Parade of Quilts

Carrie and Camille are having the Parade of Quilts show going and hasn't it been fun? Everyone started so young! I have been garment sewing since fabric was 32 inches wide and I was in elementary school, but quilting for me didn't happen till I saw Kaye Wood on tv using a rotary cutter when I was home on maternity leave. Before that I thought you'd have to cut each and every stinken shape by hand and I was so not into doing that. After sewing a ton of little girl clothes a friend agreed to take a class with me at Going to Pieces and my life changed. FOREVER.

The class offered a little bit of everything, rotary cutting, template making, applique, strip piecing, triangles right down to hand quilting. Genius class really. It just didn't happen fast enough for me so after the first two weeks I had to have a project to work on between the classes. P&B Textiles had this great line of fabrics and I wanted to use all of them. And I think I did. I made it, hand quilted it and gave it away all before the class was finished.

I had fun looking back through all my photos of old projects. I can see the influence of people over the years by the fabrics and patterns. Sweet memories.

As for my most recent finished quilt, I think its the Moda Bake Shop quilt.. I have other tops complete, but this is the last finished quilt I have. Thank goodness my piecing has improved.

So peeps there you have it. Hope you all have a super duper weekend. xop

Detour

Frankie didn't feel well yesterday, so I ended up at loose ends. I needed some gardening supplies so headed over to Alden Lane in the afternoon. The weather has been so wonderful here, I'm almost afraid typing it out will jinx the whole thing.

Look at this! I did not believe it was even real when I first saw it, or maybe it was one of those weird grafted cactus type jobs you see now and then. It is real and its some kind of echeveria. Well it looked real anyway, and if I wrote the Alden Lane Blog you can believe I'd be writing about stuff like this.. because it was amazing in real life. I love that place.

I also loved this Butterfly shrub. Or something with butterfly in the name, I now don't completely remember. It didn't have any identifying information on it, so I didn't get it. I used to have a butterfly bush but man I cannot keep those suckers under control.

Quilting in the Garden is coming up, and already there's a preview..

This is an upcoming pattern from Alex. I did the blanket stitching on it last year!!! Cute huh? And perfect for summer.

I guess since I dilly dallied around yesterday, I better get cracking today. xo

Good Things..

Running into friends at the market. You maybe remember Linda from this post! Then after that I had a phone call from my friend Carol, you maybe remember her from this post! I miss seeing "my people" all the time.

Boxes from the mothership,a sure sign of things to come.
It was a good day. What about with you guys? I'm off to meet up with Frankie for lunch, so its going to be another fun day for sure. I hope you guys have a fun day too. xo

What about you?

I had this kind of afternoon yesterday, well after some yard work and laundry and errand running. The weather has been perfect here. What about where you are?

Festive 4th

So peeps, how was your holiday weekend? Have some fun, get lots done? I was invited to a pot luck brunch at my friend Pat's house and it was so much fun.

Pat told me I could take all the photos I want, and I did take a ton. Of course in my excitement they aren't all that great. I can't be trusted anymore I guess. There was so many wonderful vignettes and with the meeting and greeting and eating, well..

Now is that porch cute? I can see this would be the perfect place for coffee in the morning. The neighborhood is totally cute and there's lots to see.

Inside lots to see too. Pat is a quilter, and I met her through friends and also through quilting. Her home is simply adorable, with wonderful details at every turn. I have let you down though Pat, my photos are really crappy.

These are like some kind of soft focus pictures, I don't get that at all. But at least you can get the idea of how nice her home is. Here's the guest book station. Her guest book holds greetings from past 4th of July parties, and there are photos of the group each year. It is such a clever idea.
Little flag favors to take along to remind us of what a lovely time we had.

The back yard was wonderful. The weather could not have been better if she ordered it up special. I way overstayed my welcome and it was perfect outside the whole time.

Here's Pat on the right with Sharon.





Beverage station, of course I'm trying to capture all the wonderful pitchers and bowls there, rather unsuccessfully. Pat has a wonderful supply of vintage pieces.


No detail is left out with Pat.



My beverage station.. Pat had non-stop Peet's coffee going!

And the food.. ohmygosh.

Here's one of this years group shots! I am so happy and thrilled to have been invited to the party! Thanks Pat!

