Another great mail day!

So I recently got a my I. Heart. The. 80's. Swap package in the mail and it is like, totally dreamy!!!!

In addition to the mosaic that I made for my partner to help give her inspiration for the swap, I gave her a few additional facts about myself in the 80's.

1.  I LOVED River Phoenix!

***guilty admission:  I just spent about 15 minutes looking through Google Images at all the River Phoenix photos trying to choose the BEST one.  It was really hard to do because he looks soooo good!!!



2.  I was in a club in the 4th grade called I.H.E.B.B.  (I Hate Everything But Boys)
(There were only 4 of us in the club!)

So you can only imagine how thrilled I was to find in my package this bag:

Jenny of JennyGoLightly was my swap partner and she hand embroidered cute doodles and sayings all over this adorable bag.  

Here's the back (a little Breakfast Club reference):

She also had these three lovely 80's inspired pouches inside the bag...

I just love the colors AND...

THEY ARE STACKABLE!!!

Thank you so much, Jenny!  You outdid yourself!!!

~Val



I heart the 80's swap.

In April, I blogged about joining the I. heart. the. 80's swap.  Well, like usual, I am coming down to the deadline (August 1st) without a single thing to mail off to my partner.  I started doing some thinking today.  One thing she loved about the 80's was the movie Goonies.  I am also a Goonies lover!  I thought this would be a good start to my project.  (For those of you not familiar with one of the greatest movies ever made, above is a list of the characters that make up The Goonies.)

I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do with this...make it into a bag?...frame it in an embroidery hoop?..who knows, but your suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I can always count on my Frogs (friends from my blog).  Cheesy, I know, but I didn't think Bliends sounded as good.

Thanks for your help!!!

~Val

I heart the 80's swap

                         I heart the 80s swap, a photo by natalie.leppard on Flickr.

I thought I was done with swaps for a bit, until I found this one...The "I heart the 80's swap!"  I tried so hard to resist, but just couldn't do it.  

Here are the details for those of you who'd love to join in and are in love with 3 things: 
sewing, swapping, & The 80's!!!

1.  First read over the rules and 'like totally' agree to them at the bottom of the page.
2.  Sign up!  There is a spreadsheet on this page that you will need to fill out giving detail about your 80's likes/dislikes to give your partner an idea of what to make you.  This is an "anything goes" swap so you can tell your partner if you'd like them to make you a bag, pouch, something for the kitchen, a mini quilt, etc.
3.  Join the I Heart the 80's swap group on Flickr so you can participate in the all the discussions (down below the pictures).  This gives your partner additional ideas for you.
4.  Make a mosaic filled with all your favorite memories from the 80's.  I use Big Huge Labs to make my mosaics.
5.  Wait for your swap mama to email you your partner info (around May 1st).  This is a secret swap, so your partner will not know you have them and vice verse. 
6.  Sign ups are open until this Friday...April 22nd!  Get over there and sign up, people.  The more people, the more fun we'll have.
7.  Mail your swap out by August 1st.  This gives you PLENTY of time to dream up something totally rad!!!




This swap has me dreaming of the 80's.  I've started a list of all my favorite things from that time in my life.  Here we go:

·        Lite bright 

·         Smurfs

·         Dr.Scholl’s clogs (I loved the sound they made when you lifted up your foot. )  (I also loved having a matching pair with my Mom)

·         Bangs  (how did you style yours?)

·         Debbie (not Deborah) Gibson

·         Swatch watches (I still have mine)

        ·         Cabbage Patch kids

·         Garbage Pail kids

·         Jelly shoes and bracelets

·         “ZRBTT” from the Cosby Show

·         Tight rolled jeans

·         Mixed cassette tapes

·         Macramed bracelets that I’d make for my friends

·         Punky Brewster 
·         Taping the same song over and over off the radio onto a cassette tape trying as hard as possible not to record the DJ’s voice.

·         The Goonies

·         Karate Kid

·         My pink and gray Huffy 10-speed.  (My best friend and I had matching bikes!)

·         Strawberry Shortcake doll that blew strawberry kisses when you squeezed her tummy.   (I always was amazed that she never ran out of those kisses.  What was there in there?)

·         Atari

·         We thought we were big time when we got one of the first VCR players and it had a mini- remote that was connected by a cord.

·         Wonder woman underoo’s

·         River. Phoenix. 

·         Stand By Me

·         The Breakfast Club

·         Friendship pins (aka safety pins w/ beads on them)

http://www.liketotally80s.com/

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This is not 80's related, just some fun news to share. 

I entered my Owl quilt in the Quilting Gallery weekly contest.  Each week there is a different theme for each contest.  Check out this calendar to see if you have a quilt that fits one of these contests!

This week's contest was Scrappy Quilts.  There were 36 beautiful quilts submitted.  I was so shocked to open my email today and see that my quilt had won. 

This week’s sponsor is Tricia Lynn Maloney, the Orphan Quilter. She’s donated two copies of her latest book, Orphan Block Quilts: Making a Home for Antique, Vintage, Collectible, and Leftover Quilt Blocks to the top two winners. 

I'm excited to see what inspiration awaits in this book!  Thanks everyone who voted for me and thank you, Tricia, for the new book.  I really appreciate it!


I hope everyone got their taxes done and sent off today! 

~Val