News Flash!

It's that time of year again, and finally I can give you all a little peek at what Holly and I have been up to!  The LakeHouse webpage is being updated with all the swatches in the next few days, but in the mean time you can get a taste of the collection on the splash page!

 

This year I'm excited to  tell you about my new collection Pam Kitty Garden. It's full of all the whimsy you'd expect from a Holly and Pam collaboration and I hope you're going to love it as much as I do. 

 

Holly has a lot of exciting news to share about LakeHouse at Spring Quilt Market this year. I'm excited about all of them but super excited about  Pam Kitty Garden. 

 

 

Break out those Alphabitties!

Shhh don't tell but I've already made one of my blocks and just couldn't wait to start another.  I just kept walking by my design wall (née flannel backed table cloth)  seeing some combos that I really liked so I got out some more fabric and got busy. 

 

What I should be doing is cleaning off my sewing table. I was out at Target on Tuesday and picked up this smaller tub to pack stuff into.  I mean who knows where all that stuff goes.   Well you can see how far I got with that.

 

Apparently when I give myself a threatening talk I don't really pay attention. #notnews

 

Happy Thursday people! It's almost the weekend. In case I don't get back here have a good one! xo

Wednesday

Hi there Happy Wednesday!  I know it's panic season but so far I feel pretty good! It almost seems a shame to break out the panic mug but it cracks me up and reminds me of Carrie so I like to use it a lot!

 

Are you getting ready to sew along with all of us again?  If you haven't seen the announcement head over to the Jolly Jabber and check it out! Don't forget to check out Lori's post as well! 

 

 

Perfect timing, right before my market sewing starts!  I guess that's when I'll be panicking!  Luckily my project isn't too big so it should go pretty fast.

 

Whats up with you guys?  I hope you're having a good week. Did you stay up to see the lunar eclipse? Pretty exciting stuff right? You can listen to this segment of Science Friday for a fun and informative segment.

Well that's all here.  Happy Wednesday! xo

 

Monday

Good Monday morning!  How was your weekend?  It was  nice here, lots of sunshine, perfect 70s weather.  Yesterday I worked on clearing some stuff off my sewing table. I'm horrible about my work area.  It's generally chaos, I am a person who just piles stuff  up.  Worry about it later.

I unearthed this little granny square top, that I wrote about first here.  Remember the original little granny square sew-along that started back around February 2012? 

 

I had one little border to stitch on, pitiful, something got piled on top and then another.. kind of sad, as even though it's wrinkly and kind of a mess, I still like it.  I don't think we're 'over' granny squares yet, that's for sure! So now it's piled up with other little quilt tops waiting for quilting some day!

 

Table still needs work, but it's better. I had some good crime fighting tv to watch and that helps me stick with it.  What did you do this weekend? 

 

I'm off to the studio today! Hope everyone has a great day! xo

Happy Friday

Well Happy Friday Friends!  So how did the week work out?  Pretty good I hope.  I had a nice sewing day yesterday.  This little house whipped up in no time.  Wouldn't it be cute with some little topiary trees next to it?  I might have to work on that.

 

This block had one little piecing challenge for me, matching the walkway to the door.  I took it out a couple of times but after it got worse instead of better, I decided to let it be.  I will keep trying to fix things 1. till it works 2. it gets too mangled to keep trying or 3.  I stop having fun.  Once I stop having fun, I've hit that point of sewing diminishing returns.  Time to move on. How do you feel about that? I'm always curious about other people's thoughts on perfection.

Edited to note: Jill pointed out that the upper left window is off, yikes, that row is all out of order. Good grief! I'll be taking a ripper to it later today!

 

I still might try again to fix it. But for now, it's good.

 

I hope you have a great weekend.  Happy sewing, happy spring!

Sew Happy

Hi there! Can you believe it's Thursday?  I've had a busy week at home catching up on stuff that needed doing.  You know the boring stuff I'm talking about.  But I've been having some sewing fun too.  I finished up  the last odds and ends of a couple of sewing projects for Holly, and I'm pacing myself till my next one comes in a week or so. Of course I finished my spring  pillow up, that was pretty fun and it's nice to have that safely tucked into the pillow vault now.  Where it's safe!

 

After a quick run to Target yesterday, I took a few minutes to cut out one of Lori's cute Home Sweet Home blocks, it's from Quiltmaker's 100 blocks issue 8. I caught a glimpse of some houses she was making on instagram, and just had to make one.  Like a compulsion. So I'll get busy on that today maybe. 

 

The weather has been absolutely glorious here the past few days. I'm really enjoying it.  Soon enough I'll be trapped inside with the air conditioner!  Happy day peoples!! xo

Good Day Sunshine

Spring is officially here in Livermore, lots of sunshine and the air is filled (with pollen) the scent of jasmine and lilacs.  It's pretty good!

 

I can't believe it was the end of February when I originally cut out my applique shapes.. well I think we're all well acquainted with how things are done around here.  Slowpoke style!   I had it ready for quilting but then set it aside for something else, the way that I do.  I think it took less than 2 hours to finish total.  I think it's pretty cheerful. Into the pillow vault.

 

What are you up to? Did you make an apron? Even if you didn't you should head over to the Me and My Sister blog to check out their apron post.  Seriously, they kill me.  So clever.

