Twirly skirt

A birthday present for my niece in Hawaii.  The pattern is from www.banberry place.com.  I trimmed the bottom straight and put binding on just like the one I made for Asha last year.  It is still my favorite skirt pattern.     

 

I am off to Utah again.  This time with Scott's mom and sisters for BYU Women's Conference.  Sister Kersten is going to be at the BYU Book Store from 1:30 to 3:00 for a book signing, so I will likely be there hanging out.  Come and see us!        

Utah Trip: Mini Reunion

We stayed at my brother Yu and wife Jamiee's place the following two nights.  My brother Ken is finishing up his MBA and will go back to Tokyo soon, so we had a small reunion with his family too.  It was so much fun to catch up with my brothers and their wives.  Asha was a popular big cousin, and played with cousins Sho and Caryn pretty much the whole time.  The pictures are from our trip to Temple Square on Sunday after church.

(left to right) Brother Yu, wife Jamiee, Brother Ken, and wife Hiroko who served a mission at Temple Square   

Brother Ken and me.  I am wearing a dress I found at a yard sale in Salt Lake for $2.  Alison took the size XL dress apart and resized it to fit me.  It deserves a post on it's own.  I will do that once the dress comes out of the laundry.      

kids with cousins, Caryn and Sho   

We saw Scott's cousin, Angela, who is serving a mission there.  
Thank you, Yu and Jamiee for hosting a great reunion!  

Utah Trip: Sewing Camp

I have always joked that my favorite vacation would be a sewing cruise.  Our stay at Alison's house came pretty close.  We traced and drafted patterns all day long and into the night, while our ten children played.  Jerome said, "We are so lucky to be here.  Wherever I turn, I can find not one, but two friends to play with." 

Here is us still working at midnight.  We had a lot of Japanese sewing books and Europian sewing magazines between us.                   

Here is Alison falling asleep while trying to choose fabric.  The Marimeko knits she got from Fabric Fairy was so cute.  I want to order some soon.      
This is Alison's notebook.  Talk about wardrobe planning!  Her girls are going to be stylish this summer in clothes their mom made.   I am thankful to Paul and Scott.  They had a busy work schedule during our stay, but still found time to take the kids to a movie and put them to bed, so Alison and I could have more time.      

Alison also taught Scott how to make her coveted bagels.  They were the best bagels we have ever had.  A big food processor and a Wolf gas range got added to Scott's wish list.  
Thanks, Alison and Paul, for being such wonderful hosts!  Come over our way for fall/winter pattern drafting.   

Happy Easter from The Campbells

We had a beautiful church service where our choir sang as beautifully as ever.  I was humbled and honored to be part of it as one of the accompanists.  Here is a list of what we sang just in case you are interested.  "O Divine Redeemer" has now become one of my favorite church music.     

"Open the Gates of the Temple"

"Joy in the Morning"

"God So Loved the World"

"The Lord's Prayer"

"O Divine Redeemer"

"The King of Love My Shepherd Is"

"Worth is the Lamb"

   

The easter Bunny hid some candy, once Asha woke him up and reminded him.  Here are some pics from that.  I have never been a big fan of that commercial part of Easter.  It is a bad way to start such a special Sunday.  I talked to the Easter Bunny and he said he could come Saturday morning instead.  I think it is a good idea.      

 

Easter dress

"Pictures, again?!" 

Back view.

The biggest thank you goes to Alison who sent me the gorgeous ribbon, and fabric flower she made. 

I love it just as much without the petticoat.  It is a more grown up look.  

The picture session always ends with a monkey shot of every body around.  

Dress pattern from this book.

The fit...

was perfect.

Buttons, sashing, and fabric flower to go.

I am starting to feel giddy now. 

Back in the saddle

Easter is around the corner, and I am finally making progress with Asha's dress.  

We took a little vacation.  The kids loved their bunk beds and video games.  

Lots of fun at the adjacent indoor water park.  The picture was taken from the window of our hotel room, and shows the slides running outside of the building.    

First bowling for Kai.  He threw the 8 pounder like a big boy. 

Got our beach fix at Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Giveaway

My sister-in-law, Kersten, is doing an awesome giveaway here.  Go check it out and enter for a great spring read!  The chance of winning is pretty good.