Happy Easter!

In preparation for Easter, I made a couple of eggs for my granddaughters. 

 I also made one for my housekeeper, that I gave away before I took a picture, and this one, for my faraway kids in Missouri.  It's been AGES since we've dyed eggs.  I think sewing them is a lot more fun.

 The garden is beginning its best blooming month of the year.  Each iris is more gorgeous than the last.

 I saw this little embroidery in a book, and thought it was hilarious.  I want to make one for my wall...then again, where would I put it?  hahahaha!!

And that's about it for now.  I hope that if you live anywhere near the Central Valley of CA that you're planning to head to Best of the Valley Quilt Show April 13-15.  Details can be found here. 

Have a Blessed Easter!

RAIN!

We've got rain and thunder.  Whosh, here comes a downpour!!  Good thing I took some pictures of my garden BEFORE the rains came down!

 And here's a sure sign of Spring:  The Gingkoes are beginning to push itty bitty leafies.

The only quiltie thing I have to show for the past week, other than piles of quilt show paperwork is this $5 gem from another estate sale.

The mom looked at it, and at her daughter.  Her daughter scowled, pointed to the raw edge, and said, "It's not even finished!"  wow.  Hand pieced and OLD fabrics.  A friend thinks it's mid to late 1800's.  I'll be stopping by the Appraiser at BOTV to see what she has to say about my find!

See me smile!!

TaDa!

 Spring has come to the valley, and with it, come the blossoms.  These red blooms can be seen up and down the county, and beyond.  Spring also means rain, which we desperately need.  (Though not the blossoms so much, but the ground is dry, so all water is welcome.)

I found some free time to finish one of my UFO's.  I finished the piecing in January, and the quilting a couple of weekends ago.  I'm happy to call this one DONE, with the exception of a label.  In the meantime, I'm checking it off of my UFO list, and moving on to the next thing.

 Who says there are no quilt police?  Here she is, examining my work of yesteryear.

 oh, Grammie?  You call this piecing?

heheh.  Actually, she usually has a big grin.  I was trying to get her to nap.  The joke was on me.  ;)

I've also been popping in at estate sales and the like.  Last week, I found a beautiful original watercolor by Geri Loest, of Vacaville.  At least that's what the tag on the back said, along with the price of $300.

I don't know where it was before it appeared at the rummage sale for $5.  I scooped it up, took it out of the frame, cleaned it up and got new matboards.  It is PERFECT in my kitchen!

 "One man's trash is another man's treasure."  oh, baby, don't you know it?!!  Actually, in looking at the above image, the painting ($5), the vase ($3), the wooden coasters ($4), the little table ($15), and the chairs (4 cherry chairs and a table - $400) all came from estate sales or newspaper ads.  I am my mother's daughter, and boy, am I glad she taught me to look carefully at what others no longer want.

pinch the pennies and spend the dollars on quilting!  hahaha!  yep.

And that's all I've got for now, though I do hope that you, too, are saving your dollars to spend at Best of the Valley Quilt Show in April.  It's right around the corner!

Retreat With Calico Mermaid

First I need to thank all who took me to task and encouraged me to go.  It was fabulous.  It was the most fun, relaxing 48 hours I've had in a long time.  It was cold, it was very rainy, and it snowed.  But we were indoors, with picture windows with gorgeous views, large sewing stations, good light and snacks galore.  Could I have improved it?  Probably not.  It was just lovely.

I took over 200 pictures. 171 were good enough to keep.  Did I tell you that it was beautiful?  It was gorgeous!  This first shot was taken en route.  There had been snow the previous week.  I had no idea where I was going, so I was relieved when it wasn't up this snow-dusted mountain/hill.

 Once there, I was delighted by the creek that flowed through the conference grounds.

 Everything was lush and green.  It felt alive.  Like new growth and springtime, even though it was the second of March.

 Inside, we were toasty and warm.  Here is my work station, with my machine and 3/4 of an 8' table to call my own.  I brought my own chair.  That was important, because the chairs on campus are those stacking kiddie school chairs that you see in the background.  (You can almost see the Calico Mermaid traveling shop, also in the background.)

On Friday, I decided to work on quilting the baby quilt that I pieced in January.  I still need to finish the binding.  I'll try to give you a picture on my next post.  On Saturday, I finished the quilting, then pieced another baby quilt.  I'd cut the strips before packing for retreat.  Sewing them up went very quickly.

 uh oh.  I spy with my tired eye.  I'd finished all the blocks and laid them out for consolidation.  There was one that wasn't quite right.  When I flipped through the rest of the blocks, there were three!!  Had there only been one, I would have left it.  Had there been two, I would have ripped them.  But three?  It's a design choice and the ripper stayed in the box.

Here is the completed quilt top.  You, too, can play I spy with my little eye.  There are three oopsys in the quilt.  If the baby ever sees them, he/she can wonder if I did it on purpose, was careless, or, well, they can write their own story about the quilter who put this one together.  At least the points/corners look pretty good!

I got very distracted on the second evening, when snow began to fall from the sky.  I grew up in San Diego County, and I was 18 the first time I saw snow fall from the sky.  I was 20 before I saw it again, and probably close to 40 the third time.  I don't have much snow experience, at all.

 At one point the flakes were so big, they looked like feathers, drifting down from the sky.  It was amazing!  And the next morning?  When we woke up?  There was a dusting of snow everywhere.  It was magical.

 The walkways stayed clear, I guess because they were warm enough to melt the snow as it fell?

 Up in the parking lot, my red car had its share of the icy white stuff.  I hustled up to take the photo, before it all melted.  There was no snow or ice on the road, so that was not an issue.

 Back in the sewing center, I began another baby quilt.  I got the cute moo-moo, baa-baa overdye from a vendor at QuiltCon.  Yes, I went to QuiltCon.  I quickly discovered that it's not my thing.

Okay, well, this is getting overly long.  I'll leave you with two more pictures, of the sea turtle pincushion gifted to each of us by Georgia, our Calico Mermaid hostess.

 It now belongs to Addison, who loves the little thing!

Thank you, Georgia, for such a delightful weekend.  I've signed up for the next one, too, coming up in mid-May.  Between now and then?  Probably not a lot of quilting expected to happen around here.  The quilt show is April 13-15, and in quilt show terms, that's right around the corner.

Hope to see you there!!