Seattle Adventure - Day Four

On Friday morning, we grabbed some coffee to go and hit the road by 8:00 am.  The coastal weather was overcast and a bit foggy ... adding to the adventure!

It was a beautiful drive from Bainbridge to Port Gamble.  This community is a national historic landmark that has been well maintained.

The General Store houses a museum and restaurant, where we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast!

After we'd eaten, we went to the local Post Office and mailed home all the purchases we had made thus far on this dillydally excursion!  It is going to feel like Christmas when we get home!  I fell in love with this elderberry tree ... so just had to take a picture of it! ;-)

Our first shop in Port Gamble was a weaving studio called The Artful Ewe II.  There were hand woven gifts for sale and  several looms available for students.  We loved how the building had been restored and was being repurposed ... this studio used to be a garage!

 The next stop on our stroll was The Artful Ewe.

We fell in love with this shop before we even opened the door!  Total cuteness!

Oh. My. Gosh. Good. Golly!  We found ourselves in hand-dyed heaven!

Lucky us, artist and owner Heidi Dascher only has the retail portion of the studio open Friday through Sunday!  We are so grateful we chose to visit on a Friday!  Everything was piled high with her beautiful yarn!  Plus ... she allowed pictures to be taken!  

See that huge ball of yarn in the center of this photo ... it holds 10,830 yards (hope I remembered the amount correctly) of wonderfulness!  Heidi is such a warm and personable yarn artist!  That charisma is reflected in every square inch of her studio!  We had so much fun visiting with her ... she was so generous with her talent and insight.

Valerie decided to bury herself in all of this wool goodness!  We both bought ourselves lace weight yarn for a scarf!  Heidi's yarn is as beautiful as she is kind ... we'll remain loyal fans!  Such fun!  So inspiring!

When we left The Artful Ewe, we crossed the street and look at what we saw on the other side of the park?  The reason we came to Port Gamble ... Quilted Strait!

The Quilted Strait shop was featured as an American Patchwork & Quilting's Top Ten Shop in 2012.  It is wonderful!  Apparently it was my turn to sign up for a BOM on this day ... it is a wool appliqué project ... you can see it here.  I love seasonal or themed projects ... this one really tugged on my heart strings ... so I signed up!  Living on a whim ... it is the dillydally way!

The shop has a fantastic classroom.  We didn't want to be nosy or interrupt but we could see that they were working on wool appliqué.  While checking out we asked about the class ... and nearly fainted when the women said that it was a class being taught by Kim Diehl.  I said, "Do you mean THE Kim Diehl?"  YES!  The Quilt Rock Star KIM DIEHL was there!  Teaching!  And we missed it!  Had this been a planned and researched trip ... we would have been in that classroom!

Our time in Port Gamble was wonderful in every way.  Am so happy we traveled there and plan to return some time ... I will definitely plan ahead and spend an entire day ... or more! ;-)

Our next stop ... Poulsbo ... also referred to as "Little Norway" ... yep, lots of my "peoples" live here! ;-) We had lunch that included the best clam chowder ... ever!  Then we were off to Heirloom Quilts and Fabrics!

When we walked in and saw this quilt ... my heart stopped!  Valerie (our local hand appliqué guru) nearly fainted!  It was so incredible that the world stopped turning!

A staff member explained to us that it was the local guild's raffle quilt.  Several different members made the individual blocks!  What an extremely talented guild!  We both bought tickets ... several tickets!

Look. At. This!!!  After explaining the raffle quilt and the guild's 2014 quilt show ... she shared with us a project she was working on!  I put the bic pen on it so you could see just how tiny those hand appliqué pieces are!  This woman was so kind and inspiring ... she made our visit to Heirloom Quilts enjoyable in everyway!

Couldn't leave Poulsbo without taking a picture of the Sons of Norway Lodge!  What a wonderful and inspiring day we had!  We met exceptional people ... found inspiring talent ... and participated in retail therapy! ;-)  Love my dillydally life!

Do what you love.  Explore.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

Seattle Adventure - Day Three

The ferry ride to Bainbridge Island was delightful.  It is a short (by Alaska standards) 25 minute cruise. ;-)  Our plan was to relax and spend two nights in Bainbridge ... there are three outstanding places we wanted to visit on the island!

