FOUND: Olga!

Many thanks to my friend Darlene who read my blog entry about friends and did some research for me. After the work and tips she gave me, it was just a matter of time. I thought I had found my childhood friend, Olga......just had to wait for confirmation. It came tonight and lo & behold! She's just a couple of hours north of me in Cave Junction, OR. A place I drive through (and often stop for a bite to eat) several times a year. Thanks Darlene! I'm ecstatic and so are my friends, Terri, Toni, Vicki, Lynda & Maralee. Now to find Gail (and I think we're really close on that one too!)

The Bedroom (NOT X rated!)

As readers of my blog may remember, Mr. Scottie Dog has been working on our house. Ever since we bought our house in the Cutten area of Eureka, it has been in the state of remodel. We added a two storey addition of den, 2 bedrooms, study area & bathroom. Then the old dining room became another bedroom and guest bath w/shower and two closets. The kitchen was reconfigured and enlarged. Two years later new cabinets & counter tops and finally flooring. With each job, a few final touches were left undone. For the past year, Bill has been finishing up these projects. He also built a fantastic spa bathroom & walk-in closet out of the old bedroom next to our room. Then the laundry room got it's own finish job and new pantry shelves installed.

Last week he started in on our bedroom itself. It is getting new walls, carpet, an additional window, new light fixtures and a new ceiling. Since the original was only 7 1/2' high, he's re-shaping the ceiling so it will be 9' at the apex. Right now he's got 1/2 of the old ceiling down and is re-engineering the truss system so the roof won't fall down on us one night! (I'm thankful for that.) Our bed sits smack-dab in the center of the room while the work goes on.

The bed quilt is an old one I made in the very early 90's. It was a sample for the Beginning Quilting Class I taught. I love the colors in it.

I can't get to this dresser. It belonged to Bill's grandma when she was young. I love it, but it was made for clothing of a different era. The top two drawers are very shallow. Top one was for corsets, the 2nd for chemises. I keep my stockings in one and socks in another. I hope the room is done soon....I want to be able to post my AFTER pics!

Friends

Friends are special people who come into your life. Sometimes you aren't even sure why "people" become friends. It may be that you have common interests, family relations, or it could just be that "something" clicks. They say, "You can't choose your family but your CAN choose your friends." I think that sometime you don't even choose your friends. Some of them become friends through osmosis!

In my lifetime I've had great friends. Some long-term, some for just a short period of time. Church friends, school friends, neighborhood friends, Internet friends. Club friends, quilting friends, work friends, store friends, stab-you-in-the-back-friends, kindred spirit friends and more. Sometime friends move away and you don't see them for long periods of time but when you get together it's as if no time has passed at all. It's great when your friends have kids who become life-long friends and then THEIR kids become friends!
L-R: Gavin & Crizzy, Emma and Sydney. Their parents are our friends, their moms are friends (and were members of my Camp Fire group when they were young) and now THEY are friends. Isn't life grand?
Speaking of Camp Fire and friends......I grew up in Los Angeles and went to Cimmarron Ave. Elementary school. In kindergarten I met the ladies above: Toni Fisher & Vicki Riggs. We were Blue Birds together (Toni's mom was our leader) and then Camp Fire Girls (Vicki's mom was our leader and my mom ass't leader for a couple of years). We have great history. When we were all 13, I moved to the San Bernardino Valley and Toni & twin sister Terri moved to Simi Valley. I kept in touch with Terri & Toni all these years (although not as much in the last few years as I would have liked--my fault) but lost touch with Vicki. She found me a couple of years ago and we emailed a bit.

Exciting news! We're all getting together this summer! Terri, Toni, Vicki & I and maybe a few more of the old group. We're still looking for Olga Evergates, Jill MacDonald and Gail Plakos. Maiden names. Gail, I think lives in the San Fernando Valley. We're all 56 or 57 now. I'd love to find them too. Friends then, friends now. I can hardly wait till July.

