Road Trip

My husband, son and I took a road trip last weekend.  With everyone's busy schedule, it was necessarily short, but fun.  We drove to Port Angeles, WA and took the ferry to Victoria.  I hadn't been there since the summer of '62 and didn't actually remember much from that trip, so nearly everything was new to me. The city was gearing up for Victoria Day, which was the following Monday.  Sunday was the only full day we were there, so we packed a lot in.

We found a great little bakery for breakfast and then headed out to Craigdarroch Castle.  It has an interesting history and is worth a quick Google.  One of the things that struck me (after the fabulous woodwork) is some very cool stained glass windows.  The colors and shapes will inspire some quilt designs.

                                                      Even the transoms were cool.

The views from the castle are lovely and would be amazing on a clear day.  

For the afternoon, we drove out to Butchart Gardens.  What was once a quarry is now acres of pure beauty.   

The tulips are just finishing up and the roses have yet to bloom.  If I lived nearer, I'd be there every season  just to feed my soul a dish of beauty.

I don't think I've ever seen blue poppies before.  

Now I have a couple million ideas buzzing around in my head.

We had dinner that night at a Scottish pub.  I had my first lamb burger.   It had a sauce on it that had a bit of a kick.   Now THAT's tasty!

The day was full of inspiration for both quilt studio and kitchen.

We finished two new patterns before leaving on the trip and both will be available on the website within the next week.

Here's Spring Sampler -

And In Full Bloom -

Plan for summer:

Worry less.  Quilt more.

Candy

Some Weeks are Like That

My dance card is officially full.  Between an extra day at work, cleaning up after dogs who think new topsoil is for playing in and a couple of patterns needing to be written, it's been one of those weeks.  This is not to say that no quilting activities have happened.  It's just that not enough have happened to please me.

Life has a way of distracting me.  From mopping the kitchen to grocery shopping, planting a few flowers, and adding a quart of oil to my car, it's always something.  I used to think I could somehow actually finish all the real-life chores and just quilt.  Apparently that's not how life really works.  The need for clean clothes and a reasonably nutritious dinner just never goes away.

Now that we have at least a bit of sunshine every day, I find myself needing to clean and simplify.  I made a list of my UFO's to organize and prioritize.  I think I can confidently say that there are a lot.  Not only that, but some neatness needs to happen in the studio.

When I'm in the throes of designing or making a quilt,  I'm not focused on putting stuff away.  At some point,  the mess is just distracting, so the aim is to clean up between projects.  The problem is that one project flows into the next and taking the time to tidy up gets procrastinated away.  Finally, I realize that I'm spending way too much time looking for things and it's time to create a neatness.

I would show before and after pictures, but it will be more efficient (and certainly less embarrassing) to just dig in.  I will ignore the dirty dog footprints on the kitchen floor, throw in a load of laundry and make my workspace beautiful again!

Wish me luck.  I'm gonna need it.

Candy