Last full day in class

I took this picture of Elizabeth Barton, my teacher this week, several years ago when I attended a program she gave at a quilt guild. The bottom picture is "Gathering Storm" a quilt she made last autumn and I added to the TCQC during the winter. Almost everyone in the class is working on a design of buildings, of course. Elizabeth's quilts are almost always of buildings in her native England. She has lived in Athens, Georgia, for about twenty years, but still sounds like she just stepped off the plane. She is enjoying the company of twenty English/Scottish/Irish quiltmakers who are here as part of a quilting tour of the USA. They are delightful.

Asilomar - Last day of August

Asilomar Conference Center is part of the California State Parks and is located in Pacific Grove, between Monterey and Carmel. It is a large property which was first owned by YWCA early in the 20th century. The original buildings, which are still in use, were designed by Julia Morgan, who designed many buildings in the Oakland/Berkeley area and was the primary architect for Hearst Castle. The Empty Spools Conference group has held annual quilt 'camps' here for twenty-two years and I have been attending them for 16 years. Floyd and I stayed here a number of times and stopped for a few nights on our last road trip, so the two weeks I spend here every year are very special.

As usual in the summertime when it is hot inland the fog rolls in during the night and then retreats as the temperature rises. It doesn't usually get very hot; in the 70s so far during this stay. In the picture above you can just see the ocean beyond the far tall tree, with just a remnant of the lingering fog. In the foreground is a warning to be alert for wandering cougars. There is usually lots of wild life on the grounds - deer, raccoons, birds, etc. - but this year I have not see either deer or raccoons. My roomie Mary (Leakey) saw a rabbit and there are a few crows hanging about. I don't know what has happened to all the critters.

Just dashing to breakfast

I am missing my little Corky dog....!

Early morning fog, a latte from the 'general store' and just a minute to add a word or two to the Blog. The weather here is lovely, around 70 degrees, but there is the morning fog.

Class is going well, but we haven't gotten to fabric yet. So everyone is a little antsy. Quilters like to have some fabric to feel available at all times. We are just working on different methods to develop designs and how to modify them to suit the quilt technique one wants to use.

And now it is time for breakfast and I am starving this morning. Might be because I didn't eat any dinner last night. Just got busy and then didn't have time before the dining room closed. I will try to post again later today.

Drive up Hwy 1 - Morro Bay to Monterey

Sunday was a long day, I drove with Elizabeth Barton as my passenger from San Diego to Monterey and inland to San Juan Bautista. We turned off Hwy 101 at San Luis Obispo and picked up Hwy 1 at Morro Bay. The drive from there up Hwy 1 was gorgeous. There were enough clouds in the sky to keep the hot sun shaded most of the time and I didn't have the sun in my eyes except for a few angles. We stopped at some viewpoints, especially to watch the elephant seals gamboling in the surf... at least I think that is what they were doing! We had lunch at Jeannie's in Montecito - their chicken pesto sandwich is beyond delicious, but ya gotta love garlic! And then we had dinner at the Leakey house in San Juan Bautista. Mary had prepared a delicious chicken soup w/lots of vegetables and crunchy toasted double cheese bread. She is the best cook I know! After that eleven hour drive I slept well last night, but have been dragging my tail today. I keep saying I am too old to do those marathon drives, but I go ahead and do them anyway.

Our class with Elizabeth Barton starts tomorrow afternoon at Asilomar, so we will all be staying there through Sunday. Then a few days more to get past Labor Day weekend before Elizabeth flies home to Georgia and I drive home to Placentia - via the 'super highway', I-5. That will be about a five hour drive and that will be more than enough. By the time I am home again I will be a year older - 69! Where have the years gone? Inside my mind I am still twenty-four, except for the pains and crotchets of an ageing body!