My Threads

Home again

We made it home from Seattle, via Salt Lake City last weekend, and we were thrust back into our work lives without taking a breath!  After a nearly impossible week at work, it's good to have a weekend at home to catch up with all of the little things.  We had a great time with Heather and Ben and the dogs, and we already miss them.  Ruby was in her element, having Andy nearly every minute for two weeks.  Believe me, she has been brought down to earth as well.  I think she has literally cried this week.  I see tracks of tears down her face...

One of the things I did in Seattle was to take my not so exciting blue quilt top to Krista for quilting.  Krista had done some tops for Heather, and they are lovely, so I decided that she could "pretty up" my blue scrap quilt.  One thing about the final touch of quilting.  It makes a huge difference in how I like a project.

I think it looks beautiful.  It took several tries to get a photo of this.  Ruby likes to be the center of attention.

Vacation - week 1

It was a long time coming - for Andy.  Getting away from the desert heat and escaping to the cool northwest to visit Heather and Ben.  We loaded up, Ruby and all, and headed out across the desert.  Our destination was Sacramento for the first night.  No all nighters for us any more!  We made excellent time, in spite of several stops for Ruby (I think it was more for us than her).  Along the way, we passed through a lot of smoke from the fires in California.  No mountains on the horizon to see - just smoke.

It was really eerie.  We arrived in Sacramento, and early on Sunday morning we were on the road again.  Next stop, my dear friend Dodie, who has been living in Oregon for the past few years.  Dodie and I have been friends forever, but, we haven't seen each other in many, many years.  It was such a great visit.  I already miss her.  The good thing is, she's moving to Arizona - about 2 hours away from where we live - so I'll get to see her more often.

We finally arrived in the Seattle area, and have made ourselves at home at Heather and Ben's house.  The dogs (they have 3) seem to have found their pecking order.  Ruby is definately not at the top, but she's getting along pretty well.  The weather is great, and Andy and Ben have been fishing, successfully.  Yesterday, Heather took us to pick blackberries.  I haven't ever done that, and we didn't have to go far.  They are everywhere.  She had already made a batch of jam, but we picked enough so I could cook up another batch.  The berries are at the end of their season, but we found plenty.

We actually managed to get 15 jars of jam from our few minutes of collecting berries.  And it's delicious!

Heather took us for a drive up north on the Muckilteo scenic drive.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  We stopped and bought oysters at Taylors Shellfish company, then continued on to have lunch in the Fairhaven neighborhood of Bellingham.  After lunch we walked by Katie's Cupcake Co.

Mmmm.

These little cupcakes were so cute!  They were good, too. 

Upcoming plans for week 2?  Andy wants to tour underground Seattle, I want to get to a couple of quilt shops I discovered last summer, and I think there is some fresh salmon on the menu.  Oh, and I actually wore a sweater yesterday.  It felt so good!  

Not a typical morning

It was so exciting to wake up to rain, sprinkles, a few drops of moisture this morning.  In Arizona, we typically get afternoon, or evening dust storms, followed by thunderstorms, followed by rain, but it's very fast and doesn't last more than an hour or so.  This summer, we've had very little of the normal "monsoon" season.  But, last night, a terrific storm blew in, rained all night, and was still a little active this morning.  I have been waiting for months for this to happen on a weekend, so I could go out a take a few wet desert pictures.  Andy was sweet enough to drive us (Ruby and I) over to the White Tanks Mountains, which is about 15 miles west of where we live.  It's a little elevated from the rest of the "Valley of the Sun", which should be a perfect opportunity to get some good photos. 

Downtown Phoenix is on the horizon, almost directly above the curved arrow sign.  Wow, rain clouds in the sky.  Ruby was just itching to get out and run around, but, it was not to be. 