Winding Ways

Scottie Dog Quilts is sponsoring a Quilting Cruise to Alaska in August. (If you'd like to join us CLICK HERE). There are several projects you may choose to sew on the ship. Bev Harrison is teaching a Karen Combs pattern called Transparant Stars sewn with two colors of Karen's Shade Cascade (gradated) fabric. Liz is teaching a big quilt made with jelly roll strips. My project is actually 3 smaller ones. A bag, a table runner and a hexagon project that may be done by machine or by hand. That one I actually think is faster and easier by machine, but you do have to have a machine with zig zag stitch. My little featherweight won't do for that one.





Last week Liz used the AccuCut machine and cut out two of my Winding Ways tablerunner projects. I finished one yesterday and sewed two more blocks of a second one. Don't you love the negative/positive look of the runner? The inner border didn't come out exactly right...it's actually a dark brown Shadow Play (Maywood Studios), not black as it appears in the picture. I'm also making a blue version and have a picture of one block.My Blogger friend, Tanya, recently made a lovely Winding Ways wall quilt but she cut and sewed hers by hand. Check out the quilting on hers....this was her 2nd machine quilting attempt and it is marvelous. It's one thing to be able to technically quilt a quilt well, but Tanya was quite creative and thoughtful in the quilting patterns she used.

Sydney Turns 4!

March 21 marks birthday number 4 for Sydney Sarah Adams, my eldest grandbaby. Saturday Sydney and Grandma had a date for lunch. We went to a "real" restaurant for the occasion. After all, when you are 4 you are grown up enough to go to "big girl" places.














Sydney ordered a triple-decker grilled cheese sandwich. The staff brought her strawberry ice cream with a cherry and candle and sang Happy Birthday. We had lots of fun.
Saturday night Mommy & Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa took Sydney out to dinner and to the Bounce-A-Palooza. If you've never taken a toddler to a Bounce House you haven't lived! The energy, the noise!

You have to take off your shoes and off you go! This is one of Sydney's favorite places to go and she really gets a workout. She runs from bouncer to bouncer, up the giant inflated stairs, down the slides, inside the whale's mouth and between the humongous Spider Man's ankles, around the corner, bounce up and down. I get exhausted just watching her. She's so short that sometimes she can't make it into the openings, but it's neat to know that the bigger kids always seem to help her out.

Here's Grandpa helping Syd ride her birthday scooter as we left the Mall. She learned to kick up her leg by watching Olivia the Pig. Perhaps you've read some of the Olivia books or seen the TV shows.

Sydney is all dressed up for her real party. The cake in the background looked like Duff from Ace of Cakes had made it, but Liz had worked hard on it. It was so beautiful. Notice Sydney has bare feet. I'm afraid she learned that from her mother (Liz) who learned it from her mother (BrendaLou) who learned it from HER mother (Marcella)......generational inheritance! None of us like to wear shoes inside!
I'm birthdayed out! But it was fun!

Spring Revisited

Last Blog I showed you the daffodils blooming and told of our lovely Spring weather. Sunday, a mere two days later, it was frigid when we went out to the car for Church. It had hailed---the temperature was 39 degrees. Here's our poor lawn, covered in hail with the ever-present redwood litter.On the way to Church we could see that in some places it looked like mounds of snow left behind. Remember, this is CALIFORNIA! But then by Monday it was beautiful and warm again. My daffodils are still beautiful.
Happy Spring!

Spring!

Today is celebrated by two important events:

#1: Today is the first day of Spring. The daffodils have been blooming at my house for nearly 3 weeks.

#2: Today is my son-in-law, Jason Hache's birthday .

Happy Birthday Jason! Thanks for being the best husband my baby girl, Beka, could have. You are also an awesome father to my Minn. grandbabies!

Here is another shot of some of the daffodils. In Northern California we never quite know when they will begin to bloom. I've had them as early as January 3 (my birthday) and as late as April 1 to begin to bloom. This year even the green spears were late in popping through the soil, but they began to flower right away. So far 3 weeks of flowers and counting.

I've got several hundred daffodils in the garden. My favorite flower. Occasionally Sydney picks one for me but generally I like to leave them in the ground as they'll last nearly a month in the garden. Of all the Azaleas and Rhododendrons I have in the garden, only one has a lone blossom on it.

