Quilting in the Garden

Hi there! How was your weekend?  It was hopping here in PamKittyVille...  I spent all day Saturday at the studio with Holly.  She's got so much in store for fall Quilt Market!  Sunday I had a chance to spend a few hours at Quilting in the Garden at Alden Lane Nursery! 

 

I was lucky to spend some time with my pal Alex Anderson and her lovely daughter Adair.  I just don't get to see Alex enough even though we live near each other.

 

I like going early in the morning, there's something about the quality of the light then.  The weather couldn't have been better, although it did rain in Livermore in the late afternoon.. not much though. 

 

These two ladies were super nice, they stopped by to say hi to Alex, the mom was the quilter, she lives in Woodland, about 1 1/2 hours away and her daughter lives in Las Vegas.  I caught them contemplating that wonderful log cabin star quilt. I really loved it too. 

I like the thoughtful way the quilts are displayed, with an eye for color and design. 

 

The sunshine at just the right angle illuminates the seams giving the quilts a stained glass quality.

 

This totally cracked me up.

 

This was a very clever display of little balloons.  The quilts selected to go in this area coordinated with them and it was quite cheerful. 

 

These two quilts together were so pretty, the front of one and the back of another..

 

Thanks for another great show Alden Lane! 

 

Next year's featured artist is Freddy Moran! That is going to be on spectacular show!

 

If you'd like to see more people pictures, head over here.. I saw some famous people!

 

So, what did you do this weekend?

Thursday

So what's shakin? It's been a long kind of restless week so far here.  Lots of photoshop sewing and some regular sewing.. and you know, waiting.  My fabric should be here the beginning of next week.. you know the early bits before market. The rest will arrive sometime later, after it's long cruise.

 

I've had some small projects to keep me busy. I am not sure why I even made that churn dash.. I was testing out a little idea.. but now I can't even think of what it was.  I worked on a purse that did not work out as I had hoped.  I need to take some time to explore interfacing options and find a store that caters to garment makers.  The 'usual suspects' just aren't doing the trick for me. Something for Future Pam to worry about I guess. 

 

Tell me about your week! What's new? What's happening?  Are you as excited about  TV shows coming back?  BLACKLIST!  I love it!  Did you try any new shows? I love TV and want to hear what you think. 

 

Ok, I guess I better get busy, these projects won't sew themselves. (will they?) xo

Train Station

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Sharon invited Bret and I  to an open house at her friend Terry's house. I knew Terry had a pretty sweet train set up but holy cow people!  We couldn't believe how incredible it was.  Here's Sharon standing in front of  "Sharonville". 

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Here's the quilt school named after our friend Alice-Jane.  You can hop on the Sharonville trolley to get there..

 

..you might have stopped at our friend Ann's Photography studio, or maybe picked up a new outfit at Sharon' s Glad Rags. 

The trolley runs on a regular schedule making stops all around town.

 

 

 

Camp Snake-o is right around the corner to the east.. stay out of the pond, there's snakes and alligators there.

 

New development right outside Sharonville.

 

To the west, Riva's Ranch.  Pretty nice spread  going in both directions. 

There are larger towns along the tracks, and there's a lot of different trains that run through town and out into the countryside, both passenger and freight.
 

 

There's even an industrial section with some hobos living under the tracks. Every now and again the rum factory emits smoke, which totally cracked me up.

There are several churches in the area, and this one has it's own graveyard.  I didn't see any zombies though.. wouldn't this be fun at Halloween?

 

 

There apparently is a bit of crime in the bigger towns, you can see a police officer apprehending a suspect down at the Harley Dealership.

Nearby in Lake Louie there is a lot going on.. a small wedding, boating, church and a luncheon spot.

There were seats in the shade for watching the trains go by, and there were a lot of different kinds of trains, which was pretty interesting.  There were quite a few kids there, and the older ones enjoyed a treasure hunt around the tracks looking for a long list of items.

