

The next morning around 9:00, my friend April phoned.  The shop where she works had planned a quilting retreat at a hotel not too far from me, on the Monterey Bay for this very Friday, Saturday and Sunday!  I had originally been invited, but declined, since I was flat broke after the holidays.  I was amazed that the 30 or so quilters had even managed to drive down the coastal highway on Friday at the peak of the storm, but there they were, ensconced at the hotel, with full power, quilting away.  April was calling me to say they had had a woman cancel and would I like to come over and sew with them at the hotel for the day.  Since the rain had stopped, I grabbed my Janome and Challenge project and headed through the Salinas Valley to the coast.

When I arrived, the gals were all a-buzz with excitement, because at dawn all of them who had rooms on the first level of the hotel had been evacuated to higher floors because the waves were so huge they were crashing over the sea wall and flooding the first floor rooms!  A sink hole developed and large amounts of sand disappeared and was washed out to sea, and a portion of decking was damaged.  These are a few photos of the havoc:

Waves crashing right up by the sea wall, which is about ten feet from the first floor hotel rooms.

Tide is going out, but you get the idea how close the rooms on the lower level are to the waves.  Typically, there is tons of beach and the water is way far out.

This fellow could care less about a little rain and big waves.  He perched on the decking for quite awhile, watching us sew and gape out at his world.

Fun, Fun, Fun, 'til Daddy Took My Visa Away

Sandy (Vintage Collage & Quilts), Elizabeth (The Late Bloomer), Kate, Nicole (Sister's Choice), Andrea (Under a Blue Moon), and Pam (Pamkittymorning)

It felt like a gathering of California Bloggers!  Five of the ladies pictured above are bloggers, some quite well known.  Elizabeth, and Pam were recently featured in the latest issue of McCall's Quilting magazine's article on the subject of Discovering Quilting Blogs, and Sandy is a quilt book author. 

Oh my gosh, did we girls ever have fun on Wednesday!  I picked Kate up at 9:30 and we headed up to Livermore to meet Andrea at In Between Stitches where Pamkittymorning works.  In Between Stitches is the perfect quilt shop.  Perfect.  The fabric selection is totally to my taste--lots of romantic prints, plenty of Moda, reproduction prints, and some of the sweetest 30's fabrics ever.  Plus, the folks who work at or hang out at In Between Stitches are the greatest.  When we three sisters arrived, we were greeted warmly, even as we stood with our jaws dropped gaping at the gorgeous displays and inspiration quilts hanging everywhere.  It took awhile for us to pull ourselves together and actually make eye contact and meaningful conversation.  It is a super place, and well worth a visit if you are within a 100 mile radius!

Andrea and I bought plenty of stuff, fabric for me, and embroidery and wool applique things for her.  How Kate managed to exercise so much self-control and not buy anything is a mystery to the rest of us.

And how cool is this?  While we were in the shop, in came Elizabeth from The Late Bloomer--her patterns are gorgeous and I am seeing them for sale everywhere.  She is a quilting and blogging celebrity.  Then, moments later, Sandy Berry came into the shop!  Sandy is very well known for her lovely book, Quick and Easy Romantic Quilts, as well as for her blog.   Of course we had to get a group photo, enlisting one of the nice customers in the shop to work the cameras.  Notice how Andrea always pushes me in front of her, so I look fat and she gets to hide behind? 

After our shopping experience, we three sisters headed over to Pleasanton to have lunch and visit the nice shops located there on Main Street.  I rely heavily on the navigation system in my car to get places, and the voice of my "Guide Lady" usually serves me very well.  This time however, she kept shouting out things like "Keep left, KEEP LEFT!" as I was entering the freeway, and somehow I ended up passing over a couple of solid lines painted on the road.  Kate was quite quiet for a time, then said "What you just did was all kinds of illegal".  Oh dear.  Well, those lines are just a suggestion anyway, right?