 

Anyway. Have a super great day! xo

Pockets and Pies

Hi there!  Welcome to Pockets and Pie Monday here at PKM!  Today I'm showing off my cute apron from the Pockets and Pie Apron pattern from Fat Quarter Shop!  It's a quick and easy pattern that just takes a kitchen towel and 1 yard of fabric, plus maybe an hour (or less!) to make.

I grabbed a cute hot pink towel from Target and got busy.  I measured and marked...

Folded over my edge and topstitched...

 

  Drew some lines with my clover white pencil and  I was practically done.  I opted for a coordinating tie and I was good to go!

You can download the pattern here, but really, all you need to do is watch this cute video of Kimberly making here version and you'll be set! I hope you give it a try. 

You know there a lot of cute videos over on the Fat Quarter Shop channel. I particularly love the Classic and Vintage video on the tiny baskets, ADORABLE! 

Happy Monday friends!  Have a great week! xo

Happy Friday

Good morning! I'm home today, and clearly taking it easy.  In spite of my sunny picture, it's a rainy day here.  I'll be tucked inside with some sewing, it will be good. 

 

My cousin Linda's husband Mark texted me some seriously snowy picture from Minnesota.  It's April! And their neighborhood is covered in a beautifully inconvenient blanket of snow.  I'm so sorry. It's particularly cruel to say it is forecasted to be 86 here by Tuesday. 

 

What have you been up to this week? Any big weekend plans? Hope it's fun! xop

Thursday

Good morning! How goes the week? We're closing in on the weekend!  I've had a couple of days at home and I've spent them catching up on stuff I can't show and then having some fun with sewing.  As you can see I got my little bag done.

My last scallop is cut off .. well it's there, under the bag.  I just couldn't make that little 1 inch  box corner, so mine is a little bigger, and that left a bit of those scallops under the bag. I'm cool with it, for the most part. Its a fun bag to make, and I'm glad that Camille made it into a pattern.

 

This month in the Sew Sweet Bee it's Heather's turn to request a block.  She chose a pinwheel, it's a great block to make.  I like to machine baste my pinwheel in the center before I sew it, do you?  I want those triangles to match, although as I can tell with the picture, that one in the lower left  might be off a smidge.   I also don't press my seams open, so that makes it harder to get a nice flat block like I see so many places. I started quilting back when most of the quilting was still by hand, so we pressed to the side so you could hand stitch along the seam without the bulk, and also so that you seam wouldn't split if you sat on your quilt.  No pressure just on the thread. Now I notice more and more people pressing seams open everywhere, I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I mean sure, sometimes it does make sense when you have a lot of bulk.  Anyway, these are the kinds of things I think about sometimes. 

 

We had a bit of sun yesterday after a bunch of stormy days, it was nice.  Big puffy blue sky clouds say we might not be done with the rain. Hope you are well! xo

 

 

 

 

Time Saver

I can always count on Alex to show me new ways to save time!  Today over at The Quilt Show, Alex has a blog post on a new machine quilting technique that I know is going to help me out! Just click here!

Have a great day!

Scallops

Good morning!  Happy Monday and all that.  Did you have a good weekend?  I hope so.  I had plenty of sewing to catch up on, so I was pretty busy with that.  Lots of odds and ends done, behind the scenes boring stuff that needs doing but just isn't blog post worthy.  My one question is, when did MS Word get so fancy? Holy cow, it had been a long time since I cracked that open and wow! I just have barely enough brain cells left to figure it out!

 

So did you notice that Camille has the Sundae Scallop Sewing  pattern available?  I'm pretty sure I had that pdf downloaded before she clicked enter on that pattern!  I loved those scallops so much.  I've already got a little kit ready  for myself when I have a free moment since we're on pre-market lockdown. I'm going red and white for my first bag, with my little cherries for the outer bag and the Recipes for Success print on the inside, with lots of red and white scallops. I'm only scalloping in one side but I think it will still be cute.  I didn't have any linen laying around, so I am going to fuse some interfacing onto my outer fabric to make it a little sturdier.  And holy cow I can't believe I could actually find that cherry zipper pull from YEARS ago. It seems so perfect!

 

I have things  coming up on the horizon that I can't wait to share.  Hope you have a great day my sweet little raindrops!

Friday

Good Morning! How are things with you?  A busy week for me, but today I'm home drinking coffee,  sewing and running errands. So many things need doing you know? 

Holly's Picnic Grove quilt arrived back from it's photo shoot at McCall's.. it's in the May/June issue available now.  It turned out really wonderful, it's so colorful and vibrant.  You can find a kit for it over at the Fat Quarter Shop here. Want to see a better shot you can check out Holly's photo on instagram or head over and see it here.

 

I've missed meeting up with you for coffee, but it's going to be worth it, Holly has been working so hard on the next installment of Pam Kitty Fabric. (eek! so exciting)  Between that, walking the dogs and spoiling me with delicious lunches she's one busy gal. I can't wait till we can share it with you.

 

Ok, have a great weekend superfriends. xop

Monday

Good morning buttercups!  After a nice sunny weekend we're moving into a pattern of clouds and rain, and I'm so happy about it.  I've spent the weekend running around doing the usual chores and sewing.. Lots of fun sewing.  You'll have to wait a bit, but I hope it's all part of the fun of pre-market season. 

 

 

As usual I'm headed over to Holly's this morning.  What's on your agenda this week? Anything fun? It's a week of working and sewing for me. What are you working on?  I feel a little behind the times since I haven't been peeking at blogs.  I hope you'll fill me in.

 

Ok, better get busy! xo