Our first stop Thursday morning was the studio of McKenna Ryan!  Both Valerie and I are big fans of her quilt designs and have done several of her quilt patterns.  Valerie has done more than I have ... so not only is she the "Hand Appliqué Guru" ... she is also the "McKenna Ryan Queen" ... yep, a woman of many talents!  ;-)

The studio is beautiful ... inside and out!  All the samples inside are originals ... patterns and kits are available ... and so are fat quarters and some yardage!  I cannot begin to describe how inspiring it is to walk into a building with all of her designs on display ... heart stopping!

There were baskets of fabric odds and ends ... customers can fill a bag!  How fun!  Yep ... a bit of dillydally heaven!  Considering the treasures we found ... the chunk of change we left ... ;-) ... we qualify as McKenna's "new best friends"!  We found out that she will be moving her studio to Portland in the near future ... so I've already put this studio on the agenda for the Oregon Shop Hop in 2015!

Our next stop was Churchmouse Yarns & Teas!  We both love and appreciate their patterns!  Our local yarn shop, The Net Loft, carries their designs ... so that made an actual visit all the more special!

After a lovely lunch of fresh, organic and locally grown greens and vegetables, we were ready to visit the local quilt shop in Bainbridge, Esther's Fabrics.  I love how they had fabric samples displayed outside the shop entrance ... it really gave a taste of the atmosphere in the shop!  We found it full of unusual fabrics, unique patterns and notions, and extremely wonderful staff!  What a winning combination!

This quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted by one of their local customers.

The quilter had collected most of the star fabrics while traveling in France.  It was amazing!  The staff told us that the quilter who made it was currently traveling on vacation, but would get the pattern information for us!  The customer service at Esther's Fabrics was excellent.  You left feeling as though you had made friends ... just wonderful!

There is so much to see and do on Bainbridge Island ... it is a lovely place.

The view of the Seattle skyline from the island ... gosh, a person could get used to this!  I would love to visit the island again ... I definitely want Mr. DD to come along ... he would enjoy it too!

Do what you love.  Visit new places.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

Seattle Adventure - Day Two!

Wednesday morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and hit the road!  I am driving and Valerie is "The Navigator".  Thank heavens for an IPad, IPhone, and QBee Valerie!  Doing this alone would have been much more difficult.

Our first stop of the day was QuiltWorks Northwest!  It had something for everyone!  Their classrooms were wonderful ... one classroom was busy and in progress ... oh ... how Val and I wanted to join in! The staff was terrific!  At one point, I thought I had lost my camera ... a woman working there ran around helping us look for it ... and then I realized it was in my pants pocket!  How embarrassing!  The clerk gave me a big hug, and said kind things to smooth over my silliness ... so sweet of her!  I tell you ... sometimes I can be quite the dillydally ding dong!  ;-)

Next we found our way to Gathering Fabric Quilt Shop!  What a perfect name ... because that is exactly what I do ... collect and gather fabric!  Here I found many treasures ... as did Valerie!  She will be participating in an appliqué block of the month using French General fabrics!  I cannot wait to see her progress ... it will be amazing!  This shop was very inspiring!

Next we were off to Country Village.  We were hungry after all the fun and inspiration ...

 ... and enjoyed a lunch of delicious sandwiches with rhubarb iced tea!  We thought it such a hoot that one of the sandwiches was served like a pinwheel quilt block!  Too fun!  A lovely lunch in the sun was just what we needed before visiting the next shop!

We were so excited to visit Keepsake Cottage Fabrics!  It was featured as a Top Quilt Shop by American Patchwork and Quilting last fall!

It was just like it had been featured in the magazine!  All kinds of fabric and inspiration!  More than any quilter can absorb in one visit ... so yep ... you can bet that one day ... we'll be back!

We survived rush hour traffic and drove into downtown Seattle in order to catch the ferry to our next destination ... Bainbridge Island!

As we left Seattle ... we were grateful for the fun we had enjoyed.  It had been a perfect dillydally day!

Do what you love.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. Ding Dong

Happy flowers at Country Village!

A Dillydally Adventure - Day One!

First ... a bit of back story!  After our Minnesota Shop Hop trip in 2011, the QBees (that includes me) decided that every other year we would do a shop hop of some kind!  Our favorite type of quilt vacation!

