100 years later

Apparently this is the year of anniversaries  - who knew back in 1912 that we'd be celebrating so many things 100 years later?!


This year Oreo cookies turned 100 - yummy goodness! Just as much fun eating them dipped in milk, or twisted to get to the creme filling.  Especially tasty when eating a Double Stuff or colored creme - like orange for Halloween or pastel Easter colors.


In 1912, down in Savannah, GA Juliette Low founded Girl Scouts!  As previously mentioned, I had some GS in at work to make some fun celebratory crafts.  It also makes me think of my days in scouting: friendship circles, camping, earning badges, selling (& eating!) cookies, learning lots about everything & the fun trips we took over the years.  Go Girl Scouts!


Today we also mark the anniversary of the Titanic disaster.  There have been all sorts of news articles popping up about the Titanic: one of the most interesting I found was a commemorative cruise that left on April 8th. The ship is retracing the course of Titanic, will go by the site of its' sinking and is recreating food & entertainment from the original voyage.  Kind of eerie, kind of cool - smooth sailing to all! And of course the re-release of the movie in 3D - good times.


I also learned it's the 100th celebration of the planting of the Cherry Blossom trees in DC. The trees were gifts to the US from Japan as signs of goodwill between the countries and are just gorgeous!  When you can catch it right on a weekend when the trees are in full bloom it's wonderful.


We also celebrate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 and the writing of our National Anthem: the Star Spangled Banner, by Francis Scott Key.  As a youngster visiting the American History Museum I remember seeing the flag hanging in the entryway - all awe-inspiring & patriotic.  Then, they took the flag down for repairs and preservation work and we walked by the glass hoping to see them in action.  Afters years of this, the Museum was renovated and the repairs finally complete.  The exhibit with the flag now is awesome and very well done.  I'm sure it will be a popular stop this summer!

What a varied array of anniversaries to commemorate!  In the high-speed pace of today, what will it be this year that will endure to have its' 100th anniversary celebrated in 2112?

WIP :: 4/11/12

I got back into the sewing groove for a little bit this weekend!  There was so much to do at home for Easter - some cleaning, baking (lemon truffles & cookies), sitting out on the balcony enjoying the sunshine, buying pretty tulips to decorate the counters.  It was a relaxing weekend and awesome to go to Easter Vigil Mass - I love watching people enter the Church and all the ceremony that goes with Vigil Mass - incense, fire, candles, multiple Sacraments - awesome!

Star Dot with thread

I told myself that I would work on some of the quilts from the pile so they don't languish away and I actually followed through on that! Linking up at Lee's with some actual progress this week.  

in progress
-Star Dot: this sucker is basted and I decided to use some of my new colors of thread to quilt this!  I also have binding fabric picked out & am ready to get started!

sampler quilt pre-border

- Summer Sampler: I've added the border to this quilt top & have to make sure the backing fabric is to size.  The catch? how to quilt it....


-Swoon - still need to figure out how much backing fabric I'll need - looks like I'll be pulling out the colored pencils & calculator this week!


in the pile
-GS Quilt
-Yellow Brick Road/Psalm quilt
-Hawaiian applique block
-Sunflower applique

WIP :: 4/4/12

It's Wednesday? really?  It's felt like Thursday all day today - and you say I have to have Thursday tomorrow too?!  

Well, due to b!day adventures last week & stretching into the weekend, I haven't gotten anything sewing wise accomplished.  Okay, so that's not entirely true.  There may have been some fabric that followed me home.... and I had some birthday luck winning a few goodies.

I won a giveaway on Kate Spain's blog and these goodies arrived this week!  A charm pack of her new Christmas line, Joy, and this cute mini of Central Park.  so exciting - Thanks Kate!

I also won a giveaway on Sew We Craft - charm packs of Hullabaloo!  They're coming all the way from Australia too.  Can't wait to figure out what to make with them. 

Some of the fabric goodies:

aren't these yummy? & a roll of strips from N!

*grin* just look at these awesome Aurifil colors!

& some DS for JoAnn Fabrics

in progress
-Swoon

-Stardot

-Summer Sampler

Stay tuned for some sewing progress in the near future! Linking up at Lee's.

B!day celebration!

