A Very Special Photo Shoot

 For those of you that follow my blog, you may remember that I went to visit Allie Aller this summer.  I met Allie for the first time last year when I asked her to come teach at the Victorian Stitchery Retreat.  We found an instant connection and have become fast friends over the last year or so.

While we were together this year for the retreat, we asked Judith Baker Montano if she would take some pictures of us together.  Judith is an extremely gifted photographer and takes most of her own pictures for her beautiful books.  She agreed to do this for us and what fun it was!

 As you can see here, one of us cannot keep her head still!

What fun getting to see the pictures as Judith took them....

 

Judith even took some individual pictures for us...

After three different mornings and 400 pictures, we agreed that this picture was the winner as the best photo of us together.  So you ask, why did we spend so much time taking pictures together?  Well this is why...Allie Aller and I are writing a book together!  To say we are excited about this project doesn't even come close to how we feel!   I am very blessed to be teamed up with Allie and it has been a great ride to be on...

To get Allie's post on our wonderful photo shoot, you may visit her at  www.alliesinstitches.blogspot.com

 Talk to you later,

Lovely LaVeta!

Last weekend my family and I traveled to LaVeta, Colorado and we had the best time!  My youngest boys are finally getting old enough that it is much easier to travel with them.   Here is a shot of the room we stayed in...yes it was a bit rustic.

This really made me laugh!  It was taped to the back door of our room.....

But the views around us were just beautiful!

Love this shot....

The was the  road running to the side of our room.

LaVeta have deer that live in town.  They are like pets and are very tame, they are so sweet!

This buck was just relaxing by the Catholic church...

I took a quick tour of the town and here is the La Veta School of the Arts.

Here is a shot of the La Veta Quilt shop.....this building has so much character.

Here is Ricky Tims Art Quilt Retreat Center...

I loved this window in a shop in LaVeta.....actually the building is vacant right now and it would be so tempting to move my Pink Bunny Shop to LaVeta!

And of course, I had to visit my dear friend Judith Baker Montano!

All in all my family had a wonderful but quick visit.  You never know we may go back next summer!

Talk to you later,

Toffe Chip Thins and other Stuff

Here are the next cookies I tried in my Taste of Home Baking book.  They are called Toffee Chip Thins and they were really, really good!  I am really going to watch my waistline(grow) if I keep eating these cookies!  My husband kept telling the kids that they tasted terrible hoping they wouldn't eat any of them.

This weekend I went on a wonderful getaway!  Here is a sneak peek of the photo's I took along the way!

I took these photo's while we were driving in the car, but I didn't think they turned out too bad.

Maybe you can guess where I was headed too?

Here is a lovely photo of the class that Judith Baker Montano is teaching at the last Victorian Stitchery Retreat I am hosting...I can tell you that this photo is  beautiful but in person this project is unbelievable!
If you are interested in taking this class, there are still spots available and Judith has made up the most beautiful kits to make this project!

Talk to you later,

Something Different

Many of you may know that I am involved in a special project.  I am so excited about the project, but the downside is I can't blog about it!  I got to thinking....most crazy quilter's have to eat....so I will blog about something I decided to do this winter.  I have had the above cook book for quite sometime and have used a few recipes out of it.  I announced to my husband the other day that I was going to work my way through the cookbook, one recipe at a time and in order.  I got a big smile from him!  This is why he smiled so big, you see I am a gluten free girl....that means I don't bake all that often.

I have found a flour substitute that I just love and it works just like flour.  It is called Better Batter and it is just the best!  The picture above is of recipe #3 in the book, I think they are called Double Chocolate Crisps.  We have already made #1 and #2  recipes in the past so I moved on.  They are good but I have other cookies that I like better.  I am sure they will still get eaten around here!

Here is what I made tonight, Baked Oatmeal.  I have never made this before and have always wanted to.  My little boys didn't like it, but I LOVED it.  It tasted a little bit like bread pudding which I also like.

I took a picture of the recipe if you would like it.

Since you stuck around to the end....here is a sneek peek of the special project!

Talk to you later,

Patriotic Concert

 

Warning, this is not a crazy quilt post, this is a proud mom post!  My son is the Maize High School choir and he really has a very gifted voice.  The choir had a concert last week , just 5 weeks into school!  Now I have been to Broadways shows and many local Music Theater shows and this show was just as good.  These kids worked hard and the costuming was unbelievable.  The concert had a Patriotic theme and I just loved it.

