Breakfast in Mt. Vernon

Last Saturday we drove north on I-5 toward the spin-in at the high school in Oak Harbor,
the annual event sponsored by the Whidbey Island Weavers Guild.
We always stay in the same motel, usually the same room,
which we share with Evanne and Natasha.

Stopping for breakfast here was Evanne's idea. 
It was a good one!

Calico Cupboard

I order French Toast 99% of the time.

 It was excellent.  I could eat only 3 of the 4 pieces.

It was crispy on the crust and custard-y on the inside, as it should be.

Peggy ordered the House Granola and Greek Yogurt.

It is a lot of food.  The yogurt was very sweet, the granola filling.

Evanne chose the Huevos Rancheros.

Looks yummy.  She said it was very good, but she couldn't finish it all.

Our opinion: we'd go back!  

There's an antique shop next door which we may check out next time.

Surrounded by...pillowcases

Not long ago we bought fabric for pillowcases 

when we ran across a sale we couldn't resist, so we didn't.

 

 

We found this sweet little gem of a quilt shop,  

Quiltmaker's Shoppe, in Arlington, WA.

We picked a Saturday and 5 of us put sewing machines to table 

and got to work.  Here we are, working:

 

 

Karen taught us a new way to sew on the cuff and the trim, which saves SO much time and makes the process easier.  We make a packet of the body and the trim inside the cuff, sew the 4 layers together, turn it right-side out and then sew the french seams around the outside.  

 

 

We ate potluck lunch in-between morning and afternoon sessions and then we went to dinner about 6:00pm at Edina Sushi, Lynnwood, WA.   I meant to take photos as the food was received, but we were distracted by eating, so this is it:

MaryEllin decided to go for the Uni as a special treat, 

so here's what that looked like: 

She talked --pf into trying it, which was a pleasant surprise to --pf, 

and MaryEllin really wanted 2 pieces so they shared another serving:

 The remains of our day:

 

 

 

 

Skagit Valley Road Trip May 26

Last Saturday the Peggy's, MaryEllin and I hit the road in Peggy's new van, a Chrysler Town & Country, for a day-long meandering through the Skagit Valley.  

Our goal was to get out of town, hopefully with good weather, and hit a couple of favorite destination stores: the yarn shop and the quilt shop in Mt. Vernon (WildFibers and Paw Patch Quilt Shop) and then anything else that came along. 

The weather was glorious, the perfect combination of a cloudless sky and a high of 71.  There was a light breeze.  We headed out at 8:15am.

First: breakfast at the Blue Bird Cafe in Arlington.  

3/4's a success: blueberry pancakes, the eggs and especially the hash-browns were all very good; the French Toast a dismal failure.

 

 

 

 As we left the Blue Bird, we found this place just up the street: Petite Sweets.  We'll try it for brunch next trip.

Then we crossed the street (had to, the Van was parked over there) and found this little treasure:

The Quiltmaker's Shoppe.  She opened a few minutes early when she saw 4 sets of eyes ogling the window display.  We went into what looked like a tiny shop of two small rooms, but it went on and on to the back of the store and then we found the sale rack, 40% off 1 yard or more, 60% off of 3 yards or more.  We quickly discussed the possibility of a 'Pillow Case Marathon Weekend', decided "OH YEAH" and this is what I bought: Moda in three colors, enough for 6 pillow cases and plenty of left-overs for cuffs and trim for many more.

Peggy chose these.

She also found Grandma's Stain Stick, which we will give a try next laundry day.

After Arlington we headed north to Anacortes and Ana-Cross Stitch.

There was evidence of a Yarn Bombing out front. 

Here we have 4 sks of Poems, a total impulse buy which I haven't done for years, at least not with yarn.  Guess I was due.

 

On the way back southbound from Anacortes, we stopped at the Rexville Grocery on the extreme outskirts of Mt. Vernon, a brief stop with some excellent photo ops:

 The building is vintage. 

Their floors are precious to them, so they ask the multitude of cyclists to remove any footwear with cleats before entering.  People actually do read signs, so this is probably very effective...

The gas is real.

 

 The ice is very cold.




The displays are...quaint.
 

Worth a short visit.  No need to return.

Working our way to La Conner around 2pm, we stopped for a late lunch of fish & chips at the Waterfront Cafe.

This is lunch before,

 and this is after.

The fish & chips: fine, not outstanding.  Certainly not the 'best'.  But the company was excellent, which mattered more.

We cruised a couple of La Conner shops, (very touristy, La Conner) and came away with shaking heads at the sad, sad, sad Jennings Yarn Shop.  It's just sad.  They are offering yarn we haven't seen for years at any other yarn shop; the staffer was uninterested in eye contact, let alone speaking.  We think there is huge potential to make this a destination yarn shop, ala Churchmouse or Ana-Cross Stitch ~ it would be so easy and keep sales up in the lean, non-tourist months, but (again, sadly) they aren't any different than they were the last time I was there, in the last decade of the last century, which is just SAD!  Don't be misled by the two 5-star reviews on yelp for Jennings, but if you're interested in buying an established yarn store in a quaint, tourist-trap town, you might want to find out if Jennings is for sale.

We never did make it to the two stores in Mt. Vernon that we started out thinking were a 'must see' this trip.  We got back home at 6pm, tired and happy, and considering dates for the next road trip.

By the way, the Van rocks.  Smooth ride and quiet.  We were all four able to hold a conversation between front and back seats, bonus.  Gas was $54. round trip.  A bit spendy but if you consider it a full day of fun split four ways, not bad at $13.50/ea (not counting individual food and shopping.)

Friday Knitters

Being laid off has one benefit:

I got to knit with my Peeps on Friday morning.

This is a strange photo. Everything is blurred but the Peeps and I don't know how that happened but I rather like it. Here's my second try, and they still seem happy to see me!

After 19 months of full-time work at the University of Washington, the State of Washington budget cuts got me and I'm laid off, along with about 350 others on the Seattle campus. This is a miserable economy to job hunt in, as the last 5 months have proven, which is how long I've been actively looking for another job. I was told in May that October 1st was my last day as the 'Scheduling Assistant for the Dean' at the College of Education ~ that seemed like a good chunk of time to: 1) take classes in interviewing, CHECK, 2) tune up my resume, CHECK, 3) net-work with people about my situation, CHECK, 4) apply for jobs, CHECK, and 5) find employment....no check for that one. I am working in a temporary hourly situation on the Bothell campus until the woman I'm filling in for gets off jury duty. She has Fridays off, hence enabling me to join the Friday Knitters this morning. This was the highpoint of my last two weeks!

Buddy Squirrel

Horse-Chestnuts
gathered on campus of the
University of Washington
during the last week in September.

Offering to the Squirrel God

Considering the worthiness of the offering...

Tasting for poison...

This will do.

Real chestnuts are rare in Seattle. We found a tree in Canby on the Clackamas County Fairgrounds when we were there for OFFF, relatively exciting except that they weren't ripe enough for harvesting, darn it. Don't eat horse-chestnuts. They won't kill you but they don't taste good anyway so why bother? Bring them home for your squirrels.