FriYay!

Hi there friends! Can you believe this is my third post this week!  Shocker.  It reminds me of the old blogging days. I don't know how we got away from those days, maybe it's the ease of Instagram .  Fast and easy. But I do miss the everydayness of blogs, coffee drinking, road trips, lunch! Blogging was very good to me, I made many lasting friendships.  I was reminded of this over the weekend when I received a box from Sharon.

 

 

It might of been 2007 or even before that when my first box arrived after seeing the seasonal Junior Mints on her blog.  I remember commenting that I hadn't seen them and then there they were in my mailbox. Every year since she's sent me a box, and it reminds me of my good fortune to have her as a friend. 

 

People take a lot of amazing photos with the phones, I rarely pick up my small camera and honestly I've taking maybe one or two with my DSLR and that's it.  I was thinking about it when working on my vacation pictures, none on my camera, all on my phone.  Technology has changed so much.  I remember back in the day you'd  have to ask about taking a photo in a shop, now people just do it.  Weird when you think about it right?

 

Moving on, some of you might have seen on Instagram that I was working on an apron.  I'm using Kwik Sew 3787 which is the same apron that Elizabeth made me. It's a cute shape and flattering for all sizes. I'm using some Anna Griffin fabric from way back when that I ordered from Sharon. (She says she has a small quantity left FYI)

My biggest concern using anything figural  is the head chopping, so I was careful with the layout.   These rooster motifs are pretty big, and while I did get one chopped off head, it's not obvious.  And I'm thrilled with the placement  of that top rooster.

 

 

 

 

Thinking of the camera vs the phone, the above photo is with my camera, the others are with my phone.  Honestly I'm not great with either, although the top photo shows the color more.  My phone has a lot of the same options for photography as both my other cameras, but honestly AUTO just seems the easiest.  

 

One of the fun things about making a gift is adding a PamKittyMorning label that I ordered from Dutch Label Shop.   It makes my apron looks so professional, so 'store bought', which growing up was the goal for everything we made.  I'm THRILLED with the look! Also I am still in love with that PKM recipe print.  Holly really is a genius with text prints.

 

 

I think this apron will make a cute hostess gift. Frankie's friend Pam has invited us to make tamales with her in a couple of weeks and I can't wait.  I've always wanted to learn now. 

 

So that's it for this week friends!  Hope you're all doing great. Thanks for checking in with me, happy weekending! xop

Catching up

Morning!  How are you?   I hope well and enjoying the holidays and not too caught up in the frenzy.  I know it can be a good time or a sad time or a just all kinds of time in between for people.  Crossing my fingers we can all find some peace during the season.

 

The end of the year is  birthday time here in PamKittyVille.  Bret and Frankie both have November birthdays, and this year we decided to revive the old tradition of going to Disneyland during the week between their birthdays, which back in the day held a convenient holiday and teacher work day.  

 

We started out the week heading to Universal Studios and spent a day there.  We hadn't been in years.  It was fun, although honestly those stinken escalators almost killed me.  Way too steep.  Had a chance to meet Hello Kitty, which was fun.  You can see it on Instagram here. 

 

Disneyland is my favorite though.  We had a blast in each part, California Adventure and Disneyland.  And most importantly my people did!

Christmas decorations were up, and they're always so pretty.  I fell in love with these colorful  garlands at the Rancho Del Zocalo. Everything at Disneyland is so over the top! 

 

It was lovely weather, no coats required!  ABC was in the park filming their Christmas Special and when Bret and Frankie went in after dinner they were able to see Gwen Stefani perform Feliz Navidad for the show. A fun end to the vacation for them. 

 

And now it's December in the blink of an eye. Yikes people, the time just flies by doesn't it.  Hope you're well. xop

Perfect 10 Quilts Blocks

Morning!  We have hit the last week of blocks here on the Perfect 10 Quilt's Book Quilt Along.  Back when I was first invited I thought that December sounded A LONG WAY OFF but of course all that time flew by.

