Shop Hopping

Happy Friday friends! How are you? Was your week good? I'm back at it here in PamKittyville working on projects and watching crime tv.  Hard to believe just last week I was lunch with Lori and Nanette and then going on a mini shop hop.

Before we even left Alpine we went to Just Sew, an adorable shop not far from Nanette's house.  It was fun to meet Alice and see all the cute Pam Kitty Picnic samples they had around the shop.  I really liked this block of the month that Alice had made. 

 

I love this cute apron.  Next up after lunch was our trip to Pine Needles. Their new location is really fantastic! Lots of space, great samples and I believe a nice room for classes up stairs. 

 

I love that there's an option to hang large quilts up, and wow, I love the larger floral quilt on the left.  It was nice to see Holly, the store manager, in the shop, usually I just see her at quilt market.

 

We also stopped in at Material Girls to see my friend Nadine.  Yikes, no photos except this one on instagram.  I got a little carried away talking to Nadine about her exploits with antlers.  Now if only I could remember where I saw all those funny photos of Nadine at the Crabapple Hill retreat. Holy cow she's fun.

 

That's it for this week! Any big weekend plans?  Have fun! xo

My Sewcation

Last week I had a great time. Tuesday I left at about 4am for my sewcation in Utah.  I was reminiscing on the ride up through the California foothills, thinking about previous trips taken to Utah with Elizabeth, and how both times we'd encountered snow. I felt a little sad that this trip in June would mean no snow. 

 

Once I entered Nevada evidence of snow came and went along the mountains, but in my temperature controlled car, I didn't really notice any serious change in temperature.

 

Sure there was rain rain rain..and then I started noticing along the side of the road it looked like  maybe there had been a big hail storm earlier. Then I looked at my temperature gauge and noticed it was dropping like a rock. Then the next thing you know I'm in a blizzard. No picture of that on my camera or phone, but believe me.  BLIZZARD.  Eventually that truck pulling a trailer pulled off the freeway but I just powered through it.. After maybe five hours or really more like 20 minutes it turned to slushy snow and then rain again. 

 

Pretty exiting stuff for me.  Anyway the rest of the trip to Nanette's was uneventful.  The weather turned glorious over the vacation and we had a lovely time.  Some sewing, some  shopping, lunch out with our friend Lori.  We tried to fool her but my instagram photos gave away where I was..no surprising her.

 

Lori brought along her daughter Kassidy at our lunch. Super sweet, it was the first time I met her. We all had a lovely lunch and a good visit.  Super fun. Super friends.

Lori of course brought gifts, I hate to even take it apart it's so cute.  Lots of delicious fabric from her latest collection Vintage Happy. And I know that box of taffy has one of her famous egg sewing kits in it.. I just can't quite bring myself to take it apart yet.  You can see one here on her instagram.

It was a great week. More later on that I'm sure.  Today I'm still catching up on rest after that long drive to get home. So what have you guys been up to?

Monday

Hi there! Happy Monday!  I'm on my way home, but in the mean time, I thought I'd share another little project I made to bring along. 

 

This little laundry bag is perfect for stuffing inside your suitcase when you head out on a trip.  It takes just a little under a half a yard of  fabric for the outside and also the lining.  I think it makes your vacation laundry   a lot more glamorous.  I made a drawstring  out of a two inch strip of fabric folded in quarters, but you could just as easily thread a ribbon though the casing.

 

I love the way the little bit of the lining peeks out the top.  Of course I like that it's personalized. I've had so much fun with applique lately.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend! See you later this week! xo

Little Aprons

I think some of my fondest sewing memories are making things for other people.  Making stuff for kids is the best. 

 

 

I've been wanting to make some aprons for a while.   I happened upon a child size ready made apron blank, you know those plain canvas aprons you can decorate, and I used it as a pattern for the shape.  Not having a kid around, I needed the size. For the smaller apron I just folded up the body of the apron to make it a bit shorter.  I machine bound the aprons so there are no  unfinished edges, and I added the monograms because who doesn't love a customized apron? 

I think they turned out pretty cute and they sure were fun to make!   Hope you're having a good week!

