Notes from the Patch

Somewhere near San Sebatian - Day Two

We need to clear up something before I tell you about our dinner last night and day two.

I told you we were staying in San Sabastian and we're not. We're staying about fifteen miles outside of San Sebastian in a little town called Hondarribia. It probably wouldn't be all that important except when I move here and you come to visit, I want you to find me. I'm blaming my lapse of coherency on being under the spell of this amazing country. I kinda hate to admit this but this girl who loves everything Parisian is totally smitten with Spain. I love the countrysides, the cities, the charming little towns with their tapa bars filled with friendly happy people and I love the prices. Things are so much cheaper here than France. Oh, and guess what else? They make fabulous, reasonably priced cute shoes here too!

They're called Pretty Ballerina's and I'm totally obsessed!

I was sad because there was a whole shoe store next to our hotel in Barcelona filled with Pretty Ballerina shoes but they were closed for a holiday and I had to leave them all behind. As we were having coffee at the airport in Barcelona, waiting for our flight to San Sabastian, I told Bill that the only thing disappointing about our stay for me was that I didn't get to buy shoes (Shallow. I know). Anyway, a little later he came back from the bathroom and announced that he found Pretty Ballerina's there in one of the airport shops! What a guy! I think most husbands would have never told their wives of their discovery, but my husband is my hero and before we boarded the plane I got this cute little pair!

I'm going to need to tell you about our AMAZING dinner last night later because the shoe store in the village opens for the evening in twenty minutes and I just want to run down there and check out their styles of Pretty Ballerinas before dinner.

Suzanne

Tuesday - San Sabastian, Spain

We flew from Barcelona to San Sebastian early this morning. The flight was just under an hour long

and I could tell from the air that we were going to like this area. The rolling hills we're dotted with little white houses with tera cotta roofs. I could see La Concha Bay from the air. This would be our home for the next three nights.



Our six€ cab ride delivered us to Parador El Emperador in the old part of San Sabastian. A parador is a government owned hotel and ours was once a fortress that dates back to the 16th century.


This is the view of the bay from our hotel room.




There is a beautiful terrace overlooking the Basque coast and the boats below where you can have a drink and soak up the quiet.






The old walled city has narrow streets just barely wide enough for a car


and charming shops and tiny restaurants.











This is the front of our fortress, I mean, hotel


and these are the houses and shops that line the square just outside our door.






Tonight we will take a bus into the main part of San Sabastian for dinner at a Michelin three star restaurant. They say San Sabastian has the greatest proportion of Michelin stars per square meter in the world. I doubt we will go hungry while here!

Encourage one another,

xo Suzanne

Barcelona - Monday Day Four - Our last day before moving on

Today was our last day in this beautiful city. Four days was just the right amount of time to see the highlights and realize that we must return to experience those things still undone.

Today we started our day with a walking tour of the Gothic section of the old city

where we stumbled upon the cities ornate old music house nestled on a narrow street between crumbling brick houses.

It was Monday morning and the laundry was hung out to dry overhead.






This is Barcelona's Arch de Triump







Of course we had to stop for tapas





before making our way to the oceanfront for a gondola ride over the harbor.




The view was breathtaking.
















See those two little dots on each side of the tower below? That would be us suspended over the water!



What a beautiful way to view the city and see all of the places we visited and loved. It was the perfect way to say adios to Barcelona.

Tomorrow we fly to San Sebastian where we will meet some friends and stay in that haunted old castle I was telling you about. See you there.

Encourage one another,

xo Suzanne

PS: I just noticed that this was my one thousandth blog post. I just couldn't let this monumental post pass without note. With nearly one million page views over the past four years I'd say that's pretty darn good for a gal who was always too shy to talk in front of her class in school. Thanks to you all for being here and riding along on this bumpy ride called life.

Barcelona - Sunday Day Three

Since all of the small shops and large department stores are closed on Sunday we decided a city bus tour was a good choice for the day. Barcelona is full of double decker buses full of tourists. May is the start of tourist season and by the size of the crowds, business is booming.

Our original plan was to ride the bus to Gaudi's famous church, Sagrada Familia but the line to buy tickets wrapped around the block so we opted to stay on the bus and continue our city tour instead.



This is a former textile mill and now houses a contemporary art exhibition.





Part of the reason for the crowds of tourists here are the many cruise ships that stop in the harbor. This is the Norwegian Lines, Epic - the biggest ship I've ever seen at nineteen stories tall!


