HAPPY 2018

Wishing all our friends and family 

a very happy new year! 

May 2018 bring you many blessings!!

Happy New Year from the Pavones!

We made so many memories on our travels in 2017.

We are truly blessed and fortunate to be able to travel.

Mid-January took us to Nashville where we met great friends and visited the Jack Daniels Distillery, in nearby Lynchburg, as well as a 'behind the scenes' tour of the Jack Daniels Fire Brigade; met friends in Las Vegas; a Caribbean Cruise, in February, with Kathy and Stan (my sis and BiL); and a few RV trips, including trips to Pismo Beach, Buellton, Rincon County Beach, Newport Beach, Thanksgiving week at Del Mar Beach Resort on Camp Pendleton, and our annual trip to El Mirage, AZ, for the month of March for spring training.

When we returned from AZ, we picked up our new puppy, Bailey, a 14 week Brittany, at the San Diego Airport. She flew down from Idaho to become a member of our family. She's a year old now and a great addition to our family, although we will be glad when she stops digging and chewing things that aren't meant for dog (like drip lines, dog beds, paper or fabric scraps!). She is loving and playful, and helping to keep Sydney (now 13) young at heart!

In July, we took a trip of a lifetime cruising the rugged coastline of Norway with Kathy, Stan, and our good friends, the Lauries. It was a fantastic trip. The Norwegian landscapes and fjords are breathtaking and spectacular (my favorite fjord, Geirangerfjord, is pictured on the front of this card). Norway is one of the most beautiful places we've ever seen. It meant so much to walk on the land where our fathers' ancestors are from (although our cruise didn't take us to Skien, 

the actual town, of my dad's ancestors).

Our Christmas gift to our family was taking all 11 of us on a Caribbean Cruise, in mid-December. A wonderful time was had by all, especially the grandkids. They loved everything about the ship, Oasis of the Seas (one of three of the largest cruise ships on the seas): the food, the buffet, swimming in the ships' pools, the Carousel, kids' club activities and more. They also had fun going ashore and swimming or snorkeling in the clear turquoise waters at the beaches of Labadee and Cozumel. It brought us such joy to watch the excitement on our grandkids' faces on this great adventure. Guess we've spoiled them; they can't wait to go on another cruise!!

Sadly, we said goodbye to my mom, Hope (she had Alzheimer's), at the end of Sept., three months shy of her 90th birthday.  She will be missed by so many, and always remembered with love!

            We are thankful for our family, our health, and our friends.

                        Wishing you and your family a very happy and healthy 2018!

OPAM 2013 - 19 Finished Projects

• We did a lot of traveling in 2013.  
• Consequently,  I didn't finish as many projects as I did in 2011 and 2012. 
• I did, however, work on several of my UFO's so they are closer to finishing and completed a couple! 
• Yea me, for progress!!
• 
  
• JANUARY
• No projects finished in January, but I worked on several.
• 
  
• FEBRUARY
• I completed this "Cape Cod" Large Lap Quilt for my daughter, Nicole, in bright and sunny yellows and teals. I love the movement in this quilt, and backing it with minkie makes it so soft and cozy!

• 
  
•  Another completed project was a "Night and Day" Lap Quilt for Lisa, a long-time friend (pattern is an Eleanor Burns' pattern) made of two pretty batiks.

• MARCH
• We spent the month in Arizona for Spring Training in our RV. 
• I was able to sew on 2 family quilts, when we weren't attending baseball games or golfing, but No Finishes.
• 
  
• APRIL
• I made this diamond baby quilt called "Big Top" for our youngest grandson, Seth. Angelina (DIL) picked the pattern and the fabrics, which are similar to his big brother Micah's quilt.

• I also finished a Hand Knit Scarf for my daughter that matches her fingerless hand warmers, modeled by Nicole!  

• 
  
• MAY
• I made a Set of 4 Napkins,
• a Minkie Ni-Nite with Satin trim, for my grandson, Brody; and
• a Minkie Ninny (sm blankie) with Satin trim, for my grandson, Seth!
• I also made another Hand Knit Scarf for my friend Donna!
• 
  
• JUNE
• I made myself a "Strings" Lap Quilt last year, and Angelina (DIL) loved it. So I made her one, her first quilt, and backed it with soft and cuddly brown minkie.

JULY

• I made this "Friendship Hugs" Lap Quilt for my friend Sue, for her birthday. This pattern has quickly become one of my favorites to make. It's a simple pattern made mostly of 2.5" squares but looks great.  Sue's quilt is made of batiks!

