The Happiest Place on Earth

If you have to celebrate a milestone birthday, in my case 65, it might as well be at the Happiest Place on Earth, right?

Our first stop was at City Hall, where we got our celebration pins.

After spending the first afternoon and evening in Disneyland, we headed over to Downtown Disney, to the ESPN Zone. It was Monday night, so we watched Monday Night Football for a while.

We splurged on this dessert.

We took the Monorail back into the park, and for the first time ever, we sat in the very front of the Monorail, along with the conductor.

The castle is spectacular at night, even more so during the holidays.

The next day was another beautiful day.

It was an early admission day for us, so what better way to begin the day than coffee with the castle in the background.

The castle is even gorgeous in the daytime.

Mark has a hard time handling rollercoasters and merry-go-rounds--it messes with his equilibrium. But he does have a favorite "ride," the one commonly known as the "park bench." And his favorite bench at Disneyland is the one with the porch, on Main Street.

While there, he started chatting with the man sitting next to him. It turns out this man has been coming to Disneyland for years, and now that he is retired, he averages four or five times a week. He is part of a "club" and he shared one of the club buttons with Mark.

We went over to California Adventure for the afternoon. We started with lunch. It was like my fortune cookie was chosen especially for me. Hope it knows what it is talking about!

Cars Land is one of my very favorites.

There is a new show in the Hyperion Theater--Frozen. We enjoyed it so much that we attended it twice. My favorite part was when Anna did one of those "quick change" costume changes. In a blink of an eye, she went from this

to this. It was quite amazing.

Nighttime lights at California Adventure.

As we often do, we went to the lobby of the Grand Californian Hotel. The lobby is gorgeous. Someone was playing the grand piano and we watched two bakers make and decorate the gingerbread house. They said it takes a week to complete.

We looked for, and found, quite a few of the "hidden Mickeys."

The next day we did not have early admission. So we ended up in line with the thousands of others. With the current terrorist activity that seems to keep occurring, this was the first time I had ever felt vulnerable at Disneyland. Waiting...and waiting...to go through security made me feel a bit unsafe. Definitely not a feeling I was expecting at the Happiest Place on Earth.

 We spent the day back and forth between California Adventure and Disneyland. Another beautiful and fun day.

I haven't ever wanted to go on this ride, but it was sure fun to watch all the people get drenched.

This would have been our Christmas card picture this year. If we had actually sent Christmas cards...

My favorite ride at Disneyland is Big Thunder Mountain. It's fun no matter when you ride it.

 But I especially like it at night.

And then all too soon, our time was over.

Until next time, Disneyland. You never fail to make me happy.

Friday Finish: Arrowhead

I'm a big fan of quilt designs by Kristi of Initial K Studio. I've made several of them--they are well done and easy to follow.

Months before "bonus" granddaughter Stacie was going to graduate from college, I knew I wanted to make Kristi's design, Arrowhead.

I have been working really hard at sewing my stash. The quilt called for a six-step gradation of a single color, and I chose grey through black. Shockingly, everything I needed was in my stash.

Darby did her usual beautiful job with the quilting.

Stacie loves to travel, and in my stash was a four-yard cut of an old line from Sweetwater, the exact size I needed. The fabric has names of cities from all over the world. Stacie originally comes from Portland, and a bonus I could not have anticipated was right there in front of me. Do you see it? That section that contains not only Portland but Fresno. I nearly jumped for joy!

For the binding, I had the perfect stripe in the same gradation. I love it when that happens.

We have several murals in downtown Fresno and the one I had my heart set on was the musical score of Amazing Grace.

I hadn't counted on the big tree obscuring much of the mural as well as a locked gate that prevented access to most of the wall. Or the sun. Or the shadows.

But my able quilt holder helped make it happen, and I'm pretty happy with this picture.

I hope Stacie enjoys the quilt as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

Quilt Name: Arrowhead
Size: 64" x 72"
Designed by: Initial K Studio
Made by: Me
Quilted by: Darby Myers

Friday Finish: Diving Board

In November I was given the chance to be one of the "ambassadors" for Cotton Cuts, a company that delivers quilting fabric based on your preferences.

As an ambassador, I was sent three one-yard cuts of Alison Glass's line, Diving Board.

Two of the prints were gorgeous symmetrical prints, one in warm tones and one in cool tones. As I contemplated what to make in the short period of time I was allotted, I decided to "upsize" Delta Breeze, one of my favorite designs ever.

The original block size was 8", so I doubled that to 16". In addition to the gorgeous prints, I added coordinating solids from my stash.

The small block looked like this:

The large one looked like this:

Darby chose a nice wavy quilting design.

The chartreuse fabric that was included proved to be the perfect choice for the binding.
Based on the name of the fabric line, I also named the quilt Diving Board. Which made finding a diving board an obvious choice for a photo op. Luckily, good friends Gary and Ruth have a lovely backyard with a beautiful pool.

Quilt Name: Diving Board
Quilt Size: 48" x 48"
Designed and Made by: Me
Quilted by Darby Myers

Friday Finish: Aquatic

You know what happens when you take your grandchildren to their swimming lessons at a local high school? As a quilter, I'll tell you what happens.

You see this tile by the outdoor shower that of course inspires a quilt.

What happens next when you are following Christopher Thompson, aka The Tattooed Quilter, and he comes out with a fabric line called Blue Carolina for Riley Blake, with a lovely range from white backgrounds to navy backgrounds? You just know it is going to be the perfect collaboration.

You quickly cut a stack of squares from each of the fabrics and start playing with them on the design wall. The next thing you know, you have this.

It goes together quickly, and soon it's ready to be quilted and bound.

Darby chose the perfect wavy quilt design.

The obvious choice to photograph the quilt is of course at the site of the original inspiration, the high school aquatic center. The problem: I can't very well just walk in and photograph a quilt there. But I have a connection, Diane. She graciously contacts someone with keys and we meet at the appointed time, 11 a.m. We took photographs in full sun but I was happy for the opportunity.

It was a fun quilt to make and I was happy that it turned out as I visualized it.

Quilt Name: Aquatic
Quilt Size: 55" x 65"
Designed and Made by: Me
Quilted by: Darby Myers