PVQA Annual Show

The PVQA quilt show is being held today and tomorrow at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. There is a wet and windy rainstorm forecast for tomorrow, so I decided that today was the day to go. Usually The Husband drives me over but this year he wanted to finish his yard work before the big rains arrive again, so I girded my loins and set out for Watsonville by myself. You'd think I would know the way after going there every year for maybe 10 or 12 years. Or that I would have looked at a map done a little preparation ; but I managed to get lost twice!

So coming home I set the GPS but, when it looked as if she were taking me the long way around, I turned before she wanted me to. Then a stoplight turned red pretty quickly and the GPS landed on the passenger side floor. There was no way I could reach her without stopping the car, getting out and walking around to that side. At this point I knew my way home, so I just left her on the floor. All I heard after that was "Recalculating," from time to time. We've used her successfully several times but this was my first attempt with no one else in the car.


This orange quilt was created as a challenge to someone who thought that no orange quilt could be beautiful. I think the quilter was successful. The big surprise was the reverse of this quilt:

Not sure how she did this but there are horizontal seams about 12 inches apart with the curves matching perfectly. One of the women from my guild commented that it should have been the front.

These Santa Cruz quilters are always so imaginative. I never fail to be inspired by their creations.
This year, however, there were way too many "One block wonders" for my taste. It's not that I don't like one-block quilts but most of these just seemed to be a blur. Maybe there is something I'm missing; it might have helped to have another quilter's comments

The rest of the photos I took at the show can be found here on my Flickr page.

The Road Never Travelled

This week the "long-awaited" Highway 25 bypass through Hollister was finally opened to traffic. Residents had been dealing with the traffic messes caused by this construction for almost two years - or has it been longer? Seems like it. This is an entirely new road, so these views have never been seen before.


Unfortunately, the current speed limit on this beautifully paved, wide, 4-lane road is an unbelievable 35 mph! We can only hope that this is temporary because it's really hard to keep your speed down. Maybe 10 years from now when businesses have been built here, but not now.

I really feel sorry for the folks who live in the housing behind this wall. Their backyards are now not only small but are hemmed in by this giant wall on the west side. Forget about sunsets in this neighborhood.


We're leaving in a few days for a mid-winter break in Cambria. The weatherman is predicting lots of rain but, this year especially, I can't complain. We'll work around it.