Last Day of Quilt Run

Yesterday Margaret and I finished our last day (for us) on the Southern California Quilt Run.

In the last week we visited 19 stores and had such a wonderful time. We put a lot of miles on the car, and were able to fit in fun events with Margaret's family, too.

Before heading back to Utah, we stopped in Temecula, California. What a quaint town. Most of the store fronts looked like they went back to the cowboy times of the 1800's. There was fun shopping along the main street. We made stops at the open air fruit market, which are so plentiful in this agricultural area.

Our first quilt shop of the day was "Quilter's Coop".

They had just recently expanded into this new building, and have decorated in such creative ways. This is a must stop if you are in the area. The staff was so helpful and nice to visit with.

Isn't this a great pocket of an apron? And I love the cherry fabric.

The store covers several rooms.

They carried a little bit of everything, from a Civil War section, to stitchery.

I loved this "12 Days of Christmas" made out of wool.

Designed by Cheri.

Look at the cute Christmas tree made out of fat quarters.

Our next stop was the Temecula Quilt Co.

I loved the thought of "Friends Gathering".
Isn't that what quilting does for us?

Every geographical area seems to have their own "style". This store carried all primitive and Civil War.

Wonderful art of display.

Store owner Sheryl was explaining to her customers about what it was like for her store to be selected for the upcoming "Fall 2009 Quilt Sampler".

Pictures of her store were taken a year ago. This will be the featured quilt in the magazine. I know I will be looking for a copy when it comes out.

Sheryl has put fabric ribbons on all of her quilts.
Wouldn't these be wonderful to use in a quilt show?

Our last stop before heading out of California was "Quilters Cocoon" in Riverside.

Owner Pagen was so delightful to visit with. She has listed every fabric at $7.95 because she feels the $10 price will scare too many quilters away from the art.

She had a great selection of batik's.

And a lot of Kaffe's in her quilts around the store. You know how I love those Kaffe's!

Thank you Margaret for being the best traveling companion a friend could ask for. She was raised in this area and knew how to get us from here to there and back again. And thank you to her beautiful family who included me in all the family events and were so kind.

It's good to be back in St. George, Utah although the temperatures are in the triple digits all week long. Saturday it's supposed to reach 111 degrees. Yikes!

I am missing that beautiful California sunshine, and perfect weather already.

Del Ray Avocado Company

Yesterday as we headed into Fallbrook, California, Margaret and I noticed Del Ray Avocado Company along Main Street.
Both of us love avocados so much we pulled immediately into their parking lot.

Margaret was even brave enough to ask if by chance they offered tours of their warehouse.

The secretary replied that they usually do not take drop in's, but she would ask the owner.

We were met by Joe Reavis, who was very gracious to let us interrupt his work day by giving us a tour.

The avocado's are picked in near by orchards, and placed in these big bins.

They are sorted according to size and placed in boxes. Joe said one of the reasons avocados are so expensive is because they require a lot of water, and water is expensive.

The boxes are stored in a refrigerated room at 40 degree temps.

This large room held about 2 days worth of product.

Fallbrook is considered the Avocado Capitol of the World.

95% of all avocado production in the U.S. is from Southern California

Avocado's have great health benefits. They are known to have an effect on our blood serum cholesterol levels. They decrease LDL (bad) and increase HDL (good), and are a good source of potassium which regulates blood pressure.

Del Ray ships their avocados all over the world. Large refrigerated trucks were lined up outside the warehouse docks, and pulled through one by one to be loaded.

These boxes were being specifically packed for Costco. (The place where I usually buy my avocados).

Joe said they sell an organic brand of avocado. These must come from orchards where chemicals haven't been used for at least 3 years.

Have you ever wondered what an avocado tree looks like?

Some trees reach up to 65 feet in height.

The average tree produces 120 avocados annually.

Next time I eat an avocado I will be thinking Fallbrook, California, and how nice Joe was to give us a personal tour.

This really was one of the highlights of our trip.

Continuing on the Quilt Run

We were back on the road today, visiting more stores on the Quilt Run in Southern California.
I'll show you my two favorites from today.

