Weekend

Have a good one mateys!

(Who needs Jack Sparrow?)

You know it's a happy work day when..

..you come to the store and find Leslie has worked her display magic on the windows. Sorry the photos don't do it justice, its absolutely darling. I just feel happy when I look at it. You would too, trust me. She has a gift.

.. and fun customers. Carol and Elizabeth yuk it up. Carol likes to come in and keep tabs on me and I like it when Carol comes in because she keeps me inspired with her projects. We had fun today, Carol was picking out some fabrics from the new Roman Holiday line to go with one of Elizabeth's new patterns. (Go to Elizabeth's blog and DEMAND that she shows their covers there until her website update is done. Then come back I'm not done here!)

Elizabeth came in to help me to pick out some fabrics for her new pattern R is for Rose. Again with the Roman Holiday. I was just totally loving that red and cream look. And while we were distracted, Carol started choosing fabrics for the Follow your Heart pattern by Elizabeth.

And look, finally, our Fresh Cut is in, Heather Bailey's first line.. I'm sure the second line is probably in the UPS trucks right now.
Frankie already chose two prints for another cute little dress, the bold yellow/pink/aqua stripe and the one to the left of it. Yummy.

Another thing that's good, our new treadmill. Or the 'walker' as we call it. Not like I have some kind of huge fitness goals, but I enjoy the treadmill. This one is so quiet I could hear Crossing Jordan with no trouble at all.

After the weekend

I'm up with some yummy coffee first thing. Woke up way too early dreaming that the ceiling caved in. What's with that? I could not fall back to sleep so finally just got up and made the coffee. Its all overcast and delightfully gloomy here. Don't know if its supposed to last or not.

The long weekend was nice but fleeting, I can't even remember now what we did. Got a new treadmill, I do remember that. Bret hurt his back. I mowed the lawns. Crazy wild stuff like that. I know you're all filled with envy! Who wouldn't be?

Yesterday Frankie's friend Helena came out for the day. They met at Mills College, Frankie attended her first year of school there. "H" is still there, but it just wasn't for Frankie.

Here are my girls out back with the Peep and Rocket. I remember the first time H came to the house.. she'd never picked up a dog before and was totally wigged out by it. Now she picks up dogs all the time! We totally love her, she's our Homie and she has our back, and we have hers!

I also did some sewing, garment sewing. Mid-project my sewing machine has refused to do the basting stitch anymore. This has me in a mild panic, I don't know if this is the beginning of the end, kind of a sewing machine mental breakdown or what. I don't do a lot of basting, so that's not going to be a problem, but its supposed to baste. The button says so. I fear this a bit because one day while sewing at Alex's she told me that sewing machines wear out. I might not always have my Bernina 1260. So it's got me a little nervous.

So that's the news around here. What's your news?

Holly Blogs

Just a quickie note to say my friend Holly's blog will be up and running Tuesday morning! Holly's the owner of LakeHouse Drygoods. I hope you'll take a chance to stop by and say hi, PKM sent ya! She's a very interesting person and I know she's going to be treating us to photos of Paris, things that are inspiring, darling pets, food (it's all about the food) and just whatever else she thinks of. I can't wait to read about her actual LakeHouse, how she designs and makes fabrics, Paris flea markets, pretty pictures..

Go there.. go there now.. I know I will be!

Happy Sunday

How can this not be the start of a wonderful day?

Nightblogger

I don't know how I got all turned around posting at night. I'm not that much of a night owl really, so staying up late crafting posts isn't the norm. Maybe it's the shake up around here with Frankie back home. Anyway. Just more weird stuff about me. Told you, 7 just wasn't enough.

I waxed poetically on last nights post that got wiped out by blogger's fast auto-save before I could control-z, about coffee and how much I love to wake up to a cup of coffee on the nightstand. And lo and behold, this morning there was one. And I'm not talking that old leftover cup, a fresh piping hot cup courtesy of Bret. That is such a treat, made extra special because he doesn't even drink coffee. And its not like he just has to push a button, I use a french press, so it really has to be MADE. So Mr. B, thanks for the deligthful treat this morning.

Elizabeth has been working on stuff that needs photo shopping, so I stopped by to share my thimble's worth of knowledge with her. She requested an audience with Peep, our little girl Norwich terrier. Doesn't she look cute? She's a car ride loving girl, but Rocket doesn't like the car ride so I rarely split them up. Frankie volunteered to take Rocket out walking, so Peep was free to go with me.

