Temecula with Friends and More Quilts

It was a perfect day of weather yesterday. The past two days have been a little on the warm side, but it cooled off yesterday and we were still able to enjoy the bright sunshine. The kitties have taken to starting their day with a good sunbath.

While they were soaking up the sun, I was finishing off the third snowflake. I'm having a hard time getting a very good picture of these. The lightest blue floss doesn't show up well in pictures against the bright white of the background. I think you can get the idea though. I really like the beading on this one.

The outer dark blue triplets were done in a dark blue metallic floss I haven't used before. It's a relative newcomer on the Crabapple Hill Studios website. It isn't the floss Mary Corbet suggested in her pattern, but I was not able to find some of the flosses she mentions. Even with her suggestions for sources, I found some of it wasn't available in the United States...not even online. Instead, I substituted this Cosmo Nishikiito floss, and what a bugger it is to work with! I haven't yet come across a metallic floss that didn't also come with challenges, but this is the worst. I'll never buy it again. Consider this a warning. For now, and for this project, I'm kind of stuck with it. I'll try to avoid using it as much as possible.

When the kitties aren't sunbathing, they're posting pictures online. They both decided to take part in the #dollypartonchallenge. It seems Dolly Parton (yes, the same one!) started a viral challenge where she posted a collage of photos she could include on certain social media sites. Sadie and Smitty didn't want to be left out, so here are their submissions.

We met up with our friends Tom and Deb in Temecula yesterday. We first had lunch at a historic restaurant, The Gambling Cowboy. You can see pictures at that link. After that, we headed to a local wine tasting room, Lorimar Loft. Lorimar has a larger winery farther out in Temecula Wine Country, but the loft is located in historic downtown Temecula. You can taste and purchase wine there, and also listen to live music. It was a nice afternoon. I've known Tom since junior high school, and I first met Deb in high school. We were all in the band together, and we've stayed friends all these years...too many to mention. I didn't take a lot of pictures yesterday, but I've written about Temecula on a previous visit, and you can read about the town and its history right here.

After we finished drinking wine, we took off walking down the street and came across an ice cream and gift shop.

The "chocolate covered bacon" made us curious, and so we went inside for more gabbing and some ice cream. There, we found some interesting items.

I think these are for me!

After eating our ice cream, we said our good-byes and headed for home. First, though, we stopped off at a local fruit stand for some local avocados. We had fried egg sandwiches with avocado for dinner last night, and oh my goodness. Those avocados are so buttery and delicious. There's nothing like locally-grown avocados. We tentatively planned to meet up with Tom and Deb again later in the week, but we'll have to firm up our plans before I say more about it.

For now, I have a pile of pictures from the quilt show. I'm finishing them off today, and there are quite a few. So fill up your coffee cup...or whatever beverage you prefer...and enjoy. As before, I'll show the information about the quilt and quiltmaker first, then the quilt, and then any detail shots I took.

When I first looked at this next quilt, I saw only circles. I had to stand back from it to see the face. Wow!

I've seen this next quilt on Pinterest. It was such a nice surprise to get to see it in person. It didn't photograph well, partly because of the way it was lit, but I still think you'll enjoy seeing it. For this quilt, it was all about the quilting.

This one was made up of one-inch (unfinished) squares. Yeesh.

This was the one quilt I neglected to capture the information about the quilt or the quilter. My apologies, but I really loved this quilt.

I wish I could have gotten a better shot of this next quilt. For anyone who's ever visited the California redwood trees, it was instantly recognizable. A woman was standing right in front of it. It was tempting to shove her out of the way, but I decided to be polite on this particular day.

If you follow Lenore Crawford's blog, you might have seen this one come together. It was wonderful seeing it in person.

This quilt was made up of shimmery fabrics and beads. It looked as if it would be cold to the touch. (As a reminder: DON'T TOUCH THE QUILTS!!)

The applique on this next one was so interesting. It was another I really wanted to touch so that I could see how it was made. The accompanying information explains the technique. Take a look and see what you think. And, yes, it's hard to tell from these pictures.

The leaves on the trees were cut out individually and then sewn on. Yikes!

This next quilt was stunning in its realism. I've stood under trees and looked up and seen this sight back at home in Oregon in the fall. So pretty.

This next one caught my eye since some of these same quilt blocks are in the Mulligan Stew quilt I'm hand quilting right now. I was a little surprised the information about the quilt didn't give credit to Deborah Henninger's book, Hobo Quilts.

And that's the last of them. I'm aware that others are posting pictures from the show as well. The blog "Quilt Inspiration" will be featuring them over the next several days. Their first installment can be seen right here.

Today Mike will be working on installing a water filtration spigot to our kitchen countertop. It will allow us to get rid of the Brita pitcher currently hogging space on the counter. While he's doing that, I'm thinking I'll do some sewing. Also, I'll get back to my hand quilting penance on the Mulligan Stew quilt. Additionally, I want to get out for a walk today. I need to walk off all that food, wine, and ice cream consumed in Temecula yesterday. It's looking like another good day of weather, and so it'll be good to get out and soak up the sun. It is kind of the point of these trips south.