When QBee Julie moved to Washington 18 months ago, we decided that she would host our next QBee adventure during their shop hop.  Julie has been busy planning ... and we've all been sew excited!  She has planned 10 days of complete QBee fun!

But life happens ... for example ... little girls who used to pick wild flowers and wear pink boots ... grow up, go to college, and build careers.

Sister DillyDally accepted a new job and has moved to San Francisco!  Living in a new city ... managing a new job ... plus other circumstances the alignment of the stars ... made it only possible to visit her the same week Julie planned the Shop Hop!  Children trump everything in our lives, so there was no question ... of course I will miss the QBee trip.  When you can only travel once a year to see your children ... that time with them is all that matters.

Of course I was disappointed to have to miss all the fun Julie had planned ... the QBees are sure to have a great time!  Mr. DillyDally and friends encouraged me to take a few extra days to give myself a little dillydally vacation!  They didn't have to twist my arm very much ... I was ready to spend some time in this lady's hometown!  I agreed and made the decision to take a few days and explore the Seattle area!

QBee Valerie decided to change the dates she was traveling to visit her daughter and chose to join me!  How incredible is that?  I didn't have to dillydally alone!

We flew to Seattle on June 11th!  Valerie worked on her hexes!

I worked on a hand appliqué block!  What fun to dillydally with a QBee while in flight!   Stay tuned for updates on our dillydally adventures!

Do what you love.  Seek adventure.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

First Week of Summer in Dillydallydom!

Bits and pieces of this week ... the first week of summer.

Monday ... hand appliqué class ... adding new abilities to the dillydally repertoire!  Hey!  It is the dillydally way!

Summer 2012 - Their new home in Oregon

Tuesday ... a day of mixed emotions.  Thorne and I taught together for 25 years ... Clara and Mr. DillyDally were bankers together for 20 years.  We worked, played, and built our lives together ... through happy and hard times.  I prepared a prime rib dinner for them and others as we said our good byes and celebrated their new life in Oregon!  We are so happy for them as they build new lives ... but ... my ... how we will miss them.

Wednesday was all about home security ... apparently Flicka is our Dillydally Homeland Security Department!  Monsters live in our home ... who knew?  Did you know... kitchen rugs are really wild beasts that must be tamed daily!  

Every morning while I shower ... Flicka balances herself on the curtain rod ... making sure no one is peeking in the window!  See how her weight has bent the curtain rod?

This is the signal for "all clear"!  The sign that all is safe in dillydallydom!  Whew!  What a relief!  Now life can return to normal ... whatever normal is?  So silly ... too fun ... my little fur ball.

Thursday ... a beautiful day!  And most of the leaves have finally come out from hiding!

A former student came to visit with her infant son, Austin.  Flicka was very curious and a bit confused. She had no idea that humans came in this size ... so funny!  What treasures this handsome little man and his mama are ... I was so touched by their visit.

Thursday evening was all about relaxing.  Flicka in her favorite chair with her quilt ...

... Brother DillyDally on the front deck with a book!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset ... at 11:30 pm ... one of the things I love most about this time of year!

Friday was all about baking the birthday cake ...

... and making a "Golden Delicious" sewing kit!

On Saturday I had an appointment with Mr. Clean.  He and I accomplished our mission successfully.

Next on the agenda was sorting through and organizing the fabric stash.  Flicka was in charge or protecting the 2 inch strips.

Oh-oh ... someone fell asleep on the job.  And those strips are about to fall on the floor ... I need to hire better help! ;-)

Today (Sunday), Mr. DD, Kysa and I went for a hike.

We went to Sheridan Glacier.

Such a beautiful day for a hike.  Kysa patiently waits for us to catch up with her.  The leaves haven't yet arrived here...

... but in a week or two it will be green and the wild lupine will be in full bloom!

What a view!  Am so happy to take a hike that would have been impossible for me last year at this time.  It feels so good to see and feel progress ... nothing beats the feeling of moving forward!

It was a great first week of summer.  My wish for us all ... another wonderful, busy, crazy, and somewhat productive week!  Summer time ... am loving my dillydally life!

Do what you love.  Love your life.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally