2016 OPAM (One Project A Month) PROJECT FINISHES

During 2016 I finished 40 ProjectS

Among my finishes I made 9 quilts of various sizes, 4 quilted table toppers, clothes for my grandkiddos, 12 hand knit projects, and more. While I finished fewer projects than last year, I did complete 3 big projects that I have been working on for several years, including this beauty, 

"Journey of a Quilter," which is hanging in my sewing room.

• DECEMBER
• (1) Knit V-Neck Vest for my grandson
• (4) Knit Dish Cloths
• (1) Flannel PJ bottoms for me
• (5) Flannel PJ Bottoms for my grandkids
• NOVEMBER
• (1) McKenna Ryan Art Quilt Wall Hanging
• (3) Knit Dish Cloths
• OCTOBER
• (1) "Thyme to Water" Applique Quilt (69" x69")
• SEPTEMBER
• (1) Plastic bag fabric holder
• (1) Handknit Lacy Sweater Vest for a special lady
• AUGUST
• (1) Handknit Lacy Sweater Vest for my granddaughter, Gigi
• (3) Half-Sq Triangle Lap Quilts for Charity
• (1) Mystery Over-sized Queen Quilt in Batiks
• (2) Northwest Trip Memories Table Toppers 24" sq
• JULY
• (1) Baby Quilt
• JUNE
• (1) Flannel Baby Burp Cloth
• (1) Fleece Blanket with Satin Binding
• (1) Sampler Lap Quilt made with Quilt Blocks Swapped
• (1) "Taylored Stars Queen Quilt
• (1) Red White and Blue Round Robin Tablecloth/Quilt
• MAY
• (1) Flannel Comfy Shorts for my grandson Seth
• (1) 84" Tablecloth
• (1) Hand Knit Long Lacy Sweater Vest for my daughter
• APRIL
• (1) PJ bottoms for my granddaughter-Hallee
• (2) Flannel Baby Girl Burp Cloths
• MARCH
• (1) Hand Knit Scarf
• FEBRUARY
• (1) "Journey of a Quilter" (started July/2014)
• (1) "Beachy Stars" Lap Quilt

Exploring the USA

We took our first USA RV Trip with our good friends, Sue and Bill, (and our dog, Sydney, of course!). Our wonderful journey started on August 11th when we left Lake Almanor in Nor Cal.We returned home on Oct 8th, 2014.

(we drove to the top of Pike's Peak in Colorado)

We spent 8 1/2 weeks on the roads of northern America in our 40' RV, towing our jeep, on our trip of a lifetime (the first of several such trips).

Nick and I have camped our entire marriage. We started camping in a tent, before we bought a camper. After the camper, we owned 2-travel trailers (18" and 24"), 2-Class C motorhomes (22' and 28'), 1-Class A 34' motorhome, and 2-diesel pusher 40' motorhomes. We have always talked about seeing and traveling through all the states of the USA.

Last year we bought our USA map (those of you who camp have seen the USA maps on the sides of RV's). On it, we put the states' stickers for the states we traveled to in 2013 in our RV: California, of course, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.  Now our USA map has 19 states' stickers, only 29 more states to go, 30 if we take our RV to Alaska!

Here's a look at our trip by the numbers:

We traveled 17 states:  (18 states if you count driving 20 miles through Arizona!).

We visited and or/traveled to:

*** 38+ American cities/towns

*** 6 cities visited friends

*** 8 National Parks:

    Glacier National Park
    Yellowstone National Park
    Theodore Roosevelt National Park
    Badlands National Park
    Rocky Mountain National Park
    Arches National Park
    Bryce National Park
    Zion National Park

