No, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the earth. We just flew across country last week so I could put my tiptoes on the edge of the earth and look out over the sweet Pacific Ocean. What a treat! I was invited to go to California to speak and teach at two different guilds.
The first guild was Pajaro Valley Quilt Association (www.pvqa.org) in Aptos, California. I had so much fun with that group that I completely forgot to take pictures at the workshop on the first day.
The next day, Jaimie played tour guide at brought us to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park so we could see the big redwood trees. It was freezing cold that morning, so we just walked the main loop so we could see some of the oldest and biggest trees. They are so HUGE! If you’ve never seen one, it’s hard to even grasp how big they are. The ones on this particular trail are up to 16 feet diameter, 300 feet tall, and 1800 years old. Simply amazing. (And there are even taller ones north of San Francisco, which we did not see.)
Next we drove along the coast on Highway 1 for a while. We stopped at Natural Bridges State Beach. I couldn’t quite get to a vantage point where I could see through the last remaining arch, but the scenery was so beautiful we didn’t mind. The opening is in the shadowed area on the rock that is on the left. Afterwards, we were treated to a fabulous lunch right on the coastline so we could enjoy the ocean a bit longer. In the evening, I had the privilege of speaking to the entire guild on one of my favorite subjects: experimenting!
If you are within driving distance of Santa Cruz, you might want to go to Pajaro Valley Quilt Association’s quilt show on February 23 and 24. From what I saw while I was at their guild, it should be a terrific show.