Fabric shop hop pictures

Majority of the pictures were taken by Mrs. D because we forgot to get our camera out.

Monday night - the swim trip gone awry:


The Fabric Shack:










K outside Big Boy:


Outside Martha's Heirlooms:




All of us inside the last shop.


Some of our goodies:

Fat quarter bundle that we're all going to participate in making a quilt out of:


Squirrel/Buried Treausre pillowcase:


Hot air balloon pillowcase:


My regency dress fabric and buttons:


The doll shoes:


We got more fabric, but this is a sampling.

2010 Mother-Daughter Fabric Shop Hop Trip

Every year (well, last year and this year anyway) we go with some friends of ours on a fabric shop hop around Ohio. We spend 2 days and go to different fabric stores around the mainly southern part of OH. This year we went to five shops...Bunny's in Newark, OH - Hancock Fabrics in Franklin, OH (or thereabouts) - Fabric Shack in Waynesville, OH - and then Martha's Heirlooms somewhere (I don't remember where) and another shop that I don't remember the name of that the lady at Martha's Heirlooms reccomended.
Mom and I got up at 8:30am Monday morning, and left around 9am to head down to Zville to pick up our friends from the D family who go with us... Mrs. D, C, and K. Mrs. D had spent a good deal of the previous night at the E.R. with their oldest son T, who had sprained his ankle, so she hadn't gotten home till 3am, so she was short on sleep and so they weren't ready for us when we got there, but between us all, we managed to get out the door by noon.
We stopped by Bunny's, a fabric store in Newark, which was about 10 minutes from a house that the D family are hoping to buy sometime in the future, Lord willing. We got a few fabrics and then headed off on the 2-hour trip to Franklin, which is nearby Dayton. We drove through Dayton on the way and we "saw" (the sign, anyway) the air force base where my uncle had been stationed a few years ago.
We stopped by Hancock Fabrics and I got a very pretty skirt (they have some premade clothing there) for $12. Mom got some adorable hot air balloon fabric for pillowcases she's making to send to a hospital for kids with cancer. It's very colorful and entertaining. Mom also bought some fabric for me to make another regency dress. It's very pretty, and I can't wait to see it all sewn up.
Then we headed to the hotel, settled in, then went out to eat at Bob Evans. We then went to Walmart to pick up some water for the D's and a swim mask for me since I didn't have one, and we intended to go swimming that night.
We came back, got all suited up to go swimming, went down to the pool, and it was empty earlier, but now there were about 6-10 people in there. Disappointed, we headed back to our rooms and watched a movie. I was too tired to stay up very late and Mom and I went to our room and crashed.
I had a terrible night due to the fact I had an excruciating pain in my left side all night long. I slept for about an hour before waking up. I took some advil, it didn't seem to help, but I was able to go back to sleep. I woke up again around 3am and I think I finally drifted back to sleep. Around 6am I woke up again, still in pain, and soaked in a hot bath which helped, and I was able to doze off and on for another two hours. I was still in a lot of pain all morning and C said that I looked very pale and sickly. I felt very pale and sickly. :-/ Mom and C went to Walmart and got some adhesive heat pack things and I stuck one on my shirt and it felt a lot better. Still a little achy, but not as bad.
Anyway, enough about me.
We then headed to Fabric Shack after we stopped by Walmart. It was about 20 minutes away. We all oohed and ahhed and gasped at the gorgeous fabrics they have. It was delightful. C picked out two vintage 30's prints for a skirt. Mrs. D got a jelly roll. Mom got fabric for 2 more pillowcases and a charm pack. I got owl fabric and some coordinating striped fabric for a knee-length skirt, as well as a 1933 fabrics charm pack for a little quilt. I think that's all we got, but I don't remember for sure. K was a little bored with the whole thing...she liked looking, but got tired of it faster than we did.
We really wanted to walk around the little town...they have some antique shops and old bookstores, and a little cafe we stopped in last year and had some yummy food, but it was 94 degrees out, and Mom needed more sustenance than the little cafe could provide her, so we headed out and found a Big Boy to eat at. Funny, we ate at a Big Boy last year as well.
Anyway, after that, we drove to what we thought was our final stop...Martha's Heirlooms. It wasn't what we expected, but we did find some nice things. They have mainly smocking patterns, it seemed like. They have some nice cotton rickrack, and some 18" doll things. Mom got two pairs of doll shoes and some rickrack. Us three girls (C, K, and I) headed out to the car before the Moms were done because we were all tired and a little bored. We finished watching a movie that we had started before.
And here's a little funny story. In the store, K had found some doll glasses that she really wanted. She had showed them to her mom but Mrs. D had said probably not on buying them. When the moms got back in the car, K curiously pried, "What did you get Mama?"
Mrs. D showed her the things she had bought. You could tell K was rather disappointed to see the glasses were not among them. Then, Mrs. D pulled the glasses out of the bag. K was so excited.
The lady in Martha's Heirlooms said that there was another store we needed to go check out. It wasn't very far, so we headed over there. Very glad we did! The ladies inside were very nice and friendly, and we were able to find some nice fabric. Mom got yardage for a final pillowcase, as well as two little charm packs, and Mrs. D and C found a couple small things as well.
The lady there snapped our picture before we headed out, and then we headed back down to Columbus to meet up with the men of the D family, drop off Mrs. D, C, and K, and headed home ourselves.
We were exhausted and it was very difficult not to fall asleep on the way home, but we didn't, and pulled in at 10:30pm, and fell right into bed. (Well, I did, anyway)

