Concord Day Trip and More - The Block Exchange

A little birdie whispered in my ear, "I have to go to Concord on Monday, would you like to go with me?"  Yes!

So began, the adventure to Concord today.  My friend Paulette, had an assignment from the River City Quilt Guild. The Opportunity Quilt had an appointment to be photographed at C&T Publishing in Concord at 10 am on Monday morning.  And Paulette was to accompany it to C&T.  And her sidekick had another engagement.  And Paulette asked me.  And it was an adventure that I will treasure.  And thank you "sidekick" for having a full calendar!! 

We did not hit any traffic jams and just zipped along enjoying the scenery, and a bright California sun shiny morning.  As we traveled we both shared our love of the San Joaquin Valley and the colours of the land and agricultural crops.  Then over the river and through the foothills we arrived in Concord, which is bathed in sea breezes and lush coast terrain.  

C&T Publishing - I bet you have quilting books published by them. 

 

What a striking quilt - it greets you right along with the smile 

of the nicest receptionist when you come through the front door.

We were a little early and she treated us like she had all the 

time in the world to answer questions and find books we were

interested in looking at.  In fact everyone that came by the front desk

was friendly, and happy to look up things in their library for us to see.

These front covers of the recently published and forthcoming

publications filled a wall in the office.  Yes, I had my nose

right in there and checked them all out.  I was struck by the colours and the photography.  

Here is why the photography is so well done!

Diane, on the left does layout and Christine, on the right does the photographing.  

They are a talented team.

They were prepared ahead, well organized and went right to work

like magic in front of our eyes.  They made things look so effortless.

Yes, the quilt is on the floor.  A grid on top of flannel surrounded

by cloth covered walls all set and staged by lights for the measurements

of the quilt.

Hard work that they made look easy.

They had removed a ceiling panel and a camera was

set up in the crawl space.  Isn't she cute looking through the rafters! 

TA - DA  They were done and showing us their work.

I am sorry I have their photograph in here twice (and don't know

how to get the duplicate out after I have uploaded the 

pictures to the blog, well, yes, I could delete the whole blog

and start all over again - not!)  

Diane and Christine are as nice in person as they are in the photograph!

Our stop while the photographers did what they have to do

to make a final print and a CD for Paulette to take back to

the RCQG.  

I love this embroidered wall hanging from Bunny Hill.  

This is a shot into the "embroidery" area.  I could have stayed in

there all day, curled up in the tent with a pattern book

and floated off to "embroidery heaven."

Sandy, on the right, and her friend, Linda, popped into TC, while we 

were there - see I am not the only one who goes into the shop on my

days off.  Sandy is a fine embroiderer!!  We met at TC on May 26th

and have chatted on the phone, sharing information.  She is from

New Zealand and I get a kick out of her accent.  It brings out my 

"clip" from the old country.  (Perhaps not entirely a good thing...:0) )

She was worried about how she looked when I asked if I could take

her picture and she explained they had be running on fumes after being

involved in various end of the year school events for the past three days.  

Oh, to be young again...

The Block Exchange

Blocks from The Block Exchange.

Paulette's is the white picket fence and her sidekick, Diana's is the shovel.  My photograph does not do the talent and workwomanship in the blocks justice.  I did not have the heart to ask Mary, who was hosting the event, if I could crawl up and take the shot from overhead :0)

Lovely inside and out - Paulette.

The Block Exchange.

Diana called Paulette while we were heading home from Concord.  The long and short of the call was we drove to where The Block Exchange was meeting since we were going to be driving right by the town on the freeway.  Can you tell from this photograph what special ladies they are?  The ladies in The Block Exchange radiant friendship and the love of quilting.  

A perfect end to a perfect day.  

A joy shared is a joy doubled.