New Year's Eve

Good morning! How are you? I'm feeling cheered by the wonderful box of Christmas I received yesterday from Elizabeth!  Can you believe how adorable these all are?  Well duh, you've been around so yes, you can believe it!

 

I feel so lucky to have this adorable clothes pin bag.  I've seen a ton of them on Pinterest and I always think I'll make one, but then I never do.. now I don't have to.  Gosh, super cute, although Elizabeth says that the pattern is very frustrating.  Anyway, I couldn't be more thrilled. In her usual Elizabeth style, it's all so nicely made, every little detail perfect! A lovely treasure!

 

Oh how cute are these darling Christmas ornaments.  Love them both, that bottle cap pup is killing me.  Perfect timing, I can still enjoy them on the tree, then they'll be packed away safe with all the Christmas decorations so I will find them again next year!

 

Ok, it's New Year's Eve... tomorrow we start a brand spanking new year THANK GOODNESS.   Be safe out there!! Thank you all for your support this past year, your friendship and encouragement means so much to me! 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

xop

Shops that Carry Pam Kitty Picnic

 

Circle Sewing Studios of NC

Daisy Cottage Quilting

Donna's Lavender Nest

Farm Road Quilts

Fat Quarter Shop
Lemon Tree Fabrics

Marie-Madeline Studio

Pink Castle Fabrics

Prairie Queens Quilts
Pretty Fabrics and Trims
Quilt Play
Sew and Quilt Co.
Shabby Fabrics
Simply Sweet Fabrics

Skye Reve Fabrics

Spun Sugar Quilts

Stitch Craft Boca

Strawberry Patches

Whimsy Quilts

 

 

Have I missed a shop? Let me know in the comments section or email me at rocketqltr@yahoo.com .

Monday Coffee

Can you believe it's going to be 2014 Wednesday? Where did this year go? Was it a great year for you? Can't wait to kick it to the curb?

 

So what are you plans for the week?  I keep saying I hope to do some sewing but so far I haven't done anything but sit in my room and look at my stuff.  But oh my gosh I've loved seeing everyone's projects. Once we start putting all the holiday stuff away and maybe we get a day or two of sunshine I'll perk up and get busy.   I have gone out in the yard and pulled weeds, payment for all the wonderful California weather, year round yard work.  I bought some bulbs on clearance and can't wait to put them in the ground. I've got my fingers crossed that we get some rain.  Our hills aren't green yet and it's nearly January!

 

I guess that's enough of the ramble today! Tell me what you're up to!!!xo

 

 

Friday!

Ok, can you believe it's Friday? I can't believe how Christmas came and went so fast. Did you have a great time? I hope so.  We had a nice very low key time here and it was good!

 

Getting back in the groove around the house though, not so easy. I'm a little at loose ends, feeling restless.  Haven't sewn a stitch. I have enjoyed looking at everyone else's sewing, and that's just as fun to me.  So many pretty projects that are inspirational. 

 

Anyway, I'm enjoying my little hiatus regardless, there's plenty of coffee here in PamKittyville. Tell me what you're up to this weekend! I'm dying to know!

 

 

Christmas Eve

Well I can hardly believe it's Christmas Eve already.  Time has just flown by this past couple of weeks.  Are you ready? We have a few things left to wrap, then it's just family and food.  We're lucky to have Bret home from work today, so we'll make short work of what's left to be done.

Do you have big plans and family doings?  Tonight we'll have my mom over for dinner and then we'll head out to look at Christmas lights. Tomorrow my sweet mother-in-law will join us for dinner. We're a low key bunch around here.  I've sure enjoyed seeing everyone's wonderful Christmas decorations on blogs, instagram and Facebook.  I love a peek into everyone's homes! I wish all of you celebrating a very Merry Christmas.  Big hugs to all of you! xo

*****

I want to thank everyone for all your kind comments and emails yesterday.  I really appreciated them all very much.  

