RIP

Good-bye old friend. You served me well.

I went to pick up my new glasses today....

I don't even know who I am anymore!

La La La

It's feeling a bit fallish around here. In tiny bits and spurts. One day cool, another hot. At least the nights are cool. Not so we have to close the windows cool, but still cool. Lightweight quilt cool. I love my little crab apple, all orange and fall like. I wanted to have a crab apple to cut the branches and bring inside, but this poor fellow will need to grow a lot before that can happen. Still pretty in place out back.
Saturday Bret and I took a ride up to Petaluma. I was glad of the opportunity to take a million pictures off the bridge. Like San Francisco here. It was a glorious day, you can see all those boats out, and the sky was so blue. This bridge freaks us out sometimes. I thought I was over it, you can see right out the bottom there and it always creeped me out as a kid, like we'd some how turn to rubber and slip under there and fall into the water. Bret and I got to talking about it and then we creeped ourselves out and couldn't wait for the thing to end. Phew. (I know, we're freaks)

Elizabeth and I had planned on going but she's in pre-market-frenzy mode and ran out of time. Michelle McCauley from the Summer Cottage had emailed us they had a big event Sunday. Sigh, maybe next year. But Bret and I went Saturday afternoon and it was fun. We ran into some friends up there, Sharon and Roger from American Harvest!

Bret played a little scrabble while I looked around. It was a lovely day out.

Getting Ready

Today Leslie and I were working on PIQF stuff. Two shows so close together requires a lot of preparation. Look at these cute acorns bundled together! Leslie is so good, they come in some dorky plastic bag, so she tied them up with raffia and they're darling. She's got a gift for that kind of thing and I love watching her work her magic. We'll have a booth at PIQF and the show lasts for 4 days! This also means I need to get the binding on my R is for Rose quilt, we have a few kits for it, Melissa went all out finding fabric to make as many as possible and it was no small task.

I see the Blessings tag on the fancy pin cushion and can't help but think it's a blessing there's still three weeks till quilt market!!! I'm doing some small things for Elizabeth, but she's got a list a mile long of things I can't do for her.

Which brings me around to saying HEY my happy people, who else will be there??? I'm really lousy at keeping people's names straight with their blogs, I want to bring my little cheat sheet, so when you come by to say hi (and I hope you will) I'll really know right at that minute who you are and not a few sentences in or worse, after you go. And you won't walk away going, wow, that Pam chick is so not cool and I won't sit in the hotel room at 8pm red faced with embarrassment when I finally realize who you really are and not who I thought you were. I mean really, its a public service. So comment or email me.

And Mary, I know right where you'll be!

So happy peeps, I'm off. I stayed up way way too late reading a fun mystery last night because I had to find out what happened and tonight I'm all tuckered out!

I know, I know

This is the last of them. I've been dragging them out because things seem boring in life right now. So for you my friends, more quilts. Valori Wells was the featured artist and these are her quilts.

Fleurish Gelato and Flora

Radiant Beauty, Lazy Daisy and an unknown.

Here's Jean Wells, Valori's mom, holding Valori's new baby Violette! Valori to the right, obscured by that sprinkler. I know, you can probably hardly believe my photographic expertise.

Here's Valori signing her new book for someone.

Clara, Fleurish Flora, Eclectic Log Cabin and a bit of Sole

Firefly, Starburst, Autumn Aspens and Dahlia Divine

Bittersweet
Maddox
I hope you enjoyed the show. It was a lovely day.


Valori also has a new blog, so head over there and see her photos. She's a professional, so you know they are amazing!

Quilting in the Garden Part 2

More show photos. I recognize Linda's quilt there on the right..

These pastel quilts all remind me of laundry.. pretty huh?
I wish that there were quilts there every day. Maybe I should just start hanging my stuff out in the yard. Wouldn't that be pretty? They do a nice job of getting groupings together I think.

I am in love with a couple of these quilts on black. That little flower quilt by Sharon Mazanec is so cute.

Bonita Spicer did a nice job on the Stars in my Garden, which I believe is a Piece O' Cake pattern.
More pretty soft colors.





I love #8 here, by Holly Houser. This one just made me feel cheery.
Alex and her friend Sierra. Sierra is a 10 year old long arm quilter!!!



I'll have more photos coming.. Valori Wells was the Guest Artist this year, and I'll have photos of her quilts to share.

Quilting in the Garden Part 1

I've been awfully lazy lately. Too much allergy medicine I think, that and the freaking heat. I should have known better than to believe the delicious cool weather was here to stay. People, I put my little fan away even. I'm such a sucker.

Someone asked for a better shot of the front, I hope you can select this and it will open up big in another window. It's the best shot I have of the front of the nursery.

Here's a wonderful quilt by Sandra Mollon. It's from a pattern by Maggie Walker I believe. Sandra teaches applique at the shop, as well as other places. She also has an applique club that meets once a month where you can work on perfecting you applique skills. She did a lovely job here.

This quilt is called First Snow by Mary Rizzo. Don't know if it's her original design or from a pattern. Lovely, Mary. The fabric choices in that leaf are very good!

The quilt on the right is called Lollipop Garden by Jean Wells of Stitchin Post fame, the one on the left is Coming Home by Valori Wells. Valori was the featured artist at this year's show.

This is Joshua Tree by Valori. This was my favorite quilt out of her book Radiant NY Beauties. Look at the quilting detail on that quilt.

