Fall Blog Hop

Fall-o-ween Quilt Designer Blog Hop
Are you ready to blog hop again?

A fall hop. Yippee! Fall is my favorite season!

Myself and 9 other designers are lined up for a fun

"Fall-O-Ween" themed hop.

Each day we will bring you a great project and 10 themed blog posts

starting September 27 and ending 10 days later on October 6.

My day is September 28th. Topic for that day is: Scents.

At the end of the ten days there will be a grand prize drawn randomly
from all of the people who commented on each of the 10 designer's blogs.
You must comment on all 10 blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize.

Listed below are the designer and their designated day to feature a FREE project.

Sept. 27 Gudrun from GE Designs: http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/
Sept. 28 Sandy from Pieces from my Heart : http://www.piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com/
Sept. 29 Roseann from Rosebud's Cottage. http://www.rosebudscottage.typepad.com/
Sept. 30 Kari from New Leaf Stitches : www.newleafstitches.com/blog
Oct. 1 Terry from Atkinson Designs : http://www.terryatkinson.typepad.com/
Oct. 2 Heather from Anka's Treasures : http://www.ankastreasures.wordpress.com/
Oct. 3 Terri from Whimsicals : http://www.whimsicals.typepad.com/
Oct. 4 Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co: http://www.lavieenrosie.typepad.com/
Oct. 5 Linda from Linda Lum DeBono: http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/
Oct. 6 Pat from Pat Sloan & Co.: http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/

Topics
Day 1: color
Day 2: scents
Day 3: taste
Day 4: texture
Day 5: clothes
Day 6: decorations
Day 7: gatherings
Day 8: traditions
Day 9: haunts
Day 10: quilts

Help us spread the word. Post the FALL-O-WEEN logo on your blog and tell all of your friends about our blog hop.

Leave a comment before September 25th to let me know how you're spreading the word and your name will go in a drawing to receive an Awesome fabric pack.

Mark you calendars for September 27th!

See you soon.

From my heart,

Sandy

Back to School

Although our schools have been in session since August 16th, many schools across the country will not start until after Labor Day.

Waaay Back When, when I was getting ready to head back to school, we would wait in anticipation for the August Back to School issue of Seventeen. It was big and fat and loaded with the newest back to school styles.

I spent hours paging through the issue, choosing the outfits that I would "copy". We never bought our clothes - we sewed our clothes.

I found a big box of Seventeen magazines for sale on Ebay. Ranging in years from 1969-1974 - my era.

Here are some of the styles featured in these magazines.
Plaids were BIG.

And not just in popularity - BIG in size.

Did we never ask the question - Do these pants make my butt look big???

Obviously not.

Dresses were short and we always wore colored tights.

Crazy pants where in.
And the size of our butts obviously was not an issue.

Red white and blue was a very popular color combination.

The red, white and blue dress in the middle

was one that I wanted to copy...but never did.
Just like then I had many "want to do someday" projects

and a few UFO's.

A lot of the clothes had smocking on them.
I made many items with this feature.
Like now, the smocking was done with elastic thread on your bobbin.

Shoes were big and clunky, with big buckles…
probably to balance out the BIG plaids.

"Want to have" brands at the time:
The Red I

Bobby Brooks.
This was another one of those
"I wanted to copy"...but never did get it done

This was the look in prom dresses.
I think these are real live models….
but they look a little manikin-ish.

Betsey Johnson signed on with Butterick pattern company
featuring her line of patterns named Alley Cat.
I made many of Betsy's patterns.
She looks way more conservative in this picture…

then she does today.

Charms were very big…

And I don't mean five inch squares.
I had a charm bracelet but I did not have a ton of charms.
I wanted a charm bracelet like Sandra Eggiman's.
She was one of the older girls who rode my bus.
Her charm bracelet was loaded with charms.
The greeting sign of the era was the peace sign.

Everybody had tattoos.

Metal ones.
Also know as I.D. bracelets.
Everyone wanted to receive one of these...from their boyfriend.

In the pages of those Seventeen magazines I also spotted some of the newest beauty products.
Sometimes it was okay to be the second child. Being younger I was sometimes not "old enough" to use some of the products that my sister used.
I will never forget the time my sister Linda and her friend Linda used their hard earned money they made waiting tables at Pavelko's Café to buy QT.
I was soooo jealous…. until I saw the results.

Your skin turned a very unnatural shade of orange,
with your knees, elbows, heels and hands being
a much darker shade of that unnatural shade of orange.
Dodged a bullet there.

By the time I was "old enough"
everybody had quit using QT
and started using good old natural Baby Oil.
We added Iodine to the baby oil for our "tan".
We looked a little jaundice….but at least we did not look like a copper kettle.

Sun In was another product that the "Lindas" used but I never tried.
This product was supposed to give you that
"bleached naturally by the sun" look.
Really it turned your hair quite yellow.

Pssssst was another product that really did not work.
Basically you looked like you had powder in your hair - which you did.


Wigs were big in this era, although none of us ever had one.
The ad states: So natural, so lustrous, so for-real they even fool experts.


Well I am no expert but I certainly am not fooled!
Could be why a wig was never on my "want" list.

Ambush was the fragrance of choice.

Our faces were washed with Noxema

Then we slathered blue eye shadow on our eyes.

We whitened our teeth with Pearl Drops.
It did not quite work as well as Crest White Strips.
If fact I don't think it whitened my teeth at all.

Our IPods were called Transistor Radios.
If you turned the volume up really high and held them up to your ear
you could hear a lot of static mixed in with a little music


Our computer was one of these…

and a trip to the library.
There was no such thing as google.com.

