ZEBRA Day

First of all -- I've gotta say -- AMERICAN IDOL SUCKED last night. Are you kidding me?? Curtis Finch went HOME??? I thought he was amazing. The only good news is that Nicki Minaj said if HE went home -- SHE would go home. I can only pray that she is a woman of her word...(but I seriously doubt it). She brings NOTHING to the show. She was late arriving for the performance show, and I'm still trying to dicipher her waffle analogy... Sorry -- I didn't mean to get off track there...I just could NOT not comment.
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Now we are going back to our regularly scheduled blog for today...
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Here's what I have learned. When you hear a GREAT IDEA -- you just need to GO WITH IT.

Sometime in January -- two of my FAVORITE SEWISTS IN THE WORLD -- Jan Potter (mother of the Hey Rita tote) and Bonne Swett told me they would be wearing their zebra fabric challenge to Sew Expo on Friday.

Of course, zebra has long been one of my favorite things -- and I decided then and there that Sew Expo should have an actual "zebra day".

I will be sharing many, many zebra stories...but first -- of course -- SOME PICTURES...
here I am, on that Friday morning, greeting people at the gate -- including Jan and Bonne!! WE LOOK HOT!!!


And the Zebra just kept coming...they put zebra fringe on their tops and their cuffs...

There were zebra scarves...

Zebra jackets...

Zebra jewelry...

I started calling this look the "Zebra smile"...

Even ZEBRA SHOES...

And all day long, I kept smiling and talking to my zebra peeps...


But it wasn't until late in the afternoon -- when I sat for a few minutes with Marilyn -- that I really understood the power of the zebra. She has been coming to Sew Expo for over 20 years -- always with her sister -- her sewing buddy and best friend. They looked forward to Sew Expo all year long and it was their annual girlfriend getaway.

Three years ago, her sister died. Although Marilyn has continued to come to Sew Expo -- and she loves the classes and the style shows -- she is a quiet woman, and it has been a lonely place for her.

BUT -- guess what?? ON FRIDAY -- Marilyn WORE ZEBRA. And she told me that from the moment she walked into the show -- other zebra-wearing women were smiling at her and she was once again part of something. She felt connected, she met new people, had many conversations. She was AMAZED. She ate lunch with a lovely group of women from Portland (ALL WEARING ZEBRA) -- and everywhere she went that day, she was surrounded by friends and sewing buddies.

There was a lot of chatter on Facebook and the Yahoo Groups about Zebra Day -- and one woman said it was like a "secret handshake".

She got that right...

THANKS everybody for playing the Zebra game.  It was a zebra stampede of impressive, mega porportions....

Treasure Island

I AM BACK!! SO SORRY FOR THE LONG BREAK, people. But thanks, thanks, thanks for all the emails yelling at me. It was exactly what I needed to get me back in the blogging spirit -- and make no mistake -- I need THIS BLOG MORE THAN YOU DO...!!

One of the things I've been working on is organizing the nearly 2000 photographs and videos from the 2013 Sewing and Stitchery Expo. YIKES. I melted down a 16 GIG memory card in my new camera. ON DAY TWO...good thing I brought TWO cameras...just in case...

You'll see a lot of those pictures on this blog in the coming months, I am sure.

But as I was going through the show photos, I ran into THIS Aunt Rita/Grandma adventure. The weekend before I left for Seattle -- I took Lillian and a few of her favorite cousins to the Junior Theater in Davenport, Iowa...


She enjoys picking out her own clothes...and, as you can imagine -- she has a nice assortment of ZEBRA dresses and accessories...this was taken before the show started...

We got there early -- which was a good thing -- because it was a packed house...



This was my crew. The Bowe boys -- Cale, Garrett, and Cash -- went with us to see the production of Treasure Island. Lillian LOVES these boys...


Here is my take-away moment from this Aunt Rita adventure...

AFTER the play, we went to Azteca for an early supper. While we were waiting for our food -- the boys were talking about school, their upcoming spring break, etc. Lillian wandered into the adjoining room (which I thought was empty). She came back balancing an aluminum cake pan full of thin red sauce...?? Wha??? The boys and I watched as she walked the last six feet over to our table. The pan was full to the brim -- I was worried the greasy sauce would spill onto her chiffon zebra dress...we were all holding our breath...

As Lilly gently set the pan onto our table... the boys thought I was going to yell at her. Instead, I said, with a sigh of relief, "Wow. That was an impressive balancing act, Lillian."

She got a big smile on her face.

Cale said, "when you grow up you'll be a good waitress..."

Lillian said, (indignantly) "I AM NOT GOING TO BE A WAITRESS."

