Patriotic Concert

 

Warning, this is not a crazy quilt post, this is a proud mom post!  My son is the Maize High School choir and he really has a very gifted voice.  The choir had a concert last week , just 5 weeks into school!  Now I have been to Broadways shows and many local Music Theater shows and this show was just as good.  These kids worked hard and the costuming was unbelievable.  The concert had a Patriotic theme and I just loved it.

Here is my son in Show Choir....they were so good!

Here he is on the bottom far right...

They honored all Military Veterans, I just loved those costumes...

They did some Will Rogers stuff and it was amazing...just look at the costumes!

More Will Rogers.....

No Patriotic Concert would be complete without baseball...they sang Take Me out to the Ball Park...

Hot dogs and all!

At the end of the concert, anyone in the audience who was or has been  in the military was asked to come on the stage to be honored.  It truly was a touching moment.....


Talk to you later,

My New Online Class!

If you follow my blog, you may recall that last winter Allie Aller and I issued a challenge to each other.  We would take this beautiful heart pattern designed by Carole Samples and make something with it.  It was an interesting challenge and we both came up with very different projects.  I have been asked many times since then if I could sell the pattern.  I am now pleased to say that I am not only offering the pattern for sale, but you will also get an online class with it!  In this class I will be teaching my method for piecing this vintage inspired heart.  If you would like to enroll in this class you may go to this link to enroll:

http://www.valeriebothell.com/catalog.php?view=productListPage&category=179


Talk to you later,

MCC Update

It's been awhile since I have given you an update.  The reason is there have been no updates, but I finally had a moment to piece another square for the MCC crazy quilt.  This quilt will be similar to the all black crazy quilt that I recently finished.  You can view those squares here:  http://pinkbunnykansas.blogspot.com/search?q=black.  Now to piece the four borders for it and the small matter of embellishing it!

When I blogged about Allie and I visiting the crazy quilts of all crazy quilts, My Crazy Dream, I had mentioned that it was the quilt on the front of Penny McMorris' book.  Later I thought that many of you may not know what I am talking about!  It was published in 1984 and has been out of print for many years.  It is a great resource guide and has lots of great pictures of old vintage crazy quilts.  I recently came across 2 copies and posted them for sale on my website if your interested....here is the link:

   http://www.valeriebothell.com/catalog.php?view=productListPage&category=18

Talk to you later,

Victorian Stitchery Retreat

Because this is the last year that I am doing the retreat, I would like to have as many people as possible attend!  For that reason I am having a "sale" on the cost of the retreat.  If you enroll by Monday September 3,  you will receive $50 off of 4 days of classes, $25 off of 3 days of classes and $10 off of 2 days of classes.  I will need to receive your payment by September 3 to be able give you this discount.  If you would like more information on the retreat, you may click on the Victorian Stitchery Retreat button on the right sidebar and it will take you to my website where all the information is posted.  Please email me with any questions!  This offer does not apply if you have already enrolled.


Talk to you later,

Then on to Nebraska!

For the next part of our adventure we flew to Nebraska!  Allie is on the Quilt Alliance board and they were having their annual meeting during the day.  I found plenty to entertain myself with during the day!  I went to the Durham Museum in Omaha and it was nice!  Also, no day would be complete if a girl didn't go to the mall...

That evening the Quilt Alliance had an event called Quilters Take Omaha and it was held at the newly located Accuquilt headquarters.  Did you know that all employees at Accuquilt have to spend 2 hours a week on company time making quilts in their Dream Studio?  What a great company to work for!

One of the purposes of the Quilt Alliance is to document quilts and quiltmakers so their stories will not be lost.  Have you ever found an old quilt and wondered why the person made it?  Pictured above is Marin Hanson, Curator of Exhibitions for the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.  During the course of the evening several quilts were displayed and a video recording was made of the person speaking about the quilt's story.  Marin choose a quilt from the IQSC and she had three minutes to explain the meaning of this quilt.  All videos made by the Quilt Alliance are then filed in the Library of Congress and are available for viewing.  What a wonderful way to preserve quilt history!

One member of the board, Linda Pumphrey, was retiring from the board and she was gifted with an amazing portrait of herself made by up and coming artist/quilter Luke Haynes.  It was a wonderful evening but the BIGGEST reason for coming to Nebraska was going to happen the next day!  Be still my heart....

We traveled to the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln to see the crazy quilt of all crazy quilts!  Yes, we were taken to the storage area of  the facility and allowed to view....MY CRAZY DREAM!  Yes, that is the crazy quilt that is on Penny McMorris's book!  To tell you I was in heaven doesn't even describe it...do you see the smile on Allie's face?  It truly was a magical moment and that quilt is beyond description and NO picture around can do it justice!

It was the best ending for a very wonderful trip and two very happy crazy quilters!

Talk to you later,

The Rose Capitol of America!

Across the street from the Japanese Gardens is the International Rose Test Garden.  Portland is known as the Rose capitol of America, the area has ideal conditions for growing roses!  The Test Garden is composed of  over 10,000 plants and 4.5 acres of lovely smelling goodness!  I wish you could just smell what we smelled when we walked in the garden.  Absolutely every plant was blooming to perfection!

The colors of the roses were just stunning!

Is this rose really real?!

These looked like the paper ones you buy....but they smell much better!

This rose bush was growing in the middle of other surrounding roses....just love it!

There were also some beautiful fuschia's.....

 I really loved the rose gardens and they were free....no charge to look and smell!  It was wonderful....

More adventures to come....I'll keep you posted....

Talk to you later,

A Visit to Portland

Allie and I had been busy sewing for a couple of days and we decided to take a break and go to Portland!

First up, we went to the Japanese Garden.  It was a stunning display of 5 Japanese Gardens that are done to perfection.

 Japanese sculpture...

Crane scuplture...

An amazing waterfall!

The gardens were just so lush and green.  Everything in Kansas is so brown and burned from the heat, so it was refreshing to see all the greenery.  I had never really seen moss like they have there...it's just everywhere!

An amazing curved pathway...

 

The irrigation system...

The garden was full of all kinds of inspiration as well as interesting textures!  It was really an amazing garden to experience.  Attention is paid to every detail in the gardens!  We saw a woman on her hands and knees carefully pulling moss from rocks.  In the next couple of days, I'll tell you about our visit to the Rose Garden...my favorite!

Talk to you later,