I live in a charming beach town called Long Beach, Washington. Long Beach is on a Peninsula that is 28 miles long and 2 miles wide–just a little finger of land.  But, it’s a beautiful and diverse place.  Of course, I see it everyday.  Actually, lots of times I don’t see it, if you know what I mean.  But last weekend, an acquaintance was here with her husband.  They were celebrating their anniversary.  Virginia sent me photos that she took of the area, and it’s incredible to see “my hometown” through someone else’s eyes!

This is our photographer, Virginia, inside the trunk of a very large tree!

The three bodies of water surrounding the Long Beach Peninsula are the Pacific Ocean, the Columbia River and Willapa Bay. The southern most end of the Peninsula is attached to the mainland.

The bar, where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean is very treacherous.  North Head Light House guards the entrance from the north.

‘Cause you sure don’t want to run aground on these rocks!

Cape Disappointment Light House guards the river side.

Great name, Cape Disappointment.  Named by English Sea Captain John Meares.  He was looking for the Columbia River, decided this wasn’t it (even though it was), named the headlands and sailed off!

On the hike up to Cape D, you pass Dean Man’s Cove.

Baker Bay is a sheltered harbor.

It’s home to the Ilwaco fishing fleet.  This is salmon country.  Notice the fog just burning off.

Where there’s salmon fishing, there are also canneries.  I can’t believe how charming Virginia’s pictures make it all look!

This statue is of a California Condor.  It’s based on a description in the Lewis and Clark journals describing the “large buzzard” they saw feeding on a whale carcass.

Jim and Virginia had dinner at one of the port restaurants and snapped this nighttime picture.

The only high areas of the Peninsula are in Ilwaco–and they provide some great views.

This is looking south.

We have lots of conifer trees.

And lots of trees covered with lichen.

The English ivy may be pretty, but it’s a non-native, invasive weed!

Ah, the beach.

I really should go down there!

As you can see, we’re not in a very crowded area!

Sandpipers.

Some gulls.  I’ve been seeing these lately, and they’re not the usual California seagulls.

Some chainsaw art along the dune trail.

Here’s our common California gull.

Eeew!  I haven’t seen a jelly fish for a long time!

Low tide.

Early sunset.  While the rest of the nation has been sweltering this summer, we’ve pretty much been under a permanent fog bank with temps in the 50’s and 60’s.

Beach cottages.  We have a lot of grass covered dunes between the houses and the ocean here.

Weathered cedar shingles are the norm around here.

It’s such a great beach look.

It’s peak bloom time right now for the wild roses.

I love how something so ordinary can be so beautiful.

Sea captain?

Daisies are also at their peak right now.

And don’t you love the saturated color of these hydrangeas?

The wild foxgloves are almost finished blooming.

At the north end of the Peninsula is the village of Oysterville, the first settlement here.

At the local cemetery.

The historic Oysterville church.

Oystering is still big business on Willapa Bay.

Good advice!

Thanks, Virginia.  It’s so nice to see all the wonderful things in my own backyard through someone else’s lens.

A belated Quilt Market post.  Why? Because I spent the week after Market in Iowa!  Yes, IOWA!  And I loved it.  But more about that in an upcoming post–or two.

The day before Market starts is a crazy day of classes and presentation called Schoolhouse.  I presented two Schoolhouses, one for Fabric Shop Network on a program I’ve written called Stash Pot Pie.  The other was for Timeless Treasures, who manufactures my fabric designs.  My friend, Karen Montgomery, also designs for Timeless.  Her  presentation was right before mine.  We both showed up in the hallway a little early, only to discover we had dressed alike!

My new Dear Dorothy fabrics and quilt looked great in the Timeless Treasures booth.  It’s so fun to see my name up there–almost as much fun as seeing it on the selvage!  The quilt is a free to download pattern on my website, and, of course, kits are available!  The dresses are from patterns by Izzy and Ivy.

I also discovered some of my toile fabrics used by the talented designers from Beach Garden Quilts.

