Off to Asilomar and New Things to Learn and Share

I Packed my makeup, my underwear, the tiaras to give out, my clothes, my snacks, my books to sell and my books to read, fairy gifts to share, my handouts, fabric, rotary cutters and boards and rulers and I wonder what else I forgot.

I am going to Emptyspoolsseminars.com -I still have openings in my workshops for next year, right next to the ocean, by lovely shopping, restaurants, deer and beauty and new and old lifetime friends. If you want a great experience, sign up!

Can't wait to show my hippie quilt which is in the works- thank you Molly for the peace signs! They were perfect! Have a great week, everyone.

Retreat Plans are coming along nicely

OK, the plans for my Idaho retreat are coming along nicely and the first retreat in May (1,2,3) will be $575. This will include most meals and your hotel room. I have hired someone to cook for us and someone to bake for us also. Both are skilled at this and will make it even more fun.
I have some fun surprises and we hope to end the retreat by going into Coeur d'Alene and having a late lunch or early dinner at the Coeur d'Alene hotel which is fabulous and fun.
Coeur d'Alene has a great quilt shop as well as shopping and restaurants. You might want to come in early to make use of being in a new and beautiful place. The theme of the retreat in May will be all things "hoochy" and we will hand out patterns for dogs, cats, houses, cars and other things and we will also be bringing more samples of regular hoochy blocks, birds, bird houses and many flowers. This is sure to produce great, award winning quilts and just quilts that you love yourself and after all, isn't that more important? It is to ME.
I will announce the price and plans for the August retreat soon also. I left my book in my husband's car. :0) I don't trust my memory any longer. I already have sign up's and think this first retreat will fill fast.
We will have brochures done soon, when I can get them printed and don't have something important like Asilomar (this weekend).
Hope these last few days of summer are bringing you many blessings. I am seeing so many things I am thankful for. What beauty, vegetables, fruits, kids laughter and other things this time of year brings. Thanks for reading my blog. YOU are a blessing to me.

Wedding Bells for My Cousins Daughter and New Ideas for Romantic Story Quilts

The bride (Sarah) and my Aunt Bonnie are waiting for the boat to come so we can all get aboard and have fun. Her dress was just fabulous-loaded with beads and crystals and she was so pretty and young. Bonnie's jacket was crocheted and fabulous if you click on this photo, you may be able to see it better.

Look close and you can see the "Mishonock" boat waiting for our family to board for a lovely wedding....and I do mean first class!
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My cousin Carl walks his daughter Sarah down the aisle of the boat which had moved out onto the lake and anchored long enough for the ceremony-then drove all around the Lake as we ate and enjoyed the wonderful music provided.

Kissing the bride (my cousins darling daughter) Sarah

The photo below is off the boat pulling out of the dock of the Coeur d"Alene hotel-it is beautiful there and so close to my home.

People staying in the hotel above take photos of the wedding party below (us)

The view from the water as we pull out onto the Lake before the ceremony

More views of the docks as we pull out. Coeur d'Alene has the longest floating walkway in the world. It is a fabulous clean lake that is wonderful to visit and the city itself is clean and friendly.

I will be having my 2 retreats next year in Post Falls right next to this Lake and hope to take quilters to the quilt shop and this hotel for lunch.

Here are Sarah's attendants who were darling. The colors of the dresses, wedding, gifts, flowers and everything else were wonderful and so well thought out. This may be the best wedding I have ever attended.

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Below, my FUN cousin Kristi gets into the bubble blowing as the bride and groom walk the aisle as man and wife. I had to leave early and wanted a good photo of my beautiful Aunt who had on the most fabulous top. She is always stylish. I am hoping that Kristi will share her photos with me. No photo of Mark and I as he was in a hurry to leave to go to bed for work.....wahhhhhh.

The food was fabulous and much more than I took photos of. These were taken after we all ate. They had a chef slicing beef, pork, dill chicken,two green salads, a huge cheese spread, all kinds of breads and crackers, pasta salads, fabulous potatoes (other stuff too) and beverages.



The cakes were wonderful, I hope you can see this from my photos.

This is a poor photo of my cousin Kristi (sorry Kristi) but on the right is my cousin Carl's son Andrew. Andrew is signing up on Monday for the army. Stay tuned. We are all ready to pray for him and tell him how proud we are that he is serving our country.

The coeur d'Alene hotel is well known for it's thousands of geraniums in the summer and it's thousands of poinsttias in the winter.

It was a lovely but too short celebration. I feel so blessed to be a part of such a lovely family.

Fall is in the air...........

I know no one wants to hear this but I can "smell" a hint of Fall even though the temp. was in the 90's today. I am dreaming of pumpkins, leaves, cats, candy and scarecrows. Summer is a lovely time of year but I think Fall is my favorite season for so many many reasons.

Tomorrow will be warm again and so for now, I am going to enjoy my flowers, fountain, gazpacho, the river, my Grandchildren running in the sprinkler and lemonade. It is just good to be alive and healthy isn't it? Count your blessings......

Bears who like snacks on Boats........give each other a helping hand

Do you smell oysters, jerkey and turkey snadwiches?

Going in to get a haul of goodies. Annie my friend sent me these photos. They were taken in Sitka. Pretty fun if this is not your boat!

Forty Years, Dear Friends, and Fairies in my Garden.....

