Getting ready for the retreat and a picture that inspires (attention Patsy Kellogg)

I have had this wine bottle (empty) in my store room for about 5 years. I would love to throw it away but the label is so wonderful I can't. I think that this is a great idea that I would like to jump off of for a story quilt and do my own thing....my friend Patsy loves roosters and has a name that fits. I told her about this bottle and think it would be nice to show her and people who attend my retreat this weekend. Ideas come from all over and as I always say" do not copy that exact design- make it yours so that even the artist would not know you got your idea from their art. There is too much copying out there and you can change anything into YOURS.
--------------------------------------------
I have boxes of fat quarters, half yards cuts and bolts of fabric to take along in case we need it....lots of fun colors and designs! Plus boxes of books and patterns.

I am packing cake plates and rulers and pressing boards and ironing boards and irons and mats and....well you get the picture...I owe my husband so much, he has spent the past few days with me shopping and making lists and running around....

Collecting serving pieces, bowls and cake plates for all of the food we bought to prepare....I knew I bought all of this stuff for a reason!

Stay tuned for fun photos of fun people and fun happenings from this weekend retreat.

Great examples of what we will be piecing at the Retreat!

So, my retreat starts day after tomorrow. We will be doing a field trip first of all around the Spokane Washington/Coeur d'Alene Idaho region of the world. Lots of fun.
Then Saturday we begin the process of learning Hoochy Mama and making flowers, purses, birds, and other fun things and turning them into awesome quilts. Some girls who are advanced will be doing all kinds of animals and turning their work into story boards for some applique. Sucn fun!
I wanted to comment on the lovely quilts above. A girl sent me these samples along with photos of her darling daughter's wrapped in these quilts. She didn't take a class and she did these from my Hoochy/Flower Power books. Great work and lovely colors! Stay tuned for photos of the girls from all over the US and Canada who are flying in on Thursday. I can't wait to start the fun!

No Thanks, I'll Walk

As someone who travels alot, I like yellow cabs. My daughter, daughter in law and two of their friends just went on a cruise to Mexico. She sent me photos to enjoy. I looked at this Mexican Cab or possibly this is the cab inspectors or the Grand Poobah's of the cabs around town ( I am not sure) and it reminded me of a couple of times when I got into cars that I should not have.
I got into a cab once in Chicago that wasn't yellow and it was two Russian men who were drunk and celebrating since one of them was getting married the next day. We ran a toll booth and I prayed the whole way I would get where I was going. To these two gentlemen in the white volkswagon,I would say "it's a lovely day for a stroll, thanks anyway I'll walk. Comments?

Color You Can Expect at Mary Lou's Retreat this coming Weekend! Plus An Opportunity in Northern California Quilter's Escape

So this coming weekend 20 of you are coming to Spokane and then taking a three day workshop from me in lovely Post Falls at the Art Center. It is my first ever retreat. Phew, lots of lists and thinking. I have lots of tricks up my sleeve and a few girls have taken many workshops and are bringing their latest work to show off. I cannot wait to share the patterns and colors with you.
AND If you live close to Northern California (or not), I am doing a story quilt class for Quiltersescape.com and will be showing some of my latest stuff to girls in the class. Wouldn't you love to do a story quilt about YOU and someone you love and your collections and thoughts in the form of a quilt????
I have asked my students for next weekend to bring some stratas and so I thought I could show just some of the ones I have put together. I have plenty more to show you and then show you what to do with them! Can wait to start the fun. Hope I see you either in Idaho or California! Color does rock doesn't it?

California Dreaming......

So, after the four of us went to Dancing with the Stars, we pulled up in our car right behind Susan Lucci. She can't weigh more than 85 pounds....she is so teeny teeny tiny. She was driving an old white Porshe. I wondered what she could order in the Italian restaurant she ate at. She probably ordered water and maybe a piece of a breadstick. Poor thing. She is very pretty but oh so teeny. Anyway, the four of us had a lovely dinner and it was fun to listen to Ellen who just had her 80th birthday talk about the male stars. It was lovely to see how happy everyone was and how much we laughed at the experience to seeing everything in person.------------------
We stopped a young Japanese tourist and asked him to take our photo in front of the Hollywood sign behind us. Then we took his photo. You notice I got new glasses...very colorful and fun. But they didn't stand out there.

I told you about the smoothies at DeLush. Here we are enjoying the sweet taste of banana strawberry....they are tasty and cool on a hot day! The perfect thing to drink while you watch the crazy people down in Hollywood walk of fame. I feel so normal.

Never have I felt so pale as with this photo of Molly, Marilyn and Me. Marilyn has great lipstick on and Molly has great nail polish.....I need both.

Recipes for Spring for those of you who have asked.....