It's my birthday!! [birthday birthday birthday!] Hope everybody celebrated today for my birthday!  ;)  It was a fantastic day all around and there will be more b!day fun this weekend too - I find it best to stretch out the party!  I also find that if you really want to celebrate right - it's advised that you take the whole day off of work.

Here's a bit of what I did to celebrate:

Then it was on to dinner out with L & N at Casa Mexicana.  Fantastic time and those sneaky friends had them bring out ice cream & a hat while being serenaded by the waiters - complete with guitar!  Off to eke out the last few minutes of the day  - have a great my birthday dear readers.  :D

once you pop, you can't stop!

So after picking fabric for the bundle contest yesterday I got all excited and picked another set of 12!  Somebody stop me.  ;)  Here's the second bundle I picked out and am calling it Breezy.

Row1:
Seeds in Gray- Fruit Slice for Anthology Fabrics by Khristian A Howell
Timeless Treasures Sketch Organic Crosshatch in Sky
Lizzy House Outfoxed Confetti in Green
Ta Dot in Sunny Yellow by Michael Miller Polka Dot

Row 2:
Cross Hatch in Green
Baby's Bunting in Cool Dusk Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda
Vintage Ironwork in Leaf- Secret Garden by Sandi Henderson
Mono Pez in Indigo Pezzy Prints by American Jane for Moda

Row 3:
Vintage Ironwork in Midnight - Secret Garden by Sandi Henderson
Basketweave in Yellow Dazzle by Melissa Averinos
Hello Pilgrim Pearl Bracelet in Turquoise Lizzy House
Circle Stripes in Cloud Gray Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey for Moda

fabric play : bundle contest

It's so much fun to play with fabric and try out different combinations for new quilts.  I did one of these fabric bundles before and now here's another chance to pretend to be a designer and choose which fabrics I'd put together for a bundle.
Katy of I'm a Ginger Monkey and Brenda over at Pink Castle Fabrics have cooked up an awesome contest.  After searching through Brenda's shop, these are my final 12 choices for a bundle.  Hope you like it - I'm calling it Pop Rocks.

Row 1:

Seeds in Orange - Fruit Slice for Anthology Fabrics by Khristian A Howell
Metro Living Circles in Fuchsia Pink by Robert Kaufman

Echo - Spring Buds in Gray by Lotta Jansdotter

Moda Bella Solid in Turquoise

Row 2:

Daisy's Dates in Graphite Reunion by Sweetwater
Ruby Star Shining - Retro Typewriters in Turquoise by Melody Miller

Timeless Treasures Sketch Crosshatch in Tangerine

Triflora in Lipstick Pink louLOUthi by Anna Maria Horner AMH Quilt Fabric

Row 3:
Sketch in Lipstick - Timeless Treasures
Hello Pilgrim Pearl Bracelet in Turquoise Lizzy House

Seeds in Gray - Fruit Slice for Anthology Fabrics by Khristian A Howell

Hello Pilgrim Jewels in Turquoise Lizzy House

Looking for more info about the contest?  Check out the rules and other bundles here.  Even better, you can enter more than once (though you can only win 1 time).  How much fun is that? Creating bundles & sparking ideas? -yes please!

WIP :: 3/21/12

I won't have time this week to sew due to the Sue Nickels workshop that starts tomorrow.  I'll be at work early and leaving late and by Saturday night won't want to do more than veg out once home.  Though it'll be great to see what the students create in class.  Plus, we are full of tours the next few weeks; Friday alone will see 150+ kids coming through!  Then next week is my birthday!  So there will be fabric shopping for sure.  :)

complete

-Christmas quilt- the top is finished!  I spent a bit of time deciding on layout for this quilt while trying not to spend a lot of time of deciding layout.  :P  I'll border it & use it as some quilt design practice.

in progress
-Swoon

-X & + blocks - I had a happy package sitting on my doorstep earlier this week containing my 10 swap blocks!  Thanks for everyone who made such awesome blocks!
They look so good and I want to keep making blocks.  Hopefully the swap over on flickr will repeat later so I can get enough for a wall quilt of these lovelies.


no progress
-Star dots

-Summer Sampler  <-- next in line!

in the pile
-GS Quilt
-Hawaiian applique block
-Sunflower applique

Be sure to check out all the other WIPs at Lee's this week!