Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco

On Wednesday we decided to rent bicycles for a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito. It seemed like a good idea at the time!

For 4 women that don't do much biking it was a real workout. We spent so much time walking our bikes up hills that we decided we had invented a new sport called Bike Walking. (click photos for larger view)



Don't we look a little cold? (l-r - Joanne, Frances, Karen, me)




Once in Sausalito we took the ferry back into San Francisco and enjoyed cruising by Alcatraz and seeing the Bay Bridge close up.

On Thursday we took a full day tour of the city and Muir Woods. We actually wanted to take the tour the first day we were there but that didn't work out. We saw some sites we'd already seen, but it was still good. We even got to go inside one of the famed Victorian homes.


I never visited Muir Woods when we lived in the Bay area so it was a treat to see. The redwoods are amazing.



Here are Joanne and Frances enjoying the beauty.




While walking through the woods we met 2 couples from Iowa that were really a hoot. They kindly took a photo of the 4 of us standing in this tree.




We then took a photo of them. I promised that I'd post the photo on my blog of the Iowa Winos (as they called themselves) and I also promised I wouldn't mention that one of their group had arranged for the rental car to be waiting in San Diego, instead of San Francisco!


One of the last stops on our all day tour was an overlook between Muir Woods and San Francisco. It was windy but beautiful.

San Francisco

We arrived in San Francisco safely late on Monday. Both of our flights were delayed because of bad weather in Atlanta, so it was a very long day.

Here are Karen, Frances and Joanne in the Charleston airport. Everyone looks so happy because we hadn't learned about the flight delays yet!



We were major tourists today. It was very windy and chilly - especially along the waterfront. No trip to San Francisco is complete without spending time at Fisherman's Wharf.






We also took the required cable car ride to Union Square and bought chocolate at Ghirardelli square. Through out the day we saw our share of the unique people that make up San Francisco. I think my favorite was the man earnestly playing his violin - but it had no strings. The only sound coming from his instrument was that of the bow rubbing against the bare wood of the violin. The panhandlers are getting more honest. One fellow's sign said "please donate to alcohol research." Ahh...San Francisco...there's nothing like it.

California here I come...

Tomorrow I leave for California with Karen, Joanne and Frances. We will be spending 4 nights in San Francisco and then 2 nights in Monterey before checking in at the Asilomar Conference Center for 5 days of classes at Empty Spools Seminars.

My class is Fabric Collage with Susan Carlson. Karen is taking a class with Janet Fogg and Frances and Joanne are taking a machine quilting class with Jill Schmuacher.

It was really hard to pack my supplies for this trip because I wanted to bring my ENTIRE fabric stash. I would have had to charter my own private plane to do that. I'm sure I'll get there and realize I have all the wrong fabric for my project, but I'll just have to make do.

Yesterday some of the TTT gang went on an outing.



It's sometimes like herding cats to get the group together for a photo. In the back (l to r) are Frances, Virginia, and Betsy. In front are Maureen, Joanne, Sheila, and Karen. Missing from this photo are Janice, Cindy, me, Judy and Jolene. Someday we'll get the entire group together for a photo!

Birthday Boy

Today is Craig's 36th birthday. I have no idea how he got to be that old!

In honor of the day I thought I'd share some photos of his early days in Scotland. He was born in Dunoon Scotland and we lived there until he was 18 months old.

This was his first professional photo. His hair looks like it had a red tinge in this photo but it was just the way the color was adjusted.


I knitted this blue bunting while I was pregnant. I sure was taking a chance making it blue because back in the old days we had to wait until the baby arrived to find out if it was a boy or girl. We brought him home from the hospital in this bunting.


We had a traditional British pram for him and it got used on a daily basis. Because our fridge wasn't much bigger than a dorm sized fridge I would have to grocery shop nearly every day. In the pram Craig would go and we'd walk to the shops in town. Most of the shops were quite small so prams would not fit inside. The prams would be left outside the shop (with the baby still inside) while patrons were inside shopping. Often you'd see someone leave the baby outside but bring the dog in.


Happy Birthday Craig!

Lax blogger

The QuiltArt list has been talking about blogging and whether most bloggers end up quitting after a short time. The conversation made me feel guilty because I know I've been slacking off on my blog lately.

I'm always of the belief that without photos nobody is interested in a blog, but I haven't done any new work lately so don't have any quilting photos.

