Return to WA, Day 1

A year ago today Ben & I began our week long drive to Washington State. We were so happy to be moving back! We were able to take a week & make a great vacation out of it. The first day we drove from Scottsdale, AZ to Las Vegas, NV.

In case you've ever wondered, this is what fall looks like in the southwest; barely a hint of orange.

There are some pretty interesting rock formations in the southwest.

High desert of Northern Arizona.

When the sun sets, the landscape blazes orange.

Hoover Dam at Sunset.

We got to Hoover dam just as the sun was setting. We stopped at the lookout & let the dog stretch her legs. Ben took lots of photos; 95% of which came out blurry.

We stayed at a pretty comfy hotel off the strip, across the street from the outlet mall. They gave us a coupon for the Italian restaurant across the street where we had a decent meal & enjoyed some wine.

Farmer's Market

Today I biked down to the Proctor Farmer's market & brought back this organic bounty:


1.5 pounds whole hazelnuts $5

1 bunch kale + 1 lemon cucumber + 1 pattypan squash $3.25

1 bunch basil $1.50

1 giant zucchini $0.50

1 bouquet $8


Natures goodness, some sunshine & a 3 mile bike ride/walk, it doesn't get much better than this!

Quilting Class & A New Tool

Last Saturday I took a quilting class @ Fabric Crush in Seattle. The Class was on how to make kaleidoscope quilts.

The class was excellent! There was just me and one other student so we had lots of space and hands on help from the instructor, who was very kind.

I am so inspired to finish the quilt I started. Even though it is my third quilt, I have a feeling it will be the first one I finish.

These are the blocks I've cut so far.

While we were at the store, we had the opportunity to make use of their Design Wall (by Fons & Porter). It is a felt sheet 60in wide x 72 inches long with grommets along the top to make it easy to hang. The felt is backed with Vinyl that has a 2 inch grid pattern on it to help you place your fabric.

This tool made it really quick & easy to play with orientation of fabrics to decide on the best kaleidoscope for each block. I had planned to hang up a sheet at home as a design wall & use pins to keep the fabric in place. I'm so glad I found this instead. No pins needed! I bought one at the store & put up in my craft area yesterday.

July Cross-Stitch Update

I didn't do an update last month because I was in the middle of moving. This month I'm doing it early because I've finished!


I just need to do all the outline stitching and it will be ready for... I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing, but I'll have plenty of time I'm not in a big hurry to finish the outlining.

May Cross-Stitch Update

I haven't made much progress since April, because I've been cutting out blocks for my quilt.