Community Quilts Day

I belong to several quilt guilds, among them The Redwood Empire Quilters Guild (www.reqg.com). We have a Community Quilts program which provides quilts for Dialysis patients, for teen parents graduating from high school, for premature babies, for fire victims and more. Last Saturday we hosted guild members here at Scottie Dog Quilts to help the cause. We filled the classroom for most of the day. Here is Sharon S. She's in charge of the program this year and she does a fabulous job. She's so organized and has lots and lots of kits all made up of the donated fabrics, pre-cut so as to quickly sew up a top. Here are Pat D. & Jen D. (with her awesome little aqua Janome sewing machine). It's fun to get together and sew for a good cause. Thanks to all those who gathered. God bless you for your giving hearts.

We made the newspaper!

Last Saturday the Times Standard newspaper of Eureka, CA published a little blurb about the Humboldt Accordionaires. We made the picture! You can see Liz and I on either side of Sydney on the far wall. We were doing the Chicken Dance and I'm glad they didn't get me wiggling my bum.

A Night to Remember.....

Tuesday night Liz and I hurried up the closing of the store....we had plans.... a place to be....The 3rd Tuesday of each month Mr. Scottie Dog plays with the Humboldt Accordionaires. That night at Swiss Hall in Loleta, CA there were 12 accordion players, male & female, young (13th b-day celebrated that night) & old (OK--I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole!), and one guitar player. There's not a lot of structure...they just sit down and someone calls out a song, they turn in their music books and they play. It's that simple. People bring snacks to share. About 100 people come each month to listen, dance, clap, hoot & holler and one guy even did a bit of yodeling.

I danced with Sydney a few times and then a boy named Caleb danced with the two of us. Pretty soon they were dancing every dance. For a 3 1/2 year old, such attention from an older man (7 years old) is such a wonderful thing. They did the polka, the two-step and more. We all did the Chicken Dance and promenaded around the hall with parasols to "The Saints Go Marching In."

Then in SHE came. An older, more mature woman....probably 11 years old. What chance did Sydney have against the promise of a partner who could (and did!) lift Caleb off the ground....a woman with boobies....Sydney won't wear a bra for a few years yet! This gal had everything going for her. Sydney couldn't figure out why Caleb wouldn't dance with her.....she was perplexed and then sad.

Finally, one of the most important men in her life (2nd only to Daddy, of course!) took a break and asked her to dance! The evening ended on a high note as Caleb asked Sydney to dance once more. She left to dream of her first beau...... We all had fun and will be back next month.

Lighthouse Quilt Guild

Crescent City's Lighthouse Quilt Guild has a project making quilts for wounded US soldiers. I was so taken by how they offered each and every attendee of their quilt show an opportunity to help. The sign at the left tells it all.


One of my regular customers told how her husband and her son (a Marine wounded in Iraq) made their blocks...in total silence. Brigette's son had received such a quilt in intensive care in Germany!

First you pick up a flannel board marked with a 3X3 grid. Then, from the thousands of choices of 3 1/2" squares on three 8' tables you pick your squares.













Next you arrange the squares as you wish. These two munchkins were doing a great job.














Then you put your flannel board on the table for one of the member sewers to do their magic on their sewing machines. These ladies were so diligent and modest.

Sydney loved making the blocks. She made nine over the course of the weekend. The sewing ladies were so sweet to encourage her. She was happy to make a quilt "to keep the sojers warm."





Here is just a small portion of the blocks on a very, very long design wall. One lady took 20 blocks home to sew a quilt on Saturday night.

Lighthouse Quilt Guild members, I salute you! You humble me with your dedication to our Nation's Armed Forces. God bless you and God bless and keep our troops from harm.

Quilt Show

Last weekend we were vendors at the Crescent City, CA Lighthouse Quilt Guild's annual quilt show. We (BrendaLou, Liz, Mr. Scottie Dog & Sydney---along with our super friend, Bev Harrison) arrived on Friday about 1 pm to begin set-up. Our booth was a double, so we had a 20' X 10' space. Oops--they didn't tell us that there would be a wall column support that stuck out almost 1 foot from the wall. Our floor plan with the provided 8' tables wouldn't work...the story when vending is always: improvise, improvise, improvise.


