shhdesigns

Valentine's Suprise!

2012-02-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

I recently participated in an on line hoochy mama heart swap with Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group. I made 12 hearts and sent them to our swap hostess Mari and today mine arrived in the mail!

Linda Ahn made this first heart.

Lynda McCoy made this one.

Kim Schory made this polka dot stripped one.

Nancy McCain made the checker board one.

Rebecca Morrison did this one.

Leanne Clare mixed hearts and stripes.

I don't know who made this checker board valentine.

Another unknown pink valentine.

Lacey heart by another unknown valentine.

Checker boards and stripes by Mari Linfesty our swap hostess.

This is one of mine that I sent off.

An asymmetric beauty by Deb Green. Now to get all these beauties together into a top and quilt it! Thanks to Mary Lou, I hope you enjoy your hearts we sent you!

Celebrate!

2012-02-09T17:00:00.001-08:00

Today is my Birthday!

Canadian Ground hogs predict an early Spring!

2012-02-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

February 2nd was Ground hog day and our Canadian Ground hogs, Wiarton Willie in Ontario and Nova Scotia's Scubenacadie Sam predict an early Spring. As you can see here in New Westminster along the Fraser River Spring is showing it's colourful designs.

The yellow Witch Hazel is looking bright and cheery.

The orange Witch Hazel always looks like orange Spider Crabs to me.

A few Snowdrops are out in full bloom

Winter Cabbage is looking very full alongside some Kale.

Rhododendrons are starting to bloom and it is only February 5th!

These blossoms are on the sunny side of the plant, but get a lot of wind from along the river.

The pink Winter Flowering Forsythia is putting forth a lot of lovely blossoms.

I like the background of this shot.

The blossoms are so tiny and delicate and come out well before any leaves.

They look like little trumpets waiting to be blown by the fairies.

You can see the buds forming for the leaves on the far branch.

Yesterday I went up to West 10th to the Cloth Shop for my Saturday Sisters Block of the month. This garden shop has such a whimsical sign.

The Black Goat shop sells cashmere, I love their logo.

May Spring come to your corner of the world soon, in the meantime I hope you enjoy mine!

Heart Swap

2012-01-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

I belong to the Mary Lou Weidman on line group and we are doing a Heart Swap for February. I'm sending off twelve of these hearts and will get eleven different hearts back, plus one of my own.

It was fun sewing the stratas together and then finding a fun fabric for the other side of the hearts.

You may be able to see that I have a white background with a very small red polka dot print on it. I thing they will look great all put together.
Thanks Mary Lou for getting us all together for this swap. I'm looking forward to the bee and bug swap up next.

Snowy Surprise.

2012-01-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I woke up to grey skies and a skiff of snow in the courtyard.

Almost 24 hours later and there is a winter wonderland outside my condo. This arrived overnight and was a delightful surprise.

Looking at the waterfall pool in our courtyard.

Snow on the palm trees.

What a lovely lacy effect on the trees.

Looking over the gate into the courtyard.

Walking east along the Fraser River.

More lacy trees.

The yellow witch hazel covered in snow.

The orange witch hazel buried in snow.

This looks like a spider emerging from the snow.

The curly willow making some interesting designs...maybe inspiration for some stippling designs.

Beauty berry covered in snow.

Melting snow on the berries.

Snow melting in the sunshine.

Pincushion daisies showing their sunny side.

Cyclamen weathering the snow.

Witch hazel emerging from the melting snow.

Walking west along the boardwalk. They say we'll get some more snow tonight or tomorrow.

Winter flowering forsythia.

Love the contrast against the sky.

Bravely trying to bloom.

Slowly melting in the sunny skies.

Roses still putting forth blooms.

Winter white!

Enjoy...my word for 2012!

2012-01-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

I've always enjoyed writing journals when I travel and find that I find them hard to resist when I see interesting ones when I go shopping. Here are a few of the ones I've recently found to be very enjoyable.

Some of these will be used for workshops to take notes, or draw sketches in.

Some of them just make me smile when I look at them.

Others are pretty and have lovely words.

Some inspire you to learn something new like painting.

Pink is a favourite colour and the embossed designs are so whimsical and enjoyable.

Finally these lovely designs to inspire and tease you to try something different. Enjoy! What inspires you to choose a word for 2012?

The sun sets on 2011...

2011-12-31T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some final photos from the last day of the year. We had sun, hail, rain today all in a very short period of time.

The witch hazel is starting to show some of it's winter colour.

They looked so delicate in the afternoon sun.

Raindrops left over from the showers a few hours earlier clung to the beauty berries.

They look so delicate and fragile.

My winter wreath welcomes you to my home.

One of the resident ducks just hanging out on the quay.

What is that sea gull trying to do? It is trying to steal the loon's dinner.

He or she dove below the water to escape the gull and surfaced with this tasty bite.

Winter flowering forsythia is starting to bloom.

These bare branches put out a pretty delicate pink blossom.

In my courtyard the roses are still putting out blooms. White ones.

Some pink.

A red.

Yet another red.

As the sun sets on 2011 my wish is that you have a safe and healthy Happy New Year.

See you in 2012!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

This tree is made with ornament blocks from an online swap with friends in Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group. This morning I got my top finished. I'm thinking I might put som snow on the bottom but not quite sure yet. This is one of many swaps that I've done with Mary Lou's group and would recommend coming and joining the fun.

May you enjoy this day with family and friends and share a lovely dinner, Merry Christmas everyone!

Starting to look like Christmas...maybe!

2011-12-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

I went up to West 10th last weekend and found these delightful Grinch Christmas trees outside a nursery. I was tempted to bring one home but didn't.

They could make quite a fun decorating theme...I just might have to go back and get one.

The next day I spotted these cyclamens flowering along the quay. There were a couple of plants putting out these delicate blooms.

They almost look like butterflies don't you think?

The fall crocuses were making one last bloom before winter arrives.

Rain, Snow, Sunshine on the West Coast

2011-11-19T21:24:00.001-08:00

Last weekend was a rainy one but left some interesting patterns on the leaves.

The previous day I wanted to take a photo of the beauty bush in Rita's garden, but my camera battery was dead. Love the contrast of the purple and yellow.

Yesterday I brought my camera to work and took a picture of this Arbutus tree located just outside of the admitting department.

I took this picture just before the sun rose looking out the window of my office. Wet snow was coming down.

