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I ran across a quote in my DayPlanner today that gave me pause reflection. This happens from time to time. : )

The quote by David Mahoney:
Our heroes are those…who…act above and beyond the call of duty and in so doing give definition to patriotism and elevate all of us…America is the land of the free because we are home of the brave.

The following is a list of those men in my life; those who protected our freedom and those who blazed a trail for our freedom.

Floyd Earl Williamson, WWII – Army, my Father
Robert G. Williamson, WWII – Navy, Korea, Viet Nam, my Uncle
Joseph L. Williamson, WWII – Navy, my Uncle
Arthur V. Williamson, WWII – Air Corp., my Uncle
Jimmy Tamone, Korea – Army, my Cousin
Gerald J. Williamson, Viet Nam, Navy, my Cousin
Adam Estep, Operation Iraqi Freedom – Army, Family Friend

John Jacob Rector, German Immigrant, 1713, Grandfather
Hugh Williamson, Wales Immigrant, 1716, Grandfather
Mack Carroll, Cherokee, NC to Illinois, Grandfather
Manuel Quintal, Portuguese Immigrant to Hawaii, 1884, Grandfather
Agostino DeMartini, Italian Immigrant to San Francisco, 1876, Grandfather
Manuel Ferreira, Portuguese Immigrant to Hawaii, 1884, Grandfather
Warren Smith, Pioneer – Illinois to Utah, Husband’s Grandfather
William Cooke Mitchell, Sr. – England Immigrant, 1840, Husband’s Grandfather
William Cooke MItchell, Jr. – England Immigrant, 1840, Husband’s Grandfather
Robert Ewing Miller – Scottish Immigrant, 1840, Husband’s Grandfather

Today, this 4th of July, I remember my men and pay tribute to them.

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I thought I’d take time for a commercial break, of sorts. I hope you enjoy the useful information in this show.

Quilter

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Our Uncle Joe’s funeral took my sister, Judie, and me to Redding, CA.

Here is the picture of “the little Williamson girls” (not so little anymore), as we were always being photographed.
from l-r: Kim, Peggy, (kneeling) Sharon, Gail, me, Norma and Judie.

Never to miss an opportunity to find a great quilt shop, there was one exactly one block away from our hotel! Sew Simple is one of THE best quilt shops I have had the privilege to visit.

Doesn’t this look like a great place to shop?

Visit Sew Simple’s website at sewsimplebernina.com.

Further south, here are the highlights of our trip to Disneyland:

How would you like to be in this every day? Bumper-to-bumper at 2:00 p.m. Actually, it doesn’t matter what time of day it is, it always looks like a parking lot.

Happy campers

Quilts around Disneyland:

At Splash Mountain

at the Women’s shop in Frontierland

at Toon Town, on the interminable queue for “Gadget’s Go-coaster”

Other inspirations for Quilts:

Leaf tile in the concrete at the Winnie the Pooh ride

Tile pattern in the Women’s restroom in Frontierland — cool, huh?

One of the speaker towers by “It’s a Small World” — see the nine patch?

Another one — inspiration everywhere you look!

Pretty applique

Then some fun shots:

Ryan, playing Pharaoh

Space-ranger Guy, ready for launch… I mean, lunch.

Kirsten, cooling her heels. The restaurant looks as packed as HWY 5, doesn’t it?

Who is that boy behind the Foster-Grants?

Let’s eat! Watson’s yummy chicken salad sandwich and curly fries. Mmmm good!

Watson’s Drug and Soda Fountain, a real Movie Star.

Recommendations for Good Eats:

Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant and Take Out — Yummy chicken. They also have boysenberry punch.

Islands Gourmet Burgers

The Orange County Institution, if you’re visiting for the first time, you have to visit In-and -Out Burger at least once. If you’re lucky, you have one where you live. Nothing like it, anywhere.

Close encounters of the Quilting Kind… opportunities to shop in Orange County:

Cozy Cottage Fabrics in BreaThere is an Islands Burger very close to Cozy Cottage. Shop, then eat!

Leah’s Fabric Gallery They don’t have their own website, but the link will get you location information.

The Tall Mouse One of my favorite stores — feeds all of my crafty needs. They are a craft store with a marvelous quilting department. Similar to Michael’s or JoAnn’s in what they offer, but that’s where the similarity stops. They have first quality fabrics, not the leftovers.