*** 26+  Points of Interest and National Historic Sites, including:
    National Bison Range, MT
    John D. Rockefeller Memorial Pkwy (the road between Yellowstone and Grand Tetons)
    Little Missouri National Grasslands, ND
    Mt Rushmore National Memorial, SD
    Custer State Park in the Black Hills, SD
    Crazy Horse Memorial, SD
    Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, SD
    "Wall Drug," SD
    Jefferson Expansion, St Louis Arch Gateway to the West, MO
    Anheuser Busch Brewery and Budweiser Tour, MO
    Branson. MPO
    Air Force Strategic Air Command and Museum, NE
    Holy Family Shrine Chapel, NE
    The Mall of America, MN
    Minnehaha Falls, MN
    Harley-Davidson Museum, WI
    Wisconsin Dells, WI
    Vesterheim - Norwegian-American Museum, IO (both Sue and I are Norwegian!)
    Covered Bridges of Madison County, IO
    United States Air Force Academy and AF Cadet Chapel, CO
    Pike's Peak, (14, 115') CO
    Garden of the Gods, CO - National Natural Landmark
    Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge, CO
    Grand Mesa outside of Grand Junction, CO
    Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, NV

*** 4 baseball parks: Minnesota Twins, Target Field; Milwaukee Brewers, Miller Park;
               St Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium; and Kansas City Royals, Kaufman Stadium

*** 33 RV parks, including 3 state park campgrounds and 2 city RV parks

*** 28 days/nights of rainstorms with thunder and lightning, like we've never seen in southern California! Everywhere, along our trip, locals told us it was the "wettest" summer in years, which we can attest!

***12 audiobooks listened to along the way

*** 2,000+ pictures taken

*** and 8,600 miles put on our RV and 1,500 miles on our jeep.

America is so much larger than we imagined, with the most amazing beauty, vastness and diversity of the terrain. We saw green rolling hills, lush foliage and forests;

many rivers, including the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, the Arkansas River and the Colorado River; waterfalls: many lakes and the very Big Sky of Montana; the wildflowers; glacier, hot mineral springs, and geysers;the brilliant blue skies over America with the clouds almost close enough to touch; the beautiful sunsets;

the sunflower fields, as well as the endless fields of sorghum and soybeans, and corn fields; Hoodoos (spires); the plains; the many mountains, including the mighty Rocky Mountains; and many different wild animals, including: American Bison, Elk, Prone Horn Antelope, Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer, Prairie Dogs, bear, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and Mountain Goat.

We drove on two lane highways, interstates, back roads, and dirt roads; throughout National Parks; through small towns and large cities; in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, alone on an interstate and stuck in traffic (YES! there is traffic outside of California, although shocking, I know!); used 4 GPS's and a good old-fashioned Atlas, at one time, to guide us along our way, sometimes finding a "different" way to get to our destination. We drove on sunny clear days and through some torrential thunderstorms; had warm weather and some really cold weather in the fall (woke up to 27 degrees in Bryce Canyon National Park); through the plains, over the continental divide several times, and over the Rocky Mountains via the Independence Pass, 12,096 ft.

To see more of our trip check out  my flickr page !

Happy New Year!

2013 was a very good year filled with much joy & memory making for the 

Pavone Family. 

 Alex, Micah-3, Angelina, Seth, Hallee-2, Brody-3, Karen, Nick, Gigi-6, Nicole, David & Sydney

The biggest joy of the year was the birth of our 5^th granbaby,

Seth Robert Pavone, born June 3rd!

We enjoyed RV trips that took us from Arizona for Spring training; to Fort Bragg

for Ab Diving; on a 5 week trip from SD to Sisters, OR to Sequim & Seattle, WA,  

with a day trip to Victoria, BC; to Julian for apple picking; to Lake Havasu with Gigi;

and our annual beach camping for Thanksgiving week.

  We also had a fun filled year of travels with friends, spending a week in Cancun,

and a two-week driving trip from Gettysburg, VA thru the Amish Country of PA,

NJ, NY, Conn, Newport, RI, Cape Cod and Boston, MA.

The highlight of our travels was an 18 day adventure & cruise to

Australia and New Zealand!  The people of these countries were so friendly.

We loved the beauty and awe of "Down Under'!

We are definitely loving retirement!

We are so thankful for how God has blessed us with our wonderful family.

We hope your Christmas was a special one.

May 2014 be extra happy and healthy filled with wonderful memory making moments!

Travel Bug Part IV

The Highlight of Our Travels in 2013 has to be Our Adventure Down Under!

