PRun - Part I

The days kind of run together but I'm pretty sure it was last summer we enjoyed PRun season 9. You may remember, the unconventional challenge took the contestants to Dylan's Candy Bar

Well just the other day I was headed by Dylan's and what was on display?

That's right - some of the dresses from that challenge. Just four of them, I was wondering if the other dresses didn't hold up so well?

This dress was made from the store umbrellas. What's fun here, look in the background. You can see a portrait of Dylan made out of candy (I'm guessing jelly beans but I didn't go inside and take a closer look).

This was the winning dress. The judges really liked how many different kinds of candy she used in the design. The gummy sharks around the neck were very cool.

The four dresses on display. The black dress was made by Dimitri and it was really beat up - there were a lot of holes around the waist. I would have to look at the original design but there must have been a belt or something that had to be removed.

It had been so long since the challenge I didn't expect to see the dresses in the window. A nice surprise for a Saturday!

Best Thing I Saw Today - 03.26.13

This was in the window of a bodega I passed today - it totally made me laugh.

St. Patrick's Day Treat - Lucky Rainbows

This year I made personal lucky rainbows for St. Patrick's Day treats. They start with clouds at the top and gold at the bottom. Stacked inside a push-pop container I layered gold coins (that I made and wrapped in foil myself), Skittles, and mini-marshmallows. To finish off the treat, I wrapped each push-pop in a cello bag and tied off with a gold bow. And yes, I had to buy more Skittles because I kept eating them! Darn bags of candy sitting around the house are nothing but trouble.

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show - Feb 2013

My birthday went to the dogs! That's right - this year I got to do something I have always wanted to do, go to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

I found the tickets through Stub Hub; they were being sold by a Kennel Club member. The very fancy, glossy, heavy card stock tickets were also delivered with a program and a short handwritten note. It made me want to write the seller directly and let her know the tickets were going to a true fan. (I didn't, but maybe she'll read this and recognize the seats.)



I wasn't sure what to wear, when I watch the show on tv people can be dressed pretty fancy. I ended up wearing black pants, a pink peplum top, and a black sequin jacket. Most people in my section were very casual but I was pleased with my outfit because I looked pulled together but not over dressed. Arriving the first night there was a lovely woman dressed in a blue silk suit with open toe sandals and a matching blue silk hat. Clearly she was not taking the C train to MSG, she was being dropped off at the front door by her driver. Managed to catch her again on the second night - she was wearing black suit with thick off white trim, black hose, black satin pointy toe kitten heels, and a black hat with cream trim, rhinestones, and feathers. The closer people sat to the judges, the nicer they were dressed. There were men in tuxedos and women in cocktail dresses in the very front viewing area.

The view from the seats - the same side as the judges and not too far away from the main floor. I was pleased.

All of the dogs were so well behaved and so beautiful. I wanted to take them all home with me!

It's the golden retriever - she didn't win!

The press area. Who is covering the dog show? Why are there so many people in the press area?

The cats were pretty mad I was at a dog show, until I told them dogs actually let themselves be judged by humans - and we all had a good laugh.

For My Valentines

This year I sewed pieces of fancy chocolate bark in to paper sandwich bags for all of my Valentines.

And even though I can't figure out how to flip this photo in the right direction, you can still see how darn cute they look.

Originally I was going to use pieces of wax paper or parchment paper but when I saw the paper sandwich bags in the store I knew they would be perfect (and easier to work with than two separate pieces of paper).

First I cut a heart template out of a piece of cardboard.

Next I traced the heart on the back of the bag (I decided they looked better when the back of the bag was on top when going through the sewing machine.)

After that I added the name to the front and chose the appropriate flavor of chocolate (five spice with dried pear, dark chocolate with slivered almonds and dried cherries, espresso with cracked coffee beans on top, or white chocolate and pretzel with pink sprinkles).

I sewed the bag halfway and then added the chocolate and finished sewing the heart.

I only had a two ripped bags and ended up with about 45 cute little packets.

Vacation Rewind - Washington DC Labor Day 2012

We took advantage of a great last minute air fare and headed to Washington DC for Labor Day weekend. It is one of those places that is so close but we just don't go visit enough.

This trip we actually went to a museum that has a paid admission - crazy in a town of world class free museums, I know! But the International Spy Museum was well worth the price of admission. We went early and made it through before it was too crowded. When you enter you pick an alias with a cover story and as you progress through the museum, you are tested to see if you can remember the details of your cover story and your mission. They also had a special exhibit with the actual items used in the CIA mission that was recently made in to the movie 'Argo'. It was pretty cool to see the pieces of history right before the movie was released. If you go, go early. There is so much to see and read you want to take your time and not fight the crowds.