At days' end the snow was melting, but an icy rain had also come down and covered some of the bushes and cars.

Today was sunny and cold, the maple tree tucked by the entrance of this condo has some beautiful yellow, oranges and reds.

The beauty berry in the sunshine.

A closer view, love the contrast of the yellow leaves behind.

Sun dappling through the leaves.

A view east along the Fraser River looking at the sky train crossing the bridge, behind is the Pattulo bridge and Golden Eagles mountains beyond.

A couple of green leaves still hanging on.

A large log boom floating up the river to be delivered to a mill.

A Japanese Maple tree in all it's colourful glory.

The red of the witch hazel tree with a few green leaves still enjoying the sun.

Buds starting to form on the witch hazel tree.

Some more interesting buds.

Life on the west coast, Palm Trees and skeleton trees side by side!

Roses still blooming in November.

The crow checking me out while I take it's picture and wondering if I'll forget my food package.

The view into my condo, almost no leaves on the cherry trees, but a few still on the maple trees.

My ornaments ready to be shipped off for the ornament exchange with Mary Lou Weidman's online group. Can't wait to see which ones I get back.

Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop and changing colours of Autum.

2011-11-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took my mom for a field trip across the border to Washington State. One of my favourite places to visit is Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop in Smokey Point. The stained glass window is a copy of Carrol's logo she uses for the shop. I've taken a great workshop with Mary Lou Weidman there and it is a "have to go to" when I'm in the area.

Carrol has her place loaded with wonderful fabrics and samples.

She carries a bit of felted wool but mainly stocks cottons, batiks and lots of books and patterns.

Love the Buggy Barn turkey quilt hanging in the classroom.

Carrol is also a barrista and her coffees are very good.

She is constantly working on samples and having fun with her customers. Check out her blog at http://auntmarysquiltshop.blogspot.com/

Back at home I decided to show you some colour progression along the quay. Here are the trees along the river in September.

Early October you start to see a bit of yellow on the trees.

October 13th a bit more red.

Today all the leaves are gone...

October 7th the maple tree outside my window is green with a bit of yellow on the edges.

October 23 look at the red coming out!

October 27th even more brilliant.

October 30th the ornamental cherry trees in our courtyard still have a lot of green.

Today there are less leaves and more red under cloudy skies.

Different textures and colours along the quay.

Witch hazel showing off it's red leaves.

Oak leaf hydrangea another tone of red.

Yellow leafed witch hazel.

A crow having a mid morning snack

Yellows, oranges and reds.

A closer view of the reds...

...and of the yellows.

Autumn colours in all it's glory for a little while longer.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday I went to the local garden shop and found this delightful lady hanging about waiting for someone to take her home. I think she looks lovely hanging in front of my grandparent's mirror over my fireplace.

Also on display was this hybrid VW Bug/Spider looking rather creepy.

I decided to take some pictures of some of my Autumn quilts. This is a Mary Lou Weidman chicken quilt that was featured in a magazine several years ago.

This table runner pattern I got on a trip to New England, it also has an apple design as an alternate.

I took the above basic table runner and merged it with a turkey pattern from another pattern.

I found this Holiday Baskets pattern by Cheri Saffiote several years ago and had lots of fun deciding on fabrics. I ran out of my pumpkin fabric and substituted a polka dot one for fun.

Driving down to California I found this pattern Ghoulish Fantasy by Pine Tree Lodge. I made a few creative modifications to make it my own. I call mine the Three Amigos!

In the lower corner I stitched a spiders web and added this fun pin.

My moon is different and I added this witch checking it out.

Boo says the ghost.

I added faceted eyes to my black cats. This guy has a 3 D tail and the tops of the fence are made with prairie points.

This next quilt was made in a workshop with Jane Sassaman, so I call it October Weekend with Jane.

My friend Ethel designed this fun group of pumpkins for a guild workshop. I decided to have 4 different borders. Check out the candy buttons the witches are dancing among.

The names escapes me of this pattern's designer, but I love the sentiment.

I think this is from Nancy Halvorsen's Art to Heart collection.

Saturday night the sky was looking particularly Halloweenish.

Milady bits you all a safe and Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat!

An evening with the ladies of Gees Bend!

2011-10-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Our hostess Maureen with China Pettway, Revil Mosely and Louisiana Bendolph in The Creative Edge after an enjoyable evening of stories and show and tell.

The ladies sharing a smile as Matt Arnett tells how he and his father "discovered" the community of Gees Bend and the wonderful quilts the ladies made to keep their families warm.

Louisiana sharing stories of learning how to quilt after playing under quilts her mother and grandmother used to quilt and threading needles for them. Revil reading an article for the Canadian Quilters' Association of their trip to Halifax some years earlier. Matt listening along intently.

Revil nodding and agreeing with the ladies.

China interacting with one of the ladies as we broke for coffee and desserts.

Louisiana chatting with some other ladies.

Back to the business of quilting, show and tell by those of us who came to hear them speak.

Ethel's crazy quilt patch of pumpkins from upholstery velvets, recycled scarves and wool

Admiring another audience's 9 patch pizazz, a combination of both machine and hand quilting.

Another lovely show and tell from the group with admiring glances from the ladies.

They kindly signed Maureen's book, the Quilts of Gees Bend.

Closing out the evening with Revil and China leading us in a rendition of Amazing Grace. It truly was, I had the opportunity to see their first exhibit in Houston in November 2002. Now an evening with them, how amazing.

China and Revil admiring the fabrics in Maureen's shop.

The ladies are here until their flight leaves early on Wednesday morning, what a joy to have spent time with them and hear their stories. Thanks to Maureen and the American Consulate for organizing this so quickly [they found out the ladies were here in Vancouver on Friday!]

Eileen Neill workshop

2011-10-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Last week at our regular Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild meeting Eileen Neill was our speaker. She came back yesterday to do a stamping workshop with us. She started by showing us how to cut our own stamps and by using a fabric glue and embossing powder to get some interesting pieces. We then embellished with Lumiere or Setacolour paints. This was the piece she demonstrated on in the class.

Eileen is also known as the bead lady and loves to make these mini quilts for you to work upon to hone your beading skills. These pieces are quite small as you can see by the little blue scrunchy on the table.

Here are samples of some of her other pieces, they are about 15" square.

This one she used commercial stamps and then beaded.

She also does some interesting work with tyvek and other plastic based materials.

