The Final Day In California

This is getting long but I want to share all the cool things I got to do while in California.

My friend Karen and her baby and I had our first stop at a neat little bakery 

for some pastries and coffee.  

Well, for Karen and I not the baby.

She's too young for coffee, silly!

Then we drove to Griffith Park Observatory.  

Here we are!  

Karen wanted LOTS of photos, LOL.

The Hollywood sign was very visible here.

Great view of LA, although there was quite a haze that day.

Everywhere I went there were beautiful Bird of Paradise flowers.  They don't grow for long in MI.

Got to see a Tessla coil.  Very interesting.

Visual aids to see how our sun compares.  

We are one of those teeny tiny yellow dots to the left of the gigantic yellow ball.

Cool painted ceiling.  

 Next up was walking around Santa Monica.  We walked toward the pier.  

Beautiful view.

There were these cool dino topiaries so I took a photo of Karen and the baby by one.

The outdoor mall with no car access was nice.  

If we had had more time it would have been fun to shop there.

 We went back to her house and I got to spend some time with her and the kids. 

 Later her hubby and son arrived home and we had dinner.  

A typical Brazillian meal (she is Brazillian) followed by a surprise dessert.  

She always loved when I made pumpkin cheesecake.  

When they left for California she asked me for my recipe.  

This night she made it for dessert and it was fabulous!  

Such a sweet gesture, from a genuinely sweet woman!

I got to hold the baby fresh out of the tub.  Not much smells as good as a freshly washed baby!

Thank you to all of my friends, both old and new for making this an amazing trip!  

I hope we get to do this again very soon!  

I miss you all already!!

~XOP~

Finally A Finish I Can Talk About

As you may remember, I was in California for the past week.  

I went for a quilt retreat, Sew Beachy, 

(more about the retreat later) 

and stayed with a friend that I used to work with

 (until she moved to California).  

Many years ago, I made a quilt for the U of M quilt raffle. 

 Proceeds went to in need families that were patients at the university hospital.  

One of my first big quilts was won by my friend.  

She called me up 6 months or so ago and told me that her quilt had been loved to death and 

would I consider making her a new quilt?  

I asked my two friends at work that I quilt with if they would consider helping.  

As it turned out one was in the hospital at the time we needed to get this done, but upon her release made a few blocks for the quilt.  

My other friend did most of the stars.  

I made some stars, the squares, put the top together and then bound it when we got it back. 

 I carried it on the plane when I flew out to Cali & was able to present it in person to our friend Ana.  

First of all let me say that her reaction was priceless!  

Anyone reading this that I have given an quilt to or if you receive one in the future, 

please take note that THIS is how you should respond to receiving a quilt from me, LOL.

This is how I presented it to her, all rolled up.

We used Tula Pink's Free Fall 108" wide for the back.

Reading the label

THIS, this is how everyone should react!  

Thanks, Ana you made my day!

It's a bit embarrassing but this is the well loved quilt

 (which for the record she would NOT let me throw away as she loves it still).  

It reminded me of my daughter's "si-si" 

(well loved blanket).

Here are a few photos of the entire quilt so you can see what it looks like.  

Fabric is Canyon by Kate Spain and the pattern is Sara's Star by Sweet Jane's Quilting & Design. (Just in case you need to make one too!)  

Note, we did make ours larger than the pattern.

Oh dear friend, you made me so happy to gift this to you!

Thank you again for hosting me during my stay, but don't expect a new quilt every time, LOL

I am linking this finish up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

More about Sew Beachy soon!

~XOP~