Pictures of Joan

I took all these pictures a couple months ago but I couldn't post them because I was going to put them in a picture book I was creating for my grandmother based on her adventures in the 1950's in Idaho. You can view that book online here - http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/vw_full.aspx?sbid=2630064

And here are the pictures I've been dying to post:

Jumping rope:




Canning time!


Hanging up the laundry:

Nebraska

So when something as big as what happened in the past few days happens, it really helps me to write it down. Like I'm almost scared I'll forget it. So here you go. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (July 21-25) - our Nebraska trip/Grandma and Grandddad's 50th anniversary celebration/family reunion.

Wednesday~
At 10:30, Mom and I left to go to Attitudes, a haircut place run by a lady who started cutting Mom's hair 25+ years ago. We go once a year every time we go to Nebraska. I also got a perm for the first time, which was exciting. My hair is now curly. While were gone, my cousin Elizabeth and her husband Michael and their two kids had been at Grandma and Granddad's house. Sad we missed them, but we were going to see them that evening.
Around 5:45 that evening, we left for The Taste, a resteraunt in Omaha that Granddad likes. We had a yummy dinner celebrating Granddad's birthday, then headed back to their house and had cake and Granddad opened his presents.

Thursday~
We met part of my birthfamily at the Amazing Pizza Machine in Omaha. It's kind of like Chuck-E-Cheese's. It has an arcade, an all-you-can-eat buffet, as well as bowling, go-karts, and some other fun rides. We had a good time there hanging out with them. We came home around 3:00, relaxed for a little while and then went off again to Walmart to pick up food for dinner and then headed to my birthmom Sandy's house where we had dinner with her, my siblings, and Sandy's mom. We left around 7:30, went back to Grandma and Granddad's, and Dad stayed home because his back hurt while Mom and I went to Southwest to do a little setting up. My cousin Bethany and I practiced a song we were going to do Saturday with another cousin for the family. Then we sat around bored for a few minutes, and then Bethany announced that she wanted ice cream. I concurred, and since she had money and a driver's license, that's what we did. We headed to Maggie Moo's, which was about 2 minutes from the church, and each got ice cream. We sat in the car and ate our treats, and then headed back to the church. Then Bethany's mom, my aunt Polly, said that we needed to take Ayden (Bethany's little brother) somewhere and get him some tennis shoes because the only shoes he brought were rubbing blisters on his feet. So we headed out at 10pm to Walmart, got him some shoes, as well as some ice packs Mom needed for the cooler, headed back, and finally around 1030pm we headed back to Grandma and Granddad's. Dad was already asleep, and I fell into bed exhausted and fell asleep almost instantaneously.

Friday~
Around noon, our family left to go to Southwest Church to begiin setting up for the reception. The tables and chairs had already been set up, so we set up the food tables, some of the food, balloons, other decorations, flowers etc. We were done probably by 1:30-2:00. We headed back to Grandma and Granddad's house, and stopped to pick up flowers for the food table. Stacey and Joshua Dineen pulled into grandparents' house a couple seconds after we did. We arranged the flowers, then Mom toted me back to the church to take the flowers there. The Owens and Johnsons were there again, and so I hung out with Bethany and Tyler again for a little bit while Mom did this and that helping with a little more setting up, then we left again, back to Gma and Gdad's house.
The Dineen Family as well as Grandma's brother John and his wife came to their house as well and so everyone sat around and talked for a while, and then some of us left to eat at Chipotle before heading over to the church for the reception from 5-8pm.
It was lots of fun. The time passed a lot faster than we thought, and at the end, the majority (_glares at John and Jared_) of the cousins and one uncle and grandma and granddad did the hokey pokey. :) Then Stacey, Bethany and I headed off to Walmart to do some shopping and then we came back to the church, then went to Grandma and Granddad's, practiced our song and headed to bed.

