Gratitude – Part 4

We’re home!  My husband and Julia and I spent a long weekend up at the Downieville house working. It was really productive and, consequently, tiring! We made so much progress though.

Over the weekend Julia and I painted the basement level bedroom. It had dark paneling on the walls – ick. It made it feel like a cave in there. We primed the paneling and then painted it a sage green. It looks wonderful. I forgot to take a finished picture but do have this (iPhone) picture which portrays the wonder of having a 13 year old that is already 5′ 7″ tall.  She did a great job rolling the top half of the walls. Made me jealous of her height.

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Also got the valances and pleated window shades installed in the kitchen.

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Another project that I tackled was painting the picket fence that runs along the front yard. (Yep, I felt like I belonged in a Mark Twain story.) It was in terrible shape. Most of the fence needed to be scraped paint and then primed and painted. This took up the better part of two afternoons but was well worth it. Here is a before picture.

IMG_20150330_3017And after:

IMG_20150331_3031It looks so clean and fresh. We did a relatively good job of not getting paint all over the little rock wall.  See the little orange tulip peeking out? It is the only one in a sea of iris. Gorgeous though.

IMG_20150330_3036Photo credits to Julia for the three pictures shown above!

The best part of the weekend, and my gratitude focus for this week, was the new friends we met. You might remember that this is a tiny town. At it’s peak, during the California Gold Rush in the 1800’s, the population peaked at about 5,000 people. Now there are about 300 people that live there full time. From what I can tell, the school district there has about 50 students (grades K through 12). Pretty tiny. Spending the afternoons outside working on the fence gave me the opportunity to meet a few new people and everyone was kind and gracious. They seemed to truly appreciate that we were fixing up this little house.

The day after painting the fence, Julia and I checked out the library. It is adorable. Tiny but with a reasonable selection of books and because it is part of a larger library system, the patrons have access to a much larger selection. People can “order” books from the larger library and they are delivered to the local library. But best of all was chatting with the librarian (Cheryl) and guess what? She is a long arm quilter. What do you know! Immediate connection there as we talked all about quilting. The local guild, the Mountain Star Quilters, keep a library of quilting books in the public library which is a fairly impressive collection considering the size of the guild. As we talked quilting (and bored Julia) another woman (Linda) came in. I remembered meeting her briefly when I attended the quilt retreat in Downieville last October. (I posted about that here.) The three of us visited for a bit and and Linda showed me a book she had brought in. It was Tula Pink’s City Sampler book. We talked about it and she said she had decided she didn’t want to use it, and would I like to have it? I love Tula Pink and have looked at her beautiful book numerous times, wondering if I would ever really make the blocks in it. Seems like fate, right? There was the book falling into my hands. Clearly I am meant to make these blocks.

IMG_20150402_3034This adds another project to the list. I will use the 1/2 yard collection of Floriography, a Riley Blake fabric that I won from Doe Street Fabrics a few months ago.

I need to add a few solids to it but no problem there. I think making a block or two a week will be a fun way to use the book and the fabric.

Back to the kindness of these women. It never ceases to amaze me what a friendly group quilters make. Meet a quilter in the store, instant rapport. Run into a few in the library, new friends. Both women talked about the local quilt guild. They have about 30 members and meet one afternoon each month. I am going to attend the April meeting and see if I can start participating in their guild. I belong to our local guild as well and it is a challenge to get myself to the meetings, so we shall see. Luckily the schedules of each of the guilds seem to be opposite of each other (quilt show dates, challenge quilts, etc) so that will help. For sure, joining this second guild will be a great way to meet new friends and for that I am thankful.

Finally, just so you don’t think the weekend was all work and no play, here are some pictures from a hike along the river that Julia and I took. It was a gorgeous morning.

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We are fortunate to have found our place on the river. It is a treasure for which we are so grateful.

Linking to Quilting Jetgirl’s Thankful Thursday and Needle and Thread Thursday and Let’s Bee Social (links to these are at the top of the page under Link Ups.)

 

 

 

 

9 thoughts on “Gratitude – Part 4

  1. Julie Stocker

    Sounds like you’ve found the perfect getaway for your family despite needing a spruce up. Congratulations!
    Funny how you headed to the library to check things our straight away. When our own family found a refuge like yours, the first thing the kids wanted to do was find the library, too! It’s much better than our own, and is a huge draw for them still now as young adults.

    I love your ideas you’ve used to lighten and brighten your space. Enjoy!

    Julie

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      The best thing is we live only two doors down from the library! So great. We are having a great time fixing up the house. It is perfect for us.
      Thank you for stopping by the blog.

      Take care,
      Bernie

      Reply
  2. Vickie

    Such a sweet retreat you have in Downieville.
    Good work Bernie and Julia. (my she’s a young lady already) and Beautiful too!
    We really are blessed aren’t we?
    Happy Easter all.

    Reply
  3. Mari

    What a lot of work you’ve done! The kitchen shades and valances look great. Can Julia come paint my house? 🙂 It sounds like you made some great friends–lucky you! I agree–quilters are the best. I think we recognize each other by the threads all over our clothes. It’s like a secret signal.

    Have a happy Easter!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Happy Easter Mari. Hope you get to see some of your kids? Enjoy the weekend. I am heading to my sisters about 150 miles from here. Lots of family will be there so I am looking forward to that.
      Love my quilty friends. Such a great group of like minded souls.
      BK

      Reply
  4. JanineMarie

    It looks like you’re having fun putting your stamp on your home away from home. The setting is truly lovely, and the community sounds wonderful. How neat that you were gifted with the Tula book. I love that book, but haven’t gotten around to making any of the blocks yet. Your fabric choices are delightful. Have a fun weekend with your family!

    Reply

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