You Want to Go Where????

I missed a day with a group of quilting/stitching friends because I had to go to a funeral. You know that saying where if you are gone from a meeting, all the best jobs (read --jobs no one else wants) will land in your lap? I get home and find out we are taking a trip to the Bay Area. Hmmm. What could I do but go with the flow cause who else is going to keep this group out of trouble?????

We had the best time! There is a wonderful shop in Livermore, In Between Stitches. If you are ever there, you MUST pay them a visit. Completely worth driving up just to go there and check out what they have--even if you don't go anywhere else. There were quilts all over the store that I wanted to snatch up and take home. I bought a piece of a really beautiful fabric and a pattern called "House on Edgewood Lane". My idea is that I will use the colors of our own house and name it with our street name. I am willing to wait until my husband paints the trim on the house. Possibility of a new quilt could help me spur him on!!

We also went to Thimblecreek in Concord. I have a little history with this shop. I have tried THREE times to visit and have found it closed on all occasions. I am from Concord and used to visit my friend from high school, Kim, who still lived there. When I heard the store had moved there from Walnut Creek, I was so happy--elated came to mind. I had gone to visit the store when it was in Walnut Creek with two friends, Tricia and Sandy, and loved it. It was also my one and only sighting of Alex Anderson. She came in to purchase fabric while we were there.

So, there I was in Concord and so close. The first time, there was some reasonable reason to be closed with an appropriate sign that I have since forgotten. I was disappointed to be sure, but understanding. The next time I called to make sure the store was still there. I didn't say I was on my way, but who imagined they would just close without a sign this time. More disappointment, but thought it was a coincidence. Little did I know that I am a Thimblecreek jinx! I went to Concord for a going away party for Kim who was moving to Colorado. I CALLED THE STORE and TOLD THEM I WAS ON MY WAY THERE! Were they open? Nope. They had a sign that read, "closed due to lack of business." What did they think I meant when I said, "I am over by Concord High School and am leaving right now."????? I was really angry and vowed never to go there again. In fact, I was passing by the shop and even ate a late lunch at a restaurant close by the first Saturday in April (refer back to paragraph one referencing the funeral....), but refused to be lured by the scent of a quilt shop....... I must admit that my daughter, who has been with me for every visit, blatantly refused to go there for a fourth time.

So where do you think my quilting friends wanted to go???? Thimblecreek. I was holding my breath as we drove up. I really expected it to be closed--even though I did call this time also, but not the day of......It is a cute shop--lots of great fabric, patterns and a lovely block-of-the-month. I bought a pattern, but loved the shop. I might point out that there were no other customers there when we came strolling in after 4pm (they are open until 5pm). We shopped. It was to their benefit that they stayed open this time. In fact, I am thinking that perhaps it is the daughter who is the jinx. She was with me all the other times and she was absent from this visit......Hmmmmm.

As we left Thimblecreek, our last stop, we stopped for Starbucks coffees. This is becoming a tradition as we have done this every time we have ventured out (trip number two if you go back and read "Obsessed" posted on March 14, 2011). I ordered a grande coffee frapacchino with whip cream. When it was pushed over to me, there was no whip cream. I asked the guy for the whip cream (I like just a little and usually ask for light whip cream meaning not so much, but I didn't go there as these people don't know me and wouldn't know what "light" meant). He seemed surprised that I didn't know that Starbucks doesn't put whip cream on a plain-jane coffee frapacchino. On what planet???? It isn't like I have ONLY ordered this in Sacramento. Since Starbucks appeared in our part of the world there has been whip cream!!! Granted the guy did put on the whip cream, but he didn't seem happy about it. What was it that makes me think I should go back to Concord? Am I just remembering a place that existed 32 years ago when I left and it is really a much different place now? There is a lot more traffic and it seems faster somehow. I think I will stay here in Sacramento.....

We did have a really great time, but I always do with this group of women. I am lucky that they want to be my friend...

Bay Area Tour:
Stop One: Sew Many Quilts in Tracy, CA
Stop Two: In Between Stitches in Livermore, CA
Stop Three: Wooden Gate Quilts (formally Quilter's Inn) in Danville, CA
Stop four: Thimblecreek in Concord, CA

We ran out of time to check out Mainstreet Quilts in Martinez, CA, but I'm sure there will be other opportunities.......

Rainy Days

I just couldn't make myself go out in the rain. According to my daughter, I am made of sugar and will melt in the rain. We had to have homemade pizza for dinner since I refused to go to the store.

I found these blocks that I began years ago. You cut out pieces for flowers and sew a large piece on, then a smaller piece and then a small piece on the top. You sew them raw edge so when you wash them they fray and resemble flowers. I have gotten bored by the idea and the pieces have sat around....until Saturday. I had 31 of the squares. I made three small quilt tops for our community service group with my guild. I have four ready to be quilted and three ready to turn in to our esteemed leader. So, I was busy working for others.

I am on edge over a meeting I am part of tomorrow. It was good to think of others instead of myself.

Have a lovely week.......

It is going to be a 3-day weekend

I am so happy. I have tomorrow off. I have extra vacation days and I have tried to take Friday's off because I get up really early and take the daughter to work. This makes me tired at work and so it seems like a great day to take off. The daughter fooled me this week by going to work really early on Wednesday instead of Friday. The trade off is I get to sleep in and the daughter is making me waffles in the morning for breakfast.

I am thinking that I should get out a project that is almost finished and just bite the bullet and finish something. Now that I have made this public by putting it here, I have to do it. I plan to not leave the house and drive any where tomorrow. I need to clean out the hallway so my husband can walk thru it (I have some fabric stacked there) and I somehow got myself caught up in three separate books. I began a series called the Spellman files. I am reading an autobiography about Robert Clary and I am halfway thru the 2nd in a tea series Gunpowder Green by Laura Childs.

