Summer of '09
Yesterday Ian and I went on a picnic at Minnehaha Falls. There's a great seafood restaurant at the park but you have to get there early or all the fun stuff is sold out. We walked to the park and had our food within 20 minutes...an all time record. Usually we have to wait in line for 30 minutes and wait another 30 for our food...sometimes even longer.
Instead of bringing our usual picnic blanket along, I brought the Summer of '09 quilt:
It was early June and I was feeling all nostalgic for the days when I'd spend my birthday up north over 4th of July weekend. Then I got a call from my mom inviting us up for that weekend this year. And then I thought it would be fun to make a blanket to use while watching fireworks. And then I remembered this gorgeous quilt over at Red Pepper Quilts which gave me inspiration for the colors.
Her quilt is much lovelier, of course. I mean, that tan sets off the blue and red so well! I thought about using a similar tan in my quilt but in the end, I went with good old white because I'm not very brave and it's also what I had in my stash. I picked out reds and pinky-reds and blues and I also found some nautical prints that I bought a long time ago. And since I didn't have a lot of time, I made some super fast nine-patch blocks.
The finished size is 45"x65" which means it's smaller than I planned, nearly by half. But I was running out of time and knew that if I didn't finish it before 4th of July weekend, I'd never finish it. The back is a sand print (I used some on the front too) which I thought would be good for setting out on the beach (they shoot off the fireworks over the lake). There are two layers of batting to give us a little extra padding while sitting on the ground.
I finished the quilting (free motion meander) and binding (by hand) in one night while watching episode after episode of Laverne and Shirley (finished at 2am). And the next day I washed it and packed it in the car. And then, after all that rushing, we were so tired from swimming all day that we didn't make it to the fireworks. Instead, I curled up under my new quilt, made Ian curl up under it with me, and watched a movie with my family. And ate potato chips...my guilty pleasure at the cabin.
So, back to this weekend! Ian and I took our lunch and our blanket and picnicked under a shady tree.
And while we were at the park I saw some of my renaissance festival friends. They were practicing their act for this year's show:
My friend Ken is on the right. I was just a young lass of 19 when we met. Oh, 19, how fun you were! What great times we had together! 28 is fun too but not in the same way, 19, so don't be jealous. I still love you the most.
Anyway, they're playing some sort of strategy game. The kids love it...they get to roll huge dice, move the ships around and "blast" them to pieces. Good times!
Instead of bringing our usual picnic blanket along, I brought the Summer of '09 quilt:
It was early June and I was feeling all nostalgic for the days when I'd spend my birthday up north over 4th of July weekend. Then I got a call from my mom inviting us up for that weekend this year. And then I thought it would be fun to make a blanket to use while watching fireworks. And then I remembered this gorgeous quilt over at Red Pepper Quilts which gave me inspiration for the colors.
Her quilt is much lovelier, of course. I mean, that tan sets off the blue and red so well! I thought about using a similar tan in my quilt but in the end, I went with good old white because I'm not very brave and it's also what I had in my stash. I picked out reds and pinky-reds and blues and I also found some nautical prints that I bought a long time ago. And since I didn't have a lot of time, I made some super fast nine-patch blocks.
The finished size is 45"x65" which means it's smaller than I planned, nearly by half. But I was running out of time and knew that if I didn't finish it before 4th of July weekend, I'd never finish it. The back is a sand print (I used some on the front too) which I thought would be good for setting out on the beach (they shoot off the fireworks over the lake). There are two layers of batting to give us a little extra padding while sitting on the ground.
I finished the quilting (free motion meander) and binding (by hand) in one night while watching episode after episode of Laverne and Shirley (finished at 2am). And the next day I washed it and packed it in the car. And then, after all that rushing, we were so tired from swimming all day that we didn't make it to the fireworks. Instead, I curled up under my new quilt, made Ian curl up under it with me, and watched a movie with my family. And ate potato chips...my guilty pleasure at the cabin.
So, back to this weekend! Ian and I took our lunch and our blanket and picnicked under a shady tree.
And while we were at the park I saw some of my renaissance festival friends. They were practicing their act for this year's show:
My friend Ken is on the right. I was just a young lass of 19 when we met. Oh, 19, how fun you were! What great times we had together! 28 is fun too but not in the same way, 19, so don't be jealous. I still love you the most.
Anyway, they're playing some sort of strategy game. The kids love it...they get to roll huge dice, move the ships around and "blast" them to pieces. Good times!