My dad read my sister and I The Hobbit and other Tolkien short stories when we were young. When I was about 10, I read The Hobbit, again but on my own. For my 12th birthday, my dad got me my own copy of The Lord of the Rings. I read it and fell in love. It is still one of the very best books I have ever read. Several months after I got the book, "The Fellowship of the Ring" came out in theaters. These movies are the closest I have ever come to being a fan girl (and I really was not close---I am not really nor like that).
My middle and high school years are filled with a lot of Lord of the Rings memories, from waiting in line for each of the three movies, to re-reading the books, watching all of the special features and having movie marathons once the movies (extended edition) came out on DVD. My sister, and my friends, Caitlin and Mallory (twins), and I, were all in the same class our 8th grade (Jessica's 7th grade) year (at our middle school classes were still pretty much like grade school, with just one teacher). We all sat next to each other and were in a corner near the back and side wall. I am not sure how it started, but we started a collage on that wall. There were pictures of Aragorn, the hobbits, Legolas, etc. from the movie, there were our own drawings, quotes, etc. It mostly was all of Lord of the Rings stuff. We practiced writing our names in dwarvish runes and Elvish and put those up in the collage. I think our teacher must have just liked it, because for whatever reason he did not care that we stapled all this stuff all over the wall. I wish I had a picture of it! I have such happy memories from this time and it cemented a love of all things Tolkien in my young heart. I have since reread The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit many times and I love them more with each reread.
So, when I saw that there was going to be a FantasyCon here in Salt Lake City, and Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee), Billy Boyd (Pippin), John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), Sylvester McCoy (Radagast the Brown, also Doctor Who) and several of the dwarves from "The Hobbit" movie were going to be there, there was no way I was not going to be there.
FantasyCon was so perfect (it would be better if the whole fellowship or at least all four hobbits were there, though). They had a Middle-Earth kick off panel--with everyone mentioned above, plus a producer from "The Lord of the Rings" films (you know the balding guy with a dorky voice), an artist from the movies and Onering.net. It was wonderful. There was also a panel of just Billy Boyd and Sean Astin--talking about being in the films. Plus, everyone had a spotlight and the dwarf who played Gloin (Gimli's dad) and John Rhys-Davies had a father-son panel, which was pretty hilarious. Basically, my middle school heart grew two sizes too big.
Now, for some pictures!
I dressed Elanor up as Elanor Gamgee (Sam's daughter)--this is who she is named after.
Quickly made Hobbit feet.
{but a not so quickly made dress (I made the dress)}
They had a cute princess area where girls could try on these super awesome princess apron/dresses. I want to make one like that! They had a table set up and they could have a tea party with princesses.
The Fairy Godmother let them pick out a dress and put it on them saying, "Bipiddi, boppity, boo!".
On a Hobbit set.
Jabba the Hut--Tyler did come to FantasyCon--but he is not in any pictures!
Ewoks!
Elanor was pretty excited to find this girl dressed like Merida!
Elanor was obsessed with this dragon. It was her favorite thing there.
A pretty cool fountain.
We went to Sylvester McCoy's spotlight (Radagast and 7th Doctor) and he was hilarious! He also said a lot of really insightful things. I especially liked when he talked about the Doctor and his abhorrence with violence/weapons and said that we should look on fighting. etc. as man's greatest weakness, not strength.
He had great comedic timing.
Middle Earth kick off!
The Dwarves (who made me like "The Hobbit" movie so much more). They were all so entertaining and kind.
Especially this dwarf--he was so nice to Elanor. In the main area, they had booths set up for every actor and you could go up and talk to them and this guy (Graham McTavish-- Dwalin) was so easy to talk to! He talked to us for about 10 minutes telling Elanor all about riding in the barrels. He quickly became our favorite dwarf.
And there they are.
Billy Boyd!
Someone requested that Billy Boyd sing the song from "The Return of the King" and he kindly obliged. I did get a video:
We went up and talked to Sean Astin and Billy Boyd at their booths. Billy Boyd was so sweet and talked princesses with Elanor. The first thing Sean Astin said was "Hi, Elanor!". He knew who she was based on her costume and that kinda made my day.
A quick picture while we were waiting in line.
We also took a picture with Sean Astin (Tyler could not make it for this--so it looks like an awkward family photo..). This was actually the only day I dressed up as well. It is a pretty lame elf costume and I should not have bothered. I am sort of embarrassed by this picture and did not want Sean Astin to think I was weird. Elanor kindly reassured me saying, "Mom, you look beautiful and Sean Astin liked you. "
Billy Boyd and Sean Astin together were wonderful!
We also went to their separate spotlights. Sean Astin was just so sweet and good (he even said a Sam speech and some Goonies lines!!). Billy Boyd was hilarious and so entertaining. He loves being in front of an audience and so does John Rhys-Davies--that guy is laugh out loud funny!
It was a wonderful three days. It was a dream come true (for real).
And in closing a cute video of Elanor dancing to the music from a band at FantasyCon:
Yes, I know the 4th of July was this week, but we went to Fantasycon Thursday, Friday and Saturday and it was pretty much awesome. I talked to Sean Astin and Billy Boyd. There were dwarves and wizards and dragons and it was wonderful. There will be a whole blog post about this, don't worry. I will also get the Minneapolis post up soon! Until then, my friends!
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.
I feel like I have been going almost non-stop since Friday and anytime I have sat down to relax for a minute I have not felt like blogging. So, I am extra sorry about not having an "In the Kitchen" for this past weekend, so today will have to do.
The table, nothing fancy, just good food.
Is anyone else as into Tolkein's books (aka The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) as I am? I love, love, love them. The movies are mostly pretty wonderful as well. Anyways, it was the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit last Friday and some group or other was putting on this second breakfast thing (since hobbits love food...as do I) on the internet. Basically, they wanted everyone around the world to celebrate The Hobbit by having a second breakfast. They even provided a beautiful, free, printable bunting, along with other things. Luckily, our new upstairs neighbors (well, Becky, that is) is just as into Tolkein as I am! So, we had her and her twins over for a little second breakfast. We had a lot of fun and it went as well as any little party can with three toddlers, not quite enough chairs, and a bowl of sugar cubes.
Three little hobbits.
I made Caraway Seed Cake (sorry, Mom, I did not make yours, mostly because I went to one store for the stuff and they did not have imitation brandy, but did have caraway seeds, and I did not feel like making another trip). I love Caraway Seed Cake! It has a very distinctive flavor, and is sweet, but not really in the cake way. It is more like a sweet bread, is great with tea (we had licorice spice) and is very British. I made a recipe that bakes it in a loaf pan (many recipes bake it in a cake pan), because there were only two of us (and three little hobbits). I also made Mushrooms with Bacon and Sage, which when I think of hobbit food, I think of the food Farmer Cotton serves the four hobbits. Anyone following? Anyways he serves some sort of bacon and mushroom dish and I wanted to make that. It was delicious. I could eat a whole bowl of it. Yum.
The seed cake, not the best picture, but I had little ones keeping me busy...
