On my Honor......

Any woman who was a Girl Scout as a young girl will probably finish that saying without even having to think about it.
I found these at that Vintage show that Emily and I went to:

Girl Scout books from the 1940's! One of them even had a receipt in it,

50 cents! Can you believe it?

The 'Leadership' book has an interesting first page:

It's a reminder that everything was effected by The war. Rather sobering and thought provoking, I thought.
While I haven't really read either of them, a few things caught my eye as I perused them. I love the word, perused, don't you?

"Free time with nothing interesting to do leads to boredom, mischief, or unhappiness."

True, however I don't know of anyone who sat by garbage cans when they were bored.

And suggestions for solving boredom derived mischief:

Why "Constructive leisure-time activities" that "develop resourceful and responsible young citizens" of course! Just look at how happy those formerly unruley girls are working in nature. Working out in nature, away from smelly garbage cans makes me happy too.  Overall it's pretty good advice for everyone. If you have something creative and active to do, you won't be bored.

PittiPat and I were talking one time about our quilting projects, current and future and realized that neither of us has ever once heard a quilter say she/he was bored. Never. Not once.

I thought this was interesting:

The sentiments are good, however the whole calling and answering thing kind of wigs me out. Very, ummmmm, conformist? shall we say, to put it nicely.

And last, but certainly not least, the oath:

I love the Celticky look of it. A lot of thought and creativity went into this design.
Speaking of Girl Scouts, this is the bag I made to give to the girl who sold the most cookies in her troop. I just think this fabric is so stinking cute!

Look at that raccoon, isn't he adorable?

Vintagy goodness and Plaid HEAVEN!!!!

In the next installment of the fun Vintage Clothing and Accessory Expo that Emily and I attended a few weeks ago...

A lovely 1960's embroidered circle dress w/roping thin on the back.

A quilted dress from I can't remember when, but I'm pretty sure it was pre-80's. I think it looks like a bad beadspread personally.

And finally, my all time favorite booth -

PLAID HEAVEN!!!! (that's my name for it, not theirs.)

 

Love the mini skirt!

I think this would be a great Christmas outfit

And the Pies de Resistance: GREEN PLAID SLIDES!!!!

I totally wanted these, but they weren't my size.  Seriously, aren't they fabulous?!?!?!

Swapping

I participated in the Swap til You Drop mini quilt swap Flickr group in February. The theme was "Love is in the Air". My partner was Lollydo . She made me this absolutely adorable snail mini.

  
She checked out the items that I marked as favorites and based the mini on those, as well as my information that come February I really like red and pink combos to brighten a dreary month.
I think it's just the cutest thing. I totally love everything about it. It has the embroidered snail w/the chenille shell, the red, pink, turquoise combo. And the plaid circles! Have I mentioned how much I love plaid!

The back is really cute also. Look at how wonderful the MoMo 'Wonderland' patchwork looks with the embroidery on it. I hung it on the flipper of my overhead cabinet at work. It makes me smile when I look up from my computer screen.

This is the mini I made for Lollydo. She has 3 dogs that she just adores and told me that she likes orange. I used a photo that she had on her blog of her dogs looking up at the camera after emptying the toy basket.

I used a sharpie marker and outlined the dogs on the back of the paper. I then traced it onto fusible web and used solid black for the dog's silouettes. I quilted in their features w/grey thread.

I used the amzing floral for the top because I thought it looked fabulous with the orange. The bones are the "Love is in the Air" part. I wanted to have the side of a person holding a bone silouette on the side, but couldn't work it out to my satisfaction. 

I used the orange plaid on the back. I think it looks pretty great on the back as well. Don't look too closely at the quilting though.

I thought I was having tension issues, but it ends up that I hadn't pushed the 'feed dogs down' button all the way over, so I was really fighting the feed dogs the whole time I was free motion quilting.

I'm rather pleased with it, and I think Lollydo is as well.

Ridiculously Freaking Fabulous!

I wandered into Target this weekend to find some of the new

items they have been showing on commercials, at Apartmen Therapy....

Can I just say, OMfreakingG!!!

Thanks to Amy who originally pointed it out to me.

On Friday, I indulged in this:

 Among other things. As I wandered the aisles admiring the happy florals, I thought "wouldn't it be great to have an umbrella like this?"
Since the products weren't officially supposed to hit the stores until today, I went back to see what new things they had. And low and behold, an umbrella!!!!

AND, the best rain wellies ever! I have been looking for a nice, comfortable, reasonably priced pair of rain boots for well over a year now to use in the rain and when we go to clean out kennels at the Husky rescue shelter.

I totally couldn't resist the hat either. It goes with the whole rain ensamble.

It's rained pretty much every day here this week, of course, now that I have such fantastic rain gear, the sun is out and there is not a stinking cloud in the sky!

Really, where is the stinking rain when you want it?

Bags, Bags and more Bags

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I've been working on bags, bags and more bags.

I finished another Carry Me knitting bag by Bunny Hill Designs for one of the ladies that I work with. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but it ended up being a Christmas/birthday gift. The pattern calls for ribbons for the ties on the side, I didn't have the right color of maroon ribbon, so I made my own ties w/leftover polka dot fabric.

The pattern only called for one pocket, but as far as I'm concerned, you can never have enough pockets. I made one of them extra long so that there is a spot for long needles.

I like how the button came out. I centered the swirl from one of the paisleys on it. I love covering buttons! Seriously, if you haven't tried it yet, you should. I know I'm a total sewing geek by admitting this, but it's ridiculously fun! I could make buttons all day.

I also started another Sweet Simple Bag by Late Bloomer Quilts.  Needless to say I think the plaid, from Sandy Henderson's Meadow Sweet line for Michael Miller fabrics is absolutely fabulous! I may have mentioned this in passing previously, but in case you missed it, I L.O.V.E. plaid!!! Really, it's tartan, a plaid is actually the material used to make the original Highland kilts way back when, but most people call the tartan pattern a plaid.  

And last, but certainly not least, I made two of my grocery bags for a charity silent auction at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois that my friend Jan's daughter is participating in. The charity is  Camp Kesem and it's a camp run by college students for the children who have, or have had a parent with cancer. 

I wanted to donate something for the fundraiser, so I thought a couple of my grocery bags would be good. Everyone can use a grocery bag, and Evanston is the kind of community where people carry their own bags and frequent their farmer's markets and such. Jan is going to get a grocery store gift card to put with it. So if you live in the Evanston area and want a grocery bag and to help a good cause, head on over to the University's club page for contact emails, or contact Camp Kesem to find out about the fundraiser.