I'm Back!!!

Market was great, we made lots of new friends and acquaintances! I did two schoolhouses and one was standing room only! I had so much fun and my Fabulous Folded Bags were the hit of the show again. My new pattern called Ladybugs and Kisses was also well received as were the newest scarecrow 12"x12" holiday quiltlets. 

 Sample Spree Madness!!!

 All the women love Randy the eye candy! 

 I stopped by Terri's booth to say hi, she just happened to have a little table so we visited!

Quilting Treasures display of my fabric line, I brought them a bunch of fun things! After all the hard work everyday we would have parties at night. One night we had Sample Spree, then one night we had a dinner party with Quilting Treasures and then Randy and I went to the Fons and Porter party! Fun, fun and then you break down in a few hours and its over. All those months of preparations and sleepless nights. Meetings and planning and designing. Phew! 

Then on to our vacation.....

 These first sketches were done in Crater Lake in Oregon, it was so beautiful the day we arrived and then quickly changed to a blizzard. Walking dogs in snow is challenging too! LOL Here is a sketch I did at the dinner table looking out over the hillside during the storm. The snow was blowing horizontally and I think it got down to 14. Side note: we are all from southern California, I even forgot my jacket! LOL

 The first day at Crater Lake was gorgeous, snow but clear and blue skies and cold

Lil Miss Cutie Patooti enjoyed it too!

This was a nice area with rocking chairs and blankets where we could sit and drink hot chocolate and look out at the lake. Notice the other people sitting in the rocking chairs. The next picture is the same rocking chairs less than 24 hours later! LOL

Then the storm hit! Still beautiful but freezing and horizontal snow. Glad we weren't driving in it! 

 Sitting at the dinner table, sketching the craziness outside. 

The next day we headed down the mountain, it was just softly snowing and the plows had cleared the 8" of snow we got the night before. The drive was wonderful, it looked like a winter wonderland! I will be painting more snow pictures now! As we reached the bottom of the mountain the forest changed dramatically and as we got warmer and the snow disappeared the forest floor was awash a greens and ferns and everywhere stood dogwoods. Blooming in the darkness of the forest, being a light in a dark place. Randy stopped to pick me one so I could sketch it as we drove. 

We did make it to Redwood Forest and we had a little house to ourselves. The house was handicap friendly but was not easy. The halls and rooms were so small we had to back Jenn up everywhere since there was nowhere to turn around. We were in the middle of the meadow surrounded by Redwood Forest. There was a resident Elk herd that made there way around the meadow and some had babies! We hiked through the Redwood Forest and thats where I turned my ankle. 

I would sit at the table in the kitchen and look out onto the meadow where everything was green! I hate painting greens, did I ever tell you that. Greens are beautiful to look at but a challenge to paint. When you have scenes that are all green its nice to add other colors even if they aren't really there. I added some blue but needed to add more yellows and reds which I was somehow missing. 

 From there we traveled south to Humboldt to visit our dear friends Pastor Dennis and Linda at Acadia Baptist Church. They are such amazing people and servants. They have found a wonderful home and new church family here in the redwoods and are so happy! They took us to Trinidad, a city along the sea coast for dinner, we had fish and chips!! I know right, meat and fried fish to boot, but it was yummy. Our stomachs are still recovering from our diet change while we were traveling. 

Cold but no snow! Windy! From there we traveled to my mom and brothers homes in Philo, close to Mendocino. Beautiful but no sketches since we just visited!

Then off to Yosemite! Our last leg of the trip and another dead spot for wifi and cell phones. It was incredibly beautiful and I loved it. I am always a bit melancholy when I leave my moms, this is such special time. I haven't been to Yosemite since I was a child and I won't share how long ago that was!  While in Yosemite we hiked, walked and just enjoyed the beauty of it all. The weather was perfect and I found that I just loved carrying a pencil and a sketchbook and sketching some of the elements along the trail. I added the hiking trails maps to this page later. 

Randy was our official photographer and as he stopped on the way out to grab some shots I would sketch, the snap a photo and finish later or in the car driving.

Yosemite was a nice mix of lots of different elements and textures. It was beautiful and thankfully not too crowded. We had arrived the day after Memorial and most everyone had gone home. We didn't fight for photos or wait in long lines, it was great. Well enough of my vacation. I am home and working on getting orders out, I am finishing up my final count on entries for the give away basket and doing laundry! Happy Trails! What have all of you been up too and have you been sketching or sewing???