 

It was a great open house for friends and neighbors and we saw quite a few people we knew.  Terry and his friends work on the trains during the summer, and then end the season with an open house. After this weekend the trains and all the many details will be packed back up and nicely labeled for next year.  I honestly don't know how they the do it, there were thousands of tiny little pieces , how are they not finding little people or animals all through the winter?

 

We had a great time, thanks Sharon for inviting us over! Terry, your 'train set' was amazing!  I really enjoyed seeing all your hard work on display!  It really is pretty incredible!

 

Have a good week everyone!

Friday

I've been happily sewing away on my Little Quilts Swap Quilt.  I have loved this little quilt ever since I saw it on Amy's blog a long time ago.  I had a screen shot up on my sewing room wall for ages, and I just took it down when I received my copy of the book.   It just seemed like the perfect thing to make and I hope my swap partner likes it.

 

Big plans for the weekend?  We'll probably keep it on calm side here. Bret is still coughing up a storm with the cold I so generously shared with him. Poor fellow. So I'll get some sewing in probably.  I have some blanket stitching ahead of me!  I love that so much.

 

Can't wait to hear what you're up to! Have a great weekend! xo

Quilt Now

Good morning!  I've let the week slip away without checking in again, so very sorry.  Have you been busy?  I've been actually doing some sewing in between my other little jobs, things that need doing for market, things that need doing around the house.

 

So I don't know if you've seen it, but I have a project in the second issue of Quilt Now!  When Katy asked if I'd like to submit something I was so excited.  And even more excited when my  Sail Away  Cushion was accepted! 

I love the layout of the magazine.  It's so fresh and the photography is wonderful. The project takes center stage but there's still lots of interest in the photo.. and it conveys the theme. Don't you love the little washi tape notes?  

 

Well needless to say I'm pretty darn excited about it.  So far you can't just head over to Barnes and Noble to get a copy, but you can order single issues from Pink Castle Fabrics and Fat Quarter Shop.

 

Anyway, that's it for now.  I hope you're having a good week. xo

 

 

Monday

Hi there!  Happy Monday! It's Little Quilts day here again, this time I'm here to announce the winner of the book.  It's Cynthia who said "Here's my advice....all you need to do, is make a cute vintage mini out of your gorgeous fabric and your swap partner will be overcome with joy!!! " Cynthia, email me and let me know your address so that Cico can send your book!

 

I sure appreciate all your advice, and I enjoyed all your comments.  I hope you'll all head over to see Nedra today, it's her turn on the Little Quilts hop!

 

What did you do this weekend?  We had a nice busy weekend, those are always fun. It's hot here still, high 90's both days, yikes.  Man mother nature sure is sending me mixed messages with the heat and the amount of fall leaves in my backyard. I don't know what to make  of it.

 

I have my little quilt mostly cut out, I can start assembling it today. I'll let you know how it goes!

Friday

Hi there Happy Friday!  I hope you had a good week.  I had a good one myself, although its gotten pretty warm again and I'm feeling a bit of a whine come on.  Good thing it's Friday! 

 

One of the fun things Linda and Mark had planned for me was a trip out to Blue Earth Minnesota.  It's about two and half hours out from the Twin Cities, but we broke up the time by stopping at the crazy yellow barn. That alone is a trip on it's own, but we like to cram a lot into a day. Here's a link to a news story on the yellow barn, or rather Jim's Apple Farm, and I hope if you have time you'll head over and watch the little video.  It's pretty interesting and won't take up a lot of your time!

 

Fueled by a trip through the candy shop and then a stop for coffee we headed south towards Blue Earth.  Holy cow, this guys head sticks up way above the surroundings, so they're no missing this from the freeway! Look at his shoes, I'm 5'4" and I'm barely taller than those points!

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some Giant Facts.  I like that the sign says "What are some cool facts I can tell my friends about?".. it's like they knew I was coming!

 

I was disappointed that the museum was closed.  Can you imagine the wonderful souvenirs inside?  Someday maybe I'll travel back through there and then they'll be mine.  I hope there's a snow globe. How awesome would that be? Not to mention probably pretty realistic for winter.

