Detour

I can't believe its been so many days since I posted last! The week just got away from me. Frankie had some oral surgery with unexpected complications, so I went and stayed a couple of days with her. It was nice, as she recovered immediately and we just hung out relaxing. No chores at her house so I did some reading. I normally just read before bed, reading during the day just seems so decadent.. I know, weird. But I read a bunch of my book Death Under the Dryer. Murder mystery of course, a series. I normally don't get hardbacks but that was my only option for this book. It came with a paper jacket but it also has the cover art on the hard cover and OHMYGOSH could I love that more? It reminds me of a kid book. Very fun.

I also have the new McCalls. It's crammed with people we know. In order of appearance there's Penny and her new bag, The Big Bag Theory. Cute name, cute bag. Next up is Megan and her charming Little Blooms quilt. She shares some nice techniques with us. Holly has another really sweet quilt.. she's the Magazine Maven lately isn't she? There's a nice tutorial on wide binding by Cheryl, who made the quilt. Next up is ModaLissa and Enduring Elegance. She's featuring a couple of wonderful Moda lines in her quilt. And lastly and definitely not least is my darling friend Tammy! She's got the cutest table runner, Woolen Posies, in her signature colors, pink and green. She's sharing some wool techniques and they're yummy! Be sure and check out the McCalls website for the cute little candle mat pattern.

Pictures aren't easy here at the dungeon, but I fused the last bird before quilt assembly on my quilt. This morning I need to embroider those little legs and then I can work on getting it together. There is just one cherry and one bird left, and that bird doesn't have any embroidery! I'm ALMOST DONE people. I could cry a little at the thought of it.

Ok, that's the news here. What's your news?

Bad Bloggin

Happy Friday Peeps! I've neglected my blog all week, I can't believe it. I've got a ton of excuses though! I had a dentist appointment, some stunt work and a visit with my friends Carol and Robyn. I even had a little side trip to see Frankie. School's started and her time is limited so it was nice to see her! We had a tasty lunch out at Toastie's and then drove through the El Carmelo Cemetery in Pacific Grove to see if there were any deer.

I know, it does seem weird but we have been doing this for ages, and we're not the only ones. This past year we haven't seen many deer in the area, so it was a treat to see a dozen or so on our visit.
When we were visiting Monica, I saw those Tsunami signs that I had never seen before. And now look, according to Frankie, they're everywhere along the water. And have been forever.Uh, so much for my powers of observation.

Robin sent me this photo of Sophie, her quilting friend. Sophie looks a lot like Binnie don't you think? Of course when you look at the photo here, you can see she's nothing like Binnie, she's relaxed and calm. Binnie doesn't care to be held. And she has sharp little claws to back her up. Still, I love her little crazy self.

Ok peeps, have a good weekend!!!

Learning my Lesson, again

This will sound familiar.. I wrote down all the directions and went in my sewing room with this project and didn't bother to really read the directions. Sounds a lot like my pot holder experience last week. Me with my square doors and straight binding.

In this instance me with my cruddy inside corners. I didn't read Linda's comment till it was too late. I just skimmed the instructions and didn't bother to clip the inside corners. Pam Pam Pam.

Still, it's cute, right?

Tell me if you made one!

Finisher

I'm a starter. I start stuff, you know, fabric stuff, and then I don't finish. My attention span isn't what it used to be. Like Flight of Fancy. Can you believe that's not done yet? I did get the feet on all but one crow. Yeah, they look like they need a podiatrist but whatever, feet. On them.

And that Dainty top, I have the batting and backing all laid out, I just haven't spray basted it and got started on the quilting. And it's meandered and I LOVE MEANDERING. Seriously. Love it. So when I saw this over at new bloggers 2 Succulent Sisters and then went back to see this, I knew I had to make one. They have the link to the tutorial listed. I'm dying over it. So I'm making it. AND WILL FINISH IT DARNITALL. Seriously.

Stay tuned. And have a good weekend.

January

January is being awfully kind to us here in Northern California. It's a bit of a cruelty as well, since we need the water winter rains might bring.

Still, one must make the best of it.

Distractions

There's so much around here to get distracted by. I went to get my photos of the pot holders in the sunny rabbit room and Binnie wanted to play. I had to take her out and let her romp around on the bed a bit. I can't resist her little rabbity face. I know its a lousy photo, she does not like her picture taken. Anyway its supposed to be 70 degrees today peeps? Can you believe it. I'm going to get on pruning my roses today I think. I saw that Carrie has already gotten to hers and I'm feeling the pressure. She has an amazing bunch of iceberg roses and I always think of her when mine starts to bloom. Which right now, covered in flowers. The downside of all this sunny weather is weeds. I hate weeds.

Frankie was home for an eye appointment last week and brought me some cute Panda Cookies from a new little market she went to. They're the rage down there and I can see why. Of course part of it is we love panda stuff after seeing that ep of South Park about the panda. (its South Park peeps so if it offends you just skip the link)


Another thing that took up some time this morning was going through my email. Seriously, I don't know what to consider first, incorporating in Nevada, making money with Google or old time witchcraft secrets.

Lastly, here's my potholders. Right off you can see I didn't follow instructions, didn't make my door rounded and it really makes a big difference, to me anyway. I just wrote down dimensions and went in to get busy. I couldn't wait to cut and sew. Like binge sewing. Still they look like they'll keep me from burning my hands right? Next time I'll make them all cutey like Nanette. Man her stuff just kills me with the cuteness of it.