 

This weeks blocks start off with Rainbow Sherbet.  There's two blocks here.   These blocks are biggies!  The book has a quilt for each block and I love the quilt made with these Rainbow Sherbet blocks.  You can check that out here.

The last block is Rocky Road.  Another big favorite of mine, the block and the candy.  This block is cute and has a lot of movement when used in  a quilt.

 

What a fun project this has been.  Next week I'll show you my finished quilt top.  THAT'S RIGHT I SAID FINISHED QUILT TOP!  Pretty shocking right?   What a fun project this has been. Thanks again to Barb from Me and My Sister for arranging for Moda to send me the their new Flower Sacks fabric.  It will be in stores February I believe. Thanks again to Fat Quarter Shop for asking me to join their quilt along and providing the book and ruler.  AND THANKS TO YOU for following along with me here! xop

Perfect 10 Quilts Book Sew Along

Hi there!  We're closing in on the last of the Perfect 10 Sampler blocks for the sew along!  This week is the cutest bowtie  aka Neapolitan Block.  These work up into the cutest quilt, which you can see here, or be used like we do in the sampler.  

Peaches and Cream is this weeks second block.  I love these fun Me and My Sister Flower Sack prints, they're so cheerful!

 

We only have one more set of blocks to go before we start sewing them together.  Have you kept up or are you in the catch up mode?  Believe it or not, I'm up to date which seems shocking for me!

 

I'll be watching for your blocks! xop

Grateful

Good morning friends!  Hope this finds you well. It's cool and crisp here on Thanksgiving morning here  in PamKittyVille. 

I just wanted to pop in here and tell you how grateful I am for your friendship. My life is richer for it.  Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving day.  xop

Perfect 10 Again!

Good morning! Hope you're well! We're here again for another week of the Perfect 10 Quilts book quilt along!  I hope you're sewing along with us.  First up with this weeks triangle fun is Lemon Sorbet.   True story I tend to shy away from triangles but I'm having so much fun.  This block is fast and fun!

 

Mint Chocolate Chip is another great block.  I am in love with that white print, my favorite of these Flower Sack prints by Me and My Sister.  I love that this particular block can be made in two layouts, one looking like and 'x' and one like an 'o'.  It makes a great quilt!

 

 

I'm really enjoying this solid Robin's Egg blue background.  (Bella solid 9900 85 ) The Flower Sack quilts that Barb and Mary made are really great. Flora Fae is my favorite and you can see it here!

 

Ok hope you're off to a good start this week! xo

Movie Popcorn

Good morning!  How's your week going so far?  We're at the midpoint, it's down hill from here!

I had a lot of fun making this movie popcorn pillow for Bret's birthday this past Monday.  I  had finished the whole pillow top  over the weekend but, naturally, I  left the finishing up part to the last minute.  Honestly I'm the worst.  I just want to start projects then hand them off for finishing by a devoted assistant.   But I don't have a devoted assistant, so I put it off to the last minute and was practically stuffing the pillow form in to the pillow as Bret pulled in from work Monday night!

 

Finally a pillow that won't go into the pillow vault! Its on the sofa right now!  Bret is a huge fan of movie popcorn and we often drive down to the Vine for a bag. 

 

When I saw Gracey's block  pattern I knew it would be the perfect thing to make for Bret.  I pulled out some PKM favorites and it took no time to whip up.  I added borders making this 20 inches square and did some simple quilting in the ditch and there you go, done.  Well, almost.  This pillow has a simple envelope back, no fancy buttons to make it uncomfortable and regular binding to finish it off.  Easy.

 

You can find Gracey on Instagram here.  She's got lots of fun patterns.