AUGUST

• No Finishes this month. We were on vacation in Northern California, Oregon and Washington. I did work on a couple of UFO'S in our RV.
• 
  
• SEPTEMBER
• I made a Blanket Sleeper, a gift for a friend's Baby Girl, 
• a Set of Napkins for our RV, and
• two Summer dresses for Me!
• 
  
• OCTOBER
• I finished a Hand Knit Shawl for Me (that matches a long dress) for our Australian/New Zealand cruise.
• 
  
• NOVEMBER
• We were Cruising Australia and New Zealand for three weeks!!
• 
  
• DECEMBER
• I made another Baby Blanket Sleeper gift for a friend's new baby,
• a Set of 8 Placements for Nicole and family, (as seen with two of the cutest grankiddos!!)
•  
  
• and two Christmas Stockings for baby Seth (one for mommy and daddy's house and one for Yaya and Papa's house).

• I feel such a sense of accomplishment when I complete a creative project, especially one that has been patiently waiting for me to finish it!  Best of all, I feel such gratitude that I am able to share my creativity with others.

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!

We've Got the Travel Bug, Part II

Mid June 2013  Road Trip: Virginia to Massachusetts

In mid-June we flew toVirginia. From Virginia, we drove through West Virginia to Maryland, then to Pennsylvania, through NJ, NY and Connecticut to Rhode Island with our final destination in Boston, Massachusetts.

First we drove with friends to The Wisp Resort in McHenry, Maryland, at Deep Creek Lake, for their son's "destination wedding!" This resort has summer and winter activities, including, snow skiing, golf, and an adventure park. The happy couple were married on the top of the mountain overlooking the valley and lake, and the reception had a picturesque view looking up the green mountain! It was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful setting.

Following the wedding, we ventured on our road trip with friends, Marc and Nancee. Our first stop was Emmitsburg, PA, where we walked the grounds of the National Fire Academy, (our first visit to this prestigious campus), where there's the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial and a replica sculpture of the firefighters raising the flag at the WTC site, entitled "To Lift a Nation."

Our next stop was Gettysburg, PA. We visited the Gettysburg National Museum, and marveled at the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama Painting, "a breathtaking canvas that measures 377 feet in circumference and 42 feet high;" then we took a "CD Guided Auto Tour" of the battlegrounds, which spanned miles of open fields. [awesome!] This year marked the 150th anniversary of the famous battle. It's hard to describe the feelings that stir when you walk on historical grounds such as these.

From a couple of days in the Gettysburg area, we drove through Lancaster County, the Amish countryside of Pennsylvania, and stopped in a couple of small towns.  Of course, I found a couple of wonderful quilt shops to browse the beautiful made quilts and fabrics. I bought just a few pieces of fabric (as a quilter, I just couldn't go to Amish country and not, right!?!).  While we were walking around an outdoor plaza, suddenly we were pelted with rain. Due to the rain we only saw one Amish buggy. The rain lasted the rest of our drive to Newport, RI. The scenery all along the way was so green and pretty (except while we were driving through the big city of NY).

We stayed a couple of nights in Newport, RI and toured several of the famous Mansions of Newport. They reminded me of an American version of Downton Abbey!

This is "Marble House."

We also walked and eat on the beautiful waterfront of Newport, celebrating my birthday!

Next up, West Yarmouth for a few days. One day we took the pretty drive all the way to the end of Cape Cod. (Found another cute quilt shop on the way!)

We took a "fast ferry" to the island of Nantucket where we went on an informative walking tour of the old buildings in the town. We enjoyed the quaintness of Nantucket, despite the pricey stores!!

From Cape Cod, we drove to Boston and returned the rental car. We then used the "T"(the Metro) to get around Boston for a few days, took a "Boston Old Town Trolley Tour," walked part of "The Freedom Trail," visited Cheers (of course), and walked on the campus of Harvard University [Mark that off my bucket list!!]; we visited the Fire Museum of the First Fire Department of the United States, explored a lot of history, visited the JFK Museum, enjoyed 'Lobsta' Rolls, and didn't much like the 90% humidity, but we love visiting Boston! We had toured Fenway Park when we stopped in Boston on our New England cruise in 2011, and had hoped to go to a Red Sox game. But it wasn't to be as the Sox were out of town.  For sure we will go there on our next trip to Boston!

Our two week Road Trip took us about 3,000 miles from Virginia to Massachusetts, and we saw so many amazing sights and soaked up the history!  We look forward to more travels like this!

More pictures of our  Road Trip from Virginia to Boston here.

We've Got the Travel Bug! Part I

From March to May, Arizona to Cancun to Fort Bragg, California

As much as I would like to stay up on my blogging, life just gets in the way.

Or, maybe it's the traveling!! We do love to travel!

We headed east to El Mirage, Arizona, for the month of March for Baseball Spring Training.

Once again, we stayed at the Pueblo El Mirage Resort. Family and friends joined us there. We went to many baseball games, 

played some golf 

(I made a couple of pars, otherwise my game consisted of a lot of practice hitting at each hole!),

and enjoyed beautiful sunsets over the desert. It was a wonderfully relaxing month.

