 |
| I Pledge My Heart |
Happy Fourth of July!
This is a favorite holiday of mine as I love celebrating the birth of our great nation.
You know how I adore early American history, so naturally, I revel in the
story of how it all began, but it's also the time spent with family and friends, the barbeques,
the pool fun, hamburgers on the grill, corn on the cob, apple pie,
and the grand finale to the day....fireworks!
We used to live right behind the field where our town held the fireworks display....a prime location for the show. We had a pool, and held an annual July 4th party,
inviting all of our friends and their kids to swim, eat, drink, and stay for the show.
We really enjoyed it. Since then we've moved, and no longer host a party,
but I have very fond memories of those years.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
In celebration of summertime America, I think I should have a contest! It's been a long time since I've had a contest to win something, so let's do it!
Leave me a comment about your favorite 4th of July memory,
or share a favorite place you love to visit in America,
or what you and your family like to do over the holiday to celebrate.
Comment by midnight Friday to be entered into the drawing for
a cute little summertime decoration for your table.
The prize will be revealed along with the winner Saturday morning!!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
In case you're wondering about the doll in the photo above, she's a remnant of my former life!
In the mid to late 1990's, I designed and patterned original doll patterns under a different company name. The pattern was named I Pledge My Heart and I bring her out every July 4th.
I made a Christmas version of her, too, although I never got around to making the pattern.
I thought I'd share a bit of the "early years" of my career, if you can call it that!
I'm the epitome of a late bloomer!! Better late than never, right!
Also...here's my last call for photos of your Pocket Patchwork ~ Busy Work quilt.
Please email a photo of your quilt top (it doesn't have to be quilted!) by Saturday,
July 7th. Include your first name and where you live, please!
I will have a drawing for a Fat Eighth bundle of my new fabric line.
I've received lots of photos from all over and can't wait to share them with
all of you, so please stay tuned. I'll post them next week.
Pam
Boston, MA is my favorite place to visit. And I even spent one super fun 4th of July in Boston.
ReplyDeleteMy family likes to do what most others do for the Fourth - we get together and eat a great summer meal and do fireworks. Unfortunately, it is so dry here in Missouri we're not doing fireworks this year. That will make them all the more fun next year!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite place to visit in America is the state of Alaska.
ReplyDeleteI have great memories of camping at "7 Ponds" with tons of friends and watching their great fireworks display.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite place to visit is the Oregon coast. Just seeing the ocean and hearing the waves crash on the rocks is magical.
ReplyDeletefirst let me say I really like your doll. My favorite fourth of july memory is when my husband was in the fire dept and had the duty of going to fireworks in fire truck. All the fire trucks went and families followed in there cars orwent in empty seats in trucks . We had the best seats in the house! martha
ReplyDeleteThe doll is so cute as is her sentiment! I am very proud to have been born in our wonderful country! My favorite 4th of July is 3 summers ago - our first in our new home and first in retirement! We live just down the street from where the all day festivities are held in our cozy little town. It has a 100 year old bandstand and all the flavor of true Americana! Happy Fourth of July to you, Pam!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
My favorite place to visit is the East Coast...I live in the Midwest so to see and smell the Ocean is amazing!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling I used to make a few of your doll patterns. Cute! Favorite fourth was when my DH was in charge of the firework display on our base. I got to be behind the scenes and see it all go up across the flight line of regular spectators! It was fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteI love your doll! Very patriotic. :-) Favorite 4th~ when I was young our relatives always came over and Grandpa made home made ice cream! Yum! He had a hand crank machine and we all got to try cranking it. At night the older cousins put on the fireworks display. Great memories! Thanks for the chance!
ReplyDeletewell I love the doll. I would hang her around all the time. We used to do the July 4th thing but now that it is just hubby and myself we just go to town to watch the fireworks.
ReplyDeleteYour doll is so sweet. I think this year is my favorite 4th of July ever. It has been a quite day, with only the very necessary things being done. Steve and I have spent quality time talking and planning. He really is my best friend and my true love. We enjoyed the veggies from our garden, fruits from our trees and good time together. Happy 4th to all of you. This is my favorite "holiday". I too am a lover of history and it has been good to spend time reflecting on all that has happened in my life time and all that happened before. What will our future bring? We will find out day by day. Be safe and be happy on this our Independence Day.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Fourth of July memory is watching the fireworks at the lake. Now we live near a resort on a lake and there are fireworks pretty much every night!
