Port Gamble General Store -- a real prize!

Vignette outside the General Store
-- definitely a happy place.

I had a delightful day in a delightful historic town yesterday when I went to Port Gamble with a friend to shop, eat and pick up a gift basket that I won!

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to wander into the Port Gamble General Store when they were having a Christmas open house. They were passing out door prize tickets, so I filled one out and deposited it and didn't give it a second thought.

THEN I got a call from one of the new owners, Juan, this week that I had won a gift basket full of goodies from the store! So I hustled back and was presented it by Greg and had a nice chat with him about Port Gamble, the store and the shell museum on the store's second floor.

The basket was crammed with all sorts of wonderful products from the store, from a heavenly smelling lotion bar to candles, chocolate, Christmas decorations, fun socks, journals and much more.

I love the "Resting Snack Face" bag!

The free shell museum features one of the largest displays of shells in the world and is truly amazing (and colorful). It started as a high school biology project and has continued to grow over the past 40 years with a collection representing 40 different countries (according to a google reference). The Sea and Shore Museum is its official name and it is a non-profit organization.

Equally amazing are the cakes at the Butcher and Baker restaurant in town. Decisions, decisions -- and the towering coconut cake won.

The giant cookies were also tempting. 

Thus fortified, we toddled into the Quilted Strait, where my mission was to buy some bright fabric to supplement my stash so I can make a baby quilt for a niece's third daughter.

Quilt on display at the Quilted Strait.

The main colors in the baby's room are purple and green, and I found the perfect fabric! I've also read that circles make people happy (I already knew that), so I hope these dots will make the baby smile. 

This big splashy flower print is my focus fabric, and I'll alternate it with bright pieced blocks, either in a basket or star design. 

The prints below were already in my stash, but one can never have too many happy colors.

There were even happy circles outside the quilt shop, with these soft pink berries.

After washing the fabric, I gathered these loose threads for a photo. It's going to be a happy quilt!

Have a colorful day

Baking, quilting and rain continue

I've found a couple of keepers and two not so sures while trying new quick bread recipes to put in the freezer for the holidays. The Orange Pound Cake from the last post is definitely a keeper, and so is this tender, sweet Cherry Almond Bread dusted with just a touch of powdered sugar:

Cherry Almond Bread.

I'm still debating whether the Chocolate Peppermint Bread is gift worthy. How could something with those two ingredients not be good? Well, the loaves are heavy, a little gummy and not very sweet. I don't know if there is something wrong with the recipe or my oven or my tastebuds, but I'll have to get some other opinions on it. On the bright side, the leftover chocolate glaze will make good ice cream topping.

Chocolate Peppermint Bread

And then there's the Eggnog Bread, with rum in the batter and Kahlua drizzled on top. I haven't tasted these yet but I wasn't crazy about the batter.

In the studio, I'm working on this stroller quilt for a friend's first grandchild. The colors are soft and gentle with a twinkle of yellow.

Outside, it's been raining all night and all day. I'm not even planning to walk to the top of the driveway for the newspaper in this rain, let alone go anywhere else.

And I'm still collecting quotes:

Have a colorful day

Christmas sewing and baking

"Starry Night," 52 by 25 inches

We've set the clocks back and it's dark and rainy, which means I'm already turning to the brightness of Christmas to pull me through. 

I just finished this wool and cotton quilt based on the Wendy Williams pattern "Flocks By Night." I modified it a little, using more trees and fewer houses and omitting the colorful lights on the trees. I also left out the flock of sheep.

I was planning to sew buttons on the trees for the lights, but after I did the swirling quilting I decided I liked the trees au natural.

Then I whipped out five little stockings for my daughter's five little bunnies, because I'm going to spend Christmas with them!!!

Here are the little cuties.

I can't wait to snuggle with them!

Then there is the holiday baking, which I always start early and put in the freezer. First up were orange pound cake mini loaves. Of course, I had to eat one to make sure they were gift worthy.

I'm also going to make cherry almond, chocolate peppermint, and eggnog loaves -- all new recipes for me. And maybe my standard pumpkin chocolate chip. I have to make a lot, because I tend to go into the freezer before Christmas and eat some before it's time to give them as gifts.

Outside, we still have very nice color on the trees.

 Have a colorful day

Loose threads

Time to catch up after not blogging for a week because (1) I was visiting my family in Los Angeles and (2) my phone/camera crashed.

I had a good visit with my parents, who are pushing 90 but still work out at the gym six days a week. And three of those days are 45-minute workouts on weights, plus my dad does 80 ab crunches! They put me to shame. I'm the one whose check engine light has come on, not them.

This is the sunset from their living room. I had dozens of beautiful sunset photos, but when my camera crashed I lost everything except for a few that I had already texted to my kids. Luckily, they were able to send them back to me. This is the only sunset photo that I have, and the photo below is from the cliffs near their home on Lunada Bay on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

This next one is at Hermosa Beach. I couldn't believe that it was November and sunny and 70 degrees with people flying kites, playing beach volleyball, swimming, sunning, and packing the outdoor cafes as if it were summer.

Back home we had sunshine but it was chilly. Today I walked with the Feet and Forks on the Cushman Trail, then we had lunch at Morso's, with this view of the harbor:

Normally we don't get dessert, but this time we all got mini mousses. Mmmmm.

I'm also working on my Starry Night quilt, doing free-motion quilting in swirls. It's almost done!

 Have a colorful day

Superb fall color this year!

It's not just my imagination that the fall leaves this year are the most colorful in recent memory. It's true! Local weather guru Cliff Mass did a blog post confirming this and detailing the conditions needed for spectacular fall color:
 puget-sound-autumn-colors-are-best-in.html

Here are some photos I took this past week just on one street in my neighborhood.

The colors are the same as in this quilt block that I did last year based on October colors:

Inside the house, the autumn colors continued with roasted sweet potatoes ...

... and a fall place setting. On the menu was a creamy tomato basil soup and sweet potato-cranberry-pecan salad with maple vinaigrette dressing. Yum!

Have a colorful day