Pam had recommended Fontina's as a good place for lunch, so that is where we dined on Caesar Salads.  Good tip Pam!  Thank you.  After lunch we promenaded down Main Street, popping into various shops as the spirit moved us.  Our favorite was American Harvest, where my magpie-in-her-past-life sister Andrea found shiny silver things to buy, including a four foot tall silver Christmas tree that was marked down for clearance.  Let me tell you, that was fun, trailing after her carrying that big shiny tree, as we continued to shop.  Kate and I had a deja vu moment, recalling in our youth how we tried to pretend we were not related to her.  I paid her back though, when I found a pet shop selling adorable dog toys.  I bought a stuffed yellow monkey as big as Ozzie to take home to him for a present, and carried it around the rest of the day.  See how he loved it?

It was a terrific day, from start to finish, and one that I will remember for a long time.  What a pleasure it is to be able to meet kindred spirits who share a passion for quilting!

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair

My family went to San Franciso this weekend to attend the Dickens Christmas Fair.  This event has been a San Francisco holiday tradition for 28 years!  Some people go once and think it is sufficient, but not us.  Nope, we go just about every year.  It really is loads of fun.  It is a theatrical re-creation of London during Victorian Christmastime.  The venue is a place called The Cow Palace (where dog shows, rodeos, and tractor pulls are held), which is transformed for several weekends in December into quaint Victorian streets full of intriguing shops, and characters dressed up in authentic looking costumes, all completely in character, down to perfect English accents.   There are four stages providing various types of entertainment--theatrical reproductions, illusionists, bawdy singing, Scottish dancing, and the Fezziwig Dance Pavillion. 

Above you see some Chimney Sweeps.  It is supposed to be good luck to kiss them, but I just couldn't do it.

Here is poor old Jacob Marley, dragging his chains through the streets of London.  I swear there was a chill in the air when he passed by.

I met the Phantom of the Opera, who was a charming fellow, despite his disfigurement.  He presented me with a silk rose bud after I took his picture.

These lovely women were mannequins in the shop widow of Dark Gardens, a shop for Creative Corsetry.  It was startling when they moved slowly to change their position.  You would not believe the men gathered in front of the window taking pictures!  Inside, one could be properly fitted with an authentic corset.  I was intrigued, but somehow the prow of a ship look just isn't me.

I passed Ebeneezer Scrooge on the street and greeted him warmly.  He snarled "Bah Humbug" in response and walked by too quickly for me to snap his picture.  I did spy him a bit later on in his nightshirt, having a conversation with Christmas Present.  I sure hope he got straightened out.  The guy was totally rude to me.

My family and I wandered around for hours, sipping hot cider and eating things like meat pies and fish and chips.   Many people who attend the Dickens Faire dress up in costumes themselves.  My son in law dressed in a black suit and hamburg hat (he claimed he was a Gentleman Pirate), my daughter as a street urchin (complete with newsboy cap), my son as an Irish Fisherman (tweed cap and fisherman smock), and I strove for a George Sand in her smoking jacket kind of look.  Check out the cool Turkish hat I finished off my outfit with.

The day was extremely entertaining, and we all came home totally full of the spirit of Christmas.  I highly recommend it!

The New Eddie's Quilting Bee

I promised to show you all some pictures of the New and Improved Eddie's Quilting Bee, and here we go.  I should have gotten a photo of the outside of the building, but forgot to do that.  You cannot miss the building, as Eddie painted it bright gold with purple trim.  Located in a former bank building, the new store provides a heck of a lot more floor space, loads of free parking, terrific lighting and *two* classrooms upstairs.  See the big shiny thing on the back wall of the picture above?  That is an elevator!  So convenient for all of us schlepping our sewing machines, wheelie carts, and project boxes.

The store's grand opening was last Saturday.  It has been a summer long project to get the shop moved from its previous location in downtown Mountain View to the new site in Sunnyvale.  For the opening gala, Eddie and his wife Dawn arrived by limosine and were given a red carpet greeting by the Vice Mayor of Sunnyvale.  Believe me, this was a very big deal!  Eddie and Dawn are justifiably very proud of their accomplishment.