ReplyDeleteKaren in Breezy Point
I'm keen on checking out Montana. Some place chilly. One of my best little trips was to Maine. Loved the lobster and going to the LLBean outlet.
ReplyDeletePam, We always spent the 4th at a small town in Iowa with friends of our family for their annual rodeo. It was a wonderful time and probably my favorite memory of the 4th of July. This year it is just too hot and humid so spent the day inside quilting!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite place to spend the 4th of July is with friends at their lake cabin. Their neighbors put on an amazing display as they are affiliated with a major fireworks company. An amazing, unbelievable display. It is perfect for me; no crowds, no traffic and not need to spend money on my own fireworks.
ReplyDeleteYour doll is adorable! My favorite part of the 4th is a small town parade. I grew up in a small town and loved going to the parade. This year I went with my grandchildren to a small town parade...not a lot of fancy floats but a lot of home town people and so much fun!!
ReplyDeleteWe went to Bolsa Chica state beach in Orange County, CA and had a BBQ and a bonfire and then watched the fireworks off the queen mary in long beach...good times!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite 4th of July memory is going to watch fireworks when we were little, there were 5 of us kids. We took blankets and a bag of popcorn to the park where they held the fireworks. We would spread out the blanket and wait for the show to begin. Love those memories.
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th.
My favorite 4th of July memories were spent at Dog Island in the Gulf of Mexico...there were no fireworks, parades, boardwalks...just tons of sand, water and children...we would create patriotic costumes and write our own plays, skits, and sing loud and off key every patriotic song known to man... all just for our parents. I'm sure the seagulls were in shock!
ReplyDeletesowingstitches [at] yahoo [dot] com
My favorite spot in America to visit is Orcas Island. It is a quaint, quiet island that is a part of Washington State and our great Country.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless America! and Orcas Island!!
Happy 4th of July. As a child, our family spent every 4th of July at the beach, followed by a patriotic concert and fireworks at the local football stadium. It was hard to stay awake for the fireworks. We were always sunburnt and worn out from the day at the beach. Such happy memories. Thank you for the opportunity to win the prize.
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th of July. I love your doll, she is adorable. When I was a child we spent the day at the beach and then went to the boardwalk at night to see the fireworks from Rockaway Playland in NY.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute doll! I bet you made lots of darling patterns back then.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I also have a deep love for our country's history & the Founding Fathers. I was able to visit Philadelphia PA on the 4th of July back in 1999 & it was a wonderful experience for me! Visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross's little house and many more historic sites was something I will always remember!
I use to live in a suburb of Chicago and it was fun to go to the fireworks on the lakeshore. So many people and so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThere was a pond in the back acres of my uncles farm, complete with a rope swing and sandy beach. A few turtles and fish completed the package. Family picnics were held there for any and all occasions. It was a wonderful place. I played ther as did my sons and my grandkids. It's no longer in our family but the memories remain. Happy 4th.
ReplyDeleteLinda in CT
Ljdutcher@yahoo.com
Our family memories are similar to yours except we didn't have a view of the town's fireworks display, so we did our own...complete with swimming pool, kids, friends and relatives and BBQ. We had so many laughs, and still talk about how much we enjoyed getting together.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite fireworks display on the Fourth of July was on the beach at Santa Monica, CA--years ago. It was a crazy crowd, but so much fun, to watch fireworks explode over the water, and see fireworks from other beach towns as well, all up and down the coast. Unforgetable!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite places to visit are the National Parks. I am so glad that our government had the foresight to set aside these beautiful places so that we all could visit now as well as in the future.
ReplyDeleteLove the doll - sew cute.
Happy 4th,
Charlotte S.
CA
Our family picnics planned by my Dad as he loved packing it all up and heading to the park on the 4 th or at other times the beach..good times, good memories
ReplyDeleteOh, I love your Patriotic Angel!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter was born on 4th of July, it's a wonderful memory!
I hope one day to celebrate her birthday during a trip to the US.
We live in France near Paris.
