A Coffee

Happy Monday friends! How are you!  I had a busy but still nice weekend.  It was sunny and warm, and I had my coffee on the swing.  I confess that Frankie and I binged on some Netflix Hemlock Grove as time permitted the past few days.   Famke Janssen has a crazy accent and she kept asking/offering a 'coffee' and it sounded so weird and cool that in my head that's how I'm going to be pronouncing coffee from now on.  And it's not a cup of coffee as I've been saying, it's just a coffee.

 

Yes I had a coffee on the  patio. It was delightful. I wish you could have joined me. I would have offered you a coffee as well.

 

So yeah it's true, I'm a weirdo. But that probably comes as no surprise. Today is the start of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Magazine blog tour! Be sure and head there next and read all about it and see who's featured today!  The magazine is full of fantastic blocks and come Thursday you'll see mine here on the blog! Ok, skedaddle. I'm off to get a coffee. xo

Friday

Happy Friday! I can't believe the week went by so fast!  We've had a lot of sunny days, even the mornings are bright! We had some cooler days but it's warming up for the weekend again.

 

Do you have any plans? Usual stuff around here. Next week starts the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Magazine tour and I'm excited to say my block is included  in Volume 7!  I can't wait to share my block with you! There are a lot of great blocks so be sure and hop over to the Quilty Pleasures Blog to get the latest news.

 

So that's all that's new for this week! I hope you all have a great weekend and come back here Monday and tell me all about it! xo

Yakkity Yak

Yesterday felt kind of laid back here.  I did a lot of around the house stuff, and then did some dorking around in the sewing room.  I'd seen a cute little quilt on, where else, Pinterest. Now I see that it comes from a book by Kathleen Tracy, I can't believe that I didn't click through to that link till now.  Anyway in the past I was a huge fan of Civil War quilts and primitive style  things, and did a lot of sewing in those colors. But my true love has always been colors of the thirties. I think a lot of the primitive designs would have a whole different fun look in cheerful colors, which is why I need to get back to my Yard Party quilt plans. Anyway, I have had those baskets on my mind and thought I'd try one out.

 

Blah blah blah, I yak a lot. What I need.... less talking, more doing! Just a quick note, are those the cutest little red scissors ever?  Alex had a pair and I finally tracked them down! Sharon had them in her shop and I snapped them up! My excuse, I need adorable red scissors for photos. 

 

The one nice thing about these longer days with nice weather, iced tea and a magazine out back.  We're back to high 70s and to me that's perfection!  I hope you're having a good week! xo

Wednesday

So what's happening today?  Usual stuff on the agenda here. Yesterday though I took a bitty break and made something that I had obsessed over since I saw it on Pinterest.   You probably already know about Amy, she's so talented and totally inspiring.  I love everything she does, the clever projects, the fabric selections, the photography. Anyway... she made this adorable pincushion.  I loved it when I saw it, but then I saw this one Pinterest with the little kitty face and just about died.  Sandra writes about needing that feeling of  instant gratification and that's just exactly how I felt.

Looking back I see I've totally forgotten that it was quilted and of course I had to mix it up with some mini pom poms which were practically impossible to stitch on. But I did it! And it was gratifying!

 

One of the things I did try was a different method of stitching it all together. You may already be familiar with this, but it was a life changer for me!

 

 I wish I could remember where I saw this. I've spent quite a bit of time looking for the blog..it's totally genius.  I usually leave a section around the edge open, then have trouble stitching it closed, especially on a circle, I get that lame edge spot.  This split back totally circumvents that problem. I would love to credit the very smart stitcher who blogged this.  GENIUS. Thank you!

 

And thank you guys, for hanging out with me!!! You're awesome! xo

Tuesday

Hi there.  How's it going at your place? Did you have a good weekend?  We had a pretty productive one here. I got a lot of sewing done, and Bret did a ton of yard work.  Best of all I had coffee with my two Debbies and that was the highlight!

 

Sad doings here too.  Friday morning out on the patio was lovely, the hummingbirds were feeding their babies.  I came back out after my shower to find that a huge blue jay had ripped apart the nest and had stolen the babies.  Later I saw him eating them.  Man nature is harsh and heartbreaking.  I have only seen the hummingbird adults a couple of times since then.  Hopefully they'll come back. 

 

I know it's still snowing places, but it's heating up here way too fast. It was in the low 90's over the weekend.  Yikes, it seems soon. 

 

Hope you're having a good week. xo

Pincushion Friday

Hi Hi HI!!! Happy Friday! So have you seen Ayumi's new book, Patchwork, Please! I've had it since it was first released and I figure I'm pretty much the last person ever to make one of these cute pin cushions! Monica posted her darling pincushion here, there's a flickr group here and there's even a Facebook page for a Zakka along starting next month! I've seen these pincushions popping up all over instagram and I can't resist it anymore. 