Happy Anniversary cake that was waiting for us in our home from My daughter Shelbi and her husband. So sweet and thoughtful.

Mark and Mary celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary with ice tea and wine and a lovely dinner given to us by our friends Kit and Laurie on beautiful Lopez Island

If you ever go to Lopez, this restaurant had lovely food.

The sunset that night was fabulous as we enjoyed dinner and memories.

I took a photo of Kit, Curt, Joan, Laurie and Mark as we visited downtown and Saturday Market. We have all been friends for many years and we have been married 40 years (us), 37 years and 38 years (them) and I think that is pretty good. :0)

So, this is what Saturday Market is like in downtown Lopez. It is different from any other Saturday Market (I think). Cool stuff and creative too.

Have you ever had cosmic crepes? Well, here is the place.

The vegies sold at this Market were wonderful as are most vegetables sold in Western Washington and the San Juans...

Above- talk about color! Inspiration for any quilt, painting or just eating and cooking or visa versa --------Below is one of the lovely desserts Laurie prepared for us at her home. She is the best cook in the world and a hostess with the very mostest (no kidding)

I have talked about Holly Bee's cinnamon rolls- they are fab00-a must try is you visit Lopez

Laurie made us all individual omelets one morning and had this fruit bowl on the table-yum

Each night Laurie had a different lovely meal for us and one night we played "Apples to Apples"-great fun with close friends- this would be a fun game for anyone you have over

Time to go home on the ferry to Anacortes
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So, the day before that, my little Granddaughter (the fairy) came to visit and play-what fun!



My yard is totally filled with brown eyes Susan flowers, hydrangeas of different colors, roses and alot of plants that need dead heading after the heat a couple of weeks ago.


I consider myself so blessed with family and friends. Thank you for coming and visiting my blog. If you like it please pass the word along to friends. I have six (yes six now) quilts in the works and will have lots of new things by the end of the year along with my NEW book! Stay tuned for the cover and back cover on this blog. If you want the secrets to being creative, this book is for you. Also stay tuned for more information on my Happy Go Lucky Retreats next year....

COOL Salsa for a HOT Day

So, the weather is still sort of warm here and the oven is off limits until it cools down. I made this salsa for family and it is wonderful with chips or bread. Enjoy.
Too Hot to Cook Salsa
1 (16 ounce) package frozen corn kernels (make sure this is a good brand, thawed
1 large can ripe olives, drained and sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet walla walla onion (or your choice), chopped small
5 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1/3 cupgood virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon beau monde seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 or 5 ripe avocados - peeled, pitted and diced
If you like a little heat, add some jalapeno peppers and/or some tabasco sauce to spice it up
TO MAKE
In a large bowl, mix corn, olives, red bell pepper and onion.
In a another bowl, mix garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, cider vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. Pour into the corn mixture and toss to coat. OPTIONAL-Add jalapeno peppers or tabasco. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight.
Stir avocados into the mixture before serving. YUM

A Secret I teach in my workshops

So, do I use a thimble for the hours and hours of applique I do? No! I like to feel the needle for better control and long ago, I found that if I went to the drugstore and bought COBAN in the two inch wide size, I had the perfect thimble anytime I wanted to sew and I had great control and could throw away the piece I was using when I was done.

For a fresh piece, do this. Cut off a 2 and 1/2 inch or so piece of coban. Then take your thimble finger and hold you palm face up, Lay your finger down on the coban piece and wrap it onto itself so that it is all around your finger and sticking to itself. Now with the piece that is overlap on the top of your finger (about an inch or so) fold it onto the flesh side of your finger not the nail side. Squeeze it so it is all down nice and patt and begin sewing. The needle does not go through the coban and it is wonderful. After awhile you might find that you have an icky piece on your finger as it picked up color, thread and little junk from your project. Simply throw that piece away and treat yourself to a glass of water to drink and a new piece of Coban on your finger.

I have been doing this for years and it is slick! By the way, I find that the ugly brown stuff works better than the prettier colors. This might not be the case for everyone but that is what I think.

Hope you try it and love it as much as I do!

NEW NOTE: IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT IN YOUR AREA, YOU CAN ORDER IT ON THE INTERNET. SIMPLY TYPE IN "COBAN" WITH GOOGLE OR BING. IF YOUR LOCAL SHOP DOES NOT CARRY IT (DRUG STORE) THEN ASK THEM TO.

YOU CAN PUT THIS ON MILTOPLE FINGERS TOO SO THAT YOU ARE COVERED NO MATTER WHICH FINGERS YOU USE FOR APPLIQUE.

Color, Nature, a chance to relax and reflect before bed-thank you Janice

http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/Colors/index.htm (keep the sound soft)

Duncan Gardens at Manito Park shows it's glory

There were seven weddings that we counted this day at Duncan Gardens in Spokane. Mel flew into Spokane for the cupcake retreat and I took her out to see the sites including this lovely park and then Coeur d'Alene.

These are just a couple of roses from the thousands on rose hill.

If you visit the conservatory at Duncan Gardens you will be delighted at the hundreds of plants and sites there.

Color galore!

And patterns that give rise to lots of creative possibilities!

Color and texture too!

Aren't these incredible?

And finally another lovely view of Duncan Gardens.

If you ever visit Spokane, put this park (Manito) on your list to see.