Then we were off and carving. Some gals chose to use original designs.

Here is another original.

This one is an adaptation of her pages that she allowed us to use.

Another original design..can you tell it is almost Halloween?

One of her shared designs. A lot of people chose this one, it rather looks like the Dogwood flower, our provincial flower.

This was my first attempt along with a test stamp to see if I wanted to remove more background. I decided to enlarge some of the lines to create a bit more detail.

Second attempt, I drew right onto the stamping surface. Remember everything will be reversed.

A design chosen from another reference book she offered.

By inking the back you can test stamp and decide if you want to carve out more negative space. The white lines will be fabric and the black will be covered with embossing powder.

Hard to see but a line drawing of a bare tree.

Getting fancy with circles Mary!

Doreen trying a complex Japanese inspired design.

Eileen adding some heat to her piece. It changes the look of the piece.

Below she is using a paint stripper for added power and heat.

Embellishing with Lumiere paints.

Setting aside to dry for stitching.

Here is my piece dusted with the embossing powders.

After the heat the look changes, less pink and more silver comes through.

Embellishing with different paints.

Trialing some commercial stamps.

Liz getting the heat on her piece.

Ready for the heat gun.

Mary adding some paint to her piece.

The bare tree stamp along with some curving lines.

Watching Eileen how she enhances the design with machine quilting.

Here is one of Wilma's pieces.

After some paint drying it will be ready to quilt.

Susan with a different layout and original design.

Wilma was very busy during the workshop.

I started to quilt my piece and the thread kept on breaking. I guess that means it will be finished another day.

Thanks Eileen for a wonderful creative day.

Mary Lou Weidman Out of the Box Fish Swap

2011-10-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

I started with this group of fabrics for my most recent on-line swap with Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group. The fish you see below is the result of some fun sewing. In total I made 24 fish to send away to swap. 36 fish were swapped in 3 groups, I participated in 2 of them. We all used the same batik for background for our fish.

This colourful floral fish was made by Linda Ahn.

Next up was made by Maree in N.C.

Edie Faile treated us to this lovely duo.

Wendy Price put this long tailed beauty for us.

Janice Larson is the maker of this rick rack guy.

Liz Linebrink got inventive with prairie points.

Pam Toombs gave this lovely green wide eyed wonder.

Dawn Tonioli got inventive with these fish lips, I met Dawn at Mary Lou's retreat in Post Falls in June.

Molly Evangelisti got inventive with polka do lips on this dotty soul. Thanks for the scissor fob!

Mari Linfesty who acted as our swap hostess sent along this starry wonder.

Mary Lou Weidman sent two options for eyes for this striped guy with the rickrack grin.

In the second group of fish I got this flirty long eye-lashed fish from Nancy McCain.

Beth McDonald combined checkerboard with prairie point fins and a yo-yo eye.

Watch out for the long tail on this goldfish by Robin Medley.

Love the blue and yellow in this fish. Once again, I don't know who made this guy.

You've got to love the stripes and polka dots that this fish is sporting. Once again, not sure who made this one.

Love the three D ruffle on the dorsal fin. One more that I don't know who made but

Karen Schmucker had fun with polka dots.

Dots and Batiks show off this beauty, love the eye fabric.

I surely don't want this guy to nibble on my toes, those lips look sharp. The unnamed fish were made by the following, Liz Titus, Reena Kaplowitz, Karen McCaffrey, Michalee Sloan and Sandi Fisher. If they let me know which one was theirs I will identify them later.

Rebecka Schaffer made this boy/girl duo to share with us.

Mary Lou Sanders went all out with this toothy guy chasing after some small appetizers!

This was one of the two fish that I had fun designing. I used a Kaffe Fasset and got this incredible tail.

Another one of mine with two more Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

To keep my two lonely fish company while the rest of the school swam away I made this turtle. Now to figure out how to put them all together in a wonderful quilt.

Many Thanks to Mary Lou Weidman for coming up with a couple of basic designs for us to use our imagination and develop our own fish. Come and join us in the fun at her yahoo group!

Canadian Christmas Blog Hop!

2011-10-11T12:20:00.001-07:00

Canadian Christmas 2011 Blog Hop

Date of Post	Designer	Blog
October 16	Dougal Walker	http://frecklescollection.com/blog/
October 23	Daphne Grieg	www.daphnegreig.blogspot.com
October 30	Benita Skinner	http://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.com/
November 6	Kathy K Wylie	http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/
November 13	Maria Hrabovsky	http://mariamichaelsdesigns.wordpress.com/
November 20	Jean Boyd	http://jeanboyduppercanadaquiltworks.blogspot.com
November 27	Susan Purney-Mark	http://www.susanpm.blogspot.com/
December 4	Sue Jensen	www.quiltedescapes.blogspot.com
December 11	Cheryl Wall	http://www.cheryl-countryquilts.blogspot.com/

Starting Sunday October 16th check out some Canadian designers as they share a pattern and a recipe.

First off is Dougal Walker at http://frecklescollection.com/blog/

Long weekend in October

2011-10-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

Friday night I came home to a pleasant surprise. "They" had predicted a wet rainy day and I enjoyed the sun setting on the river instead.

This morning I went for a walk and despite the rain overnight and lots of clouds, the sun decided to play peek a boo with the clouds. The droplets of rain on this leaf looks so inspiring.

The oak leaf hydrangea is turning colours.

This looks like it should be hanging off a Christmas tree.

A closer view of the interesting visual texture of the petals.

Looking west along the Fraser River and starting to see the leaves turn.

Fuchsia as a autumn colour.

I like the blossoms of this flowering tree.

Pink and orange zinnias for some interesting colour.

Variegated geranium leaves contrasting against the feathery silver dusty miller.

More droplets of rain,

Droplets of rain with some great visual curves.

Love the small leaf all twisted waiting to unfurl like it's big brother. The asymmetry in the leaf is inspirational.

Recurring pattern and design.

Droplets looking like crystal accents on the leaf.

Orange and yellow, the colours of Autumn.

Some last blooms of the hydrangea plants.

A blue flower amongst the pinks!

More yellow and orange.

I've never noticed the berries on this plant before, check out the eggplant coloured ones in the background.

Droplets and leaves caught in the papyrus.

A double Rose of Sharon still blooming brightly.

My first Primitive Gatherings Block of the Week finished...due to a postal strike I got a late start.