Bonne journée!
muriel.gendreau-chabanne@orange.fr
What a cute doll Pam! And what a great memory to have with all your Holiday celebrations. I can remember going to see the fireworks as a kid in my P.J'S. so when we got home late at night my mom could could just put us little ones right to bed. LOL My best pary was laying flat out on our blankets and looking straight up at the sky and watching the fire works as if we were right under them. Karen Schultz
ReplyDeleteAlways something special about the the 4th - almost every house on our street put flags out. We have a neighborhood parade with kids decorating bikes, scooters and wagons. People just seem grateful!
ReplyDeleteHi, Pam!! I too posted this question on my blog a week or so ago!! My favorite 4th of July memory was our family picnic that my grandmother always hosted. We usually went to a lake or creek (in Northern Colorado) and we ate - potato salad, fried chicken, deserts galore, and we could drink as many pops as we wanted!!! We fished, played in the water, played games. One of my all time favorite memories. We still gather for picnics on the 4th, but as a child those days were so magical!!
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Our family is fairly consistent in our July 4th activities - we generally grill burgers or dogs to enjoy along with potato and macaroni salads. And then there are fireworks - whether it's some we bought, a professional show or just watching the "neighbors" - we live out in the country so they are fairly far and wide lighting up the sky.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite memories was when I lived in Miami and my boyfriend and I went to the top of a parking garage, with 200+ other people. Someone had patriotic music on the car radio cranking and we had almost 2 hours of 360 degrees of fireworks. Stunning!
When I was growing up my family and my mom's sister and brother had cottages on Lake Erie. We had great times all summer, especially during our teen years. The 4th was always special with lots of family around for fun on the beach and in the lake.
ReplyDeleteMarcia,northwestern Ohio
A favorite July 4th memory includes New Year's Eve.
ReplyDeleteMy hometown of Baltimore puts on the most spectacular show of fireworks for the 4th as well as for New Year's Eve in the Inner Harbor at Harborplace. We lived three miles from Harborplace downtown.
There are activities and music all day long to include a readings and re-enactments at Ft. McHenry just across the harbor. It was a wonderful place to live when our kids were young. So much of our nations history took place there. We were also season ticket holders to the National Aquarium where there was always a special event for the 4th.
Yesterday was spent with friends and potluck at my house to include Texas brisket and ribs. We watched fireworks from the patio that were set off at a nearby country club.
Your doll is so cute. Thanks for a chance to win a little summertime decoration for my table... Karen
Last year we spent a few days before the 4th in Bristol, Rhode Island where the whole town was decorated magnificently for their annual celebration and parade. It made me feel so patriotic.
ReplyDeleteWe always had a family picnic on 4th of July when I was growing up. This memory is certainly not my FAVORITE - but memorable just the same. I remember walking to the bathroom by myself and getting lost on the way back. I couldn't find my family anywhere, and I was trying to be so "grown up" and not cry. After wandering back and forth for a little bit, I found a family member walking around and followed him back to the rest of the crew. I was never so glad to see familiar faces!
ReplyDeleteToday is my sister's birthday. July 5th 1965, Denver, Colorado. We called her the firecracker baby. I posted today on her FB page how I never have gotten over the fact we didn't get our sparkler's July 4th, 1965 as my mother went into labor and that was the last thing on anyones mind. But actually that is my most fond memory of the 4th of July! She has a firecracker personality! So today I realized we really did get our sparklers and firecrackers that year and forever. Soooo when ever I think of the fourth of July I think of our family tradition of sparkler's, and family.
ReplyDeleteSheri Klaich
Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays with family picnics and beautiful warm nights. One of the funniest memories I have happened during a trip to visit my in-laws in Arizona. We all trooped to the local football field with hundreds and hundreds of other people to view the fireworks. We were all settled in our lawn chairs waiting for the big show when we started to feel rain. We suddenly realized the automatic sprinkler system had come on. Everyone jumped up and took off running to avoid getting soaked. We all looked like chickens with our heads cut off going in every direction. Too funny!
ReplyDeleteTheres no place like Home!!! I love spending the Fourth of July at home with my friends and family we cook out, we swim, and enjoy each others company and of corse fireworks caps off our day of fun! Thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteWe love our family time together, great food, water play,and staying up late to watch the fireworks and then sleeping in the next morning!!:-)
ReplyDelete