TASUTI ZOO MAKES MY HEART GO PITTER PAT!

I always like to say that my most favorite place on earth is Tasuti Zoo. Emily and Mary who own it have wonderful imaginations and they are NICE and fun which counts for plenty. I love giving them my money.

Here Sue and De pose before they buy fabulous purses with stuffed flowers and many other goodies.

Here I catch Emily by surprise as she writes up orders.....and then she strikes a pose!

Below is where the magic is made....wonderful fabrics that would make any quilter sing!

Who could imagine making a band of monkeys and a camel for them to ride on? Can you imagine these in your kids room, your Grandkids room or your studio? I have and I have them here and the other places too!

If I had a broom with a pretty handle, maybe I would sweep more...or not.......

They redo old furniture and I wish I had a Uhaul and a bunch of things for them to redo for my house....this chair is as charming from the front as from the back!

Look at the trim on the bottom of the chair!

Their window is always a ton of fun!

If you go and take a class at Asilomar or just go and visit Pacific Grove, you must put Tasuti Zoo on your list! It is a happy adventure....sure to bring you Out of the Box.

CONFLICTED ON SUNDAY

My Aunt Bonnie reminded me that Sunday Canada is playing the USA in Hockey. My Unclke Earl Bonnie's husband and my Mom (both passed away) were raised in Canada where hockey is King. We were raised on hockey and it is going to be hard to figure out who to root for. My husband and I billeted 18 different young boys years ago from Canada who played here in Spokane for the Chiefs. Today my Grandkids are playing hockey. I guess I will have to root for both. It is going to be an exciting game for sure!

By the way this photo is of a woman hockey player and I am speaking of the men's team though my Granddaughter hopes to play women's hockey one day when she is older.

Borders and Stories and Color and Friendships......

Above is a quilt by Linda Pederson-the saying she is appliquing is a saying I am doing on a quilt too of my Mother and I. It is "A friend is someone who sings your song to you when you forget."
This quilt is colorful and happy and sentimental.

Above is a quilt by Sandy who can do it all in the way of anything Home Ec. She told us she was a girl Scout for like 12 years...I think she still is. Anyway, the story here is that they went to a carnival or fair and tossed the ping pong ball into the goldfish bowl and won the fish. But they were thousands of miles from home in the East (she lives in California), So when her Grandmother flew out to see them she carried the goldfish bowl on her lap. Sandy had three sisters and one was much younger. Pretty cute! The bowl is on there but I did not get a photo. If someone from class can send me the photo, I will post it here.

Darla did a quilt in a class from me a long time ago at the Flying Geese guild in California. She is making borders and adding alot of bright and pretty flowers to it.

I am showing a group of photos of some of the boards with lovely hoochy mama border blocks. Pretty and fun and gets everyone "Out of the Box."

"If you always do what you have always done, you always get what you've always got." The biggest percentage of the girls did something new. Some people cannot stretch and keep doing the same thing. Try something new and if you want to go back, you always can but at least you learned something new and may have learned in the process.

This is Tina's quilt above. She has her borders on and she is doing her husband and his brother who loved to surf together. His brother has passed away and she wanted to make this for her husband. It is going to be called "the boys of summer." The brother's name was Tim and Tina and her husband named their son Tim. I think it is going to be a wonderful quilt.

Look at the block in the upper right corner go "Kapow!"

These are border blocks with photos of Ann's three young son's and her while they are in their LaCrosse Uniforms. All the boys have nice smile and it is going to be a super fabulous quilt. I drew the picture out for her but didn't get a photo of it. The orange and blue are their school colors. She has ditched the pretty green blocks....I want them. :0)

If anyone has photos from class, please share them so I can post them.

The above blocks are going to be around a quilt about a woman who can do it all (Karen). I am not kidding. The drawing is of a woman in a cute dress and it has antiques all around, books and a barn in the back as she is from a Kansas farm. It is going to be wonderful.

Above is De's quilt about "Winnie" the Winnebego who is now retired. She has her family in the front remembering the years they traveled with Winnie to many wonderful places to make many memories of family together having fun

Here I am with Kathy and we are working on her story for the center of her quilt. She is doing a wonderful quilt about her Mother who always loved to dress pretty and had nice nails, loved the park and pretty dresses. There is a photo in front of me I am drawing from of her. She has on a hat and is really pretty and it is kind of one of those pretty 40's/50's type of photos of her on a park bench. Lovely. Kathy and her sister Judy came together. Great gals!

Sue sent me this photo of all of us, and I think it might be a little better than my camera's photo. Anyway, we have all happy faces here. :0) I think we al had a lovely time. The three ladies that run Empty Spools do a wonderful job and want everyone happy and on a new path of more quilts and memories of new friendships. By the way, my hostess with the mostest was Nancy in front on the left. She comes with her husband who is a quilter also. She is a lovely person and it was fun watching her laugh this week.