Block number two is also done and I'm started on block three.

Have a safe and happy long weekend everyone.

Happy 10th Anniversary Angelina's

2011-09-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite places to go and eat breakfast is celebrating it's 10th anniversary!

Angelina's is only open for breakfast and lunch Tuesday to Sunday on the New Westminster Quay, if you are ever in the neighbourhood please drop by and enjoy their company and a meal.

Angelina on the left and her husband Heinrich are the owners and Joanne is one of their regular helpers. For the past week they have had some specials on that if you purchased from that menu they donated $3.00 towards the Union Gospel Mission. They also have an raffle of one of Heinrich's photographs. The lucky winner will be chosen today...unfortunately I didn't get in earlier to hear about this wonderful fund raiser. But they also do some other donations throughout the year.

Just next door is the renovated River Market. They reopened last year and slowly are getting new tenants to join Donald's Market. I like the sign on the side of the market.

She slipped softly from the summer stream as seamless as a summer dream.

This is the upper entrance where the Circus school is located.

This is the graphic on the wall of the ladies restroom.

Here is the men's

Outside walking along the boardwalk a seagull lost a feather.

The beauty berries are turning from yellow to mauve.

Rita's Rose of Sharon is in full bloom.

Echinacea showing off.

The rose named after New Westminster, the Royal City Rose.

Another bloom of the Royal City Rose.

Some strawberries still looking lovely

Straw flowers starting to unfold.

Morning glory and another colourful climber.

The Rhododendrons are turning some of their leaves.

A hint of yellow and red on some of the larger trees.

Zinnias spilling over their beds.

Autumn crocuses bending with the sun and wind.

A bit of red on their split leaf Japanese Maple tree.

Rubeckia or black eye Susans with the oak leaf hydrangea

I love the veining on this leaf.

This coleus looks as if a fairy painted it with gold.

This chenille plant is going to seed.

Sunflower heads heavy with seeds.

Some more sunflowers seed heads.

An Angel's trumpet flower.

More zinnias just full of colour.

The colour of Autumn are starting to put on a lovely show.

Cinnia Block of the Month

2011-09-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last year The Cloth Shop a local quilt shop offered a Block of the Month called Cinnia. The idea was to fuse and either satin stitch or machine button hole the blocks. All we knew was that it was going to be a garden of flowers in different sizes done in batiks. They had the firs sunflower block on display. I decided to sign up.

Shortly after receiving my first block I broke a bone in my left foot and could not easily access my sewing machine so I decided to do traditional freezer paper applique by hand instead.

The echinacea blocks are some of my favourite.

This whimsical flower brought in some more pink/wine tones.

Lots of sunflowers, each month one of the fabrics from the previous block was brought forward into the new month,

Can't you just see the bees buzzing around this garden?

The largest block was 12" square. The largest rectangle was 9" x 14".

How are we going to get all these blocks together?

More sunflower blocks, but more of an aster this time.

The final block!

Here is my top before the borders.

The top with borders, my friend Ethel reversed the triangles and has already machine quilted hers.

I'm going to hand quilt my piece over the winter and have it ready for next autumn. It is bound with a green batik.

Quilts, Flowers and Bugs

2011-08-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived after a very wet Spring here on the west coast. The colours are just exploding everywhere you look. This daisy almost looks hand painted.

The sprinklers had just turned off and some of the blossoms still held droplets of water sparkling in the sun.

The contrast of the light mauve against the darker pink/red and green just gives light to the picture.

It is hard to see, but there is a lady bug on the 12 o'clock petal. It is close to the centre of the sunflower.

What lovely shades of green, the droplets on the far leaf looks like someone dropped them there for effect.

A yellow/red lady buy enjoying a meal.

A more traditional red lady bug a bit farther down the walk.

A quilt challenge! The Needle and I in Burnaby set out a challenge; there were two brown fabrics that were to be used and your quilt had to have 200 2.5" squares in it. Here are the results.

She sold 28 packages and got 23 back. A friend ran out of time so there were almost 24!

The sizes and ideas were great.

I love how this one has folded squares and then curves to change things up, The brown swirly fabric was one of the challenge fabrics.

More quilts.

The lower level.

Even more.

Lots of shades of brown.

I like the sailing ship with the squares on point. I love how she gave the impression of a sunset.

I like the asymmetry of this piece. The centre "panel" is a paper napkin that has been treated with a medium to make it more like fabric! I also love the applique she put on the piece.

If you are in the Vancouver area, drop by and cast a vote for your favourite 3 pieces! Good luck to all!

The difference a week can make!

2011-07-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived this weekend just in time for Fraser fest. Yesterday the bees were busy with all the sunshine and warm weather.

A gentleman fishing along the Fraser.

Our newly painted condo.

Some very busy bees in amongst the Shasta Daisies.

Today is the working boat parade. I heard the horn of one of the boats and caught this picture off my balcony and then went down to the river.

They like coming up close and playing with the spectators.

The small turquoise tug is flying a jolly roger and the paddle wheeler is taking folks out for a scenic trip.

Another jolly roger, usually just one boat flies the pirate's flag.

I wonder who is getting the wettest?

A test of strength from two equal tugs.

A view of the Pattulo bridge in the distance and the skytrain bridge for rapid transit in the foreground. I caught a bit of the Samson VI paddle wheeler at the left.

Still at it, who will give up?

Glad to have the sun shining and warmer weather finally upon us.

Summer in a westcoast rainforest

2011-07-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went for a walk in the rain...the question is what month is it? July or November? Yes it was July 16th but the rain was more typical of our November rainfalls.

The Fraser River has been running very high due to the heavy snow pack we had last winter.

Tugs have had a challenging time pulling barges up the river...they wiped out the swing span that is 100 years old across this stretch. It has taken time to clear the barge, it's load and not take the span away for repair. The trains have been silent for quite a stretch.

But the succulents are enjoying the wetter cooler weather.

Their flowers are almost neon in colour and so delicate.

The fine hairs help hold the droplets.

I love the colour of this flowering tree.

This peony is a bit worse for wear, it's outer petals have fallen revealing a feathery centre.

The marigolds are enjoying the wet days.

What a lovely contrast of colours.

Here's hoping to some warmer, summer weather soon!

Update on Debbie's Wool Crazy Pincushion

2011-07-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hi, remember the friends that did the wool crazy round robin with me last fall? Well Debbie has finished off the piece that you last saw below.

