Boring

I feel like I'm wasting your click here today.. holy cow I got nothing! Monday I had a great lunch out at Bette's in Berkeley with Holly and her friend Tracy. It could not have been better weather that's for sure. Hot for us out in the valley but in Berkeley, perfect mid 70s I think.

We walked around the 4th street area for a bit after lunch, then parted ways. I really loved the little pet shop George. Tons of super cool vintage dog figurines, love those spaniels. The colors are wonderful. They had a lot of different kinds of dog related pottery on display.

I saw this from my parked car when I was getting ready to head for home. It takes a lot of train cars for the circus, I can't believe how long that train was. Of course now that I'm looking it up online I can see there's a lot of controversy about it. So all in all that made for something interesting, and there's a chance to learn something new everyday.

Of course today the thing we're learning is that I'm pretty boring.

What a weekend.

Long weekend right? I spent a good portion of it glued to the news and twitter hoping to hear news from my east coast pals. I hope eventually we'll hear from everyone and they'll be ok.

Didn't do much around here that was exciting. The weather was hot, so we did some outside stuff in the mornings and then stayed indoors the rest of the day. What about you guys?

Dirt Devil

Grab a good look at this.. a brand new clean ironing board cover. This assuredly is the last time it will be nice and clean, especially considering my iron is covered in spray starch residue. Maybe I'll clean that off in a few minutes. Anyway, I love a nice clean canvas cover.. and believe me, I had to go all over to find one.


The only saving grace to what had turned into a really frustrating day dealing with things like VACUUM CLEANERS was the wonderful package I got in the mail.. displayed here on my clean ironing board cover.

Indeed you do recognize most of these fabrics. Amy's post caught me off guard and clicked right away to copy-cat her.

That's about it here. I'm working on some ideas for things to make when my fabric comes. Let's just say photoshop... blessing and a curse. Mostly it was a curse yesterday, a lot like the vacuum cleaner. Today should be better right?

Ok, that's it for me this week, I think now I'll go pile up all the stuff back on my ironing board. (haha just kidding) (not)

Stuff and Nonsense

Even when the weather is due to be hot the porch is still pretty pleasant if you go out early enough.

This fellow features himself the lord of the backyard, but doesn't want to reveal his features to us. No matter how many photos I take.

In case you think I've done absolutely nothing, here's proof that at the very least I stuck a decal on this little spice rack. I still have some leftover from market, Elizabeth gave me a tidy little bag of them. I have to figure out what's decal worthy and what isn't.

This little shelf reminds me of this display here. To me the perfect kind of wall that evolves over time. I have something similar in my sewing room, but it's not as cute.. more like one of those walls they come across at the end of Law and Order and the insane culprit's lair is revealed. But with sewing sewing stuff and cherries.

A Monica Day

Good morning! I've gotten quite lackadaisical around here haven't I? It's the end of summer and I'm slowing down a bit I guess! Anyway Frankie and I went up to Wooden Gate on Monday. And check it out, it's Super Zig! I just love how their version turned out. It's a kit by the way.. you can contact Wooden Gate if you'd like one.

You can see they have the whole front display dedicated to Monica!!

We had a nice little stroll around town afterwards. The town is chock full of wonderful little shops.

This pretty window is at Twigs, sorry that I wasn't able to capture it with out the crazy glare from the glass, it was totally cute!

I know you guys are busy, hope you're having fun!

Saturday Sewing Group

So how was your weekend? I had a nice one, which included some time with the Debbies! Right off let me just confess I didn't even bring my sewing machine. I just couldn't get my act together to get something cut out, but in the end I'm glad because I got some serious baby holding in as Debbie has a new grandbaby.



Food is right up there on the sew day list and the Debbies made a delicious lunch. Of course I ate a lot of snacks, which sadly in the late afternoon caught up with me and I went home and just blobbed out in my chair. Those tiny little bear claws from Safeway are the devil.


Deb was the only one of us with quilt related show and tell. She'd been to a quilt retreat and made this wonderful quilt. Deb's work is always nice and tidy, and I love how nice the back of the quilt looks here.



Deb belongs to several different sewing groups, and she made this quilt from her winnings at another retreat. A scrap quilt is a delight isn't it?



I think the traditional Baptist Fan quilting is perfect for this quilt.



We took a quick break to head over to Alex's to see her party decorations. Her daughter Adair is marrying, and Saturday they had an engagement party. You can see more here.

It was a black and white theme,so leave it to Alex to have coordinated wildlife.

So that's pretty much the lowdown on my weekend, what about yours?

Friday

Happy Friday people! Do you have any big weekend plans? I have a sew day with The Debbies on Saturday. I don't know that I'll actually get any sewing done, but I'll enjoy a nice visit with them.

I finished my little hexie test yesterday. I think the idea is good, but my execution is poor. I'm using the method that I talk about here, for the Hickory Nut block.

Last time I used the invisible machine applique technique, but this time I just top stitched the blocks. Not as nice a technique in my mind, but it's personal preference. I like the look of hand sewing and using my machine to accomplish that.

You can see that all my blocks are not quite the same. I think if I were to try this again, I would not only mark the center, but also measure around smaller unit to insure it really is in the center, then take good care in folding those edges in.

