Not in Kansas

So I am not in Kansas.  Don’t think I’ve ever been to Kansas.

No, that’s the Pacific Ocean.

And that’s my granddaughter with me, having brunch  I had ham and eggs and avocado and I don’t know what else on a croissant.  It was fabulous, and I can’t believe I ate the whole thing. I’ve since had soba noodles at a Korean place and Tunisian food. At Barsha. And I had brunch at Martha’s, which is fabulous.

I’ve been a Penzey’s customer for years but I’ve never been in one of their stores so it was great to visit one. 

It’s kind of a PITA to post on my iPad so that’s it for now. 

At The Top!

 

Friday Julie and I were at the seacoast - at sea level, but on Monday we went to the White Mountains. Specifically, we went to the tallest mountain in the eastern US - Mount Washington.

Mount Washington is 6,288 feet above sea level, and it's the home of the world's worst weather. This is what the top of the mountain looked like when we got there. At the base, the temperature was in the low 80's, and it was sunny. At the top it was stormy. There are all kinds of warnings about dressing properly when you go to the summit.

We rode to the top in one of these special vans. (Special because of the gears to get the van UP the mountain, and to get it DOWN, slowly and safely.)

We got lucky, the summit wasn't surrounded by clouds when we got up there. It was about 49F, but the winds were about 25-35 MPH. Visibility was about 50 miles.

You can click this image to see details about the weather conditions during the hour we were at the summit.

I met Julie through the internet in 2008, and we became friends. Over the years we became BEST FRIENDS. And in the fourteen years of our friendship we have been together only THREE times. I wanted to spend this vacation with Julie because I wanted her to see and experience the place where I live.

I've been to the top of Mt Washington twice before. Both previous times the weather was calm. It was beautiful, but it was never as thrilling and as exciting as this visit. We were even with the clouds. The panorama was incredible.

This day was added to our itinerary (version 11) at the last minute (Absolute Rigid Flexibility!) and we had no idea whether it would come to pass because of the vagaries of the weather. We figured it was going to be an experience one way or the other. As it turned out, it was THE BEST DAY. 

Quite fittingly we spent it at the top!

Sunday Brunch

 

I invited my Mom and her BF for Sunday brunch. I made two Dutch Baby pancakes, bacon and a fruit compote of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and mango. We also had Mimosas. Brunch was delicious.

Julie wanted to see as many of my quilts in real life as she could. This is Yellow Ribbons.
 

This is Sunburst Rainbow.

This is Hidden Treasure.

After we cleaned up from brunch, Julie and I drove out to Peterborough through Francestown and New Boston (the back way). It was a lovely drive. Our destination was Monadnock Oil & Vinegar. What's in the photo above is what I came home with. Julie's purchases will be shipped directly to her house.

I continued to make black slabs.

Julie made slabs from the bins of scraps and we both cut triangles to make Scrap Slab Triangle Quilts. As you can see, Philip was snoopervising.

We went out to dinner at Shorty's Mexican Roadhouse.

After that it was home because we were both tired and we needed to rest up for our big trip the next day - a trip to the top of Mount Washington.

Saturday Sewing

 

Saturday morning Julie and I spent some serious time in the studio. Julie continued to sort through the boxes of scraps I had set out. "I'm making a huge mess in your studio!" I just laughed. I hardly thought of it as a mess.

I continued to cut triangles out of the black slabs I had cut. Each stack above has ten triangles in it. For a quilt 60" x 72" I'll need 120 triangles, so I have to keep going.

We visited Quilted Threads, the best quilt shop ever. This fellow is Philip, my new QA tester. He had to come along to get the lay of the land.

I bought some pretty fabrics and then we went to Daniel's to have lunch.

Philip and The Selvage Fairy got along right away.

He liked Julie too. We ate on the balcony overlooking the river. It was a lovely day, sunny and dry.

We came home, and Julie went into the studio and got a lot of work done. I sacked out on the couch and took a nap. The photo above was taken at the end of the day. You can see Philip at his perch, keeping watch over the studio.

*btw, Philip is named for my favorite fabric designer, Philip Jacobs.

Friday Tourists

 

Friday the weather was great, so Julie and I went back to Portsmouth. We visited a couple of the shops in Market Square, Marco Polo and the Treehouse Toy Shop, and bought gifts for our grandkids, including these glow-in-the-dark magnetic butterflies.

