Farmers Wife Sampler aka Call Me Crazy!!

There is nothing like getting home from a vacation 

and

hitting the ground running!!

Cleaning corrals

(should be cleaning my house but that will have to wait)

and 

Bales need to be hauled before the snow flies!!

I must have been delirious 

when Tracey from The Block Party Guild asked if I would do a

Farmer's Wife Sampler QAL with The Gnome Angel!!

(must be the FARMER in me)

I have done one before and found it quite doable...

I still have my Sedona Star scraps in a box so I decided to use them

Can never go wrong with Blues(Sk Skies) and Browns(Harvest colors)

The first block is Becky

(sorry.....not squared up yet)

I don't actually have the book yet 

and

 will have to wait to get ALL the instructions

Bonnie is the second block

I will try to keep up!!

Christa

Home Sweet Home

Isn't it crazy that you can be laying in bed in San Francisco in the morning...

Home in the afternoon?

Home as in Canada....

Calgary(where I was born so my first home)

It is sad that Calgary no longer has the Tower

 as

 the icon since it no longer stands out downtown!!

Our last shopping in San Fran was at Crate and Barrel.

I was in love with these streamers of fabric running from the 3 floors

All I could think of was what do they do with it when they are done???

Can you imagine the quilts this would make??

Look at the size of the selvages on these....

It was Marimekko from 2011

It was a full 2 inches and the fabric was just sewn on the edge and hung!!

I think I need to make this for my head board

LOVE it!!

This table was made with the cross bars of old telephone poles that the insulators sat on

I am proud to say that all I could afford at Britex totaled to 10.82$ 

That's the cheapest I have ever left a fabric store but I did get some cute stuff

(another post)

While in Calgary, Mom, Aunt Julie and I went to Creative Stitches...

At Spruce Meadows

My favorite booth was A Threaded Needle from Gibsons, BC

They are an online store carrying Japanese fabrics.

I find myself more and more drawn to them.

Like I need ANOTHER love?!?!

The Calgary Modern Quilters had a lot of quilts displayed

I still think it is a better show at the RBC Center as there was not space for classes in rooms

so it was tough to hear your teacher in your own class with all the noise.

Aunt Julie and I took a class called Snip, clip and rip.

You ended up with a piece from 6 other people

 and

 are supposed to take this home and make something

This was my batch...

We were kind of disappointed as we both have a lot of 'this' at home already!!

But we did get to spend some time together.

I hope you are busy making that little outhouse quilt, Aunt Julie!!

Send me some pics!!

With busy lives,

 it seems like we get together much as sisters 

so

 we tried to get some pictures together.

My sisters like to try to get the right pose looking the best you can.

No pose is 'better' in my world. 

It is, what it is!!

 After about 15 minutes, 

Mom's expression said it all!!

Mom(Heather),Larissa, Tannis and Christa 

"My daughters are crazy"

Oh well....It was a fun week!!

Back to the grindstone...

Christa 

Ps.

Isn't this the coolest pic of Muir Woods?

My niece, Michaela took it...such an artist's eye!!

Muir Woods

It was another good day across the Golden Gate Bridge....

To Sausalito with a stop a a shop called Soxalito...

Where there was ever kind of socks you could ever dream up 

Such an appropriate play on words

To catch as cool bus made into a convertible so we could go to the Muir Woods

There was some wind in our hair!!!

This tree was born in 909 AD and was dated to 2007 with dates through out its life pointed out 

Isn't that so cool how they have a time line in the rings 

I have had Yosemite on my list and this was just a small taste of what it will be like I am sure 

These redwoods were unbelievable 

The age and massive size can't be captured in a photo 

It was such a beautiful forest 

We are so lucky that it has been protected from further foresting

The creek was not babbling as California is still in a drought 

Then it was back to San Fransisco   The main cable on this bridge is 28000 cables wrapped together and is 1 metre thick!!!

It is now 80 years old!! Incredible architecture and engineering!!

We walked the Barbary Coast Trail through the city over to North beach to Tony's pizza. The wait was 1 1/2 hours but was soooooo worth it!!!!

This catholic  church in little Italy was beautiful all lit up  you won't find an address on this church as ironically it is 666 on that street 

 We flagged a cable car and rode back to Union Square

It was fun hanging off the bar through all the traffic and hills

I think we can safely say 'I've been everywhere,man!!'

I day left to explore....

Christa

Alcatraz prison

The sunset was gorgeous behind Golden Gate as we ferried to Alcatraz for a night tour

To think they have made a national park of such a historic prison 

It was for sale in the 60's for 2 million but there were no takers!!

It was quite the steep hike up to the main prison 

It has a light house since it is a rock in a dark ocean at night 

There was no fresh water on this island 

The families of the guards lived on the rock and the kids went to school in San Fransisco every day 

It was a twelve minute  boat ride 

These cells were very small

Around 250 of the hardest criminals were housed here like Al Capone and  frank Lee Morris who spooned his way out of prison through the vent. 

The audio tour was recorded in some of the guards and prisoners actual voices 

There was visitations very rarely 

There were a few escape attempts but all were caught except 3 who tunnelled through the vent system(Frank Morris)

They were never found or heard of again. 

It's said they went to South America but no one knows if they even survived the water 

It is said to be haunted but we didn't stick around to prove that point 

The skyline of San Fransisco was beautiful on the way back 

Pictures don't do it justice 

Alcatraz started as a military prison before it was turned into a federal penitentiary. 

It closed in 1963 when it became too costly to run and other facilities were erected 

I think I will continue to walk the line...

Christa