Saturday~ Saturday morning, Stacey, Bethany, Joshua and I all left for Starbucks and Nebraska City. We got there about 9:45 I think. We stopped by Lied Lodge first, then headed over to the Arbor Day Farm to meet up with the rest of the family and go on the Tree Adventure. After assembling the clan, we all headed off to the adventure. It was basically just a walk on a paved walkway and you can try and idenitify trees if you wish, and there's also a treehouse that you can go up that's 50 feet tall. and then at the end there's a nature classroom that was fun for everyone, especially the kidlets.
After that, we had a picnic lunch and had a good time talking, running, playing frisbee, cartwheeling (Josiah and Stacey took the cake on that one), and climbing trees (James and Tyler are the masters at that one).
Then we went on a hike which was also enjoyable, though a little tireing. There was another not-so-large treehouse along this trail.
And --- (nope, you're not getting out of this one) --- Grandma and Granddad kissed in front of the "Kissing Trees". In all my 15 years of living, I have never seen them kiss, and my mom can't remember when the last time was she saw them kiss either.
After that, most everyone headed back to Lied Lodge, and rested and got ready for the evening. Stacey, Bethany and I practiced our song we were going to do for the family out in the hallway of the 4th floor and several curious heads poked out trying to figure out why there was live music playing, haha. :) We all met downstairs around 6pm, and we took group photos and indiviual family photos. Then we went inside the banquet room, sat down, talked for a little bit, ate, and then Grandma and Granddad exchanged their Anniversary gifts, and there was some talking and crying. :) Granddad and Grandma passed out their gifts to each grandchild and daughter/son-in-law.
Then Stacey, Bethany, and I got ready to do our song. I was nervous, but after sitting up there and playing for a little bit warming up, I wasn't nervous anymore. The song went off with only minor hitches...pretty good considering we only had two days to practice together. :)
Mom, and her three sisters (Karen, Polly, and Amy) did their song-and-joke skit based on the old show "Hee-Haw". It was hilarious...and got Granddad and Grandma and just about everyone else laughing hysterically. I'll post a video soon.
The whole family also sang "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" together at the end. That sent shivers up my spine.
Slowly everyone dispersed. There was a wedding receptiong going on in an adjoining banquet room, and Tyler and Bethany broke it down dancing to the music out in the hall, then eventually Stacey, me, and (aunt) Amy joined in. Then we moved to just outside the door to do the electric slide, and a guy who was standing outside the door invited us to go in and dance on the floor. We said no, we had a 5-year-old with us, and the guy said, "Oh, that's okay, there's kids out on the floor."
yeah, and drunks too. So we didn't do that.
Soon after, we headed off to bed. A very memorable evening.

Sunday ~ Mom had to drop Dad off at the Eppley Airport before church because he had a meeting he had to attend and do a presentation at Monday morning, so I rode with Stacey, Bethany, and Joshua again. We stopped at Starbucks and Burger King when we got to Omaha. We went to church, and then headed to the Old Country Buffet for a final lunch before everyone dispersed. It was lots of fun. We had to leave right after. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone...I didn't want it all to end. :( We stopped by Grandma and Granddad's...we were there before gma and gdad and their neighbor came over to give us a card and a newspaper clipping of thier anniversary announcement to give to them, but grandparents pulled up just then, so she gave it to them in person. Then I had to say goodbye again to some of my cousins who also came to Grandma and Granddad's house before we left, and then it was Illinois bound.

I'm still sad that we had to leave...that it had to end. Who knows if we'll have another completely family reunion? I hope and pray we do.

~~

My mom is posting pictures in parts over on her blog - Winter's Edge Home. So if you want to see pictures, you can go over there. I think the majority of my blog readers read my mom's blog too.

Two doll dresses & a dress for myself

I was in total freaking out mode yesterday (my voice recital was at 2pm) so I needed something to calm me down. So, (surprisingly) I sewed.
I made a dress for Felicity: (I like the fabric, though the neckline around the ruffle looks a bit too big...from a distance it looks like a turtleneck)







A simple regency dress for my future Elizabeth Bennett (Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) doll:







And then this is my dress. I posted about it here. I was intending to wear it to a wedding we were going to attend at the end of May, but I didn't get the quirks with the zipper worked out. Turns out the originial zipper was broken. That's why it wasn't working.



So I got a new zipper, installed it (doesn't it look nice? What, you can't see it? Uh-huh, that's the point. :-D) and wore it to my voice recital yesterday. I think the ruffle around the bottom needs something. Mrs. D suggested I add another layer of tulle. I think I'm going to try that.

Kirsten

I'm just saying....

Friends are great.





We had church at the field trip center at an outdoor school today. There was a hiking trail nearby that takes you to some falls. We all went hiking but we never ended up at the falls...we went to a pavillion instead, and then on the way back, I just realized I had had the camera bumping against my hip for the whole hike and never took any pictures. So I took some pictures of everyone walking along the road, and then Ransom (far left, the guy with the bandana) suggested I take a picture of the Providence Church sign, and then he got everybody all around the sign, save me, Faith (who refused to have her picture taken) and Miranda (who was on Faith's back, and forgot to get off to get in the picture) so I got a picture of the majority of everyone.
Friends are pretty great.