Granny Squares

Well I keep seeing them online everywhere, and JoyLyn demoed them in our Modern Quilt Group recently, so when a group invited me to exchange blocks, I was excited to try this new-to-me block. And it was fun! Here are my three, eight of each to exchange next month.

And here's the tutorial we used, from Monkey Do.

Birding in CA

There are tons of good places to bird in California, mainly because it's so big and diverse (kinda like the people. In fact Rory told me at the end of one day, "I saw this really freaky lady today who wasn't a lady at all!). While in the LA and Bay Area last week, Paul and I had the opportunity to go to some cool birding places and added 15 new life birds. Here is where we went that I would recommend:

• Hayward Shorline Preserve
• Oyster Bay Regional Shores
• Mines Road, Livermore
• Oakland Zoo
• Deukmejian Wilderness Park, La Crescenta near Pasadena (my fav)
• Descanso Gardens, La Canada
• Huntington Gardens, San Marino near Pasadena (my other fav)

Stonemountain & Daughter

While in the Bay Area last week, I went to Stonemountain & Daughter Quilting and Fabric store in Berkeley. I'd heard about it, and wanted to check it out. Here's me in front of their notable button wall. The store is large, with a lot of Japanese imports and Asian inspired fabrics. They did have some organic too, which was fun to indulge in. Since I've been finally building up my stash again with new fabrics, I really let myself go here. 

Aside from quilting fabric, they do have plenty of clothing weights and an upstairs sewing room that was humming. The only thing I didn't like was how they cut my quilting fabric. They didn't use a ruler or grid on the table, and didn't give any extra, so you got what you got.

Things You Don't Say To Your Wife

Check out this YouTube link, for a funny, musical list of things no wife wants to hear. Ha!