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Quilting Together Since 1981 |
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Well I would like to introduce you to one of our friendship groups mascot. His name is Dino the Dinosaur. Dino is an orphan toy that was left behind at a campsite that one of our guild members was camping at years ago. Her name was Melinda Burns. Well Melinda knew that this precious little dinosaur had to belong to a special child. Unfortunately Dino could not be reunited with his original owner. Well Melinda and her friend Chris could not abandon Dino so they adopted him and decided in order to prevent Dino from being sad after being left behind, they would take him everywhere they went. He was just so cute. As the years came and went, Dino went camping with the Burns and Johnson Family many times. He visited many places like the Grand Canyon, Big Sur, the Kern River, Walt Disney World and he even traveled to Costa Rica. He took pictures with all the people he met through out the years. |
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Inland Empire Quilters Guild |
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Then one day he decided he was bored sitting in Melinda’s Sewing Room waiting to go on their next camping trip and had heard that Melinda was going on a quilting retreat. Hmmm he thought… Wilderness.. Outdoors…. Mountain fresh air… I can get out of this room that is filled with fabric galore. No more sewing machines, no more embroidery machines...no more fabric. Little did Dino know, that a quilting retreat was just that but 8 times that because there were 8 of us quilters. Not only that, our friendship group is called Royal Cocoa Nuts. Wow.. With a name like that, we can’t be just your normal quilters.. Anyway, Dino was packed in one of Melinda’s fun bags. The quilters arrived at the cabin and unpacked, setup their machines and fabric was everywhere to be seen, Sewing machines were a buzzing as each quilter got busy on their projects they had brought up with them. Shortly after getting settled in, Melinda introduced Dino to the girls and they welcomed him with open arms. Dino soon learned how to quilt. Sandie taught him a few stitches on her little machine. The rest of the weekend Dino helped out with cooking, shopping at the quilt store and helping with picking out the right fabric for borders and sashing for the girls. Dino really likes quilting now so much so Melinda took him on the San Diego Quilt Run this past weekend. They hit all 15 shops in 12 hours. So here is summary of their travels and the new friends Dino met. |
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Dino the Traveling Dinosaur
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Dino’s 1st stop was at 9:05 am at Amethyst Quilts in Chula Vista . Here we met a friendly group of quilters. From left to right; Kathy Daniels, Linda Caton, Donna Sheridan, Sylvia Jacintho and Sherry Smiley. I must apologize in advance if I misspell anyone’s name. |
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Dino’s 2nd stop was at Ethnic Quilts & Fabrics in Lemon Grove. Here we were emerced in African Quilts and folklore. Many of her fabrics come straight from Africa or have an African themes. They were all so beautiful. Earthleen Briggs was not to sure about me but she took a picture anyway. Thanks for being a good sport Earthleen. |
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At this stop Dino met Carol Walter and Teresa Wiesendanger. They were using a special tool called .. They were very happy to meet me and my girls. This shop is the Cozy Quilt shop in El Cajon. They carry their own line of Quilt patterns and 3000 bolts of fabric. Very cool ladies. |
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See Dino’s new friends.. Aren’t they cute for humans. Their names are Susan Stewart and Kathy Reppenbogen from The Country Loft in La Mesa. I don’t recall who is who but I do recall the gal in the right of the pictures is the shop owner. I was going to help them pick out the next raffle winner but it would have looked fixed if one of my girls won so I let them pick the winning raffle ticket. Sadly, my girls did not win here but Carrie did find some fabric she liked and purchased it. This quilt store is in an historic country home with country furnishing all around. Pay them a visit soon. |
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This is Debby and she greeted us at Rosie’s Calico Cupboard in San Diego. Did you know that they carry over 18,000 bolts of fabric. That is an all day shopping trip to go through all those bolts. Melinda found some Elvis fabric for a friends quilt here. |
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OK, these ladies were real happy to take a picture with me. I like to introduce you to Stacy Atkinson, Darlene Sweetwood (owner) and Charlo Zauss. They had some real cool quilts hanging all over their shop. Oh, If you couldn’t figure out where I am, I am at the Quilter’s Connection. Sadly, they are going out of business so if you want to get some good deals you need to visit them soon!! |