To some people our love of our little dogs and their treatment like children is weird, but I don't care. They are an important part of our family.

Lately hasn't the evening weather been nice? Last night I was sitting out on the swing at dusk, it was cool and there was a light breeze. I saw two big barn owls swoop out into the neighbor's trees. We used to have two big white barn owls nesting in our giant ugly palm tree. At night Frankie and I would lay in the hammock and wait for them to fly out. We'd talk and share the day, look at the stars, imagine things. It was quite lovely.

The owls were quite special to us. The neighbors behind us wanted us to take down the tree, but nesting owls are protected and we refused. The tree is ugly and awful but we wouldn't do it. This made us unpopular with the neighbors, who were sure the feds wouldn't come get us. I loved the owls though, and it made me sad when they left. Seeing those owl silhouettes last night brought back some nice memories.

Have a good weekend my little owlets. Be safe this holiday!

Work Days

Lately I've been thinking about sewing and fabric a lot, but not doing much else. I love so many of the new fabrics in, like this Chez Moi. The blue is particularly lovely and its the perfect focus fabric in so many ways, lots of color, good scale. When I put it up on the table I can make big piles of stuff to go with it, but then I just get caught, what am I going to make with this? I want to be cool and hip, but I also don't want to just sew big chunks of fabric into a rectangle, quilt it and call it good. I tried a couple of good traditional blocks, thinking maybe it would make a cool background.

Maybe, but clearly with mixed results. They're everything I love in a piece of fabric but they're all border prints to me. Am I just too much and old woman to 'get it'? Or are all these new bold Amy Butler style prints destined to big chunks in simply pieced projects. Or aprons? Or purses? Maybe I'm just not hip enough.

I'm not working on anything right now, and I wanted to start a project but couldn't find the exact thing I needed so I started putting together a pile. I love the pile. I have the two focus fabrics, lots of color, scale, pattern, texture.

All I need now is that really good idea.

**updated to add a thanks to KathL for reminding me of the Material Obsession girls..

http://materialobsession.typepad.com/material_obsession/

I love how they mix the primitive designs with the bold new prints. Lovely! Inspiring!

Sew Tempting!

Yesterday was a nice day at the shop. Its always fun when we get some sweet customers. Like Karen.

She's always nice. And friendly. She popped in to pick some fabrics and to pick up the quilt she'd let us borrow.

She's made the matching bag and quilt for a co-worker having her first baby. What a cute combo, and what young hip mom wouldn't be excited to receive a gift lovingly made by a friend?

Karen made this darling pair using the Valori Wells pattern, Carry All Throw and Tote. The quilt is backed in a Minkee type backing, nice and soft for baby.

I feel lucky to know so many nice customers at the shop. Thanks Karen for letting me show you off!

What's so weird about that?

I've been tagged by a few people to do 7 weird things about me. I think at this point someone might ask Pam, what's not weird about you? That's a much shorter list.

Lets see. 1. I like to solve problems. My mind just can't stop working. Which goes hand in hand with 2. Obsession. Sometimes I kid myself that I 'm over my obsessive tendencies and really (really!) I mostly am, but sometimes, I can't let go.

3. I have an uncanny ability to find things. But of course that also goes back to 2. Obsession. You can't find stuff if you stop looking people! 4. I like to figure stuff out. Like quilt blocks or crocheting or clothing or just stuff. 5. To go with 4. I enjoy figuring out the math of quilts. Calculating how many pieces or yardage etc. Maybe that's also like 1. problem solving. Maybe those really are all one thing.

6. While I like figuring stuff out, and learning how to do stuff, I'm lazy and get over it too easily. It's really a problem. That's why I have some half finished things laying around, like a hooked rug, and a couple of purses for felting. 7. I often read the end of the book first. Just take a little peek.

Not really a very interesting list. Or a surprise I'm sure. I hope you have a good day my little Rodeo Stars. I'm off the shop.

Greetings!

Well I've had a few blogging free days, but I wasn't totally laying around. I finally got that magazine read and now there's more shops on my list of places to go.

I've also been reveling in some news, you can read about it here and here. I wouldn't have mentioned it but I am lucky to have such good friends who just did it of their own free will! Thank you thank you Elizabeth and Monica. Thanks to everyone who has commented or sent me emails of congratulations. I feel so fortunate to have had such opportunities in the first place.

