Icing on the Cake

I have been Sew Blessed to have known Annelies for over two years through our blogs. We hit it off right away...both expecting granddaughters within a couple of weeks of each other...her first, my 10th and last.  We both have a passion for quilting and sewing and have shared ideas and patterns. We share the love of family and the Lord.
She teaches quilting at Eleanor Burns "A Quilt in a Day".  I first started teaching Eleanor Burns quilts many years ago.
Then a few months ago, this sweet friend shared her win of win of Pam Kitty Morning fabrics from Strawberry Patches with me. We are both making a Dresden Plate quilt with those fabrics.

As soon as I found I was going to be in the San Diego area, I couldn't wait to let Anne know.
She right away called me and we set up plans to meet in Temecula at a favorite quilt store of hers.
Quilters Coop
Downtown Temecula is like an old western town with antique and speciality shops and this cute as can be quilt shop

As soon as we entered we were met by the nicest lady who owns the store.

Joann was so sweet and friendly and had the greatest smile. She is in the middle and Annelies  is on the right.

It's really a large store with lots of rooms. I snapped just a few pictures to show you.

I found some sweet little stripes to make the bottom of some cute little cupcake favors I'm making for a birthday party this weekend. (The cute ric-rac trim came from Hobby Lobby)

I brought the red circle fabric with me, but found this cute pink with blue bird fabric and the red and white, all destined to be something for one of the grands.

After a couple of hours of browsing, and talking to sweet Joann, each of us left with our treasures and decided to go to lunch. It would have been fun to visit some of the other shops, but we both had  food and then Hobby Lobby on our minds.

We talked and talked through lunch.

Annelies gifted me with this

pattern.  It's for a jellyroll, so now I'm on the lookout for the perfect one.

After lunch, we headed for Hobby Lobby.
I don't usually buy anything but quilt store quailty fabrics, but this fabric just kept calling my name.

It is the perfect color to go with some of my collection of recycled denium.

I saw a tote bag on Pinterest that is inspiring the use of these fabric.

Not only cute, but it seems to be a good quality for a tote.

This is only the second time I have been to a Hobby Lobby and it can be a little overwhelming, but I went with the intention of finding cupcake papers and some sprinkles for that special birthday party this weekend.

I wasn't disappointed.  I have  really been loving cute cupcake papers lately and can't resist them.

I really hated saying goodbye to my now real life friend, but she had a date with grandson Donovan and I had a long drive back to Santee and dinner to fix for my Mr. SS.

We agreed, we would never run out of things to talk about and must meet again if we stay here for awhile.

Back to life at the campground.  We eat dinner outside every night and tonight we were joined by

a few new friends.

At least it wasn't coyote's who came around, as we were warned they might.

I've done lots of sewing  and will give you a peek at my projects next time.

God is Good!!

Life is Good!!

Mason Baptist Church

Since it is Sunday night, I thought I would show you the church I went to last Sunday while in Kentucky.

This is my 90 yr. young Aunt Lola's church. She plays the organ here and has for many years.

It sits just off the road in Mason County (people talk about counties in Ky. instead of towns or cities)

It even has it's own cemetary right next to the church.

It was a beautiful morning, but it clouded up after we got there.

Amber took these pictures with my camera.

I especially loved this one.

I had woke up on Sunday morning to my Aunt Playing "When the Roll is Called up Yonder"

She always practices before she leaves for church on Sunday.

It brought back such memories of when I was little (about 4 yrs. old) and listened to her practicing for Sunday Morning Church.

Do you know that song? It is one I sang growing up in little churches in Texas and elsewhere.

It is still going through my mind and it has been a week now since going to church in Kentucky.

The walkway going up to the front door.

Here we are...and before you ask, no we did not talk over what we were wearing that morning to church. Isn't that just so funny??

Aunt Lola, me, Cousin Judy, her daughter Amber

Once again, I would like to ask you all to pray for my good friend's son Jeff. (see my previous post)

He  has had a few setbacks in the last few days and you can go here to read more about how to pray.

Thanks to all of you who have done so already. It means so much. 

                                                 

Heart of the Valley Shop Hop part 1b

Maricopa Quilt Company was our destination after visiting the three local Bakersfield stores on Friday. It is less than an hour away and we wanted to have the whole day Saturday to visit the other 9 stores.  To be honest, the only thing that comes to mind when someone says Maricopa is a little town that you pass through going to the coast. I've never stopped there, much less dreamed there was a Quilt Store. Well, were we suprised!!  At this point on Friday, I still wasn't in the blog mode so my sweet friend Linda drove back on Sunday and took all of these except the one of the owner and quilt.     

                       

This is what you see coming into town.

It really looks like one of those western towns you see on TV.

This is the front of the quilt store

They had a really cute window display, but couldn't get a picture because of the glare.

The owner of the store was Vicki. She and her staff were so sweet and friendly. Here she is with her store's Quilt.

Wish I would have taken more of the inside of the store. She has over 3000 bolts of beautiful fabrics.

I was looking for black and whites for a purse and thought I would pick up one at different stores, but her variety was so nice, I ended up buying them all there.

This is what I made.  It is the larger version that is in my pattern for the Girlie Girl Bags that I have shown here so often. This one has pockects inside and out and is for the big girlies.

Anyway.....back to the town of Maricopa. Linda got some great shots of some of the history there.

It is located in the middle of oil country. Oil is one of Kern Counties biggest commodities.

This is a wooden oil pump Linda found interesting.

Look at the old gas pumps in the lower right hand corner.

Maricopa Museum

This church is right across the street from the Quilt Store.

Linda thought this was featured in a movie at one time.

Linda and I both thought...there is some history in this little town that is probably very interesting.

Maybe it would be worth the trip to come back and find out.  Of course we would have to visit Maricopa Quilt Company too.

 I can assure you, I won't pass through Maricopa on my way to the coast in July without timing it so I can visit Vicki and her quilt store.

       

MIA

Can't believe it has been a week since I posted. I have been gone from home since Monday. My sweetie has a job in Southern California which is close to a a good friend of ours, so I hitched a ride with him and we are staying with her for the week. It has been a fun packed week as she needed some help redoing some areas in her home and I got to go to work with her and help with a couple of displays. She has a great little Gift/Antique store in Long Beach, CA ....Aunt Fanny's Emporium. She has started a website, but says it will have more soon. http://www.auntfannysemporium.com/  I don't have a way to put my pictures on today, but check in on Sunday as I will do a post showing all the fun things we did, If  any of you know about Home Goods, it involved several trips there.