The Year of the Little Black Dress Part Deux

Remember this?  I wrote about this at little lovely at Coldwater Creek right after Christmas while shopping for a pair of black jeans.  If you haven't, go back and check out the December 30, 2011 post.  So this won't get too wordy, I am going to add a few random valentine's pics for you to enjoy!!!! 

This week was a big week around here.  After 3 years of study for my "Silver Fox" it came down to 75 questions to pass his RN boards.  We ended up traveling to Rochester, MN to pass Iowa boards.....now doesn't that make sense?  It was the closest location we could find so he could take it this week.

A cross stitch piece I did several years ago, I love the frame too.

So while he was taking the test I was at the nearby mall, shopping and praying for my guy to do his best.  And what was the first store I happen to spot......Coldwater Creek, here I come.  Now just remember I don't have one close by.....  so this gets me excited.  I head to the sale racks and start going through every item and what to my wondering eye should appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer........no that's not right....couldn't help myself.  :)

But there was the little black dress I so loved 8 weeks ago, marked down twice since then and then an additional 50% off.  I was beside myself.  So I hauled two different sizes to the "dress up" room.  And while I was trying them on.....Adele came on singing .......Rolling In The Deep.....  which for some reason that is still not clear to me, I LOVE this song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV9IQ_JzDhg&feature=related

Well, I took this as a sign...the clearance price pretty much had me as long as it didn't look like a sack on......which it didn't.  So I now have this little sweet thing hanging in my closet waiting.......

I made this valentine for Jeff last year.  On a whim hung it in front of Susan  Banch's book.....looks so neat!!!

After checking my watch a couple times thinking of my guy killing himself on this test.  He finally called ....the test took a little over an hour and the computer shut down at question 75, which was the minimum number of questions you could take.  To say this was an emotional moment right there in Apache Mall was an understatement as he met me and burst into tears as soon as he saw me.  We stood right there hugging, crying and pretty much oblivious to everyone around us.  As we finally could say this journey is finished. 

A beautiful valentine that my Grandma K. received at some time....isn't it stunning?

After pulling ourselves together I told him about finding the dress, the song, the clearance, the sign......then the bag with said dress.  He loved it.....now where to wear this baby on it debut.......stay tuned!!!

P.S.  I am taking a little break, but will be back in a couple weeks hopefully with some inspiring things to share with you. 

Happy Valentine's Day To You

A fun stack of " embroidered love" on my old kitchen scale all gifts from my friend, Normajean.

A ladder full of red quilts and stack of "love" books.

Valentine Greetings!!!

A valentine to my "Silver Fox" several years ago.  Find a verse that you love and print it out in several fonts and sizes.  Audition on a light box and trace the lettering with your light box and pigma pen.  Beautiful!!!

I added some silk ribbon embroidery too.  I just saw some linens like this at the dollar store for a buck.

Still life on my treadle, the young girl is my Grandma T. as a young girl.

I love pincushions, this is a sweet little red beauty with crocheted blooms.

A treasure box full of pink loveliness.

A box full of red hugs and kisses.

Happy Valentine's Day from me to you.

(Right click on the clip art and save if you wish.)

Doll Quilt Retreat with Kathleen Tracy

Then.......

Iowa quilting bee c.1930

Now.....

Yours truly, Robin, Shelley, Karan and Carolyn
My quilting buds

A week ago today I was enjoying a wonderful weekend full of talented women, the whirring of sewing machines, the constant buzz of chatter, with the occasional pop of laughter.  The Grout Museum sponsors a quilt retreat during these cold, looong days of winter and happened to coincide with a new exhibit called Covered in Glory.  It is a wonderful collection of vintage and modern day commemorative pieces that relate to the American Civil War.  http://www.groutmuseumdistrict.org/

The Waterloo Courier also did a nice article sharing many of the details of the exhibit with a couple really nice photos as well.  http://wcfcourier.com/lifestyles/covered-in-glory-commemorative-antique-civil-war-quilts-featured-in/article_ab9c48cf-54f5-5342-a1db-9cf9c3776762.html

Civil War commemorative quilt with it's pins on!

I bought these blocks from Marion, my local antique dealer friend several years ago.  The blocks were not made well and were all over the place in size....the fabrics in the blocks are wonderful and they just spoke to me.  So I measured them and trimmed them all to a similar size, then added the over-sized black sashing strips.  Then from there I trimmed them again to identical size, so you eye really does not see the imperfections.  The double pink print and border print are modern day.  I made it long and narrow in the "spirit" of a civil war soldier's cot quilt and hand quilted it.  

One of the highlights of the weekend was to meet Carolyn (center) from Des Moines.  She is the first blogger friend that I have met in person.....I am pretty sure we are kindred spirits.  :)  We had a delightful time of getting to know one another and she shared the most wonderful stories of her mother and grandmother while working at a fine fabric store in Des Moines.

Kathleen Tracy (right) was our guest for the weekend.  She designs small quilts with a vintage look and feel and likes to include historical diaries and writings to set the context of these quilt pieces.  That's how I met Carolyn through the yahoo group list that Kathy started.  I love these connections.  smallquilttalk@yahoogroups.com

Check our Kathy's blog to get a glimpse of the Covered in Glory quilt exhibit that will be open until September 1.  She did a wonderful slide show that captures the spirit and ambiance of it.   http://sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/

On Friday we worked on Clarissa's Garden and let's just say I had trouble knowing which of my repro fabrics to bring with me.....soooo I brought almost all of it in a very large suitcase that my husband could barely lift....not really.  But it was very heavy.  I called it my bag 'o fun.  I took a "little" grief for that, but not much really in these circles.....they totally get it.  When you don't bring it....you need it.  But since we were doing scrap type pieces I knew I wanted to use lots and lots.....and lots of fabrics and needed to be able to choose and it worked out well.  Thank heavens the bag had wheels and I only had to lift it once to get it back into the van to go home.

My friend Karan, made me this little thread catcher.  Isn't it darling?  You can fold it easily and makes a  great way to keep track of your threads while you are stitching and traveling.  I think you might need one of these.....

http://lisabongean.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/thread-catcher.pdf

Clarissa's Garden Workshop

Beginning layout of my hourglass blocks.

Saturday's workshop doing the album block.

Carolyn brought this wonderful needle case to share out of salvages and tied closed with an old measuring tape.  She added decorative stitches and tea dyed them to give them a blended look.  Love this!!!

I enjoy Carolyn's blog too.  We like vintage finds and I always enjoy her photos of her home.  So you might want to take a look see.

http://leeprairiedesigns.blogspot.com/

Civil War Collection and Pattern

I just ran across this pattern using the new 1862 Battle Hymn fabric collection.
This quilt called the Checkered Past 1862 was drawn up by Barbara Brackman and the directions are found at the link below.
https://acrobat.com/app.html#d=5zuBtmwF6YnnxsgFNaNaZQ

I am sure most of you quilters know about Barbara's blogs.  They are wonderful and she has several going, which you can sign up for.  I would highly recommend the Civil War blog.

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/