Traveling North - East Bay Heritage Quilters

Friday was the start of my journey north and my visit with East Bay Heritage Quilters. It began early, early for anyone living in the LA area knows that it's usually a good idea to try and get out of the basin before the real traffic settles in for the day. It was a lovely drive, and the snow through the grapevine was beautiful in the light of early morning. It was the best of all trips, uneventful.

I did stop along the way to try and find Collete at Sew Many Quilts in Tracy, CA. www.sewmanyquiltsca.com It was a fun little venturing off and though I found the store, Colette was off at a show this weekend. I did find an incredible bead store in Tracy and it didn't take long for me to find some terrific (have to have) beads that I can use on my two in process projects.

I was able to get both my commission piece and the 'eyes skyward' piece to the hand work stage before I started my travels and I am having fun collecting things along the way to help with the embellishments.

This takes me even more forward with the day, for after I arrived in Berkeley, Karen from EBHQ came by to pick me up and show me around town. The first place we went to was the LACIS Museum of Lace and Textiles. I don't know what I expected but what I found was incredible. There were displays in this wonderful space to keep one busy for days, and the sections of tools (to purchase), books and supplies is like none other that I have seen in one place for 'us' all... and there is something there for all of us lovers of textiles.... not just the lace folks. I was overwhelmed and had to remind my self to close my mouth, for all was just jaw dropping.

The magager, Erin, is an absolute delight, and she and each of her staff were incredibly knowledgable and friendly. If your going through the east bay area I would definitely put this on your list of must sees. Their storefront(s) are at 2982 Adeline St. Berkeley, and they do have a website; www.LacisMuseum.org that I'm going to check out soon. (no pictures this time, but I'll try to do better).

After that Karen took me to the ACCI Gallery, www.accigallery.com , where they're having a contemporary doll show, Who's your baby? It was an exciting and varied exhibit and a lot of fun to see the work of many old friends. It's up through March 22nd, so if you're about that area I do suggest that you check it out.

Today is my first day of workshops for the guild. It's a Double Quilt Applique Workshop http://rosehughes.com/DQApplique.htm and I'm looking foward to it. I'll try to get photos out here soon.

~Happily stitching, Rose