A retreat recap

This year was the 3rd annual sewing retreat with the ABQ Modern Quilt Guild.  The Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, NM hosted our lodging and sewing space; Thread Bear, my favorite quilt shop (outside of Hip Stitch) hosted our shopping and creative outlet.  Here are the pictures of our weekend:

Who's in on the next retreat??

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!)