This is not your friend.  It is also not Ruby's friend.  This is a cholla cactus.  Growing up, we always called them "jumping cactus".  Why?  It seems as if it jumps on you if you get within a foot of it.  I have vivid memories of spending hours following a family picnic, pulling hundreds of cactus needles out of my foot.  Not fun.  And these things are everywhere out in our deserts.  So where was Ruby?

Riding shotgun.

(We did stop and let her run when we got away from the desert. She was happy.) 

Something else most people don't expect to find in Arizona...

Rose fields.  They've been growing them here for many decades.  I think they grow them for the rose oil for fragrances for various companies.  They are not like the ones you find in flower shops, but it's fun to see the fields of them, right next to the desert. 

So all in all, it was a nice morning drive.  Just a prelude to our road trip that starts next Saturday.  Our first long road trip (to Seattle) with Ruby.  Possibly, our last.

The final trip installment

This last trip post will be a "Reader's Digest" version of the rest of my trip. It's taken me forever to upload all of the photos to my album, but the pictures are clearer, and the captions tell the story.

We took a field trip to Cordes sur Ciel and spent the better part of the day there. This town is another medieval village, that has become primarily an artists community. It is a very steep climb over old cobblestones to reach the top. On our way up to the top, we visited Rowena Maybourn, an artist who creates textile murals using block printing methods and spiritual inspiration. She let each of us do our own little block print as a keepsake from our visit. We then continued our climb up to the top, where we had lunch at an old medieval style restaurant. We were served a typical meal from that time, without any forks. (Forks were considered to be "of the devil", so we were given a knife and a spoon – and of course, we had our fingers.) The meal was surprisingly good.

After dining, we found an antique store that was very crowded, but lots of interesting old finds. I managed to refrain from purchasing anything (I was worrying about fitting everything in my luggage for the return trip.)

On one of the days at the Chateau, we had a guest that came to show us the technique of "Woad dyeing". Woad is the plant that was used for dyeing during the 13^th through the 16^th centuries in the Toulouse region of France. It is a blue color that was used by the nobility for their garments. It's a very complicated process (and stinky) to create the dye from these plants, but we were given the opportunity to dye our own pieces of fabric or trim. It was fun to see all of the blue bits of fabric out on the line. We became the "women of woad" that day.

All of the surrounding countryside was very rural, and every bit of it was cultivated with some sort of crop – mostly corn (maize?) and sunflowers. The sunflowers were in all of their glory, and they just brought a smile to your face. We took a 6 km walk to nearby Montpezat (another midieval village) and along the way we passed several fields of flowers.

Our final day found is in Montauban for a final opportunity of shopping, etc. We enjoyed looking around, but my favorite for that day was sitting at the outdoor café and enjoying the company of my fellow travelers.

The trip continues…

I noticed on the last post that the pictures are a little blurry. I'm posting through Word, because of the length of the post and the number of photos. I keep getting locked out when I post directly, so if you want to see the photos clearly, check out my album on the left side of the post screen.

After we dropped off our goodies from the farmer's market, we took off for the Toulouse flea market. We were all very excited about this trip, as most of us are always on the lookout for certain treasures. For me, it's antique ribbons, textiles, etc. I did find a few little things, but not as much as I'd hoped. It was fun to see how the French do it.

There is a little park across the street from the flea market where Lizzie prepared a picnic for us.

That's Molly (Kaari's sister), standing, and several of us sitting on the ground. Love the wheeled picnic basket!

I will occasionally put a photo of various parts of the Chateau in this rambling post so you can get a glimpse of how truly beautiful it is. This is the living room.

When we didn't have a particular field trip, Kaari would open the craft room for us. She had a craft bag made up for each of us, and inside was a kit for the felting, for a necklace, a bracelet, and the hat pins. There was also a little embroidery kit. We could work on whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. This is Kaari giving us a lesson on wool felting. Lisa is looking on.

Here are some of the contents of the craft bag, and a peek at the hat pin.

Early on Monday morning, I got up and took a short walk around the Chateau. Right at where we turned to go to the Chateau driveway, there is this structure.