 

Ok friends that's it for me! Hope you're having a good week! xo

Perfect 10 Week 5

Good morning friends!  It's another sweet treat for us this week on our Perfect 10 Quilts book blocks!  Yum!  First up is Dutch Chocolate! I love this block so much.  First off love that the half square triangles are  to be trimmed to the perfect size.  Triangles are often a challenge to me, especially now that my sewing room has transformed into the sewing dungeon with the seasonal change in light.  I feel like I need one of those old fashioned miners helmets. (sure I know, dramatic!) 

 

Might as well confess, I did face little challenge in one of the corners.  I don't know why  really, it's pretty straight forward, but first I thought it was one triangle then when I got that one out it was another and then pretty soon a quarter of the block was apart.  My brain just couldn't seem to get those all going in the right direction.  And there's nothing like picking out seams of blocks that went together  perfectly.  THE WORST.

 

French vanilla was a breeze after that.  This is a fun block, actually you make 4 for the sampler, all out of 4 prints.  Perfect block for a baby quilt or a quick make as a gift.  Or a gift for yourself.  I know how these things work! You can see the quilts made with these blocks here, lots of cute ideas! 

 

Ok, hope you're having a good week! xop

Perfect 10 Quilts!

Hi there! I'm back with this weeks Perfect 10 blocks.  More cheerful fabric from my Flower Sacks layer cake make my blocks happy! Also, candy. Hard to believe that we're in the 4th week of our quilt along.  Are you making blocks?

This week was Cookies and Cream and Cotton Candy. Yum.  Both blocks very fun to make.

Weird coincidence, I hadn't had cotton candy in years but when I was visiting Nanette, her daughter Jaime  brought home a bag of legit cotton candy from a store.  OMG I didn't know they made such a thing.  Of course I searched all over once I was at home and found the only version we had, which was kind of a smooshed version.  I made a little cone out of paper for my photo but it looked clumpy and weird, so when I found the cotton candy gum I upgraded my photo. 

 

Still, my heart wasn't in it for the gum, so here's the real cotton candy. I commit to my theme people. (#wierdo)

 

Hey did you see that Barb and Mary have a new ruler out ? It's the Double Wide Dresden 4 patch template.  SO CLEVER.  You can read about it here on their blog. I confess I don't always get around to keeping up with blogs but that cute table runner caught my eye.  LOVE IT. 

 

Ok, hope you're sewing along.  See you next week.    I'm working on my Swell Christmas quilt  and really making some progress.  Lots of pinning so it's slow going. Maybe I'll have an update! Hope you're well ! xo 

Mushroomville

Hey there!  What's new with you?  I've just been doodling around in my sewing room today and decided take a little breather and make something fun.  Maybe some of you who follow on Instagram remember that I made a little mushroom (pattern available here) after seeing Helen Phillips cute mushroom.  Doesn't Helen have a lovely way about everything? My mushroom was less than inspiring. 

 

Joanna from Fig Tree Quilts sent me her cute pattern for Mushroomville and I've just finally made it... SEW CUTE.  That cute little frill under the cap covers a multitude of sewing sins if you know what I mean.  Her pattern calls for a piece of wool, which I didn't have on hand, so I fused to pieces of green fabric together and  used that instead.

 

I like how it turned out. Thanks for sending me your pattern Joanna!  What a great treat!

 

Hope you're having a fun day !  It feels like fall today and I'm enjoying it, we're due for some warmer weather again next week.  Seriously hard to imagine we're almost to November!

 

xop

Perfect 10 Quilts Week 3

Morning friends! Can't believe we're already 3 weeks into the Perfect 10 Quilts sew along! This week's blocks are fun, first cup.. I mean first up... is the Coffee Block.  You make two of them and they're fast! I love using the blue background so my white prints pop.  That print there is a favorite. 

 

This line, Flower Sacks, has a lot of tone on tone prints, I really like this swirly one.  It's a nice resting spot for your eye between the prints, but also has some movement to it.  And it's just fun so there's that. Cookie Dough is a fun block, and if you join 4 segments together you get a nice block, you can check out this kit for an example.

