Trip to my old stomping grounds

On Tuesday, I got back to my new home (Swampscott, Massachusetts) from a trip to my old homes of Oregon and Walla Walla, WA (where I went to college). I had a wonderful 4 days with friends and family: soaking in sunshine, hitting all the fabric stores I could, and enjoying some introspective 'alone' time (Matt and Caden stayed back in Mass. since it was such a short trip). First, I spent a night en route with my good college friend, Martha, and her family. Sofia and Conor seemed to like their new pillows and insisted on sleeping with them the first night they got them.

Then I swung by my Aunt & Uncle's in Pendleton for lunch, where I met up with my parents, and we all headed up to Walla Walla to meet Sally; our 3rd sibling, Jerry, met us there on Saturday. We did some summer clothes shopping at Macy's, ate great food, drank Jerry's home-brewed 'Yardwork Ale', screened Sally's senior film-making projects (including these commercials - one she stars in and one she directed), played frisbee in Pioneer Park, and attended Sal's Whitman College graduation on Sunday.

I picked up some yummy new fabrics from quilt shops in The Dalles, Pendleton, and Walla Walla (and mom brought somefrom the quilt shop in Sisters). Check it out: $40 of impulse-purchase fabrics (not pictured are lots of outdoor nylons that Mom brought me from the Rainshed in Corvallis and 'basics' from JoAnns - all filling 1/2 of my luggage)! I justify it by my Cascade Lemonade sewing and that I like to support small-town shops :)

Since I've been back, I sent a shipment of whale-theme Sack It bags off to the Petersburg Marine Mammal Center. They will be selling them there, with half of the proceeds a donation to the center and half to help cover a whale-watching trip for us and my parents up in Alaska this summer. It's a fun way to mix my professional (marine biology), hobby, and family interests.

To come...

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in my springtime giveaway drawing, held on June 1st! My limited 'Cream of the crop' Collection is tentatively scheduled to be released starting June 3. I promise I'll stop stalling and give details soon!