Those roses aren't going to prune themselves (I don't think, but then I didn't read those witchcraft secrets either) so I better get crackin!

Supervision

It's been about a year since I was let go from the quilt shop but last week at Alex's I was cutting fabrics again. As you can see I had some good supervision from Sparrow.

Alex's new line is so pretty, and we're making bundles of it for upcoming events. Road to California this week.
The colors in this new line, Whisperings, are so vibrant. There are thirty five pieces I think and we made 32 bundles of fat quarters! That's a lot of yardage! Alex did all the folding while I cut. We had a super fun day including a tasty lunch from the Rail Road Cafe.

This is a portion of the Quilt Show block of the month by Sue Garman. By the time I remembered I wanted a picture it was too late to go and get that set up so I'm settling for this one. It is so amazing, I love all the small blocks.

Alex was telling me that the kits are going like hotcakes, now I don't remember how many are left but it wasn't a ton.

We had a lot of fun and I'm back over there today cutting and more cutting. This time it's just me and Sparrow.

So peoples, have you seen all the blocks out there from Anne's BOM? I can't believe how fast everyone is getting them done. Did you get any of Nanette's potholders done? I finished two, photos later, it's still too dark out. I forgot and made straight binding and my little potholders aren't flat. I grabbed up the closest pile of fabrics and while they're cute, they're no Nannette style potholders. Maybe later this week. When I'm not so crazed to do it. I HAD TO MAKE THEM ASAP. That's all I can figure.

Ok, off to work peeps. Happy Monday! xo

And we have a winner

Binnie got to work today while Bret was cleaning out her cage. She was thorough, inspecting all entries.

She has an eye on the winner.

And then not just an eye.

Annette, you're the winner here today!

Hope you're all having a great weekend! xo

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Nanette's hot pad tutorial is up!!! Looks like I'll be busy this weekend!

I'm Back!

It's been a tough couple of days without my computer! A pox on hackers trying to steal financial information is all I can say. DON'T FALL FOR IT PEEPS!

I haven't been doing much of anything around here, cleanup, errand running, that sort of thing, nothing blog-worthy. I did some laundry and went to take a photo of the dryer full of fluffy towels and that's when I knew I was losing it. If you wanted to see laundry you could look in your own dryers, right? (although my pretty blue polka dot towels looked mighty fine in there)

Anyhooo... I've picked up some very cute Japanese craft books lately. I don't know about you, but I love their fabrics combinations and their photography. I'll share more when the sun is out, but in the meantime.. I thought I'd share a cute little Petit Boutique number I picked up recently.

You know how I love the cherries and those little small series of books. It sadly borders on obsession! And look how cute these little appliques from Daiso are, they just seem to go with the little book, don't they?

If you think they're cute and would like a chance to win these goodies, leave a comment and I'll let Binnie pick a name this weekend! Hows that for a sweet treat?

Monday Morning Meeting

I love how every Monday morning Suzanne has a staff meeting. I wish I was that self disciplined, and that I could come up with a meeting agenda every week. Of course Suzanne decided to mess with me, I notice she posted her Monday Meeting on Sunday.

I also know that I'm not the only one waiting no-so-patiently for Nanette to get that hot pad tutorial up. She and Cheryl are working on a list for a holiday handmade list. I have my Insul-Bright. I'm ready. Here's a quickie photo of my Dainty quilt. At first I tried to get a photo with out the prison bars shadow, but then I thought seeing the sun in that room was so nice I'd leave them. Binnie was stretched out in a little sunny patch too, we all love the sun on a wintry day.

This week I am doing some celebrity work with Alex! I can't wait, haven't seen her in a while. Tuesday I get to go see Elizabeth. She had Bret and I over for our yearly staff meeting, and it looks like we still have jobs with Late Bloomer, for now!

Ok, peeps, what happened this weekend?

Birthday Greetings

Hey Elizabeth, I hope you have a super HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2009

Happy New Year! Are you up and at 'em today? I just can't wait to share my recipe for black eyed peas. My recipe came from my neighbor Alice-Jane and while I'm not from the south, I have adopted this little superstition/tradition via a southern friend from my old corporate days.

So here you go..

Black Eye Pea Salad

2-15 ounce cans of black eye peas rinsed and drained (maybe frozen is good as well, I'm not a pea expert by any means)

3 scallions cut into half inch pieces

1 red bell pepper finely chopped (unless you like big chunks like me, then its not so finely)

1/2 green bell pepper finely chopped

1/4 cup flat Italian parsley chopped

Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar (I use 1/3 cup oil and 4 tablespoons of vinegar and then splashed in some more, I like it all vinegary, but you do what's best for you)

1-2 tablespoons of whole grain mustard. (I used Grey Poupon)

1 clove garlic minced

1 fresh jalapeno pepper seeded and finely chopped. And this time I do mean finely. And people who really cook with peppers know that you SUPER NEED TO BE CAREFUL HANDLING THEM. I actually hold my peppers with plastic bags to minimize getting the oil on me. Holy cow you only need to get it in your eyes once my friend, take my word for it.

Whisk that all together and douse your salad. Eat up while sewing on something fun.