I decided to use the feather stitch to connect the blocks. I think that there are probably better settings, and I'll look into those. Or figure something else out, should I make this again. I like the little mat though, and I think that it will go nicely on the table next to my chair.

So that's it for me! Hope you all have a splendid weekend! xo

Hexed

Yesterday was ok, how about for you? I had some coffee time on the swing that was nice. You can tell already it's feeling fall.. it's taking the sun longer to shine down on the swing, which is pretty nice, but makes for a lazy morning if I'm not careful.

I got out the Go! Baby and cut some hexagons. Maybe by tomorrow I'll be farther along than this. So what's up with you?

Dork.

Finished up my pillow yesterday..and I think if you go back and refer to the original quilt I saw here, you'll see I made a critical error. Yeah go take a look and then come back and have a good chuckle on me! Just now I loaded the photo in and thought to myself , you know I bet this would be darling if the snowballs were yellow and white and not alternating. DUH. THAT'S HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. No wonder I was disappointed with how it turned out.

Well the joke's on me I guess. I'll have to make another one sometime. Correctly. All I can say is, thank goodness it wasn't a whole huge quilt.

At least it looks cute with the other pillows.

One of the great things about my trip to Utah this spring for Quilt Market was meeting all kinds of great people. One of those people is Jamie, who sent me this wonderful package. She introduced me to this Korean Coffee and it's going to be perfect for road trips where sometimes a good cup of coffee is illusive. Thanks Jamie!!!

So far I've had a great week. Monday I had lunch with my long time friends Carol and Robyn. I can't remember when I have had such a nice day! Plus I'm listening to the latest Pendergast novel in my car which already is exciting and mysterious! Some times it just seems like it couldn't be any better you know???

Things moved pretty slow this weekend. Honestly, I don't even remember what we did, except maybe we went to Fry's and I waited in the car. It was hot so possibly my brain fried while I was following along on twitter and reading a magazine.

My pillow is prepped for the handwork. Somebody asked what brand of pillow form I like, and it's a Fairfield brand.. its nice and firm and full. Makes for a nice pillow. The thing I like about Elizabeth's instructions is that the pillow is a shade smaller than the pillow form, so the pillow cover is full.

Saw this while out and about. Hilarious! What did you do?

Spider free zone

It's back to being warm here. I grabbed a few minutes out back trying to whisk away the millions of pounds of spiderwebs wrapping everything in my back yard. What's with that? I don't see any spiders, just webs wrapped everywhere. Eventually it's just feels too hot to be doing it. Of course this year our hot isn't all that hot thankfully. I'm sure September will be scorching to make up for it.


More than likely you thought you'd seen the last of this project! But I finished up the machine quilting and now I just need to go score a pillow form. And finish the pillow but you know what I mean.


No big plans for the weekend here, what about where you are?

Pot Luck

Yesterday I went to a pot luck lunch at my neighbor Alice-Jane's. It was a wonderful event with wonderful people and I really enjoyed myself.

I made a big dish of chicken salad to bring. It's an easy recipe to make, you don't really have to measure anything. It's just canned or fresh chicken, cranberries, walnuts, celery and green onions all smooshed up with some mayo.



The table was chock full of wonderful dishes and I always feel a little worried as I'm not a fancy food person anymore. But the plate was empty at the end of the lunch so I was happy about that. Now why didn't I make enough for myself here at home? No idea.



The weather was pretty nice, it's heating up here but still tolerable for the backyard venue. Alice-Jane sets a lovely table, pretty table cloths, flowers. I just enjoy the day. I've been so lucky to live next door to her for almost 30 years. I wish everyone could have a great neighbor like I do.

Time to announce the winner of Mary Lou's book! It's Sandie-Call Me Crazy!!! Sandi email me your mailing address and I'll pop that book in the mail to you!

Ok, I hope you guys are having a wonderful week! Any big weekend plans?

Indulge me, please!

I hope you guys can tolerate some more PamKitty talk here.. I know there's still a bit of a wait for the yardage but here's a peek at some of the final pieces. Yesterday Holly called me and said the second round of strikeoffs were in and did I want to come see them. I waffled for about a second then ran for the car.

After making a couple of minor decisions I played store. I used to love making fabric combinations at the sh0p, so I indulged myself in some fabric dreaming.

Then there's the pile that just kept getting bigger and bigger. Everything is so cheerful to me.

Honestly, I look at this and just think to myself I couldn't be luckier.. Holly is just a genius and I'm lucky for the opportunity to work with her. Thanks for indulging me peeps, you're the best!! xo

Lets all just admit it.

I think at this point its safe to say I'm nuts. Why beat around the bush? But before we go any further, go look at this, then come right back. It kind of puts it all in context.

When I originally saw that picture on pinterest, I was dying over it. But you know, still in control of myself. I know given the amount of photos here and those left unpublished, that might be a little hard to believe.

Lori and I got into a little conversation on twitter about that rabbit.. and although she didn't outright challenge me, I was unable to control myself. Or much else for that matter.

Coercion doesn't work. At all.

Nothing motivates my rabbit. She's so uncooperative.

And so disapproving.

What did you do this weekend?