Last weekend Elizabeth and I went to Buttons and Bows in San Anselmo. We read about it in Country Living this month and had to check it out. Lousy photos, sorry. That's my mantra these days, apologies for crappy photos. There were lots of lovely vintage buttons to be had. Lets hope Elizabeth blogs about it.. she got a ton!

I've also been helping (and I use that term loosely) my friend Holly with her soon-to-be (if-it-doesn't-kill-us) blog. She's not thinking I'm much of a help now I'm sure since I sucked away hours of her life she'll never get back. And spent those hours on tech stuff. Double whammy. How lame am I not to realize how different blogger now is, and how different her Mac is going to see things compared to my PC? I have my fingers crossed that my old-skool PKM template is going to continue to serve me well because otherwise, well, I'm a goner. I'll let you know when it's up and running.

In the meantime, Frankie is home. Yahoo. I have to appreciate her at home while I can, although I'm sure she'd appreciate a little less appreciation! No surprise there I guess.

Been tagged for my 7 weird things.. so better get on that. I'm trying to whittle my numbers down. Until then..

R & R

After a busy week of posting I'm sure you're ready for a break. The new American Patchwork and Quilting Quilt Sampler is out. Kick off your shoes, mix up that smoothie and take a breather. That's what I'm going to do!

See you in a couple of days!

Crochet Love

If you've been following along you probably by now realize that I love making things. I come from a family of creative people. I suppose I take making things for granted it was such a regular part of my life.

But I digress. As per usual. Back to my crochet love. During set up, Elizabeth and I took a break to walk the aisles to see who was there. We had our booklet and had to look up our blog peeps. And we came upon this booth..

I could weep. I mean each time I walked by I could just cry it was so pretty. Jackie is a fabric and pattern designer, her new line with Windham Fabrics is called Sweetest Gifts. It's not on Windham's site yet for you to check it out, but DARLING.

And here's Tamara, her sister. OHMYGOSH I love her so much. She's like a crochet GENIUS. I want to spend a week working with her because 1. she's a blast and 2. she's like the coolest person around and 3. she crochets on everything and I want to be just like her. Tamara seriously. I could weep over the stinken doilies. So is she the cutest? Holding her baby crochet book?

Look at that. Its so everything I love color wise. And darling. I want a little vignette like that where I can sit each day drinking coffee and just sigh over it. Again, my pictures just are pitiful and don't capture the whole loveliness of it.

Look at that button card? Don't you want a darling button card with sweet crochet around it? I mean really how can you not? I seriously, and not to sound like a freaky broken record, but seriously I could cry over how cute it is. So I bought myself a vintage button card and asked (beg pleaded) for her to do one for me.

And because she's the sweetest thing EVER she did. Look at that. Seriously. And she gave me a copy of the book she's a featured artist in.. Learn to Crochet in Just One Day.. she gave it to me. And signed it. Because she's 4. the sweetest thing ever!

Holly Holderman-LakeHouse Dry Goods

It was a great treat to meet Holly this market. We connected through the blog world, lucky for me. She's the owner and creative genius behind LakeHouse Dry Goods. I have to say it does the 70's Business Degree holder in me good to see a woman running a company that provides goods and services to a market made up primarily of women.

Her booth features her new line of fabric, which you can see here. Its lovely. I covet several pieces including a background piece that I'm dying over.

Holly will be starting her blog soon, and I'll keep you posted. She's a fascinating person and I'm looking forward to knowing more about her and her adventures.

As you can see the featured artist was The Threaded Pear Studio, as well as quilts from Brenda and purses from Tammy.

The whole booth was fresh and clean. I really enjoyed meeting Jean, Martha and Penny as well. (I'm horrible with names, so I hope I have those all correct.)

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be associated with so many creative interesting women.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! You all deserve a special day! A day when you can put up your feet and let someone else be in charge!

And now.. more quilt market photos. Here's the Late Bloomer Quilts booth. Is it not the cutest? I wish I'd really have gone along and taken some really nice close ups. I totally slacked off on the job, and what I did take, only about half turned out well. I wish I had details of the lovely little tie backs with the covered buttons on the booth curtains. Or a nice close up of the ornaments and kits. I wish I'd paid more attention to what Heather Bailey was telling us about the "Angle of Repose." Well it wasn't that at all, but that's all I can think of. It had something to do with the way light hits the subject and bounces back. Or something. Sorry. Angle of Repose. That's all I've got.