 

Well it's the weekend, any big plans?  I hope to get some sewing in.  Have a happy one peoples! xo

Rose Mille, Stillwater Minnesota

One of the fun things we did on my vacation in Minnesota  was head over to Stillwater and visit Rose Mille Studio.  Linda is very good to me on my visits, and she indulges me  in all kinds of delightful trips out and about.  

 

It was fun to talk to Michelle, the owner of Rose Mille, it all seemed so familiar and it turns out she was here in California down in Willow Glen for a while. We had a great time talking about the area and old placed that we loved to go. 

 

There are so many treasures here, I can't even begin to list them off. 

This bowl! All the sweet little stamens you could need.  I would have loved to sit and make some pretty paper flowers while I was there.  There was so much beautiful crepe paper there just waiting!

I managed to clear out a lot of those little posies on the top tier.  I have a soft spot for those little colorful bouquets, and while I've had them in many colors, they just make me feel happy when I see them.

 

I came home with a little bag of goodies of course.  I'll get a picture of those soon, but they're wrapped so sweetly I just can't bear to open it all up.

 

For people attending Quilt Market, I think Michelle said she was having a booth there.. and of course for spring.. you can head over to the shop, just follow along with Michele on Facebook, her website or blog and get the real scoop.

 

Ok peoples! I'm headed over to Holly's today. Should be a fun day at the studio and maybe even an outing! See ya later! xo

Little Quilts Monday!

Good Monday Morning! How are things with you?  I'm back in business with coffee and coughing, but I feel so darn good compared to last week I'm calling this cold over!  Take that germs! 

 

Anyway, lucky for me and you because today is my day on the Little Quilts blog tour.  Just to bring you up to speed, my pals Amy and Sarah wrote this super cute book, Little Quilts!  I love that it celebrates their friendship quilt style, since so many of us are friends through quilting. You can read on  Sarah 's  and Amy 's blog about the book and how they came around to writing it.

 

So onto the super fun super scary to me part! They've devised a secret swap between some friends and over the course of the next month or so, we'll be making a little quilt to send to our swap partner.   Of course I know who my TOP SECRET SUPER SWELL swap partner is, but choosing something to make for them? Yikes! Do I choose something that says 'swap partner' do I choose something that says 'me' to my partner, and don't even get me started on what quilt to make.  I've had my eye on that basket quilt since I first saw it on Amy's blog.  And that bee... Could I even embroider well enough for that? I love it so much.  You'll see, the people on the list are some pretty amazing quilters, so there's pressure all over the place!  Well honestly, not really, won't a swap partner love anything?  I THINK SO.    

 

this photo blatently stolen from Amy's blog by me

 

Anyway wanna see the list?  Duh, of course you do! 

 

September 1: Amy and Sarah

September 8: Pam Vieira-McGinnis

September 15: Nedra Sorenson

September 22: Lynne Goldsworthy and Krista Hennebury

September 29: John Adams

October 6: Katy Jones

To spice things up a bit more, Cico books is giving away a copy of Little Quilts at each stop along the way, so leave me a comment giving me some advice on the swap, and I'll announce the winner next Monday. Don't worry, even if you don't win, you'll have some more chances coming up to try again along this blog hop!

 

Thanks Amy and Sarah for including me in on this fun secret swap, and thanks to Cico books for sending me a copy of it to use!

 

Ok everyone! Have a great week! xop

Wednesday

Hi there.. I know, it's been so long since I checked in here with you!  I managed to pick up a bug while in Minnesota and I've been fighting a summer cold ever since.  Still not 100% but feeling better.

 

I am back to announce the winner of the Fat Quarter Style Book.   Our lucky winner is Vintage-Cecelia who said "I would love love love one of these books! Thank you!"  So Vintage-Cecelia, email me your mailing address and I'll send the book to you this week!

 

I'll be back soon to catch up!  Until then I'll be sitting in my chair looking at instagram! xo