Inside the shop portion of the building there were some quilts by past featured artists in a retrospective. This is Laura Nownes.
This is one of Alex's quilts. I love the use of scraps for the center. I don't remember which book this is from. Maybe Finish It.


This quilt, according to the sign, is by Mrs. Shirley Perrin. Very old fashioned and nice.

Another quilt by Alex. I think I even have this book but don't remember which one. And I'm way too lazy to go dig through all my books to find it. I love the way she combines fabric in quilts like this. The over all effect is soo good. I love it like I LOVE THIS QUILT. It has hung in the store several times and each time I SWEAR I'll start collecting black backgrounds. (the triangles scare me though.)

That's it for this installment my friends. What are you up to? Are you having fun? Did you vote over at Holly's? I'm still thinking Sharon has something funny going on in this post. Sharon, you totally crack me up.

Getting Back on Track

The show this past weekend was good. First day off, RAIN. I know, first time in 10 years. I wasn't there on Saturday, but I hear the quilts went up in the buildings and the vendors took refuge where they could inside or under the covered areas.

Saturday the store was swamped with people. I haven't cut so much fabric or hauled so many bolts around in one day in a long time. I'll need to get into some training if I have to do that again.
I tried for some photos of the shop, but they just didn't turn out. Quilts and fabric were all moved around and it looked good.

I had to work all day Saturday. I felt a little sad about it because Bret was meeting up with Frankie and her friend Michael for dinner and to trade out cars. I guess they felt a little sad about missing me as well, because he turned around and came back for me. Bret works a lot of hours so I don't see much of him during the week, and I normally wouldn't work weekends because of it. Anyway, we had a wonderful time. I got to leave a few minutes early and it all worked out great.

Sunday it was nice out and the quilts were hung outside. I'll have lots of photos to share once I pile through them, so until then you'll just have to enjoy these lovely begonias.

Holly is sharing some really funny photos of her cats, you should hop on over to see those. It's the bibs that are just killing me.

I just finished some machine quilting for Elizabeth, so looks like I'll have time to go through my photos and pick the very best ones for you! On most of them I can see the number so I'll even know who made them, which is doubly nice. So until then my friends, have a wonderful rest of the week!

Apple Pam Easy

Good Morning and Hello to all of you coming on over from Hollycakes! Its day 10 of Dazzling Dozen of Delightful Desserts and today is my turn!!! Thank you Holly for hosting this tasty extravaganza.

As many of you know by now, I have picky eating family. Picky. Eating. Back in the beginning, there were family members around who would eat all the interesting food I'd make courtesy of Martha, but now between the picky and the family members with dietary issues, food is simple and a small part of our world. Which brings me to my simple easy dessert.

You start out with some puff pastry sheets and some fresh apples. I used 2 apples here. Thaw your pastry sheet out following the package instructions. I lightly roll it, but you can skip that if you like. I slice off about half an inch all around, then use those pieces like a frame. They'll puff up and hold in the juicy apple goodness. Place your thawed framed up puff pastry on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. You know. Pam. Cooking with Pam!

Peel and core your apples, then slice thin, either with a knife like I did here for a rustic look, or with a mandoline, which gives you nice thin even slices. Dust your pastry with a bit of sugar and cinnamon. Layer on the apples slightly overlapping. Sprinkle more sugar and cinnamon on the apples. Bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes till the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

It makes for a nice easy dessert, light and just the right amount of sweet and tart, if you use Granny Smith apples like I did. Puff pastry is a wonderful item to keep stored in your freezer, you can do all kinds of amazing things with it.

This dessert also doubles as a lovely breakfast treat with coffee and a side of sewing! Make one today!

Alright, thanks for stopping by. Check in with Holly tomorrow to see who's up next! I hear its going to be MARVELOUS!

At the end of the event be sure and keep watching Holly's blog, I hear there are going to be PRIZES!!!

And the winner is...

Mary Anne from Moonbeams in a Jar. So Mary Anne please email me your address and I'll pop a book in the mail to you!

Thank you all for playing, your comments just absolutely made my day. I am so happy that Alex asked me to participate.

In the mean time, WHAT THE HECK!!! It's raining, on Quilting in the Garden day! I don't know what's up with that, but I better get cracking and find out. I know I might see Tracy.. anyone else? Oh, Sandy too!! (Hey, did you see Sandy's darling new pattern? Its for a cupcake quilt, completely cute!) I know the shop will be buzzing if the rain keeps up.

Ok, thanks again everyone!

Back to Business

Good morning peoples! I am overwhelmed by all the kind comments that I've been receiving on my previous post. Thank you thank you! It all means so much to me.

OK, it's half way through the Dazzling Dozen of Delicious Desserts agenda!! You never know who will be coming up before the event is over. So far we've seen desserts from Elizabeth, Brenda, Joanna, Annie, Tanya and today is Angela. All so yummy. And would be excellent with coffee! And I think we've covered my love of coffee situation.

It's a work day, so I better get a move on. We're having a busy week at work. It's Quilting in the Garden weekend at Alden Lane. There are so many wonderful events going on, you can find a schedule of them here.

I hope you enjoy last year's photos. This year should be just as fun, the weather has been absolutely perfect the past few days. Will I see you there? I'll be at the shop all day so please say HI if you come by!