Trip to Port Townsend

The first part of October, I went to Port Townsend, Washington for a week. I drove up there with sister Cheryl, (19 hour drive which we did in one day!) My parents were also there, they made the trip in 2 days, and had arrived at the condo earlier in the day.

Here are a few highlights of the trip, even though it is now in the past.

Miner's in Yakima, Washington!

We stopped here at the recommendation of a good friend who grew up in nearby Richland. The food was so good, we stopped here again on our way home!

The famous Miner's burger. Tasty indeed!

Kala Point, a few miles south of Port Townsend. This is where the condo we stayed at was located. It was beautiful. Lots of pine & green.



This was our view a short walk from the condo - Port Townsend Bay


The area was thick with black berry bushes.

We went to a Farmers Market in Sequim (pronounced Squim). Found out that there are a lot of lavender farms in the area. This is one that we visited:


At Fort Worden, we learned about tsunami's:


All road trips with me include stops at every quilt shop:

Quilted Strait - Port Angeles, WA

I bought the patterns to make these two quilts at the Quilted Strait:




Heirloom Quilts & Fabrics - Poulsbo, Washington


Material Girls Quilt Shop - Silverdale, Washington


Creative Union Fabrics - Port Townsend (just over a mile from our condo)

Other fun shopping:

Next to the Quilted Strait in Port Angeles is "Bay Variety". We got such a kick out of wandering around this store. It was just like Kings Variety in Rexburg, ID (where I grew up) - 40 years ago.



Remember the old time shopping baskets?


It must be fall! Toyland is open!


Isles full of treasures & trash

I wanted to drive over to Forks, Washington, just to be able to say "been there, done that!"

The Forks Timber Museum. Before those silly vampire novels by Stephenie Meyer, this was probably the highlight of the town.


Now, "Twlight" is what keeps the town alive.


There were references to "Twlight" everywhere!

Poulsbo, Washington (also known as "Little Norway") was another fun town we visited.
Sluys' Bakery was a good stop for some treats.


Cheryl and I bought a Gurglepot at another shop in town. They really do gurgle!
(click on the link to see & hear)

This is the Port Townsend Paper Mill

Little did we know when we stopped to take pictures that it is a secure area because of it's port location. (think Homeland Security) A guard approached Cheryl and let her know he could call the sheriff on us, because we were taking pictures. She talked to him & calmed him down - he even let us keep the pictures on our camera's and didn't make us delete them.

Our last nite in Port Townsend, we went out to eat. We were looking for clam chowder. Decided to eat here at Sea J's,Cafe even though they only served clam chowder on Friday (the next day). Their fish & chips were delicious. Plus it was fun to watch & listen to the locals.


I worked on the blocks for Kimball's green & black pinwheel quilt while I was there, and accomplished quite a bit during the week:


On our way home, we stopped in Richland for gas. I looked up the LDS temple on the GPS and found that it was only about 3 miles from where we were, so we drove over to see that before leaving town. Smaller temple, sits right next to the stake center. Beautiful as they all are!

Columbia River Washington Temple - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

We took two days to drive home. It was a long two days. But well worth the memories & fun times we had!

"How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?"

Argh, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day again, mateys

Here are some cartoons just for today. Hope they make you smile!







Of course, I need to throw one in for my birthday:


We are in St. George this weekend. Saw "Annie" at the Tuacahn last nite. This morning we are taking a road trip to Las Vegas for breakfast at the Paris Buffet! YUM!

Barudan Training

Today I had the most fun! Kent from Daines Sewing in SLC came down to train us on the new embroidery machine. Emilie had several hours between classes, so she even dropped by to learn how to make Frog Belly run. Here are a few pictures from today's fun:


Emilie and I threading the machines. 15 spools per head. We would stick the end of the thread into a black tube, then give it a shot of canned air. If all went well, the thread would be blown thru the tube & come out the front of the machine.


Now you can see the black tubes the thread goes down.


If it looks like we were having fun, it's because we were! Threading the front of the machines was a bit more tricky. It was possible to tie the new thread ends to the old thread ends that had been cut off (left in the machine at the factory after the test run) and just pull them thru, but it did not always work that smooth.


Ben, (a TTOD employee) threading a needle.


It took quite a while to get 90 spools of thread, threaded thru the machine. But there were many hands helping.


Two of our first learning test runs. We tried to use all the different colors to make sure the machine was threaded right. There were a few problems that Kent had to fix along the way.


Next lesson: How to load and embroider on a hat.
Anybody want a Callaway Golf hat?


At about 5:30, Kent left for the day. He left his CF card with us that had all his test designs on it so we could practice some more. We did this one all by ourselves.


Closeup. The colors are a little strange, but hey! Not bad for a couple of rookies.

Our New Cabin in the Woods

If we were to get a cabin in the woods, it wouldn't need to be big & fancy. I think the first picture on the left is a cute cabin. Heck... I'd even be happy with a cabin that looked like the second picture.

Not that we've been saving for a cabin in the woods, but this past week we had something delivered that probably could have been that cabin in the woods for what it cost.

Here's what the delivery looked like after it was taken off the truck:


The past two weeks Terrell has been as excited as a a kid on Christmas eve:


Any guesses what it is?


How about now?


Kimball was even there for the big unveiling - It's a Barudan 6 head embroidery machine!!


Moving it into the shop:


Ready to go:




I missed all the excitement as it was happening, but I did get to go over to the shop that night with Kimball for my own private viewing:

Next Tuesday the salesman (from Daines in SLC) is coming back to train Terrell, Kimball and I on how to run the machine. It will be exciting!
The next adventure for Textile Team Outlet is ready to begin.

My name for it is Frog Belly Designs. Emilie drew me this picture several months ago:


Many thanks also to Gary (aka Dr. Carp) as he has given us invaluable help on the technical side - getting the new computers that will run the embroidery software up & running!