Celebrations

Here at the Gervais household we have had a lot to celebrate lately.

March 20th: First day of Spring.

Finally after a dreadful, nasty winter.

But we have a more important reason to celebrate March 20th.

It is our dear Abby's birthday.
Happy birthday Abby. (28 already!)

Abby styln' in her cute headband.

We all gathered in Des Moines for a birthday celebration.
Zach (Abby's boyfriend), Abby, Anthony and Deb
We dined at Johnny's Steakhouse in West Glen.
(I highly recommend the skillet potatoes.)

Next event to celebrate: Anthony and Deb's engagement!

He proposed to her in the ice fishing shack. I tried to talk him out of it - not proposing - but doing it in an ice fishing shack. But he and his ice fishing buddy thought proposing in an ice fishing shack was a great idea. When I think of romantic places - an ice fishing shack never comes to mind.

His question was "Deb will you marry me?."
You would think that her reply would be - "Yes I will marry you."
But instead she said "You're doing this now? I'm in snow pants."
- followed by a YES!
(Apparently ice fishing shacks aren't

at the top of Deb's romantic places either.)

Walking back to the cabin - in snow pants - after the proposal.

Congratulations Deb and Anthony!
We are so happy to welcome Deb into our family.

Next reason to celebrate: University of Northern Iowa knocking off first seed Kansas University in the NCAA tournament.

I am not a big sports fan but was told this is a REALLY BIG deal.

Go UNI!

I hope all of you have much to celebrate.

From my heart,
Sandy

Face Branding

Face Branding
A buzz word right now is "branding." Part of branding is connecting a face to a brand - getting your face out there. I ask– where was this novel idea 20 years ago before gravity had completely taken over??? I am never at the right place at the right time.


Moda, being the savvy company that they are, decided to have the designers make a small project that they could feature in ads with the face of the designer.
Moda hired a photographer to come to fall market to take pictures of each of us designers with our projects.

You may remember Camille of Thimbleblossoms was the first to be featured in a "get your face out there" ad, with this adorable pincushion - still available on Moda Bake Shop.

Lucky Camille. She is still young and adorable.
Although, I may have, at one time, been as young as Camille...

I was never as cute as she is. :-(

For my project I thought it would be fun to have a "sewing companion" to set by your machine, or on a shelf nearby.

With that thought Owliva was born.
The size of her eyes certainly enables her to "watch" over you.
She could also be used as a pincushion -

if you can bear to poke her with pins.

This ad can be found in this month's Quilter's Newsletter,

featuring Owlivia and my face.

(You know what they say—after awhile people start looking like their pets.)

If you would like to make, Owlivia go to Moda Back Shop for a tutorial.

I am also offering a kit for Owlivia.
The price of the kit is $12.50 (plus shipping).

The kit includes pattern, 6 fabrics from my Frolic line of fabric, ric rac, cotton batting and two buttons.

All you will need to add is your favorite stuffing - batting, play sand, walnut shells, etc.

Go here to order the kit.

So....What do you think the next marketing trend will be???

I am hoping it is something involving feet - and I don't mean crow's feet.

From my heart,

Sandy