Rocket

Saturday night we said good-bye to our sweet boy Rocket.  He was a good friend and a loyal companion, a special fellow, charming everyone who crossed his path. We were lucky to have him.

We are especially sad, as this loss falls on the heels of losing Binnie, our little rabbit, the week before.  We're a sad bunch around here right now. 

 

Thanks for all your kind thoughts and emails since I wrote about Rocket's illness last week.   I appreciate your kindnesses so much. xo

Wednesday

Good norming! I wanted to show you some pictures from my visit to Prairie Queens on Saturday! I had a great time hanging out there, they had a lovely reception with delicious holiday treats and the most wonderful punch.   I appreciate their support!!! If you're looking for Pam Kitty Picnic in my neck of the woods Prairie Queens has all of it!

 

April made this wonderful quilt using Pam Kitty fabrics from past collections. It's adorable, right? You can get starter kits at the shop.

I brought a few of my things, and they had a lot of really great samples.. so inspiring! 

My friend Keiko has some cute patterns for baskets  and that adorable little jewelry travel case.  I have the pattern now, can't wait to try it. She made a lot of cute small things

 

Look at this cute runner Keiko made with blocks for Lori's book! So cute.  Those apples are a favorite of mine!

 

There were a lot of blog readers who stopped by, and new friends to met. I so appreciated everyone making the trip to come say hi.  I was happy not to be sitting in the classroom alone!

Thanks for the cute Susan Branch calendar Martha! It was great to see you and have a chat!

 

I had a wonderful time, thanks Prairie Queens for having me!

*****

 

 

Ok, I'm taking a couple of days off.  Our dog Rocket isn't well and so we're busy watching him .  Any kind thoughts you could send his way would be appreciated.  He's a good fellow and we love him. xo

Quilt Fun Sew Along!

Good morning!!! How was your weekend?  Nice sunny weekend here! We're closing in on Christmas right?  I hope you're not in crisis mode! 

Enough of that kind of talk, it's The Quilty Fun Sew Along and Blog Tour day and it's my stop!!!

Of course we're making

Makes sense right?  For Lori these are cocoa cups, but for me, of course they're coffee cups! You can find instructions for the cups on page twenty eight of Quilty Fun. You can head over here and get the cutting instructions for our two sew along  cup blocks.

I love Lori's big cups.. that's how I like my cups of coffee, the bigger the better!  She has a very clever way of constructing those handles.. well she has lots of clever ways for assembly and you can find them in the Quilty Fun book! 

 

Are you sewing along?  You know you can win some excellent prizes like this stiletto.  If you've never tried using one, you can see one Lori's fun video tutorials about it here.

There's also a seam ripper, and I think we're all familiar with those! What I like about the Clover seam ripper is the thin sharp blade, it can slide under those small stitches making unsewing less painful!

 

 

 

Last but certainly not least is Alphabitties! They sure make piecing those parts together much easier! How do you enter? Upload your completed cute cups to the Quilty Fun Sew Along Flickr page and cross your fingers!

I think I'm done! I hope you have a wonderful day packed with some sewing fun! xo

Happy Weeeknd

Hi there, welcome to Friday!  I just wanted to pop in and remind you I'll be at Prairie Queens Quilt Shop on Saturday! THAT'S TOMORROW!  I'll be there having a Pam Kitty Morning with them till about 1pm.  I would love it if you had a chance to stop by and say HI!

 

14922 Camden Avenue
San Jose, CA 95124
(408) 559-6735

 

Ok, that's about it. I'm here with some elves working on my last Christmas project! What are your plans?  I hope something fun! xo

Wednesday

Hi there Wednesday!  How is the week treating you?  I've been chugging away, finished my bindings and reading a book that Melissa sent me.  We both love Agent Pendergast, and she generously shared her copy with me. I normally listen while driving around in the car, but I'm not driving around as much as I used to, although honestly with it being so chilly here sitting in the car with the seat heaters is a treat. 

