So Busy...

...but not with quilting, unfortunately.  We are back in California at our property in Plumas County, better known as Butterfly Valley.  From the air, where our property is (just outside the small town of Quincy), it looks like butterfly wings, hence the name. However, its been called Butterfly Valley since before airplanes. How did they know???

We own the back half of the second meadow--48 beautiful acres, most of which are meadow with about 10-15 being timber. We have been making trips here and taking stuff North, stuff to the dump, stuff to metal recycling and selling/giving away stuff as well. Dennis has been here for 38 years--there's a lot of stuff!!

I did manage to sneak away for several very important meetings--like dinner with a good friend and lunch with one of my customers (Carolyn made me potato soup!!) and I even went to the School House Quilters get together before having to leave early to head to the Fish & Game Commission meetiing (I'm still doing their minutes!)

The decision has been made to put Butterfly on the market; a hard decision for us both. I love it here and I have so many memories, it will be hard to say goodbye. But life goes on and you have to move forward.

We moved into this house before it was complete and then we never got around to finishing the trim. The doors look so beautiful trimmed--I wish we had done this while we lived here so we could enjoy it!

We are headed back to Sequim soon and then I'm off to another great time at the Quilters Dream Retreat just outside of Payallup, Washington. This is my second year and I have several projects lined up to take with me. I'm really hoping to finish my Judy Niemeyer Agave Garden quilt while I'm there, and hopefully a few others. I'm also taking a class on how to turn a Jelly Roll into this cute floor mat.

Dory

Empty Spools Seminar with Sally Collins

Empty Spools is an expensive vacation, but if you're spending it with Sally Collins and a good friend, its priceless! Sally is such a fantastic teacher and so nice...hard to believe that anyone could honestly be that nice, but she is. Classes start at 9 a.m., you get a break for lunch and they're over at 4. Last year, my teacher strictly adhered to those times. Not Sally. She was in class before breakfast and stayed every night until way past 9 p.m.

This was the quilt that our class was based on. However, before we even started, we had a basic drafting lesson and then we all changed her block to whatever interpretation we wanted.

We made mock-ups of our block, created templates, auditioned fabric and then finally pieced it together. Sally gave lots of instruction about accurate piecing, pressing and the perfect 1/4" seam. Due to my lack of planning, it didn't take long before I realized that the fabrics I'd brought were all wrong. This quilt needed "serious" fabrics and I had grabbed brights.

First "draft":

Second:

See what I mean? It needs serious fabrics, like maybe some beautiful greens, grays, whites and a little blue like the colors of our meadow after a snow storm. One of the best parts about all of this was the experience. I will redraft my block, lose the star in the middle, and start over again. Another terrific benefit: the new friends I made there.

This was the view from our classroom. We were in the back of the main hall with this lovely view of the ocean. Our room was close by and had a fireplace! Every day the cleaning staff put in one of those bags you just light and watch burn, and every night we did just that.

This is one of Sally's quilts. Looks like your normal lonestar, right? Wrong!! The diamonds in this lonestar are only 1/2 inch (yes, inch!) in size. 

Company Came...and went

I had so much fun with Kristina and Shannon that I still haven't caught up!  They arrived on Thursday afternoon...both looking exactly as their pictures. (No Shannon didn't wear this hat all the way from Reno!) Although we'd never met each other in person, it was as if we'd known each other forever!

Thursday we hung out and sweltered in the yurt for a bit; then it was off to my Guild meeting.  I drug them along since I was both dropping off and picking up quilts.  Kristina is actually a member; she wanted to go to the retreat...(note to self: remind her to sign up if she's coming.)




Friday the real fun began!  We played in the yurt in the morning with Shannon showing us tricks and tips and then Kristina did some playing and demonstrating of her Quiltazoid.  I even talked her into leaving it so that I could play with it after she'd gone.  The pictures are of a couple designs we did and then filled in--Shannon even tried some thread painting.

While she was here, Shannon taught me how to needle-turn applique (yuk--not my cup of tea) and how to English Paper Piece (much more my style).  Friday night Dennis and I went to bed around 11; at 2:30 he woke up and noticed lights on.  Then he woke me up...those girls were still up playing!!  I think that was when Kristina painted Shannon's toe nails that lovely shade of green!!

The girls got to meet the ponies and Shannon insisted on playing with them as if they were dogs.  They weren't sure what to make of her, but I do think Emma enjoyed it.  She is so spoiled, she loves any attention.

And, of course, I got special presents while Shannon was here too!  First, she brought me this lovely little "train case," which now houses my English Paper Piecing supplies.

Then she made me a cover for my sketch book from my very most favorite fabric in the whole world.  It was so painful watching her cut it; but I'm so happy she did.  Isn't it beautiful??First she had to quilt it...

   

Then she put it all together. The pocket on the inside holds all my colored pens.  We bought the sketchbooks in Reno, so Kristina will have her very own too!!

For those of you not from this planet that don't recognize the fabric, it's Laurel Burch's Mythical Horses.  She came out with this design shortly before she died and I've collected yards of every design and colorway I can find.  Until my sketch book, I've never cut it up...I do, however, take it out and pet if often!!

