Monday, isn't it?

So how's it going friends? Just drinking coffee like it's any other Monday.  It's garbage day here in PamKittyVille and normally I get dressed early as my neighbor Ron and I  have a little friendly competition on who can put all the cans away first.  He used to just put my cans away before I could get to them and then it turned into a little friendly competition when I started to try and beat him to the cans.  The Garbage Games as we call it.  The past two weeks though I've just stayed in my pjs way too late to get even one can out of three.  Not intentionally, just lazy. Poor Ron must think I've given up.  

I cleared off my sewing table, not all the way but a bit, and made room to put some binding on.  I have a big bag of quilts I had quilted and I just need to get moving on it.  I have several bound and haven't even taken pictures yet.  I'm the worst.  But maybe that's a project for this week if the rain lets up.  Anyway I found this quilt that I had forgotten about at the bottom of the bag.  I made it several years ago during an American Patchwork and Quilting sew along, stitched it up at the retreat I went to. I made the mistake of looking through my flicker file and found that the top was finished in April 2016.  Its just one of a lot of finished quilt tops, I can't be the only one right?  The name of it is Easy Addition by the way.  Anyway I stitched the binding on it and I'm chugging away at the hand stitching.  It's big and seems very heavy.  I like it though even at the time I don't remember loving it.  It's got all the PKM whites in it and that's what I love the most.  

Trying to greet each day with optimism and gratitude.  I hope you are all doing well.  Keep your distance, wash your hands and be careful out there friends.  I'm thinking about you everyday. xop

More Sheltering In Place

Good morning friends, how are you?  I see so many more states joining in on the sheltering in place orders, and I hope you are doing ok with that.  I think (hope and pray) it works and we can flatten the curve.  I sometimes barely go out all week, maybe just the market, so it's not a huge change, but I do miss the smaller pleasures, like grabbing a Starbucks and going for a ride in the later afternoon on the weekend with Bret. Especially this time of year when the hills are green and there are signs of spring.  Of course I suppose we could still do that and I could make myself a cup of coffee at home, but I think you know what I mean.  

You probably follow along on IG already, so these are a rerun.  I've started working on the Ellis and Higgs Spring Garden Quilt blocks.   They're so cute.  When I was looking at the website just now to get the url for you, I saw the spring flower from last year's block and now I might have to get that too.  So cute.  

I don't know about you but lately concentrating is challenging and you can see from this  chonky red tulip I missed a step. These blocks are so easy to sew, don't get me wrong, it's all me, not the patterns.  But I have done a lot of seam ripping on almost everyone. 

I've really let my standards slip, photos from my phone.  Back in the day I would never have done that, but lately it's so easy, the path of least resistance.  Then when I come back here to my desk top they look so bleached out and over exposed.  Sorry friends.  I'm just so lazy now.  

The boot is such a cute design to me.  That little buckle detail is so clever.   Doesn't it just jazz up the boot? (Is that who  I am now? Some one who says 'jazz up'?  I guess so.)

Love the rabbit and how serendipitous the gingham placement was, looking like a little glimmer in that rabbit's eye.  

They're all so cute together don't you think?  It's such a cute group of blocks.  I was going to do the larger quilt but given my current level of concentration  I'll stick with the mini quilt.  I can quilt that myself.  More to go .... still have the garden tools and hmm, wheelbarrow, and maybe the mole.  

In other news, we started a new jigsaw puzzle.  We finished our colorful cat puzzle the other day and I had LUCKILY grabbed a couple before we were locked down so next up is a mostly brown Baby Yoda puzzle.  It's going to be a challenge even though the piece count is low.  We need the slightly larger pieces so we see them with our bifocals.  Talk about old people problems! 

Ok, time to let you go.  Thanks for stopping in for coffee with me.  The blog has always been a nice place for me, and everyone has always been so kind.  I hope you are well, keeping a good distance from others and staying safe. Thanks to all of you out there working those necessary jobs in the public, I know we all appreciate it so much.   xop

Classic & Vintage:Carolina Lily

And now for something more normal....

