On Thursday, I began to notice that my Instagram feed was being taken over by photos of QuiltCon 2018.  In 2017, I spent my birthday at QuiltCon in Savannah, but had not connected that this year’s outing was in Pasadena–just a 40 minute Uber ride from LA.  Luckily, Ned had just been alerted to a big show on X and the LA Punk Scene at the Grammy Museum that could occupy him for several hours, so … Happy Birthday to me!

We grabbed a hotel breakfast, that was not great but was convenient, and then we split.

I took a LOT of QuiltCon photos and will spare the casual reader of this blog from most of them.  Suffice it to say, I was in my element–apparently very much so, as people asked me for directions places, for assistance in ordering lunch, and for input on fabric choices.  I offered advice on places to go in NYC to some of the MQG volunteers who asked where I was from and shared they were going to the city in May.  The day balanced just the right amount of leftaloneness (80%) and talkingtoothers (20%) and was punctuated by texts of birthday greetings and check-ins from Ned.

Here are a few quilts that captured my eye:

I filled my “vintage” (read: old) pepto-bismol pink Vera Bradley to bursting with fabric and patterns and complemented it with a matching Birthday Cake pop.  Sitting there, quietly enjoying my pop and pawing through my fabric, I vowed to finish at least eight quilts by next QuiltCon. Write that down. (Oh, wait, I just did.)

It was a lovely day that would have been made even lovelier if I had been joined by my partner-in-quilting, my sister.  But, we’ll have to wait for QuiltCon 2019, Nashville hot!, for that.

Ned and the kids came to get me and we turned back to LA to see a few more sites before our rental car chariot (okay, it was a Camry) took us to LAX for our flight that evening.

Our goal was to stroll the Hollywood Walk of Fame but the cold windy turned us back to the car after a couple blocks and a few stars.  (We were missing our pups, so we picked Peggy Lee.) It’s instructive to walk this street–even if only for a little while–to see how many people who are anonymous to us now were once so famous that their names were cemented forever.  Because Hollywood.

We jumped back in the car for a warmer driving tour past the waiting-for-the-Oscars bleachers, Hollywood Blvd hangers on, various Johnny Depps, a really angry unicorn, Scientology, a funky McDonald’s and more, stopping at the Lunar New Year-decorated Farmer’s Market for a brief respite.

Then, we pumpkined, dropping our car off and plunking down at the elusive LAX power outlets to await our delayed red-eye back to Buffalo.

From Disney to Downtown LA, Oxy to Brandy, Mickey Mouse to Riot House, Golf to Beach, Contemporary Art to Modern Quilts, Sqirl to Salt’s Cure, Random Celebrity Sightings to Gorgeous Natural Sites, Friends to Family, we really did love LA! Keep it sunny, scenesters!