Fun, fun, fun

Tomorrow I start a 3-day workshop with a quilt artist whose work I love, Gerry Chase. Here's one of her cool quilts here:



We'll be painting fabric at first, and then assembing quilts with what we've painted. And, armed with my supply list, I set off to my favorite art supply to gather a few appropriately stiff brushes and other goodies.

There, I met up with my buddy Rita for fun and a yummy deli lunch. I had a wonderful sandwich... ham and colelaw on sourdough bread. The coleslaw tasted particularly delicious -- and different -- ON the sandwich as opposed to along side.

From there, we hit a fabulous used book store, Treehorn Books in Santa Rosa.



I feel virtuous buying used books, and found some great treats including a book of horse stories for Caroline and a book filled with gorgeous photographs of leaves and pods. Then we went around the block to check out a new mystery/sci-fi bookstore and I came away with a few used Dick Francis novels I've not yet read. Score!

Then, of course, we needed sustenance so we ventured over to Peet's Coffee to try one of their Scharfenberger chocolate caramel "freddos."



Yep, it tasted as good as it looked.

Now I'm gathering supplies and headed off to rest up for a big day of fabric painting. And I'm going to take my camera and hopefully I'll remember to get it out and take pictures!

Great Mail

Coming home from vacation can seem like a bit of a let-down, even while it's also enjoyable to return to one's own home and bed and happy pets. But the post-vacation depression can be greatly diminished by finding some fun goodies in the mail when you return.

Look what was waiting for me!



Doesn't this look luscious? This book has great tips for getting really beautiful results from scrunching fabric on flat surfaces. You can order it from Jane Dunnewold's Artcloth store, here. I can't wait to experiment with these techniques.

And because I've been experimenting on the quilting frame, I ordered these from fellow Artful Quilter Patsy Thompson:



I've watched Volume 1 so far, and it has great machine quilting tips. This has great tips for new machine quilters, as well as some great hints for developing your own quilting designs for experienced quilters.

And then there's the etch-a-sketch present for Roger:



As soon as he opened it and skimmed through it, he made Pomegranate margaritas for us. Delish.

I guess the lesson here is that it's a good idea to do a bit of online shopping before vacation, eh?!

The week in pictures

We have just returned from

where we had a lovely, relaxing week with family.

We went here almost every day ...

where we did a lot of sitting, chatting, floating ...

and just gazing at the scenery.

In the late afternoon, we returned to the house, where the womenfolk changed into these pjs (thanks to Pajamagram.com)

(If you don't know me, I look exactly like this and I tend to stand around in this very pose a lot. Ahem.)

The men wore these:

(Yep, even slightly mortified teenager Sam, good sport that he is.)

So we lounged and drank these

and did more relaxing and chatting and laughing.

I did a whole lot of reading, on the beach,

on the deck, on the couch... where ever I could.

I read this

(Thanks, Deb, I LOVED it)... and this

and this

(very enjoyable British chick lit) and this

(another good book about books and readers), as well as this

and this.

My sister-in-law Diane gave me a new book of these

as she is addicted herself, so we sat around working on them at times, too.

I also found some time to listen to music on this

and I even caught up on a few episodes of this I'd not seen...

... thanks to the wonder of Itunes and the ability to download tv shows. (Why, oh why, was this show cancelled???)

We ate delicious food, including our favorite appetizer at our favorite restaurant, Sunnyside --

(that's fried zucchini, and I figure it's a vegetable so the fried part doesn't count as bad.)

After dinner we played games... this,

and this

and did a lot of laughing. I love playing family games.

I was voted the most cool mom because I have my own Nintendo DS

so I could play with Caroline and her cousin Dash. Mostly, we played this

which is another surprisingly fun little game.

I slept out on the deck in one of these

which became so popular that I was joined by various family members on various nights, all happy to listen to the quiet and gaze at the stars and breathe the pine-scented Tahoe air.

Perhaps not unrelated, I was having a strange shoulder problem which my acupuncturist sister-in-law Doreen treated

so at times I sat around feeling like this.