Monday

Happy Monday! What's on your agenda this week?  I'm taking a  road trip tomorrow so today I'm getting busy getting ready.  One of the things I needed to do was make a little case for my new point and shoot camera.  My old Canon is on it's last legs, the on/off button was more off than on.  That makes getting those spur of the moment car shots problematic.

 

I made the case because right now I'm still pretending I won't just throw it in the front pocket of my purse and let all kinds of things rub up against it marking it up.  So right now it's a delicate flower. Soon it will be just my regular old camera that's thrown in with my keys.

 

I used the little Styrofoam  protective pouch it came in as a size guide.  I wanted something small enough that it wouldn't take up a ton more room in my purse.   And no magnets, snaps or buttons to potentially rub into the view screen on the back when I carry my purse. I quilted up a long rectangle, then curved one end with a bowl as a guide.  I bound the straight end, then folded it up and basted it in place.  I took a 2 inch strip of fabric folded in fourths and made a strap to hold the flap down.  Basted that in place as well.  Then used bias binding to finish the edges. You can see my careless hand stitching on the flap. 

 

I used monofilament thread to quilt it, why oh why did I totally forget about my smoke colored thread I don't know.  My tension is off, you can see the yellow bobbin popping up, but I was too lazy to spend time perfecting that on this little case. It's much more obvious in the photo than in real life.  It's a nice snug fit, and now that I've attached my strap to the camera I can pull that out the top and carry it that way!

 

I'll try and keep you posted during the week.  You can keep up with me on Instagram ... you know I can't resist that! 

 

Have a great week everybody! xo

 

 

One of those days.

Yesterday started out pretty great.  Up early, full of energy.  Weather is perfection,  low 80s, nice cool breeze.  I went out and ran my errands, went to the grocers, you know that kind of thing. 

 

 

So I came home, got my borders cut for my cherry quilt and then remembered that I had bought a little  gift for a friend and I needed to get in the mail. Hmm. Where did I put that?  Probably someplace safe, right?  

 

 Then BAM my whole day turns into one of those days when I begin to TEAR THE PLACE APART looking for it.  Of course since lately I'd actually cleaned up a little, I thought it I might have accidentally  thrown it away.  Then I thought I might have casually tossed it on the cutting table, aka the dining room table, so I went though all the stuff I had laying on that table and believe me that took forever, since I actually put some stuff away in the search. Maybe it was in my little cart, emptied that twice.  I was pretty sure that I put it on the counter in my sewing room, so I went though that  stuff probably 10 times. Oh wait I might have lobbed it onto my sewing table with other stuff. Went through all the stuff on my table maybe 10 times. Through the recycling that sits at the end of the table because what If I knocked it off. Through the trash in case it was wrapped in mini bubble wrap and I didn't see it inside.  Oh maybe it's on the counter, the table, the cart oh wait maybe it's on the sewing table.  Finally probably two or more hours go by.  NOT EVEN EXAGGERATING.  I sat in defeat at my sewing table totally disgusted with myself and my ways.

 

And then I reached behind my sewing machine for about the 100th time and there it was.

 

So then I put the borders on the quilt and called it a day.  What's new with you?

 

 

Tuesday

One of the things I miss about working in a quilt shop is a chance to see all the new books that come out.  I think I might love books  as much as I love fabric.   Lucky for me Martingale has offered me a chance to review some of their newer titles, so it's almost like opening those boxes at the shop, except I'm in my pj's drinking coffee.

 

There's always a lot to learn in a books and one of my favorite kinds of books  is  a quilt reference book. Hexagons, Diamonds, Triangles and More by Kelly Ashton  is a book that will make a fine addition to my library.  I know how to draft a lot of blocks, but these 60 degree shapes always seemed a little too hard to tackle. Couple that with the dreaded Y seam piecing.. well, I just rarely went there.  

 

The first thing Kelly does is break down all the 60 degree shapes.  Wow! There are a lot shapes. Suddenly all those great hand piecing blocks I've seen on Instagram are starting to make a lot more sense. 

 

 

Once you get an introduction to all the shapes, Kelly moves on to blocks.  There's also a nice setting guide which is helpful knowledge for putting all your blocks together into a quilt. When you get this far you're ready to start cutting, and there's a guide for that as well.