After several hours of viewing the city from the upper level of the tour bus we were ready for an early dinner





and took Doug Ruby's suggestion for tapas.


Those are hog/pig (help me here Chris) legs that are hanging to age. Those little paper cups catch the grease so they don't drip on the nice people sitting at the bar. (thoughtful huh?) There were dozens of them hanging inside the restaurant. Although I don't eat much meat anymore, and have totally lost my desire for it, I did have a few slices on my pasta and it is absolutely, melt in your mouth, scrumptious!


This photo is for you Doug and Diane. Thank you for the good recommendation. Bill and I both enjoyed our tapas and homemade pasta.



It was about five o'clock by the time we finished eating and I don't know if it was the beer talking or what but I got the brainiac idea of going back to Gaudi's church.


It turned out to be a brilliant idea since the crowds were gone and there where no lines to get in.


It was absolutely breathtaking.


In most European cathedrals the stained glass is dominant, but here Gaudi's architecture prevailed.


Sagrada Familia is not to be missed. Lines or no lines!






















One thing you notice as you travel is how, no matter where you are, some things are always the same.


People love their American movies, music,


Dora and Sponge Bob,


Starbucks


and Burger King!

Encourage one another,

xo Suzanne

PS: I apologize for the size of these photos. The blogging program I'm forced to use on my iPad compresses them to this size. : (

Barcelona Day Two

We're beginning to feel like Europeans. Dinner at nine. Sleeping till eight. I could get used to this!

Day two was taken at a slow, leisurely pace. Having the luxury of spending four nights in this beautiful, busy city lets us take it a bit slow. We walk everywhere. Haven't ridden in a vehicle since we stepped off the Aerobus at the Placa de Catalunya on Friday morning.

They say you can't come to Barcelona without seeing the Gaudi houses so that's where we started on Saturday.

Casa Batllo was a residence designed and built in the early 1900's by Antoni Gaudi. It felt a bit like stepping onto a Jules Verne movie set with it's references to a strange under water world.



Gaudi reminds me of our Frank Lloyd Wright in that he designed everything from the tiles on the walls to the shape of the banisters to the window latches to the furniture.











My photos are crummy. If you ever get to Barcelona you really must see Gaudi's genius first hand.

We discovered the most wonderful little restaurant on our walk to the Casa Batllo.



La Cuina d'en Garriga is intimate and oh, so charming! It felt as though we were eating in someone's kitchen. If I owned a restaurant, it would look exactly like this.


I loved every amazing detail.






I ordered the "Barbara special" for lunch. It was delicious!


We loved our lunch so much we returned for dinner. I seriously think I could live there, in this Disneyland of an eating establishment. When the owner recognized us from lunch I told her how much we enjoyed it. (I think she may have thought we were stalking her).

Today we are touring another Gaudi masterpiece, Sagrada Familia - just as soon as I finish my breakfast in bed.

Encourage one another,

Suzanne

Barcelona day one

The Hotel Praktik Rambla has beautifully ornate walls appliquéd with hundred year old Spainish lace




and floors inlayed with patchwork quilts.




It couldn't be more perfect!


Our trip from Los Angeles to Barcelona was flawless with short security lines and on time flights. Bill and I just kept looking at one another with that "I can't believe how easy this is" look.

I did discover one rather major mishap upon arrival though.




That's my computer screen. The light weight and thin Sony computer I bought especially for this trip. Apparently it's travel here wasn't as trouble free as ours. Not to worry, my blog posts now will we composed on my iPad. Nothing can stop a dedicated blogger!

On our first day in Barcelona we walked down the very crowded Las Ramblas to St Joseph's Mercator Boqueria.






It's an amazing market with an unbelievable array of local foods. We wondered if they could possibly sell all the meat, fish, cheese and produce that was displayed,


but when we returned several hours later we discovered inventories were greatly diminished.



I have a feeling this will be one of our favorite places in Barcelona.




We ate a light dinner of tapas and sangria at a nearby restaurant with its illuminated wall of coca cola bottles then went to bed early after a long day of travel.





We were awakened at 2am to the sounds of the street celebrations of Barcelona's victory over Madrid in soccer. I have a feeling there will be a city full of sleepy tourists today.


Encourage one another,

Suzanne

Settling in for our nine hour flight. We just placed or dinner (ice cream sundaes for dessert) and breakfast order. Do I want to be awakened for breakfast? No thank you. I just hope I can sleep!

Gotta go. See you all in Barcelona.