Can you believe it? It's just sitting there. It's got to be a couple of hundred years old. Some say it was a pigeonnaire (I have no clue how to spell that), where pigeons were kept. Others, because of the dog weathervane, thought it was a dog kennel. Either way, it's breathtaking to see this at the end of the driveway.

On this day, we travelled to nearby Septfonds, to visit Chapeaux Willy's. This hat making company has been in business for 185 years. Unfortunately, they had a fire that destroyed most of their inventory, so there was nothing that was incredibly old there, but it was fun to see all of the hats, and to watch the ladies sew up a hat in just a few minutes. This region is known for their sewn straw hats.

That evening, Lizzie invited a local sommelier for a wine, cheese and bread tasting. They were all local area wines, cheeses, and breads, and we had a great time. After five glasses of wine to taste (and they weren't just little sips) we really had fun. I'm pretty sure I liked the cheeses and breads, too.

Yum.

After all this fun, it was all I could do to go inside and go up two flights of stairs to bed.

A week to remember

After spending a week in the countryside in France, it's going to be very hard to get back to real life! I had the most amazing experience, met the most wonderful people, had terrific food and was in one of the most idyllic places I've ever been. I managed to take almost 400 photos, and it will take some time to go through them all, but I think I'll get started blogging about the first day or two of my trip, and as I sort through the rest of the pictures, I'll continue the story. I arrived in Toulouse, France last Saturday, a total stranger among 16 (or was it 18?) other women. Kaari Meng, owner of French General, (and the one who put this all together) met us at the airport, and we drove to the tiny town of Auty, France. We arrived at Chateau Dumas, and it was just gorgeous.

It looked exactly like the photo from Kaari's website! Kaari, and Lizzie (the owner of the Chateau), took us each to our rooms after we arrived, and mine was on the top (3^rd) floor, directly over the main entrance.

The buildings that are in this photo are the coach house, where Lizzie and her mom, MommaJo, stay. The section on the right houses the craftroom that we spent some time in. We had the opportunity to make some jewelry, do some wool felting, and made a cute hat pin over there.

My room was adorable. It had a slanted ceiling, very French styled décor, and I just loved it.

I didn't realize until I got home that I didn't get a good photo of the window area. (My suitcase, etc. clutters up the picture, but oh well…)

We ate on the patio for almost every meal. The weather was perfect. Lizzie's mom (MommaJo) did almost all of the cooking for us. She's brilliant. In this photo, it's not MommaJo, but Kaari's mother, Kick, setting the table for dinner.

The views were stunning.

After our first night's sleep, we woke up bright and early to get to a farmer's market in Saint Antonin Noble-Val.

It was hard not to buy everything. Cheeses.

Produce

Spices…

Well, I could just go on and on.

Next blog will be the flea market in Toulouse, and more peeks at the chateau and it's grounds.

Let the journey begin...

I'm packed, I'm excited (and a little anxious), and three flights, a few layovers, and one road trip, and I'll be here.

 

The Chateau that I'll be staying at in Auty, France.  (A short journey from Toulouse.)  I'll be back in a week with lots of photos!

I'm getting excited about July

In a few months (July, to be exact), I get to go here.  My daughter, Cori, signed herself up for this trip, and because she overbooked for the summer - she's sending me!  I haven't been to France since 2000, and I've never been to this part of France.  I think it's going to be so nice spending a week with like-minded women in the French countryside.  I've always wanted to go to a flea market in France, and never got the chance in the past.  My previous trips to Europe were either school or business related, so this will be the first time for pleasure.  I intend to make the most of it.  And Cori, I promise to keep my eye out for fabulous finds (for both of us).  I hope I find some interesting textiles.  Old or new, I don't care.  I'm not going to get too picky.  Perhaps I should brush up on my rudimentary French?  Nah, no stress this time. 

What a weekend!