We attended 2-3 baseball games each week. Our goal was to visit all the spring training baseball parks in the greater Phoenix area. We almost hit every one of them! (Next year we will!) Of course,
we went to several games at the Peoria Sports Complex, since it is the spring training home for the San Diego Padres (and the Seattle Mariners).

We also visited the newest "state of the art" baseball park, Salt River Fields (spring training home to the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies), where we saw one of the World Baseball Classic games, between Mexico and Italy.

Here's some more pictures from spring training!


The last week of April, we spent a relaxing week in Cancun. This time we stayed at THE Royal in Cancun, a gorgeous all-inclusive resort, not far from the resort we stayed at last year.

We stayed in a Royal Junior Suite with this spectacular oceanview (with a jacuzzi tub in it) and went to sleep each night to the soothing sound of the ocean waves.

 Dinner with friends (Nick and I, Marc and Nancee behind Andy and Cara!

 Cancun has become one of our favorite places to relax!
 More Cancun pictures here.


In mid-May, we headed to Fort Bragg on the rocky northern California coastline in our RV. On our drive north we stayed a night at the beautiful Jaxon Keys Winery thanks to our Harvest Hosts club.

We had a wonderful week of camping at the Pomo Campground, AB diving, campfires, and more with our bestest friends, Lynn and Rick.  Our daughters, Emily and Nicole and their families joined us once again.

It was so fun watching the little ones playing together, 

reminding the grandparents of days gone by when our children did the same. 

Love this new family tradition!

See more pictures of Ft Bragg here.

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.

On Being Thankful !

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd share my whimsical,wall hanging for Thanksgiving.

On a more serious note, as I reflect on Thanksgivings past, I am reminded of all the good times we have had as a family and our life long tradition of "camping" for the holiday. Family and friends join us in this tradition. We used to camp from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. But over the years we have added a day or two to the time we spend camping, at the beach (South Carlsbad State Beach or San Elijo State Beach, with a couple of years spent at the San Mateo Campground in San Clemente, part of the San Onofre State Beach). The last few years we have camped for the entire week of Thanksgiving, rain or shine! I say "rain or shine" because we've had a few years with downpours of rain, but it never dampened our holiday spirit.

This is a time to be thankful, and I have much to be thankful for: my health, my family, my grandchildren, my life, my God. I was inspired by a "pin" on Pinterest, which linked me with the blog, simplyvintagegirl, so I made my own Thankful Tree.

With a grateful heart and joyous praise I give thanks to God who blesses us all!

Our Trip to Oregon

Fall Colors!

We took an RV trip up to Bend, Oregon, a couple of weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the "fall colors," we had been too early for when we were in New England in Sept.

We visited our friends, the Nances, in Redding, CA, for a few days on our way to Bend and on our way back. One night our friends the Lauries came over from Paradise,
for a birthday dinner in honor of Sue. [Nick, Karen, Rick, Lynn, Sue & Bill]

It was great seeing them and spending some long overdue time with good friends!

The weather was clear, sunny and warm while we were in northern California. Nick and Rick went fly fishing and bear hunting, while Lynn and I had our own "quilt retreat" and sewed for a couple of fun days.We were able to complete the first three blocks in the "America the Beautiful" BOM (2011 block of the month from McCalls' Quilting magazine) we are making together.

Once we arrived in Bend, however, we were surprised to discover how cold it was. Nick had to immediately change from his shorts to jeans! The air was very crisp and the sky was a gorgeous blue, which should have been our first clue of the weather to come. The first day it was 38 degrees when we got there in the early afternoon. That night the temp got to a high of 15 degrees. The next day it got into the low 40's and that night it only dropped to 20 degrees.

We stayed at a fantastic RV Resort, Crown Villa , right near the beginning of town. The sites are all 72' long, made with pavers. Each site has a storage cabinet you can use at the back of the site and the sites are extra wide, maybe 45' wide with lots of grass.

We drove around the town of Bend, a very, quaint town. The vibrant, rich yellow, rust and red leaves were everywhere we looked and so beautiful. We walked along the beautiful Deschuttes River in the Old Mill District of Bend. We had dinner one night, downtown at McMenamin's Pub and Tavern.
Nick went fly fishing and we visited a couple of cute quilt shops.

One afternoon we took a beautiful drive northwest to the cute little town of Sisters, Oregon, and visited the famous quilt shop, The Stitching Post. I really want to return (maybe next July) for their Outdoor Quilt Show that is the second Saturday in July every year (2011 was the 36th Annual Outdoor Quilt Show).

On our return to Redding we stopped and visited Nick's sister and family in Yreka, CA. We hadn't been to their Historic Victorian home in many years, and we got to see all the remodeling they have done,and more "Fall Colors" as well. It was great catching up with family.

More photos of our trip on flickr!