Bill sets up a frame that provides us with wonderful lighting and electrical for the register.












Liz is the stylist...she has a wonderful gift for hanging the sample quilts and how each table is set up. What most people don't realize is that we always bring twice as much merchandise as we can possibly sell. This is so that our booth never ever looks picked over. The show attendee at 3 pm on Sunday has the same selection as those who were waiting on Saturday for 1/2 hour before the show opened!









For this show our booth was colorful and had lots of Fall and Holiday samples, kits & fabrics.

Sydney travels with us when we go to quilt shows and she needs a special place. So the front table next to the cash register becomes "Syd's Cave." It has a quilt, a bag full of books and toys and not visible in this picture a DVD player. At one point

there was a little girl in the booth. Sydney whispered in Liz's ear, "Mama, can that girl come to my house to play?"
Many thanks to all the wonderful quilting friends who visited our booth! We had a great time.

Alaskan Quilting Cruise Update!

We got a phone call from MJ, our awesome travel agent yesterday. She has been on vacation and some of our quilting friends couldn't get through to sign up for our 2009 Alaskan Quilting Cruise in time for our special, rock bottom pricing. So she convinced Royal Caribbean to keep our prices the same until mid November. If you thought you'd missed out, tada!

Inside Room: $1199.00

Outside Room: $1399.00

Balcony Room: $2049.00

Staterooms are beginning to fill up so if you *think* you might want to go it would pay to put down your FULLY REFUNDABLE deposit as soon as possible.

You can contact our travel agent, MJ Bryant at (888) 278-7875 or email her MJBryant@ak2trvl.com

Block Exchange

It all started with a book. The Civil War Diary Quilt. I've already made a Dear Jane Quilt. Lots & lots and lots of 4 1/2" squares. Each one different. I made it in Civil War fabrics. Took me 2 years and I finished it in 2001. Been there, done that. Or so I thought. I kept coming back to the Civil War Diary Quilt book. Twelve voices from twelve actual women's diaries written during the War Between the States. 6" quilt blocks representing diary entries. Names like Hungry Soldiers, Bad Box, Mud Hole and more. I shared the book with the Grateful Threads, my quilting buds. They were entrigued, just like me. So began the now-infamous "Civil War Diary Quilt Block Swap." There were 9 of us and we'd each make 9 alike blocks every two months and swap them out with each other. The best laid plans and all. Tonight we swapped out round #3. That's the third round in 2 years!!!!! What we've found is that one gal (one of our members who lives in Maine all across the country) will make her blocks in about 2 days. The rest of us wait until the absolute last minute to make our blocks. So we set the next meeting and trading date tonight at dinner. The first week in November. Guess I really have to make my next round of blocks soon.

Here are some of the blocks I received tonight. Aren't they beautiful! I wonder if we'll finish in 2009 or 2010 or 2015? It's ok....we'll still be friends.

Alaska!

Alaskan Quilting Cruise 2009

I am getting so excited about our August 7-14, 2009 Alaskan Cruise. I've been on a quilting cruise before and it was so much fun, so much to see and do that when Scottie Dog Quilts decided to sponsor a Quilting Cruise, we knew that Alaska's Inside Passage was THE place we wanted to go. Royal Caribbean has a lovely cruise ship for us with all the amenities.
Unlike most cruises, when you cruise up the Alaskan Inside Passage you have beautiful scenery on both sides of the ship almost the entire time you are sailing! Imagine seeing whales, seal lions, bald eagles, spawning salmon runs, bears, moose and more! The glaciers are magnificent----I had no idea how awed I would be sailing right up next to a blue, so very icy blue wall of ice 20 stories high! Incredible.
We will be able to quilt for three days when we are "out to sea" and so be available to explore all the ports and take any excursions we might find interesting.
Our ports of call will be Skagway, Juneau, Tracy Arm Fjord and Victoria, BC. So much to see and do! PLUS you can choose three different quilting projects while we sail. You'll still have time to see the shows, go to the spa, swim or whatever your heart desires. In port, the local Quilt Shops will have specials for us .Bring your husband, your family or a non-quilting friend as they are welcome too.
We have a block of staterooms reserved at very special prices, but these rates are only guaranteed through the middle of August. After that they may go up. To reserve your room contact our wonderful travel agent: MJ Bryant at (800) 278-7875 or email: MJBryant@ak2travel.com

