Quilt store visit in Placerville and Auburn California

My friend, Venita, and I went for a two shop visit a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time. We started out early and hungry. Venita had researched where the best place for breakfast/lunch was in Placerville and came up with a delightful restaurant called Sweetie Pies in downtown Placerville.It is housed in an old house with a dining patio out front. We had a great breakfast. I had eggs benedict where they used ham instead of Canadian bacon. Yummy. Venita ordered from the "light" menu. She got scrambled eggs, bacon and one olallieberry pancake with olallieberry syrup. That "small" olallieberry pancake was bigger than a dinner plate. Not such a small breakfast afterall.

They also sold pies and breads. I bought a loaf of apple cinnamon bread to take home. Toasted, it was the best. Venita took home an olallieberry pie. It was a hot day. I'm sure by the time she got home, her pie was nice and warm and ready to have ice cream on top of it.

After breakfast we headed out to find High Sierra Quilters in Placerville. It recently moved there from Cameron Park. What a treat it was. It is a relatively small shop, but it has a lot of fabric to choose from. I needed several different colors for borders on star quilt top I had made. I found all that was needed there plus a little more.

Venita found a couple of panels and other fabrics for quilts she was working on.

We had the store owner take a picture of us under their quilted sign with my phone. I didn't check until we got home and found it didn't take, so I can't share that with you. I did take the following picture of a sample quilt hanging on their wall. It is so beautiful. The piecing is about 1/4 inch thick. Wow!

After having fun there, we headed for highway 49 that runs between Placerville and Auburn and through Coloma. Coloma is where Sutter had his gold mill back in the 1800s. It is a beautiful drive. Easy for me to say, as I was not driving.

Arriving in Auburn, we quickly found the quilt store there thanks to a smart phone GPS. From the outside, the Whistle Stop Shop didn't look all that big. But it is good sized. They moved from Colfax a few months ago. I loved their little shop there, but it was not a shop I went to often, as it was quite a drive to get to. This one still isn't really close, but we do travel through Auburn more often.

I did spend quite a bit of money there. I bought some fabric, of course. I also bought a pattern that I am busy making. It is a salmon table runner pattern. I am putting two salmon tail to tail on variegated blue material. I have one sewn down after fusing it to the background fabric. I have the other one fused but not sewn down yet. That is a lot of work. It will be a gift for my brother, who is an avid fisherman.

The picture below is Venita in the Placerville store. It is a little fuzzy of Venita, but it shows part of the large array of fabric the store carries.

We had a good time. We will have to do it again when she gets back from her travels. Have a good time, Venita.

Keep on Quilting

 

Harmonic Convergence quilt

In February my friend, Venita, and I went to Modesto to a Ricky Tims Seminar. It was three days of great fun as we listened to Ricky, Pam Holland from Australia and Alex Anderson talk about their inspiration, perspiration and accomplishments. [See my February 2014 post of this event.] Great incentive to Keep on Quilting. During one of Ricky's seminars, he showed us his Harmonic Convergence quilts and how easy it is to make one. I thought I can do this. So I on the way home, Venita and I stopped at a couple of quilt stores. I purchased the fabric to make the above quilt. That was Saturday. On Monday I entered my quilt studio hoping I could remember all he said or at least my notes would cover what I couldn't remember. After just a few hours the top was done. So easy.

After I finally quilted it, I took it to my guild for show and tell (or Chantell as Ricky calls it). As I mentioned the pattern name, I said I bet most of you have probably made one of these quilts or are aware of the pattern. Lots of nodding. My first thought is they have done this and are not interested. Wrong. Many probably had done it or seen it done and was not interested, but a lot of people asked me what the name of the pattern was again and the ease of it all. Our guild president is a gentleman that has been a member along with his wife for many years. He is just getting into piecing himself and said it would be a long time before he would attempt something like this. I told him actually he could do it now because it is super easy. It really is. It is just strip cutting two coordinating or contrasting pieces of fabric and then putting the strips back together again in reverse order of each other. Love the technique. Love the ease of making a quilt that people oh and ah over. I especially love the fabric I chose for it.

If you ever get the chance to go to a Ricky Tims' Seminar, go. It is so worth the time and the money.

Keep on Quilting

Spring wall hangings

At a yard sale, I purchased several small wall hanging kits. That was several summers ago. As I have had to narrow down my sewing area recently, I came across them. My decision was to donate them to my guild or make them. I decided to make them and I am glad I did.

 Easter Chicken was completed just before Easter and looked so cute on the wall for that day.

 Spring Strawberry went up on the wall as soon as Easter was over. Love its bright red berry.

I love making small quilts. The strawberry one was completed in less than a day, start to finish. Gives me a real sense of completion.

I still have at least one more of these small kits. The one I remember having is an ice cream cone. Perfect for the summer coming up.

Keep on Quilting