A Time To Sew is in Laguna Hills, and was purchased a few months ago by a very nice woman named Martha. She made us feel so welcome as we walked in the door.

The store is bright and cheery and had a very diverse selection of quilts.

Margaret loved this one.

Especially the contrast effect in the stars.

I went around and took picture after picture of many wonderful quilts. Notice how these all represent a very different style?

We've seen a lot of "3-D" quilts lately.

Being a thread person, I loved the couching in this quilt.

My other favorite shop of the day was "Quilter's Cottage" in Fallbrook, CA.

Owners Diane and Jan have done an amazing job with their store. And they had THE friendliest staff. (Thank you Mare for all your help). If you are anywhere near Fallbrook, put this quilt shop on your list of musts.

These are just a few of the samplings. I really had to use self control not to post every picture I took, because they were all wonderful.

A whole room was devoted to Children's quilts and clothing. Now that I have a grand daughter on the way, I wanted to buy every pattern they offered.

But I didn't. (Are you reading this Mr. Cactus?)

This is Quilter's Cottage Block of the Month.

Look at the beautiful linen look of the background fabrics.

*Tomorrow we are headed to more quilt stores in Temecula and then will continue driving on home to St. George, Utah.

Find The Wonderful In Today

I saw this sign in one of the quilt shops today, and I agree!


Our first stop today on the So. Cal. Quilt Run was Calico House in Placentia. Owner Cindy Zechter just took ownership on July 1st, so getting ready for Quilt Run was a new experience.
She did a great job! We were met at the door by a very friendly staff serving popcorn and cold water, and it just got better from there.

I was especially impressed to see an applique club featuring Lori Holt's designs. Hey Lori! I took this picture just for you to see! You are popular in California, too!

Did I mention how nice Cindy and her staff are?

The shop was very busy today.

Our next stop was Quilter's Garden , also in Placentia.

This store is small in space and was crowded with people on the quilt run, so we didn't stay very long.

Our 3rd stop was Ginger's Quilt Shoppe in Upland, CA. This store is right up there among my favorite stores on the Run. I would highly recommend making an effort to stop by here if you are in the area.

I will be showing you a lot of pictures from Gingers because I kept finding something wonderful in every spot.

The theme for Ginger's for the Quilt Run was Christmas. This area was devoted entirely to the holiday. In fact, Christmas music was playing over the sound system, and they had set up a tree.

It's not too early to get working on those Christmas quilts.

Ginger's is quite a large store with wide open space to look, and I took a lot more pictures, but I don't want to make this post toooo long.

Our last stop of the day was Fabric Patch in Montclair, CA.

This store is also quite large and they did a great job with the run. One room was entirely devoted to demonstrations on techniques and products.

I loved moving from station to station.

Look at the cute 3-D flower in the middle of this quilt.

And I love their pattern display area. Boards can be rolled back and forth to allow you to view a lot of patterns.

We spent the evening in Garden Grove at a BBQ with Margaret's family.

You can tell you are in Southern California when the lemon trees grow right next to the flowers in the back yard.

We had freshly sliced lemons in our water. Yum.

Margaret's brother-in-law made authentic Santa Maria BBQ with tri-tip. I have read about Santa Maria BBQ in books, but this is the first I've had a chance to taste it.

Jay seasoned the tri-tip, wrapped it in foil, and then cooked it on the grill.

I can only say the dish deserves the outstanding reputation it has earned.

What a wonderful ending to a perfect day:

Sit by the pool shaded by lemon trees, converse with a delightful family while eating Santa Maria BBQ.

I Made It!

I am happy to report I did just fine handling the freeway system in the L.A. today. Map Quest in now my favorite. I'll be asking Santa for a GPS this Christmas, but until then me and Map Quest are buddies.
I admit I prayed continually from the moment I left this morning. And I offered a prayer of Thanks the minute I pulled into the driveway home safe and sound.

