Central Valley California in the Spring

Connor

11/21/01 - 2/21/12
Rest in peace, dear Connor. You will be missed.

Please stop on over and give your love and condolences to Yvonne.

Retreat

I thought I had better post some of the pictures from the quilting retreat I went on last weekend. We had such a wonderful time!!! The weather could not have been more perfect!

My friend, Nikki, and I always get up there ahead of time to get things set up and ready for the rest of our group. Since we are the Busy Beas, our little mascot is a bee. I had found bee windsocks at the local dollar store to greet the gals when they arrived.

Do you see the two doors on the top floor? That's the room that Nikki and I always share. Even though there are other beds in the room, no one else wants to share it with us. Why? We love having the doors wide open all night no matter how cold, windy, rainy or snowy it may be! Of course I bought electric blankets for us years ago, so we each take a bed by a door and snuggle down with the fresh air on our faces and listen to the distant frogs croaking. Aaaaahhh!!! (Yes, we are perfectly safe as there is no way to get up on the balcony unless you are a good climber and we all know how many sharp instruments quilters have with them!!!)

This is a pillow that Heather made for one of her boys. She found the free pattern here. She whipped it one in one day!!!! I really encourage everyone out there to take advantage of free patterns on the web. Although this looks like wool, it's actually the softest flannel. He loves to sit on the floor and read so I bet he loved it!

Joey worked on a civil war fabric applique quilt. She always does such wonderful work. She used to hate the "A" word, but now has embraced it and does such beautiful quilts with it.

I'm always glad they don't charge us more for electricity. Can you imagine?

Marion finished this quilt that she had previously started using Fig Tree fabrics. It was one she had seen, couldn't find the pattern for so she drafted it herself. It's a gift for her sister and I'm trying to figure out a way to convince her I'm her sister!!!

Another finish by Heather. She's quite the prolific quilter. She is one busy lady at home so she takes full advantage of her retreat time.

Debbie made this darling quilt along with some other baby quilts using minkie fabric.

There were lots of other finished projects but I didn't take pictures in the evening because the lighting was so bad. I had intentions of taking them the next day but forgot. I'll have the gals bring their projects, including mine, to our next Sunday Scrap Sew and take the pictures then.

We had so much fun. One of the highlights is always the food. You would not believe how well we eat!!!!! Nothing is store bought. Everything is fresh and no corners are cut as far as ingredients are concerned. We had spinach salad with fresh strawberries. Clam chowder that was homemade, not canned! Fresh homemade asparagus soup made with coconut milk and curry! Chicken lettuce wraps that I still have dreams of (I ate five that day). Our favorite baked egg plant. Fried pollenta with sun dried tomatoes. Beet salad made with fresh, not canned, beets. Tri-tip fit for a king. Let us have a moment of silence for the homemade cheesecake and creme brule. Our Monday breakfast is always made to order omelets. I'm telling you, I could feel my waste expanding with each meal! Not only is the food exquisite but the staff comes up and serves us, pampers us, and cleans up for us. They always have the coffee going for us and cater to any diet restrictions anyone might have. You would think that with all this the price would be sky high. Far from it. The price is less than half what other quilt retreat facilities charge. Seriously!

If you are looking for a retreat venue, whether it be for quilting, scrap booking or something else, and are anywhere near the Sonora area, you should consider Silver Spur. If you have any questions about them and what they can do for you, drop me an email!

Back to reality.....

Happy Valentine's Day

Sending you a Happy Valentine's Day greeting
from Miss Jean and Maggie!

Off To the Foothills

It's that time of year and I couldn't be more excited!
I am going from my little yellow house....

(Sorry about the pumpkins, this was the first picture I found!)

...to this little yellow house!

My quilting group is off to the foothills to our annual February quilting retreat. It's our tenth anniversary and the majority of those attending have survived all ten years!!!!

There will be lots of sewing, eating, laughing, sharing, movie watching and general rest and relaxation. Did I mention the food?

I'm getting ready and then leaving Friday so I won't be blogging 'till I get home next week.

Public Service Announcement

You all know by now that I am a committed dog lover and that our dog, Maggie is one spoiled little girl. She is currently taking a nap in the guest bedroom on top of the pillows covered with my prized vintage embroidered pillowcases. Pillowcases now covered in black Scottie hair. I don't mind, though. She's worth it.

My good Scottie friend, Lynn has written a post about dog safety that I feel every dog owner should read. I've mentioned in a previous post measures that I take and that you can take to make traveling with your dog as safe as possible.

