Seattle

This is Maddie making bracelets, just like her mother used to do. Amelia was making bracelets too. They were also working on Amelia's birthday party, the incredible cake party.  Party aprons for everyone and each one will decorate their own cake.

This is me working.  What? I don't look like I am working?  Well, I was sent to Puyallup to a sewing expo for my job, and it was close enough to Seattle that Jami came and picked me up on Friday afternoon. I got home cooking, family and game night.  I didn't get to win, but we had treats and laughs. I love being at Jami and Kolby's, it a happy place, full of lots of love and laughs and good cooking.

This is the fairgrounds.  It was a very cool looking building and full of all kinds of sewing related things.  No quilt show, but plenty to see.

And as you can see, it was a Diet Coke event.

And this is work! The crew.  We had two different booths. One for long arm sewing machines in one building and this one that I have worked for weeks sewing out these yellow back drops with samples of the pantographs that we sell.

 

 Seattle was rainy and cool and I loved being there. I love that my job pays for me to visit family.

Break from Winter - Ontario California

 Don't we look like we belong in blue skies and palm trees?  It was crazy to leave home and come to the green grass and blooming flowers.  Crazy Good!  What a welcome break.

It was a business trip for me,  a Quilt show.  But we still enjoyed the break from winter and being together.  We had great weather, got up every morning and walked in the sunshine, fresh air, and DAIRY smell.  Go figure.  The manure smell was strong every morning. We were in farm country. We were close to LA, but it was such a clean area and not too much traffic, and very friendly people.

I even got a chance to soak up a bit of sun by the pool.  Jerry spent a lot of time with his guitar and reading by the pool.  He would meet me for lunches, and we had dinner in the hotel or a nearby restaurant.

We left in the rain. A drizzly day to get us back to reality. The airport was so funny. It was pretty much closed when we got there. They only had morning flights and evening flights. All of the shops but one or two were closed until just before our flight left.

Finished Room

The guitar room and quilting room is perfect!

 Jerry loves it and I love it and we are in there ALL the time!

 AND there is lots of quilt stuff happening... still working on my ship quilt.  It's not quilted to death...YET!

This is the center of the quilt.  I love all that blank quilting space that is calling to me.

It's pretty much still divided in half, quilting on my end and guitars and cars on his end...

But that's just until I get my new sewing machine!  Then I'll be in his half a bit, which was partly the reason for taking out the wall.

My Story Celebration at Work

We got to work about 6 am and started filling helium balloons for the big bash.

 Then all of the employees filled our entry way armed with silly string.  Fourteen Quilters had been chosen for our ad campaign this coming year.  They each wrote their quilting story and submitted it.  They were chosen from all over the country and got an expense paid trip to a retreat at our studio.

 It was pretty fun when they came in and each one got introduced.  That was just the start of the fun.

 Every hour or two they got a new gift from a vendor or Handi Quilter.  They got fabric, rulers, magazines, batting, scissors, calendars and day planners.

 All the Rulers was the one thing that really brought them to tears, but then they got "Go Baby's", which cut fabric in shapes. Anyway, they were all overwhelmed and really a great bunch of people. Now they will each be in quilting magazines all through the coming year.

This is just part of the "loot " they got one day!

The last day we had a class on how to quilt your quilt and each of them brought a quilt top.  This was my favorite.

picking OUR own PumpKins

I met up with Jami and the girls Saturday night after we closed down the show and cleaned up. 
 friends/coworkers stayed at the hotel for dinner and watched all the gay getups and had a great night.

We went to Italian dinner at NW 23rd, Sals.  The girls shared an order of mussels and then the typical spaghetti and pizza for dinner.  They crack me up how much they love mussels. I had butternut squash ravioli!  It was awesome.  And of course since there was a Ben and Jerry Store right next door, of course we had to have dessert.  Jami got a room at the same hotel as me and the girls did get a chance to swim.

We started the day with breakfast at a little ma and pa restaurant in Jami and Kolby's old neighborhood.  Beaterville.  It was like a little old house with a few tables in every room.  A restaurant like you would have found in the old days in Park City.  We drove around their old haunting grounds where there are so many cute little houses and yards.

Then we got this big idea, which turned out to not be so unique.  We went out to Sauvie Island to a Farm.  We had gone there with Maddie for Preschool when Amelia was just a baby and Jami took a picture of her just like this... propped up in the pumpkins.  It turned out we weren't the only ones with this idea.  Half of Portland came for the fun.

We took the hayride behind a tractor out to the field and found the PERFECT pumpkins. Yes, there were plenty of picked ones that were not in muddy fields, but not as fun as finding the ONE just your size.

Maddie picked one so big she couldn't carry it. Jami said "Next year the rule is you can't get it if you can't carry it."  We'll see.  She's pretty much a push over as you will soon see....

"Oh, mom, Look! They have elephant ears and caramel apples!"

And man were they good!  Jami and I bought a couple to share with the girls but by the time they came back from climbing all over the hay stacks... well, let's just say we had to get in line again.  Somehow they disappeared.

And one of the best things about Portland is the bridges.  I really like Portland.  It was really hard to say good bye to Jami and the girls.  I kind of felt bad they had so far to drive from Seattle, but so glad they did.  It made my trip worth while!

Portland Quilt Show

I went to Portland for the MQX West Quilt show for work.  I left on Monday and didn't get home until Sunday... Jerry missed me lots.  I hate leaving him.  The best part of this show was that I got to spend a day with Jami and the girls.  I also bought some really cool stencils and didn't have to pay sales tax.  Our hotel was very close to the convention center and was also the hotel for the Drag Queen Event.  Not fabulous gays, just men in drag.  BIG hairy guys in ball gowns and wigs.  AND when I got on the plane to come home I sat next to two gay guys.  It was killing me to ask if that is what they went to Portland for.  It was.  Just before we landed the guy next to me told me they stayed at the same hotel.  They really booked all of us old grandma quilters with the gay gatherings.

Favorite QuiltsThis crane flying was incredible.  Every feather was stitched out and it was sewed with different thread colors on the back side.  It was beautiful! 

This quilt was nothing really without all the quilting! 

 I love quilting on plain fabric and especially on white.

Favorite Teachers.  Claudia Pfeil is from Germany and she brought chocolate from home to share. She was so good and she did not spend any time just chatting... all teaching. 

Dawn Cavanaugh writes a column about machine quilting in one of the magazines, I love her articles.  I got the chance to be in her classroom and I was so excited.  She taught for 2 hours straight without stopping.  Then the next 2 hours she helped students and did demos.

I spent about half the day on the floor in the vendors booth talking to quilters... and selling quilting stuff.  I  had time to look at all the quilts in the exhibit.  We hit the mall, walked in the pouring rain, ate at Burgerville, but I didn't really see Portland until Jami got there.