She decided to remove some of the buttons that she had originally on her piece and add some wool work. She then made it into a very large pincushion that she stuffed with fiber fill and then around the outside crushed walnut shells to make it not too heavy.

Here is a closer look at her section.

Ethel did the witch on the broomstick.

Sandi did the witch's boot with candy corn, crow and spider.

I added the skeleton tree, black cat along with the crescent moon pumpkin. It is a lovely piece that I'm sure she will enjoy for many years to come.

Nice to see the finished project Debbie!

Longest day of the year, first day of Summer

2011-06-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

I took this photo in Moses Lake Washington on Saturday, I think it says it all. Enjoy the fun times this summer!

Mary Lou Weidman retreat days 4 and 5

2011-06-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

At the end of day four Sandy from Davis California had almost finished all her hoochy mama blocks for her frame. She is using 1930's fabrics to honour her grandmother's memory. She was a traditional piecer and Sandy likes to try things "Out of the Box.

Sandy from Bozeman Wyoming is working on finishing her blocks after approximating how big her centre block will be.

Lynette has a great start her frame. Notice how she used her flying geese to make a flower stem!

Dawn from California has a wonderful whimsical piece happening!

Lissa has all her blocks ready to sew together.

Sue from Idaho is having fun making hoochy corn, Idaho potatoes and hoochy mama blocks.

Nancy from Newport Oregon has turned her flying geese into a forest!

Dawn from California, what a lovely lady to meet, she is part of Mary Lou's yahoo group I belong with and participated in the bird swap.

Sue from Idaho make some lovely glass beads, sorry I forgot to take a picture.

Sandy from Davis, California another member of our yahoo group and bird swap.

Wendy has been a close friend of Sandy's for almost 30 years.

Heather owns the Charm Shack in Oregon and Val teaches for her and they were both at the retreat last year.

Lynette from Redding California owns a new shop called Wild Iris. Doesn't she have a great smile?

Our friend teacher and inspiration Mary Lou Weidman with a bowl of cherries!

Wendy was our amazing chef and also offered words of encouragement and suggestion when we were stumped for ideas.

Our merry group under the rainy skies of Post Falls with tiaras and smiles saying good-bye to Nancy in the white jacket who had to leave us early.

After sketching my idea and getting a few suggestions from Mary Lou I got it enlarged and looked to see how it would work with my blocks. Now to get everything to fit together and decide on the centre and borders.

Sandy got her top together and started to work on her story sketch.

Val started working on a second story quilt depicting her empty nest.

Aija's fabric choices are coming along nicely. Notice the sailing ship she has added under the palm.

Every day Mary Lou gathers us together and sparks some ideas and creativity. Here she presented us with three drawings. We started with the lady in the centre then the rabbit and then the cowgirl. Our goals were cut out the images without drawing them first.

Here are our efforts. Interesting to see what we accomplished!

A bit closer looked at the rabbits. Some have a few interesting additions to design!

And finally the cowgirls. Not too bad!

This is Val's first story quilt of when she became engaged. Under the drawing was a much smaller version that she has already appliqued. She is going to redo the piece with the larger image.

Aija\s piece with a new design detail, the sailing ship has become a cruise ship!

Dawn's master pattern for reference for her applique.

Dawn's needle turned applique is coming along nicely. Love the colours in the hat.

Sandy from Davis is going to applique the birds to her background and then add some details to bring them all together.

My top is together awaiting some applique.

Sandy from Wyoming standing beside her top ready for applique.

Lynnette has a big question mark as to what her story will be. Love the inner border.

Oops! Aija decided to change the colour of her palm leaves. Thank goodness for her fellow quilters for some new fabric choices.

Dawn's progress by day's end. Well done! Ready to fly back to California.

Sandy's son holding the WCU banner from the Duomo in Florence. She is below with her scarf blowing in the wind. Later her husband was added holding the camera and taking the picture from an adjacent bell tower.

Lissa standing beside her self portrait

Wendy is piecing the blocks and then her friend Sandy will do the applique in the centre to gift a friend of theirs. Sounds like it will be a fun piece.

Sue standing with her blocks, love the striped evergreen she designed. They will frame a story about her family and their home.

Three Sandi/Sandys and a Mary Lou!

Sorry to say that's the end, time for a road trip home. Now to prep the applique and start stitching.

Thanks to everyone that made this a lovely retreat, to everyone for all our fun fairy gifts. Laurie thank you for some wonderful food and Mary Lou a great big thank you for all your guidance and encouragement, wit and wisdom. Hope to be here next year.

Mary Lou retreat days 2 and 3!

2011-06-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

Somehow I forgot to take pictures of our projects yesterday, but I remember to take a quick picture our Laurie Latta, Mary Lou's friend and our wonderful chef.

Each morning we start out with a show and tell of Mary Lou's quilts and a discussion of the coming day. Some I can't photograph because they are featured in her new upcoming book Out of the Box Blocks, a follow up to her Out of the Box book.

She will pack so much into each quilt.

Love the expression of the bird with the lovely berry in it's mouth.

Aiea has a lovely story about her grandchildren unfolding. She had her frame done before class started and has done a lot of woke with her drawing.

Lissa's blocks making some progress.

Nancy is building some trees along with her hoochy mama blocks.

Aiea has copied her master pattern and getting ready to trace her blocks to applique.

Val is planning her background and is doing some interviewing.

Sandy from Davis showed the quilt she made her daughter for her 21st birthday; she is wearing a crown she made for her 6th birthday.

Eileen from last year's group dropped by to say hi and show us her small story quilt.

Here is a picture of my story quilt coming together. My mom and I do a lot of road trips together and this depicts some of the places we've been together.

Sandy from Davis and Wendy from California's blocks growing in numbers.

Aiea starting to pick out fabrics for her various pieces to applique.

Laurie and Eileen doing a Mexican dance celebrating our lovely chicken fajita dinner.

Dawn's story is coming together.

Lissa has her frame for her story all ready.

Sandy from Bozeman's frame is nearing completion for her Italian story.

I also made two more birds, one for Mary Lou and this one for Karen in Tennessee. It will take flight before I leave home on Saturday.

Lots of progress over the past two days of creativity and we still have two more to go!