 

I know it's totally kid stuff for people who get snow, but it's been pretty cold here. California Cold sure, it was in the mid-20s this morning. I braved the weather  in my pjs to grab a picture.. of course you can't see the steam rising off the coffee and you can barely tell there's a layer of frost on the chair, you can see where it's melting away under the cup.  Everything, my swing, the chairs, the roof tops, the lawn all covered in a layer of white. And it lasted till after 9am which is a surprise, usually it melts away by  8am.

 

I had company, this squirrel stood there the whole time, then scampered away when I headed back into the house.  Show's over.

 

Speaking of show.. thanks for the nice comments and emails about the ClubHouse! Do you know you can catch it on You Tube as well, just click here. I love those Accuquilt dies.

 

Ok, that's about it for today. What's on your agenda for the rest of the week? xo

Christmas ClubHouse

Hi there! I'm excited to say that the Christmas ClubHouse meeting is up!  You can head over to The Quilt Show and check it out here. The ClubHouse is part of the free content on The Quilt Show website so I hope you'll sign up, sign in and watch it!

 

So far this is my favorite project. I love the swag die from Accuquilt, I think it's a great addition to your die collection.  And it's Go! Baby friendly.. which seems like a shocker since it's so big! Every time I get that die cutter out I want to go die-cutting-crazy.

 

Ok, that' s it for today!!! xo

 

 

Happy Monday!

So how was the weekend?  I had a great one starting off with Friday's trip out with Holly to Wendy Addison's Theatre of Dreams.  As you can see it was wonderful.   In case you're local-ish it's open Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday's till Christmas.  Holly and I had a lovely time chatting with Wendy. You can see my instagram photos here, Holly's here and this is Wendy's account here.

 

It was really a fun time. I'm not sure that Holly and I have gotten together for a fun girls day in ages, mostly it's mixed in with a work day, so it was extra good. We topped it off with a late lunch/early dinner and it was great.

 

So what's on this week's agenda? Today is the week 6 post for the Quilty Fun Sew Along! My day is MONDAY NEXT WEEK!!  Also on this week's agenda is finishing up some binding for quilts to take to the PKM Open House at Prairie Queens Quilt Shop!  Holy cow!  I better get busy! Have a good day peoples! xo

Friday

How are you all this morning?  I'm off on an exciting adventure with Holly today!  We're headed over to Wendy Addison's open house.   I've been there once before with Elizabeth, and you can read about it here.

 

I follow Wendy on Instagram, you can see her feed here.  I loved my last visit there. The town brings back a lot of childhood memories for me and I love a ride.  As far as I know, that part of Contra Costa County hasn't changed as much over the years.. or maybe it has, holy cow it's been 7 years since I went???? Well who knows what's happened in 7 years. (it doesn't seem like that long ago,  Honestly, I should go back and look over my blog again for things I might be missing. And after 7 years how sick of me are you guys?)

 

ANYWAY.. it should be a fun day! Hope you guys have a great weekend!  See you back here next week! xo

 

 

Strip-Smart Quilts II

Hi there hoppers, welcome to my day on Kathy's Strip-Smart-Quilts II book tour!  Holy cow I am following some tremendous people, far more entertaining than me!  Like Carrie.  Did you read her post?  Yeah, you should do that. And then come back!  Then there was Barb and Mary. More great reading, more great photos and another great block!  Yesterday was Pat Sloan, she really went to town on the Mall quilt block! Lots of great in progress pictures. 

 

Like everyone so far on the list, and like Pat, who will be on deck tomorrow, one thing we share is our friendship with Kathy and our admiration of work!  This is Kathy's second Strip Smart book, and I was lucky enough to make a quilt in the first book, so I'm familiar with that really cool ruler. 