The three of us went to a quilt show in Reno where not only did we spend too much money, but Shannon bought a basket like mine and then had to figure out how to get it home. Did you know you can get them wet, squish them for shipping, then get them wet again and reshape them? No?? Me neither.  That's what she did though, and it worked.

Those of you that follow Shannon's blog know that not only is she a fabulous quilter, but she also hunts...with a gun *yikes!* Before she got here, we'd had a visit from a bear (he left a large deposit by the barn)and a mountain lion was in the valley (he'd attacked a dog). She was really hoping to see the bear; knowing  that seeing the cat was pretty much impossible.  I was unable to provide a bear sighting, but one evening as I want to the yurt, I heard a rattle--just like what you hear on tv in the old westerns.  A snake was right by our back door.  Shannon and Dennis dispatched him to the other side rather quickly.  Shannon really wanted to remove the rattles, but figured getting them through security at the airport could be an issue.

Shannon's last day here we spent shop-hopping in Gardnerville and Reno. It was so much fun to have her here.  Now it's my and Kristina's turn to go to Georgia...but NOT in the summer!! I'll leave you with one last shot of our play time in the yurt.  We had such a good time!!

Company's Coming

Shannon (aka Doodlebug) and Kristina (Froggy Bottom Quilting) are coming to visit.  They'll be here on Thursday and I'm so excited.  Imagine, the fun we'll have and the things we'll learn and the great time that will be had by all.

Of course, with company coming, it means I have to clean my house...YIKES!  Its been awhile since I've actually, truly cleaned.  Do you have any idea how much dirt seeps through the cushions onto the outside cover of the sleeper in the sofa?  Let alone the dog hair that gathers under the sofa, just waiting for you to move it with company here.

I"ll leave you with this photo of the section of my house that is now relatively clean.  I say relatively, because my floors will never be clean, shiny and dust free.  I live on a dirt road with two dogs and a husband in and out constantly...shiny floors are not in my foreseeable future!

Moose Smoochies!

Are moose smoochies a noun or verb? Interesting question...well, maybe not to you, but.  My good friend Shannon often signs her post sending me "moose smoochies."  I, of course, return the sentiment with "pony smoochies" (what else?)  Shannon was in New York recently teaching classes and found these while she was there:

I realize it doesn't show up well from this picture, so here are the items included in the package I received just the other day.  First was this card with a Sunflower on it...I adore sunflowers and I'm going to frame it and put it in my studio.  The "fish" on the envelope is "Dory Fish" from Finding Nemo. Shannon's longarm is named "Nemo" and she often calls me "Dory Fish" when she thinks I'm being silly. (go figure!) They're both lying on a gorgeous FQ of fabric that has butterflies on it...for Butterfly Valley (I live in Butterfly Valley).  And finally, there's a tube of "something,"

Its a tube of Mad Gab's blackberry flavored "Moose Smooch." Isn't it great???  Thanks, Shannon...I love it!!

That's the end of the fun for today though...retired or not, there's far too much to do.  Today's agenda includes preparing minutes from last night's Fish & Game Commission meeting, revising minutes from the C Road CSD meeting, preparing the newsletter for my guild and rearranging some furniture in the yurt.  Its going to be a busy today...but not a quilting one. *pout*

Birthdays Year 'round

I picked up the mail the other day and had a squishy package.  Funny thing was, I hadn't ordered anything and I'm not the one collecting the blocks for our exchange; so what was it?? It was a package from my friend Kristina in Ely!!  Its a birthday present!!  Yippee...I love presents!!!  Who cares if my birthday was in January?? I certain don't.  I'd be happy if people remembered my birthday on a monthly basis, everyone on a different month and then I could get a presents year 'round!! That would be most excellent!!

Inside the package were these wonderful things:

 

"Less Stress Feathers" is by Jodi Robinson and it looks like she's actually accomplished this.  I can't wait to have time to load my practice piece and try her method.  I'm always looking for a way to make my feathers look better and to keep from stressing over doing them!  The round item that looks like a CD is actually a really cute card.  Neat idea!  And finally...look at these:

Really cute earrings with a quilting motif...what could be better.  Thanks, Kristina.  Everything is lovely, as are you.  I can hardly wait to actually meet you and Shannon this summer...oh what fun we'll have!

Not to be too maudlin, but isn't it funny how people you've never met face-to-face can become such good friends?  I'm not sure what got Kristina and I talking the first time, but we've had phone conversations and exchanged e-mails for months now.  Shannon found my blog a few months after I'd started it and e-mailed me to say it was time to update it.  My last post had been three months before she found it.  After all, I thought, who in their right mind would want to read it??  I still don't have many "followers," but that doesn't matter so much anymore. It just feels good to put my feelings down on paper and if you read it and like it and want to sign up to follow...great! (just click the "follow" button)  But if you read it once and never come back, or if you just want to read and not "follow," that's fine too.  Its just nice to know that there are a handful of people out there that seem to care or have an interest in what I say.  Thank you, it means alot to me.