Side Dish Potatoes with Rosemary -YUM
2 pounds of varied potatoes-red, yellow, finger,whatever
Olive Oil
Salt
Black pepper (ground please)
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
Fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Cut all of the potatoes in half. Next mis them in a bowl with oil, salt, pepper,garlic and rosemary. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. These are great with any barbqued meat or just oevn baked chicken.
-------------------------------
Someone wrote to ask for a recipe that isn't so calorie laden. This is a good and simple recipe for anyone and good for you. I have used this for over 35 years.
Mary Lou's quick and easy supper
On a medium piece of foil, place a chicken breast with herbs or barbeque sauce or any sauce in the sauce aisle (lemon, teriyaki,Thai,Mexican,there are loads of good flavors). I just grab a spoon and get it on there nice and sloppy. Next place your favorite vegies on top like broccoli (my favorite),mushrooms, zuchinni, carrots grated, celery, onions, caulifower, or any other vegie you love. I put lots of variety on mine as I like them all. Cut them up small. Next add 2 Tablesppons of water to the bottom of the foil to help steam everything. Seal tightly but leave room for the steam (important). I add a little salt and some pepper to mine when it comes out of the oven.
Bake 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Have rice made or bread for a little oomph unless you are watching your calorie/carb intake.
This is delicious and can be done with fish as well.
--------------------------------------
Hope you enjoy these as they really are quite good.

Walking Hollywood offer Alot to the Imagination-It's Creative and Sometimes downright Creepy

These sayings were on the walk way of the Mall below (scroll down)-I thought many of them were very funny. Love the impact of words, don't you?



King Kong is at this wax museum...thought this was a fun photo. Poor Faye Ray.


So this is Grauman's theatre in Hollywood. In front of the theatre are all of these stars that have signed things in the cement and it is wonderful to see people from the 20's and 30's who wrote things. This was a place that was fun to visit and spend time. Lots of history that was interesting.







I had never been to the walk of stars. The stars goes for blocks and there is plenty of room for more. Some of them are really beat up! There are alot of people I don't consider stars....you know what I mean. All along the street there are people dressed like Michael Jackson, Yoda, Cat woman, super man, the Mario brothers etc., that want you to get your photo with them for money. Can you imagine going down there every day like a job? It is a place where reality isn't. But it is fun to people watch.


I thought this wall to the entrance of the Mall was lovely. Lots of $$$ went into this place.

Only in Hollywood would you have an elephant (there were others too) overlooking a small mall. Our city is being cheated (haha). This mall is on the other side of Grauman's Chinese theatre. If you go there get a Delush smoothie...we got the strawberry and banana one and drank every drop. It must not have been low cal it was too good.

A beautiful view of Hollywood hills and such a lovely day that God provided too.


I saw the sign above and just thought it would be great for any quilt for painting....it could have such possibilities with a little imagination. Don't you think???? Looking at things around you always provides such good imagination.

Mary Lou Visits Hollywood with Friends and Imagines FUN Quilts

So I have many photos to show you from my adventure from last week beginning in Hollywood and ending up in San Diego. No wonder tourists love these places! Hollywood is something else and so are the people-a great source for quilt ideas!
If you ever get to the LA area and want an excellent wonderful place to eat, Mo's is the place. The food is beautiful and delicious.


Below is Ellen and Peggy who met me at the airport with Molly. We are waiting for Molly to get the rental car and we are all giddy with excitement as that night we get to see Dancing with the Stars. Ellen just had her 80th birthday and this was a gift to her from Molly. Ellen is a hoot and Peggy is a doll. Both are excellent quilters. :0) They live in Sacramento.

We took a quick trip to downtown LA and got some snaps of the Hollywood sign. It was a beautiful day and I was all excited about Dancing with the Stars and American Idol the next night. There are a couple of things I did not mention about these. Before the show, they take away your cameras (go through your purse) and your cell phones and any food you have. Right before they start filming someone goes up and down each aisle with a cup and tells everyone to spit out their gum into the cup. There are body guards with every star and they stare into the audience meanly. They are all bald with shaved heads....what is up with that? The weird thing about American Idol is that someone sings a song, they stop and announce "three minutes" and then the judges get up and walk out and then they do a countdown of time and when it hits 30 seconds, the judges come in and sit down. Then someone sings and then they walk out again and it starts all over. They do this with every song...it is weird. Ellen's Girlfriend Porcia is flat as a pancake and has 0 bodyfat....I have never seen such a skinny girl. Probably one of the biggest things was that three members from Glee were there...did the one guy look like high school? NO....he is 27 and looks 30 something. But he does a good job on tv. I watched the Madonna special and it was good. Those people can sing! I heard you can get free tickets to both Idol and also Dancing with the Stars if you write but you will have to wait about a year to get them. Nice people sitting around us.