There are several NYC restaurants that have popped up in DC. One of our favorites was Luke's Lobster - a New England style lobster roll is a perfect lunch. It was so good, I ate there two days in a row. (I just had to go check out a vintage jewelry shop so we split up for a bit on Sunday. The shop was awesome, it was chock full of fabulous pieces. Of course the owner was a wacky but very friendly woman who really listened to my tastes and helped me pick some great pieces of jewelry.)

Saturday afternoon we stopped at the National Archives. There was a line to get in, but it wasn't too long of a wait. Seeing the Declaration of Independence is well worth any line.

The Museum of American History is one of my favorite Smithsonian museums. They have changed the entrance over the years, currently a stylized American flag welcomes visitors. Behind the wall is the actual flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner.

Sunday we spent most of the day at the Air and Space museum. They have a new section featuring the Wright Brothers and their historical flight. When we were in the exhibit there was a very knowledgeable docent telling the story of the Wright Brothers and answering questions. It was very interactive and full of good information.

Sunday night we made a late night visit to the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial is truly inspiring at night; the lighting makes the seated figure of Lincoln more dramatic than during the day.

Michael reading the inscription on the walls inside the Lincoln Memorial.

Monday we headed to the US Capitol for a tour.

It has been a very long time since I've visited the Capitol and they have a new visitors center and tour. You need advance tickets for the tour (yes, we had a reservation for the tour), but the visitors center is open to anyone, no reservation required.

The tour is free and lasts about an hour. We had a very quirky tour guide and she made it fun. You visit three different rooms in the Capitol building. The entire tour group wears a set of headphones and your tour guide talks in to a microphone. This allows multiple tour groups to be in the same room and no one is shouting over one another. It is all very high tech.

This plaque represents the spot where John Quincy Adams had his desk, we all got to touch the spot! Of course I am wearing my very comfortable Crocs ballet flats (the black open toe flat shoe towards the bottom of the pix).

It's the statue of Ronald Regan - the base has pieces of the Berlin Wall.

And one more thing I have never done in DC before, visit the Library of Congress. There is a passage between the US Capitol and the Library of Congress. We walked in air conditioned comfort from one building to the other.

Normally you can only look down at the big reading room in the Library of Congress, but because we were there on a holiday they let the visitors go wild and take photos.

The Library also has wings full of great exhibits. When we were in there, there was an entire section dedicated to first edition books.

All around the ceiling there were famous quotes.

A look back at the US Capitol building. As always, vacation is too short and there are still too many things to do and places to eat!

A 'Wicked' Saturday Night

This past Saturday night was fabulous because not only did I see a great show but....

For every performance of Wicked there is a lottery rush for tickets. 26 front row seats are given away in a lottery and each ticket is just $30!

I was so excited when they called my name. I have wanted to see Wicked for quite a while now and then to get a front row seat for such an amazing price was just the perfect storm of awesome.

The seat and the show did not disappoint. The music was so incredible and being so close you could see how much the performers put in to every song and every bit of dialogue. I could make eye contact with performers and I could see every detail in the costumes.

My favorite was the end of act one when Elphaba sings 'Defying Gravity'. I've heard the song before and I was looking forward to the song in the show. It totally exceeded my expectations - I had goosebumps as the curtains closed for intermission.

The story of Wicked is really clever and the songs move the story forward seamlessly. I would absolutely recommend this show and see it again.

Christmas 2012 Crafts

Every Christmas I always have more crafts planned than I actually complete.

This year I wanted to get everything done in November so I could enjoy December (ha! a pipe dream in a normal year and this year was anything but normal). As it turns out, the week after Thanksgiving I was in North Carolina for a short work trip and then the entire second week of December I was in Utah for work. Both were last minute trips and really made for a very busy first week of December (and a very messy apartment filled with projects in various states, no kitchen counter space, wrapped packages, and shipping boxes both incoming and outgoing).

Based on the success of my 'cake in a jar' over the summer I baked rum cakes in mason jars. I also tried something new and did some canning. I made a savory onion jam, it is a nice sandwich spread and is also tasty on great on grilled cheese. And I made pickles! It is something I've wanted to do for at least a year and it really wasn't too difficult. I want to work on perfecting my pickle recipe and then go crazy pickling this summer. (I forgot to take photos of my cute mason jars, thanks to Pinterest I learned cupcake wrappers fit perfectly underneath a mason jar lid for an easy decorative top.)

For all of my work friends in Utah I pulled out the rein-beer craft from last year. On Black Friday I stopped in at Michael's Crafts and stocked up on fuzzy red noses, pipe cleaners, and google eyes just in case I needed them. I hauled all of that with me to Utah and even my trusty glue gun too. Once there I hit up the local Target for root beer and then spent about an hour one night making a herd of rein beers. They were a big hit and lots of fun for me to hand out to my work buddies. 

