A Train Trip

My friends Sheila, Sandy, Torre(from left to right) and I took a train trip on the Metrolink to San Juan Capistrano. It's a coastal town near Oceanside and a delightful getaway on what proved to be a "hot" (107) day in Riverside. We took the 10am train and arrived just in time for lunch. Then after the delicious meal at Sarducci's - they're at the train depot - we set off for the Mission San Juan Capistrano (you know the one where the swallows come back every March 19th?). It was just a couple of blocks away from the station. This is the seventh mission of 21 missions along the Camino Real built in the 1700s.

Here on the left is what you see when you enter - the outer courtyard. On right is what remains of then the largest church west of the Mississippi - there was a huge earthquake in 1812 which brought down the Jewel of the Missions. Parts have since been restored from 1982 -present. There was a lot to see as the last time I was there much was cordoned off, so it was a treat to return and see so much of the mission now. We spent almost two hours touring it and visiting the exhibits. There was a fun one for me called Zorro Unmasked - one of my favorite characters. They had excerpts from the Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Powers, Guy Williams, and Antonio Banderas films, costumes, and lots of ephemera - Great! Another exhibit were of plein aire paintings of California.

There were some lovely fountains with waterlilies and Koi and others without.

Beautiful gardens amid the working stations at the mission.

 

We saw the St Francis Chapel, the cemetery, the gift shop, the barracks, the kitchens, the library, the winery, the curing vats, a native plant garden, an Indian home and lots more.  What was great was they had an audio tour for visitors, free, with the price of admission.  I was happy to pay for the low admission as  proceeds go toward the maintenance and upkeep of the mission. We then visited the Basilica next door and tourerd the quaint shops in town before heading home.  A great day! I plan to go back soon and take my Mom.                                                

When Needs Must....

I'm slowly assembling a set of Shop Hop blocks that my daughter's mother-in-law (thanks, Gail) brought me this summer.  The one I was working on was a spider web pattern and you needed to cut the segments into  60 degrees triangles.  Somehow I used the wrong ruler and came up with an octogon -LOL, and since I didn't  catch it until I was trying to assemble the block --Yikes!.  Got to remember that saying:  Measure twice, cut once.  With no extra material, I had to fix it or go missing a block.  So I assembled 4 segments and cut a straight diameter, did the same with the 4 others, and sewed the two sections together.  Then I got a piece of paper and placed the octogon on top of it and drew the shape of it.  I then cut out each piece around the shape in the background and got this.  It was only after I ironed it that I noticed one piece was wrong side out.  Well it stays that way now!  Putting the ruler over it to cut out a 8 1/2" square I saw I had to add a few more pieces to have enough background to do so.  Good thing I've made a ton of crumb blocks - that experience came in handy for this one.  So I finally cut it and came up with the block.  It ain't perfect, and isn't exactly centered (something I forgot to do when I was

drawing the paper pattern), but now I feel I just may

be able to attempt a Ruth McDowell block. I look forward to that!

PS:  you'll see this and others on my Design wall next monday.

Design Wall Monday 8/23

Actually, this is coming off my design wall as I finally appliqued the border, sandwiched it, and quilted it.  Here is my new Koi Fish Bowl which I first put up on the wall on 8/2.  This was a Connecting Threads kit I got a few years ago and so it is UFO#14 done.  Dang, I have to learn to make better circles.  Someone said to use avery circle labels - I'll have to look into that, otherwise, I'm happy with it.  I'll have it out in October as it is the right colors even though I am not a "Halloween" person myself.  You can't see it, but the border lines are completed by the quilting - I repeated the corners with just quilting lines duplicating the curve of the bias line.  And here's the back:

There's a short story about it.  I bought the material at a yard sale.  Found it in a pile of clothes - it was a scrubs top.  I liked the fabric so much I went ahead and bought the top for 25 cents.  The back was just the right size for this project which happens to be 18" square.  I like both sides of this one.