We spent 19 days exploring some of Australia and New Zealand, 13 days aboard the

Celebrity Solstice Cruise ship, traveling with our friends, Cara, Andy, Nancee and Marc.

Except for the very long flights (a grueling 14 1/2 hours in coach) from and back to LA, 

the trip was fantastic! 

We spent 3 days exploring Sydney prior to boarding the cruise ship, touring the city sights, which of course, included the iconic Sydney Opera House 

and a harbor cruise around the Sydney Harbor.  

Nick, Nancee and Marc "climbed" the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge! (It's way too high above the harbor waters for me!)

Sydney is a beautiful city, an easy city to walk around,

with lots of pubs, cafes, water fountains, and shopping malls all over downtown.

Due to the Bush Fires near and in the Blue Mountains, however, we weren't able to see any of the Outback of Australia. We also toured the beautiful capital city of Melbourne, pronounced "Melbun," and visited the Melbourne Zoo. 

We sailed through the Milford and Doubtful Sounds of New Zealand, with breathtaking views of the  fjords and many waterfalls, despite the heavy fog and some rain.

We visited 5 ports of call in New Zealand where we took excursions to see much more of the country.

 We visited the Lanark Castle, toured the Speight's Brewery and tasted the local brew, visited a Sheep Farm and watched a herding dog named, Jack bring the sheep herd down the mountainside where the sheep were grazing, watched a sheep shearing demo, took a Jet Boat Ride, saw Kiwi farms, walked the mud trail at Hell's Gate Mineral Hot Springs and Mud Pools, and took a wine tour of 3 NZ Wineries.

The scenery was spectacular, especially in New Zealand, where 

all the hills and valleys were covered with greenery and sheep. We enjoyed this beautiful country so much and would love to return someday.

Both the Aussies and Kiwis are such welcoming, friendly people, always willing to 

chat with us or give directions on occasion to sometimes lost American tourists!

Pictures tell the story better than words, so hop on over to my flickr page to see many of the sights we saw!!

We've Got the Travel Bug, Part III

July-August 2013

We were gone on our Summer Vacation RV Road Trip for five weeks, visiting three states and British Columbia's Vancouver Island in Canada! We returned to Bend, Oregon, for a week of camping with our friends Lynn and Rick. While the boys went fishing for a few days, Lynn and I sewed outside on the patio of our site at Crown Villa RV Resort. The weather was a beautiful 80 degrees with a nice breeze! She and I also took a quilting class at the local shop, BJ's Quilt Basket.

We spent a day at the 38th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt (and it wasn't rained out this year!)! admiring thousands of beautiful quilts (pics from the Sisters Quilt Show).

From Bend Nick and I headed northwest to Portland for a few days. We visited the famous Multnomah Falls, 611 ft high,

and the Wahkeena Falls, 242 ft high, both east of Portland. located in a tropical rainforest area. We toured little big city of Portland on the Big Pink Trolley, for a day.

Next, we drove up the Olympic Peninsula of Washington on Hwy 101 and stayed at  John Wayne's Waterfront Resort in Sequim (pronounced SQWIM), on Sequim Bay. Once we arrived we soon realized we were just in time for the Annual Sequim Lavender Festival! Lavender grows everywhere in this region and the lavender fields were beautiful.

During the festival there's a street fair, a craft fair, a quilt show, and each of the lavender farm shad more craft vendors, music and food, and lavender inspired items.We drove all around the quaint community and visited several of the local lavender farms!

We took the Black Ball Ferry from Port Angeles, WA, USA to Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada and visited the world famous Butchart Gardens. It brought back some fond memories of my childhood as I had visited the gardens with my mom, dad, and sister many years earlier. The gardens were even more exquisite and beautiful than I had remembered!! My favorite garden was the rose garden and the walkways with the rose covered trellises!

From Sequim we drove to the Seattle area, staying about 20 min out of Seattle.  We walked around the Wharf, took the monorail from the '62 World's Fair, the Seattle Space Needle and rode the elevator to the Observation Deck.

From the Observation Deck the views of the area were amazing and we even saw a Fire Boat doing a pump exercise.