So smile a little, enjoy the Spring and Happy Birthday Jason!

You Sew Girl!

Today I'm going to give out an award I call "You Sew Girl!!!"
My award goes to Paula Wonderly. Paula takes a lot of classes at Scottie Dog Quilts and she comes to nearly all our Drop-In Classes, Sit 'N Sews, Girl's Night Out!. Paula LOVES to sew. And we enjoy seeing her. Paula took a Strips and Curves class from Crystal last month.

There were lots of moans and groans during the following weeks as she worked on her quilt. She took the creative process to new heights. Paula always wants to get it right. She uses a design wall and looks, waits, ruminates and moves things around. I'm sure you'll agree with me that Paula got it right. Her first Strips and Curves quilt is stunning. I hear she's going to enter it in the Fair! I'm so proud of her efforts. I understand she's already bought fabric for her NEXT Strips and Curves quilt.
Paula...."You Sew Girl!!!"

St. Paddy's Day with Sydney & Grandpa

Last night on St. Paddy's Day, Sydney and I dressed up and joined Grandpa, aka Mr. Scottie Dog for dinner out and an evening with the Humboldt Accordionaires. You may remember that Mr. Scottie Dog is a member in good standing of our local Accordion Group. LOCAL (?) group.....does that mean there are other groups out there? Yes! The Humboldt County group belongs to the larger Golden State Accordion group who, in turn, belongs to an association of groups worldwide. I guess there is an entire "world" out there for every hobby anyone might have....just like quilters...!!!!! There is my sweetie pie right in the middle of the picture. I think last night there were 14 accordion players, a guitar and an Irish drum and about 120 people there to listen, clap, sing and yodel. Here's a sign on the wall (they meet in Swiss Hall).

As you can see, Sydney was dressed to impress. She planned to dance to every single musical piece. These musicians are serious....they start promptly at 7 pm and play for two hours without a break. At the stroke of 9 pm every month they play Goodnight Irene and everyone sings along.

Sydney danced the first few with Grandma (sometimes with Grandma sitting on a bench!) and then her friend Caleb came. He's an older man....6 years old now! Sydney was quite the brazen woman and she did the asking most of the time. Syd danced with Grandma, Caleb, a girl about 11 and one of the older ladies. She danced all but one dance.

The Accordion band played mostly Irish songs....Danny Boy, An Irish Lullaby, When Irish Eyes are Smiling and more. I know my husband was thinking of me when he played them as I'm of Irish heritage. He says I have a leprechaun nose (and I pretend to be mad!) and sings to me, My Wild Irish NOSE. Most of the ladies bring all manner of goodies to share. Sydney was happy with a brownie with mint frosting and a green cupcake (green cake & frosting), but she only ate half of each. She asked once if she could go "look at the goodies" and bring me something. I expected a cookie or brownie but she ran back holding a deviled egg! I'm surprised she didn't drop it, but it WAS good.
We had a great time! Then it was back home and Sydney spent the night with Grandma & Grandpa. I took her to Preschool before work today.

How did YOU spend St. Patrick's Day?

A "Pieceful Day"

Last weekend I spent my day off at Pieceful Day. I've blogged about it before but I can't tell you how special it is for me. You'd think since I own a Quilt Shop I'd spend most of my time quilting. WRONG.....I think Quilt Shop Owners sew very little....at least this one is usually teaching, helping customers, ordering fabric, cleaning up the store, putting fabric away, writing newsletters, blogging, researching the latest trends, and whittling away at the mountains of paperwork a business generates in order to run. So once a month I try to make it to one or both of All Washed Up's Pieceful Day. A day in the Victorian Town of Ferndale, CA is so much fun. We sew from 9 am to midnight, stroll the town and buy out the little shops. I always stop in at the candy store and buy Mr. Scottie Dog a few truffles (alas, I failed to do that on this trip! Sorry honey!).
Here are my table mates....Bridgette, Paula and Katie. We were all working hard (at having fun!) on our projects. It just feels so good to be able to be the "quilter" and not the "shop owner" once in a while.

