Avada Kedavra!

What do you do when your friend's kid turns 8 and has a Harry Potter themed birthday party and you have no idea what 8 year olds actually want for their birthdays?  Make him his very own Harry Potter themed banner, of course!


(It's not this wonky in real life...sigh...)
Literally the only thing I regret about not having kids is that I have no way to know if a gift is age appropriate.  It makes me feel all weird and stressed out.  Like, I try to remember what sort of things I wanted when I was 8 but I can't remember!

Fortunatly for me, I don't have many friends who have kids.  Also fortunately, Allison said Julian liked the banner and he sent the most adorable thank you note.



If you or someone you know loves Harry Potter and you want to make yourself/them HP themed quilted things, you HAVE to check out Jennifer's Harry Potter pattern page.  She's so awesome and has paper pieced patterns for all things Harry Potter (and also things NOT Harry Potter if that's more your style).

Don't know how to paper piece?  Don't worry, she has you covered!

A Busy Summer

I can't believe it's August!  Last year at this time I was in London.  This year I'm busy in other ways...including staying up late to watch the London Olympics.



I've been practicing the accordion.  I can now play 8 notes (badly!) and 5 chords (pretty well).  I've never tried to learn to play an instrument before.  It's a challenge that I find invigorating rather than depressing.  I prefer to be good at things right away but I find that improving slowly but steadily is nice in its own way.  I can see now that with enough practice, I'll be good at the accordion someday if not today.



I've also been enjoying my ballroom dancing class.  I can now do an (admittedly mediocre) Around the World (I tried to google a video for you guys but the internet thinks I'm searching for international ballroom dancing instead of a dance move).  You'll never believe this but I actually went out dancing the other night!  It was a variety dance night at a nearby bar.  Variety indeed!  They had both kinds of music: country and western.  We were expecting more swing (the website told us there would be swing!) so we were a little disappointed.  But, not to be deterred, we danced swing anyway since the two-step uses the same timing.  And get this: not one guy asked me to dance!  Can you believe it?  I'm super nice!  I did manage to convince some of our guy friends to dance with me...and Karrie and I danced together quite a bit.  We had a great time but still, a girl likes to be asked to dance on occasion.



I've also been sewing!  I've managed to complete 4 quilt tops in the past month which feels super good!  Two were recent starts (gifts!) but two were half finished tops that had been sitting in a storage bin for years.  I'm not sure when I'll quilt them but for now, just finishing the tops feels like a major accomplishment.



I've also been getting out of the house more, mostly in the manner of dinner with friends.  Ian and I saw Moonrise Kingdom which was awesome!  We saw The Merry Wives of Windsor and had a picnic...I love an outdoor play!  I also went to California for a week to visit Ian's parents, sister and niece. 



So, anyway, that's what's up with me these days.  What are you up to?!