Elizabeth had 11 new patterns, all shown here. Really beautiful quilts and I'm always in awe of her creativity.

That's my little station next to the brochure and Smarties table. You could find me there most of market, or standing at the edge passing out brochures. I brochured a lot of people. It's a gift.

We did have a little time after set up to drive out and go to Piper's Quilts and Comforts. Nice shop, very friendly employees.. I had a nice time. They had a nice selection of fabric and the yarn.. I was feeling conflicted for sure.

You know I'm a sucker for flowers.

Sweet isn't it?

Happy Mother's Day.

Are you PamKittyMorning?

Sample Spree is an event held the night before market. Exhibitors have tables filled with... samples! Pattern makers have bundles of 1 each all new patterns, some people have finished goods to buy to go with the patterns so your shop has a sample right away. There's fabric bundled up from fabric companies. When I first went to market with the owner of the shop I worked at, we'd buy up the pattern bundles and then take them back to the hotel and review them, to plan our order strategy. Knowing what we'd have coming in pattern and book wise helped us pick fabrics for samples and kits. It was a lot of fun. Sample spree is crazy.

Moda has a big group of tables that they cover with their new bundles and jelly rolls. Its all the latest fabrics, and shop owners and designers crowd in like crazy people to buy buy buy. That way they can make up samples or design new patterns that will be ready when the yardage becomes available. I find the whole thing fascinating. But back to the Moda thing. They give you a big Moda bag to carry your bundles in and this time it was a really cool Utah bag. Kind of a vintage map hankie looking bag, I have last years Minnesota version. I WANTED THAT BAG.

I struck up a conversation with a couple of girls about what the minimum purchase was, and how I wanted that d**m bag so bad. Pretty soon one of them asks, "Are you PamKittyMorning?" That cracked me up. She recognized my bag for market.

So here are Mary Cowan and Ann Hansen. Mary is so nice, she offered to give me her Moda bag. Can you believe that? And being the greedy girl I am, I accepted! Is that just super nice? Of Mary that is, I'm greedy, so not nice.

Mary ended up getting a bag just so you don't have to feel sorry for her, Ann went back for seconds, so she shared. I don't have to feel guilty. Even a little bit. I really enjoyed meeting Mary and her friend Ann. (And my Moda bag.)


Mary has her own pattern company, Mary's Cottage Quilts. This was her first market, and I look forward to seeing her at Fall Market in Houston. And thanks again for the bag Mary!

Here's what I bought. I love Susan Branch, and somewhere I have a photo of me with her at Quilt Market ages ago. My first market was when her first line of fabric came out. I still have some snippets of it, it was such a great line. Now I have a bundle of her new line!


The last thing I bought at market was Michele Blackhurst's new book Seasons of the Heart. Her quilts have a soft romantic look, just as she does. I can't wait to make the framed wall pocket quilt from the back cover. Yum.

There's still more to come..

Amended to show a photo of the bag.. see what I mean!!! That's a bag you gotta have. Thanks again Mary.

Tammy Tadd

I love Tammy. I mean how can you not? She's super nice.. sweet as pie.. everything you can think of about sweet, in the totally nice way. Not the she's-too-nice way.

I love her 'people' as well. I can't believe that I have no pictures of them. Of mom Velda, Sherry and our new friend Mary Lynn. Mary Lynn has a soon-to-be 12 year old daughter Ashley who's Tammy's blog coordinator. I'll be working with her soon. I'm a little nervous, I'm sure she already knows more than I do.. so be kind Ashley!

I really was a slacker when it came to photos this time. We were too far from her, and I missed the fun we had at fall market.

Tammy has a new line of fabric, Cameo Appearances, with Camelot Cottons. She also just recently opened her own brick and mortar store. Her website has some darling photos.. so go check them out! Thanks for hanging with us Tammy! I look forward to seeing you again in the fall!

More Friends at Quilt Market

Here's Annie Smith and her daughter Kirsten at the Simple Art's booth. She had come into In Between Stitches one day shopping and we chatted it up. She and her daughter are very nice. Annie has a lot of photos of quilt market as well, so swing by her blog and take a look.

Now here is a sweet face.. Cyndi Walker of Stitch Studios and her mom Debbie Gray. Both are very nice and friendly. Cyndi had a nice collection of quilts in her booth. I hope she posts a few pictures over at her blog, her booth was darling. She has some things coming in magazines, so check her blog for information on that. When is you book due out Cyndi? See you in Houston. (Love that brochure.)