We walked all through the amazing Pike's Place Market! We also took a Ferry to Bainbrige Island, where I visited Mckenna Ryan's quilt studio and shop!

From San Marcos, we drove north through central California, through Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Island, back to Cali , on to Lake Almanor, and home again: 2856 miles in all!

Here's more pics from our summer vacay!

Quilt Retreats in 2012

Nancy, Lynn and I have been quilting together now for years.  All 3 of us have been sewing all our lives.  You might say we are "passionate" about sewing/quilting, and so it was a natural progression to become quilters.

To further our love of sewing/quilting, Lynn and I attend 3-4 Brown Bag Quilt Retreats every year, put on by The Creation Station; and Nancy is the Hostess with the Mostest at these retreats. It's two and a half days of uninterrupted sewing, starting at 8 am on Friday morning.  We sew till all hours of the night, and return bright and early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to sew some more.  The only drawback is we have to quit sewing by 2 pm on Sunday, because the retreat ends at 3 pm.

Those who don't quilt cannot understand how we can sew so long. In fact, we've been asked the foolish question, "How many quilts do you need?" It's not about "need." It's about the creative process, the feel of the fabrics, the beautiful prints, and doing a hobby we love!! But those who don't have our passion, do not get it at all.

This year we attended quilt retreats in February, April, June, September, and we have one more (YEA!) in November. We are doing a Round Robin with 3 other quilting friends and we exchange projects at these retreats.  It's been fun deciding what to make for each quilter, what colors and fabrics to use from their individual box of fabrics. Since there are 6 quilters we decided to go round a second time, so we are in year two of this Round Robin.

While all the projects are becoming beautiful eventual quilts, Nancy's project has taken on a life of its own!! It started out as an applique project, each of us to make her an applique block. She provided us with a book of ideas (flowers, cat, fruits), and her only request was that we didn't do any of the fruit appliques!  Now, Nancy loves cats and owns two black cats, Max and Emma. I made her a cat applique block and started a simple story to go along with the block. The rest, as they say, "is history!" (More on this project later, but for now you can see the pictures from our Round Robin at my flickr page.)

The April Retreat was Extra Special! It was our 1st (soon-to-be annual) Private Retreat at Nancy's Condo!!  We spent 5 wonderful days sewing together in Nancy's living room. We each had our own

sewing tables and sewing machines set up, 

a cutting table station, (in the background, some of the blocks Lynn and I made at this retreat for our block swaps.)

Nancy and Lynn putting up our Design Wall, and an ironing station. 

It was truly the BEST retreat ever, 3 BFF's, 3 Amigos spending quality time together in the comfort of our friend's home. We didn't have to get dressed and drive anywhere.  We pretty much sewed all day in our pj's, while we watched movies, or episodes of "Gilmore Girls," or listened to music, something we can't do at a Brown Bag Retreat!

We spent one afternoon doing a little fabric browsing (and maybe a little buying) at the cute Old Town Quilt Shop in Orcutt. We also did a bit of wine tasting at a local vineyard.

 From left, Lynn, Nancy and Nancy's daughter, Elizabeth. (sorry this pic is so fuzzy)

You can see more pictures from my 2012 quilt retreats this flickr page link.

Fun at Spring Training

Traveling to Arizona for Spring Training has become a family tradition!

A waterfall near the golf course

Nick enjoying a game of golf

David shot his best game ever!

Nicole with a happy Brody

Gigi helps mommy make lunch

Hallee having fun playing with the beanie babies in the basket!

On a hot Arizona day, Sydney "relaxes" in the shade

An Arizona sunset

Papa and Yaya with Brody and Gigi at a night game

A tired Brody

Padres' Baseball at Peoria Sports Complex

The Hoffman brothers together in the Padres' dugout--

Glenn on the left and Trevor on the right!

Angelina, Alex and Micah in front of Peoria Sports Complex, before a Padres' game.

Micah having fun running through the waterfalls at a local park in El Mirage, AZ.

