And A Finish!

Finished the binding yesterday.  woohoo!

A Bit o This, A Bit o That

The Tulare County Fair is long gone, but I have a few favors to remember it by.

 This week we're having the floors replaced out at our walnut ranch.  There's going to be a wedding there next month.  We are definitely looking forward to it!

The nuts are ripe, and were harvested last week, on the same day that they began work on the floors.

Our granddaughter turns one on Friday.  That year has gone quickly!!  She's walking everywhere.  Here she is with Raggedy Andy.  I made him for my daughter 35 years ago.  I think Little A likes him better than my daughter ever did.  

And that's about it for now.  There is a bit of stitching going on right now, but not much.  My quilts came back safely from PNQE.  I have a different quilt packed and ready to ship to PIQF.  Other than that?  I got nuthin'.

County Fair

The Tulare County Fair is currently open, and will be through Sunday.  I was pleased to spot "Harvest Barns" front and center, wearing a BOS, Professional rosette.  The quilt below it, with the pincushion, was made by my friend Wendy VB.  Her rosette reads Best of Division.  Fun, fun, fun!!

 I spent a few hours on each of the past few days helping with the handquilting on our 2019 opportunity quilt.  The red, white, and blue quilt hanging behind the frame is our 2018 opportunity quilt.  It sports a blue ribbon, a Best of Division rosette, and Best of Show.  woohoo!!  Good job, Valley Oak Quilt Guild!!

I may not have been spending much time creating quilts, but this year?  I'm making an effort to enter the quilts that I have been able to finish.  whew!!  Goals are good!!

P.S.  I also have two quilts hanging at PNQE in Oaks, PA this weekend.  A third quilt has been accepted to PIQF in October.  yay!

Last Legs of Our Road Trip

We finally arrived in Mendocino just before dark.  We stayed in a B&B, just off of Hwy 1.  It was the...Josiah Grindle House?  Joshua Grindle House.  It was quite lovely.

 After all those hours on the road, it was nice to sit in the Adirondack chairs and just absorb the lovely gardens and their birdlife.

 Despite it being August, everything was blooming.  So different from home, where the heat pounds everything into submission.

 I imagine turning this into a quilt...one day, some day, in the far distant future.

We had a nice dinner in town, and a lovely breakfast in the morning.  We then checked out and drove to the overlook, to see the ocean view.  It was grey and foggy and nothing like the sparkling blue water of previous days.

 The town has water towers throughout.  Perhaps that helps to keep everything so green and lush.

 Up the road a bit, we stopped at the Sea Glass Museum, where we learned that Sea Glass Beach (in Fort Bragg) used to be the dump.  That's why there is so much sea glass to be found on its shores.  The glass is in small pea-sized bits at this point, but it's still worth checking out.  Maybe you'll be the lucky one to find that treasured piece of purple glass.

 The sentries here were crows, not sea gulls.  Interesting.

 And it was cool enough for poppies to still be in bloom.

 We stopped for lunch at this burger place.  Paul Bunyan eats here?  We must be headed to redwood country!

And so we were.  I guess I'll leave the last leg until next time.  Hope you're enjoying our travels!

Traveling North

Our destination, once we'd crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, was Olema.  It is the town closest to Point Reyes.  We talked of Muir Woods, we talked of the light house, we talked of more elephant seals and sea lion rookeries...and then we got detoured.  Instead of the Shoreline Hwy, we were sent along the Panoramic Hwy.  Up Mt. Tamalpais.  winding winding back and forth, up and down, 20-30 mph.  It took SO long, there was NO WAY I would back track to Muir Woods!  NO WAY.

Olema is a cute blink in the road.  We stayed in the Point Reyes Inn, and saw this across the street.  Quaint.  We had our best meal on the road at the Farmhouse Restaurant, next door.

 The next morning, we were told that the road to Point Reyes was being renovated, so we couldn't see anything there, either.  We took a loop through some tall trees near Olema, to make up for missing Muir Woods.

Our next destination was Mendocino.

Had we known how slow we would be traveling, we might have skipped the tree loop or stopped someplace sooner.  We looked for a place to stop in Bodega Bay, but there was nothing on the highway.  We found a restroom just past Bodega Bay, at a Snowy Plover nesting area.  I didn't see any snowy plovers, but the view was intensely beautiful.

 I pointed out view points, and we pulled over for pictures.  This guy ruled this table.  It was his, marked and everything.  ;)

 We stopped at Fort Ross, the furthest south Russian settlement on the west coast.  It was fun to poke through and see a CA fort, so different from the stone structures we explored in Scotland.

 Back on the road, we watched for cows.  We saw a single deer on the road.  The cows stayed on the hills, where they belonged.

We stopped for food in Gualala, around 3pm.  It was the first food place we'd seen in HOURS.  We split a pizza, BBQ for him, Mendocino Veggie for her.

 We pulled into Point Arena Lighthouse 10 minutes before it closed for the day.  I snapped a picture and off we went, since we missed the tour window.  We eventually made it to Mendocino, just before sunset.

 And all along the roadside, near houses, near fences, in the middle of nowhere, the Naked Ladies were madly blooming.  They were EVERYWHERE.  It was like Johnny Appleseed hit CA and planted Naked Ladies instead of apple trees.  Quite the spectacular display of pink.  Apparently August is the month that they strut their stuff.   Lovely!

And I guess I'll leave you with that, as this is getting a bit long.  We still had a few places to land before heading south again.  Stay tuned, we'll catch up eventually.

Back At It, Sort of

Sorry to keep you hanging for weeks on end, but this seems to be the summer of travel.  We recently returned from a weeklong road trip.  We hit Highway 1, and drove up the coast from Cambria to Ferndale.  I would have liked to go all the way to the Oregon border, but we didn't have enough time.  We stayed the nights in Cambria, Pacific Grove (Asilomar), Olema, Mendocino, Ferndale, and Petaluma.  zoom, zoom!!

We left late Tuesday afternoon, and spent the night in Cambria.  Beautiful!

 As we drove north, we stopped to see the Elephant Seal rookery.  It was full of half-grown seals, either catching rays, or picking fights with one another.  I could have stayed there for hours, but we had a 6pm dinner date in Pacific Grove.

 It was also suggested that we stop at Ragged Point, which was definitely worth the view.  Beautiful!

We were also told to stop at Nepenthe, which I've since learned is where Kaffe Fassett grew up.  No wonder his designs are so Bohemian!  ;)  I thought I had taken pictures, but apparently not.  The lush green jungle must have mesmerized me!

We walked down to Asilomar beach at sunset,

 and walked it again in the morning.  There were sandpipers racing the waves, but I'm not sure how many ocean vistas you want to see here.

 This time we took the 17 mile drive and saw Pebble Beach and its famous cypress tree.  huh.  I guess it's all that.

Our next destination was Olema, which is near the access entrance to Point Reyes.  On the way, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge.

And I think that's going to do it for now.  I'll give you another installment in the next couple of days.  I've got a lot of stitching to do, and right now?  I am SO far behind!!

Quilt faster!  Quilt faster!!
Happy Stitching!