 

 

I haven't done any paper piecing in years, but it was easy to pick it up again, and this project  is the perfect jumping off point.  I pretty sure  I managed to finish it with in an hour or so.  It was just fun to be in my sewing room working on it.

 

All I can think about now is making the next one! They're the potato chip of pincushions I think.

 

I had a great week and I hope you did too!  Happy weekending!!! xo

Thursday

Good morning! I hope the week is progressing along as you'd hoped!  Yesterday I made a trip over to Dublin to the Joanns, our local store is moving and the inventory is really picked over. I needed some fusible. I guess fusible is  in hot demand lately, because they were sold out of my packaged choice.  Oh well, there's always another day!

 

My backyard is full of birds. My local squirrels are eating most of the mixed seed but there's plenty to go around.  This little Black Phoebe has spend the last couple of weeks flitting around my yard. He's enjoying what the squirrels knock to the ground, they're not feeder eaters.  He won't be here much longer, he's on his way somewhere else I'm sure.

I've left this picture small because wow, are these baby hummers UGLY. There's three in the nest, you can barely tell.  That bottom one looks pretty small, and I suspect it's chubbier siblings are getting all food. The mom comes and goes feeding them.  I've hung up some baskets of flowers and have a hummingbird feeder, but she must have some better source as she's constantly zooming out. Maybe she doesn't like my choices!

Ok, that's about it here.  Hope you have a good productive day! xo

Wednesday

So what's doing with you this fine Wednesday morning? I picked up my three quilts from Diana, my quilter, and have busily been sewing on bindings.  The timing is perfect because we've had a bit of a cold snap. 

 

Sure, it's not like we've got snow, but it's been pretty chilly here.  It seems sunny and should be warm, but you step outside and that wind feels a little icy.  Anyway, bundling up with a quilt seems perfect.

 

I had one of those lesson learning moments with this little stack of binding.  It's made of 10 inch strips left over from my thimbles.  It's very cheerful.  There are a  lot  of seams, so I decided not to do a little test run around my quilt, pinning the binding down to make sure that there were no seams on the corners. I mean with all those seams I didn't think it could be avoided.  I stitched up one side and then WHAM, right along the bottom, I run into a problem. A big chunk of binding is exactly the same as one of the thimbles. What are the odds I thought as I stopped and took out that chunk of binding and moved it to the end. Yeah, what are the odds?

 

The odds are pretty darn good. not a foot later it happened again.

 

Well you just have to laugh right?  Hope the week is treating you well. xo

Homework!

Good morning!  I can't believe another month has flown by and it's time to go Back to School and turn in our homework!

 

Be sure and stop head over to the Jolly Jabber and see how Kimberly and Debbie's homework turned out! They always get an A+ in my book.  You can also check out the Flickr group for more inspiration!

 

Block 21 Richmond

Block 22 Pinwheel

Block 23 Comfort Quilt

Block 24 New England

Block 25 Ladies Aid

 

And here they all are laid out.  Already it's a pretty good size.  Debbie showed off her sashing over on Facebook last week! She's way ahead of me. I'm still playing around on photoshop trying to decide exactly what I'd like to do.  Thin sashing? Medium sashing? What are your thoughts?

 

Ok, hop on over to the Jolly Jabber and check out their homework!

Recap

Ok, so how do you think the week went?  My week was pretty good.  Lots going on, rainy weather, sunny weather, having fun, working hard, feeling happy.  Pretty DARN good I guess!  So this week I thought I had a pretty good idea. I was thinking about all the strawberries I made when we introduced Pam Kitty Morning. 

So I got to thinking about cherries.  And how fun it would be to make some cherries to use at the table. I wasn't thinking of the same kind of production as the strawberries, just a few, for fun. But how would you go about it?  My mind was just cogitating on it while I was doing other stuff and then I thought, why not use a yo yo and a Styrofoam ball.

 

And now you can see not all things work out as you'd hoped.  It just doesn't say cherry to me.
  

Although if it was yellow it might say quince.

 

ANYWAY. Have a good weekend people.  Next week: HOMEWORK IS DUE!

 

Wedensday

Good morning!  How is the week going for you?  I managed to get some things checked off my list. Yesterday I headed over to Diana's to drop off my quilts.  I even scooped up an old one at the last minute, it's a top that's been folded up and laying around begging for attention so I told her to put in the 'when you have time' queue.  She quilts for Joanna as well as several other people who attend quilt market, so I have to get my stuff in before she gets swamped.

