On the Road: Morro Bay, CA, and the Seven Sisters Quilt Show, June 2018

Definition of morro: a rounded hill or promontory.

Definition of Morro Rock (above): a volcanic plug, or lava dome, in Morro Bay, California, dating from the Oligocene epoch (from 27 to 23 million years ago). From what I understand, it’s the last volcanic plug (the lava rock leftover when the volcano itself crumbles) in a range running inland—seven of them in fact—hence the origin of the name for the Seven Sisters Quilt Show.

Definition of Seven Sisters Quilt Show: a two-day multi-guild quilt show held annually at the end of June. The week after the show is reserved for workshops presented by a different quilt instructor every year. This year it was yours truly.

I flew into little San Luis Obispo (affectionately called SLO) Airport, from little Kalispell airport after my week of teaching in Montana. I arrived in time to catch the end of the quilt show, but was first whisked off for lunch at the Madonna Inn. If any of you out there are either secret or open purveyors of kitsch, this is a must-stop destination. When my contact for the show, Joan Graham (pictured below center), proposed the Madonna Inn Cafe for lunch, I responded that I didn’t care if there was anything vegan on the menu, I’d make do. This was a place I’d read about in a book about kitsch—the Madonna Inn is the epitome of kitsch. And I was going there. Obviously, you now know where I stand in the enjoyment and appreciation of the colorful and garish. If I was ever in the closet about it, I’m out now.

Seated above, left to right, Lisa Boatman (a guild member who also picked me up at the airport), Diane Kubiak, Joan Graham, and Gail Dunning. Diana and Gail are two former students of mine, and just happened to be at the cafe grabbing some lunch before the quilt show themselves. We joined them and I found a nice salad on the menu—with an avocado and sweet potato fries as sides!

I did add a “collectable rose goblet” of bright yellow opaque glass to my kitsch treasures (imagine a frozen grimace on Tom’s face), said a temporary goodbye (see end of blog post) to “Lady Moodonna” (below) by artist Kelly Asuncion, and drove to the exhibition hall on the grounds for the Seven Sisters Quilt Show itself.

One of the first people I saw at the show entrance is another past student, Linda Edell, who was also the show chair. We posed under Linda’s quilt, “Hot Lips Carlson.” As Linda put it in her write-up, her class had so much fun together they all decided to surprise me and “… named all our quilts with Carlson at the end.” Maybe I should check the ingredients of the glue we use for fabric collage….

In addition to Linda’s fish quilt, I was on the lookout for other quilts that may have been started in a class of mine, since I do teach in California every year, not too far up the coast at Empty Spools Seminars in Pacific Grove. Sure enough I found “Morro the Pelican” by Karen Gray, and “Sunrise Sunset” by Ilana David, inspired by my sun-portrait pattern. Click on these or any photos for enlarged versions.

Joan found me later and I got to see her quilt (above), “It’s Structural, Ya Know.” I only had a short time at the show before closing, but I got a few photos of some of the quilts that caught my eye for one reason or another. See them below in the slide show, but see even more great quilts at the Seven Sisters Quilt Show Gallery.

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And then it was a short highway drive through Los Osos Valley (Valley of the Bears) to the town of Los Osos/Baywood Park, where I’d be staying at Back Bay Inn. Paddle-boarding “Cow-Bear” by artists, Dave and Kyle Doust, was there to greet us at the head of the bay.

Baywood Park is a cute and quiet area of Los Osos, but on Monday nights there’s live music at the Inn, and folks dancing on the green. After that first day of class, I went across the street to Noi’s for “the area’s best Thai food take-out.” I couldn’t argue that claim. My noodle dish was delicious, and entertainment was perfect.

I found out I was in the part of the country where “June Gloom” is a term for the cool and cloudy weather also-known-as the “marine layer.” The seasonal fog is important for the many micro-climates of the area. So mornings, and most of the week, was on the cool and not-so-sunny side of weather. But seeing as just a few miles inland the temperatures were soaring, no one in class was complaining.

One night a sea lion (above right), miscalculated the tide and the long stretch of mud flats in the bay. By the early hours of the morning she was stranded. No one was concerned, and by the time I left for class, the returning tide—and her escape route—had almost reached her.

Back Bay Inn has beautiful gardens on the grounds, and I spent some morning and evening time wandering through them enjoying the colors and textures. I surprised myself by recognizing the kangaroo paws—both red and yellow varieties below—a plant I had never seen before until my trip to Australia in May. Apparently, the climate along this part of the California coast matches that of parts of Australia.

The view out my bedroom door (above), and where I had my morning cuppa. A few morning walk photos are below.

Timing was such that most mornings the tide was out, and June Gloom hung heavy. In the photo above, the Inn is seen to the left. In the photo below, the Inn is the long white building to the right. Morro Rock is on the left, a few miles up the coast from Los Osos.

The town of Morro Bay, where Morro Rock resides, is where I taught all week. Each morning after breakfast at Back Bay Cafe, either Joan or her cohort, Gay McNeal (below right), would deliver me to class.

One look at the Morro Valley Grange Hall, and I knew we had arrived. A painted wooden quilt sure spruces up a building!

Another former student, Lynda Flynn, took both the 2-day Fish, Bug, Butterfly class and the 3-day Sea Turtle Class I was teaching that week. She showed me a warm-up fish project she completed, looking for a critique. I was hard-pressed to find anything to improve on!

And in photo below, two beetle quilts of mine are re-united for a few days. Pamela Holst had purchased “Life in the Leaves” a few years ago, and I happened to bring “Fire Beetle” with me as an example quilt for the class. I had met Pamela previously, but finally after many attempts, she made it into a class—and went for the full week with both classes. She’s so sweet and says her beetle quilt hangs in her quilting studio as inspiration.