Instead, I'm posting a photo I came across as I was cleaning out some files. This is Mark, the best man at our wedding in 1972. Isn't that 'suit' just too much? the jacket was that heavy double knit polyester. I'm especially grateful that the pants were not of the same print! (click on photo for larger view - if you dare!)




We had an open bar at our wedding and it looks like Mark is taking full advantage of the situation. He probably was trying to drink away his shame at wearing that outfit!

A day in the life of Hayden

Hayden had a busy day today.

For lunch she had some spaghetti that was left over from Noah's visit to an Italian Restaurant. I thought the noodles had all been cut up before I heated it. Guess I was wrong.



She was modeling her tutu when she came across a magnifying glass. She spent a lot of time examining everything within reach.



She decided she needed a closer look at my camera while it was in use - which made for a neat photo.

3 weeks and counting

In 3 weeks I leave for a trip to California along with 3 others of the TTT gang. We will fly into San Francisco and be tourists for 5 days. We then will drive down to Monterey and play for a couple of days until we report to Asilomar Conference Grounds for 5 days of classes offered by Empty Spools Seminars.



When I lived in California I was able to attend a session of Empty Spools every year. I knew that it would be the thing I missed the most when I left. I'm so excited that a group of us is going to be able to go. The other 3 have never attended so I hope their experience will be as great as I keep promise them it will be!

I'm so looking forward to the trip and to seeing the beautiful scenery again.






Now, if I can only figure out what to pack for my class. In the past I could drive to Asilomar so I could bring half of my fabric stash if I wanted. How I'm going to get all the fabric I want into a suitcase is a dilemma.

Blast from the past

I recently came across the email address for an old friend. Dave served aboard the USS Canopus with Jerry back in the early 70's while it was tied up in Scotland.


We made good friends during that tour of duty - some of whom we still hear from at the holidays.

Dave emailed me this photo which was taken at a department picnic in August '73. I'm on the left, the middle is Colleen and the right is Jeanne. The little blond boy in the front is Coleen's son. I can't believe how young I was. And that hair! (click photos for larger view)




Jerry is on the right in this photo. He sure was skinny!




What fun it was to see the photos Dave sent.

Lazy evening

This is how Grandpa and Hayden spent part of their evening last night. I'm not sure which one of them fell asleep first! Aren't they sweet?

Back from retreat

I've been offline for a number of days for two reasons. One - my laptop died a week or so ago and I just replaced it today. Two - the TTT (Tuesday Thimbles and Threads)gang just spent several days at Camp St. Christopher having a mini quilt retreat. The 12 of us started laughing on Sunday when we arrived at the camp and we didn't stop until we left for home on Thursday morning. What a wonderful group of friends I have!

St. Christopher is located on the barrier island of Seabrook Island and we were able to enjoy our ocean views from our sewing room. Several nights we had beautiful sunsets. (click photos for larger view)





I brought a couple of projects with me.
These colorful stars were a kit I purchased at a shop in Tenn. I don't usually buy kits but this was on sale really cheap, so I went for it. Karen suggested that I alter the kit plan by adding wonky black borders around the stars. I think it's a good idea, so I plan to do that.




I purchased this next kit several years ago at 50% off from an on-line source. It calls for much more complex piecing than I usually do. I spent the last day of the retreat tearing apart 20 blocks because I'd put them together wrong. Very frustrating, but I think the end result makes a very sweet quilt.



It was a great week!

The height of style

This is a photo of my nephew Eric and his wife Melissa. I snagged this photo off Eric's facebook page...or was it Melissa's? Anyway, isn't it a hoot? I particularly like how the color of the hat coordinates with Eric's tie.



I found a source for the Aretha hat but can't figure out how to photo shop it onto a photo of me. Probably a lucky break for anyone who stops by to read this blog! Eric & Melissa make much better hat models than I would.

What not to say

A member of my guild splinter group passed away the other day. It wasn't unexpected as she had cancer.

Several of us went to the visitation at the funeral home last night. After paying my respects to one of Marge's sisters she said "thank you for coming." Old foot-in-mouth Corky immediately responded "thank you for having me." Well, could I have said anything more stupid? When will I ever learn to think before I speak??

Celebrity look alike

Who do you look like? According to the website MyHeritage I look like these celebrities:



Not sure how I feel about some of these people, but I'm afraid I do see a bit of resemblance between my photo and Roseanne's.


Here's Jerry's list of people:


I see less resemblance here than I do with my matches.

Who do YOU look like?

Do you want a scoop?