Please hop on over and read Lynn's post about retractable dog leashes. She is committed to raising happy and healthy dogs and keeping them safe.

Thanks Lynn!!!!

KitchenAid

"Mommy, I'm being a big girl and doing my chores without you even asking! Do you need anything else done?"

"Can I have my allowance now?"

*No animals were harmed in the making of this post!

Happy Birthday To Maggie!

Oh, boy! I'm such a bad Scottie Mommy! This past Friday, January 20th was Maggie's 4th birthday and I totally forgot!!!! Bad Mommy!!!

I know I have posted this picture before but it's my favorite picture of Maggie. It's taken at the Painted Dessert while we were on vacation.

It's hard to believe that she is four years old already. It seems like just yesterday we got the call from a friend who said, "just come and look at her!" "She is sooooo sweet!" The rest is Scottie puppy history. We've had our ups and downs with her. She was quite the head strong destructive puppy. Our previous Scottie didn't do half the things Maggie did. But you know, that's what makes Maggie Maggie. She still acts like a puppy, playing with her toys ,chasing birds and guarding the house. Every evening, though, she settles down and while I watch television in bed she curls up at the end of the bed and waits patiently 'till I turn out the lights. Then it's Scottie snuggle, cuddle time!

Most every one who meets her falls in love with her. It makes me feel good to know that at the groomers she gets such wonderful care. I was watching the Dog Whisperer the other night and I couldn't help but think what a great trainer Caesar is. However, I do think he would have a few issues with Maggie. She barks, she jumps on people, she doesn't usually come when you call her. I guess I'll solve that problem by never having Caesar over!!!

Happy Birthday, Miss Maggie!!!! We love you so much!!

Here in the central valley of California we don't get rain in the summer so the farmers have to either irrigate or use sprinklers. We've had virtually no rain this winter so the local farmers turned on the sprinklers the other morning. It was either for that or they did it because of the hard freeze we were expecting. Either way, the results were beautiful. This is what we woke up to down at the end of my street.





This may be no big deal for you all back in the mid-west and east coast, but to me it was just awesome. I've only seen this one other time in all the years I've lived here.

Thankfully, we're getting some rain out there tonight and have storms lined up for the next week. This is great news, especially for Reno, Nevada which has a huge fire threatening homes right now.

With the rains coming I think it will be the perfect time to stay indoors, drink hot cider, read some and get ready for quilt retreat which is coming up next month.

Take care....

Sans Photos

I drove up the freeway about an hour yesterday to go out to lunch with my two sisters, my niece and my niece's daughter (I'd say great niece but that makes me sound really old! LOL!). We live just enough apart that we attempt to meet for lunch mid way to keep in touch. Mom was feeling under the weather so she stayed home and I drove alone. It was sunny and with the radio to keep me company it was a pleasant drive.

I promise I had my camera, all charged and ready to go. In the bottom of my purse. Left and forgotten! Bad blogger, bad! Lunch was great and the company even better. Lots of laughing and sharing. We definitely need to do this more.

Afterwards we all went on our separate ways and I took the opportunity to hit a couple quilt shops I've been wanting to visit. With the price of gasoline at what it is I try to make my trips worth while. I don't hop in the car and just run off as much as I used to.

Anyway, visiting the quilt shops was fun but interesting as well. The only purchase I made was a package of Little Genie Magic Bobbin Washers. I had seen them on a blog and thought I would give them a try. Hop over and read what they are for.

Back to the shops....At the first shop, where I made my purchase, I was greeted with a hello when I came in the door. After that "you're on your own!" I felt like I was intruding at someone else's party. There were lots of ladies in the shop who obviously all knew each other and the sales people and they were laughing and having a grand old time. "Hello! Is anybody back there?" At the second shop I didn't even get a hello. This shop recently changed owners who obviously didn't get the training memo on customer service.

Gosh, I wish sometimes I could open my own quilt shop (In the Garden With Miss Jean's Quilt Shop-may I help you?") I would clone some of the awesome quilt shops I've been to in my travels - California, Oregon, Washington,Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Alabama, to name a few - and make ALL of my customers feel welcome and special. In this economy it's the only way to stay in business.

Quilters: tell me about your experiences good and bad. What do you do when you experience bad service? I've been known to email the owner when it was really bad. Sound severe? She was really glad I did as she didn't know what was going on.

Football is on so I'm going to go make myself scarce. Denver lost yesterday and I just can't watch another game. *Disclaimer-I don't "like" football, but it was Denver and Tebow and you know....."

Have a restful Sunday and a wonderful week.