Lecture at Quilters By the Bay

On Wednesday evening I presented my trunk show for the Quilters By the Bay in University Place near Tacoma. They are a small but active group. It was nice to be able to drive – I could take more quilts to share including several large ones that I can’t carry when I go out of state to teach. I was so excited that one of the ladies brought a beautiful Bargello block quilt to show me. Here is Delores Slingerland with her quilt, Buggy Barn with a Twist.

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Delores took my Bargello Quilts with a Twist class when I taught at the Gig Harbor Quilt Festival three or four years ago. She used Buggy Barn fabric, their ice and mocha line and based the design on my quilt, Savannah Sunrise, shown below. What fun to see this quilt in such a different color way. Thanks to Delores for sharing her work.

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The meeting took place in the Pierce County Environmental Services Building, a beautiful facility on the bluff overlooking the Puget Sound. Half way through the lecture, I told the ladies to turn around and look at the sunset because it was so spectacular. To get to University Place, I drove over the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge, a huge suspension bridge spanning the Puget Sound Narrows. Here’s a view of the bridge from Titlow Park, where I had a picnic before the meeting.

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Trip to Forks, WA

I love teaching and a benefit of traveling to teach is that I have the opportunity to visit a variety of places. I’m always interested in seeing the local sights, especially places of outstanding natural beauty, gardens and art museums.

In my last blog I told you about the class I taught in Forks. Now I’ll share some photos of the area. The Washington coast is spectacular and one of my favorite places, La Push Beach #2, is close to Forks. It’s a real treat to go there. After a rainy Saturday when I was teaching, Sunday morning was bright and sunny, and I took a hike – 20 minutes through the woods to Beach #2.

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The high tide mark is covered in massive logs, which during heavy storms are tossed about and can be quite dangerous. I was there at low tide and scrambled over the logs onto the beautiful sandy beach where I peeled off my hiking boots and socks for a cold paddle in the Pacific Ocean. Here’s the view with my feet in the water. I love the reflections.

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Now the view looking down the beach in the other direction. As you can see, the light was spectacular and enhanced this truly magical place.

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After my fix of the Pacific, I set off for home. Highway 101 skirts Crescent Lake for about 10 miles. At the head of the lake, I couldn’t resist stopping to take some photos. The tops of the hills had a dusting of fresh snow and it was so pretty.

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The annual precipitation is high here, (around 100″ in Forks), and the branches of the trees in this temperate rain-forest are covered in mossy blankets.

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