There was a new exhibitor there, Chitter Chatter Designs.  Mom’s the designer, but her daughter and her mother were both there helping her.

This was my favorite new booth, Hemma Designs.

I don’t know what I liked best–the fact the “Hemma” is Swedish for “At Home” or their fresh, new designs.

Make new friends, but keep the old…….

Here I am with Jill Mead, editor of Quilts and More, Elizabeth Stumbo graphic designer for Quilt Sampler, Linzee MacRae, Pam Viera and Monica.  Hmm, I wonder what’s afoot?

You probably already know that my sista friend, Monica, had her first fabric line debut at this market–Holiday Happy.

Her Gnome-A-Claus is so adorable!

I know someone who’d love a green sewing table!

And in the quilt exhibit area, was this quilt, entitled Remembering Sweden by Helena Sheffer.  If you’ve ever been to Stockholm’s Old Town, you’d recognize it immediately.

And, oh, I even had dinner in Hell’s Kitchen!

My mom and dad recently invited a group to a suite for a Mariner’s game.

It was great fun watching the game, even though we lost in extra innings.

The food was great, and so was the company.

I even wore a coat!

Bob loves the girls, you know!

I love it when the grounds crew performs while doing their job!

We had a visit from the Moose!

Even the big kids liked him!

When Sally, Kathleen and Kasi were here last weekend, we took a trip to Chez Monica.  It is a quilter’s paradise.  You could be in there for hours just soaking up mental image after mental image because everywhere you look there’s something to feed your soul.  Photos will never do it justice, but here are a few snaps to share for your enjoyment.

P.S. I’ve added more photos to the weekend post, courtesy of Kasi, so even if you’ve read it, you may want to go back.  Her photos are amazing!

We still had Sunday left, and, as promised, we started it off with a bit of a sleep in.  That was followed by Orange Rolls and Quiche–and I forgot to take pictures!

But, can you believe they’d been here two days and we hadn’t even walked across the lawn to the Quilt Studio?  I’m sorry they never got to visit Anna Lena’s, but this was the next best thing.

They were quite impressed by the rick rack holder Bob had built!

Kasi wanted to finish her wonderful Owl Quilt, so I gave her a quick lesson in stippling and off she went!

Didn’t it turn out fantastic!?!

Kasi intends for it to be a floor quilt.  Some of the squares are Minky–so it will really be tactile for the baby.

While Kasi was quilting, Kathleen was busy trying on my aprons.  Here’s the Saucy Circle Apron.

And the Lilly Apron made with my Butterfly fabric.

This one’s reversible, so she had to model both sides.

Kasi had seen my Garden Trellis quilt in Studio post, and had to bring the first quilt she ever made–a Garden Trellis quilt!  She made it for her mom many years ago.  It was easier to pin hers up than to take mine down!

Since she had only stitched in the ditch when she made it, we decided to put it on the long arm and quilt some flowers in it.

Won’t her mom be surprised!

Here’s Kasi getting a binding lesson.  I wish I had a photo of what Sally was doing during this time–she was Swiffering the floor!  Not that it needed it, of course!

Don’t you love Kasi’s embroidered jeans?  Melissa, this one’s for you!

We had a great late lunch at Full Circle Cafe in Ocean Park,then drove through historic Oysterville. The old church there is so charming.

And here’s one of my favorite houses.

It was all over too soon,but, let’s check Kasi’s list and see how we did.

Kasi’s list.

Tour a cranberry bog ?
Visit the beach ?
Meet Monica ?
Meditate in that fabulous craft space ?
Meet Poppy (now Lola)  Oh no, poor Lola!
Tour the little Swedish cabin ?
Sleep in ?
Stay up late ?
Drink wine – well, I think Lemon Drops count! ?
Eat yummy fun food at fun yummy restaurants ?
Shop all/any cute little stores in downtown Long Beach ?

Well, I guess it’s best to leave something undone–that way there can be a next time!

…come for the weekend.

I know Kathleen and Kasi through my sister, Sally.  They are both full of fun and crafty gals–and neither had ever been to Long Beach!  So, we’d been planning a weekend to get them here.

