Cow Parade at Back Porch Fabrics Pacific Grove, California

We drove from Redding to Yuba City and stopped in at The Rabbit Hole in Chico, it was late in the day and we didn't get to Honey Run Quilters this time.

 

In Pacific Grove we went straight to Back Porch Fabrics to see the Cow Parade curated by Mary Lou Weidman and Mel McFarland.  Cow Town is Mary Lou's quilt.  I like how she made the body of houses and that the o in cow has the shape of a muffin.  Very cute.

 Psycowdelic is also by Mary Lou, I like the swirling eyes and the peace symbol as a nose ring for the cow.

 Check out the hula girls hanging from the udder.

Mel McFarland made How Now Brown Cow.

 Isn't the red check and buttons cute as an udder.

 That bandanna around the neck with bola tie is also too cute.

Cowlifornia Girl is by Sue Cresse, sorry it isn't the best picture due to the light.

 Vin Cow is by Sandy Thompson, she has some great 3 D embellishments.

Great idea to use corks with wine charms for the teats.

 Got a nice oaky flavour to those grapes, love the shades on this one.

Mooy Cowlente was made by Tina Nippal, our talented cook at Mary Lou's retreat.

 Chick out those udders, are they not too cool.  I love the peppers hanging from her tail and the big hoop earrings.

Cowa Bunga was made by Michelle Groth.  She had lot of fun with her background.

 PanaMoo Canal was made by Susan Typpi, she purchased the mola while on a cruise through the canal with Mary Lou.

 Cute udder fabrics and those beads are lovely.

 

I love Moo was made by Mari Linfesty, she combined some hearts from one of our on line swaps in with her cows. The two calves are her sons and the bull is her husband.  She worked on this last year at retreat and it is so great.

A close up of Maris head, note the ear tag, it is her birth date.                                                                 

 This is her husband, also with an ear tag.

 The boys, also with their ear tags, notice the upside down heart as the end of her tail.

Dia de Los Mooertos was made by Patrica S. Woods.

 Check out the skulls and the skeleton.

 I like how she embellished these skulls.

Mooy Fiesta was made by Joanie Corte.

 Great use of rickrack.

 

Frosty Amoosement by Connie Donaldson.                                                                                             

 I don't think having icicles on your udder is very amoosing from the cows point of view.

 Cute ear muffs.

The Cow Jumped Over The Moon by Sandi Henschel...hey that is me, I was proud to be invited to be a part of this great display.                                                                                                                        

 Miss Moola at the Moolin Rouge by Sandy Fisher, sorry it is a bit out of focus.

Here is a better picture of her all glizted up to dance the can can.

 Love those tassells.

She eats the Daisies is by Rebecka Shaffer.

 Chocowlate was made by Patricia S. Woods.

 Love those cupcake buttons and the s'mores fabric.

 

Boo Moo by Molly Evangelisti very cute background for the lettering.                                                 

I like the spider web quilting on the background.

Pumpkins hanging from the udder!

And The Cow Says Boo! by Peggy Baldwin.                                                                                        

Eat More...Veggies by Kathy Collins.  I like all her green stars in the background.                                 

Cowafornia by Sue Cresse, check out the names of the movies in the cans.

The Grass is Always Greener...also known as Udderly Green with Envy by Pam Tooms.

Moolah A Cash Cow by Charlotte Lorenzo.

Check out those money bags!                                                                                                                   

And one last quilt Mary Lou's New Mexico quilt that is heavily embellished.  I was behind the cash desk and is amazing to look at, a lot of detail.

If you get a chance to get down to Pacific Grove before May 1st, please go, the show is wonderful and has so much to be seen.  Back Porch Fabrics, thanks for hosting this wonderful show and allowing me to take photos of it all.   I have some photos of the rest of the shop from a previous visit that you can check out here.

California here I come to check out the Cow Parade!

 

April 2nd I left to drive down to Monterey to check out the Cow Parade at Back Porch Fabrics inspired by the book Out Of The Box Patterns by Mary Lou Weidman and Mel McFarlane. I also took along my water can blocks to mail for our current swap.  Here they are laid out on my bed in Portland before I packed them up in an envelope.

 In Coburg we stopped off for a driving break and wandered around a couple of antique malls.  This was a very interesting signature friendship quilt.  It was too big to hold up vertically so here is one half.

 Here is the bottom half of the quilt.

Here is a close up of one of the blocks.  They appear to be appliqued onto the white block.

 A lovely basket of tulips quilt.

 Across the street is a delightful retro shop, the turquoise syrup dispenser on the right came home with me.

 I was also temped to buy the turquoise Pyrex dish but decided not this time.

 Our third day of travel took us into California and we spotted Mount Shasta, this time we could see the top, last visit it was not visible.  Please note the dark cloud, but we were in sunshine at the present.

 A closer look with my telephoto lens, do you recall the soda company called Shasta, their tag line was "It hasta be Shasta" and their logo was this view as I recall.

 In Redding we went to Sew What, they have a large open shop with some interesting quilts on display.

 

This is the view of the shop as you enter, love the kites hanging from the ceiling.  The first time I came to this shop they were having a shop hop and their theme was a black and white cocktail party.

 Looking over to the right and their cutting area.

 Their back classroom and yard area.

 Another view of their yarn area.

 Love those colours.

 Very cute quilt made from three different fabrics that were fussy cut.

 Can't you see this in a nursery or made into a growth chart?

The next show is within walking distance and is called Sew Simple.  They have more of a country, civil war, reproduction feel to their fabrics.  I love the display above the bolts of fabric.

 A closer look at the cheddar and pinwheel quilt.

 A feathered star in Christmas colours.

 Postage stamp blocks, look at the post office time stamp!

 Cute apron made from one piece of fabric with the pockets added.  This was not a cheater panel, but unfortunately they didn't have any more of this colour way.

 Their back classroom with samples...hey wait a minute, I have that pattern on my to do list.

 I bought this pattern several years ago it is by Sue Garman, I did her Yuletide Joy and this is Autumn Joy.  I would also like to do her Around the town.

 I found this delightful top tucked away in the restroom! 

 

Next up the Cow Parade in Monterey.