We went on a tour of the Moffat-Ladd House, and then drove to Kittery Maine where we did some shopping at the outlet stores

 and had an alfresco lunch. 

We then visited the Stonewall Kitchen Company Store, and I might have gone a little nuts.

We then took a leisurely drive south along New Hampshire's seacoast, stopping a Wallis Sands Beach in Rye NH so Julie could tickler her toesies in the Atlantic Ocean. Julie had a rather intimate experience with the ocean, and I will leave that to her to describe later.
 

A little bit farther south we stopped at The Beach Plum in Hampton.

We got ice cream, and then walked across the street to sit on the seawall and watch the ocean.

It was a great day. It was sunny, warm, a bit breezy and very comfortable. We drove home, had dinner and called it a day.

Thursday in the Rain

 As you know, Julie and I had a detailed itinerary planned for our time together. Weather, of course, got in the way. We had planned to spend Thursday on the Seacoast, visiting the Portsmouth Fabric Company, going over to Maine to check out the Outlet stores in Kittery, and then drive along the beach ending with a dinner at the Beach Plum and ice cream on the seawall.

Alas, Thursday's forecast was 100% RAIN! So we moved things around. We'd go to the PFC as planned, but then come home to work in the studio.

DID IT RAIN! The sky opened up and dumped about an inch of rain as we drove to Portsmouth. When we got there the wind blew so hard it turned our umbrellas inside out. Our shoes got soaked as we made our way to PFC, where, slightly bedraggled, we chose fabrics, then got in the car to come home.

Before we got home, we made stops to Van Otis Chocolates,

 

and then to Jacques Florist, where Julie got flowers for her room and I got a dozen different colored roses.

 Then we went to my house where we made BLT's for lunch, threw our fabrics in the washing machine and Julie started sorting through the bins I had set aside for her.

The weather cleared up, the sun came out, and we had a lovely afternoon in the studio. Julie enjoyed working with windows open, listening to the birds chatter.

Some Family Photos

Here are some pictures we took the last night I was in California with my son and his family.

We had a great dinner at Nick's.

After dinner, we went to the beach.

Woo Hoo! I got a kiss!

We are a Dino-sty!

A Side Trip

My son’s family decided to take me on a little side trip. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going.

Except it was a lot like this. Lots of traffic. 

We stopped in Redlands and it was 96F at 6 PM. Sure it was dry heat but still. Checking the weather for this are a told me that on Sunday it is supposed to be 105F.  By then I knew we were headed toward the mountains.

 

We had dinner at Noodle21, then headed up the mountains. We are here:

 

where, paradoxically, it will be hotter than if we had stayed in MB, but the lake is down the road and I’m pretty sure swimming is on tap for tomorrow. 

PS, I’ve had a cold so I’ve been sleeping and reading and binge-watching Downton Abbey. I still think the best line in the entire series came at the end of series two when Richard Carlisle said they’d never see him again and Violet piped up, “Do you promise?”

Mad Money!

Every household has one, a jar for all the coins that collect in your pockets or purse. Mine got so heavy I decided to bring it to the bank and cash it in. Turned out their coin counting machine was on the fritz. I could bring it to the local grocery store that had a machine - but it would cost me 11%  - or I could take my jar home and count and wrap them myself.

So I counted. 

I had almost fifty bucks, which will come in handy on my vacation. It's always fun to have a little mad money.

The House is Clean

I cleaned the house today.

And I mean CLEANED. I picked up and got rid of the clutter. I dusted. I cleaned all surfaces. I washed the kitty quilts that protect the furniture from Millie's fur (you can see one on the red chair above.) I cleared off all counters and have a big stack of paperwork to shred. I even cleaned out the refrigerator. The remote vacuum cleaners have been put through their paces. The laundry has been done and is now folded and put away. The sheets have been changed. The dishes are done. The litter box is clean. The groceries have been done. The car has been gassed up. The kitchen floor has been washed. I even replaced the shower curtain liner. (Yes, the bathrooms are sparkling also.) I cleaned all the mirrors. Oh yes, the bills are paid.

And why?

I am on vacation, and shall be enjoying myself.

with these guys.

So that means I won't be doing much sewing over the next few days, but I WILL be delivering this quilt..

Maybe I'll get some California beauty shots.

I shall also be taking inspiration photographs to interpret into birds. (If you want to make your own birds, you can get my tutorial here.)

I'm teaching a letters class at Quilted Threads at the end of September. (My liberated letters tutorial is available here.)

See you on the flip side!