Quilting Bee

Two weeks ago, Reggie and I had the pleasure of attending a birthday party for Patti. While we were waiting for her to arrive I was able to become reacquainted with Rob's Grandma Beth. We had first met her back in the BYU years when Patti and Rob invited us to spend a couple of weekends with his grandparents at their rustic cabin. Beth was an avid quilter, who spent weeks hand quilting blankets for all of the special people in her life. I felt very inspired by her handiwork, but, was too busy at that moment in my life to take up any more hobbies. (I am always telling Reggie that I need to lose a hobby and he needs to gain one.) The first B-day that I had, following my graduation, I asked all those who loved me to contribute to my quilting stand fund. My parents even drove 2 hours North to procure a stand that had received notoriety as the very "best" in quilting equipment.

Flash forward to two weeks ago as I sat inquiring Beth as to whether or not she was still quilting away. She told me about the wedding and baby quilts that she so lovingly had made for her family. I also learned about the hundreds of quilts that she had donated to charitable causes around the world. Sadly, I realized that I had never gotten around to really using my "top of the line" quilt stand. I plan on changing that in the near future because I look forward to passing that legacy onto my daughters. Would any of you be interested in joining my "quilting bee"?

This quilt above was made by Denyse Schmidt. I love her modern take on a classic art form.

Letterpress Art

One of my favorite classes, while in college, was printmaking. I didn't have the opportunity to try out letterpress but I loved wood block printing and intaglio. If I only had an extra $10,000 laying around and I might buy myself a cheap printing press. (Nice ones run about $30,000.) I thought these would be a charming addition to any little girls room. I found them on http://www.hazelwoodchildren.com/.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Phew! The "2008 Pony Express Olympic Games" have officially come to an end. It was by far the most fun that I have had while volunteering in the PTA despite the fact that their wasn't a smidgen of scandal. I did, however, have to resort to carbohydrate stacking to keep up my endurance until Friday. It's amazing how much work it is to feed 85 people 5 days in a row. I don't think that a career in catering is in my immediate future. It was, however, a fabulous success. We even managed without the help of Mitt Romney (realizing he had more pressing concerns).

We started the week with our version of the "opening ceremonies". After the music specialist sang the national anthem on the intercom, we had the teachers run through the halls passing off the torch while the children cheered them on. Bea Twede's husband is a total electrician geek (in the best possible way) and he made the coolest torch by hollowing out a cedar branch and wiring it with a fan that blew strips of organza material that looked like flames.

Every day we fed the teachers according to the customs of a different country. Friday I was in charge so I spent all Thursday night cooking pork and rice for Cafe Rio-like salads. For dessert I made the Tres Leche cupcakes that I highlighted in an earlier post. I used whipping cream instead of the caramel buttercream and topped them with slices of strawberries. They were awesome.

On Friday we closed the festivities with another torch run followed by a slideshow of Olympic athletes. The Olympians faces had been replaced with pictures of our teachers. A former Olympian that lives nearby presented the teachers with the faux gold medals that I laboriously made the week before using paper mache disks, paper lace, and gold leaf. (If you ever need medals for anything give me a call because I have the technique down perfectly.)