Auburn

Auburn Flowering Tree
Auburn Flowering Tree

My DH is on the board of an organization that supports California history. Their charitable foundation supports efforts to repair of craniofacial deformities (such as Cleft Palette- click to find the donation form, even $5 helps a kid). Mostly he goes off to different places around the state and looks official, kisses babies and shakes hands while I stay home and deal with the Young Man or laundry or sew. [Not so much baby kissing really goes on. I am trying to be funny, but you get the idea. 😉  ] When I do attend, the events can be challenging for me, because I don’t attend many and have to work hard to remember people’s names, smile and be sparkling.

About two weeks ago, DH asked me if I wanted to go with him to an event and I said no. Give up a whole day of sewing? Forget it. He said we could go to quilt shops, which was unusual and caught my attention. I thought about it for a few days and decided to go. We have been running past each other for several weeks, kissing each other while one of us is on the way out the door to work or another meeting or to drive the Young Man somewhere. I thought it would be nice to spend some time with him and maybe catch up on discussing stuff about the house, life etc. Also, this time of year is gorgeous in the Gold Country.

Flowering Snowball Corner
Flowering Snowball Corner

I decided to go, so Friday night (after mind-prepping all week), I prepared some of the border pieces for the Flowering Snowball. I only have the border left to make to complete this quilt and, since I am a terrible, nervous passenger while riding in the car, it is a good time to hand piece. I cut boatloads of patches, but only finished this one block. Unfortunately, the ride back was too dark to piece. It doesn’t matter. One block is great and as soon as I finish the Stars for San Bruno #3 binding, I will have a lot of hand work I can do while watching TV when the boys are out.

As an added bonus, the hand piecing enabled me to chalk up my 15 minutes of sewing in for Scientific Quilter‘s 15 Minutes a Day Challenge (#mal15 on Twitter). As another added bonus, I got back in the groove to finish this project in the not too distant future.

Auburn Big Flower
Auburn Big Flower

As expected, the drive was beautiful and not too long on the way up (on the way back, we were both tired, it was too dark to sew and neither of us could gather the energy to talk much, though I tried since DH was driving and sleeping while driving isn’t very successful, usually). Auburn is about 2 hours away from us. My normally quiet and mild mannered, easy going DH becomes a speed demon on the road, which is entertaining when I think about it objectively. We all need to let loose sometimes.

We participated in an event at noon and then went to lunch with some of the other board members and their wives. I always get the question about why I don’t show up more so I give my standard “In order for my DH to attend the events that he does, I need to stay home and manage the Young Man.” Of course, this line is delivered with a sparkling sorority smile and the right amount of humbleness and apology. 😉 This time one of the other wives who has taken a shine to me, said it for me. I was thrilled. She has, apparently, taken a shine to me and actually remembers what it was like to have kids at home. In terms of age, the organization skews older. Many of the men are retired. I know they forget what it was like to have to work and drive kids around to soccer, Scouts, tennis, Quiz Bowl, to hang out with friends, etc.

After the lunch, we walked around to try and find a quilt store (DH was quite insistent), but it turned out that they had gone out of business. I wasn’t very enthusiastic, but he insisted that I look for another one. I found one called Howell’s Sew and Vac.Their quilt shop quality fabric is on $5.99 a yard! They don’t have much, but the woman at the counter said that she was trying to slowly ad more. They had an interesting selection of rulers. I bought a half diamond ruler. Aside from the fact that I am a ruler sucker, this ruler would have been really handy for FOTY 2010 and the Renewed Jelly Roll Race. I wasn’t planning on making another diamond quilt, but if I do, I will be ready. I wasn’t really in the mood to buy fabric. Shocking, I know, but there you have it.

It looks like Howell’s is trying to make up the void left by the other quilt shop. I hope they succeed. The shop looks like a normal Sew and Vac type shop, but there is plenty of parking and I think they could really create a community there.

We also looked at a few antique stores, but didn’t see anything of interest. i lookf or Desert Rose china for my aunt and SIL. I look for my silver pattern and interesting sewing machines and implements. I don’t want to collect sewing machines, but you never know. There was a pink Necchi for sale at one, which made me think of Darla the Scientific Quilter and her recent Necchi adventures.

The flowering trees were wonderful. In case you hadn’t noticed, I love flowering trees. It is a profound disappointment to me that the flowering quince in my front yard has never flowered. I am not a gardener, but I do try and treat it nicely.

Auburn Rocks
Auburn Rocks

In general, I like to look for interesting patterns and shapes when I am out of my normal habitat. Because of the beautiful sun coupled with the clouds, there was a lot of opportunity for good pictures that will, with any luck, find a way to inspire me in future quiltmaking project.

All in all, it was a nice day. I enjoyed having some time with DH and checking out the great views. I could do without Daylight Savings Time today, but nobody asked me.