Mary Lou Retreat Day One

2011-06-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

I got my birds from Mary Lou, aren't they a wonderful flock? Two other members of the exchange are here taking the workshop with me.

Sandy from Davis California showed off her flock, slightly different than mine.

Here are her socks from the sock exchange. She was in a different group than I was in.

Dawn from California made two groups of 12 birds as one group was short a person. Lucky lady.

Heather's Hoochy Mama blocks.

Sandy's on the left and two of Wendy from California.

Sandy from Wyoming.

Dawn's birds and some hoochy mama blocks.

Val from Oregon working on her story quilt borders.

We finished the day with a field trip to Bear Paw Quilting in Coeur d'Alene.

A very different sky to end the day.

Road to Mary Lou Weidman's retreat in Post Falls Idaho

2011-06-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely day on the road. I made a brief stop at the Buggy Barn on the way.

The Buggy Barn is set amongst farm fields

For a small shop it is loaded with inspiration and lots of fabrics.

On Sunday Mary Lou took us down to the Spokane Rive and showed us the play set that she donated in her mother's memory.

Next stop was the Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane. Here is my lunch of bagels and lox. The flower in the centre is the lox!

Mary Lou's Thai Chicken Salad. Everyone's meals were lovely.

A view above of the dining area.

Cherubs decorating the staircase.

Mary Lou showing her new bag to Louis, who built the hotel.

Next we drove to Duncan Gardens.

Manito Park has a lovely formal garden and conservatory.

Shrimp flowers.

Wonderful veined leaves.

Escargot begonia.

Next stop was Mel's nursery and gift shop.

A unique view about online dating!

Today we start our creativity. Stay Tuned!

Bee aware...birds overhead... check out Mary Lou's new blog! Have a hoot and try to match your socks.

2011-06-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Mary Lou Weidman has a new blog..for some reason she can't access her old blog Mary Lou and Cherries too [ http://marylouweidman.blogspot.com/]. Check out her new blog Mary Lou and Whimsy Too at http://marylouweidman-marylou.blogspot.com

Mary Lou's yahoo groups have fun with block exchanges. We've done four recently and had a great time with them all. The bees were the first one.

Our current one is birds, these are the ones that have flown off from me.

I have to get all my owls together in my parliament for a group photo. I had fun with some floral fabrics for the effect of feathers.

The socks were also fun to make, the ones I've received are all different colours and sizes. It will be fun to get them all together in one quilt.

Mary Lou is planning on a fish exchange for our next swap. Come and join our fun! Here is some inspiration for some colour choices.

Fraser Valley Quilt Show and flowers

2011-05-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

We've had a very wet Spring here in the lower mainland, but despite this some wonderful flowers have shown their pretty heads. This tree peony flower is in Rita's garden.

Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild had their show on the May 14th weekend and several of my friends had some great quilts there. The first one below is by my friend and neighbour Mary Shore.

A bit farther down the aisle was this second one by Mary.

This final one was also done by Mary, they are names Circles 1, 11, 111. I believe they all came from a British magazine called Magic Patch. She did an amazing job don't you think?

My friend Ethel Snow took a fun Halloween fabric and decided to make a family album. Ethel has a wonderful sense of design and humour.

Carmie Kozak made this lovely colourful quilt. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of the whole piece.

Several years ago Liz Faminoff came to guild and did a workshop, unfortunately I got sick and couldn't take it. Ethel decided to put her twist on the design by adding the crows to the piece. I think it was just what was needed for added interest.

Karen Berry designed this lovely piece. She was a featured guild member a few years ago.

Dianne Stephenson machine pieced and machine quilted this quilt. She is known for lovely hand quilting and was picked as the Canadian Quilters' Association Teacher of the year recently.

We have a group called "Tinners". This idea came from Debbie Matthews of the Pacific Spirit Quilters' Guild that I also belong to; Fraser Valley has run the program for several years. This piece was started by Beckie Stewart to honour her Cocker Spaniel called Tiramisu. Beckie designed the centre block, put it in a tin and didn't see it again until the end of the guild year when she got 8 additional blocks. She then put them all together for this lovely quilt.

Unfortunately Tiramisu passed away just before the blocks were finished. What a lovely tribute to a family friend.

My friend Sandi Hill did this charm square quilt.

Lynne Fanthorpe made this lovely Seminole pieced quilt.

Lynne is responsible for our guild having a machine quilting mentoring program. All this quilting was done on a domestic machine.

Her work is lovely.

One of the featured members this year was Dougal Walker of The Freckles Collection. She is known for her lovely stitchery quilts and is getting into some lovely art quilts.

I love the whimsy of the fish quilt.

This owl piece was just recently designed and finished.

Beckie Stewart made this sampler of 6" blocks, she used a binder to keep them all organized. She is an amazing piecer.

Another piece by Dougal, her cat! The photograph below is what she based the design on.

Don't you think she got his freckled nose just right!

Our second featured quilter was Cher Olsson. Her original designs and machine quilting are truly lovely. What a lovely interpretation of our Canadian Flag.

Another west coast image, the Orca [or Killer Whale] found up and down our coast.

A traditional pattern with a floral twist. She designed this quilt at our Harrison Retreat one year for her mother.

Another floral twist to a simple design.

Finally in April I took a chance to enter a draw for a giveaway from Keep it Thimble. http://blog.keepitthimble.com/ I was the lucky winner of this lovely tulip handbag by Heather Chandler. Pink, yellow and polka dots, some of my favourite things.! Thanks Heather.

Above the Clouds, Haleakala

2011-05-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

On our final full day in Maui we decided to drive above the clouds to the summit of Haleakala.

The road is 39 miles of switchbacks and very steep terrain. Driving through the clouds before arriving at the top.

Looking back down the road we dove along.

Not very much vegetation at this elevation

Scanning across the summit.

A very desolate place.

Just to the left of the large rock you can see two figures walking the trail.

The road appears to drop off the edge of the mountain.

Beautiful clouds.

A longer shot of the clouds with the mountain in the foreground.

Observatories on the far peak.

You have to walk slowly at this elevation.

These plants are only found in this area and can live up to 50 years, bloom once and die.

Not sure how old this one would be.

Remnants of a bloom.

A wood cut print you can purchase.

If you look closely you can find signs of plant life.

This flower was quite the show off.

The Nene geese were almost driven to extinction but have recovered.

Driving down below the clouds.

A lovely lacey silver plant.

