All play and no work

Okay... all play and a little work.  The family and I had a nice little getaway on the northern California coast to play among giants last weekend. 

There were seriously awe-inspiring sights along the Redwood Coast.

Black sand beach at Shelter Cove

Coastal redwood forest in northern California

And great hiking, too:

Fern Canyon, where scenes from Jurassic Park 2 were filmed

These trees are huge!

Then it was home again, where this lovely mix of fabric swaps and web orders awaited me.

 The rest of the week was spent giving my sister and her family a tour of the Bay Area coast.  I've only just gotten back to the sewing table this weekend.

I meant to take a project bag on the trip but accidentally left it behind.  Jennifer, a quilting buddy, and I were inspired by this blanket to cut into our precious Modernology collection from Art Gallery Fabrics.  We joined up with the Fusion Blanket Crochet-Along hosted by Little Miss Shabby and friends to help motivate us (though, to her credit, Jen is pretty self-motivated and finishes projects rather more quickly than I). 

There were only a handful of squares ready to be hand-stitched shut before the family jaunt to the redwoods.  I spent the last couple of nights sewing up squares while watching the broadcast of the 2012 Summer Olympics.  Here they are, ready for blanket stitches to be added to the edges. 

I'm planning to make progress on these beauties while watching the rest of the Olympic games.  Go Team USA!