While paging through the ads in the back of these magazines, I noticed the careers they were pushing for girls were
airline stewardess, fashion merchandising, interior design and nursing.
There was an ad to become a Veterinary Assistant - but not a Veterinary.

We've come a long way baby!

From my heart,
Sandy

Sizzln' Hot - Is it 4-H Dress Review Day?

Heat index of 105 plus 98 percent humidity...Must be 4-H Dress review Day.

I was a member of the Middletown Livewires 4-H club.

I belonged to this club for 10 years.




Sewing was one of my projects for all 10 years.

Waaaay back then it was different then it is now.
You had to actually sew your garment.
Today they can purchase a garment

because evidently the old way discriminated

against those who could not sew.
Hello - we took 4-H sewing to LEARN how to sew.

Your garments were judged on construction and fit.


In order to judge the garment on fit we all had to model our garments.
This modeling always took place right before the county fair.
You could always count on 4-H dress review day as being the hottest day of the summer.
The modeling was held at Lakefield Minnesota's grade school with NO air-conditioning.
I still can remember the smell of pressed cloth as you enter the building.


We had all summer to make our garment but for some reason
I always procrastinated until the very last minute.
It was summer and I always could find better things to do
than sew on a WOOL garment during the hot days of summer
with NO air-conditioning in the house.
We would often sit out on the shaded front steps to do our pinning or handwork.

But that was painful too because we lived on a road
that was a shortcut to Big Spirit Lake - a favorite swimming spot.
My friends would go by and honk as I sweat in a sea of wool.

The night before dress review day we always ended up staying up most of the night finishing our garment.

We then would pile in the old 66 Chevy with NO air-conditioning and travel the 15 miles to Lakefield with wool on our lap as we of course were sewing on the last hook and eye or button or something - getting car sick along the way.

Each category of girls - beginner, junior and advanced had a set time to model their garments.

You then entered the room one at a time and did your modeling in front of a panel of judges.

At the end all of the girls came in and walked round and round in a big circle while the judges made their decision - in NO air-conditioning - in WOOL.

The walking around in a circle was just a formality - the judges had already chosen Susan Shearer. Susan ALWAYS won - not that she did not deserve it but really did we have to walk in circles forever just for show?

I wonder what Susan is doing theses days - does she make her living sewing?
She also had a fabulous flip.

Sadly we do not have any pictures of me in any of my 4-H outfits. I suppose it was because we were always finishing the outfit in the car.
Back then the first year sewing members had to make a gathered skirt. You did not use a pattern. You had to pull threads in the fabric for your cut lines. This was such a nasty experience. I really am amazed I didn't quit after that little lesson.

My second year I made this dress. I used 1/2" blue gingham
for the yoke and sleelves and plain blue fabric for the skirt.


I made this out of a red/hunter green hopsacking plaid
with green ball buttons.
I had hunter green patent leather shoes to match.
Loved those shoes!



This little number was made out of gold knit.
I really never liked this dress.



This was made out brown jersey knit.
Knit was really big back then.
Mine had two pockets, was top stitched
with gold thread and had gold buttons down the front.

This pants suit was made out of red and cream wool plaid
similar to the plaid in the picture of the girl in the ad above.
I received a purple ribbon on this outfit.
I made a cream colored polyester double knit blouse
and a red wool bow tie to wear with it.

Polyester, wool and a bow tie … can you think of anything that could be more hot?

Here's hoping you can find a cool spot to do some sewing on this very hot day.


From my heart,
Sandy

P.S. The winner of the Twenty-Five Years of Blizzards post is Maria. Maria please email me your address so I can send you your prize.

Twenty-five Years of Blizzards

We have a winner for this post. Maria you are the winner. Please email me your address so I can send you your prize.

Twenty-five years of blizzards.

And I don't mean a snowstorm, although here in Iowa

I am sure we have had at least one blizzard a year for the last twenty-five years.

I mean the Dairy Queen Blizzard, which is celebrating it's 25th birthday.

Today my seamstresses are here proofing patterns - a tedious job that we really dislike.
It was decided that a Mini Blizzard would really make the task seem less tedious.
Today Dairy Queen will donate $1.00 to the Childrens' Miracle Network for every Blizzard sold- another reason to have a blizzard.

My favorite Blizzard flavor is Pecan Cluster.
Sandy and Lori opted for Butterfinger.
What is your favorite flavor?

Isn't this just adorable.
And half the calories - you gotta love it.



Tell me your favorite flavor in a comment.
All comments with a favorite flavor will be put in a drawing.
The winner will win an Awesome Charm Pack™ and an Acorn Alley pattern.





I grew up in Jackson Minnesota.
Coming into town from the south there was a tiny little Dairy Queen.
Sadly I could not find a picture of the old Jackson Dairy Queen
but it looked kind of like this.
My sister Brenda could never figure out
how the people got into the Dairy Queen…
Did they really crawl through the tiny little order window?
She was sure they did for there was no door - at least not one that she could see.




It was such a treat to stop at the Dairy Queen.
At that time you could buy a cone for a nickel.





One of my favorite treats as a child
was the Buster Bar - oooh I loved that chocolate fudge middle.
Sometimes I would get brain freeze.

Once a year our school bus would stop
at the Dairy Queen on our way out of town.
I am sure that would not be permitted these days.
Sure glad I grew up in the day were a school bus stopping
at a Dairy Queen was okay.

Now go treat yourself to a Mini Blizzard - Childrens' Miracle Network will appreciate it.

From my heart,

Sandy