But it totally fixed my shoulder (which I think was a back-muscle thing) and I'm fine!

Before we headed home, we drove the 40 minutes to here for a few days of fun.

We stayed at the Silver Legacy, here --

and did a bit of playing on these.

It was fun and silly and REALLY REALLY LOUD.

Um.....no, we didn't win this. But we kept hoping.

We drove home, stopping at our usual lunch stop here

for these.

Yum.

So, now we're home, and it's back to work...

and household chores ...

and this.

But we're rested and happy.

A Scrap Bag Day

We're getting ready to head off for another week at Lake Tahoe...aren't we lucky? This time, it's the annual vacation with Roger's siblings and their families. We mainly hang out on the beach and watch Caroline and her cousin Dash catch crawdads under the pier. It occupies them pretty much the entire time, which is nice for us grown-ups who generally just want to sit and chat and read.

Anyway, it means the last few days have been errandy, chore-ish days. But I've got scraps of things to say before I head off:

1. Look! Crowded House has a brand new cd, called Time on Earth. I love Neil Finn and Crowded House so I had this on my Ipod in a shot. I'm looking forwarded to listening to it over and over again....hm, maybe in the car on the way up to the lake...

2. Recently, someone (Sorry, I forget who ... Deb, maybe?) posted a blog entry about The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I put it on my library request list (I adore how my library lets me request books online) and it arrived yesterday. I started it at bedtime last night, and it's LOVELY. I want to read it slowly to savor the writing and the atmosphere but I want to zoom ahead to see what will happen. And best of all? It's a book about books and people who love books. I LOVE books about books... you know, like the Bookman's Wake and other Bookman novels by John Dunning, or the mystery series about book seller Dido Hoare by Marianne Macdonald. To whomever it was that posted about this book: THANK YOU! It's just what I was in the mood to read right now but didn't know I was in the mood to read until I started it.

3. Which reminds me that I'm about to receive the new novel by Stephen L. Carter, called New England White. I loved his previous novel Emperor of Ocean Park, which was a dense, cleverly plotted story about a law professor tracing his father's history and encountering mystery after mystery.

4. After last Christmas Eve's matching PJ's for the family was such a success, I decided that it'd similarly amusing for the whole crowd at Tahoe. So, thanks to Pajamagram.com, I've ordered matching pajamas for the entire crowd. I mean, there we are for most of a week, sitting around every evening to play games or chatter or read. Can you just picture a bunch of people doing that in matching pajama? Goofy, I know, but it amuses the heck out of me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find pajamas that ranged widely enough (ahem) to fit everyone from male and female kids to the matriarch of the family, so I had to resort to one style for the females and another style for the males. Close enough, and still sufficiently matchy to be ridiculous which is what I'm aiming for. Fortunately, this crowd has a pretty good sense of humor so I think it'll be a hit. I'll keep you posted.

Relaxation ahead...for you all, too, I hope!

The Best Rant Ever

I can't imagine summing up the Bush Administration's "legacy" better than Keith Olberman at MSNBC here.

Really, you must go listen to this.

One Thing Always Leads to Another

That should be my theme these days. Seems like everything I start ends up taking an abrupt turn into something different. Sound familiar?

I've been practicing on the Hinterberg quilting frame, stitching along on a big piece of muslin. And this morning I thought that I'd finish it off, since I was approaching the end, so I can load something different. Well, I did what I've always heard NOT to do, and managed to start stitching with the presser foot UP. Yikes...what a big thread tangle THAT made. See those threads?



Just the tip of the threadish iceberg. And that led to mini-surgery on the machine (I now know how to unscrew and remove the feeddogs) to get it all out. Those few more minutes of sewing turned into a 45 minute machine repair session. Sigh.

And then there was Friday's episode in the garden. We have these two flowerbeds which have sorely needed planting. Sounds like fun, huh? Unfortunately, our soil is heavy clay. Seems like no matter how much mulch and planting mix I add in, it's still clumpy and heavy and dense and really nasty for digging. So, there I was, digging away with my small-ish ladies' shovel (no trowel will work in this tough stuff) and I pierced the main sprinkler line. Aarrgh. So that led to a trip to the hardware store and a line repair session.