 

The kit is made using Sherri and Chelsi's new line Walkabout which is coming soon.

 

Of friends, hope you are well! xop

Perfect 10 Tuesday

Good morning!  We're back at it today with Fat Quarter Shop Perfect 10 Quilts. This week we have two of  the Buttered Pecan Block and one Coconut block. 

 

I love both of these bocks, especially the Coconut block.  Also, why did I pay so little attention when people talked about how delicious coconut chips were?  OMG! DO NOT even ask me how many bags I've had since this photo. 

 

Here's a great video on using the Perfect 10 ruler.  About half way in Kimberly shows you how to square up your half square triangles using the ruler.  So handy! You'll love it for all the triangles coming your way!

 

Are you sewing along? These blocks are pretty fast to  make up, I really had fun.  Of course those cute Me and My Sister fabrics make everything cheerful!  Have a fun day friends! xo

 

Perfect 10 Quilts Sew Along

Morning friends!  Today is the first day of Fat Quarter Shop's Perfect 10 Quilts Quiltalong.  I'm so happy to be participating.  All you need is the Perfect 10 Quilts book and accompanying ruler . Grab a layer cake and some background and you're practically sewing already.

When I was looking around at layer cakes I couldn't stop thinking about the wonderful quilt that I saw Barb making on Instagram. I loved the Robin's Egg Blue background (Moda Bella Solid 9900 85) and how the prints, all the prints, popped against it. Flower Sacks isn't available yet, but Barb hooked me up and Moda sent me the fabrics.  I can't thank them enough for the chance to sew on something fresh and new.  Fat Quarter Shop sent the book and ruler, and I've been sewing up a storm. It's been a while since I did any sew alongs and it's good to have a deadline, it keeps me on track.  I've missed that. 

 

 

For the quilt along we'll be sewing a sampler from the blocks in the book.  You can head over to the Jolly Jabber here and download the fabric requirements and check out the sampler. There's a pdf for the sampler, but you'll need the book for the instructions. 

Meet Banana, it's a fast and fun block to get started.  No tough decisions, just one layer cake square and background pieces. 

 

And here's Birthday Cake.  Every week on Tuesday we'll stitch and share two new blocks.  You can see all the blocks using the hastags #perfect10Tuesday, #perfect10quiltsbook. 

Here's who's sewing along with us!

Cynthia of Dream Quilt Create

Gina of Thread Grafitti

Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio

Heidi of Buttons and Butterflies

Jennie of Porch Swing Quilts

Kim of Persimon Dreams

Melanie of A Bit of Scrap Stuff

Sinta of Pink Pincushion

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts

 

Hope you decide to join us!  See you over on Instagram! xo

Apple Season

Morning friends! Happy Friday!  I've unpacked all my sewing stuff and have been busily stitching away.  I'm working on a sew-along, preparing my blocks and getting my photographs. The gloomy overcast weather along with the time of the year makes pictures a challenge, my house turns into a dungeon.  But really even at the best of times photos challenge me.  There are so many great photographers in our sewing community !

Between blocks yesterday, I decided to make a cute apple.  Nanette had seen Sharon Holland's cute apple pattern and I had to make it.  Of course I forgot I had some cute faux  leather for the stem and instead used ribbon.  Dang. Now I need to make another. The little  leather cord really makes it.  Also I didn't have any green felt that I liked for the leaf, so I fused two pieces of green together and cut out the leaf shape with my pinking shears.  I have used that technique before, I really like it.   

 

This seemed to be the perfect time to get my Dutch Label Company labels out and stitch one on.  The little coffee cup was perfect as I imagine using this with a cup of coffee or tea.  It would  make an adorable gift, right? 

 

You could tuck this in a cellophane bag with the paper tags to close it.  Super cute.  You could throw in a couple of caramels  like a caramel apple! Nanette included caramels and homemade dried apples with her pumpkins and it was an adorable fall gift.

 

Hope you have a happy weekend!  xop