Kasi had a list of what she wanted to do on the weekend:

Tour a cranberry bog
Visit the beach
Meet Monica
Meditate in that fabulous craft space
Meet Poppy (now Lola)
Tour the little Swedish cabin
Sleep in
Stay up late
Drink wine
Eat yummy fun food at fun yummy restaurants
Shop all/any cute little stores in downtown Long Beach

I tried to accommodate them.  They arrived late Friday afternoon, and we started with a tour of the Swedish Log Cabin.

It’s mostly been winterized for the season, but they still had fun looking around.

I hope they appreciated that I was out in the pouring rain picking the last of my flowers for them!

Sally is more handy to have around than a Girl Scout (well, in our case, a Campfire Girl).  She brought her professional martini shaker.

So before we went out for dinner, we enjoyed lemon drops!

Then we were off to Jimella’s for a fine dinner!

We stayed up late, as promised, and looked at Sally’s photo albums and Kasi’s latest quilt–a work in progress for a friend’s new baby.

Saturday morning we slept in a little bit, but not so late we didn’t have time to eat.

We had a quick breakfast of pecan sticky buns…

….and fresh fruit.

Then it was off to see cranberry harvest!

Kasi and Kathleen went to walk on the beach while Sally and I came back here to get ready for high tea.

They loved seeing Sid Snyder Drive, the street named for my dad.

My mom joined us.  Our first course was Tomato Blue Cheese Soup for sipping.

That was followed by our sandwich plate–egg salad, tuna and cucumber/cream cheese sandwiches; carrot crudite and a currant scone.

And for dessert, a buche de noel.  I know, it’s not Christmas–so we decided it was a buche de autumn.  I made the mushrooms from almond paste.

While I did dishes, the others went to see my parents’ house….

… and the family grocery store, Sid’s Market (a highlight on any tour of the area!).

From there is was downtown Long Beach for some shopping.

Anna Lena’s Quilt Shop may be gone, but the fudge lives on–at Scrapuccino.

Then it was a trip to Astoria (and a lesson in Lewis and Clark).

But, the real reason for our trip was a visit to Monica and a chance to see her studio.  Ever the generous hostess, she had made Itty Bitty Poochie Bags for us–and filled them with m&m’s!

After filling our senses with all things good and wonderful, we were off to dinner at the Bridgewater Bistro.

Why, are those more lemon drops?

Our food was delicious–and we topped it off with tiny desserts.

Good food, good friends.  Does it get any better than that?

Then it was back here for a late night of show-and-tell from my vintage linen stash and some 1930’s quilts.

To be continued…….

Take a deep breath, grab a cup of coffee and sit easy–this is going to be a long post!

I got home at midnight last night from Quilt Market in Houston.  I had a fabulous time!  Here’s a recap of my days there.

I presented two talks at Schoolhouse.  One was one my new Redwork line and the other on a new Quilt Shop Program called Stash Pot Pie II

Karen Montgomery did a couple of Schoolhouses, too.  Here’s she’s showing her new fabric with Timeless Treasures.

Debbie Welsh (one of my two roomies) did two–Beginning Quilting by Machine and one on numbers–i.e. business stuff (eye’s glazing over here!)

Saturday morning, everyone was anxious to get in and see what was new!

Here’s my other roomie, Kris, hard at work ordering fabric.

Having fun at the Me and My Sister booth.

After a tough day on the Market floor!

Here’s how my quilts looked in the Timeless Treasures booth.

One year Houston had painted cows.  Now it’s painted globes.

Fun except for the 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity!

What I really mean is The Generosity of New Friends!

There are so many nice people in this world, and now I know three more of them–Sheri, Regena and Jodi!  Here they are with my “old” friends Connie and Robin.

I’d met Sheri and Regena oh-so-briefly when they came to the final Anna Lena sale, and I knew Jodi from her blog.  After my recent post about the apron program at Pomeroy House, Sheri emailed to tell me about a stack of aprons she had that had belonged to a friend, and I said, “Oh, I’d love to see them.”  That led to a visit yesterday from Sheri and the two others.  I was quite excited–a day of looking at old aprons and making new friends!  What could be better?  Well, sharing it with Connie and Robin seemed like a good idea, too!