Found: Memory Lane

OK, OK--Memory Lane has been found! It's in Brookings, OR. On our trip we staid just outside of Crescent City, CA but traveled up the coast past Brookings and another day up to Grant's Pass, OR. When we passed that sign "Memory Lane" I had to have a picture.

Winners: well, there are two....Darlene G. emailed me with her guess. Technically I had said you must reply to my blog....but OK, Darlene you win! An hour later Bev H. correctly guessed on the blog. Congratulations to you both! Have a bit of patience with me and I'll get a nice homemade gift to you both.

Our Anniversary Quilt

I told you yesterday I'd tell you about the wonderful gift Liz & Beka made for us for our Anniversary. It's a quilt....and a family history all rolled into one! It has pictures of us as children, with our siblings, our kids, our parents and our grandchildren. I didn't get a photo of the whole thing, but here are four shots. Some didn't photograph very well, but you'll get the idea. I'm still pretty speechless...hard to believe. Pictured are the girls at various ages, a picture of Bill and I 10 days after we met and 3 days AFTER we were engaged! I was 3 weeks out of High School and Bill was barely 21. Two years later we married and the kids just kept us busy. Now we are enjoying the next generation. Thanks are not enough, Liz & Beka. Your Dad and I love it. We shed quite a few tears over it. Love to you.

Memory Lane Hint

HINT for Location: Bill and I saw this sign in one of the many towns we visited this past weekend.

First one to correctly guess wins a prize!

Tripping Down Memory Lane

Have your ever taken a trip down Memory Lane? Be the first to correctly guess the location of the Memory Lane sign photographed on the left and I'll send you a hand made gift. Respond to my blog with your guess.
My hubby-of-36-years, Bill, aka Mr. Scottie Dog, and I took a little trip Thursday through Sunday this past week. It's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle...no agenda, no real destination. Liz called us three times to find out where we were staying on Thursday. We drove North on Highway 101 and decided we'd try Jedidiah Smith State Park. Somehow we missed the "Campground Full" sign and slowly with our 24' trailer wound around and around the campground only to find nary a place for us to set up for the night. Now everyone knows that trying to find a last minute camping spot in the California Redwoods is like trying to catch rain in a sieve. So we decided to drive North to Oregon. Four miles down the road we found a tiny campground (Ruby van de Venter County Park). About 15 spots, most in the redwoods (read shade all day long) and a couple next to the redwoods and on the banks of the Smith River. Other than the camp host (a quiet young lady with purple and white hair) on Thursday and Friday we were the only other residents, although Saturday a couple of other campsites were occupied.
Evenings we sat by the fire and watched the stars come out one by one. First the swallows swooped across the water finishing up their dinners with tiny bugs that hugged the river. Then as dusk gave way to cobalt skies pin-pricked with stars, the little bats came out to eat the rest of the bugs. They both did a great job as nary a mosquito was seen on the entire trip.
Thirty six years.....seems like forever, seems like yesterday we were young kids beginning our lives together. I like that we can talk late into the night or we can just sit and hold hands. Silence is ok. We've celebrated our anniversay a few times in Hawaii, in Kiev, Ukraine, camping in tent as well as trailer, in hotels, at restaurants, at home. As long as we are together that is all that is important!

We don't usually exchange gifts for our anniversary. Cards sometimes, but not always. This year as we were leaving Liz casually gave us a big box. "Open it tonight," she said. We forgot until about 10:45 pm. After we cried, oohed and ahhed we called her. I'm still speachless. Beka helped her and it took about 1 1/2 years to complete. You'll have to check back tomorrow as I don't have a picture.