Angie and Weezie made an announcement about mid-day that had us all gulping and speechless. They need to concentrate on their families more right now and try to refocus on their pattern business (Just Can't Cut It, Sparkling Cider to name a couple!) and so this would be the last Pieceful Day. Crystal to the rescue! Our dear friend and teacher in the store, Crystal said that she'd take over management of Pieceful Days through July. Yay/Yahoo/Wohoo!!!!! Of course we'll all help her out. Thanks Crystal! You've made this shop owner very happy.

The Guild Flea Market

I've talked before about my quilt guild (Redwood Empire Quilters Guild). March's program was to be a Flea Market. There were lots of tables and goods to buy: home made pickles (samples even!), apple butter, hot pepper jelly; old quilt & knitting patterns, grab bags of fabrics, yarns trims; baskets, nick knacks, hand made quilts, knitted booties, dyed silk scarves and more! Scottie Dog Quilts had a couple of tables and we sold a lot of our own cut 2 1/2" fabric strips we call "Honey Buns," patterns, die-cut tumblers & diamonds and lots more. Here's what our table looked like:
Bridgette brought several tables of lovely china, figurines (probably 50 chickens!), vintage pieces. She also had samples of the jars of jellies & preserves she'd made.



My good friend, Jen Duncan had wonderful things to sell....I just love her creative edge....and her new technique for making these rustic scallop edges on quilts!





I knew from her blog she was going to bring in die-cut (with WonderUnder already applied) Alphabet Letters so I'd actually reserved a set, but I hightailed it over to her table so I could get first pick. Don't you love her darling yo-yo kits? And those fabric & button flowers!




Jen has an Etsy store so no matter where you live you, too, can buy some of her wares. I only wish my camera caught her lovely smile. Jen smiles with her whole face, her eyes twinkle....she is such a calm person. I'm so glad to have met her through our store. Liz and I often say one of the best things about owning Scottie Dog Quilts is meeting the people we do.



Here are some really darling bags someone had for sale. There were fabric ones, felted wool totes, rag square bags and more.
There were so many things to see, I spent some of my $$ too.

Want to own one of the African Quilts????

Remember yesterday's stunning quilts by Sarah Zalen? It turns out they were made for a purpose. To help fund needy schools in Nigeria. If you would like to help out and own one of the stunning quilts in ysterday's blog read on.
Below is a request letter sent out by Chevron for whom Sarah's hubby Tom works.

"Folks,

Tom and Sarah Zalan of Chevron, are spear-heading a Charity Drive for some schools near Eleko Beach (described further below by Tom).

Sarah has made 3 stunning quilts, named ‘Snap, Crackle and Pop’, in different African fabrics that she is now auctioning to raise funds for the Schools project. Please see attached photos. The photo’s are good, but do not do justice to the vibrancy of the colours and the quality of the workmanship.

If you would like to bid on these quilts, then please email Sarah as soon as possible on spinathoner@aol.com, because she will need a means of communicating the current bid price to you. The names of the various bidders remain completely anonymous. If you could also email your cell phone number, then this would also be helpful in case Sarah needs to get hold of you.

The starting bid price for each quilt is $200 USD.
Bidding has now started and will END at 12.00 noon, Wednesday 18 March 2009.
So…, time is very much of the essence.

Further questions can also be directed to Sarah,

Many thanks for your consideration of this matter,





Charity Drive Information about 3 Schools in Ibeju Village, near Eleko Beach

TOM ZALAN :
Dear Friends, As a fun new charity project, my children, Katie and Joe, and I are running a drive for especially needy schools in Ibeju village, near Eleko beach. We visited there over the holidays to scope out needs at two schools, Muhammed International Primary School AND Ibeju Public Junior & Senior High School. We recognize the potential far-reaching effects of helping to provide a quality education to these children. Muhammed Primary has over 200 students in 9 classes, grades K - 5. They are temporarily renting a site, until their new school is completed. Muhammed Primary is in great need of instructional materials and visual teaching aids, as well as portable lamps & fans, portable blackboards, a small generator and a mobile toilet. Their new school is currently being built on the outskirts of Ibeju village. Ibeju Junior & Senior High School has over 400 students attending grades 7 - 12. To help make the high school a more conducive place for learning, they are in great need of walls to be painted, new desks & chairs, and sports equipment. Plus please be aware that Chevron Public Affairs will very likely give matching contributions to the schools, so any monies you are generous enough to donate will effectively be doubled! Thank you very much for considering supporting a neighbor community."