The shop is full of nooks and crannies holding all sorts of different treasures.  Here is a picture of a portion of the thread section:

The notions room:

The book niche:

Best of all, have a look at our two new classrooms!   Eddie got us brand new big tables and comfy chairs, and the walls are festooned with fabulous inspiration quilts.  This is the small classroom:

This lovely quilt was made by Eddie's mother, and is on display in the larger classroom, where my UFO group meets:

Eddie's mother is the well known quilt artist Diana Leone, who is the author of the quilting book The New Sampler Quilt, a start-out basic book for every quilter.  She has designed many lines of fabric and is the author of other books, such as Fine Hand Quilting and Attic Windows.  She is now interested in fabric painting.

Our larger classroom is quite large, so I had trouble getting a good picture of it, but here is half of it.  Notice the connecting room in the back?  That is where our cutting table is.

Here is a picture of our cutting area for the classroom.  You can see the fabulous natural light streaming in the window.  My friend Irene has one of her quilts laid out on the table.

Lastly, here is a picture of Eddie himself:

The Buggy Barn

This picture is of the side of the building that The Buggy Barn is housed in.  You can see the front of it in my post from yesterday.  The building is a former carriage house on the property, and got its name from the 96 year old daughter of the original homesteader of the land.  The Buggy Barn is located in Eastern Washington, outside the tiny town of Reardan, smack in the middle of wheat growing territory.  Miles and miles of wheat fields surround the shop, which is actually located on a working farm.   Sisters Pam and Janet started up the now famous quilt shop on the property, keeping the name "The Buggy Barn" in honor of its history.

The driveway to the shop is pictured above, and the surrounding wheat fields are shown below.  The place is out in the middle of nowhere.  Seriously.  I think it may be the only point of interest in the region, and is actually designated as an official tourist spot by the State of Washington.  The shop was adorable, surrounded by holly hocks and a horse grazing in a pasture.  Can you find the horsey?

We entered the shop and this is what we saw--

The amount of fabric squeezed into the tiny establishment was amazing, and the number of shop samples and projects....well you can see for yourself.  Lisa and I were completely and utterly overwhelmed.  They had quilts on the walls, quilts on the ceiling, and even had quilts and bolts of fabric in the teensy bathroom.  I don't think I was supposed to take pictures, so don't tell on me.

In my next post I will tell you about our two classes with Carrie Nelson, so stay tuned!

Gracious Hospitality

Lisa, Nicole and the adorable Miss Lily

Sometimes you just know you are going to like someone.  That is how I felt about meeting my friend Lisa in person on my trip to Washington last week.  Lisa and I met on-line last February.  I didn't even have a blog at that time, and one day while I was browsing quilting sites on the Internet, I came upon her blog (Stashmaster), where she had posted a picture of her Zuzu's Petals quilt.  I had to comment on her blog posting, because I had made the exact same quilt and it was one of my favorites.  One thing led to another, and we started corresponding by email regularly.  We found that we shared many interests in common and had very similar tastes in fabric and quilting projects.  I was encouraged to start my own blog and have not looked back since.

Lisa and I share a great admiration for Carrie Nelson, of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  When Lisa heard that Carrie would be teaching two classes at The Buggy Barn, in Reardan, WA, she emailed me to see if I would be interested in taking the classes with her.  There was no need for me to think twice about that, and I responded that I would be there with bells on.

We were extremely fortunate that Lisa's lovely mom Dorothy was willing to put us up for the duration of my five day visit to Washington.  Imagine trusting that a complete stranger (me) would be a reasonable house guest!  I promised to behave myself and not eat her out of house and home.  I made no such promises regarding consuming her wine however, and think I may owe her a couple of bottles....

