…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…….

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!

Aka Guild Fun

 

Recently my friend Robin gave a presentation at our Guild about block exchanges.  

You see, she belongs to a group called The Ruthless Quilters (Ruth moved to Idaho!) and every year they do a block exchange.  Robin picks a block and everybody makes a specific number of blocks.  Then they trade blocks so that everyone has blocks made by everyone else.  Now each person has exactly the same blocks, but how they put them together is up to them.  

This was my favorite of the exchange quilts that Robin brought for show and tell.  No, I don’t think the color orange influenced me one bit!  Isn’t it amazing what different people did with their blocks?!?

June 14th is Flag Day!

And we’re invited to a garden party at our neighbor’s house.  I dug deep in my closet and found this dress.  Too cute, huh!?!

How great is this!?!

Last Christmas I did a little give-away here on my blog.  It was for a Twinkler like this one.

You might not be able to see in the photo, but there are three fabrics in the Twinkler–Blue Square Dance, Orange Square Dance and the print I call Hollywood.  The Twinkler was won by Judy in Sedro-Woolley.  

Well today in the mail, what should I get?  A most adorable pincushion/thread holder made by Judy.  She used the fabrics from the Twinkler.  She even used the rick rack that it was tied with.  

Don’t you love the friends you make quilting?  And they just seem to know what will touch your heart.  This is the second pincushion I’ve gotten in the mail–and they couldn’t be more perfect gifts, because I’d never make one for myself.  

Thank you, Judy.

aka a quilt in a hurry

 

Every year my dear friend Pat makes a quilt to donate as a fund raiser to a golf tournament.  The tournament is held in Minnesota and named for her brother.  And each year I quilt the quilt for her.  She gives me the top months in advance, but I always wait until the last minute to get it done.  This year was no different, but when I went to the quilt cupboard to get it the other day, it was nowhere to be found.  You can’t imagine the searching that has gone on–all to no avail.  So I made a distress call to Center Diamond and asked them to send me golf fabric and coordinates.  They had a large Alexander Henry print called Augusta.  I took all they had.  This quilt is the result.    I’m still heartsick about Pat’s quilt top.  My only hope is that it turns up and the quilt for next year is already to go–right on the quilt machine, that is!

It’s wonderful to have talented friends!

 

For more than ten years now I have belonged to a Redwork Club.  It started when I had the shop, and we continue to meet each month.  It’s really become more than a Redwork Club.  We do all kinds of embroidery and while we often have a projects, we love to share show-and-tell of anything needlework that we’re doing.  This is some of what was shared at our meeting.

Linda W. has taken the Through My Window panel and added her own special touches to it!  Not only is she embroidering the whole design, for each month she is adding a little something extra–black eyes on the snowmen, satin stitched hearts for February, a green shamrock for St Paddy’s Day and a purple Easter egg.  Don’t you just love them!

Ethel K. has completed our last years project–Playmates.  She made it for her great-granddaughter, Ellie.  

I’ll share more next month!

A couple of years ago three women who came to one of my retreats kept talking about their quilt guild, The Blockheads.  At some point the question came up of how many members the guild had.  The answer?  Three!  We had more laughs over that, and it got me to thinking.  While I love being a member of the Peninsula Quilt Guild, it might be fun to be a part of a mini guild, too.  So, the MG’s were born!  We’ve one-upped the Blockheads–we have four members!  In fact, we’ve gotten together with the Blockheads for a couple of rumbles.

Last year the MG’s launched their first world tour.  I’m not sure what happened to the photos from that trip, but it was a smashing success–right down to our custom made shirts.

Connie, one of the MG’s, had deserted us for a warmed clime, and headed to Arizona in November–just to spend a few months basking in the sun.  but, lo and behold, she and Davey bought a house!  Now the rest of us really needed to see this house–and the sun.  Those of you in the Northwest will understand.  So, the second world tour was launched–The Psychedelic Sunshine Tour!  First we ordered new shirts.

Unfortunately, you can’t see the “bling” on these shirts, but they each have a crystal peace sign on them!

Monica, Robin and I winged our way to sunny Phoenix.  Connie was a fabulous hostess, driving us all over creation to visit great quilt shops and great restaurants.  What more could you want?  Perhaps a visit to the Mariner’s spring training facility?

We loved the German restaurant in downtown Glendale, and I don’t think our shirts attracted attention to us.

But, health enthusiasts and nature lovers that we all are, we went on a nature hike to enjoy some of the local flora.

Okay, so it WAS in a parking lot, but we did get out of the car and take pictures!

The sun set too soon on our fun weekend.  Thank you Connie, Thank you MG’s