 

For my friends with the dragon baby, I finished up a dragon onesie. I had a pretty good head start on the intricate design so the only hard part was picking the thread colors. I wanted it to be fun and bright so I picked colors I don't normally use. I really like the finished dragon with his bright blue eyes and fiery scales.

I had my second Liberty quilt completed pretty early, which is good because a quilt isn't a last minute project (at least for me).  I think it was done by October - I just had to sew the binding and I waited for the weather to cool down because that work is by hand and you have a quilt on you as you sew, not much fun in the middle of summer.

This quilt was put together the same as my quilt, just a different color scheme. I did the same thing with the selvage strips; I had them on the back of the couch during the day and I moved them around until I found a pattern I loved. The backing on this quilt is all Liberty, it is a turquoise background with a brown design that has little hidden cats. The girl that helped me pick it out said some people didn't like the fabric because of the cats but of course I thought it was just perfect.

And the same as my quilt, it is a cat favorite! Cats have very good taste.

I did some 'upcycling' and made some gift boxes out of my empty Birchbox boxes. Birchbox is a monthly subscription for new beauty products; for a small fee you get a box of about 5 beauty product samples. The packaging is really cute and the samples have all been very nice. I pretty much use everything I get each month. The samples come in a really nice and sturdy cardboard box. Of course I don't throw them away (I can be such a hoarder) and for the holidays I used them as gift boxes. I painted the original box either gold or a metallic pearl and then I used old Christmas cards to decorate the top of the box (so many people make photo cards my pile of regulard cards was pretty small). Recycling at it's finest. I hope the people that received the boxes keep them and use them again next year. These were a fun and quick project, always a good thing!

And finally while I was in California I put together a couple of flower arrangements. I found this great vase for sale at a flower shop down the street. I shipped the vase to CA and knew I was going to use it to make and arrangement for MomO's bday. My first plan was to make it a mix of fresh flowers and little cupcakes with a cupcake sitting right on top. But with all of the sweets over the holidays by the time I was ready to pull the arrangement together cupcakes didn't sound very tasty. I found some beautiful roses at Von's and used up the left over greens and fill from the cookie exchange. It turned out great and made a really nice centerpiece for the dining room table.

And with the left over flowers and fill I was able to make and arragement for this cute vase.Thanks for the oasis and extra vase Selma!

I am telling myself I need to get started on the things I didn't finish (or even start) last year so I can have some really nice handmade gifts this coming Christmas. We all know, per usual, I'll wait until the last minute! 

My Favorite Souvenir

I ended up with the best souvenir from our trip to London.

There is a department store in London called Liberty. They have been around forever (like most of the old department stores in London) and they have a signature line of fabrics. I only know of one store where I can buy the fabric here (Purl Soho) and it is crazy expensive. Of course I love all of the Liberty prints and the fabric is a dream to work with when sewing and quilting.

The Liberty store in London is in a fantastic old building with lots of dark wood and grand staircases. There is an entire floor for products made from the Liberty of London fabric and then bolts and bolts and bolts of the fabric. As it turns out the prices were only marginally better compared to Purl but the selection was incredible; I was in Liberty of London fabric heaven. It was almost too much, I just wandered through the aisles trying to decide what to buy and what I could make with the fabric. I settled on three packages of mixed selvage bundles. Each piece of fabric was the standard width but they were varying heights. I knew I was going to make at least two quilts from the bundles and I wanted one to be more turquoise/brown and the other to be blue/purple.

As a side note buying the fabric ended up being a huge hassle. In London they have microchips in their credit cards and everything is on the 'chip and pin' system. This is supposed to help cut down on fraudulent credit card charges. None of our cards had the chips in them - the first problem and the cashier seemed to be the second problem. It took him at least 30 minutes to get the approvals to the charge the card.

Once I had my precious fabric bundles home I opened each one and picked the strips I wanted to use in each quilt. Each quilt really has a mix from all three bundles and I have enough pieces left over to make a very small baby quilt - it's on the to do list with about 10 other fabulous projects!

Below, Roxy is helping me sort out the strips I planned to use in my quilt. This was going to be the first quilt I made for myself and I wanted it to be absolutely perfect. I ended up laying the strips on the back of our couch and during the day I would move them around to see how different combinations worked or didn't work. My quilt starts in blues and then goes to purple and ends up with pink prints.

After the top was sewn I had some fun. I took my quilt top to the Purl Soho store to select the border, backing, and binding fabric. The border makes it larger than a lap quilt - it is the perfect size to wrap up in on a cold day. The staff at Purl is always so helpful and they also have a love of Liberty fabric. They were all just gushing at my quilt top when I pulled it out of my bag. And then I got to tell them the story of how I bought the fabric at the Liberty store in London and how my trip to London was a big surprise, it was great reliving the trip. Pretty much everyone in the store, including customers, came over to look at my quilt top and ask about it. One woman thought it was just one piece of fabric, she was amazed how I pieced all of the strips together. It made me feel really good about my project.

