Row by Row Excursion

Yesterday my husband said "let's go for a drive."
"Where?" is always my answer.
"Let's go to quilt stores out and away from Sacramento so you can buy some more Roy by Row kits."
Don't you just love him? How many husbands would be willing to drive all over and sit outside quilt stores while we are in shopping? Not many, I am sure. Yep, he is a keeper.
So off we went.

One of the places we went to was the Sew So Shop in Yuba City California. Yes, I know, it used to be in Marysville - just across the river from Yuba City. That is were we went first and it was not there! Oh no! Where did it go? Is it gone completely? So I searched it on my trusty i-Pad that I am beginning to carry with us whenever we leave the Sacramento area. We found it and off we went to find the new location.

I asked when I got there how long they have been in that space, as I was used to them being in the old downtown of Marysville. Four years. Oops. I guess I had not been up there for a while.

It is in a strip mall that has lots of parking (as opposed to the old location). It is also in a large floor space, which provides them with a huge classroom area that is bordered by windows on two sides. Lots of natural lighting for quilters' eyes.

There were two ladies in there learning how to program the long arm quilt machines that use the computer to do the quilting. One was setting up a quilt. The other was squaring a finished quilt up.

They must also sell sewing machines. They had big ones and little ones sitting around. Did not pay too much attention to them, as I am not in the market for a new machine.

They do carry a lot of fabric, especially batiks. I was good, though. I looked. I touched. But I did not buy.

Nice spacious shopping space.

While I was there, I signed up for their mailing list. Yuba City isn't that far to get in on a good deal or to take that special class. As I was signing up in the book they had available, I noticed the three names at the top of the page were people I knew. In fact one was an employee at Beehive Quilts when it was open. Cindy, I  miss you. I bet they were out doing the same thing Gil and I were doing - buying Row by Row kits.

Oh I did buy their Row by Row kits and license plate. I will post a picture when I complete the row.

It was a fun day.

Keep on Quilting

Grass Valley CA 2012 Quilt Show

Grass Valley's quilt show has to be the best surroundings. It is held at the Nevada County fair grounds, which is covered in grass and pine trees. Just beautiful.

I went to this quilt show alone, which I must say is not as much fun as going with my favorite daughter. She was unavailable to go with me this past weekend. I still enjoyed it, though.

I took a lot of pictures, which are posted below. Though no one submitted a Halloween quilt, which are my favorite. There was a black and orange quilt at the end of the hall that I thought would be perfect for my Halloween quilt picture. Then I got closer. It was a homage to the San Francisco Giants, whose colors are black and orange. Problem is I am more of an Oakland As fan. So not picture taken of that quilt. Sorry.

At the Auburn show two weeks ago, there were two Iguana quilts, which I loved. Here was one that even topped those. This quilt took Best in Show. It was really fantastic.

Here is a close up of the above quilt. Note on the leaf above the lizard's head there is a caterpiller on the leaf. The quilter put more than one of those it and a couple of 3-D leaves. It really made the quilt come to life. Love it. If there is a pattern out there, I would love to have its name so I could buy one. I would love to make one just like this as a gift to my son.

This quilter made the international Sun Bonnet Sues. My daughter has the pattern book for this. Some day I will work on one, too.

The quilter also embroidered the names of each nation on all the blocks. Nice tough and well done.

This particular pattern book has a lot of different countries represented. If you were to do them all, you would have to put them on the back. Or you could do what this quilter did and just make another quilt.

Close up of the one above.

Beautiful applique. I have done a few applique blocks this past year. None of mine came close to the beauty of this.

I just loved the fabrics used in this quilt. Wonder if it was a block of the month held somewhere. Very nice.

I have a slide of two of my children walking hand in hand down a garden path with their backs to us. I have wanted for years to have a painter reproduce it for me. Maybe I should try doing a quilt instead.
I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

 The theme for this quilt show was about dragons. Check out some of the dragon quilts that were made. This is just a representation of them. I do not normally like dragons, but the ones featured here are fantastic.




This quilt was very small. I took the picture because all those strips were individual strips pieced together. I am always amazed at some of the intricate work on small quilts.

It was hard to get into take a picture of this. It is so interesting that everyone who walked by had to get up close to see how it was all done. The picture does not do it justice. Good job.

I took a close up so I could show what the picture was of, which was a bridge in Europe. I was also hoping the quilting would show up better than it did. It was hand quilted with tiny stitches and they were close together. I would love to know the amount of time it took this quilter to get the done complete. This would be a 10 year quilt for me, I think.

Loved the colors in this one.

Loved the amount of handwork done on the Hawaiian flowers. Plus the colors are really dynamic.

This picture is not very representative of the beauty of this quilt.

This quilt is stunning! Other than the lizard one, I would say this was my favorite quilt.

Christmas. Another favorite holiday for me. The colors always pull me. Plus put a penguin in a quilt, and you have my attention.

Great quilt for a guy. Gave me a good idea for my brother.

Love those quilt shows!

Keep on Quilting

Sacramento Zoo - No quilts there

When our quilt store was open, Mondays were are play days. Well actually Mondays were often spent doing paperwork at the shop. Anyway today became a play day. No sewing. No quilting. Just playing.

My daughter, her daughter and I went to the Sacramento Zoo. We saw so many beautiful animals. Flamingos. Lions and tigers, but no bears. Gila monsters, snakes and poison frogs. Monkeys, birds - big and little, giraffes, emus and even an ostrich.

So remember to take a day and do something fun. Then get back to quilting.

Red Tail Hawk

Poison Tree Frog - beautiful

Gorgeous flamingos

Posing giraffe

Tiger seemed to love my granddaughter. Something about the weakest of the herd.

Feeding the giraffe. Long tongue!

Trucking quilters

Check out the following link. Pretty cool story. I love that men are getting involved in quilting more and more. It gives quilting a more mainstream reputation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704896104575139990857438962.html

Thank you, Trina, for sending me this link.

Petaluma Quilt Store

Gil and I went to Bodega Bay yesterday and spent the night. We had a great dinner and a great drive along the coast this morning. Then on the way back we stopped in a little town called Occidental. Too cute. Totally out of the way of anything or anywhere you might be going, but it is worth the drive.

To get to Occidental you go in on a road named Bohemian Highway. When you get into town, you realize it could be named nothing else. Downtown is mostly made up of restaurants. If you go there during a Saturday or Sunday during the summer, you will see a lot of people. On a November Monday, it was pretty quiet, which made it better for us.

We wandered into a couple of stores there that were quite enjoyable. One was an antique store where I purchased a few old crocheted doilies. They will be a great embellishment on a quilt. The other store advertised handmade items. Many items were from the immediate area. The others were from outside the United States. I purchased a beautiful tote that was made in Nepal. The other item I purchased was a beaded necklace from Guatemala. Gorgeous. The pricing in the store was extremely reasonable. If you are over that way, take the time to go in and look around.

After leaving Occidental, we drove into Petaluma and looked for a quilt store. Talk about finding a treasure! A Quilted Angel is one of the nicest quilt stores I have ever gone into. It was beautiful. I will write more on it later. Watch for it.