Greetings from Quilting Nirvana!

I'm checking in from lovely San Ramon/Alamo, where the weather is MUCH cooler than it has been in Sacramento. In fact, on Friday morning, we thought we should have brought sweaters with us. That's a big change from Sacramento where it's been over 100 degrees all week!

I've taken a few photos, but I'm blogging from the hotel's business center, so I can't upload anything until I get home again Sunday night. In the meantime, words alone will have to suffice.

Gran is on this retreat with me, and she picked me up on Thursday around noon. We stopped on the way to the Bay Area in Benicia at a tea room for lunch--lovely! With my lunch, I had the most delicious and beautiful blended chai tea--that's one of the photos I'll show you later.

We settled into our hotel early, both of us exhausted from day-to-day life, overtime work, and everything else, only to find our room was located below a herd of elephants and next door to a herd of rhinos--or at least that's what it sounded like. As it turned out, it was just a high school boys' baseball team in town for a tournament. If you've ever been involved with teenage sports, you probably already know how bored a group of teenagers can get cooped up in a hotel for the duration. Happily, this group of kids quieted down quickly when asked, and Gran and I got a great night's sleep.

At the retreat today (Friday), I sat in on a lecture and demonstration of the starch and glue method of applique--what I've shown you recently on my blog. Most of what was taught was the same thing I've been passing on--which was tremendously reassuring to me!--but there were a couple good tips that were new to me, and I thought I'd tell you about one of them.

There's a glue product on the market and I think it's by Aleen's called Ok to Wash it. When you are going to applique into a valley, dab just a bit on the fabric at the spot where you're going to cut into the valley, wrong side of the fabric, and then wipe it off. Wait a minute or so for it to dry just a little and then make the cut into the fabric. That little dab of glue will keep the fabric from fraying and you should end up with a nicer "V."

I haven't tried this yet, and I left my glue at home, but I'll try it soon and see how it works. The woman who demonstrated it does applique for Verna Mosquera, so you know whatever she does turns out wonderfully!

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have a couple of shopping excursions and a tea party in the afternoon, besides all the applique fun. I'll tell you about it when I can. In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying your weekend too!