I visited a friend last weekend who now lives in Reno. Aside from quiltmaking, she has the most adorable, sweet and smartest dog ever. She makes me want to get a dog. If I could clone this dog, I would.
We went up a day early, Saturday, because snow was predicted on Sunday and we didn’t want to drive in snow. This cut off my time at the machine, but we spent time indoors working on projects, so it worked out, mostly.
The drive up was fine. There was a bit of traffic and people driving kind of crazily, but otherwise the roads were clear and dry as was the sky. We stopped in Auburn for lunch. I have been to that town a few times with the Native Sons, so I knew were to eat. I didn’t expect parking to be troublesome, but it was a pain. We got some steps in.
We arrived in Reno at about 4:30. We settled in, were given a house tour and then went off to dinner with Mrs. K and Kristen. The restaurant was a bit New Agey. The food was very tasty and they had a lot of gluten free options. It was a few doors down from a GF bakery, but it closed for the evening before we could visit. I had Chicken Picatta, something I normally can’t eat at a restaurant, and I enjoyed it immensely.
The best part was visiting with friends. I don’t get to see Kristen that often and she is a lovely person. Kathleen was able to get to know Kristen and get to know Mrs. K better. We were able to catch up on what was happening with everyone. Very fun dinner.
When we got back, I set up the cutting station on Kathleen’s kitchen island, which is the perfect height for cutting. I basically parked myself there for a day and a half and cut out bags. I have a number of bags on my To Do list and I was able to cut a few of them out. It seems like something that should be easy and quick. Not. The bags have a lot of pieces. I also had to cut interfacing as well as press it on to the fabric pieces. It took forever. I am pleased, though, because I now have 3 bags ready to be sewn and I know the hard part is over. They are gifts so you will see them after the recipient sees them.
Sunday, Mrs. K came over and we all stayed in and sewed while the weather gods poured snow and rain on the landscape. Mrs. K has a t-shirt quilt to do for her DIL and needed our help. You know those situations where you just need to talk through a process with people? This project was one of those situations.
This quilt was a little different than the YM’s t-shirt quilt in that she wanted to keep the collars of polo style shirts on the quilt. We used all of our brains to puzzle out the best construction methods. We decided on cutting off most of the shirt, but leaving the back and adding a rectangle of quilting cotton to the top to make the block rectangular. The shirts are stabilized with ShapeFlex. By the time she left she had one block mostly done and a plan to do the rest.
Kathleen was pattern testing so we ran up and down the stairs quite a bit so she wouldn’t feel sad and lonely. Also, the ironing board was at the top of the stairs.
I helped Kathleen a bit with the HSTs as there were a lot of them. We stood at the cutting area and trimmed them together. I used my fabulous 4.5″x8.5″ Creative Grids ruler and really churned out the trimming.
Julie worked on the handstitching for her Christmas quilt. The giant Christmas quilt. She is the fastest binder I have ever seen. She bound that giant quilt in about two days. I was in awe.
Mrs. K also brought the quilt she made from the Cutting Corners ruler. I REALLY like this quilt. I got that ruler for Christmas and, after seeing the quilt in person, am determined to try the ruler.
We tried to visit a cheese shop, but it was closed on Mondays. We went to two quilt shops, Windy Moon #2 and Going Batty, which you will find reviewed elsewhere in this blog. In between the two quilt shops we went to lunch at Sup. It is a soup place and was packed but had very good GF food.
We also got to meet Kathleen’s grandsons. It was short but sweet and fun to be around boys again.
Eventually, we went to the bakery mentioned above and bought GF cupcakes. I was so excited at being able to walk in and order a cupcake. It ended up being a huge disappointment. When I finally sat down to eat the one I bought, it was virtually tasteless. 🙁
The trip was good. We had fun. I got some prep done that needed to be done and now we are on to the holidays.
