Quilted Mat

Here's a project I started this summer after I bought a jelly roll of bright batiks. I didn't really know what a jelly roll was. It's a bunch of small strips of fabric of a certain size rolled up and sold in a bundle. The fabrics aren't necessarily up my alley, but after lots of playing around, I came up with this baby floor mat/stroller blanket that used up the whole roll. I had to buy the red fabric for the back and the binding separately. I really love the way the turquoise quilting looks with the bright prints. I did all the quilting by hand since I only have a Featherweight sewing machine.

Now... who do I know with a baby that would appreciate my handiwork and doesn't mind the tropical look? It's pretty stain-friendly :)

Redwoods National/State Parks

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

We spent a 3-day weekend in the Redwoods north of Eureka. On the way we saw lots of grapes being hauled in and out of the vineyards in big buckets on trucks. We also saw some exciting forest fire-fighting action (CalFire planes and helicopters)!


From Elk Prairie (where we camped) in Prairie Creek Redwoods we hiked in a big loop through the big old trees to Fern Canyon, then along the beach (from which we could see another forest fire to the north and lots of seals and pelicans in the water), to Gold Bluffs Beach, back through the trees to camp. CLICK THIS to see the map. I guess the hike was about 12 or 15 miles. The redwoods are impossible to photograph since they're so big.... HUGE! and amazing! Here's a lichen-covered specimen that dripped on our tent loudly all night the first night. We moved to the open meadow for the second night.


The car camping was pretty luxurious; smores, fresh fruit, clean dry clothes, no heavy pack, woo hoo!



At Elk Prairie there are lots of chances to view the Roosevelt Elk, if you can spot them through the fog and the ferns. Zoom in on this shot to see a nice rack ;)

Hardly Strictly

We went to the free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate park yesterday. There were a lot of great acts in an amazing setting. We saw the Old 97's, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, and Gillian Welch, with a special treat, a few songs with Emmylou Harris! Even heard a few strains of Steve Martin on the Banjo through the trees. There were going to be some great shows on Sunday too, but SF is a bit of a drive for us. Despite the high winds and lots of pot smoke, we had a great time with Nate and Jude.