Continuing down the switchbacks.

Coming out of the clouds and seeing the island stretch out before us.

Back looking at another lovely sunset.

The last night on Maui.

One last look for whales.

One last look at Maui as we fly back home to Vancouver.

The sunset starting to be seen.

A glimpse of the wing of our plane and the sun going down.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-05-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture I took of my mom when we were in Hawaii in April. Yesterday was her birthday and we went out for a lovely Thai dinner. Looking good Mom!

More Hawaiian memories

2011-05-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

This almost looks like a double headed bloom, but there are two individual blossoms.

We drove by this guy and I circled around to get a shot of it. He was kind enough to stick around.

The colours in the water were just beautiful on this day.

Orange and yellow what a lovely mix.

A bud just starting to open up.

A profile shot.

The view looking toward the north.

Now looking towards the south.

We drove a short way along the road to Hana and stopped to watch some surfers. This guy was busy eating insects.

Kite boarders, along with surfers having lots of fun.

You were amazed that none of them appeared to run into each other.

Oops, taking a fall.

What a pretty tree.

Another lovely view.

Back on the beach watching the sunset and the boat pull in for the show next door.

Another day gone.

Mary Lou Weidman Hoochy Mama Bird Swap

2011-05-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

Mary Lou Weidman is one of my favourite quilt teachers. I've taken a couple of classes from her and attended her retreat in Post Falls Idaho. This Spring she issued our online group a challenge to make some hoochy mama birds. The bird below a yellow breasted starling was the inspiration for my block.

We had to use black as a background, so having a black tailed bird was out of the question, but I think I found the right fabric to create the illusion of my bird's wonderful tail. All together I made 14 blocks, 13 for the exchange. I was tempted to just sew them all together when I had them finished.

Some of my birds look like they are perched looking up or to the side. I haven't added the white buttons with black pupils for they eyes.

These ones to me look like they are flying either to the left or the right.

I can hardly wait until I get the ones from the other people in the group and then put them all together. We were encouraged to use jello colours, stay tuned for the new flock when it arrives home. Mine are flying to California to meet up with friends.

Hawaiian Quilting, Hawaiian Quilts.

2011-05-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is the little Hawaiian anthurium pattern that I got that the quilt shop in Lahina. I managed to cut out and stitch the applique in one evening and then do the quilting the next. I still have to square it up and finish of the piece, but I was quite happy with the piece despite not having pins to properly hold it together while quilting it.

On each floor of the hotel they had a framed Hawaiian quilt. This was on our floor [6].

The floor above [7].

The floor below [5].

Nest floor down[4].

Number 3.

And finally Number 2, none on the main floor!

Heading south toward Kehei is an outlook to watch for whales. No luck when we were there.

Just above the branches on the left if you look closely you can see a turtle. He wouldn't let me get a good picture.

A favourite tree along the ocean.

Some papayas ripening along another beach, wish I could have picked one.

Paddle boarding at any age.

Beautiful palms against a lovely sky.

How graceful the trunks on these palms.

Some old can goods on display.

I wanted this basket. Very heavy, made from old magazines folded up.

A lovely two coloured hibiscus.

Our hotel and pool from one angle.

From the opposite side walking along the beach...

...another day in paradise...

More images of Maui

2011-05-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what this is hanging from the Palm tree but it certainly was colourful and interesting looking. If you know what they are please let me know so I can add it to my post.

Under the Banyan Tree in Lahina on the weekend there is a craft show, I didn't photograph any of the vendors, but this tuberose flower smelled lovely.

I couldn't resist this sign, I must know about 5 Daves, I think it was the most popular name for boys in the 1950's.

This man was amazing talking and carving and using his feet as additional hands.

No one knew what this "fruit" was other than they didn't recommend eating it.

None of the flowers were very close to photo.

A very different coloured plumeria than the white/yellow.

A lovely protea motif of things to come.

Once again some interesting pods/fruit/seeds of another Palm tree.

The crown of another Palm.

Fabrics that mom picked out for a table runner that I'll make for her.

Some more batiks to add to my collections, these ones were from Maui Quilt Shop.

Two books on Hawaiian Quilt blocks that I found at Walmart and a pattern for smaller size blocks from Maui Quilt Shop.

I purchased this print at the craft sale by Virginia Ka'ai. It is part of a larger painting.

A couple of new shopping bags from Whole Foods.

Love the peas!

We drove up Haleakala to Pink Protea and wandered around the gardens to see some amazing flowers.

A profile of another flower.

Tall and narrow.

Just starting to open.

Opening a bit more.

Half open.

Fully opened.

Another tall one but different again,

They grow on plants that look like a rhododendron.

Another one starting to open.

This one looks like a sun.

A bit closer view.

Orange and yellow mix.

A couple of varieties close together.

Some minis.

An orange one with a bud beside it.

Pink and yellow.

Almost looks like velvet.

Half open.

Long pink petals edged with black.

Lemon yellow.

A moth on a tiny bud.

Almost looks like a corn cob.

Another one edged in black

Ferns just starting to open.

On the other side of the plant.

This is called a Cup of Gold taken just outside of Kula Botanical Garden.

A blossom below water in a bowl.

A view looking west and north towards Lahina.

Unusually long petals on this bloom.

Another velvety protea bud about to open at Ali'i Kula Lavender Gardens.

A moth amongst the lavender.

Here is a bee enjoying the lovely scents.

Another moth.

A lovely bud.

A peaceful Buddha in the garden.

Taking off from a stem.

A Hawaiian influence sculpture.

A view through the hedge of more gardens.

A bunch of cut lavender.

Bird of Paradise bloom, just perfect.

Another lovely statue found in the garden.

I wonder what this one will look like when it opens, looks like velvet.

If you come to Maui, check out this lovely place.

Looking towards Ioa Valley State Park, where the rainfall can be 4oo" in a year.

A Maui rooster with his hens and chicks.

Sitting outside enjoying the sunset once again.

Pineapples, quilts and sunsets...

2011-05-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

The clouds decided to move from the mountain top outside our view for a change and we enjoyed the view to the top.

We went into Lahina and found this tiny quilt shop just across from the huge banyan tree beside the Pioneer Hotel.

Up the street was a Needlework shop that we went looking for, unfortunately it closed in December but we found this lovely collection of Hawaiian quilted cushions.

The little quilt shop is called Quilts n Fabric Land.