It's hard to pick a favorite quilt in the book, I'm drawn to all brightly colored quilts. The photography and staged shots are really so nice.  I also really like reading the inspiration behind the quilt, particularly The Mall, pictured below. 

 

Kathy shares lots of anecdotes along the way, and I think it makes the quilts even more special.  Of course the instructions are wonderful, Kathy knocks it out of the park. 

 

Like everyone else, I had to get out some fabric and get reacquainted with that ruler!  I happen to have some fabric laying around!

I cut my strips and got started on a block from Calm Before the Storm. Kathy's instructions had me back in business in no time!

 

And before too long I had a nice block!  (with my incorrect center I know.. I'm not perfect by any means!)

 

Kathy is awarding a grand prize, so be sure and leave a comment here for a  chance to win! I've already won, I have a great friend in Kathy!! 

 

I hope you're all having a great week! xo

 

Have a Pam Kitty Morning with me!

Hi  there, how's the week going so far?   I'm having a busy but fun week, later today I'll be heading over to Alex's house to tape  my ClubHouse segment for Christmas.  Feeling excited and nervous at the same time! I'm not the greatest at it, but it's fun. 

 

Something else is making me excited and nervous!!!  I'm going to be at  Prairie Queens on December 14th for a  Pam Kitty Morning!  It's going to be low key, just hanging out, meeting and greeting!!  If you're local, I believe Prairie Queens is the only close-to-me quilt shop carrying Pam Kitty Picnic, and it's the perfect opportunity to see it in person, and hey, hang out with me!   I hope you'll consider heading down there  to say Hi!

 

Prairie Queens is located in San Jose at 14922 Camden Avenue!  I'll be there at 10am, so please don't leave me hanging out on my own! 

Tuesday

Hi there Tuesday! I haven't sat down to my sewing machine in days it seems like, but I do have things ready to sew.  I have those deer  all ready for blanket stitching, and I did manage to cut out some baskets for the Quilty Fun Sew Along... sure I'm behind, I know.  I saw Kristyne's adorable flying geese, did you? I would love a pretty book of her photos, all the sweet details.  Did you see that little spool of thread with the pretty matching label? And what was in that Hello Kitty box?  Anyway moving on..

 

 

Have you seen these little Alphabitties?  I think they're not only cute but really handy for cutting out all those Quilty Fun pieces. Just put your alphabet tile with the corresponding pile of cut pieces and carry them to the sewing machine. Extra perfect if you have made yourself one of Lori's Mini Design Boards.

 

I think they're pretty fun not to mention adorable!   Now all I need is some time to sit and stitch these up!

 

Ok, better refill my coffee and get busy. This week I'm taping my third ClubHouse installment, can't wait to share what I've made! Have a great day! xo

Monday Morning

How was your weekend?  We had a fun busy time here.  Yesterday I woke up with a start thinking OMG! I didn't finish my blog post.. raced out, made coffee (duh, first things first) then came back to the computer to get it finished.  It was then I realized, it was only Sunday!  Good gravy! But it got me up and running, so that's good right? 

 

 

It's that time of year, time to collect up the names of shops that carry Pam Kitty Picnic! It's starting to pop up in stores so the time is right! Here's my list so far:

Daisy Cottage Quilting
Donna's Lavender Nest
Farm Road Quilts
Fat Quarter Shop
Lemon Tree Fabrics
Marie-Madeline Studio
Pink Castle Fabrics
Prairie Queens Quilts
Quilt Play
Sew and Quilt Co.
Shabby Fabrics
Skye Reve Fabrics
Spun Sugar Quilts
Stitch Craft Boca
Strawberry Patches
Whimsy Quilts

If your shop, or a shop that you know of, carry's Pam Kitty Picnic, please let me know. I hope that I have a nice big list for people to use as a resource!

Ok, have a great week everybody!  Tell me what you did this weekend, dying to know about shopping!  We didn't go out much, hardware store, pet food store, grocers.  What about you?