Camp Zebra 2009

Once again I found myself at our Church's Girl Camp this past week. I have never been much of a camper. When I was growing up, our camp consisted of a mess hall, cabins and swimming pool. Now I have to take girls to camp and cook over a fire and pitch tents! Not the easiest thing for me to do but I have to admit that it is getting easier and I do love being with the girls so it really is fun. I didn't want to show pics of the girls but I will show the pic of my daughter in law eating a worm. I actually ate a cricket. We played a game where you got points if you ate a bug. Sort of like Fear Factor. The bigger the bug, the more points you got. Thank goodness the cricket tasted like the crunch of a sunflower seed!

We made banana boats in the fire...recipe is simple...just unpeel a banana and add small marshmellows and chocolate chips to it and then roll up in foil. Place on the fire to melt for about 10 minutes and you have a tasty treat! The girls love them and they are so much better than s'mores!

The theme of camp was, "It's a Jungle Out There". We were the Zebras. Look at the cute sign our camp director made for our camp.

On the last night, we had rain. It rained all night and into the morning. I was glad all the girls had mattresses to put their sleeping bags on or else they could have been soaked like some of the other campers. The picture shows my own tent with a puddle of water in it. The rain did not let up all night so I felt fortunate that this was all the water I had in the tent when I finally got out of bed!

 

Spirit Lake and the Uinta Mountain Range

The Honey and I took a drive yesterday afternoon. Not far from our home, this is what we saw........

 

The beauty was almost overwhelming with the bright blue sky, white huge fluffy clouds and the green of nature!

Happy Father's Day!

Middle child found these little cuties on the internet and made them today since we had a BBQ (in between rain storms). Aren't these cute lil' cupcake hamburgers!?!

Then who can resist a lil' person? He brought Grampa a football as a gift.


We were missing a few kids this year but they are always near and dear to our hearts! Phone calls are great but seeing each other in person is even better. Maybe next year, we can all be together.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day like we did today!

Last of the Shop Hop!

I was able to make it to Logan, Utah on Saturday and that meant that I could finish the Shop Hop! First stop was at Red Rooster in Logan. Their shop is in an old historic building so it has lots of charm and character. Block and shop were the "Ice Cream Store". I wish I had taken a pictures of the ladies wearing their ice cream hats. Very cute when made out of chicken wire fabric and red trimming!

 

Last and final shop was through the canyon on the other side of the mountain in Brigham City. Village Dry Goods was the "Barn Block". Both quilts were beautiful.

 

I had a great time vistiting all the shops but for now, I am shopped out! Actually I didn't buy too much at any of the stores and several of the stores, my friend and I left empty handed. We joked that here we came all this way to buy goodies but both of us were being very picky with our purchases. I will try to upload pics of what I bought later.

Are you ready for a quilt show?

After putting 450 miles on my vehicle, I can say I had a great time at the Wasatch Front Shop Hop!

Bright and early we were off to Utah. The rain was hard and fast when I left my house but by the time I picked up my friend and the closer we got to the Utah border, the rain let up and it turned out to be a very nice day. Every person that visited the shops during the Shop Hop was given a free block pattern. Since this year's theme was All Around the Town, each shop pretended to be a specific building in a town. The shops each designed their own building's block and then furnished the pattern to the other shops so every store had a quilt to display as "their" town. I think that this year each shop outdid themselves. All the quilts were wonderful! Be ready for a feast! Click on pics to see more details.

First stop coming down Parley's Canyon into the Salt Lake Valley, was Piper's. Their block and shop was the "Pet Shop". We got there right when they opened at 9 a.m.

Next stop had us driving up to Bountiful to Quilter's Haven. They were the "Diner". While we were there, everyone in the store was a winner and we each were able to pick a small potholder kit! Yea for freebies and generous shop owners! I wish they had a website because this store is one of my favorites to visit!

Yes, we drove out to Tooele. We decided that since it was still pretty early in the day that we might as well try to hit as many stores as we could. Sew Sweet was the schoolhouse.

I had never been to the next quilt shop, Whimsey Cottage. Very cute place to visit and the gals there were very nice. Their shop was the police station, even had a chalked body outside the front door and used their thumbprints to stamp our cards. I loved their bright quilt!

We went to Mormon Handicraft but caught up with a crowd so I gave up on getting a pic of their quilt. They were the "Candy" store. Here is the next store. Elaine's. I had forgotten about this place from when I had visited them before. They have quite a nice selection of fabric but again, the store was crowded so it was hard to see much. Here is their quilt. Their store and block was the "Movie Theater". They gave away free popcorn and drinks and then my friend and I both won theater-size candy. We needed the sugar to keep us going! By this time, it was about 2:30 p.m. I thought their quilt was so cute with the flag on the top border.