 

It's my favorite time of year around here, blue skies, nice temperatures and everything is green. Pretty soon it will all be crispy brown, it gets  pretty hot here in my little valley. Not like central valley hot, but close enough.  But my trees are leafing out and my Lady Banks roses are blooming.

They only bloom once, but they bloom their hearts out for you.  Mine are just starting.  I always think of Elizabeth when I see them. She's the one who told me about  them, and quoted something her dad said about the bloom, so to me they're a nice garden reminder of our friendship.  

 

My lilac bloomed out. You can see a busy little bee flying by, the yard is buzzing with activity.  Lots of lady bugs this year, hopefully eating up any aphid that I don't see without my glasses! 

 

Ok, I'm already one cup of coffee into my day so I better get to work! Hope you're all  doing well. I'm so sorry people who still are getting snow!  I would send you some sunshine if I could! xo

Monday

Good morning!  And super good because HOLY COW I finished my row along top. Of course I don't have enough space to get far enough away from it to get a good picture, so you'll have to trust me. 
 

Seriously DSLR people, what lens should I have to get good pictures of a whole quilt? So far I have a nice close up macro lens and the kit lens.  I guess it's figure it out or start taking picture through the window into the living room!

 

Anyway, lots of work done this weekend. What about on your end?  Sewing? Working?  I've done a little bit of it all, but what I really need to do today is clean up the kitchen  sink, I don't know that there are any clean dishes left! True confession. 

 

Have a great week everybody! xo

Friday

Hi there! So how did the week go for you?  Was it a good one?  I had a pretty darn good week and I know Holly and I are both excited for you to see the fruits of our labors!  I  can't wait till I can talk about it! We're in those exciting weeks before quilt market, where people are starting to reveal all their secrets, and I'm on the edge of my seat to see what everyone else is doing and so excited to show you what we've been working on. 

 

Right now I don't have time to start something new, so I have cut out some applique shapes and I have them all ready to work on, when I have time.  I hope it's going to be a cute project, and I am excited to have it all ready.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for a fun sew day where I can start blanket stitching.  Or maybe a good crime drama mararthon on tv. Those are made for blanket stitching.

 

Hope you have a fun weekend in store ! xo

Wednesday

I'm off to spend the day at the LakeHouse studio.  It's a beautiful trip these spring days, in the morning I can see San Francisco when I travel up on 580 by San Leandro and San Lorenzo, then when I pass by Richmond and along the approach to the Richmond Bridge, I can see the Golden Gate. 

 

The Richmond Bridge coming home, lately it's been so clear, you can see the whole span, to the left , just out of view of this scene, East Brother Lighthouse out on an island where there's a B&B.  I also think of my grandparents living in Winehaven,just to the left of the bridge landing,  my grandfather was a cooper.

Construction on the Bay Bridge is moving a long, and I believe it's set to open this fall. There are some fascinating views on the construction cams. 

From the bridge I can see from San Francisco to Oakland on most days.  Glorious. I have hundreds of from the window photographs, some better, some worse,  hoping that I can capture it for you.

 

From Emeryville, I can see the Golden Gate there barely showing above the fog, to the left is San Francisco, you can just barely see the Transamerica Tower. But then traffic comes along and prevents me from showing you the bridge again.  At night, it's all the more beautiful with the lights.  It's a nice drive when the traffic isn't too bad, even back towards home there's all the pretty pastel colored houses of old Oakland along the way, and then over the Dublin Grade the Tri-Valley area, which is so green and lush looking in the spring.  Always something to see and appreciate.

 

Hope you have a fantastic day!

Morning

Mmmm coffee, some mornings just require more than others.  I'm drinking out of a found treasure, found in my own house, if you can believe that. I don't even remember where I found it, but it turned up and oh how cute and BIG it is, so perfect for coffee.

The weather is still a little cool for porch sitting.  I walk out in the mornings to survey my territory, pull a few weeds here and there and take in some fresh air. Then after a few minutes I'm forced back in by those freaking wasps.  Seriously, they're everywhere this year, most notably hiding in the weeds in our garden patch, and that really cuts back on my weeding.

 

My crabapple tree is blooming up a storm. I mean the whole things is covered in blossoms! It's a sight to behold.   Well behold from the safety of my kitchen that is. I have to get our wasp traps out and baited. I can't have those suckers ruining my back porch! It's April! Something must be done!

 

Ok, sewing day for me, what about you?

 

 

Monday

Hi there! How was the weekend?  We had low key Easter festivities here yesterday. We've all been so busy it just seemed like the perfect day to enjoy our own company and relax!

 

But today I have something exciting to show you!  Alex has the greatest new phone app you can download and it's available for both i-phone and android models.  You can read about here at The Quilt Show, but I have included the video so you can also watch it here!

Pretty cool right?