Xo Suzanne

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

This is Barcelona

Just as we were planning our trip to Barcelona I stumbled upon this post and immediately fell head over heals in love with Barcelona's romantic charm. (After all, who can resist a city with lace appliques on its walls)? We followed one of Sarah's recommendations and booked our four nights stay in one of the intimate 37 rooms of the Hotel Praktik Rambia.

This will be our first trip to Spain and although we've talked with friends who have been and have a long list of things to see, we really have no idea what awaits us there. For me, the adventure of travel is exploring new places and discovering the unknown. We look forward to letting the city reveal itself one layer at a time.

We board our flight for Barcelona in the morning. (We are both so excited I doubt we'll sleep a wink).

The adventure begins. First stop Barcelona, Spain. Are you ready?

Encourage one another,

PS: Don't forget to vote for your favorite FB photo for a chance to win our market goody bag.

 

Quilt Market wrap up and a giveaway

Are you sick of us yet?

Wow. Kara did such a fantastic job of covering Quilt Market that it really was like having you all right there with us. We loved hearing about the things you liked as we went along. Thank you for tagging along!

If you missed Kara's photos and commentary you can check it out on Strawberry Patches' Facebook page.

Here are just a few more photos that I took throughout the three days. Hope you can stand just a few more...

Miss Pam Kitty and her daughter Frankie send you all their love.

I totally freaked over these pink and red fans. Love them! Do you see those pot holders and oven mit tucked in among the hearts? They're all made from Pam's current line and what I love is that they work wonderfully with her next line, Pam Kitty Love. She's added black which makes everything pop. We'll be doing a block of the month next year using this exciting new collection.

Here's Camille and her mom Bonnie with their new line for Moda, Marmalade. (Yes, we bought it all and

will be kitting this big block quilt).

This stunning block of the month quilt is from Laundry Basket Quilts. The cool thing is that all of the fusible shapes are precut with a laser so all you have to do is iron them down and away you go. We'll have these kits available in September.

Here's Anna Maria Horner with her cute hubby. I think we should make a new rule that you can't be young, cute and talented. So not fair.

I always look forward to seeing Alexander Henry's booth. This pile of chairs features fabrics from their new lines.  LOVED it!

Amy Butler's booth. We saw lots of those stacking floor cushions this time.

A Nancy Halvorsen quilt from her new book, Christmas Favorites. Annette is kitting this quilt as I type. Let us know if you want one since we can only do a limited number. Our kits are identical to Nancy's samples by the way.

This vignette is from Nancy's book Curiosities and Mischief. I love that it features projects for both boys and girls.

French General

Fig Tree

Me and My Sister for Moda

All three of us loved this quilt! It's a wonderful combination of flannel and wool and will be a block of the month this fall. Here's a close up...

Every time I walked by this Scottie Dog quilt in the Maywood booth

I felt myself falling in love with it just a little more. It's machine appliqued using Maywood's super soft Woolie Flannel. So precious!

Sarah Jane won the Creativity Award for this booth design. We bought most of the pieces in this boy or girl pirate group. Love the little lighted bunks

and this pillow...

This rug was so clever.

Does anyone know what that plastic stuff is that they knotted the fabric too? I so want to copy this!

Now that you've made it through my photos I want to reward one lucky reader with a little goody bag.

Robert Kaufman was so kind to give us a copy of We Love Color by Susanne Woods so I thought it would be fun to share it along with a few other goodies. I've included a bundle of two inch squares of each of the twenty eight new Kona solids along with Moda's forty two piece collection of Bonnie and Camille's Marmalade. I've added a big box of assorted Mettler sewing threads and three charm packs of Java Batiks from Galaxy and put them all in a fun tote by Moda. If you'd like to win just tell me what you liked best of the things Kara shared on Facebook.

Hopefully I can pick a winner sometime next week from Spain!

Bill and I leave for an overnight stay in Los Angeles Wednesday after work then fly out bright and early on Thursday to Miami then on to Barcelona. I've packed my camera and computer so I can take you all along with us.

I sure hope you all like tapas and sangria! 

Encourage one another,

 

 

Somewhere over the rainbow

We're somewhere between Kansas and California flying home from Quilt Market. Annette and Kara are crashed out in the row in front of us and Bill's engrossed in a book. I can't sleep because my head is swimming with quilt ideas and beautiful fabrics. Quilt Market was fantastic!

I'm surprised we were even able to take off considering how heavy our bags are! They're stuffed with books, patterns and models not to mention the free fabric bundles and books we were given at market. I'll be having a give away later this week with some of the goodies I brought home for you so check back.