I arrived in Spokane on Saturday and with a rental car equipped with a navigation system, easily found my way to Lisa's mom's house.  As I pulled into the driveway, Lisa came bounding out of the house to give me a great big hug.  After a few surreal moments of gaping and staring at each other, we slipped into comfortable conversation, as if we had known each other forever.  Whatever people might say, it is possible to get to know someone on the Internet, and have a pretty good feeling for what they are like in person.  Lisa did not disappoint in any way, and in fact she surpassed all my expectations in terms of friendliness, generosity, good humor and graciousness. 

Shortly after my arrival, her mom Dorothy came home and we made a plan to drive out into the country to Lisa's Aunt Claudia's farm, where Lisa's daughter Lily was playing with some cousins.  After a drive through pine forests and gentle hills, we arrived at Claudia's house, where the four little girls were frolicking around the barns, chicken coop, play set, and open meadows.  What a peaceful, ideal place it was for children to explore and have a great time with each other.  Each one of those little girls (age 3 through 7) was as cute as a bug---and well mannered too!  We made plans to meet up the following day to visit some peach farms in the countryside.

Luckily Lisa did not have her camera with her, because on the way back to Dorothy's house that first evening, I was pulled over by the police for driving my rental car with the lights not all the way on.  I had had a funny feeling that something wasn't quite right with the lights, as the dash board lights didn't seem to be fully on either.  The rental car I was issued could not have been more out of character for me.  They gave me a huge muscle car--a silver Dodge Charger.  I looked like the wife of some Mob Boss, driving around in that ridiculous vehicle.  When I gasped in horror at the assigned car, the rental clerk assured me he could upgrade me to an SUV at no extra cost.  I just didn't know what to say about that, except to protest that I really would prefer something smaller and less flashy.  No such luck.  So of course I stood out like a sore thumb out in the pastoral little town that Dorothy lives in, and to my embarassment, got pulled over within my first six hours of arrival.  I hopped out of the car full of hope that the police officer could provide some assistance with the head light confusion, but am sorry to say his sense of humor and good will left much to be desired.  Lisa level headedly handed over my rental agreement and driver's licence and also figured out the head lights while my background was being checked.  We were on our way shortly, and headed back to Dorothy's for a glass of wine strictly for medicinal purposes of course.

The next day, Sunday, was a cool and rainy one, but we proceeded with the plan to visit some peach farms in the locale, as they were all having open houses for folks to picnic and pick and taste fresh peaches.  Let me tell you, folks who live in Washington State are definitely not afraid of a bit of rain.  We went to a couple of farms, before settling on the one we thought would provide the best experience.  This place had musicians playing under a tent, food for sale, a dough-nut making exhibition, and a fabulous peach tasting going on.  We tasted eight different types of peaches, each one more delicious than the next.  The woman providing the peach slices for us to taste was endlessly patient with us, making sure each of our four little girls had a slice right along with us grown ups.  After purchasing three boxes of peaches, a peach pie, and pumpkin dough-nuts, we headed on our way.  It was a perfect day in every way!

We sat up late visiting and drinking Dorothy's wine, all keyed up and excited about our visit to the Buggy Barn first thing the next day, and of course wildly excited about taking our class with Carrie Nelson.  More on that experience tomorrow!

Back from Washington and the Buggy Barn

I have returned from my trip to Washington State, where I met my blogging friend Lisa, the divine Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, and got to shop at the Buggy Barn quilt shop!  I want to tell you all about every single moment of this fabulous experience, but will have to do it in installments!   So much to tell!  I have piles of laundry to do, grocery shopping, and house tidying.  I think my husband and son lived off the cherry tomatoes we have growing in the back yard while I was gone.  After all that is done, I get to sit down and organize my new fabric purchases!  Oh yes, there was plenty of shopping going on.  Here is a picture of Lisa, about to experience Nirvana:

Lisa is just as marvelous in person as I knew she would be--funny, warm, modest, and just the best mom that you ever saw.  She is a kindred spirit for sure, and I am thrilled to have gotten closer to her.  She is definitely a keeper!