Libby Montana Provides a Chance to Create Something New-Mary Lou Dog Booties!

Tha main story here is that I went to visit my Aunt in Libby Montana. She has a love of golden retrievers like no other person. Her friends brought over a little boy dog and a little girl dog. I want to surprise my husband when I got back to Spokane but since he is allergic to animals, I decided against it. I adore Kitties and puppies!
My Aunt's friend has a darling golden retriever who comes to visit and Meg, the dog has sharp nails on her paws so she uses paw socks. Well, my Aunt asked me to find some fabric in Spokane to make new socks for the dog. My Aunt said "why don't you find some "Mary Lou" fabric and bring it over. Well, no one loves polka dots more than I do, so I bought some fabric with dots and used the old paw socks for a pattern and Joila! Instant (well sort of) socks. I had never used velcro. The sticky tape stuff got on the needle and that was kind of tough but it was fun! I hope Meg likes them!
Below is my Aunts best friend, cook and nurse Lillian. The family loves Lillian because she makes us all special meals when we come and visit. She spoils everyone who knows her and we love her for it.
I would like to say one more thing for you to think about. My Mother who passed away about a year ago would invite me over when she was sick and I would lay on her bed and we would talk about life and what was important and memories she had forgotten. Those are the best times of my life with her-it was so wonderful. This week I laid on my Aunts (temperpedic and wonderful) bed and we talked about what mattered to God, what makes life wonderful, old memories and things that made us laugh. It was such a nice experience. if you are close to someone it sure is nice to sit and share like that and it is something you will always remember. I hope you get to experience this with a friend or a relative.
Loving someone whether you are related or not, is such a nice way to spend time and it is what life is really about.
Lillian is below loving the little puppy and wondering if she should bring one home to her 7 year old Meg (the golden retriever). Time will tell on whether she does or not....

Sites and Sounds and More of What We Saw in Laconner and Lopez Island

So this week Mark and I went to see our friends the Pintlers and the Lattas of Lopez. Mark and I were both bushed so we stopped in LaConner Washington to spend the night and enjoy the sites...though we went to bed at about 5pm. Does that tell you how tired we were? We got up the next morning at 5am to catch the ferry. The weekend was short but with good friends it was fabulous. Beautiful scenery on the ocean, laughs with friends, dinner was steak, salmon and fresh crab and then Laurie made a peanut buster parfait pie for dessert. WOW. Another memory and more thoughts of how to lose those dreaded pounds and still enjoy her good food!

Lopez Saturday Market offers alot in the way of crafts and fresh produce. It is alot of fun to walk through and see what all is there. Happy people are all around.

Below is my friend Laurie who is a teacher (taught here in Spokane -advanced education) on the island to kindergarten kids and helps plan curriculum etc-she and her husband Kit thought they had retired when they moved to Lopez but Lopez had other ideas when they found out how talented they are-Kit is teaching Math to 6 grades. Anyway, this is a little girl who Laurie had in class and she is selling Laurie biscotti while Laurie sells raffle quilts-it's a win win!

The building below is the Laconner Quilt Museum. I will have a show there in April of old quilts new quilts and some things Mel and I did for the book-lots of space on the third floor for stuff to show to you. Hope you put it on your calendar.

Below is a whirleygig in front of the old Bunnies by the Bay in Laconner Washington on our way to the ferry and Lopez Island in the San Juans....

These are railings in front of "Hutch" studios -it used to be called Bunnies by the Bay and was darling and then they made the road in front of the fence 18" higher....it ruined the look sad to say....the idea is still cool though-Bunnies buuilding is next door-it is too tidy now in my opinion

Mark and I laughed at this "boat" at the top of the hill that you could rent in LaConner. I wonder what it looks like inside..

RoseHips for lovely color and also,,,,Unlike Any Post Office I have Ever Visited-Ask Sue Nickels-it was Strange but fun

I thought the rosehips color was unlike any I had seen in other places in the US- Maine had fabulous seascapes, floral colors, people, eating places and creativity! If you haven't been there you must go!

Sue Nickels stands outside the post office that we all said was one of the most interesting things we saw on our Maine trip-fun and weird and got alot of laughs and discussion in the car!

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Do these windows look like any post office you have ever visited? It was like a store only it wasn't....I wonder how many people miss the post office....click for a closeup look!