Me: (relieved) What do you want to be, honey?

Lillian: When I grow up, I'm going to be a Princess.

The boys all three looked at her -- then at each other -- and after a little pause --

Garrett said, "Oh yeah. That's a WAY better plan..."

Really. Priceless... P.S. -- Eileen -- someday -- in the far distant future -- you are going to LOVE BEING a Grandma!! Thanks for being a friend. I miss you... P.S.S. -- tomorrow I will be writing the REAL ZEBRA story...there actually was a stampede of Zebra....really...

Pinterest Picks

You know that I actually enjoy cooking. But it wasn't until Pinterest that I even realized a person could MAKE THEIR OWN CRACKERS...!! Really?? When Linda P. made these star shaped crackers during the Christmas holidays, my first question was, "Did Nabisco burn down?"

Of course, I can count on Pinterest to put things into perspective...

For my sister Ronda....

THIS is how I feel about leaving next Tuesday for Sew Expo...

AND...no matter how hard I try -- I am the woman at the other end of this telephone...
I am leaving on Tuesday for Puyallup...so I'VE GOTTA GET PACKIN!!

My Zebra Journey

For me -- 2009 was the year of the GREAT Zebra gift...
Ann Sagawa told me she when she saw this zebra watch -- she just HAD TO buy it for me... (and I wore the band OUT!)

AND -- no list of Rita-loves-zebra- would be complete without a picture of the HEY RITA TOTE...designed by fabric artist Jan Potter. (who, as one of the Inspired 2 Sew girls -- HAVE A DEAL WITH SIMPLICITY to design totebag patterns!)

In 2010 -- I wore zebra on the RECYCLED DENIM DAY... (great pic, Charlotte!)

And in 2011 -- the Ya Ya Stalkers actually MADE ME AN IRONING BOARD COVER out of zebra fabric (and red t-shirt fringe!!)


That year -- Claire gave me my favorite zebra scarf (which I wear all the time) -- AND I also got a zebra jewelry case...



My point is -- HOW MUCH FUN IS THE ZEBRA??? so -- BRING IT ON, PEOPLE...!!! JOIN ME IN MY ZEBRA FOLLIES...
I have heard from lots of Sew Expo fans -- and they will BE PLAYING THE RITA ZEBRA GAME. On Friday -- Bonne and Jan, and Linda, Lisa, Amanda, Molly, Laura, Deb, Carol, Amanda, Amy, Diana...

IF WE ALL WEAR ZEBRA -- THINK HOW EASY it will be for us to FIND EACH OTHER...I am sooo excited!!
Counting the days now...

Celery Fabric Painting

This dress started with a gray size M top. I liked the different animal prints...how they combined the leopard print with the zebra print...but, obviously, there was not enough fabric for a MAXI DRESS...

No problem. I found some plain gray knit....

And my friend Sandy suggested I use celery to paint the leopard print...hummm...

PERFECT..!! And soooo much easier than trying to use a brush....very uniform...there are different size celery stalks...WOW.. WHAT A GREAT IDEA...

This will be the ZEBRA DRESS I wear at Sew Expo next week. ON FRIDAY...
BECAUSE I AM ASKING ALL MY PEOPLE TO WEAR ZEBRA ON FRIDAY...that way -- I'll be able to tell WHO YOU ARE....even from a great distance!!

History of Fashion

Yes, I have an exciting life here in IOWA. Sometimes, even I AM AMAZED at the interesting, first-quality events I have to choose from.   On this certain day -- the location was the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa.

First -- there was a luncheon -- in a beautiful atrium room with a view of the Mississippi River...

This was my birthday present to my cousin Linda. Here she is, in the elevator with her Mom...my Aunt Adda... The actual event was a lecture called "History of Fashion"

The classrooms at the Putnam are beautiful. There was a really big crowd...(and two men, too!)...

The one thing that stunned my Aunt was finding out that in the old days -- women's underwear was crotchless...
OH, YEAH -- it's important that you try to learn something new every single day!!

Valentine's Day

Lillian was here on Valentine's Day -- so, of course -- we had to do some kind of heart-shaped challenge.  One of her favorite things is BAKING...so we made a yellow cake mix -- but added some marchiano cheerries to turn it pink...


There was this nifty heart shaped cutter...and the plan was to cut the cake...but, while the cake was baking -- we had to eat breakfast -- and I had this GREAT IDEA...

The cutter is very sturdy...almost dangerous, it's so sharp...

So, we cut hearts out of our toast, and our scrambled eggs, and even our ham!!

Hey -- ANYBODY could cut out pancakes! THIS IS ART, PEOPLE...