When is the same quite different?

I've been wondering what to blog about lately and was pretty much stumped until my friend Katie emailed me some pictures from her friend Sarah. Background: Katie and Sarah were became best friends (BFF's) when they lived in So. CA and their children were small. Many, many moves later they are still the best of friends and make it a point to get together at least a couple of times a year. A few years back Katie and her hubby moved to Eureka and she became one of our fabulous employees at Scottie Dog Quilts and even a member of that elite small quilting group, The Grateful Threads. I met Sarah a couple of years before that when she was visiting Katie and the two of them came into the store. Sarah said she needed a lot of thread, needles and a large number of books. She gave me a list and said she'd be in town for three weeks. I was pretty surprised at the list of 25 or 30 books, 100's of needles and a huge assortment of thread. You see, Sarah was living in Bali. Yes, BALI, land of paradise.....LAND OF BATIKS! Her husband works for an oil company and she's lived many places around the globe. She had to make a large order because mail order didn't really work to Bali. She just got a lot of empty packages. So she stocked up.
Sarah's come back several times and Katie has gone to visit too. (Wow!, pack me in your suitcase). So now, Sarah lives in Nigeria. That's in Africa. Lions, tigers & elephants, Oh, my! African fabrics are quite different than our American fabrics. (Even though most of our American fabrics are printed elsewhere, they are designed by Americans.)
So back to the beginning of my story. I got an email from Katie who was sending pictures of three of Sarah's quilts using African fabrics. They are called Snap, Crackle & Pop although I'm not sure which is which any more.

I'm a "BLUE" person. I love blue and this Blue quilt is no different. I like the graphic Zig Zag of the red/green print that runs through this quilt.

This quilt has so much energy with the stripes and the red/orange going through it. The wild diamonds of the hot colors in the midst of the cool fabrics really grab me. Lots of movement going on in this quilt.

These fabrics are African waxed Batiks and again....a hot color (gold) running through the cool colors. But such a more relaxing feel. I applaud Sarah...all three of these quilts are just wonderful. Each one evokes different feelings and snatches of memories.....but they are all the very same pattern. Great job Sarah! Thanks for letting us share your quilts.

Sydney and Eureka Fire Department

On Thursday morning Liz and I were busily working at the store and who should come in for their yearly check on the fire extinguishers, but the Eureka Fire Department. Four officers came, they were the nicest guys. Now, Sydney has had a huge fascination for two things since she was quite tiny: Fire Trucks and Tow Trucks. On one of our trips to So. CA we had need of a tow truck. Only Sydney was excited about the adventure. Well, Thursday the Fire Department came to visit! We called her over (she was intently painting with watercolors) and she jumped up and down. She shook each hand and said, "Fank you for your service." At this point I don't know who was more excited, Sydney or the EFD Officers. One of them lives next door to a local quilter and was impressed by our inventory....3000 bolts, my guess is he was surprised at how much we put in our small space.


Here's a picture of a local truck winding it's way through Eureka's Sequoia Park....I've driven that road many times and I'm surprised they could get the truck around the curves. Liz asked if they had a truck parked outside so she could take a picture of Sydney with a beloved Fire Truck. Sargent Miller said it was "down the block." Sydney said to one of the guys, "I have a smoke PROtector in my room." One of the guys got down on her level and told her what to do if the "smoke PROtector" ever went off. It was so cute.
At that point one of the officers was hightailing it down the street so he could bring the Fire Engine outside our door! Sydney was given a tour of the truck and they even put her on the front seat!

Here's Sydney and HER men in uniform! I tell you, she had them wrapped around her little finger!

Hats off to our brave men in blue! Thanks Eureka Fire Department.