From Tanya

I recently received a package from Japan. It was from Tanya. Tanya and I "met" on the internet. She has lived in Japan for many, many years raising a son and a daughter, both now going to college in the USA. I enjoy her blog immensly, learning about Japanese Cluture, quilting and more. Awhile back Tanya mentioned that Batik fabrics were hard to find in Japan. So, since I own a quilt shop that has a huge selection of Batiks, I cut her a bunch of 1/3 yard cuts. It was the least I could do when I derived so much enjoyment from her blog. A few others sent Tanya some Batiks too and she made this wonderful Winding Ways quilt.
Imagine my surprise when this package arrived in my mailbox. I wasn't expecting anything. There was a sheet of Japanese Cherry Blossom stickers and an Cherry Blossom Embroidery kit and thread. I haven't done much embroidery for a long time. I'm excited to get started. We just ordered some new Asian prints from Kona Bay Fabrics and one is a pink and cream Cherry Blossom fabric. I think I'll make a pillow.

Again, thank you, Tanya! My kitties say "Meow" to your kitties!

"Q" is for Quilt

This week was "Q" week at Sunnybrook Farms Preschool where my granddaughter, Sydney is a willing pupil. She has great fun there and learns all manner of things Preschoolers need to know. Becky Sanders and her husband Raymond run the Preschool and do a fabulous job. Back in September Liz suggested that for "Q" week they could bring the students to the "Q"uilt Shop.

To get ready we made each child a fabric bag and put
inside a glue stick, some fabric squares, a tape measure and a fun sticker.


















A couple of parents came and we were happy when they jumped right in and helped with our Paper Quilts.























Aidan was a quick learner and worked hard on his quilt




















Sydney loved having her friends come to HER quilt store.














Look at all these smiling faces! The childrend learned about how quilts are made and went through the store finding fabric of different colors and patterns.

We had so much fun. I can't tell you what a letdown it was after they left

Doreen & Dead Cat Alley

When we took our trip down to Southern California, Liz & I borrowed her husband's GPS. We dubbed her "Joyce." Joyce is pretty no-nonsense, knows where to go, and how to get there. Occasionally we got off track and Joyce consistently corrected us and helped us get our bearing. I told Mr. Scottie Dog that I wanted to have a Joyce in my car.So here's MY GPS....we got a different brand and she has a different voice...not exactly like Joyce, so we named her "Doreen." Don't know why, it just seemed to fit. Doreen came with a windshield suction-cup attachment with a note on the box: "Suction-cup mount is illegal in the states of California and Minnesota." Hmmmm. Our family lives in California AND Minnesota. So Mr. Scottie Dog went to work and in just 15 minutes he had Doreen mounted on the dashboard o my Chevy Tahoe. He's a wonder. I think he can do anything. I am sure that "McGyver" was modeled after him. Thanks, Mr. Scottie Dog!

Today when I picked Sydney up from Pre-School I introduced her to Doreen. "Is she as smart as Joyce?" Sydney asked. "Well, let's try her out," I replied. So we plugged in 301 W. Harris St. Then I said, "We'll see what Doreen does when we make a side trip to get gas." Doreen was one smart cookie.....every time we made a different turn from her instructions she was quick to state: "Recalculating!" Syd repeated each turn...."LEFT" or "RIGHT." We had fun and Doreen got us to The Scottie Dog Store. She knew when we were on a one way street or in an alley.....Speaking of alleys:

On our trip home we stopped in Woodland to visit Bee Hive Quilts. It's a cute little shop in the historic Old Town section of Woodland. Liz found lots of 1930's Fat Quarters and I got presents for my small quilt group, The Grateful Threads. As we drove around the corner to make our way back to the freeway we saw this sign and had to drive down the alley. Hmm, Dead Cat Alley. How did it get it's name? Well, a quick trip to Google and I knew it all. You can read about it here. I love the history behind place names. We like to think that the Walnut tree in our front yard had significance in naming our street. I doubt it, but it sounds good!

Four Generations!