Yesterday, Caroline was at loose ends (ah, summertime) so I suggested that she sew something. I was thinking of these squares of Pokemon fabric we found one day (she's BIG into Pokemon) and I figured it'd entertain her to arrange them and sew them together. A nice, easy project. But now, Caroline had other plans. She wanted to create a Pokemon scene, which led to her drawing her favorite characters to transfer to fabric...



...which led to coloring with fabric markers...



which will eventually lead to a big fusing session. Clearly, she gets the "Can I possibly make this more complicated?" thing from me.

Of course, sometimes this works in surprising good ways. This morning, we took Caroline off to a playdate at her friend Lani's house. And this is leading to a spontaneous dinner date with Lani and her mom Noriko at a local mexican place tonight. That'll be fun.

So, this afternoon I'm taking the opportunity to sew borders on the fruit quilts .... you know, the fruit quilt for Beth that came out of trying to use up the Kyle's Marketplace fruit fabrics... and the second "fruit basket quilt that came out of using up the scraps from Beth's quilt...

Well, that led to my ordering this stunning fabric:



(I mean, how could I resist?) for inner borders. And, as I was sorting through a fabric bin looking for binding fabric, look what I found:



Oh, lord. More fruit fabric. Where will that lead?

Does this happen to you, or is it just me?

If you have a "one thing leads to another" story, post it in a comment. Please! I'd love to know that I'm not the only one doing this to myself!

Let's Meet the Neighbors

It's the weekend, and it's a lovely day to stroll over and meet a neighbor or two!

Well, a virtual neighbor, anyway... Go ahead, don't be shy! You know you love it when someone posts a comment on your blog! So, use the Artful Quilters Blog Ring and click "next," "previous" or "random" until you get to a blog you've not read before or where you've never left a comment. And today, leave a comment to say hello! (You can say that Diane suggested you stop by!)

C'mon, it's a beautiful sunny day for a bit of visiting. Feel free to visit as many neighbors as you like, but be sure to comment to say hello!

Summer sipper

We have a new summer drink around here ... the Rose' Margarita.

Our neighbors served these at our July 4th block party, and what a hit they were. Light, refreshing, and of course PINK. No wonder I love them.

Here's how you make them--

Bottle of good dry rose' wine (750 ml, which is a typical wine bottle full) (We used Tin Roof Rose yesterday; today we used Coppola's Sofia Rose)
Same amount of margarita mix
1 can 7 up

Mix together and serve over lots of ice in big balloon wine glasses. Totally refreshing!

Guess what we had tonight with our hawaiian turkey burgers?!

Fruit Salad

... because that's what you do with leftover pieces of fruit, right?

I told you this fabric just won't go away. I took the leftover squares and strips from the previous (ahem) three fruit and veggie quilts and spent a happy hour yesterday putting them together. I figure this will make a happy donation quilt for some kid at the Valley of the Moon.

At least I am getting near the end of this fabric (although I did break down and order a piece of blueberry fabric for the bindings!)

Independence Week

Doesn't this make you feel all summery?

It is 4th of July week, and we are preparing for a First Annual Block Party on our little street. It should be an interesting day. The event has been spearheaded by a neighbor who is determined to out-celebrate a street a few blocks over which has a Big Fancy Noisy Block Party every summer. Seems to me a silly thing to be competitive about, but we've agreed to do our bit. The weather is likely to be very hot, so my idea to have a snow cone machine might prove to be quite brilliant.

Meanwhile, I am working on a flurry of motions in two different DWI cases. So, when you're out there celebrating summer and fireworks and independence and all, don't drink and drive. Trust me, you don't want the hassle or the legal bills.

I'm thinking I'm going to make a big sign for our front yard (and for our republican, Bush-supporting next door neighbor) to go up on the 4th that says "Peace is Patriotic."