Hi there friends!  Today is Classic and Vintage day here on the blog.  It's one of my favorite projects to do with Fat Quarter Shop.  They take a classic block and make it in a new modern way and I am here for it!!

The Carolina Lily block is one I made when I first started quilting.  At the time I made it the classic traditional way with diamonds and set in seams. That was many many years ago, but Doris, my mother-in-law still displays it at Christmastime.  This updated version is a lot and I mean A LOT easier to make, even considering the applique.

I chose some of Amy Smart's SugarHouse Park, I wanted a nice rich red for the block, going with a traditional colorway. 

The applique on this block uses a 1/2" bias tape maker, but the strip width makes it easy to fold the raw edges to the center and press.   I used monofilament thread with the invisible machine applique technique I learned back in the day, I'm vintage like that. 

I hope you click over to the Jolly Jabber blog and read all about the Carolina Lily block.  And of course I hope you give it a try!  Thanks for checking in with me! xop

Another Shelter In Place Morning

Good morning friends, how are you? I'm up drinking coffee as usual.  Curious of your daily routines and how things are going for you.  Here in California and I know  so far in NY and IL, there are mandatory shelter in place rules.  Are you doing ok? I sure hope so. 

 

Our schedule is more relaxed these days, which is fine.  About three quarters of the time I get up at my normal time and then the oddball days I sleep in.  Weird, I always feel like I've wasted a chunk of the day even though I would have just been watching the news.

 

I haven't done a ton of sewing, I just can't seem to concentrate but hopefully this week will be better.  I went to the grocery store on Saturday and there was more on the shelf than I have seen in a couple of weeks, so I feel a little better about being able to feed Bret and acquire groceries for my mother-in-law.  Miss seeing Frankie, seems like she just got here and now we're quarantined from her, but it makes sense to keep the distance so we have another person who can find things for us if we need it. 

 

I hope you are all well and keeping a safe social distance from friends and neighbors. I'm hoping we can  keep the pace of the virus slowed with our efforts.  Love you guys. xop 

Shelter in Place:Day 3

Hi friends, how's it going?  Same old thing here, wandering around, watching the birds, some sewing, thinking about sewing, refreshing my Instagram feed and worrying about the supply chain for goods. 

 

Last night Bret went up to the market around 8 when we figured most people wouldn't be there.  I had been thinking about how all the fresh produce was gone for the last week or so, and wondered if that was going to be our new normal for a while.  But he came home with 2 nice big heads of cauliflower and I couldn't be more grateful. There was some restocking and the shelves weren't completely empty and I felt a lot better about the situation.

 

Today I saw 3 women friends walking down the street enjoying the sunshine and getting  some fresh air.  They were walking apart as the CDC guidelines suggest so good for them! Earlier this week I saw a mother with a toddler in a stroller and a 5 or 6 year old trailing behind,  taking a daily walk.  I was on the porch and waved at the kids, and it really cheesed the toddler off.  I could see her gesturing to the mother and looking at me and clearly was mad I was waving.  The kid following wasn't too pleased either and no one waved so lets just say I did what any old crone on the porch would do and waved some more. 

 

Anyway on day three  I'm thinking about how grateful I am to have a nice fresh cauliflower to eat. In fact it might have been the best cauliflower I have ever eaten. I have some sewing to work on, my people are healthy and it's sunny out.  I hope you are well friends. 

Sheltering in Place

Good morning friends! Welcome to day 2 of Sheltering in Place, SF Bay Area. I'm lucky in that it's not a huge change in my normal way of life, staying home, doing what I want, except with a side helping of anxiety. Trying to overlook that part right now.

Yesterday we were treated to an afternoon weather event to perk us up. The past couple of days have been California Cold, and there was snow on the foothills around us. It hailed A LOT for about 30 minutes, lots of thunder and lightening to go with it. It was crazy. My backyard has a snowy look to it, and there was maybe an inch of hail on the ground by the end of it.  My old lawn area is just dirt now, but looks so charming covered with snow (hail, it's hail Pam) I forgot it's a dud on most days.  Bret and I really enjoyed it, and later the birds came out in full force and we watched those out the kitchen window for a while.   