M&L FabricsWarehouse-style shopping with flat-fold bargains galore.

OOOPS!!!

Thanks to Carol Brawn for reminding me that I needed to put the link up for WRBQ Quilter’s Guide and Directory. Here you go!

Thanks for tuning in! More roadtrip to come!

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My dear friend, Gwen Harl, invites me to come to her 3rd Grade classroom and share my quilts at the end of the year, when they are finished discussing quilts along with reading “The Keeping Quilt” by Patricia Pollocco. It is so much fun — the kids are like little sponges and love to see the quilts and hear the stories.

I hope you’ll enjoy listening to the presentation. You’ll be able to hear the interaction with the kids, which is precious.

Here are the pictures which correspond with the presentation:

Kirsten’s baby quilt, made 26 years ago.

Robin’s Dog quilt, a substitute for the real thing.

Ryan’s “All Hearts Come Home for Christmas” quilt.

Picking the right block on the Sampler Quilt, also known as “American Stars and Bars”.

The back of Stars and Bars, using Columbus celebratory fabric (1992) and 9-11 (2002 release) tribute fabric. Wow, until now I didn’t realize the ironic symbolism between the two fabrics. I thought it was a neat way to date how long it took the quilt to be completed.

The Dresden Plate quilt, completely constructed by hand at Robin’s baseball games. I began this quilt two years ago, and picked it back up again this season. I will add the final two borders at Robin’s game today, and then it will be ready for hand basting and hand quilting. I have to admit that I have been really excited about this process. It started out with a Fat Quarter pack of eight fabrics that were just beautiful together. I knew that I wanted to do something very special with it and chose the Dresden Plate, because the antique nature of the block blended so well with the reproduction fabrics.

I can’t wait to get it finished!

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Interviews from the Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar. Each of these ladies are fabulous quilters in their own right and I stand in amazement of each of them. The time spent with each quilter is precious to me and I loved getting to know them better — I hope you will too.

The first interview is with Emma Allebes, of Fair Oaks, California. Emma was the Artist in Residence at the Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA that I attended.

Emma is a quilter and Wearable Arts designer extraordinaire, with multiple years of incredible talent and honors under her embellished “belt”. I have a great amount of respect and awe for Emma and her creative gifts.
We were lucky enough to have her as our Guest Speaker at the “A Bountiful Harvest” Quilt show in 2004 where Emma wowed a standing-room-only audience.

A picture of Emma with classmate Susie Hardy.

Emma’s Taxi Ensemble at the quilt show.

Emma’s amazing talent includes copious beading on her garments and quilts. Emma has had beads and buttons made for her for her projects. Emma’s Taxi pants are pieced in 1″ squares — yep, for real — that is not printed material!

My very favorite quilt of Emma’s, “Deseret”, which means “honey bee” in Hebrew. The back of this quilt is covered with black netting that has an octagon shape, and with bee appliques. Emmas quilts with a double thread so the quilting really shows. Like I said, her talent is amazing!

Emma will be a part of the River City Quilters Open Studio the first weekend in June. If you’re in the area, check it out — you will not be disappointed in Emma’s studio! For more information, go to River City Quilt Guild.

Here is the full interview with Emma:

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jan Krentz at the eye-popping hour of 7:00 a.m. on a beautiful sunny morning. Since Jan was teaching, we had to get the interview in early. We met in the Lodge, which was designed by the fabulous architect, Julia Morgan (Hearst Castle). Unfortunately, you’ll be able to hear a door slamming over and over again, as people came in to get their morning coffees — a little frustrating in post-editing.

Jan in her element, teaching, with her students looking on.

Here is the full, unedited interview with Jan:

Visit Jan’s website at Jan Krentz.com. Jan may be in your area soon!

Next is my interview with Barbara Olson, an incredibly talented art quilter. Barbara talks about her quilt “In the Beginning” which was chosen as one of “The 20th Century’s 100 Best American Quilts” and subsequently purchased by Quilts, Inc. Now can you see why I was so awestruck when I interviewed Barbara?

Here is the full, unedited interview with Barbara:

Visit Barbara’s website at Barbara Olson Quilt Art.

Barbara and me in the main room of Lodge house.

