April Showers Blog Hop - My Turn!

It is my day for the April Showers Blog Hop and my opportunity to share with you my Mug Rug.

A BIG thank you to Madame Samm for her organization, to Erin for being our cheerleader as well as our sponsors, Fabri-Quilt.

And now to the Mug Rug  ~

Since I live within the Northern part of the Willamette Valley of Oregon, we can get plenty of April Showers. When challenged with the theme of this Blog Hop, I wanted to truly have my project represent the state from which I live. Oregonians rarely use umbrellas. Why? I think it is because we are a very proud people. We like to be tougher than the raindrops. It rains here, no duh. That is why everything here is so green. :) Since rain is a pretty normal thing here, it can change from rain to sun in an instant, and you can often get both of them at the same time in your front yard, followed by hail and a rainbow, or all four at the same time! I wanted my project to represent the fact that I am an Oregonian.

I went in search of inspiration online and found the following quote:

"Anyone who thinks sunshine is pure happiness, has never danced in the rain."

I then went in search of the right photo. I found this:

I put it all together, and it looks like this:

I printed off the picture onto printable fabric. I had never used this stuff before, so I learned a lot in the process. It is not really embroidery friendly and I ended up breaking 2 needles while trying to embroider the quote onto it. Note to self: you may not want to embroider directly onto printable fabric next time and come up with a different option next time you use it.

I felt this quote and photo was so very appropriate for my life right now. There have been some recent changes in our lives as of late that would not necessarily be considered "sunshiney moments", but more rather "rainy" kind of things to happen. Instead of hiding from the rain, or avoiding the rain, I prefer to choose to dance instead. Why complain about the rain? There are so many benefits of rain that we would not have unless the rain comes. I would rather celebrate that.

So, I will shed my umbrella and DANCE in the rain. How about you, won't you join me?

Please enjoy the other bloggers today:

FRIDAY, APRIL 12th

Bobbie @ From This to That

Leslie @ Les Quilts

Kristen @ Meadowbrook

Lavonna @ Zellerwear (you are here)

Lynn @ Thimblemouse & Spouse

Amy @ Sew Incredibly Crazy

Martha @ Living Life

Shawn @ Creative Inspiraciones

Rhonda @ Sunrise at Ravelly's!

Toye @ Quilting Adventures of a Ginger