You might remember this bundle of fabric.  I really love it.  I added a lot to it and turned it into a pile of 9 patches.   

Then turned those into some blocks.  I have 2 left to make and then I can put it together. Holly and Greg mentioned my IG photo had 1 red block that really stood out.  You can see that picture here. I need to see how it all looks once I finish and maybe make more red blocks or take that one out.. I have other reds there but maybe not quite a solid looking.  We'll see how it goes when I lay it out again.

 

This is Joyce's quilt that inspired me.  She used a fat quarter bundle to make hers.  I love it.  Here darks show off more than mine, mine is pretty mooshy  I love it, but also realize it's not that great design wise. Mediums are my weakness. Even most of my lights are mediums. 

 

It was fun to put together a pile of fabric that wasn't all from one line.  I miss seeing those kinds of quilts. 

 

Also my friend Elise sent me some  shamrock EPP papers and I made this cute shamrock.  Mine looks a little less shamrocky than the other's I've seen.  I should have maybe tried matching pairs.  She made a quick little Instagram IG TV post about how to make them, and I would recommend it if you're a novice like me.  Also, that button covers a lot of sins there. 

 

Now I'm on Day 2 of Sheltering in Place.  Lots more days to go, and I'm all for doing it and hope and pray that we can make a difference for all the people we love in our lives and the people they love and so on and so on.  Take care people, wash your hands! xo

Patchwork Gifts Book Tour

Good Morning!  Today is my day on Elise's Patchwork Gifts Book Tour.  I've been very excited about this book since Elise announced it.  Count me in as a fan of Elise and Emilie on Instagram, I've even done some EPP just so I could stitch up some of those cute Dilly flowers.   

 

Thanks to Tuva Publishing for sending me an advance copy so I could start working on  my projects.  First thing up was the adorable mushroom shown on the cover.   Why oh why have I never used my hemostats to stuff anything before.  I've had them for years.   The pattern is so easy to sew up by machine, and really once you start sewing them you can't stop.  And the hemostats really get that stuffing into the tiny spaces.  I feel foolish for not trying them sooner. 

 

When I chose my 'official' project for the book your, I chose the Bon Bon Pouch.  The list of makers on this tour is pretty intimidating and I didn't want to venture out beyond my capabilities of making something that would turn out book tour quality.   I had some of the cute Peko fabric from Sunny Day Supply so I checked with my sunny friends to order some coordinates and the supplies needed.

 

The templates for this project are wonderful.  Elise uses a classic method of marking I learned many years ago, and my darts and match points ended up perfect.  I love that she has you cut the interfacing smaller so it doesn't end up in the seam, this makes for a nice crisp edge.  The bag works up so cute.  I had never used those  beads  for the pull ties before,  and I'm definitely not a genius about it but they're so cute.  Really, those knots should be inside the bead.  Don't judge me too harshly.

In my excitement I forgot to add some trim in the seams but it still turned out so cute.  I pulled out my cute Heidi Staples fabric to make a cute cherry version that includes some rick rack. 

I couldn't stop with those mushrooms.  Cheri made the cutest mushrooms with lace frills and I loved them.  Check them out here. 

I hope you check out the Patchwork Gifts book. There are plenty of projects for gift giving or keeping, and many techniques are covered.  Elise's instructions are great and the book is a pretty one.  I love when the pictures are pretty don't you? 

 

 

And now since you've followed along  leave me a comment today for a chance to win everything you need to make this little BonBon pouch. (you will need the book)  The girls at Sunny Day have packaged it all up for me in their cute way, so it's extra adorable.    I'll chose a winner this coming Friday. 

 

Thanks for following along,  and thanks to Elise for inviting me to participate.  I love her new book and I think it would be a great addition for your library of sweet sewing books!  There's a lot of cute projects included!!! xop