From Coast to Coast and a Bit of Quilt-Cam!

Salt Lake City in the sunshine!

My travel day from the east coast to the west started at the sound of my alarm going off at 3am to get me going.  It was a four airport day, a three time zone change but it was worth it for all the fun stuff going on this weekend in Pleasanton California for the 19th Annual Alex Anderson Fall Retreat!

It was one of those days that starts with a hiccup – after leaving the house at 4am to arrive at the airport by 4:30am to check my bags, head through security, find my gate – the announcement came over the speaker that maintenance had been called to check a switch. This caused a delay.  Would I make my Detroit connection? Or would this be the start of a domino effect that could topple the whole itinerary?

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Nov/Dec ‘19 Quiltmaker Gift-Away!

Here I am, on the road again – flying coast to coast to sunshine filled California, to teach for Alex Anderson’s Fall Retreat in Livermore!

Oh, someone pinch me, this is just a dream come true.  I love Alex to bits, it’s been too long since we’ve been in the same place at the same time, and I am going to be spending the weekend with 40+ quilters deep into the string piecing of Punkin Patch from String Frenzy!

And since my flight leaves extra extra early and I was in the need of writing a post ahead of time, what better time is there to offer up this fun Gift-Away, and draw for our winner when I return on Monday.

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Crooked Courthouse Steps!

It all started with The Plague.

Okay, so it wasn’t really the PLAGUE – but a round of bronchitis, double ear infection and sinus infection that may as well be forever known as the 2019 Trifecta of Death.

But something happens when I’m under the effects of copious amounts of antibiotics, cold meds and Nyquil.  I QUILT!  

In fact, I can’t even TYPE NYQUIL without turning it into NYQUILT and then have to edit it.  So there you go. Enough explanation.

I love my string bins more than life itself.  The depths are bottomless and full of so much variety that it is a complete joy to dig in and see what I can find and sew into good use.  And that’s where this whole saga of a tutorial starts.  The strings.

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Well, Hello October!

It appears we have a bear that likes salt licks.

And although I find bears fascinating from afar – (Like in a ZOO – behind walls.) I am terrified of bears in my front yard.

I take that back – I know they are amazing, and nature is wonderful, and they can live on any part of this 42 acres of mountainside we call home in Southwestern Virginia, but please – stay where I can’t see you!  My biggest fear is they will catch me unaware when I am leaving the cabin for the car, or opening the garage or what have you.

I do know that these little black bears are more scared of us than we are of them – but the story still holds true.  Don’t get between a mama bear and her babies.  And this one is about a teenager in age from what we can guess.

And this was in the DAYLIGHT – not sneaky in the night time.  Oy!

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