Stay tuned.....

This is what I 've been up to lately....

This quilt is not community service. I posted on May 24, 2011 about making a baby quilt for my husband to give to a friend of his. He is being a bit secretive about whoever it is--and not because he is having some secret affair. So, I make the top, it gets quilted and I spend the time to tack the binding down by hand. It turns out really cute and the border fabric is princesses--just perfect for a little girl. It isn't as fancy as I might have done for someone I knew.... Saturday night I show it to my husband. He didn't seem all that interested. Now what I am thinking. He comes out later and tells me there are some new developments. The father is who he knows. That guy somehow ends up in the hospital and it is iffy whether he will live. So, here I am waiting to see what happens. I still don't know the guy's name.

This is upside down, but you can get the idea. I put a close up of one of the embroidered blocks below.

Here is a close up of the embroidered blocks for the quilt above. I was doing a block of the month off the Internet, but I tired of the baskets and just decided to stop midway and move on. I had six of them done and put them with a flowered fabric that I had in my stash.

This quilt was a collection of friendship stars that were part of an Internet swap I did a long time ago. I never could decide what to do with them since they didn't really match. The idea of the swap was fun. Someone out there will enjoy the blocks more than I did.

This community service quilt is 4.5" squares in flannel.

Our guild is trying to put together 100 quilts for the Citrus Heights Police to distribute. I understand we need them by November. I will try to make at least one for each month until then. It is nice to have a goal.

Family here

Cousins Shanon and Tan are here from Southern California visiting for the 3-day weekend. We played games last night--Hoopla, a quickie scrabble game and a great game called Imaginiff. I will be looking for the Imaginiff game for a friend of mine, Lisa. Lisa usually has a birthday party for herself in May. She treats us, her friends, to a fun-filled day--a trip to San Francisco, parties at her house. once painting pottery. This year she sent out an email saying there would be no party. Her sister was killed a couple of years back and the trial is this month. There was just too much stress for Lisa to add party planning on top of it all. So, I have been on the lookout for a special gift for her. Just a little something that would say, "I know how hard this time is on you and I remember you." I remember her sister too as she was a Julie like me. Lisa loves to play games. She plans these wonderful parties for couple friends (that would be me too with my husband) with good food and alcohol that always include games and prizes. One year I was partnered with Lisa's husband and we won--a Starbucks card. Anyway, I am thinking this game might just do the trick. If you are thinking that a quilt would be nice, I have already gone that route.

I might be stopping at Toys R Us today........

The Baby Quilt

I can put off until tomorrow what should have been done today with the best of them. In fact, I should be tacking down the binding on this quilt as we speak. One day my husband asked me if I would please make him a baby quilt. The baby is a girl. How easy would that be? Really easy it turns out. I actually had a quilt top ready to be quilted. It was a black on white fabrics with really bright fabric in a log cabin design. It was fabric left over from a top I made in a class. The story of my life.... a quilt top that is ready to be quilted and there it sits. But I am wandering off the point....

I took the quilt top over to my mother-in-law who said it wasn't really nice enough. It was said nicely as she showed me some nine patches she had left over and gave them to me. I did have a cute princess material that would be cute. So, I went home and ignored the whole thing. See, I wasn't that anxious to make a baby quilt for someone who I don't know. For some reason, every time I ask who this is, I get "oh, you don't know them." Now time passed and the baby was born. It really was a girl. I feel slightly guilty that I let this go, and made the top. Yesterday, I asked my mother-in-law if she was close to getting it quilted. She called me at 4pm to tell me it was done.

I will be tacking down the binding in a bit while I watch television. I still hate making things for people I don't know, but it is done. Lots of pink, princesses and pastel green. I hope the baby likes it.......

Julie

Moses

I don't know if this is only here, but Jesus is supposed to be coming to visit us on Saturday, May 21st. I made a Moses costume for a colleague who is having a party to welcome Jesus to our little world. Everyone must come in costume. I know someone else who is invited to the party and she will be Mary Magdalene. So, if we are still here on Monday, I will get to see pictures on Wednesday. On the other hand, I have a nasty cold and may be dead tomorrow, so for me it will be a moot point.....On Saturday I will be so virtuous--helping children make pillowcases for the sad and sorry people in Africa and then attending a baptism. How could Jesus not like that????

I have been busy with stuff (making Moses costumes)--and have been only doing embroidery. I am making a pillow. My friend, Imelda, gave me the fabric, the pattern and showed me her finished pillow. Funny thing, my pillow will look a lot like hers. So, we are at our embroidery group, Knoty-ladies, and Kim, also a friend, points out that I am copying Imelda. Isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery??? Especially since Imelda did everything except the embroidery for me. Darn her, I have to do my own work. What is up with that??? And, may I point out that I drool over Kim's stuff (quilting, decorating, gift ideas, etc) and I will be making a watermelon wall hanging JUST LIKE KIM'S! It is seriously cute. I plan to get started on it as soon as school is out and my friend Sandy is officially retired. We will make it together.......Sandy's will also look JUST LIKE KIM'S! Did I mention that Kim gave us the pattern and the ingredients to make our own after we drooled over hers????

I'm leaving you now to go lie on my bed and finish watching "Working Girl" while I apply Vick's Vapor Rub under my nose. I go to die quietly............Okay, not really quietly since NO ONE here is the least bit sympathetic. I had to call my mother-in-law for sympathy.......Be in good health.
Julie