Happy 4th of July....er.....6th of July!

On our way to camping over the 4th of July weekend, we drove past this cool barn...a reminder of the holiday we were celebrating! I hope everyone had a safe and fabulous 4th of July.
We dont celebrate the holiday in the traditional sense of BBQ's and fireworks, but instead with medieval dress, drumming, belly dancing, and lots of music! Stay tuned for some video of the fun :)

Glory and Goodies...

After a long weekend of camping, rain, music, rain, dancing, and more rain, we got home yesterday evening. I will be doing laundry for a week, but other than that we had a great time! Due to constant soaking, i didnt bring out my camera much this time around, though i did capture some fun video (which i will post soon), and this photo of Jordyn jammin by the fire. With fabulous company, you can have a great time under any circumstances...and that was definitely the case here :) It was, however, nice to sleep in a warm dry bed last night!

And look what was waiting in my mailbox when i got home! Marguerite over at Adventures of Quilting and Sailing sent me these lovely goodies. She had this great article about the book i received for my birthday, so she thought i might like it...but she included a few fun extras that were a nice surprise! Thank you Marguerite!!! Justin and Jordyn have already gobbled up most of the chocolate biscuits and im totally thrilled about the fairy fabric :) I love the postcard too, as Jane's blog and photography are favorites of mine. Quilters are the most generous people i know...Thank you thank you thank you!!!

I also signed up for another mini quilt swap on about.com, so i ordered this book thru amazon for ideas. I may not use it this time around, but the price was right, so im sure it will come in handy in the future. Besides, you can never have too many quilt books.
Cheers~

Jordyn shows off some of her new moves...

Unfortunately it rained all day, so her garb and belt were damp...causing them to slide down often...but she was a trooper and boogied anyways :)

Recap of Crossroads and a lantern quilt

Well, Memorial Weekend was spent with SCA friends at Crossroads, an event held every year out in Byers, Colorado. We experienced more rain than we would have liked, but the evenings were dry and the company was definitely worth the soaking! We had friends travel from Utah and New Mexico to join us, and a great time was had by all. Im posting a few photos and links to videos, but if you would like to see more of my pics, then click here to check them out.
There were a lot of fun activities for the kids, but this was probably their favorite...wielding foam swords. The adults have fun with these too!

Justin had a chance to do some fencing on Saturday, something he hasnt done in quite a while, so he had a blast (though he was very sore the next day).

While on a kids hunt to find baby hawks (little stuffed baby birds), we found something even more exciting...this toad!

After she found this little guy, all else was forgotten...and she talked about this silly toad for days!
Heres a shot of Ali teaching Jordyn a few dance moves...she really loved twirling her dress and watching the tassels spin on her belt. (note to self: add more jingles to her next belt...she loved the jingles!) In fact, thats what she called one of our friends all weekend..."jingle bells".

Here we are all decked out for the big Hafla on Saturday night. We had quite a crowd, and wonderful music to dance to all night long! I hope to post my videos soon, but in the meantime, you can check out some of my friends videos here or here.

On the quilting front, i thought i would start something new (well, sort of new)...possibly for myself (imagine that )...of course, it could end up as a gift...you never know :)

These lanterns were collected thru a swap on about.com and it was the first swap i ever participated in. I love Asian prints, but its expensive to collect such a large assortment of prints...so this swap was great! I didnt have enough squares to make a decent sized quilt though, so i purchased this panel on clearance, and thought it might make a nice center piece to the lanterns. Works together pretty good, dont you think? Anyways, i need to add some black around the panel, but other than that, i think this should go together quite quickly (and nicely :) And the best part is...i have just enough squares do it and dont have to make any others! cheers~

Crossroads 2009

We had a fabulous weekend...wonderful music, beautiful company, delicious food, and lots of fun! Details coming soon!
P.S. Here is a link to more photos if you are interested....

ALQS has safely arrived!

Hurrah!!! My quilt for Anne has finally arrived so i can post a picture of the label now :) She sent me a lovely email thanking me for the miniature quilt, and i am sooooo thrilled she liked it! (and that it arrived safely) You are welcome Anne...i enjoyed making it for you.

Well, as most of you know, we went camping over the 4th of July weekend with our SCA group. The event was a blast...the weather was perfect, the company was awesome, and we had a hafla in camp every night! A perfect weekend indeed! In fact, i was so relaxed, that i didnt even take many photos! Hard to believe, i know...but here are a couple just to give you a taste of our weekend. Hope yours was wonderful too!

Memorial Weekend at Crossroads~

Well, after the news last Wednesday, about our friend Dave, we werent sure if we were going to go camping. Then we found out the service would be on Monday, so we had time to get away if we still wanted to. It was decided that Dave would have wanted us to go. He was never one to miss out on a party...so we started packing again on Thursday. With packing on our minds, we had no idea what the weather outside was doing...turns out there were tornadoes blowing thru Northern Colorado. Being deep in the mountains, we were safe from the tornadoes, but not completely unscathed. The power lines went down in town, which means our power went out. We were without power for 6 hours, which left us with the thought, "maybe we arent supposed to go on this trip" :) Since most of our friends live in the north, they too, were behind in packing. We all decided, once again, to just go for it!

Im happy to report that the event was an absolute blast, and it was just what we needed. A Nastrovia toast was done in Dave's honor, as we shared stories and laughter with one another about our dear friend. The weather was gorgeous all weekend, something rare when camping over Memorial Weekend...and we had a hafla in camp every night. Jordyn had a great time running all around, exploring, dancing, singing and even trying to learn a new instrument...daddy's setar.

There was an egg hunt for the kids, and she did rather well for the smallest kid in the bunch, gathering 6 eggs total. (mom and dad might have helped a little)
There were equestrian tournaments, fencing, archery, and heavy weapons fighting, but she enjoyed the horses most of all. In the evenings, she slept bundled up in her wagon by the fire, so she could be close to us while we played music. There is nothing quite like falling asleep to the sound of drums...rhythmic and enchanting! For those of you confused by our camping, Crossroads is an SCA camping event. The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) is a historical re-creation and living history group, which recreates pre-17th century history and culture. (so in other words, we are a bunch of history geeks, who like to dress up and pretend :)
I also forgot to post this...

the last month in the birthday block swap on about.com. Miss May(Peggy), wanted a block in mardi gras colors and theme, so this is what i made for her. Its only my second attempt at applique, but i learned a lot from making it...like, next time, pick simpler shapes! hehehe Anyways, it was a wonderful swap to participate in...i learned a lot and pushed myself to try new things. Kate is hosting another one, but i think i will sit this one out this year, so that i can catch up on some of the UFO's i have laying around. So many projects, so little time :)
Happy Quilting!
lisajo