Wild Olive

Don't you just love the beach? Especially the ocean beach! I love all the color and pattern I find there. I'm sure I'm not going to probably make a "sand dollar quilt", but the cool pattern on them makes me think about it! We went camping this last few days at Grayland State Park (in Grayland, WA). It was a little on the chilly side, but there were a few sun breaks. We got ourselves some pie irons at Cabelas on the way down, and had a couple of excellent meals! Fun to try something new!

Sue and I had a great time at Sisters. I really liked some of the quilts: Saw lots of One Block Wonders (all made out of a single fabric): Saw some fun quilts by Jane Sassman: Some interesting art quilts: Saw some quilts in a gallery: And collected a few treasures: You can see all of my pictures on Flickr . Exausting and hot, but fun and so inspiring, Sisters is always fun! Betsy

Can you believe I won something? On Shop Hop! This store is kind of funky, and in a bizarre place, but wow! This is kind of late, but didn't we have a cool view for the fourth of July? We were up on Renton Hill, and could see 4 different show: Elliott Bay, Lake Union, Renton, and Bellevue. And no traffic trying to get out! I love fireworks! I'm not sure how blowing up a bazillion dollars worth of fireworks honors the birth of our country, but it's fun!

Shop Hop was pretty fun this year! I definitely went about it with more gusto than usual. I went alone on Thursday, with Kathy on Friday, and with Loris and Lorraine on Saturday! 34 shops total, plus a few that weren't even on the "official" list. Whew! I did spend too much - as always. And added to my UFO list. Bummer. But fun though! This is the official Shop Hop fabric. Each shop gives you a pattern and fabric to make one block when you get your passport stamped. Ultimately you can make a quilt out of all the blocks you collect. I bought some extra fabric to go with, since I never seem to have enough to finish the blocks I collect: This is most of what I bought - a few kits, and some cute red gingham fabric to make a "picnic" quilt. These are some of the "toys" I bought - a larger Add-A-Quarter ruler for paper piecing, a shiny new Angler (mine was getting really torn up), and a few patterns (can't resist). And this is some fabric I bought for St...

I got about 3/4 of Shae's quilting done! Yeah!