I got a little Hawaiian style pin cushion kit to try out.

Here is a view of the huge Banyan tree in Lahina with many aerial roots to support its branches.

This branch almost looks like a tree on its own, but the aerial roots have grown very thick and strong.

Here is the central trunk supporting the branches that spread over an acre of land. There are paths under the tree that protects you in the rain and a craft sale that happens on the weekend that we went to.

Just outside the gift shop towards the harbour the palm trees are seen.

Another lovely plumeria blossom.

Everywhere you look images of pineapples are used for advertising.

In the harbour a sailboat that capsized many years ago that has been left to the elements.

In the mall more images of pineapples.

In the same mall down another wing more pineapple images.

A lovely pineapple stained glass window.

The Lahina Cannery Mall logo where all the above photos were taken.

Not a sight that you expect just up the street from the hotel we stayed at..free range chickens!

Just down the road from our hotel at a public beach, someone built an inuksuit to say good night.

A quiet evening watching the sun slip away.

Back at our hotel one last look at the sunset.

Another lovely day in Maui with some more to enjoy..

Quilt Show and Spring Flowers

2011-05-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today were amazing Spring days, with sunny skies and warm temperatures, perfect for photographing some of the flowers out in bloom in my neighbourhood.

Rita has these lovely frilly daffodils in her garden, I've not seen anything like them before.

This double tulip looks more like a Monet waterlily.

Farther down the walk I found these two tulips that still had a bit of dew from a night watering.

This poor tulip has been knocked over but still putting on a brave showing.

One of my guilds put on a show today, the Pacific Spirit Quilters' Guild show had some lovely quilts in it. This wool applique on black polka dot flannel was made by my friend Tricia Brown.

Jean Beaton received this kit for all the work she did on the 2002 show, nicely done!

I don't recall who did this lovely whimsical mix of batiks with polka dot flowers, but I like the combination.

My neighbour and good friend Mary Shore made this triptych of leaves.

This is also done by Mary and was the first of the series, but she decided she like the other 3 together.

Now for a bit of a throw back to the psychedelic days of the 1960's.

First day in Maui

2011-04-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

We took a short flight from Honolulu over to Maui and when we came into our room we looked out on the view to see this lovely rainbow. We also saw a rainbow in Oahu, what a delight.

We waked out to the ocean side of the hotel to find that a cruise ship was anchored.

We drove up toward north beyond Kanapali beach, stopping along the way to enjoy the views.

The mountain on the left is called Pu'u-koa'e Tropical Bird Hill, the one beside is Pu'u-kahuli-anapa Overturned hill that shines.

The road that lead down around the switchback and back up to the point we took the picture was only one lane wide! Couldn't really stop and take a picture for fear of meeting a car coming the other way!

Some more stunning views of the coastline.

A view across to another island.

We then drove down to Kihei and found the Maui Quilt Shop. It is a small narrow shop that is packed with wonderful samples and gorgeous batiks and other lovely cottons.

There were some Australian tourists stocking up as we entered the shop and a local buying the end of a bolt of fabric.

A great shop to check out if you go to Maui. Check them out online at http://www.mauiquiltshop.com/

They have several lovely Hawaiian style quilts on display in their windows.

A lovely table runner.

We drove over to Kahului to check the Fabric Mart there, lots of poly/cottons with Hawaiian inspired motifs.

They also had some lovely bark cloth. Enjoy them online also http://fmart.com/

We also found some 100% cottons along with batiks at Fabric Mart.

Next stop in Kahului was just down the street at Sew Special. This was the largest quilt shop we found on Maui. At first we walked by not seeing the sign.

Inside once again lots of fabrics, and lovely samples on display.

They have a great collection of batiks and some lovely Hawaiian style patterns for sale.

Every direction you look you will be tempted with colour and design. They don't have a website, but I found this online tour of their shop with some information here http://hawaiiontv.com/sew-special-maui-hawaii/

Here a view of our room in Lahina, we had a full sized galley kitchen along with a lovely view of the mountains from our lanai.

We went next door to Betty's Beach Cafe for a great Hula Burger and lucked into watching some of the floor show from the restaurant next door called The Feast at Lele.

They started by blowing the conch and then these lovely ladies began to dance.

Then the gentlemen came up for awhile. We didn't stay for the whole show, but did stop in on two more occasions to watch different parts of the show. We moved over to our pool area to enjoy the sunset under the palms with the trade winds blowing.

My Hawaiian floral from Fabric Mart.

I was debating which book to buy and then found out they were less than $7.00 each so I got all four. They each have 15 patterns inside! What a bargain.

I got these lovely batiks to make a pineapple motif quilt.

This bag was found at Foodland, very whimsical designs and as a bonus they have recipes on the sides of the bag that are traditional to the islands.

What a fun bag!

A great first day on the island, with more to come.

A quilt shop and Waikiki Aquarium

2011-04-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

First stop of the day was Kaimuki Dry Goods quilt shop. We took two city buses to get to this great shop.

They have a huge selection of quilting fabrics and some lovely patterns.

This shop has lots of lovely staff and and some great customers. One worked for the bus company and helped us figure out the quickest way to get to the Waikiki Aquarium.

Bolts and bolts of fabric and lots of samples to get inspiration from.

Next stop was the Waikiki Aquarium, hey look, there's Dorry!

Dorry and friends watching a speedy friend gliding by.

This coral looks more like a mushroom.

Hard to get a picture of this guy speeding around the tank, look at it's interesting tail.

Lots of colour and movement. I didn't use any flash with my photos, so as not to disturb the fish.

These jelly fish were amazing to watch as they moved around the tank.

What a lovely red sea urchin, almost looks like a flower snapped off it's stem.

Don't these look like toadstools floating in the water?

Bright lemon yellow and crisp white contrasting nicely.

Graceful shape and movement, a silent symphony.

A frog face fish!

This coral looks like a huge oyster. Love the little fish on the right.

A lovely graceful fish.

Who is that masked fish?

Do these stripes make me look fat?

Peace and serenity.

A lovely Hawaiian queen.

Some plumeria flowers opening up, a memorable Hawaiian scent.

Inspiration.

A double hibiscus flower.

One with ruffled edges.

An unusual colour combination, peach and amethyst purple.

A different type of bird of paradise.

Another iconic Hawaiian symbol, Hawaiian Airlines.

Next stop Maui!