Summer Sewing

A re-cap of what's been sewn lately by fabulous Hip Stitchers:

Catherine's elephant - Heather Bailey pattern

Laura's mini quilt made from mini-charms (front)

(back)

Summer Sewing Academy - finished bird pillows

Summer Sewing Academy - pillowcase & room pennants

Quilt made by Pat for her daughter

....and another for 2nd daughter.  Fabrics include the Sweet Serenade collection.

Also by Pat:  matching dresses for granddaughter and American Girl Doll.

Sarah with a tote bag - the Chubby Charmer pattern! 

(ugh....couldn't get pic to rotate!)

Marla's quilt for her son - front....

....and back.

As always, thank you for sharing all your beautiful work!

Days 3 & 4 in the Bay Area

I'm planning that there will be a balance between all the food we're eating & all the walking we're doing.....that works, right?

Yesterday was beautiful Santa Cruz.  Boardwalk, surfers, sea lions, and loads of WIND.  Ice cream at the famous Marianne's, (lavender & pumpkin being 2 of the delicious flavor we sampled), visiting the surfing museum, and finding Harts Fabrics were just a few highlights:

Today was Berkeley.  Quaint, funky, and the UC Berkeley campus was breathtaking.  A visit to Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics made up for not doing Britex, in my humble opinion.  We (the girls & I) gave this store 2 thumbs up!  And I realized I'm going through a knit fabric obsession....that was my fabric drug of choice on this trip.

Then, when we thought our day couldn't get any better, we discovered an IKEA just 5 minutes away! Dan dropped us off & 3 hours later, we exited with as much as we could take on the airplane! (Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration)

Tomorrow: the Monterrey Bay Aquarium!

San Francisco, day 3

This morning was our last in the  citiy's innards - we walked a bit more, then rented a car & headed off to find Britex Fabrics, drive/walk the Golden Gate Bridge & more.  Alas, after driving around Union Square & passing Britex more than once, we just couldn't get up the nerve to pay about $20 to park to pay the store a visit.  Traffic was a bit nerve wracking for us small city folks, driving the hills was fun but we were ready to head out of the city.

I found another cute looking fabric shop on google, Peapod fabrics, just south of Golden. Gate Park, but strike 2, they didn't open til 1.  Boo!  I took a few pics thru the window:

Golden  Gate Bridge was spectacular....today was grey and a bit foggy, & I spent a long time just looking at it while the family ventured out to walk on it.  I didn't have the mental fortitude to walk with them; the wind was howling & the traffic was so loud I just opted to gaze at it.  In that time alone, I found my mind thinking of Ellen Benson as I was surrounded by tourists from around the world: she'd be snapping beautiful photographs.....

We drove a bit down the coast, stopping at the Cliff House, taking a group selfie with the

 ocean in the background:

We're just a bunch of goof balls....

Things I've learned on this trip:

-- Siri has made my marriage better.  I love this robot woman's voice.  She has smoothly guided my husband to our destination, with minimal interruptions from me, who would have been trying to read a map to him.  Thank you, robot voice woman.

-- traveling with 2 teenage daughters is like driving the streets of San Francisco: ups and downs.  It's

 anticipatory, exciting, don't know what's coming when you turn a corner, braking hard with frustration and laughing til your sides hurt with silliness & glee.

--HGTV is so fun to watch in hotels at night.

--I loved riding the Muni bus system.  People stand up without hesitation when an elderly person gets on, and that person sits right down in the vacated seat.  I love that.

-- seeing all the homeless people made me sad....& more so seeing the mental illness attached.

Tomorrow: Santa Cruz beach & boardwalk!

Hip Stitch goes to San Francisco, day 2

Fisherman's wharf.....Chinatown.....Lombard street.....Coit Tower......Golden Gate Park......Japanese Tea Garden......what a city.  Time for sleep.  Here are a few pics from our day:
'

Hip Stitch goes to San Francisco

Today begins a vacation!  The checklist is complete:  new skirt sewn, shoe bags made, fabric stores googled....let's go!

New skirt, made from Birch Fabrics new organic knits, and my grandmother's train case.

A beautiful Albuquerque morning.

See you in San Francisco!

HIp Stitchers

Good grief, how did a whole month go by without a blog post?

Nonetheless, here are some creations by our Hip Stitchers:

Teresa brought in 2 fabulous bags she made....and 1 adorable daughter to help model them!

One finished mini quilt by a young quilter!

Another completed quilt by a young quilter.

Finished dolls made in the Miss Dolly class

Doll quilt whipped up for a birthday gift (lucky friend!)

Today is a do-over

Yes, a do-over.  Just like groundhog day.....I dressed in the same clothes I wore yesterday (laundered last night), because I was so looking forward to wearing my Liverpool Tunic yesterday, but it didn't count.  Most of the day was spent in the ER at Kaseman hospital, after feeling funny yesterday morning, then feeling tingling/weakness in my left arm.  Thank goodness for my friend Sherry, (once a nurse, always a nurse), who took me into her office next door and strapped on the blood pressure cuff, and darn it if it wasn't elevated.  That was it....she kindly but firmly told me to go to the ER, giving me baby aspirin to take along the way.

Five hours later, EKG done, chest XRay done and a visit from the dr. on call, everything looked normal.  He's sending me for a follow-up stress test, but my heart is ok.  And as much as I'd rather spend my afternoon watching paint dry on a wall rather than be in ER, I was glad I went.  Worries are put to rest.

And in the middle of the night, getting a good nights' sleep, I rolled over and felt something uncomfortable on me....and realized I hadn't peeled off ALL of these little do-hickeys:

ER is no walk in the park - I sat praying that the drunk sleeping homeless woman next to me wouldn't wake up and puke into the bowl they left for her when they wheeled her up by me....she only woke up now & then to yell "where's my bed?!"  Thank goodness for nurses - they were sweet and funny and I don't how they do what they do for a living, but my thanks goes out to them.

So gals - when in doubt, go in and get your symptoms checked out.  You just never know.  And 5 hrs. in your lifetime isn't THAT much of an inconvenience.  And you, too, can have a do-over day!