Here is my son in Show Choir....they were so good!

Here he is on the bottom far right...

They honored all Military Veterans, I just loved those costumes...

They did some Will Rogers stuff and it was amazing...just look at the costumes!

More Will Rogers.....

No Patriotic Concert would be complete without baseball...they sang Take Me out to the Ball Park...

Hot dogs and all!

At the end of the concert, anyone in the audience who was or has been  in the military was asked to come on the stage to be honored.  It truly was a touching moment.....


Talk to you later,

My New Online Class!

If you follow my blog, you may recall that last winter Allie Aller and I issued a challenge to each other.  We would take this beautiful heart pattern designed by Carole Samples and make something with it.  It was an interesting challenge and we both came up with very different projects.  I have been asked many times since then if I could sell the pattern.  I am now pleased to say that I am not only offering the pattern for sale, but you will also get an online class with it!  In this class I will be teaching my method for piecing this vintage inspired heart.  If you would like to enroll in this class you may go to this link to enroll:

http://www.valeriebothell.com/catalog.php?view=productListPage&category=179


Talk to you later,

MCC Update

It's been awhile since I have given you an update.  The reason is there have been no updates, but I finally had a moment to piece another square for the MCC crazy quilt.  This quilt will be similar to the all black crazy quilt that I recently finished.  You can view those squares here:  http://pinkbunnykansas.blogspot.com/search?q=black.  Now to piece the four borders for it and the small matter of embellishing it!

When I blogged about Allie and I visiting the crazy quilts of all crazy quilts, My Crazy Dream, I had mentioned that it was the quilt on the front of Penny McMorris' book.  Later I thought that many of you may not know what I am talking about!  It was published in 1984 and has been out of print for many years.  It is a great resource guide and has lots of great pictures of old vintage crazy quilts.  I recently came across 2 copies and posted them for sale on my website if your interested....here is the link:

   http://www.valeriebothell.com/catalog.php?view=productListPage&category=18

Talk to you later,

Victorian Stitchery Retreat

Because this is the last year that I am doing the retreat, I would like to have as many people as possible attend!  For that reason I am having a "sale" on the cost of the retreat.  If you enroll by Monday September 3,  you will receive $50 off of 4 days of classes, $25 off of 3 days of classes and $10 off of 2 days of classes.  I will need to receive your payment by September 3 to be able give you this discount.  If you would like more information on the retreat, you may click on the Victorian Stitchery Retreat button on the right sidebar and it will take you to my website where all the information is posted.  Please email me with any questions!  This offer does not apply if you have already enrolled.


Talk to you later,

Then on to Nebraska!

For the next part of our adventure we flew to Nebraska!  Allie is on the Quilt Alliance board and they were having their annual meeting during the day.  I found plenty to entertain myself with during the day!  I went to the Durham Museum in Omaha and it was nice!  Also, no day would be complete if a girl didn't go to the mall...

That evening the Quilt Alliance had an event called Quilters Take Omaha and it was held at the newly located Accuquilt headquarters.  Did you know that all employees at Accuquilt have to spend 2 hours a week on company time making quilts in their Dream Studio?  What a great company to work for!

One of the purposes of the Quilt Alliance is to document quilts and quiltmakers so their stories will not be lost.  Have you ever found an old quilt and wondered why the person made it?  Pictured above is Marin Hanson, Curator of Exhibitions for the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.  During the course of the evening several quilts were displayed and a video recording was made of the person speaking about the quilt's story.  Marin choose a quilt from the IQSC and she had three minutes to explain the meaning of this quilt.  All videos made by the Quilt Alliance are then filed in the Library of Congress and are available for viewing.  What a wonderful way to preserve quilt history!

One member of the board, Linda Pumphrey, was retiring from the board and she was gifted with an amazing portrait of herself made by up and coming artist/quilter Luke Haynes.  It was a wonderful evening but the BIGGEST reason for coming to Nebraska was going to happen the next day!  Be still my heart....

We traveled to the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln to see the crazy quilt of all crazy quilts!  Yes, we were taken to the storage area of  the facility and allowed to view....MY CRAZY DREAM!  Yes, that is the crazy quilt that is on Penny McMorris's book!  To tell you I was in heaven doesn't even describe it...do you see the smile on Allie's face?  It truly was a magical moment and that quilt is beyond description and NO picture around can do it justice!

It was the best ending for a very wonderful trip and two very happy crazy quilters!

Talk to you later,