Connie, Robin and I were on the road again recently, this time to Salem, Oregon for Quiltopia, a weekend quilting event there.

This was a perfect day for me because it combined all my favorite things—good friends, vintage quilts, old houses and high tea!  We started at Deepwood Estate.

The grounds were gorgeous.

I couldn’t believe there was so much blooming so late in the year.

We were ushered into the Carriage House for a lecture before tea.

Our speaker, Vickie Simpson, was even dressed in period clothing for her presentation.

She gave a good talk about the history of quilting and had some lovely Dresden Plate quilts displayed.  This one had an ice cream cone border on three sides.

I’m familiar with this pattern as Fancy Dresden Plate since it has ellipses in the center and pointed pieces at the four compass points.

The Dresden Plate below is button hole stitched in place and has a bubble gum pink sashing.  It’s a simpler block and has a simpler variation of the ice cream cone border.

Here’s a pretty variation where every other blade (almost) is consistent.

I like the different pinks here.  And notice that since she had an odd number of blades, two solids ended up side by side.

Here’s an orphan block.

She also brought this satin crib quilt that her grandmother had made for her.

Then, we were take to the big house.

It’s a gorgeous old Victorian.

The tables were beautifully set.

I loved the pink sugar cubes!

Connie and me, waiting for our first course!

Connie and Robin.

Between courses we were treated to more vintage quilts, like this Snow White one.

Our first course was heirloom tomato soup and a cheese scone.  Delicious.

I always love seeing Sunbonnet Sue in her many forms.

And I was delighted to see this fabric with the four suits of cards on it!

Oh, our main course!  We had puff pastry filled with mushrooms, quiche and a deviled ham sandwich.  Once again, delicious!

This quilt had Sunbonnet Sue and several different butterfly patterns…

…and a terrific looking “tablecloth” print on the back.

Dessert was a spiced cake roll.  Did I mention, the food was delicious!?!

A traditional butterfly quilt.

Then it was time to tour the house.  The mantle was lovely.

I’ve seen lots of delicate hot chocolate sets, but never one with a matching china tray.

There were quilts displayed around the house, like this one on the bannister.

Oh, my.  Imagine having a waist that size?

A pretty Trip Around the World.

The yellow china on this table was so pretty, and looked so great displayed against the yellow fan quilt.

The ivy wallpaper was very nice.

And I loved this green light fixture.

This light makes a really cool pattern on the ceiling!

Ah, I could happily sleep under this Irish Chain quilt and let someone bring me some scones in bed in the morning.

I have this very same pillow!

Doll quilts are always charming.

This cactus basket is very pretty.

As is this Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  I love how the hexagons have been fussy cut.

I covet this doll bed!

Now that’s a vintage sewing machine!

There’s more Quiltopia to come!

…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…….

Our two oldest grandkids, McKenna and Justin, have been here visiting for a week.  Little brother, Jason, wasn’t very happy about being left home!

On our way home, we stopped in Seaside to break up the trip, and took time for a ride on the carousel.

I just love this photo.  We had to stop to watch the Young’s Bay Bridge be raised for a fishing boat to pass under.  Must be a guy thing!  McKenna and I waited in the car.

The favorite and most requested activity during the week was Gator driving.  I use it to water and fertilize around the yard.  As you can see, Justin liked being in charge of the spray nozzle!

While McKenna and I did a lot of Gator driving, Bob and Justin spent a lot of time on the John Deere A, now named Henry.  Bob was trying to fire it up one day and said, “Come on, Henry,” and after that, Justin called it Henry!

We baked Snickerdoodles, Papa’s favorite.  Okay, so I had a few, too!

McKenna made an apron from my Daisy A Day apron panel.

Here she is modeling the finished product.  I was so proud of her.  She did all of the sewing except attaching the waist band.  Her top stitching was lovely!

She chose this fabric for the reverse side, and we added the ric rack.  How fun!

We spent one whole day at Vista Park on the Columbia River.

It’s amazing how kids can spend hours at the water’s edge.  And grandparents can spend hours watching them and enjoying every minute of it!

We had a picnic and used the same plastic picnic plates that I ate off of as a child when we’d go to Chinook Park.

Now this was a bit of a stretch.  I had to put curlers in McKenna’s American Girl Doll’s hair.  Heck, I don’t even put curlers in my hair!  If it takes more than four minutes, then it’s not the hairdo for me!  But, it was in preparation for a very important party.  We invited the dolls and Great Grandma Bette for a tea party in the log cabin.

We spent the morning cleaning the cabin and picking flowers.  Of course picking flowers involved Gator driving.

Melissa and Kerstin wore matching dresses.

We had tea sandwiches and scones.  Our table had a daisy theme–daisy fabric in the table cloth, daisies on our bouquet, and daisies on my 1974 wedding china.

When Grandma Bette arrived, she was chauffeured to the cabin in –what else– the Gator!

She brought hostess gifts for both McKenna and me.  McKenna got a piece of cut glass that Grandma Bette has had for over 40 years.  What a treasure!

We didn’t forget dessert.  We had a strawberry whipped cream cake!

Yesterday, before heading out, we took one last Gator ride.  We went to the neighboring cranberry bog.

We took a little trip down a grassy road into the woods, and guess what we saw–a black bear!  It might have been this one, that son Doug snapped a  phone photo of in our yard last spring!  The bear ran off into the woods, and we turned around real quick!

We met their parents in Portland yesterday for the exchange.  Looks like Jason is happy to have his siblings back!

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!