I think most quilters know about QuiltersBuzz. Here's Gina, her partner Stephanie and pattern designer Jan at the Threaded Pear booth. Gina is a bundle of energy. Her booth was darling and I look forward to seeing more photos on her blog. Of course here's Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. They're at The Quilt Show booth. I was barely able to snap this shot before I had to make way for the serious photographers! Congratulations on your success!

I know many of you read Monica's blog. She is friends with Karen Snyder ( here with Elizabeth) who owns Anna Lena's Quilt Shop. This was my first time to meet Karen in real life! She's another super-nice very friendly person. She shared her extra copy of Quilts & More featuring Monica's quilt on the cover. Check Karen' s site, she has her own line of fabric, a darling shop, and great people who work for her. Here is Cindy Taylor Oates of Taylor Made Designs. I love working with her patterns, they go together so nicely. I have sewn clothing since I was in elementary school, and Cindy's designs can be counted on to hang well, have good instruction, be properly sized and just be darn cute. Thanks for all the years of patterns and designs Cindy. You continue to be an inspiration.

More Quilt Market

I'm having a hard time deciding how to proceed with my market story. So I think I'm going to tell little stories about people and places and show some photos over a few days. See how it all evolves. I had a wonderful time. Seriously. Many of my pictures are just not so great. So I'll try and show the best ones. I am sure there will be plenty of photos floating around for everyone to see.

One of the really great things about market is reconnecting with people you know in real life, and via their blog, not to mention being a fan of their work. Like Brenda of Acorn Quilt and Gift Company . We met her last market, but of course I have been loving her work long before that.

Here's Brenda at Sample Spree.

Brenda is just as sweet as she looks. Really a nice person, inside and out. Here's the "Market Survival Kit" she left for Elizabeth and I.

Yes! Cheez-It crackers and Starbucks cards! Brenda, thank you so much, you were a lifesaver!

Here's a couple of pictures in her booth. Really cute. She had a bunch of new quilts and a new book,which was darling!

I think Brenda is the greatest and I hope to see her again in Fall at Quilt Market.

The Road to Quilt Market

Turns out the Road to Quilt Market was paved partially with snow. You heard me, snow. I got up at 2am to start with some coffee and road reports but nothing on them prepared me for the Carry Chains warning at Auburn. Elizabeth and I freaked, then tried to find a place to procure some chains, with no luck. Unlike our (slightly) more urban area, nothing there opens before eight am.

After a series of conversations with Bret, who was on the computer at home, we decided to make a run for it. Yeah, it sounds a little boring right now, but at the time it was scary and exciting and I haven't driven in snow probably for 35 years. Bret was watching the web cams and weather reports and calling us to get what seemed like minute by minute reports. You're laughing I know. But it was a big deal. Chains. Good gravy. Snow. It's May for Pete's sake.

Anyway, as ridiculous as it seems now, it was snow! WE DROVE IN SNOW.

Then after the snow was Nevada. I'm not sure which was more challenging but believe me Nevada stretches out for miles I tell you, relentless miles, punctuated by the "No services" signs.

This may be the best thing about Nevada.

After a few hours of Nevada, hours that stretch on like days, you get to Utah. And the amazing Salt Flats.

I need to investigate the whole mirage thing. That just wowed me. And today coming home, all different mirages. It was like being in the set of a sci-fi movie.

Finally. The convention center in Salt Lake City..

Pictures aren't great, it was an overcast trip. Stay tuned, I'll be making more excuses for bad photos soon. Lots to report, lots of photos.

I'VE MISSED YOU!

Little did we know...

...this would not be the only snow we'd see.

Happy May Day

What's a May Day with out a pretty flower, first of this rose for the season. All my other roses look a little toasty around the edges after this weekends tiny heatwave.




My rows are all sewn and I'm dropping it off at the shop later today. I am so pleased with how it turned out. It was a fun thing to make. I'm sure that I could have cut larger blocks, I should have spent a little time working on that. If I make this again, I will. Cutting them from a large to a small size and still getting the two corner pieces to show was the real challenge. But the technique was fun and I would recommend it.

Tomorrow morning super duper early Elizabeth and I are off to market. We'll be watching for those fun Elk Grove ladies on the road... they were in the shop yesterday and they are a lot of fun. Drive carefully!

We hope to be posting during market if we have the energy at the end of the day. But if not, you can count on my report when we return home next week.