Quilting on the Kenai (part one)

Friday morning Diana, Linda, Gaia and I took off for three days on the Kenai Peninsula. Few hours of driving later we stopped for lunch in Sterling at Suzie's Cafe . Only 15 more minutes down the road and we were in the town of Soldotna where "Quilting on the Kenai" is a yearly event at the end of June organized by Pat Reese the owner of the quilt store Robin Place

After picking up few fabric and a new book by Trish Stuart who used to live in AK we were on our way around the town to fill our "Passport". The highlights in my opinion of the afternoon were the bookstore River City Books (you would have guessed, right?), the cafe next to it "Charlotte" and the Deli around the corner are worth stopping. I would have never thought that a tiny deli like that could hold so many cheeses and delicatessen items like they do. All the ladies in this mini shopping were a delight. This is one of them! The other wonderful surprise in this mini tour was the Trinity Greenhouse. They have come up with a recipe dirt that makes everything grow twice as big as a regular plant. It was beautymax all around. Roses, giant petunia and mixed flower baskets, begonias... Fruit trees in blooms (Apple). I know were to get the dirt next year for my planters.

We had dinner at St. Elias Brewing Company, trying to find our way to the beach in Kenai we had to stop for quick pictures by the Orthodox Church The Lupines are in their full glory right now soon to be replaced by the Fireweeds.

We took a long walk on the beach. What a gorgeous evening it was. Mt Redoubt was showing some action. Linda found a mini rubber ducky, that is a rare thing Diana found a set of mini pink shellsalso pretty rare and I found a strange looking fish vertebrae piece but also a big heart. Just perfect to end a perfect day.

What I didn't tell you is that we had decided to have a Challenge on the Kenai among the three of us. So we had a list of things to gather put in a package and then exchange each one to someone else and then we are going to add things to it and make a mini quilt from those goodies. One missing thing was a purchase or found object in the trip so gathering things on the beach could be part of our challenge. We shall see in few weeks what we have done with those.

Anyway.... here is my package so you can get the idea of what was required.