We owned the world's oldest ice cream scoop. It was of some odd metallic material that seemed to rub off the scoop onto the ice cream. Most unappetizing. The last time we had ice cream I told Noah that on the next gift giving occasion I sure would like a new ice cream scoop. Well, for my birthday I received not one but EIGHT ice cream scoops! Craig said he visited a bunch of kitchenware stores in the area to get a proper assortment. (yes I know the smallest one is probably really supposed to be a melon baller, but it's the perfect Hayden sized scoop.)



We tried out several of them to scoop the ice cream to go with my birthday cake. (click photos for larger view)



If you ever need an ice cream scoop, give me a call. I can probably help you out!

Birthday girl

Today I celebrate my 57th birthday. My brother Claude left me a happy birthday message this morning and stated he knew that it was a significant birthday what with me turning 60. He thinks he's such a card, but all I have to do is remind him that he's 4 years older than me and that usually shuts him up.

Here I am blowing out the candles on some long ago birthday cake. That's my good friend Liz on the left with the birthday hat on. I'm pretty sure the guy on the far right - the one in the striped shirt - is the aforementioned Claude (you know, the guy that will always be FOUR years older than me.)(click photo for larger view)



Liz and I both moved out of Detroit as adults and it has been years since I've seen her. Liz, I know you've visited my blog in the past and if you're reading this, please drop me a note. I miss you!

My big plans for the day are to eat junk. I've been dieting for several months but tonight I plan to have pizza and cake & ice cream.

We have a name

After much more angst than it deserved, I finally decided on a name for my Darned Quilt: Orange Fizz.

Now, I need to get busy on some of my other UFO's.

The family expands

On Friday my nephew Kevin (my brother Ed's son) became a Dad for the first time when his son Ronin was born. I think this photo of father and son is so sweet.


Ronin weighed 9lb 10oz and was a bit over 22 inches long. This photo of him with his Grandmother Rosemary shows how big he is!



Kevin got Rosemary's red hair (although it's sure hard to tell in the photo)so it's a possibility that Ronin will also be a redhead.

More on naming quilt

I've had lots of great suggestions for naming my darned quilt. I hadn't considered the cosmic aspect of the work and the suggested names that related to that aspect made me look at the work differently.

Jerry gave me a humorous suggestion that keeps sounding better and better to me: "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" I wonder if I'd be sorry using that name.

Please help name me

I can't believe I've actually finished something. I picked up this unfinished project last week and am surprised I actually got it done. (and yes I did end up mitering the border)

(click for larger view)


As I mentioned in my earlier post about this work I started it in a Quilt University class called Darned Quilts with Dena Crain. In order to make the circles (which Dena calls Bubbles) I cut out the shapes and then used same sized circles cut from elsewhere in the quilt to plug the holes. The circles/bubbles are sewn in using the darning stitch on the sewing machine.

I first considered naming this "Those Darned Bubbles" but now am not sure I really like that name. Now I'm considering "Bubblicious" or "Tiny Bubbles" or "A Bit of the Bubbly" What do you think? I open to any and all suggestions!

Old projects

One of my goals this year is to "stop starting projects and start finishing some" To that end I pulled out a project that's about a year and a half old.

I started this in a Quilt University class called Darned Quilts by Dena Crain. It was the first session of the class and I was amazed at the wonderful quilts that resulted. All I accomplished by the end of the 4 week class was to construct the background. I pieced it out of fabrics that I dyed in another QU class.

Last week I sat down and embellished the background - adding the ribbons, rickrack and embroidery stitches. Then, I cut the circles out of the quilt (Dena calls them bubbles) and swapped them out - plugging the holes with a same sized circle from another location. The circles are stitched in using the machine's darning stitch - thus the name Darned Quilts.

I think I'm going to redo the border. Now that it's on I think I should have mitered the corners. What do you think? (click for larger view)




Here's a detail.



I think I'm going to name this "Those Darned Bubbles" but I'm not 100% sure yet. Dena recommends just some simple curved line quilting - which suits me just fine.

Another project I've been working on is an outfit for Hayden. Chrystal, the kids, and Chrys' folks are going to Disney World over the upcoming 3 day Martin Luther King holiday. I found this Disney princess fabric and decided to make something for her to wear on the trip. We tried it on over the top she was already wearing - it doesn't really have pinkish/orangish fabric at the neckline. The photo doesn't show the top's bottom border which is made of the same fabric as the yoke. I also made a pair of pants from the yoke/border fabric.



What have YOU been working on?