The most wonderful part of our trip to Redlands was to get the family together and see my Dad and Willie. My father is one of those people everyone likes...and with good reason. He has the most wonderful sense of humor, his heart is as a big as a house, he's fun to be with, he's always up on all the news and he genuinely cares about everyone.
Four Generations

L-R Front Row: Mercedes H, Sydney A, Jakob H.

Back Row: Beka Hache, Liz Adams, BrendaLou Scott, Bob McNally

I'm the oldest with two brothers close behind. Family is what it's all about! Hope we can all be together again soon.

The rain cleared away all the smog in So. CA while we were there as well as covering the mountains with snow. Beka caught these great pictures.

Disneyland (Finally!)

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of going to Disneyland with daughters Beka & Liz, Beka's hubby, Jason & of course the 3 Grandbabies....Sydney, Jakob & Sadies. It was so much fun. Now, lots of people would say it was a disappointing trip because it rained for part of the day. Actually it poured occasionally! But by 1 pm the rain was gone. we bought rain ponchos. They were great. Kept us (relatively) dry and we ducked under cover when it the heavens opened up and it really poured. Sydney was pretty blaze until she caught sight of the Castle at the end of Main Street...."The Castle, the castle!" She cried. She jumped up and down, screamed and could hardly contain herself as we made our way as fast as we could down Main Street. Of course she was wearing her Cinderella Princess dress over her pants & shirt (as did about every 4th little girl in the park!). Even with a rain poncho over, she looked regal.

You can see by the smiles that riding the Carousel was a big hit with everyone. Beka and Sadies shared a horse, but Jason and Jakob had their own trusty stead. I think the Carousel has been my favorite ride since I was a little girl...let's see, I first went to Disneyland in 1957....ooooh, I don't think I want to figure out how long ago THAT was!

By mid-morning we'd met up with friends from Eureka! Emma & Kaia had brought their parents and Kayla & Hannah brought their folks too. Since Kayla & Hannah are now residing in So. CA they came for the 9th time to Disneyland since Thanksgiving. The Harvey's took this shot of all of us as we entered the newly re-opened, refurbished "It's a Small World."

As I said before, the rains went away by 1:30 or so and we enjoyed the near-empty park. We were able to walk onto any ride or restaurant with ease. We met the Disney Royalty...Mickey & Minnie, of course, Jakob got to pose with Lightening McQueen, the star of his favorite Disney video, "Cars." I have lots more pictures, but these say it all....the smiles of the little ones are so precious. I'm sorry Steve,Grandpa & Great-Grandpa couldn't come, maybe next time.

Proud Grandma

I got a vidio from my son-in-law today. It features Jakob who will be 3 March 28. Cute guy! Click Here to see Mr. Smarty Pants.

FaceBook, Anyone?

Are you on FaceBook? If you are, and are a quilter, why not join the group: "I bet I Can Find 1,000,000 People who love to quilt!" Just click here.

This group was started by a friend of mine, Sandy Brawner, owner of Quilt Country, a really awesome quilt shop in Lewiston, TX. Sandy has a slow southern drawl.....I love to listen to her talk. Relaxing, really.

FaceBook seemed to me to be something for the younger set, but I've reconnected with elementary school friends, relatives (I see what my nieces & nephews are up to) and some people I'd only known through an Internet List. It's really easy and you can do as much or as little as you want.

No Disneyland Pics Yet

Liz forgot the Disneyland Pics, so I'll have to keep you waiting. Meanwhile...I'll tell you some of the other things we did in So. CA. We got to visit my friend, Kris of Cozy Cottage Fabrics. She writes a fun blog too. Click here for a peek. Kris's store in Brea, CA is so cute...just like her! It was hopping on the Sunday afternoon we visited. A "Sit 'n Sew" group was occupying the classroom area. Beka got some flannel for pj pants for Jakob and some American Military fabric (with American Flags for this little guy who holds dual American/Canadian citizenship) for pants & a shirt. Liz bought some 1930's Fabrics and I bought some pink and brown Civil War Reproduction fabrics. What else is new?

After visiting Kris we went to Sherman Oaks to visit our friend Elizabeth. She and Matt and their girls moved last Fall from Humboldt County, but hope to return in a couple of years. It was so good to see them. We were surprised to find another local family visiting them too! It was amazing to fill their home with 5 adults and 7 active children. Elizabeth is so serene and truly has the gift of a lovely hostess.

