Welcome to the USA

Sadly, our vacation had to end.  After an early lunch in Richmond, we headed back to Seattle.  I had to take a few more photos of the fall foliage as we don't really have any in Southern California.

Can you identify this plant? 

 It is called Living Lantern or Chinese Lantern. The red lanterns are like paper in texture and there is a bright red fruit ot bulb inside. Makes you want to squeeze and pop it like those packaging bubbles.

Took a few more pictures while we were waiting to cross the border.

I wish the colors were more vibrant but it was very gray and we encountered very strong rain on the way back to Seattle.

We made it back to Seattle in good time so I squeezed in one last quilt store before going to the airport.  This time, we stopped at Gathering Fabric Quilt Shop in Woodinville.  There are a lot of wineries in Woodinville so this store carries a lot of wine themed fabrics.

Goodbye Pacific Northwest.  It's been fun.  Hopefully, I'll be back in another year or two.

Crossing the (Northern) Border

Day 8:  On the road again...to Vancouver, Canada!  First things first, gotta make a stop at my favorite quilt store in Washington, Keepsake Cottage Fabrics.  The store is located at Country Village in Bothell, Washington and has tons of Moda and Lecien fabrics, great magazines and patterns and just tons upon tons of quilt samples.  There are 5 rooms of yummy fabric to touch and check out.  I can spend hours at this store .

Check out the interior of this store.  They had quite a selection of Fig Tree fabrics in yardage and pre-cuts.  They also include some of the older collections so it is easy to mix and match.

Here is their selection of sale fabric and books.

And their staff is very friendly and helpful.  Speaking of staff, I am glad that Kay is working on the day of my visit.  I met Kay in Danville last year when she also attended Verna Mosquera's quilt retreat.  We were chitchatting and I asked her where she was from.  And when Kay said she was from Bothell, Washington, I exclaimed "Oh my God, have you been to Keepsake Cottage?  I love that store."  It so happens she works there.  Works there!  Holy cow.  How can she even take home a paycheck working at this store?

Anyhow, here I am with Kay.

Check out the sample behind us.  It will be their latest block of the month.  Isn't it gorgeous? 

Dad and I had tea at The Village Eatery and Tea Company before proceding on north bound.

Here's dad in their pumpkin patch.

Next stop is La Conner Quilt museum.  I have been to Skagit Valley before for the tulip festival.  But sadly, it is not as picturesque in the fall.  So, the skies were getting dark when we got to La Conner and the Gaches Mansion looks a bit scary.  In fact, there are having an event called Ghosts of Gaches Gala on October 29th.  Appropriate, don't you think?

Here are some photos of the interiors. 

And here's the spindle on the third floor.  I can just picture a ghost spinning here at night and the wheel just squeeking away.

I believe this is called a floor compass or floor compass medallion.  Notice how the wood flooring has a pineapple block pattern around the compass.

More about the quilt exhibit tomorrow.

Day 7:  Another beautiful, "sunshiny" day in Seattle.  After breakfast with my high school friend Joyce, dad and I took the ferry to Bainbridge Island.  First, we stopped at Poulsbo, a little Norwegian town.  The town had a couple of Scandinavian murals and also a very tempting bakery.

However, instead of baked goods, I gave in to the temptation of ice cream at Mora Iced Creamery.  They are a boutique ice cream shop with lots of unique and very delicious flavors.  It was definitely difficult to make a choice.  My favorites were the lemon tart and white chocolate. 

After our stroll around Poulsbo, we stopped at downtown Bainbriadge Island before taking the ferry back to Seattle.  I'm glad that Esther's Fabrics is still around.  They have moved to a new location but they still have a great selection of fabric.  Their selection is mostly modern.  Here is their sidewalk display of fat quarters enticing everyone to stop on in.

They also carry Marie Clair Idees magazine from France.  It is in French but the pictures are gorgeous.

After we got back to Seattle, dad and I spent some time around Pike Place market. Of course, we had to stop by the very first Starbucks Coffee shop. There were lots of tourists taking pictures.  I want to share some photos of the gorgeous produce, flowers and fish around the market.  It was close to 5:00 pm so the market was already winding down.

Can you identify this vegetable?

And check out this selection of mushrooms.