ASILOMAR AS WONDERFUL AS EVER!

It was RED day and I wore my NEW cherry sweater. Aren't these ladies pretty?
This is my story class (Empty Spools) at Asilomar. I know I probably always say this but honestly it was one of the nicest classes I have ever had. Five full days of creativity, fun and discovery. People made friends right away and they all traded address's to keep in touch because of the happy stories, the laughter, the tender stories and the sharing. We had many fairy gifts this time-wonderful earrings, handmade mesh bags, May baskets, organizers, fabric, candy, pencils, hand cream, spray starch,needles, post cards, a darling pin cushion (I will show it in a couple of days here),a money wallet thing that waitress's use (cool), and more (I can't think of everything). We had great sharing time and everyone said that now they know how to think, they have dozens of stories to do quilts of.

Here are just two border blocks in progress (hoochy style).

Both of these border samples are fun. I will be showing more as the week goes on.

It rained alot and we made out own sunshine. Here is Sandy before we went to dinner. Nice smile huh?

These mushrooms were so pretty on the path-they just glowed in the green grass

As you know I am a sucker for a good sunset. Here is Sue, De and Sandy before we went to hear a lecture at Merrill Hall. I thought I saw an angel in these clouds. The color at Asilomar in the sky is fabulous. This time we had alot of girls from the East in my class. They LOVED Pacific Grove and the beauty that inspires you in class and out too.

All of these things minus one makes me smile!

This is why I like to be around my Grandkids-they are always happy and happy to be together.

The Eiffel Tower towel was sent to my by my Alaska airline flight attendant friend Susan. Anyone who knows her from my workshops, knows what a kind and fun person she is!She belongs to the "cupcake" group. I think this towel is amazing. It won't see any dishes. :0)

Above are the slippers that Terry from georgia made. These are the warmest, the prettiest and the most comfortable slippers I have ever worn-This was a lovely gift as my Mother used to knit all of us new slipper for Christmas-these took the place of the Christmas slippers and are oh so nice!

I admired Kathy Collin's bag years ago from the Rhode Island School of Design. This year while I was in Atlanta, Kathy gave me my very own beautiful bag to use-these colors are my current favorites-brown and Tiffany blue. Isn't their logo cool???

I love the image of the Eiffel tower and the story. Here on a shelf in my home is a small collection of boxes and things friends have given me. Susan Typpi just sent me the red card in the back and I loved it so I added it to the others. The Tiffany box? It just fits in there I think. Note the color of my wall-Tiffany blue.

Above is a photo of my two Granddaughters who have fun together spending the night here.

I just bought the printing machine above and I am taking it back. I gave up on good prints after five hours of fighting it.......

Above are the PJ's & Candy that Mark got me for Valentine's Day-but that wasn't the best gift......

I wanted a new carryon and this one is bigger than my last one and prettier-he's a great guy!

I loved this seashell idea above the gate to a house in Mel's neighborhood....great idea!

These were cookies in the window of a bakery, I always wonder how old these are-these sure are pretty though-this was in Truckee

I loved this coffee cup in the sidewalk and wondered if I could do a latte cup this summer in my backyard- I love this image and in fabric it sure would be fun!

OH CANADA!!! HOORAY, YIPPEEEE, WELL DONE, CONGRATULATIONS!

So Canada has finally broken it's streak of bad luck by not getting a medal for any of the Olympic s that they hosted. As of today, that is over! They have one and more on the way hopefully. This is happy for me since my Mother was a Canadian and my daughter lived in both Eastern Canada and Western Canada with her Candian husband and gave us our Canadian Granddaughter who was born in Calgary. I am so happy that the Olympics are in beautiful Whistler and that they won their medal! Without looking at the map above, if you are an American, I bet you don't know how many provences Canada has and I bet you can't name all of them. if you can, you are a rareity. And your may be interested to know that most Canadians know all 50 states and their capitals.

So tonight I watched as Alex the young man who won talked about the influence of his older brother with cerebral palsy. He said when he didn't feel like practicing in the rain he remembered his brother had to try hard each day to do what little he could do. His brother is his best fan. It was very touching and I am so glad such a nice young man won!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY-THESE VALENTINES TUG AT MY HEART LIKE NO OTHERS

As many of you know, my Mother died last April 26th. I am still not over it. I found these wonderful Valentines in her things. They are written to her from her friends in Canada that she went to school with. I think they are just charming and it makes me happy to know she kept them as she kept very little in the way of things like this. I hope you enjoy these as Much as I have. Do have a lovely day on Valentine's and if no one tells you "I wish you a lovely day and a lovely year in every thing you do." "For YOU are worth wishing nice things upon."

Close up's

These are most probably from the 1920's. I think the innocence and sweetness of these are wonderful. I would welcome some innocence back into our culture, wouldn't you?

Below, a little closer up. He's driving and she's playing. In our family, he is driving and I am quilting!