Headed to Quilt's Etc. after a quick bite at Zupa's. I thought Zupa's was a local restaurant in Provo (south of Salt Lake). It was funny how we kept seeing them everywhere on this road trip. Quilt's Etc. is a fantastic shop. Hundreds and hundreds of bolts of fabric. In fact, they have two stores across the street from each other. They always go all out for the shop hops. This year they were the "Bakery". Look at the applique on this quilt!

Pine Needles has changed alot since I was there last. I really enjoyed visiting here this time. They were the "Train Station".

Talk about a "WOW" quilt!!! I fell in love with the next one at Thimbles and Threads! So many little, tiny pieces so I would never have the patience to replicate with the pattern they are going to sell(plus a kit to go along with it) but I did enjoy looking at it. Bright, colorful...my kind of quilt!

Headed south to Utah Valley and our next stop was Broadbent's. We had been there just a few days ago so didn't stay too long plus our time was running short. I liked this quilt with the plaids and blues but my friend thought it was too busy. This shop was the "Antique Shop".

The ladies at American Quilting were so nice. They gave us a goodie but I haven't had time to even open up the gifty to see what we got. They also gave us the whole pattern plus a color picture of their quilt so we can make it. No other shop did that. Again, we had been here a few days before so we tried to hurry in and out but got a bit held up when we both spied fabric we loved and hadn't seen in the other shops. I'm sure no one can relate to that one! The theme of their store and block was the town "Church". With it being Utah, they were dressed up as pioneers and had homemade bread and jelly for us.

The Stitching Corner was the "Bridal Store". It took me going to several shops to figure out why they all had white dresses on their block. I should have just looked at the flyer I had to find out! By this time, it was after 7 p.m. and we had one more store to visit before 8 so we had a bite of their wedding reception food of mints/nuts and fruit salad and ran out of there.

Last on our tour was Corn Wagon Quilt Co. We walked in with 20 minutes to spare! Again, we had already been here last week so we didn't need to do much except get our shop hop cards stamped. If you make it to all the shops during the 4 days, your card is entered into a drawing for different prizes. Corn Wagon was the "Toy Store". They were dressed up as clowns...and at the end of a long day, they were pretty silly. :)

In between hitting the official shop hop stores, we were also able to fit in Material Girls. Great store, great owner! I love to shop there since it is so friendly. We didn't want to miss it this trip.

Tomorrow I will hit the last 2 stores on the shop hop and will post pics later of their quilts. I didn't think I would make it to all of the shops but since I am going to another Parade of Homes tomorrow, I can! The Honey will be with me....I just know he is going to LOVE "shopping" in a couple of fabric stores with me! Whoohoo! LOL!

Halloween Swap

It has been a rainy week again around here. Perfect for sewing and greening the grass, if nothing else! I knew I wanted to get started on these blocks this week and from looking at other blogs, it looks like other swappers have the same idea---get 'em done early! I am using fabric in my stash for the 9 patch. It's called Ride at Your Own Whisk by Pat Yuille. For the custom block I need to make, I might look this week while I am out shop hopping for something fun to use. Will give me a reason to shop with a purpose. :)

 

Utah Valley Parade of Homes

I didn't think I would make it over there this year to the Parade of Homes but all worked out in the end. Saw the most expensive homes but wasn't as impressed as I have been in years past. That's pretty funny when you think about how alot of the homes were over a million and several at two million....and I'm not impressed????? It may have been that I have seen alot of the ideas already. Here are a few pics of things I did like. Looks like green is the color this year since most of the houses had it on their walls. Several homes had wallpaper so that must be coming back in style too. I loved how the old screen door was used as the master closet door! And of course I loved the craft room in the one house. It was large and roomy with plenty of storage cabinets. Hope you can see the pic with the side cabinet made into a skinny broom closet. How clever is that? Click on pic to enlarge:

 

Next week starts the Cache Valley Parade of Homes. I hope to make it to that one. I went a couple of years ago to it and loved the decorating in each of the homes. I hope it will be the same this year! I'm also hoping to get to the Utah Shop Hop next week. I already visited 3 of the shops on Saturday (Broadbent's, American-Quilting and Corn Wagon) but shop hops are fun and you always get a free quilt block pattern at them.