Peggy Martin is the next interview where she talks about her book, “Quick-Strip Paper Piecing” and teaching at Asilomar in August. By the way, there is still space in her class! Don’t hesitate.

Peggy with her San Diego Firestorm quilt.

Here is the full, unedited interview with Peggy:

Don’t forget to visit Peggy’s website for more information about her and her process. Go to Peggy Martin.

Last but not least, is my interview with Betty Alofs – exceptional Pictorial Art quilter. When you visit Betty’s website Betty Alofs.com, you’ll realize that you have seen her quilts before. It could be because she has been a guest on “Simply Quilts” and “America Quilts Creatively”, or that you’ve seen her patterns in your favorite quilt shop. Betty is going to be an Artist in Residence at Asilomar next year.

Here is Betty with her quilt “You’ve Got Mail” — Betty gets her inspiration from many sources. The inspiration for this quilt was found on a country road near Betty’s home.

Empty Spools Seminar’s 2007 schedule will be available online in June. To view it, go to Empty Spools Seminars brochure.

Finally, I want to post some pictures that I took at Asilomar that make my experience there very memorable. I hope the pictures, along with the interviews with Emma, Jan, Barbara, Peggy and Betty will inspire and tempt you to attend an Empty Spools Seminar in the future. Everyone agrees, once you attend, you’re hooked!

Asilomar Sunset…after a particularly rainy day. What a gift this sunset was! It included a double rainbow.

My sewing area in the classroom with Sue Nickels and Pat Holly — five days of bliss.

Priscilla and me. I met Priscilla the first time we both attended Asilomar. What a pleasure to be in class with her again.

Sue and Pat’s class at Asilomar. We all agreed that it was the best class ever.

Thank you for being patient with me — and for the email and prayers for my sister, Susan. Quilters truly are the best people on earth!

Quilting Stash fans,

Best laid plans sometimes don’t get hatched when you plan. Such is the case this week, as I raced to get the interviews from Asilomar up for your listening pleasure, without success. On the heels of my Uncle Joe’s funeral, my sister Susan had an emergency Angiogram today, which turned into an Angioplasty. As you read this, I will be on my way to southern California to see her.

I’ll be back on the 15th, if all goes well, and will hop back in the saddle. Sorry for the delay — as with all good things, it’s worth the wait. And thanks for being wonderful patient friends!

Annie

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This is the show to catch-you-up on what I’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks.

Apologies for the noisy background (once again). I am reorganizing my quilt space and I can’t currently get to my computer – or anything else for that matter!

Featured in this Podcast:
Quilt Chipper – A National Quilt Identity System and Registry
New OLFA

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This is the “First Birthday of Quilting Stash” program — complete with a LIVE Quilting Studio audience. Ok, it’s my family… but we do have fun (and surprises for me) doing this show.

Thank you, thank you, to all of you who made contributions for this show. It’s so fun to hear Your voice!

Check out Len and Nora’s podcast, Jawbone Radio. They are truly Podcast Pioneers and have been around longer than I have. Very talented and very funny.

Here’s a picture of the celebratory cake:

…made by Kirsten. She’s talented, too!

The top Five Quilting Stash Podcasts:
Tied for #1. Quilt shopping for Kirsten’s Birthday and Interview with my son, Ryan and his fiance, Karen
2. Interview with the boy wonder, Robin
3. Round Robin Quilts and interview with Paul and Rae Ann Merrill of Gig Harbor WA.
4. #14/15/16 about Being a good Teacher
5. Soundseeing tour of one of my favorite quilt shops, Corn Wagon Quilt Co. in Springville, Utah.

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An interview with Tracey Brookshier of Capitola, California.

Tracey with her most famous “Bento Box” quilt.

I’ve been waiting to interview Tracey for awhile and am happy to present this interview to you.

For more information on Tracey and her quilts, visit her website at www.traceybrookshier.com.

Robin Williams book, The Non-Designers Design Book, for those who are interested in learning design and layout for pattern publishing, can be found at Amazon.com.

Susan Else’s website and soft sculpture

Tracey’s current Quilt Challenge Australia can be found in the gallery at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove, California.

Tracey is a pattern publisher, and if you have a pattern that you would like to have Tracey consider for her publishing company, feel free to contact her via her website.