L to R: Jakob, Sydney, Sadies, Hannah, Emma, Kaia, Kayla. During the course of two hours I bet we saw 15 different princesses parade out of the bedroom. Jakob was happy to play with the train set and Sadies just crawled around looking cute.

Technical Difficulties

I downloaded a bunch of pictures from Liz's camera for our Disneyland trip, resized them all and cropped them and put them in a folder called, "Disneyland." (Duh!) Today when I went to retrieve the pictures it seems that there IS NO folder called "Disneyland" on the computer......hmmm? So I remembered I named one of the pics: "Castle Gate." No such picture on the computer. So I'll have to get the pictures again tomorrow. Sorry. Here are a few more shots from the trip.

Sydney and Jakob waiting for friends to come. Don't you just love the quilt on the loveseat? This was a hand pieced top Liz got as an extra when she bought some antique blocks on EBay. It had a horrible pink 1950's border on it and she ripped it off and put on a great 1930's reproduction border. Then she quilted it in a Baptist Fan pattern. It is a wonderful quilt. I wish it were mine.

Sydney and Jakob (Cinderella & Surfer Dude) waiting to leave for Disneyland.

Sadies in her Minnie Mouse dress--a 1st birthday gift from the Harveys. Our little pixie weighs in at just under 20 lbs....she's a tiny thing. Hard to believe she's a year old already!

I'm again promising Disneyland Pics for tomorrow....if I cry wolf one more time, you'll never trust me again!

Valentine's Day

Saturday was Valentines Day. I woke up late and there on the kitchen counter was a card and a big vase of large,lovely-smelling, red carnations. I read once that you should never give a girl carnations. They are supposed to be a cheap token, one not appreciated. I'm sure glad Mr. Scottie Dog doesn't read what "they" say because I LOVE carnations. I love the spicy scent (I basically wear two scents: Plumaria or Carnation...in fact when Sydney was only about 18 months old she came into a room and she "smelled" Grandma!), I like that they last a long, long time. I like roses too...I have some bushes and cut the flowers in season for the house or the store. My absolute favorite flower is daffodil. When I was little I told my Grandma Nellie Belle that God made Daffodils just for me.

The card brought tears to my eyes...Mr. Scottie Dog always picks the best cards. I don't know how he does it. We went to dinner with Liz & Steve & Sydney. Couldn't have been a more perfect day.






I stopped at the store mid-day to take Sydney her Valentine from Grandma and Grandpa and found a sweet Victorian Valentine cone waiting for me from my friend Katie Hartsell. It was made from Moda's Candy Kisses fabrics with a sweet button and fancy trim. (Oh and it was filled with chocolate and I ate every one! By myself!) Thank you for remembering me, Katie!





I have gotten several emails, calls and messages on FaceBook about my birthday pot. Yes, it's still growing with 9 spears so far. I think it might be tulips, but I probably won't be able to tell for sure for a few more days now. It has been a fun birthday gift. Thanks Liz.

In the background of the picture is scaffolding as Mr. Scottie Dog has been working on our master bedroom suite.....the walk-in closet needed some ceiling work that turned into ceiling joist work that turned into roof work....new 1" plywood roof, paper, tar & shingles. Just a tiny bit more to finish but the rainy weather has kept the scaffolding up. You can also see the hot tub on the patio and beyond the pond. There is a palm tree in a pot, but don't think I live in sunny, Southern CA.....Eureka is almost as north as you can go in California and it's probably too cold for palm trees in reality. Tomorrow I promise to tell the Disneyland Story.

Southern CA

So much to tell; we did so much on our short week to So. California. Liz, Sydney and I left early Wednesday morning driving south. Steve, Liz's sweet hubby, loaned us his new baby (GPS) for the trip. We dubbed her "Joyce" and were amazed at how no-nonsense, calm and intelligent she is. Joyce told us when we had made a wrong turn ("In 100 feet make a right turn if possible."), when we insisted we really DID want to go south on 101 and not Highway 5, she finally sighed and recalculated our trip. We just plugged in the addresses in Sacramento we needed to go and she got us there. By the end of the trip when we had turned her off (since we knew how to get from Sacramento to home, Sydney was confused, "How come Joyce isn't talking?" We turned her back on.