With all my nervousness this morning, I walked out without my camera. I'm so sorry I won't be able to show you pictures of the quilt shops I visited.
I will tell you I drove for over an hour to get to my first stop "Luella's" in Rodondo Beach. If you haven't been there, it's well worth the effort to stop by. Luella's is just minutes from the L.A. airport, and is such a beautiful store. They carry over 1,500 bolts of fabric and have the nicest staff led by Luella herself. Make sure to check out their web site HERE.

Margaret's family has a beautiful home in Rancho Santa Margarita, and I have felt very spoiled. The temperature is perfect, and her family has made me feel so welcome.

Right outside the front door is a garden area filled with lush plants.

These little birds are nesting in one of the trees.

I will show you some of the things I have picked up in the last few days.

I found this Jumbo Pom Pom maker to go with my smaller sets. I bought this yarn so I can make pom poms with Margaret's grand daughter Hailey.

I've been looking at "Material Obsession" for months now, and finally broke down and bought it. It helped to be able to use a JoAnns 40% off coupon.

I love every quilt in this book!

Margaret spotted these and said "Look, button fabric!" I'm afraid she has caught my illness.

I saw this one at another store....more button ideas.

I only get fat quarters in my attempt to keep things under control.

Here are my Kaffe purchases from yesterday when we were at "Flying Geese" in Tustin.

Love those Kaffe's!

Tomorrow we will be back visiting more quilt stores. I promise to remember my camera!

*Someone asked me if we were going to attempt all 42 stores on the Run. No....I'll be happy if we even get close to 20. Margaret has a lot of family events while she is here, and the stores are spread out quite far geographically.

So. Cal Quilter's Run

Today is the first day of So. Cal's Quilter's Run. My friend Margaret is originally from Long Beach and was going home for a family event. She mentioned she wanted to visit several quilt stores along the Run, so we made plans to go together.
I'm quite intimidated by the So. Cal freeway system, and since Margaret knows her way around she has been my designated driver. There are 42 shops participating on the Run, that covers 4 regions, all the way from Lancaster down to San Diego.

Our first stop this morning was "Bears Quilt Shop" in Garden Grove.

This shop offered a great selection of Oriental designs.

One Block Wonder designed by Mary Talbot.

Dear Jane Block of the Month.

I keep thinking that someday I am going to make a Dear Jane.

Our next stop was to an absolutely wonderful shop called "LeeAnne's Embroidery/Fun 2 Sew in Fountain Valley. This shop was not on the run, but we wanted to see what their store was like. LeeAnne is a delightful lady, extremely talented in machine embroidery.

Margaret loved this Thomas Kincade wall hanging.

Look at the beautiful colors in the threads.

LeeAnne offers a class to make this beach carrier. A great carry all for beach toys.

LeeAnne said her favorite metallic thread to work with is from Superior Threads.
I'll make sure to pass that information on to Bob and Heather when I go back into work next week.

This ocean scene is in LeeAnne's office.

Wow.

Margaret is very familiar with all the things that can be done with embroidery. Seeing the samples today opened up a whole new world to me.

Our next stop was "Flying Geese Fabric" in Old Town Tustin. Very quaint down town area, and Flying Geese was definitely worth the drive.

They had one of the best selection of Kaffe's I've ever seen. I had to pick up a few for my Kaffe Collection.

"Siena's Garden" by Susan Manion, one of the owners of Flying Geese.

I purchased this pattern, and want to make it up in some of the Kaffe's I got today.

Another quilt made with Kaffe's.

You know how I love his fabrics.

Margaret had family activities this afternoon, so that was all the stores we could visit today.

Tomorrow she will be going to Disneyland with her son and grandchildren, and is leaving me the car.

I'm going to brave the crazy L.A. freeway system and drive up the coast by myself to visit a few more shops.

I'm kinda nervous... wish me luck!

Sherri's Blogiversary

My friend Sherri of A Quilting Life is having a Give Away for her first Blogiversary!

Sherri has CUTE STUFF. Make sure to run over and sign up!

*I arrived this evening in Southern California, and will be doing the So. Cal Quilt Run with my friend Margaret for the next few days. I promise to take lots and lots of pictures!