| You Are Cookie Monster |
 Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth. You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking How you live your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!" |
Unless you don't read the paper or watch the news, you know that California has been caught in the grip of a terrible heat wave.
We've had a few days of weather over the century mark with little night-time cooling. This, for a place where the normal high in the month of July is 82. The good thing is that we are not in the San Joaquin Valley--Stockton, Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield--they are suffering over 110 degree temps. Our daughter in Fresno reports that even with her thermostat set at 77 and a house surrounded by large, old trees, the A/C is cranking 24/7 and can't achieve the 77. Ick.
In such temps, it is hard to get too worked up over blogging or much else.
The Sonoma County Fair started today and runs for two weeks. Hubby's Mom and her hubby will be here with some of his old IBM buddies for wine-tasting and horse racing. It should be a great good time and hopefully the weather will chill down a bit.
On the happy side, the Camry Hybrid arrived Friday and it is a dream!! More about that tomorrow.
Home again, home again and recovering from a week of fun with my "Sistahs" at Sisters, or more correctly, Black Butte Ranch. BBR is a planned resort community about 18 miles north of Sisters, Oregon. We rented a home with four bedrooms and three and a half baths for our group of seven quilters.
Our trip began as planned with Becky and I caravanning with Kathy and Kat, and we arrived at the house tireder than heck at 7:30 Monday night. We decided to pick up a rotisserie chicken and do rice and salad rather than go out and that was an excellent choice.
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Tuesday was designated a sewing day, so we got our mini-sweatshop set up at the kitchen table and away we went. Kat and Kathy (at right) were doing a blue and green batik project that they had swapped triangles for a few weeks prior to the trip. Becky (below, cooking) decided to put together three gazillion 3 inch nine patches from swaps with the 3 inch hourglasses she'
d made. The 16 rows were 16 blocks each and several times she put it down and declared that she wasn't going to work on it anymore, but she always picked it up again. She also put together some Bento Box Blocks of the Month from SR Quilt Guild that I won and gave her when she left town the following month as well as a set of beautiful Jacob's Ladder blocks that she got in a swap.
I took a ton of UFO's, knowing I'd not finish t
hem all, but prepared nonetheless. First, I finished putting together the Christmas Lucky Stars top I'm doing as a 50th birthday present for my longtime friend Maureen. She was 51 in May, but knows the quilt is coming. I found the perfect binding for it on sale at the Pincushion too. My second UFO was a mystery quilt I started at Linda Ballard's class in Williams in Feb., using fabrics I'd bought 20 or more years ago for son Daniel's Christmas quilt. That top is done except for borders! Finally, I finished (or so I thought) a top from a Debbie Caffrey mystery at the Pincushion with Kathy a year or so ago. Our resident quilt teacher and long-arm quilter extraordinaire Kat decided that I needed to do half blocks to finish part of the design into the border, so there you have it--not done. The two Christmas quilts are pictured at left.
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Wednesday we went into Sisters to shop at the Stitchin' Post (the sponsor of the show) before the busses and crowds hit. We all found lots of goodies and I was especially glad that I found a great kit for a quilt for a certain person who will be having a major birthday this year (not that she reads the blog, but she is rather special). I'd been back and forth endlessly trying to figure out something not too old-fashioned or cutsey for her. Mission accomplished, the Snowball quilt in Daiwabo Taupes fit the bill to a "T." The link is the acutal kit I got, and I plan to add a bit of Sashiko quilting in some of the squares.
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Also on Wednesday, Molly and Nancy arrived from Sacramento, just in time for Becky's fabulous pasta dinner. Fun, fun, fun.
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Molly and Nancy took a class on Thursday and Lori arrived later that day. The fun continued. Friday was our day to check out the stores in Bend, which were jam packed and somewhat disappointing compared to years past. We did manage to drop a dollar or two, though. Busloads of quilters put us off a really great shop that was crowded and hotter than you can believe. We vowed to stop by on our way out of town on Sunday. We went to the park Friday night, had dinner and listenend to Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston give their show and tell and talk about their recent collaborations. More great fun.
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Saturday was the show, pictured above. We got there early, but it was hot, hot, hot. For many of us, the show is an anti-climax after a week of sewing, giggling, belly-laughing, noshing, sipping and shopping, and that was the case again this year.
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Sunday came all too soon and we met up on the way home at Sew Much Fun in Bend and did some farewell shopping, then again in Mount Shasta for lunch. Kathy and Kat, Molly and Nancy opted to shop at Sew Unique again but Becky and I, facing 2 hours' drive once we left I-5, opted to head for the ranch directly. Even so, we arrived home at 8:30 to wine and dinner waiting. Do I have the best hubby, or what?
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We managed to pass an entire week in each other's company without a ripple on the water. What an amazingly agreeable group of gals--can't wait for next year!!!!
In a few hours, my friend Becky from Lompoc and I will be departing for beautiful Williams, CA. What the heck is in Williams, you say?
Granzella's Inn, a mere stopover enroute to Black Butte Ranch, Oregon, where we will spend a blissful week sewing, chatting, shopping, eating and drinking with a group of the Fat Quarter girls, Kathy B., Kat, Molly, Nancy and Lori. Fun, fun, fun!
We will be detouring this afternoon to the Pincushion Boutique in Davis as Becky hasn't yet been there and would like to visit. Who am I to deny her? Plus, she's driving, so who am I to deny her?
Following a night at Granzella's, Kat and Kathy will meet up with us, most likely at the BCOD (butt crack of dawn, thanks Kate). We will stop in Mt. Shasta for lunch at the original Brown Bear Diner and a small bit of shopping at Sew Unique, a very fun shop.
While in Sisters/Bend, we will hit all of the local stores before attending the Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters next Saturday, then drive home on Sunday.
Internet is iffy, so see ya in a week!