If you're not quite ready for designing your own quilt  don't worry, there are a lot of great projects in the book.  There are templates included and instruction how to make your own, as well as resources for templates to purchase.  It's a great book. If you do want to design your own quilt, she tells you the magic number to make that happen. But you need the book for that!

 

 Thanks for Martingale for providing me with free  digital  copy of this book to review.  I really enjoyed reading it.  It's going to make a great addition to my library of reference books!

 

Monday

Hey there! How are things in your neck of the woods?  Have a nice weekend?  I had a nice weekend, including some sewing time.  I set aside my cherries to whip out a little pillow for  a gift.  I love these little rectangular pillows. It's fun stepping out of the square box you know?

 

This pillow is a standard pillow form 12" x 16" and it was super fast to make. I think I spent more time working on selecting a font than I did making the whole pillow.  I love blanket stitching so once I fused the letters on it was easy going.  Thankfully I have a lot of tv banked up on the DVR so I can sew away these hot days.

 

Today I'll get back to my cherries.  I just need to add the mini inner border and the outer borders then I can quilt it. It finishes up pretty small, so it will go fast. 

 

Ok, lets all have a great week! xo

Friday

I can't even believe it's already Friday. The week just flew by.  I don't even remember what I did, I just know that everyday I'm busy.  Yet why does it seem like I never get anything done?  I don't get it.

 

I am happy that I got my Mini Cherry Pie cut out.  It was a breeze, what an adorable little kit this would make in a shop, you know?  I used to like making kits. I was inspired by Sarah when making my fabric selections.  Click over here to here to see her mini  cherry quilt.

 

I was able to get started on it yesterday, it's fast! I still don't have the knack for getting everything nice and flat like people  do, but whatever.. lumpy is what you expect at this point and I don't want to disappoint you!  

 

Any big plans this weekend? It's going to be a hot one here. It's summer, and I'm having a hard time controlling my urge to complain about hot weather.  I'll try and keep it to a minimum.  Hope you all have a great weekend! xo

Wednesday

Lately I've been a pretty lucky duck!  My mail brought me a couple of really cute packages from friends.. first up was this sweet little bundle of fabric from Tasha, fat quarters of her Country Girls Collection for Riley Blake.  The timing is perfect, my block for the Sew Sweet Bee is due, and it's for Kerri. We're making Dutch Pinwheels in red, pink aqua yellow or navy, three colors and low volume backgrounds! I've got a good start there!

I also ordered a couple of cute patterns from Joanna over at Fig Tree Quilts.  I fell in love with that mushroom and the hedgie tea towel just fell into my shopping cart.  Joanna, being the sweetheart that she is, popped that Mini Blossom and Mini Cherry Pie in along with that little  candy pack of Somerset, her newest line with Moda.  Cherries! Mushrooms! Blossoms!

 

What to make next?  So many exciting choices! 

 

Ok people! Tell me what you're working on.  I love seeing all the projects and hearing about what you're up to!  The weather is still nice so I'm having afternoon iced tea on the porch. Life is good. xo

That time again

Hi there! How was your weekend?  We had a happy weekend and even though it was just a normal old two day weekend it seemed long and fun.  You can tell it's summer now, not just with the advent of some really warm weather, but with the appearance of the Livermore Cowboy out by the freeway in front of the driving range.  Crazy town my friends.

 

The guy is enormous and just a little bit menacing don't you think. It's like he's daring you to come into town.

 

And now just for some perspective.. like I said, they guy is enormous.

I did a bit of sewing last week.. made a little bag.  It's modeled after a bag I made last year, I really liked the shape.  Finding those cherry handles  where I'd put them for safe keeping  was a stroke of luck.  I know they're from Atsuko Matsuyama of  "The Pink Book" fame and you can find them on etsy, and shops can order them from Emma Creation.

 

I'm really enjoying putting little bits of applique on things. I think it makes for a nice personalized project.  I had fun making this and plan on making some more fun things soon. 

 

So what are you working on? There's so many exciting projects going on online.  Sometimes I just get overwhelmed with how wonderful everyone else's projects are I can't seem to get mine started.  Does this ever happen to you?

 

Hope everyone has a great week! xo