There is also a quilt store at the market called Undercover Quilts.  It is a small store but it is packed with lots of fabrics and patterns. 

Here are some of their unique quilts on display.

There are no patterns for these quilts as they were made by a local quilt artist.  Stunning!

Goodbye Portland, Hello Seattle

Day 5:  Dad and I started the day at the Saturday Market (even though we went on a Sunday and the market is in session both days).  I didn't see any fruit and vegetable vendors.  Mostly hippie stuff like tie dye shirts, incense, pottery, photography, some food booths and the like.

There were some handcrafted items but there were also some booths with odds and ends from China.

After the market, we drove to Cool Cottons.  I liked the store.  Actually, it is very similar to where I work part time.  They carry a lot of Japanese fabrics from Yuwa and Echino and they definitely have a "modern" fabric selection from Alexander Henry, Robert Kaufman, etc.  I could have done a lot of damage but I didn't want to just buy stash.  I have enough fabric (I can't believe I just said that) and want to be able to buy fabric towards a particular project.  Anyway, the store has a great selection and I was able to visit with the owner.  Interestingly, she doesn't offer any classes.  There are more and more sewing studios in the Portland area which offer classes and machine and sewing space rental but no fabric at their studio.  I visited one of them out of curiosity and the rental rate was $8.00 and hour to use one of their Berninas.  I think it's a bit steep and they weren't the friendliest so I won't mention their name in my blog.

Dad and I stuffed ourselves at Petite Provence.  Dad had a HUGE Monte Cristo sandwich and I had a Goat Cheese salad.

(Photo from the Internet)

After lunch, we headed off to Seattle. 

Here are some photos of our Sew Oregon shop hop yesterday.  Here's Mary Kay from The Pine Needle.  She was very helpful.

Here's the exterior of Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe. 

Here's a shot of the ceiling at The Wild Pear.  I think it would make a spectacular quilting pattern.

Here's the exterior of Greenbaum's Quilted Forest.

And finally, here are some pictures of some beautiful fall foliage. 

Day 6:  Dad and I took the ferry to Vashon Island.  I've never been to the island before but the Island Quilter was recently featured in Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Sampler magazine as one of the top 10 quilt stores.  It did not disappoint.  Here is the famous Kaffe Fassett wall featured in the magazine.  The Island Quilter has the newest Kaffe Fassett fabrics, as well as some of the retired designs.  They carry approximately 700 bolts of Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably and Philip Jacobs fabrics.  That doesn't even include the shot cottons.

Paul Robinson, one of the owners, regaled me with stories of Kaffe Fassett.  Kaffe visited the store twice and taught classes both last year and this year.  He taught a peicing class, a knitting class and also lectured on color.  Paul has his own private stash of retired and hard to find Kaffe fabrics.  He even sold a fat quarter on Ebay for $50.00!!!  There's even a sign on the door which states "In case of quilting emergency, please call xxx-xxx-xxxx".  I love that.

Here is Paul with my tiny but lovely fabric purchase.

The store is packed with tons of fabric.  Here's just a small section of their batik selection.

And they also carry yarn.  Trust me, I could have easily spent an entire day in the store and Paul was just so warm and informative but I wanted to visit the rest of the island.

I would DEFINITELY recommend taking the ferry ride over to visit the Island Quilter.  The fabric selction is fabulous and Paul is very warm and friendly.  He even recommended the restaurant across the street for lunch and gave us a 10% off coupon.  The Hardware Store had a great selection.  Dad really enjoyed his crab cakes.

After lunch, dad and I drove down to the light house.  As I parked the car and got my jacket, dad pointed down a trail to the light house.  I took his word for it and we went through a wooded area and muddy trail going downhill.  We were both a little apprehensive about our little hike but I kept telling dad to pretend like we were on the Amazing Race.

Finally, we reached the light house.  It was closed.

And as we walked around, we found a paved road leading us back to the parking lot.  It was an uphill climb but at least we didn't have to go through the woods again :)

After we got back to Seattle, we stopped at Carriage Country Quilt Shop.  I used to frequent this store when I used to take business trips to Seattle as it is close to the airport and they are open late.

They carry a lot of wool, embroidery thread (DMC, Cosmo, Week Dye Works) and primitive fabric and kits.  They are also very friendly and helpful.