I just had the most wonderful weekend in Omaha, attending Silver Bella!  My daughter, Cori, and her sweet, crazy friend Kim allowed me to tag along and have one of the most glorious weekends I've had in a very long time.  I met a group of wonderful, creative, fun, and really, really nice women.  What was intriguing to me was that there were so many different types of talents, and craft techniques, but they complimented each other so beautifully.  I was fortunate enough to get 5 classes with some incredibly talented teachers, and in the process met some pretty amazing artists.  Vendor night was fun (it's been a long time since I dressed for "prom"!)  Here is Cori, Kim and I before the crowds arrived!

 

I absolutely loved seeing all of the prom dresses!

 

I have to be honest, though, and admit that my favorite class was Rebecca Sowers Fabric Art Adornment class.  I know, it's a sewing class, but what I loved about the class was that she brought sewing to women that haven't held needle and thread in years, if ever.  It was a simple, but pretty bracelet, with embroidery features that were so sweet.  It was a project that can inspire non-sewers to pick up a needle and thread, and bits of fabric, and end up with something lovely.  Thank you, Rebecca.  What a lovely, gracious, person you are.  I hope to cross paths with you again one day. Here is my version of the bracelet.

 

Thank you, Teresa McFayden, for bringing us all together.   I don't feel like I got to see much of Omaha, but I did take a few minutes to walk over to this place.  Wonderful array of antique and vintage things.  I managed to spend a few dollars here.

 

Dinner on Saturday night was terrific.  I was lucky enough to join the organizers, teachers, etc. of this wonderful event for dinner at the French Cafe.  Everyone was exhausted, but happy.  Good food, too!

After flying back to Phoenix on Sunday afternoon, Andy picked me up and we rushed home so I could freshen up, and then off to help my sister, Julie, celebrate her birthday.  Happy Birthday, Julie!  She's going to hate this photo...

  

I don't know what that big music note is hanging in front of her head - but there you go. 

Vacationing in Seattle!

My husband and I have been spending the past week visiting my daughter, Heather, and her husband, Ben, in Seattle.  We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time!  It's so beautiful here, sunny and no higher than 80 degrees!  What a nice break from the 110 degrees we left in Phoenix.  My son, Nathan, and grandson Noah flew up here with us for the weekend, and Nathan caught this king salmon.

Ben also put out two crab pots for the first time, and they came home with 10 dungeness crab.  Needless to say, we've been eating well.  I love vacations, because I always take a little hands on project with me to fill the lazy hours.  This time, I'm working on a Hawaiian applique pillow square.  I've finished the applique part, and I'm now quilting (by hand) the top.  It will be made into a pillow for the family room, once it's done.  I'll take a photo when it's out of the hoop.  On Monday, before Nathan and Noah flew back home, my third grandson, Chase, flew up to spend a few days fishing with his "poppy" and Uncle Ben.  They didn't catch any fish, but came home with 13 crab.  All of this fishing time, left time for Heather and I to do some shopping, TV watching, and general laziness.  My kind of time!

Tomorrow, we're off to Victoria, Canada to see the Butchart Gardens, and then the ferry to Vancouver to do some sightseeing.  (It's my turn, now that Andy's had his fish fest.)  I'm hoping to get to a fabric or quilt shop or two along the way.  Heather and I went over to Woodinville to the quilt shop "Gathering Fabric".  It was a beautiful little shop, with lovely fabrics.  Yesterday, Andy and I went on a great drive to Duvall, WA, while Heather and Ben were at work.  I found a quilt shop there called The Quilter's Garden.  It's in an older building, which was kind of dark inside, but I bought three fabulous fabrics there.  I'll take photos of everything for a later post.

Today, Ben and Andy once again went fishing, and Ben caught a salmon that makes Nathan's look like it's little brother.  I think Andy is getting worried that he won't get one.  He has next week... (I really don't feel sorry for him!)