The Weekly Photo(s)

I have so many fairly valid excuses for not blogging (the play, Utah trip, two weddings-one being my brothers, the play again, guests staying at our house), but still I have been fairly pathetic. 

Here is over a months worth of Weekly Photos:

Should have been posted July 25th:

Swimming with Mema

Should have been posted August 1st:

Elanor lost her 1st tooth!

Harry Potter party!! Rowena Ravenclaw, Prof. Quirrell, Hedwig and Hermione.

Should have been posted August 8th:

We went hiking with friends and family the morning before the last show of As You Like It. Also, that play was super fun to do, and was just really good.

Should have been posted on August 15th:

We went on a trip to Utah to visit friends and family. It was soon much fun. I have missed so many of my friends!

Should have been posted August 22nd:

We finished the library summer reading program!

Should have been posted August 29th:

My brother, Ian, married the lovely Kendal!

Should have been posted this past Monday, the 5th:

Hiking in the Gorge.

The Weekly Photo + Some Thoughts

I love this picture of these two. Elanor being goofy and Alice watching and trying to figure Elanor out.

Some thoughts:

I am generally an optimistic person that believes there is much good in this world--and I still do. But I was having a real Theoden moment today. In the Two Towers film, Rohan seems to be on the point of destruction and the battle lost and the king, Theoden, says "What can men do against such reckless hate?" He said it in a moment of despair. I felt a bit like that after hearing and pondering much on the massacre in Florida. Also, added to that is all this built up sadness over the plight of so many refugees and my brother (who is on a mission in Sweden) hearing first hand so many horrible stories and knowing how burdened he feels because of it all and add that to an absolutely horrible and callous person running for president (ie Trump), and the fact that there are so many Americans who support him, and that gets me back to thinking about all these hurts and wrongs, and mean people and prejudice and racism and sexism and men getting away with rape and murder and what in the world is wrong with people?

But. 

Feeling pain and anguish and love is human and makes us human, to not feel means you must not be human, as Dumbledore explains to Harry (Book 5). Feeling these things is good, even if they break your heart. Harry did not beat Voldemort with violence or fancy wand waving. He sacrificed himself for the love of others (+plus some smarts and the Elder wand). This is the only way we can win too. Love. Sacrifice. Empathy. Service. I do not like the title "The War on Terrorism". We cannot fight evil with violence. It will not work. We can all be better. I can be better. We can love more. And I know in so many ways it does not seem as simple as that and there are so many complex and difficult things going on, but if everyone acted a bit more like the Good Samaritan all problems would cease.

I don't want to go on and on, but if you need to feel like there is good in this world or would like to feel some hope you should check out these videos:

I wrote a letter to my brother talking more about Harry Potter and love and if you would like to read it go here: https://scottboys.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/help-from-harry/ 

While there, you should also check out some of his letters about his experiences in Sweden.

To close, we cannot let fear get the better of us and stop us from helping those who need it. We are all human in this world and our differences should not stop us from rescuing those in need. All that matters is that we are all related and we should all love one another.

Also, sending so much love and many prayers to those in Florida affected by the horrendous massacre.

Harry Potter Party

Becky and I hosted our annual Harry Potter party as usual. However, this year we were both in the process of moving and this was also to be our last time having the party together. We were both rather busy, but thanks to some other friends we were able to pull it together. We had a lovely time doing trivia, munching on Harry Potter themed food, and playing "pin the pig tail on Dudley" ( a great idea from my friend Lori).

Elanor was a merperson from the lake this year. I just used material I already had and I think it turned out pretty good, albeit she does not look fierce. We forgot a spear (at least she did have a rock necklace).

 This picture makes me laugh! Im not sure why she did this pose but at least you can see the green in her hair.

Alice was a mandrake and played the part well.

 I was Professor Sprout (my hat did stick up and have patches, but I don't have a picture with it like that!), and Tyler was Harry.

Tyler did a great job drawing Dudley and the kids really loved playing this game!

I sadly do not have a picture of Becky and I, but we did have a lot go fun and stayed up late with some other die-hard fans playing trivia (we write our own questions). We have had fun over these past three years hosting Harry Potter parties together and I will really miss doing them with her. It was a wonderful thing that the Pitchers moved in above us. Becky is a kindred spirit and I will miss her.

Happy Birthday Old Friend!

If you know anything about me then you know I'm talking about Harry Potter. His birthday was last Thursday and Becky and I threw him a birthday party, of course! I have been celebrating Harry's birthday for years, I know I did it as far back as high school (my whole family is also obsessed), but we could have had parties earlier than that. Many people (who are not Harry Potter people) often question my odd desire to celebrate a fictional person's birthday. 

{By the way it is really not that odd, many people of my generation (the Harry Potter generation) celebrate his birthday or at least acknowledge it.}

I often just tell those people that I love the books, grew up with them, etc. (plus, it is super fun)---but it is more than that. I got the first book when I was in 4th grade. I then read the next two quickly, then waited a year or so for the fourth book and also waited for subsequent others. I went to the midnight parties at the bookstore and my family usually bought two sets of the book and all six of us had to share (except for the last book--I had just graduated from high school and had my own money and so bought my own book). I grew up with Harry, sometimes he was older, but we eventually caught up and were the same age as the series closed. We both had finished childhood and were now on the brink of adulthood (though clearly Harry had had a lot more life experience). We had done it together. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were and are my friends. The fact that the books and characters matured with me (as in the characters aged, but also the depth of the plot increased as well), made it so these books heledp shape my character as I grew up. They are part of me in an unexplainable way (I have tried to explain it).