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Here I am in Memory Lane Quilt Shop in Santee, CA with Chris Shasny ( Shop Owner) and two of her special helpers; Julie Collie and Chandra Lichtenthaler. My girls bought some dinosaur fabric here. I think they are going to make me a special quilt on count of I am so darn cute. I was doing a little advertising for them,, can you see I am holding the business card for them. Come visit them soon.. |
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Isn’t Liz Schmidt cute… Liz works at Amidon Quiltworks in Poway. She was nice enough to give my girls their year pins for the run. I like Liz, she also gave the girls all the low down as to what was on special there at her shop and there was a lot of specials! They also had a special raffle here as well but sadly my girls did not win anything. |
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Shhh everyone,, one of the girls is giving me a secret quilting tip from The Crazy 9 Patch Quilt Shop in Ramona. I promised I would not divulge her secret tip but if you go visit them, they will share with you all the fun you can have quilting with them. I think it was Heidi Mc Fadden whispering in my ear with Dawnell Muedke and Kim Szewzzynski looking on. |
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This is Quilt in a Day the home of Eleanor Burns. Melinda (Burns) says this is her husband’s Aunt.. Some how I think she is stretching the truth. Only Eleanor Burns knows for sure. I will have to confirm this the next time I go visit her shop. Shop manager is in the middle and her name is Cindi Russell, with her faithful workers Karen Pavone on the right and Suzee Irwin on the left. Oh yeah, and that is Eleanor Burns on the cover of the book... |
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Say Hello to Suzanne. She works at Bits n Pieces in Escondido. She was a little reluctant to take her picture with me. She was afraid I would still the moment. I DID !! I am so darn cute, aren’t I !! |
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We got lost going to this shop but we finally found them and we were so glad to meet these two ladies. This is Laurie Paurazos and Jeanne Johnson of Quilters Paradise and it was paradise in their shop. Check out the Opportunity Quilt in the back of the picture. Isn’ t that beautiful. Carrie had to buy a raffle ticket. Laurie was trying to me to growl at Jeanne but I just couldn’t scare her. Look at that beautiful smile.
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Check out this happy quilting group from Inspirations Quilt Shop in Valley Center. I am sitting on Janice Smith’s shoulder, she is the owner. The other happy quilters are Diane, Tracy, Diane and Damon.. We didn’t get a chance to check out their shop we were running out of time. But they were nice enough to provide us with a bottle of water and a snack for the next road trip. Thanks ladies, we were starving at this point. I got a dorito from Melinda. Two more shops to go.. Can the girls make it??? Let’s check out their progress |
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Ok, they made it to Fat Quarters Quilt Shop in Vista in 20 minutes from Valley Center. This was a whirlwind stop. Neta Virgin stamped the passport and before she knew we were gone. We only had 20 minutes to get to our last stop and it was 20 minutes away. Thanks Neta for taking a picture with me. Wish I had more time to chat, I promise to stay longer on the next Quilt Run. |
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Our last stop at 7:08 pm… Quilter’s Cottage in Fallbrook. These nice ladies waited for my girls to show up. This is Dianne Miller, Jan Chow and Linda Musillami. They have a real cute shop with a wide variety of fabrics to choose from. Come visit them soon. |
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Here we are at our last stop. Carrie, Melinda and I ( Dino) and we finally made it. Ok we were a few minutes late but the ladies at Quilter’s Cottage were nice enough to wait for us. We called them and told them we were on our way from Fat Quarters Quilt Shop. 15 Stores in 12 hours. We had it all planned out. Ok, we did a couple of zig sagging in our travels, but hey we know where all these shops are at now.
Just a big thank you to all the ladies who took pictures with me. If you would like a copy of our picture together, You can email Melinda at quilter@IEQG.net and she will email you a copy. |
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Carrie and I would also like to personally thank all the Quilt ladies who agreed to take pictures with Dino. Nobody said no and there were several by standers that loved the whole idea of a traveling Quilting Dinosaur. Come back and check out Dino’s Blog for the next Quilting Event.
Yours in Quilting and Computing,
Melinda Burns |
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Carrie Alldis Dino Burns Melinda Burns |
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Dino visits 15 shops in 12 hours. San Diego Quilt Run March 13, 2009 |
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Sandie M teaching me to quilt.. |