Visalia Lecture and Class (part 1)

Good morning all! 

I'm happy to report we are back from our travels and we couldn't have had a better time!

The Ladies of the Orange Blossom Quilt Guild were the most gracious

and lively bunch of wonderful gals! 

If you've never been to Visalia I can say that the 'Old Towne' part it is very much like our Orange Circle area.  Walking distance along old tree lined streets, antique shops, movie house,  wonderful bistro's and a Farmers Market on Thursday Night! 

Here are some of us at dinnerThursday night after the lecture/trunk show.

My photographer was busy helping show the 35 quilts I brought; I don't have photos of the lecture but you don't need to see photos of me talkin!  The members said the show was very entertaining, especially when Ellen would add the 'behind the scenes' comments!  Next time I think I'll have her sign a gag order, LOL.

We had Friday off and after shopping at their wonderful quilt shop 'Thimble Towne' we ventured up, up, up the mountains to enter Kings Canyon and go meet General Sherman.  It was amazing & I'll post up those photos as a separate entry. 

The class was on Saturday and was very well attended!  There were 17 of us all together which was perfect! The lady in blue here is Adena who was the person that saw my work in Long Beach and contacted me to do the Trunk show & Class. 

going around chatting

explaining how a sharpie can be used for quick outlining of letters and quilt labels

we ran short on the Speedball books so I started taking mine apart to pass pages around. (it's seen worse, believe me!)

Miss Ellen working away for pieces for her Senior Project

(which she has since done a demo on and received full marks for!)

I love this photo... Quilting ladies workin & chattin and most often all at the same time!

The lady on the left is Anna, she brought us the most wonderful chicken salad and fresh bread for lunch!

Ellen & I had taken two yards of Cotton Duck canvas and painted it prior to the trip. We then cut it up into 9"x11" sizes & after our wonderful lunch we drew names so each one could come pick out a piece to work on.  

Here is Miss Ellen's piece (a lyric from one of her favorite songs I think)

And SMILE we did!  Everyone had a great time, great food, lots of laughs and hopefully we all learned something new! 

Thank you so much to the Orange Blossom Quilt Guild for inviting us up and making us feel so warm and welcome!  We had a wonderful time!