Surprise Visit

Yesterday I had the greatest time. On the spur of the moment, I just jumped in the car to go visit Frankie. We both were at loose ends for the day and decided gee, lets have some lunch.

After a tasty lunch at California Pizza Kitchen she suggested checking out some cute boutiques in Salinas. I hadn't been to old downtown in ages and let me tell you there were quite a few cute little shops there. But OHMYGOSH I was just blown away with this shop, La Belle Epoque. The shop window was amazing, I don't know if you guys ever get Somerset Magazines, but they did a whole publication on Marie Antionette that was wonderful. I just couldn't stop looking at the window.

Magnolia Pearl has been in quite a few publications as of late, and La Belle Epoque is one of two stores in California to carry their clothing.

I love the color of the shop, the wonderful trim around the ceiling and the fact that its crammed with wonderful treasures. Even looking at the pictures I can't believe I missed things.

Things like this, cleverly twisting a strand of vintage rhinestones around a shell, are so beautiful.

This window.. it just gets me.

So yes, Pamela's store is one of the prettiest stores I've seen in ages. You can catch a peek at her here in the rear of the store. Really a lovely gracious person. She's just a delight to visit with and I'm so glad she let me share photos of her beautiful store here.

So, if you're in the neighborhood, take a walk through her lovely shop. I caught Marie there on her last day in the window, its Rodeo time in Salinas so there will be a western theme window in, probably by today, and I know it will be a beautiful romantic look.

Alrighty peeps, hope you have a wonderful day! Happy Holiday Weekend, be safe, have fun! xo

Super Fun Day

Wow we had a great day yesterday. It stayed nice and cool till right at the end, but that's what car air conditioners are for, right? The antiquing portion of the day was somewhat of a bust, but lunch at the Black Bear was really good. I had the Gobbler. Mostly I always have the Gobbler. It's like Thanksgiving on sandwich. I think Elizabeth was a bit doubtful when she saw all the bears everywhere. Now she's a convert.

Anyway Prairie Queen's didn't disappoint at all. We've been there a few times and really enjoyed it. The store was hopping yesterday, lots of ladies in the classroom sewing. Some appeared to be working on the same technique Nicole and Sara learned in the class they just took.

You can see, PQ has a lot of things we love.

Here's my loot! I've always loved that Eiffel Tower fabric. I bet very few people know that's a faithful reproduction of a vintage fabric.

Anyway its a fun pile of fabric, isn't it? Kind of a departure for me, but I wanted something different for maybe a bag. Who knows. Its pretty, do I really need a reason?

Ok peeps, I'm late off the mark today. Bret has tomorrow off, so I might just make it a three day weekend. But before I close, head on over to the bake shop to check out the magic that is Julie's Coupon Clutch. Julie is also working on a Summer Swing Skirt, hopefully she'll share that soon! Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Cherry Cupcake

Time just flies by sometimes. We don't recognize how fast until something crazy happens, for instance, one of the "kids" we know is having a baby. She's my friend's daughter, older sister of a school mate of Frankie's but still, one of the kids. How can she be having a baby? It wasn't that long ago she was stealing her mother's makeup in middle school. See just saying something like that puts me in old-lady-country.

I'm still in love with bow tie quilts and this baby has been nicknamed Cherry Cupcake so I knew that the Susan Branch Cupcake fabric I had squirreled away was the perfect backdrop. I pulled out all my Lakehouse Doll Dresses and got cutting yesterday. I can't decide if I should start sewing or save that project up for my next sew day, which is coming up pretty fast. I just haven't settled on a bigger project yet. And I'm kind of wishing I had more of that Doll Dress Fabric. As far as I'm concerned Holly designed this whole line knowing I would go off my gourd over it, and really, I still am hording it. Because people, if you use it IT WILL BE GONE.

In other news, it was lovely out yesterday morning, cool and breezy. I sat outside and read my magazine and drank some coffee and watched this fellow working on getting a drink.

Thanks for all the Moda Bake Shop comments. We had so much fun making that skirt and then driving around the countryside here looking for the perfect backdrop. And then just being silly. We have an image to maintain.. and that image is we're crazy fun and we don't care who knows it!

Hope you had a good day peoples. I'm off with Elizabeth today, antiques, fabric and yarn. And maybe even a little lunch?