Gone to Castroville

It's another Friday and I chose to go to Castroville this time.  I can't resist the bakery there and the wonderful quilt shop, Fabric 'n Friends.  It was only a few weeks ago that our Friday date took us to Castroville, but I knew there was another really neat restaurant there... and my husband had not been there.  If you are not aware of this restaurant, you might pass it by thinking it was just a hotel, but I had been there before with some of my quilt friends.  The Alsatian Restaurant has really good food, at a reasonable price, and the view from our table was really awesome.  We chose to eat inside this time because it was way too hot to enjoy eating on the deck.  Castroville is a really neat little town.  It is probably as close to San Antonio as we are.  We are just southeast, and Castroville is due west.  It makes for a really nice Friday ride.  Lots of ranch land along I-90.

On the quilting front, I had not done any sewing for a couple weeks because we had to take an unscheduled trip to Ohio, but the good part is we happened to be there at the same time as the NQA show in Columbus.  We saw lots of really great quilts, and there were lots of vendors with neat stuff for sale.  I took lots of pictures...  my husband actually took more than I did.  I'm not sure that it is OK to post pictures of another person's quilt without their permission, so I will refrain from sharing those with you... but I was very impressed with the detail in most of the quilts.  Makes me realize how much longer I have to work at perfecting my skills.

I don't typically get any of my own quilting done at my Monday quilting group... we work on a common project quite often, but I did get back into sewing on Monday, and actually started two new projects in the last couple of days.  I really need to start more projects... I do not plan to do a whole quilt for the BOM this year, but I thought I would do about 3 blocks and create a table runner.  I'm still trying to find the right applique technique that I feel good about when I am done... I am not there yet, but this is the first block I did from this year's BOM.  I used freezer paper and machine applique.  It isn't too bad, but I am not real pleased with the finished block.  I will maybe use raw edge on the next block.  I'll keep this one for myself, or store it in a drawer.
In the current issue of American Patchwork & Quilting (August), I am making a wall hanging from the Color Option feature for the quilt that is on the cover.  I am not very far, and I needed at least one more fabric to complete the set I am using for this quilt.  This morning I found the missing fabric at Fabric 'n Friends.  I was able to finsih the first arc of points when I was at my Thursday quilting group.  The colors are not showing true in this image... those lighter points are pale green, and the darker is much brighter.  I really do like the paper piecing technique.  It really creates a nice finished piece.  This is a fairly large arc,  It took two sheets of paper that had to be taped together.  Most paper pieced blocks I have worked on have been like 8.5" square.

Hope you all have a great weekend. 
We should have a quiet one and maybe I can get lots of sewing done.