It's all British all the time here lately.

It seems to be Anglophile mania here lately. I got my fabulous Cath Kidston products last week, and tomorrow, at a ridiculously early hour of the morning, is The Royal Wedding! Yes, I'm totally one of those dorks that's completely into it.

I'm of the age when we all remember getting up obscenely early to watch Diana and Charles get married. It seems fitting to watch her son do the same.

I don't really care what Kate and William do on a daily basis, and think the press should stay out of it and let them live their lives, but boy do I love a good wedding. And a Royal Wedding is a whole stratosphere above your average wedding in fabulousness.

Yes, there are terrible things going on all over the world, as there are every day of every year, but you have to let that go and enjoy some pomp and circumstance every now and then or you'd be totally depressed all the time.

Ashley, her hubby, and their dog are coming tonight to have a sleep over so we can get up at 4am to watch it together. My hubby said to not bother waking him up for it. I told him he's a big pooper.

Ashley has secured tiaras for us to wear with our jammies, which totally rocks. I have scones, devonshire cream, lemon curd, crumpets, chocolate croissants, Prosecco w/peaches and fresh strawberries and Harney & Sons Royal Wedding Tea, which will be served in my Liberty of London teapot and matching cups. We are doing this thing up right.

Then at 9am, I will be picking up PittiPat and we will be heading off for our annual Spring quilting retreat at Evergreen in Janesville! I can't wait. I have the projects all packed. Needless to say there are waaaayyyy too many of them. I have the makings for 10 bags and 3 quilts (one of which is the Strawberry Fields quilt) packed. We all tend to bring too many projects. Do you think we have delusions of grandeur? PittiPat asks that every retreat, but I like to think that we are just optimistic.

All of those bags are projects, except the wheely one, which contains my beloved Janome 6500.

Fantastic Mail Day

I opened the mailbox yesterday evening and gasped "oh my!" in wonderment at the site that greeted me. Isn't this the sweetest mailing envelope you have ever gazed upon?

And on the back it said:

As if! Could you throw this away? Well, my sister probably could, it's totally not her style, but I know when Ashley gets her order, she won't throw her mailer away either. And to think my Sew Mod group and I had a discussion a few weeks ago about how much we love it when we get fabric in the mail and it's all wrapped up in tissue paper and tied with pretty bakers twine.
This beauty was from Cath Kidston. I had wanted to order from there for a long time, but it's pricey, and it ships from England, so that's pricey as well. I finally caved last week when I got an email touting a sale on everything, except the Royal Wedding merchandise, so I broke down.
After much discussion with my friend, and fellow CK fan, Amy, I decided on these beauties:

The London umbrella, it's what started it all. I've really wanted this umbrella since my Liberty of London broke in the high winds while walking into work last fall.

The red laminate tape measure. It's now in my purse, to go with me on all my travels.

The Britannia Post Card set. Sooo pretty!

A close up of my favs. I can't decide if I want them in my sewing room, or in hanging in the guest room where my Strawberry Fields Coventry quilt is going. Check out those wee little bag pipers on Edinburgh Castle. Too freaking cute! There's nothing better than a wee bagpiper, I tell you. Well, other than a strapping, hotty bagpiper, but I digress....

And last, but certainly not least, the London cotton canvas/duck fabric. I have big plans for this, just you wait and see.

Happy Quilting and Easter!
Vicki

Material Obsession

Not the fabulous blog/store/books from Australia, but the kind that makes you want to work on nothing else until you have finished something with the material that your obsession revolves around. And just what fabric is so inspiring as to make me forget all else you ask? Behold...Strawberry Fields!

I was in the middle of a no-deadline commission quilt when I got a layer cake of it in the mail the last week of March. From the moment I opened the package, I wanted to do nothing but make something with it, NOW. I freaking love strawberry fabrics. Slap a strawberry on it, and I'm all over it. The colors are just perfection! It's so ridiculously gorgeous in person that my friend Pattie, who got her layer cake before me, told me "it's so pretty that I want to lick it!" I completely agree. The non-quilting people are now horrified, but you quilters out there know exactly what we mean, don't you?

I spent an evening deciding what project was worthy, then I had to run it by my SewMod friends, to verify that my choice was indeed the worthiest project and that my chosen background fabric was perfect.
We decided on the Coventry star pattern by Brenda Riddle of the Acorn Quilt and Gift Company.

And that gorgeous grey polka dot is from my all time favorite line, Ava Rose by Tanya Whelan. I actually had to order more, 5 yards was not enough! I'm actually making the quilt larger than the pattern, to fit the full bed in my guest room. Which also means I need to paint it since it's currently lavender and green. Yes, I am redecorating an entire room because of a little layer cake.

Since I started this quilt I've wanted to work on nothing else. I totally want to take a week off of my day job just to work on it! I've been designing another quilt to make with it, but have to wait for the yardage to hit the stores before I can make that one. Big, huge bummer. I know it's just 'til May, but that's just too long when you are completely obsessed!

I had finished about 40 blocks, but then had to get busy making a couple of grocery bags for the school raffle my bff Donna is running. Of course, just because I want to be working on something else, I  screwed them up and now have to make another set. I can't let Donna and the kids down!

And to add another worthy cause to my list, my quilting buddy Dori sent a note about some children left orphaned by the tsunami in Japan, where her daughter's friend is from, so I had to help out and get some quilts to the children (to be posted at a later date since it really deserves it's own post). You can read about it here. Fair warning, have the tissues ready.

And to put my obsession on the back burner even further, the hubby has been working on the basement which means that I've had to be upstairs since the tan dogs (Robbie and Daisy) are terrified of, well, everything to do with construction. Since I've waited almost 10 years for the basement/sewing room to be done, I don't want to discourage him, so my original spurt of sewing has been delayed until my retreat in two weekends. I don't know if I can last that long!

I put some of the blocks together to see how it was coming along. Yummm, it's lolly pop licking gorgeous!

Happy Quilting!

Vicki