Below Jeanne is looking at all of the "stuff" on the backroom where the mail guy processes the mail. It was unbelievable what was back there and I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Sue Nickels took these photos.....
See the old mail boxes...the guy had one speed....slower than molasses and so alot of customers who were in line just left.....though there was plenty to look at including a photo of him in the back where he was a young man...very handsome and sweet he had it back there.Here I am ready to hand this guy in the backroom my package-the temp in there was about 100 degrees or more and the man was about 100 years old. He had "stuff" everywhere like an old antique shop except that the things were more like old collectibiles and things his wife might have made....EVERYWHERE along with the cob webs and spider webs and dust....he was really sweet though and kind of happy that we took photos. :0) Our hostess was Jeanne and I think the town was Augusta Maine ....although it may have been Portland Maine. Click on the photos to get a closer look,,,it is funny and surreal. By the way, I was mailing kids books and fabic home....I always do that, I can't stop myself from looking! Oh and a birthday present for my Granddaughter too.

Martha Turner Sends Photos of Quilts Made from Class and After

MaryLou - Though you might enjoy seeing these from the class in Austin last year.- I didn't make borders like you suggested - used French braid on this one, regular flyning gees on the second and just strips on the third. I like this one and the bad quilt but not the Antartica one. Thanks for coming and giving us a class.
Martha Turner

I think all three of these quilts are just wonderful in so many ways. Now she has three stories to last for years and yards about events in her life and people who counted to her. She "got" the idea of making story quilts so that she will have diary pieces about her life. Didn't she do a great job? How do you like those colorful birds in the first one? Wonderful!

Nancy Nelson-the Chef for the Retreat

I didn't have a decent photo of Nancy that I took and so Laura who was at the retreat sent me a good one she took. This is Nancy looking relaxed and happy. I don't think I saw her stand still the entire time of the retreat, she worked herself to the bone. And she created lovely meals with hot out of the oven desserts every day. It kept everyone happy and gave them the energy to sew along. Cute apron huh?

Mary Lou's Retreat with FUN Girls is lot of FUN and Discovery! Lovely Ladies Create One of a Kind Quilts About Their Memories

Above is pretty Kathy Sandner who finished the quilt canvas for her "Gone to the Dogs" quilt
One of my fairy gifts was polka dot socks which some of us wore the last day....this is a fun photo of the dotted feet Princess's

Cobb salad ready to dish up after a hard day of sewing

Below was one of Nancy Nelson's lovely lunches-I didn't get a photo of the lovely brownies she made that day while we sewed

The class was hard at work with their noses to the grindstone :0)Love it! Below is Sara and in the back is the world traveler (no kidding) Lorraine

You can tell we had plenty of room to spread out and it was nice and it was hot ourside and cool inside-also nice

Hard work and not even enough time to look up for the camera-most students said this class changed their minds on color in your stashes and doing things differently-I love to hear that-this photo of of Cheryl in the for front and Alex behind her

Sharon (behind) and Linda in front-both working hard

Here is pretty Penny who does great work and has been to both retreats I have had

Here are part of the tiara'ed girls discussing where they are from, stories, food and good deals online-they were a wonderful group-all happy and nice

Below is Linda who made a flower with strata for her borders....very fun



Below, can you guess who the two sisters are? There are only two, the others are students.......

This quilt had the most wonderful restaurant on it before Charlotte left. She is doing a story about how her Mother and Father met-Her Mother had on roller skates at one of those eating places and her Dad drove up. Charlotte is like her Sister and has made many wonderful quilts (story).

I didn't get a good photo of the large plane on this quilt and many other things-sorry but the quilt is about how Laura met her husband from Hawaii on a plane-it is a wonderful story and Laura will do a great job-she has made many story quilts and they are all fun and all sentimental

Below is the beginning of Alex Stengo's quilt. She lived in Africa and these are mountains that will have many stars all around and a village below, a large giraffe on one side and a beautiful African woman on the other

Here is a great photo of Sherry who played the cello with her Dad playing the guitar-he has passed away and this is her tribute to him-part of it is pretend but how lovely to put that along with your real memories to make a great quilt-the drawing is wonderful

This is Charlotte discussing her border-I didn't get photos of the "Wagon Wheel" Restaurant which she got down in her story-I was busy and my camera didn't get enough photos-girls from the retreat please if you got some good photos of the projects, please bring them

Here is Sara with our mascor "Stitch"-she got less sewing done, can you guess why?

Here is the beginning of great blocks for a border of a travel quilt....hope you can see these colors-the light was good where we sewed and so my flash would not go off and I am not sure you can see how wonderful the colors were.


I wish the light had showed up better taking a photo of Kathy's esceptional quilt. She got the four dogs drawn as well as some fun suppoirting cast-it will be called "Gone to the Dogs" and will be in a quilt show in a couple of months. The fabrics in this quilt are wonderful together and it just glows.