Breaksfast of champions- a hot latte and some biscotti. This bakery in LA was wonderful and we ordered large bowls of fruit that had everything good in it. Note Molly's pretty manicure...my nails are plain broken and look like they need a nice maniucure and some lotion. Note there is no photo.

I could have taken hundreds of photos of all of the lovelt flowers in bloom in both LA and San Diego. That sunshine does something great for everyone...lots of smiles and my it felt good just to sit out there and bask in the warmth and feel that vitamin D hit your soul

WOW, Dancing with the STARS,American Idol and the Dodgers Game

It isn't what you know but who you know. I would not ever get the chance to go to any of these wonderful events if not for good friends. It is late and I have lots of details to tell you about but I am going to bed because I am tired. But I will give you a couple of tidbits until I can get to the nearest computer. I leave for San Diego in the morning and plan to get to my room and sleep and rest and sew before I teach. :0)
So here is the word on American Idol. The word TINY. You cannot believe how teeny all of the dancers are. The guy who is dancing with Pamela Anderson looks only a little bigger than my Grandson who is 8. Imagine a ten year old -I am not trying to be funny. They put him in these shirts that he doesn't tuck in....he is teeny and smaller than Louie who is teeny too but a smidge larger. Pamela Anderson is small! She has a perfect body really and is like a little Barbie doll. I do not know anyone who is as little as these people. The black comedienne Nessie looks heavy on tv right? She is about a size 8 and absolutely stunning in her face (beautiful) in person. It is so amazing. She is busty but if you saw her in person you would not think she was fat. Depressing.
We talked to the costume designer and his favorite dress was Kate's and he liked Evan's sparkly collar that he said looked like volcano flames shooting out. I looked and ok, if he says so.Kate did not smile much and I thought she would go this week although the soap guy was not very good. The costume designer said that he never used more than a quarter yard of fabric for the Russian girl that was his partner and she was his muse.
He told us other things and I will tell you but I am too tired to write the details.
American Idol was the nest night and it was totally different and fun. Some of those people had awesome strong voices. My favorite guy is teeny (again). My favorite girl was Crystal and she has so much strength in her voice. I think Simon is trying to get rid of any of the young kids. He looked more normal size. If you live and work down here, you are small. If you live in the Northwest, Mid-west, eat hot dogs and mac and cheese, enjoy sitting and quilting, you won't be invited to dance or sing.....everyone seems to be teeny except for Big Mike on Idol.
Went to the Dodger's game tonight and those guys are big compared to anyone else who is popular here. And I saw some heavy people eating a dodger dog like we did. We had front two seats behind the dugout. WOW. Very cool and the Dodger Stadium is beautiful. Blue is now my favorite sports team color I think. My husband wasn't very impressed about Idol or Dancing as I don't think he watches the shows but I called him from the Dodger game and he was really impressed. I bought him a hat and he is a happy guy. :0)
One last thing about the Dancing show-the dresses are incredible....really fabulous in person!!! Jewelry that matches and hair bows etc....and lots of bronzer and makeup. Kate didn't smile much did I say that. Derek is always smiling and waving. He is so cute! Brooke Burke is small with HUGE breasts...and beats Pamela Anderson by far.
I have more to tell you and will when I get the chance.
I bought some incredible fabric at Michael Lavines today....such fun!
See you girl in San Diego in a couple of days! Very fun. And I will be seeing the retreat girls soon too!
Stay tuned for more stories about Hollywood.....

WATCH FOR ME ON TV AND LOOK AT THESE QUILTS!

Below is an exceptional photo of Molly who looks lovely as oppsed to my photo. The nice news is that Molly and I will be at Dancing with the Stars Monday night (tomorrow) and we will be in the audience of American Idol the next night. So, I plan to make the best of it and really enjoy the loud music and the outfits and the energy. Can't wait to tell you the details when I get home. I will be teaching In San Diego this coming weekend for Canyon Quilters and hope to see some of you there!
I asked Molly to send me photos of her sewing doll made by Tasuti Zoo. It is so cute and I am not sure the photo will show how cute she is but I am going to try. They make the coolest stuff! Hope your week goes well and you enjoy the sunshine and hang around with someone who is positive. :0) Be a positive light to someone else too.

I hesitate to put this lovely photo of Mari's quilt on this blog. I look like Jobba the Hut but hey, the quilt is so wonderful I had to show you! Now I am going to buy 4boxes of X-lax and see if it helps (just kidding)

Below everyone is looking at quilts and studying what makes a super story quilt! This was a great group of ladies...I so enjoyed the people in both classes there this year! Asilomar is the place to make lifetime friends...


Below at the bottom is Nancy who did a quilt about her twin daughter's at the beach....above, you can see this awesome quilt....isn't it great? Below this statement is Patty who is Nancy's friend and has a great stash!