Catching Up- Raegen's Purse & Camp Gosip

I know I'm days behind in my posts....so I'm going to do my best to catch everyone up quickly.

Raegen, my friend and neighbor, had a project due for 4 H last week and she had selected this pattern:

 

"The Madison Bag" by Two Peas in a Pod Designs

Raegen is 17 and some sewing experience but not a lot. She had no problems understanding the pattern and I thought it was a great pattern as patterns go.

 She wanted her purse quilted. Here she is drawing the lines to sew on.  I giggled because Raegen was concerned the Sewline Air Erasable Pen  would not disappear.  Much to her amazement, the lines did disappear (these are the times I'm so glad I know which products are the best for particular projects :).

 It is fun to see a young person sewing at my machine.

After two sessions over two days....her Madison bag was finished.  It's not an overstatement to say she loved it and was tickled pink.

As a matter of fact, she was jumping for joy!

Raegen didn't want an embellishment on the front of her purse.  I thought she might like to see what one would look like so I made a flower from the Blooming Possibilities book by Abbey Lane Quilts.  You may remember when I blogged about it HERE. 

I thought the flower looked excellent.  Apparently my taste is not the same as that of a 17 year old, so now I wear the flower on my green blouse :)

I know some of you may appreciate the "normal" activities of the IHAN clan.  You may recall last year when the boys went to camp at the Toledo Zoo.  I posted about it here.

This is a picture from that post.  Yes, this is Zachary and I had learned to "let go" you might say.  I actually have this photo hanging in my kitchen to remind me to just "let go."  

This year all is well, I pull up in front of the Zoo to drop off the boys and Aaron gets out of the van.  I wanted to take a picture of each one of them in front of the Zoo sign.

Little did I know how LUCKY I was last year.  At least Zach had shoes!!!!  How a 9 1/2 year old gets into the van without shoes is beyond me....but apparently it is not beyond Aaron.  You know the camp director had not forgotten us and when I told him about Aaron's perdiciment, all he could do is laugh.  Mr. McSteamy to the rescue!

"Family Emergency" he claimed as he raced to meet us at the Zoo to deliver Aaron not one pair of shoes, but two!  I was sooooo grateful....not only that McSteamy brought the shoes, but also that Aaron chose to wear two of the same shoes :)

 The rest of the day went VERY WELL! 

 I'm so glad they are still young enough to pose for these fun photos.

I sware this was not a posed photo.  Aaron loves the aquarium and he loves the fish.  He walked right up to the tank and the fish swam up to his face and he leaned forward to give that big ole fish a smooch.  Precious times indeed.

Smiles,

Kelly

Abbey Lane Quilts - Houston Quilt Market 2010

I may have a neuron firing now....at least I think I have one...LOL.  I have to say I loved every comment I received on the subject.  I know I'm not alone and I must say I have felt very connected to those who leave comments.  What a joy to have such great support. 

You would be shocked to see how many books and other fun things I have here next to my desk to give away.....so I'm getting on with it. 

Do you recognize these faces?  The gals from Abbey Lane Quilts,  Janice Liljenquist and Marcea Owen.  You may recall this post when I introduced their first book, Blooming Possibilities.  They have another book out and this time they autographed one for me to give away to one very lucky IHAN blog reader.

This is Janice at Market holding a copy of their new book,  Fab Five; Fun, Fast & Flirty.   There are 2 patterns in this book of basic quilts.  They have added 5 seasonal appliques that are really fun.  To see these quilts just click here.  I think they are cheerful and the applique patterns in the book are printed on the nice heavy paper pull out from the center of the book. 

With the energy I've had lately, anything that says fast and easy is up my alley, how about you?  Please don't ask me about the quadratic formula today....typically I can compute very fast....but not lately.....my get up and go....got up and went...LOL. 

If you would like to be the lucky new owner of this autographed copy of Fab Five; Fun Fast & Flirty then leave me a comment on this post.  If you are a zombie too.....you can just admit it and that is good for a comment.  No contortionist activities in January right?  Right!  If you are feeling perky, please leave a perky comment so the rest of us can enjoy the energy boost :)

Smiles,

Kelly

Abbey Lane Giveaway is NOW Posted

Oh yeah baby.....they got their post up last night and they are having a doozy of a giveaway going on.  Click here for your opportunity to win Blooming Possibilities and lots more fun stuff.

Smiles,
Kelly

Win Blooming Possibilities - Another Giveaway

I'm sorry I was not parting with my Blooming Possibilities that I blogged about on July 9th....I know there were lots of comments on how cool the flowers, hat and bag was/is.

So I thought I would tip you off to a big Giveaway on the Abbey Lane Blog for a chance to win  Blooming Possibilities, the hat pictured below and a flower!!! 

Click here to hop over to their blog for an opportunity to win :)

Smiles,

Kelly

Blooming Possibilities by Abbey Lane Quilts at Spring Quilt Market 2010

I had to walk into this booth and look at everything, up close, over and over.  Blooming Possibilities was one of those "something for me" books that I bought while at Quilt Market. 

Janice Liljenquist (above) and Marcea Owen are the owners of Abbey Lane Quilts and Blooming Possibilities is their first book.  What a great first book!!  I just had to have it so I bought it for myself.  Sorry, no giveaways on this one folks :(

One of the projects in Blooming Possibilities is the hat that Janice is wearing. I absolutely loved the hat and the gorgeous flower on the side. Perfect for any occasion really (ok, not a funeral...I knew that is what you were thinking....but if the person loved flowers you could.).

Look at these "Blooming" flower pins.  I think they are so much fun.  I got a bright yellow one and wore it at Market.  I also wore it yesterday on a black V-neck t-shirt.  It looked great and I had several people comment on how nice it looked.  Later in the day, Zach pulled on it to see what it was and broke it.  A needle and thread will put'er right back where she belongs!

Here are more photos of their booth.  I'm so glad they said I could take photos!!!  Their booth won an award for "Best Merchandising" at Spring Quilt Market.  You can see why too.  Everything was interesting and uncomplicated by "other" distracting decorations.  When you have fun stuff you can just put it out there and you don't really need to add all the other jazz some folks feel they need.  I'm into the "show me what you got" type displays. You can see more photos of their award winning booth on their blog, Abbey Lane Quilts dot blogspot dot com.

 
Look at that dress.  A plain dress turned into a great dress with three pins.  You know I love the flowers on the shoes and the wall hanging.  Now I'm not saying you should wear the dress, hat and shoes on the same day here!!!  Unless you are one of "those" who can pull off anything (then I hate you and so do a zillion others...lol)  I would love to have those flowers on the wall in my entry way.  I guess I have some work to do ay?

This is the Abbey Bag.  It is a pin cushion and scrap bag.  You know how I love pin cushions and this big flower is just so inviting.  I'd be tickled to pull it out at a stitch-in or a retreat and just snip and pin while it sat next to ME on the table.  Isn't it funny how the littlest things in life make ya smile?

The Abbey Bag pattern and the Blooming Possibilities are available at IHAN.  Adding more Abbey Lane Patterns to the website is on my to-do list that is a mile long.  So if there is a pattern you are interested in you can e-mail me or contact Abbey Lane Quilts.

Hope you had fun....I know I did and looking at these photos brings back some great memories.  More to come so stay tuned for the next edition of "Spring Quilt Market 2010" through the IHAN eyes.

Blooming Smiles,

Kelly