You can see Lynda’s, Pamela’s, and everyone else’s fishy and fluttery collages in the slide show below. Most of these collage quilts are based on patterns of fish, bugs or butterflies you can find here.

Fish, Bug, Butterfly Class Slide Show

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Bonita Shaw (above), and her friend Pam Munns (below), were yet two more past students of mine—they were actually ringleaders in that “let’s add ‘Carlson’ to the title of all our quilts” class. They continued the tradition with Bonita working on “Mozie Carlson” (an extinct mosasaurus), and Pam a “Cuda Carlson” (a baracuda you can see in the slide show). I had to talk to Bonita, the “glue lady,” about the application of glue. She remains the only person I’ve ever known to break needles on glue while quilting. Honestly, I couldn’t see how that could happen, until she gleefully showed me the stash of glue she brought for her project. Hmmm, one or two of those smallest bottle should do it….

These ladies also brought finished class quilts for me to see. I put them here as a teaser for an upcoming “Finish Line” blog post, where you’ll get to see the quilts in progress as well.

When I last saw student Lynda Flynn in a Maine retreat, we had set a dinner date for when I would be in her California neck of the woods. So she and her husband Joe, took me around the coastal area after a couple classes. Above is a panorama from the end of the pier in the cute little town of Cayucos.

Lynda and I met some some interesting characters on the streets of Cayucos and also San Luis Obispo (SLO), including “Marilyn Moonroe” by artist Douglas Turner.

At SLO’s weekly Farmer’s Market, we checked out Bubblegum Alley (above), where the most overheard statement was, “now, don’t touch the walls—DON’T touch!” The multiple layers of chewed stickiness brought on an interesting combination of fascination and revulsion in the viewer.

Moving into the market itself was another world of color and texture—and a bit more appetising. Some apricots and a small flat of strawberries went back to the Inn with me—perfect snacks that didn’t last long.

As the week progressed, one class ended and another began. Class #2 was all about my stylistically designed Serendipitous Sea Turtle pattern. This design gives students a good expanse of turtle shell to play with, using the colors and printed designs in their fabrics for low-stress practice in learning about shading and value.

The photo above is from an Instagram post I sent out that week—a close-ups of in-progress turtles by (left to right) Lynda Flynn, Joan Graham, and Pamela Hurst. If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, where I try to be a little more random and “instant” than in these blog posts, find me under “pink_rhino_quilt”.

See the rest of the class’ sea turtle projects in slide show below. Lots of great progress—they kept me so busy, this is the extent of the class photos I have to show for those three days!

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The week went by fairly quickly with short jaunts out and about to see this new area (for me) of the country. I got pretty good spotting Morro Rock through the marine layer—see it in the distance in the photo above? This view looks to Shark Cove, on our way to Montana de Oro State Park. Gay McNeal (guild member and one of my turtle students) and her husband Jack, drove me to a few of their favorite spots.

That’s Jack seen through a grove of trees in the photo below left. He’s an avid photographer and I saw both his photographs (some of which you can see here) and Gay’s fiber art (some of which you can see here) at the Gallery at Marina Bay in Morro Bay. Beautiful work. The California quail below is a photo Jack took as he and I were walking a bluff trail at Montana de Oro. That’s the dad quail on the lookout. The mama quail and 6-8 chicks (hard to get an accurate count) were scuttling around below.

Jack told me that Montana de Oro (Mountain of Gold) got it’s name from the golden flowers covering the ground.

Saturday morning, prior to checking out at the Inn, Gay and Jack drove me back to the park for a sea-level walk to Hazard’s Beach. The trail opens to a grand expanse of rock and surf.

A moment in time caught with Jack, above, taking the photo of the Oyster Catcher, below left. My, not-so-close version of the same birds, below right. Thanks for sharing your photos Jack, so we can see what these birds actually look like! Again, click on any of these photos to get a closer look.

My guild contact Joan, had told me that this beach was her favorite for tide pools, and I could see why. It was hard to tear myself away from the scenery, but there was a timeline to my day of departure.

Checkout from the Inn was at 11am, but my plane didn’t take off from SLO until 7:30pm. What to do? Well, word was going around that the humpback whales had arrived on their annual migration up the coast. Morro Bay had a whale watch boat—with perfect timing for an early afternoon tour. I almost had to go on my own, no sea-worthy takers in sight, but a student jumped at the chance. So Cat Happersett and I set out on our 3-hour tour.

The marine layer lifted for us (that’s Cat with me in the above selfie) and our tour had great distance viewing as we headed out of the harbor. We passed sea lions (on the dock above) and sea otters—with babies!—on our way out of the harbor. Whales were sighted about 5 miles further out. Both the wind and swells were low and we could easily see the schools of swarming fish that were attracting both sea lions and the humpback whales for feeding.

There were at least 6 whales, if not more. They’d be on the surface for a few minutes, then dive deep for a few more minutes. Again and again. We were so lucky with the show we had—it was mesmerizing.

Turns out I’m not the best videographer, I was holding the camera/phone over the heads of others, so it was easy to loose track of my aim—usually too low, or too far right. But about 4 minutes of footage was ok, and Tom put those moments together in the video below.

And then it was back to reality and my impending overnight flight home. While out on the water, Lisa Boatman from my first day in town, had cared for my luggage, and now she picked me up and we headed back to SLO Airport. I requested a final quick stop at the Madonna Inn for a few more photos, coming full circle in my week on Morro Bay.