And so, as I have said on a yearly basis, thank you Harry. Thank you J.K. Rowling (who has the same birthday). 

Oh, you wanted pictures of the party? Here they are!

I made a snitch cake! Mrs. Weasley made one for Harry on his 17th birthday and I have been wanting to try to make one forever. It is quite huge! I quadrupled my chocolate cake recipe and baked the cake in two large pyrex bowls. I then cut each half circle in half, and put frosting in between each layer and put it all together (so four layers total). I then covered the cake with marshmallow fondant (which I made) and sprayed it gold. I made the feathers out of card stock and glued feathers on them and supported them with skewers.

Tyler was Harry (of course, as he looks just like him!), Elanor is a Swedish Short Snout dragon (4th book) and I am Fleur Delacour (I made the cape, but found the hat and dress on Etsy). 

I made Elanor's dragon costume. The Swedish Short Snout is a silvery blue dragon and I head fun putting this costume together and picking out fabrics.

Travis (Salazar Syltherin), Becky (Helga Hufflepuff), Lauren (Rowena Ravenclaw),  and Tom (Godric Gryffindor)--they are the four founders of Hogwarts. 

We had meat pies again this year, but also delicious frozen butter beer, Every Flavor Beans, mini apple pies and of course the Snitch cake.

Elanor and Micah

More of my cake.

A cute little dragon.

Becky and I did a trivia game again. We love coming up with questions! Ravenclaw won again this year...

 I think these pictures Travis got of us are pretty hilarious.

It was a fun party and thank you to everyone who came!

Until next year!

The Weekly Photo

Harry, Swedish Short Snout Dragon, and Fleur

It was Harry's birthday of course! More pictures tomorrow!

Union Jack Quilt

I must say I am rather proud of myself. I rarely say that, but on this occasion making this Union Jack quilt was quite a feat for me, plus it turned out really well. If you know me well or have known me since I was little, then you would know how much sewing and cutting do not come naturally! I made Elanor a quilt over the summer, if anyone remembers, but did not quilt it (I had a friend do it). It was just squares, but it was also quite large (twin sized). The Union Jack quilt is only lap sized (50"x 60"), which did make it a bit easier. However, it was more complex than Elanor's quilt and I quilted it myself.

My mom loves Great Britain and also many bands, shows, books, plays, food and general culture from there (as does everyone in my family). I decided to make a Union Jack quilt for my mom before Christmas, but did not have the time or money to start it until the end of January. However, I did not want it to be just a Union Jack, I wanted the fabric to be of different things from the U.K. So, I went to Spoonflower --a very cool website where anyone can put on their fabric designs--you can find almost anything on there! I only wanted fabrics that were red or blue and they had to be well designed, not tacky. I fortunately found many fabrics I loved, but I had to limit it to only six, since the fabric is rather expensive at this site. I got a fat quarter for every print I choose on Spoonflower, and then also I had some spare blue and white and then the tartan flannel, red plaid and batting I got on super sale at JoAnne's for only $7!

The blue fabrics from Spoonflower (Tardis-Doctor Who, The Beatles, London scenes).

The red fabrics from Spoonflower (Hobbit holes toile, British telephone and mail boxes, everything Harry Potter).

I designed the quilt myself. I decided to make nine blocks and then sew those nine blocks together.

This is my horrible drawing trying to figure it out.

This is my drawing of the blocks and sizes I would need to cut out. 

 I first cut out the blue fabric into strips and then sewed them together. Then, I cut each rectangle in half diagonally.

  I then sewed on a white strip to each triangle and ironed it. Since, I had not bought my red plaid yet, I moved onto my red fabric. I cut it out and then laid it out. Then I sewed two pieces of the red fabric together for each of the four arms of the cross and then sewed the middle bit with the white squares and telephone boxes together. After, I sewed the white strip onto each section, but did not sew the cross together. Does that make sense?

You can sort of see what I mean in this picture:

None of the blocks are sewn together, just sections.

Once I had the red plaid, I sewed it between each blue triangle, and then I could start sewing each of the nine blocks together. I started with the upper left blue block and sewed it to the small red arm to the right of it, then the other blue block, then next row was the left arm of the cross, the middle of the cross, and the right side and finally the last row was the bottom left blue, middle red, right blue. Make sense? I am horrible at all this, so I need every little thing described in detail to me, so I suspect there is someone out there like me!

Red plaid added.

After my top was all sewn together and ironed, with the help of my friend Becky, we basted the quilt top, batting and backing together. To baste a quilt, you spray this glue-like stuff onto each layer and it sticks together. It makes it so you can quilt it easily without all the pins!

I decided to quilt straight, horizontal lines across my quilt. I had never done this before and wanted to do something fairly easy. I used chalk and ruler to mark out the line and then just sewed along the lines. I used my regular sewing machine, which you can do as long as the batting is not too thick (I think 1/4" batting is ideal).

All quilted!

Next, I cut out my quilt evenly, and then binded it. To bind a quilt, you cut out several long 2 1/2 " pieces. You then sew all those pieces together for however much you need to go around your quilt (there are many binding tutorials out there), and iron it in half. Then, you sew the binding onto the quilt, with your machine. Then fold it over and hand stitch the other side down--at least you are supposed to! I zigzag stitch it on the other side because it is easy, looks nice enough and is strong.

Nice and cozy flannel backing!

I was so excited to give this quilt to my mom! She loved it so much she cried.

My mom on her birthday with her quilt!