Andy and Nick enjoy a green beer on St Patrick's Day

An afternoon in Old Town, Scottsdale

Anniversary Trip

Cancun, Mexico

For the past 6 years, we have taken a trip with our Cruising/Camping Buddies (Nances, Lauries, and Merandis--last 2 years) to celebrate our anniversaries. We've been going on cruises, but this year we decided to go to an All-Inclusive Resort.

Our friends, Lynn and Rick Nance own an N-hance Wood Renewal business. Each year they go to their company's convention, and this year it was in Cancun. So the rest of us decided we'd tag along and make a great vacation out of it together!! We stayed at the Gran Melia Resort-Cancuna beautiful resort located on the Caribbean Sea.

We had such a great time just relaxing by the poolside, under palappas, sipping all the margaritas, Miami Vices, and beer we wanted! Reading and dozing were the activities of the day, for most of the week! The weather was perfect, in the mid-70's-80's, with balmy breezes, light clouds floating above, and some humidity (just enough for my curly hair and skin to love it!!)

We also took walks on the white, sandy beach, and the Caribbean was warmer than the pool water! One day while Nick, Rick and Bill went fly fishing, the girls

(Sue, Karen, Robin and Lynn)

took a tour to the Tulum Ancient Mayan Ruins, a very beautiful place.

The best part of the vacation was spending time with great friends once again!

You can enjoy the pictures from our great trip here.

Cruising the Eastern Seaboard

{Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth-Portland, Maine}

New England/Canada 9 Night Cruise

At the beginning of September we cruised up the eastern coastline of North America. We flew into Newark Liberty International Airport, and set sail on this adventure on the RCCL Explorer of the Seas, from the Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne, New Jersey. Our ports of call included: Portland, Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine (known to locals as BA HA BA !!); St John, New Brunswick, Canada; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; and Boston, Massachusetts!

We cruised with our good friends, Gary and Cindy, and my mom and sister, Kathy.

Fun times were had by all on and off the ship.

{St John New Brunswick, Canada}

We saw a lot of history in these towns that are older than any in California. We walked on some original cobblestone streets, visited some famous lighthouses, Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and Peggy's Point Lighthouse, St Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia, eat Lobster Rolls (Yum!), and Whole Maine Lobster

{I'll stick with Austrailian or Pacific Lobster tails, thank you! I didn't much care for the eyes of the lobster looking at me--so I jumped, thinking the lobster moved, and gave the waiter the biggest laugh of the day!!!!}.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, we visited the cemetery where the victims of the Titanic were buried so many years ago. We took a few sightseeing tours, a Duck tour of old Boston and the oldest baseball park in the USA, Fenway Park (that's PAAAArk in Bostonian, long accent on short vowel sound!).

{ Nick is leaning on the infamous Green Monster at Fenway}

The ship was a large one, the largest cruise ship we've gone on. It could accommodate 3,800 passengers, but there were only 3,056 of us!!! It had a Promenade down the middle of the ship where the shops were located, a couple of bars and coffee shop, much like an indoor mall which was very cool and a great place to people watch.

For the first time we had a balcony room on the back (AFT) of the ship. It was great. The balcony was larger and we had no wind. Too bad it was not a hot super sunny trip. Weather was ok, mostly in the high 60's - 70's, some cloudy days, few drizzles too, but that didn't dampen our fun.

At the end of the cruise, Nick and I took the train from Newark to Philadelphia for a few days. What a pretty city Philly is. Of course we enjoyed Philly Cheesesteaks! We took a trolley tour around downtown, visited Independence Hall, saw the Liberty Bell, and visited Citizens Bank (baseball) Park, the home of the Phillies, where we had a fabulous tour. We even got to go into the dugout and the players' locker room! Very cool to see all the "behind the scenes" stuff!!

Cruising is a great way to get an overview of places we've never been, but it doesn't afford us any extended time in one place. The East Coast is so lush and green, everywhere, unlike most of California in the fall. The buildings and houses all look so different than what we are used to seeing on the West Coast. As it turned out we were too early to see the Fall Colors, but what we did see really impressed us. We plan to go back to the East Coast, hopefully, in the not too distant future, in our RV, and take more time to see and soak in the beauty of the New England states.

To see more of our pictures go to my flickr page.