I promised to make lunch, and the girls arrived just before noon.  It was fun to set a fall table.

I couldn’t believe that Sid’s Market still had strawberries, and they were nice ones, so I figured one more strawberry whipped cream cake was in order–probably the last one of the season.

But then, to my surprise, I discovered they had each brought me a gift!

Regena brought me her world famous chocolate chip cookies.  They are absolutely delicious and I’m wondering if I should hide them from Bob!

Now, amazingly, Sheri brought me a giant bag of vintage aprons.  The aprons I thought I was just going to have a look at–she gave them to me!  There were so many of them–more than two dozen.  And they were all different styles and eras.  Well, here, have a look!

There’s this wonderful aqua and orange one set off with the black panel in the middle.

And check out this vintage organza one that has a fancy hankie in the front.

And I love the patchwork style apron.  One of the fabrics is a novelty print with pianos and musical notes on it!

Every apron collection should have a gingham apron in it–and this one did–an aqua one!

It was decorated with ric rack–and the way the ric rack was stitched down was so adorable.

And here’s a pretty pink floral.

Do you remember cobbler’s aprons?  I do.  When I was a teenager working at my dad’s grocery store, I had to wear on everyday!

And look at this bib apron.  It has gathers over the hips.  Not the area I usually want to accentuate!

The print in this little pink number was sooooo cute–and the double rows or ric rack were sweet.

This bib style just says “grandma” to me.  The print was very pretty, but you could see by looking in the pocket how much it has faded from the original brightness.

Don’t you love the red and aqua print in this one?

The red insets in the side of this one made it look classy!

This one still has its tag attached–look by the left pocket.

This bib apron was made from quite a complicated pattern.

And this circle apron had a scalloped bottom edge.  Why didn’t I think of that for my Saucy Circle Apron!?!

Simple but classy.

There were lots more, and I love them all!

And, last but not least, I opened the bag from Jodi.  Inside was this adorable house wall hanging!  Of course the colors are perfect for my studio!

It was a delightful day.  Thanks, ladies!

Last weekend I had a wonderful day of quilting fun and relaxation at the Pomeroy House Living History Farm.

Connie and Robin were there, too.  Really, that’s them in the photo below!

The old farm is such a wonderfully charming place for a quilt show.

I love how the put the quilts on the fences and buildings.

Luckily, the chickens had some shade–it was a very hot day!

Seeing these makes me want to drag all my quilts outside.

Oh, I’m glad I don’t have to wash like this!

Ah, more shade!

I don’t know if I took this picture for Bob because it’s a tractor or for me because it’s orange!

Oh, there’s Connie and Robin.  I knew I’d catch up with them again!

More photos of quilt to come–and all the aprons in the presentation!

Today was our Redwork Club meeting, and we started by going to tea at All The Tea and China.  

Then we came back here to Studio Anna Lena for our “meeting,” which is really just show-and-tell!  It’s always fun to see what others are working on!  Linda has taken my Through My Window panel and embroidered it.  Don’t you love how she’s doing one extra little thing on each block?

Loretta brought a completed quilt top that she started in 2006.  She wanted our opinion about the dark blue border.  Everyone thought it was too dark, so she bought some of my Cornflower solid to replace it.  It’s a much better match.

Here are some of my favorite blocks from her quilt.

Loretta says this is her stitching.  I hope those are pins in her mouth and not chin whiskers!

We share more than just stitchery.  Robin just finished hand quilting this vintage 1930’s top.  She’s a wonderful hand quilter, and this quilt was a challenge because it didn’t lay flat.  But look at it now!  Amazing.

And here’s something very special.  Linda bought this hand crocheted apron at a garage sale and brought it for show-and-tell.  Then she gave it to me!  Thank you, Linda.  You know it will have a special home here.  And it’s nice to know that someone years ago liked orange, too!