Super fun, full visit to the Santa Clara Valley Quilter’s Association

Last week’s visit to the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association in the San Jose area was memorable with a very enthusiastic response, a fun workshop and an eventful trip to the Central Coast of California.

This was a car trip for me and it is nice to be able to bring every single thing I want. My trunk was full of quilts, teaching materials and goodies. The drive down was spectacular with the wide horizon filled with verdant hills, puffy clouds and landscapes ranging from hills to coast, ocean and farm land. I arrived to claim my hotel room with plenty of time left to explore.

Okay, I don’t normally take photos of hotel bathrooms but this one was notable. The hotel itself was a bit quirky but this spacious marble bath was exquisite! It ain’t always this way folks…

The SCVQA is a huge guild with almost 500 members, yet it was very friendly and welcoming and vibrant. I was delighted with the response from the group and they get in some Very Big Names! It is so affirming when the guild enjoys your work.

There was a lot of interest in Morning Breeze and I fielded a lot of questions. So many quilters think that this kind of work must be from a long arm. I so want to encourage domestic sit down quilters that they can quilt just about anything they want!

It was a morning lecture so we had the afternoon off. Joni, the Program Chair, and I took off for a lovely drive to Pacific Grove/Monterey for the afternoon. I got to be a passenger and enjoyed the ride. Somehow I fell asleep and I NEVER do that-it was embarrassing.

We hit the Monday Farmer’s Market with a fun selection of goodies, interesting people and fabulous views.

A side yard of one of the homes-isn’t this just adorable? Those Hen ‘n Chicks are dinner plate sized!!

On to Back Porch Fabric, an iconic quilt shop that among other things, serves the students and faculty at the Empty Spool Seminars. Oh what a shop! Silly me I did not get photos of the shop itself, but I did get photos of the quilts in this month’s gallery:

And what a treat to see the books of friends featured:

And a lovely drive back with the sun setting on the hills–ahhhh. Joni knows how to show a girl a good time.

Next day it was a full workshop of Fearless Fills and Frills. What fun we had!

At 87 Chuck is one of my oldest students. He works on a Featherweight and does amazing work including some spectacular thread painting. He had to leave class early to pick up his girlfriend:-) This thing I do is so stinkin’ fun sometimes!

I’ll be linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday. Really, check out the links-there is some really good work there.