I wanted to use a denim fabric for the binding, but apparently it has issues with the color bleeding when washed and the Purl staff would not let me use that for a quilt made of all Liberty fabric. I ended up with a purple quilter's linen that I just love for the binding.

Luckily for me, Purl had a rare sale and I was able to get Liberty of London fabric for the backing as well. I chose two prints and the back is four offset rectangles.

Again, Roxy was instrumental in helping me figure out how to put the backing together.

She also did product testing to make sure the fabric was acceptable for sleeping and also flattering for her fur.

My finished quilt top - the strips all sewn together and finished off with a wide border. The border is a Liberty floral print with purples and blues, it ties all of the colors together. Quite often Liberty hides images in the print - one of my strips has little scissors in it and the border has little tiny stars.

And finally, the finished quilt. It turned out exactly as I wanted and it makes me smile every time I see it. I love looking at all of the different fabrics as they change from one print to another.

Th finished product has been extensively cat tested and approved. It is lightweight but still warm and the fabric is really soft to the touch. Once it was washed the fabric puckered up from the quilt stitches and it has the perfect worn in feel.

This photo shows all of the different fabulous Liberty prints I used in this quilt.

And finally, Roxy showing off all of the hard work she contributed to this quilt.

Every quilt has a story and every quilt is made with love - this one is no exception. It came out of an amazing surprise trip to London, it is made out of my favorite fabric, and every time I see it makes me happy.

London Calling

So I actually started writing more about our London trip but clearly never finished. I can't believe that was over 6 months ago.

Here is that post that has been waiting to be finished...


With the start of the Olympics I am once again wishing I was back in London.

I completely adored the city and we had a great visit way back in May. It really does seem like forever ago!

I covered our first day of the trip but didn't get much further in the blog, day 2 was even better than day 1. It was Monday morning and first order of business was visiting Tower of London before it was too crowded. We arrived about an hour after it opened and the lines weren't too bad. I think we just happened to be in London at a really good time. The weather was fantastic and it wasn't crowded yet. If we had been there for the actual Jubilee celebration it would have been a completely different visit as June was the rainiest June on record in London.

The Tower of London is a group of buildings, not just one tower as it is named and it is really impressive. (As a side note I have been reading about the Tudors, specifically King Henry VIII, and wow - a lot of bad stuff happened here!)

It's the Tower Bridge in the background. Look at all of the sunshine - just think the next week it was pouring rain. Our timing was perfect.

The Gherkin Building in the background - a perfect mix of old  and new architecture in London.

The Crown Jewels are incredible. They have them in big cases with short moving sidewalks on either side. You can go back and ride the sidewalk as often as you wish, but you have to keep moving as you are viewing the collection.

Yes, we saw him move! But I'm pretty sure he never smiled.

There are seven ravens that live at the Tower. They are believed to protect the Crown and the Tower and there is a superstition this if the ravens fly away the Crown will fall and Britain with it. While I did get a photo of a Tower raven, I did not get a picture of the fox!

 (Did I tell you about the fox already - either way, I'm writing about it now.) We were sitting on a bench on the grounds of the Tower and all of a sudden a fox jumped a hedge and went running down a crowded path. I thought it was part of a show, similar to the people that were walking around in period dress - I was incorrect. A little bit later we walked in to a dark guard tower on the ground floor of the wall that surrounds the Tower. The room had an earthen floor and only natural light from small windows. It was dark and cool and quiet. As I was looking around the circular room I noticed a pair of eyes looking at us from one of the window alcoves - it was the fox! I didn't want to scare him so we very quietly left the room - no photos. As we were leaving another couple was entering, we told them to be careful and pointed out the fox. They stayed in there and in no time the fox came running out of the room and ducked in to another hiding spot. Apparently there are wild foxes that run about the city. We actually saw one more very close to our hotel on a different night (unless the same one was following us....)

The Tower Bridge - no Olympic rings yet (or David Beckham in a boat).

The Mall (pictured below) was decorated for the Diamond Jubilee - flags from the Admiralty Arch (pictured above) all the way down to Buckingham Palace.

Fortnum and Mason (pictured below) is fancy pants department store that has been in business since 1707. Their collection of tea cups and tea strainers and tea was staggering. The building was decorated in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and they had lots of products that matched inside - for your own celebration. I managed to resist their wares - it wasn't easy!

On our second day in London we walked and walked and walked. It is an easy walking town and the weather was great but by the end of the trip my feet were tired!