First stop was Sacramento, several business stops and then of course, we stopped at Runs with Scissors Quilt Shop in Citrus Heights. Our friend Marie owns this new shop and it looks great. It was hopping with customers, a quilting class and Jackie was demonstrating something in the back. We spent the night with Liz's friend Brilyn. Brilyn has the cutest 4 month old baby, Rylie Jayne. Thanks Brilyn & Joey. We were off on Thursday morning at the crack o'dawn thirty (5:30 am) and stopped for breakfast in Modesto. There was some rain now and again. In order to avoid Los Angeles we cut across CA at Bakersfield and through Tehatchapi (where we grabbed lunch and let Sydney play in the playland), to CA 395, down the Cajon Pass into San Bernardino and on to Redlands. Joyce was magnificent at getting us there, but she does NOT know the best way to get from the freeway to Dad's House! We arrived around 4 pm. After dinner Dad & Liz drove to the airport to pick up the Minnesota kids!

Great-Grandpa and Jakob got along fine!

The kids loved picking oranges and lemons right off the trees in Great-Grandpa & Willie's Redlands home.
Generally Jakob (3 in March) and Sydney (4 in March) get along pretty well. Some sibling-type rivalry, but they had so much fun playing (and plotting!) together. Jakob, the younger, is several inches taller and several lbs. heavier than Sydney....at Disneyland they really scoped him out as being under 3. I had to comment, "Would you like to see his passport?"

One morning we all got to go to Redlands High School, my Alma Mater for a booster's club pancake breakfast. Afterward we went to Sylvan Park and the kids all posed in front of the tree Mr. Scottie Dog and I met in....yes, a tree....I was 3 weeks out of high school and he was a junior in college. A week later we were engaged....40 years ago!

We played on the swings, slides and more. Here's sweet Mercedes loving the swing. Isn't she the cutest thing? She always has a big smile and a sparkle in her eye.
Dad and Willie were the best hosts. Willie fed us (and such a crowd!) fabulous meals....dinner conversation always consisted of , "This is fantastic! Can I have the recipe?" We filled up the house with people, toys and suitcases and not once did they complain! I think the bathrooms and the laundry really got a workout!

We visited with friends, went to Disneyland and more....I'll save that story till next time.

The mystery grows!

Just a quick note today....was it because January was left behind and February has come that my birthday pot has grown so much? Saturday it had six green spears....on Sunday, February 1, I noticed there were now eight spears above dirt line! The tallest spear is 8" tall. I figure soon my Birthday Pot Mystery will be solved.



I'm getting ready for a trip to see my Dad and his wife, Willie. I love my Dad so much (I love Willie too!), and wish we lived close enough to visit weekly or even daily! I live about 1 1/2 hours from the CA/Oregon border and Dad lives about 1 1/2 hours from the CA/Mexico border. California is a very long state. Liz, Sydney and I will drive to Sacramento, a 5 1/2 hour drive on Wednesday. We'll do a bit of business for the shop and then stay at Liz's friend, Brilynn's house. Brilynn has a new baby girl named Rylie and we haven't seen her yet. At the crack of dawn-thirty on Thursday we'll drive to Redlands where Dad lives. It's about a 7 hour drive, maybe more depending on traffic. Thursday night Liz will drive to the Ontario Airport and pick up Jason & Beka and my two Minnesota Grands. Oh joy! I've missed them so much even though it's only been a month since I saw them last. Mercedes had her first birthday last week and we'll have a cake and celebrate while we are in Redlands. Lots to pack into that little trip....going to see my friend Kris and go to her Quilt Shop in Brea, going to the park where Bill and I met and get pictures of my kids & grandkids in the tree we met in (that's another story), Disneyland (!) and spending time with some friends who moved last year to So. CA. In between all that we'll hang with the folks, celebrate Mercedes' & Willie's birthdays, etc. We'll begin our drive home on Tuesday, probably spending another night in Sacramento. I don't know if I'll have Internet access, but I'll be sure to share afterwards if not before.