What a Wonderful Road Trip!!

Yesterday I started with a show-and-tell and then the battery died.  So now I am home on my desktop and so on with the show!!

As we travelled from the airport to the Long Beach Peninsula, we saw this wonderful old covered bridge!!

 All it needed to be perfect is to have a quilt painted on it's side!!

 And we saw lots of moss on everything - including a few of the locals, I think!!!  Coming from the desert, this was really cool!!

So many of the things we saw were so inspiring and and so much fun!!

 This little guy sits in the front yard of one of the fantastic homes up in Oysterville (at the top end of the peninsula).

Can't go on a road trip without hitting the local quilt shops.  I found this darling fabric (plus a large flat rate box full of wonderful fabric that went home through the mail) at the local shop in Long Beach.

The Shop is Boardwalk Quilts and the owner, Teri, has the shop packed with bright colored fabrics.  I was told by several of the quilt shop owners that the bright colors sell the best because there is so much overcast and rain in that area - especially through the winter months.

I also joined this very fun BOM from Boardwalk Quilts, all done in batiks.

 Lots of fun, funky plants EVERYWHERE!!!

We took one day and travelled down through the Oregon Coast down as far as Cannon Beach.  Great little town with a super quilt shop called Center Diamond Fabrics.  I think was the owner who assisted me in buying this darling little bunny below.  She told me the block (about 6" square) was cut from a piece of fabric that was made in Japan and that the fabric is no longer being made so this little piece is a treasure.

Center Diamond Fabric also carried lots of bright colors and it seemed like a lot of the shops along the Coast carried a broad selection of batiks and Asian-inspired prints like the one below.

The tulips were all in bloom all over the Peninsula and down the Coast but these were my most favorite!! (Click on the picture to get a really good look)

On our last full day (Monday), I went as a guest to the local quilt guild and enjoyed myself thoroughly.   In fact, I joined the guild and their BOM.  We also went down to Ilwaco, a small town just south of Long Beach and Seaview and went to Jelly Bean Fabrics.  Well, the owner, Andi Maroncelli, a young (and I do mean young) gal is just a delightful and charming addition to the quilting world!!  Her shop is full of bright and unusual fabrics that one will not find in many other shops.  The batik below is one she designed and chose the colors for!!  Can't wait to see what I do with this great piece - I splurged and bought a full yard!!  Hoo! Hoo!

And how is this for creative inspiration??

We ended up the trip by visiting Cape Disappointment and checking out this amazing lighthouse (that is still working).  Look, I got a bird in the picture - pretty cool, huh!! 

 And the surf and sea below it.

 Our final stop Monday night was to the Realtor to write up an offer on a 5.48 acre of raw land

 that sits on the bay side of the peninsula

 and a bit north of the town of Long Beach!!

Now we just have to wait to see if the owner accepts our offer, counter-offers or does nothing because he is insulted with our offer!!  :-))  Here's hoping!!