Mamma Mia, now I really know...

Two Sundays=2 nights out for this Mommy!!
Last week it was The Swell Season (see wrap-up in previous post). This week it was a "Mamma Mia!", musical night out with my little sis. If you can recall we went to see "Evita" together, and our "Mamma Mia!" excursion was a birthday present from myself and the husband (I like when I get to benefit from my gifts to others, don't you?). We got to go have sushi for dinner (The GREATEST!) and then coffees (The BEST!), then the show (PHENOMENAL!!!)

At intermission I explained the show as "having the crazy energy of a high school musical [an actual high school musical not High School Musical.], but with out all the mess-ups." (this is a compliment to both this show and all of the musicals that I saw in high school--they were really fun, but sometimes painful when people were musically challenged.) I don't really know what I was expecting, because all I knew about "Mamma Mia!" was that it contained ABBA songs (They got me through senior year of high school. We would always sing "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme a man after midnight" But we never got one, and I don't think that we would have known what to do if we had. I was a late bloomer.) I was sort of worried that it would be cheezy... in a bad way. BUT NO, it was so cheezy... in a GOOD way, the best way. I don't want to give away too much, BUT there was a dance number done entirely in purple wetsuits and flippers---WHAT is POSSIBLY better than dancing in flippers??!!! Enough said...it was great...go see it yourself. This was the best surprise of the night (only because I FINISHED ANOTHER QUILT!!!) I made this quilt for Miss M sister as a sort of Graduation/Birthday (18th/19th) present. It took me that long, only because she was living with me at the time, and it is sort of hard to make a quilt for some one when they are living in your studio area. A lot of love was sewn in to this quilt and I was so happy when she was genuinely excited to receive it. (some times our tastes collide--some times it works out.) This pattern drove me crazy for a while, because I really didn't like it, AT ALL, before I sewed the pinwheels and 16 patches all together....IT LOOKED VERY BAD. After I stitched it together, I could see the secondary design (kinda) and I went a bit free with the asymmetrical borders. That is what clinched it for me. Little by little I am learning, and I think that we all should--I quilt for myself. I create for myself, as an expression of myself. I need to do what moves me creatively, rather than what I think is "cool" or in "style". I like a sometimes bizarre mix of fabrics, that is what makes me happy--other people prefer a muted colorway, or fabrics all from one line--it is all OK. This was my first larger quilting project in a year and the first one done on my new Bernina. (Which I LOVE LOVE LOVE, but that is for another post.)

Go see a show, a play, a concert. Get out and explore what is going on in your community-- something is going on, you might need to just seek it out! It is SO worth it!
JMB