Sister Hood "Love"

"LOVE" Our sister hood group got together to celebrate Valentines Day on February 9th, a tradition for us for over 30 years, wow. We do have a lot of great memories.
Nancy on the left and Robin our host for this get together. Thank you Robin for hosting us at your beautiful home.
Sister Hood Group, Nancy, Judy, Robin, Lola and of course myself, whom was taking this photo.
The table was set with beautiful heart shaped plates and cups to match.
Our host Robin prepared this fresh raspberry tart, it was a delicious treat for us all. Love that pedestal plate, don't you?
Yummy! Complete with fresh whipping cream and a heart shaped dove chocolate.
Valentine plates covered in heart shape chocolates from Sees along with handmade cards made from Mary Engelbreit's daily calenders.
Beautiful, loving gifts received from my sisterhood group. All the memories I have, as I display over 30 years of sharing our talents and gifts from each other.

Quilt Retreat in The Country

I received a phone call from my friend Lola, asking me if I would like to attend a quilt retreat, I couldn't say yes fast enough. The group hosting this event were the Ladies of The Lake Quilt Guild, from Longview, Washington. First things first, I had to become a member, then I was on board. Our event was super bowl weekend, how perfect for me. The retreat was way out in the country towards Raymond, Washington at Falls Creek Retreat Center. The perfect setting to do nothing but sew to ones heart content. Lodging was great, food delicious, company superb, what more could a quilter ask for? I was about to embark on a weekend to remember.
My first square done, yahoo!!!!
Quilt squares done ready to be put together into strips, then those strips put together to form the center of the quilt.
With my blocks sewn together, I was ready to sew my strips on, almost there!
You can see here I had the most perfect work area to create in.
I accomplished my goal to finish this Log Cabin Quilt, now it was ready for the machine quilter.
My friend Lola and I pretty happy with our accomplishments this weekend, as you can see we had so much room to work with.
This was a view from upstairs, as you can see we had lots of room, perfect cutting tables, design walls and ironing stations.
Part of the retreat were some demonstrations done, Lola did a ten minute table runner, Debi here was showing us some tricks of the trade for appliqueing. I picked up some great tips, thank you Debi!
Cathy showing a new tool to turn ties inside out after sewing your strip, way to cool, I was at Jo Ann's the next day to buy one, that certainly will make ties so much easier. Yahoo!
One of our assignments was to bring 50 signature strips to share with our fellow quilters, to make a signature quilt from, for the memory of this event. How fun it was to meet some of these people.
This is one of the finished signature quilts that some one in the group finished, I think this was their quilt project for the quilt retreat.
This was a finished signature block with my name included, no this is not my square, another project for me to do one of these days. I love the heart center and of course the star, how about you?
Lola and Pam signing their signature strips for their contribution for everyone.
Everyone was given a piece of fabric to create a block with, here Pam and Cathy are hanging the quilt squares on the design board for all to see, later there would be a drawing for for groupings of 12, for some lucky people.
Our group shot here, there were 42 of us. All these women were so kind and sharing.
Having not brought enough for me to work on, I decided Sunday morning I would go for a hike, there is a falls on this property, with easy access to viewing it, so I was off and was not disappointed. It felt good to be out in nature, very refreshing.
Following the river bed, I knew I would find my way to Falls Creek.
While walking on the trail I came upon a surprise, an old hunters cabin, complete with a Monarch wood cook stove, old spring bed, side table with a wash basin, oh the memories that must have been made here!
This cabin was such a treat to go in and explore, left in tact from its last inhabitants.
Another hike took up a steep incline to a chapel, coming to a T in the road one way to the upper cross another to the lower cross, knowing full well I needed to go to the upper cross first, I made my accent; that was where the chapel was, heading back down the mountain I followed the signs to the lower cross, I have to say this was my favorite, nestled in the woods with wood benches to sit on and just reflect, was perfect for sharing my gratefulness for this past year.

Queen of Tarte Revisited

I write this post after the fact, but thinking what a great reminder, for those looking for something to do this weekend. The Queen of Tarte will be open this weekend for her monthly sale. Check out her blog to get more information. Cindy always comes up with some great ideas that you won't want to miss.
Loved this area, as I am alchemist myself in the art of aromatherapy.
These linens are just too hard to pass up. Just simply divine.
This area had so much to see, that I had to walk around and around to make sure I didn't miss anything.
This farm table was so awesome, I love that it has rollers on it, perfect for moving wherever you might need it.
This cup holder was to die for, I have been eyeing these for awhile, some day maybe?
A basket full of cloth tape measure, boy was I tempted.
Cindy had said we could go up the long stairs to her studio, what a treat that was. Don't you just love these stairs?
This chandelier my oh my! As I entered the this area I was in such ahh, it is hard to describe. I just wanted to stay and sit awhile.
A huge room transformed into a multi use area.

Class room space are one of the options for this area. How fun would that be. I know Cindy has some fun exciting ideas of what to do up here.
Just a few of the treasures I brought home, you will see in a later post what I did with these hearts. The heart tags were from Kmarie, she certainly knows how to work with the glitter, I used them for my Valentine decorating for my Valentine gathering with the Farm Girls.
I love this jug I bought, perfect for flower arrangements. The heart shaped cookies were simply delicious too!
In the meantime, I will just dream about Tarte Land as I am in Montana visiting my daughter and her family, so I will be awaiting for fellow blogger posts on this weekend's event. Have Fun!

Cousin's Sleepover

A post Christmas gathering of the cousins to celebrate the holidays on Jan 20th, was a weekend to remember. Our plan was to work with the gemstones and beads, clearing any dead energy in the house, I drummed the area, just like native Americans would clear the energy with sage, you can do the same thing with drumming. Reflecting back on the weekend, I know for myself my creativity was very bountiful, I contribute that to my energy was not stagnate anymore. Yahoo!

Donna, Kathy and I about to embark on our journey to Battle Ground. One might ask why all the group shots, it is our memories of where we have been.
Roger and our grandson Chants, would have their own sleepover, they went target shooting and then watched all night western movies in the "Hunt Trailer" while us women had the comforts of home. I did hear they were pretty cozy out there, with their new flat screen, heat and treats.
This sign says it all, spending time with family is so important, whether it is biological or not, we all need to do this. The girls wanted to check out a couple shops in Battle Ground, so we were off to Battle Grounds, Uncovered Ruby, the girls were not disappointed at all.
Some of my treasures I found at Uncovered Ruby in Battle Ground, Washington.
Kathy, Donna and I at" Battle Grounds" a coffee shop in old town Battle Ground, the setting an old church.
My first nonfat purchased chai in 10 months, oh so worth it!!!!!!

A perfect brisk cool afternoon to walk at Lewisville Park, just outside of Battle Ground, Washington.
Back at the house, I shared this wall hanging one of my clients gave me, some beautiful art work, do you see the cross? A light dinner, then these women were about ready to do some serious creating. I have a huge collection of gemstones and beads, Kathy and Donna brought some of their collection to share as well. We ended up staying up until 2:30 in morning, yes you read that right!!!! Very unusual for us three these days.
Kathy and Donna creating with the stones, Donna was making light catchers and some earrings and Kathy made earrings. Yes I finished off that bottle wine, I did share with Roger however, sending him at text message to the hunt trailer, he was right over to the back door to get his glass of wine, what was a girl to do, she certainly couldn't drink that all by herself, could she?
Kathy reading here the properties of the gemstones, I truly believe they have do healing work, God created them, so how can they not?
The finished product of my creative juices, creativity was definitely flowing. I sale some of these at my shop.