Wednesday

First off the results of the taste test are in. I performed my own test at home, and yesterday I was sewing with Elizabeth and she had the same opportunity. As you can see she takes these things very seriously. The Keeblers were the winners for her. While I agree their tiny elven size pretzel shape was very cute, too salty.

I'll stick with my Nabisco 100 calorie Mr. Salty's pretzels. To me they are the perfect blend of salty and sweet. I guess Elizabeth and I will agree to disagree on that one.

There's no disagreement on this though, everything goes with heart shaped Junior Mints.

We've had some crazy weather here.. including TORNADO WATCH in Santa Clara. Out in Livermore though, rain and the accompanying rainbows!

See, I'm not lying about the Junior Mints am I? We made some very cute towels. Now if only I had a darling kitchen to put mine in!

Have a happy day peeps! xo

That was fast

Yup, Bret has me up and running again! Hurray! Because working completely off my phone and net book is a pain. I need that desktop with its larger screen to actually see stuff. I noticed a challenger today to my Mister Salty 100 calorie pretzels today. SNACK WARS. I'll let you know how that works out. Mr. Salty is my first 100 calorie true love.

(see you didn't miss a thing while I was gone!)

Bad News

As luck would have it my computer is having some problems. I'll be back when its fixed later this week. In the mean time we'll be enjoying the stormy weather we're having. See you later !!

Wheels

Yeah I'm back on the road again, thank goodness. Yesterday I went out and about, mostly to Target and the market. My life isn't always fascinating you know! So what's with Target not having any big Valentine section and instead having a Costco style warehouse display in the back? Luckily my days home this week were productive. I'm making slow progress on a lot of stuff.. projects for fun with no deadline tend to just ramble on.

Congratulations to local shop In Between Stitches, they're in the spring APQ Quilt Sampler. We've been waiting for their announcement, we'd heard rumblings about it last fall!

Ok peeps you guys have a great weekend!

Overrated

Who needs to go out when garden fresh inspiration comes right to your door step?

Ok, who am I kidding???I'm still going out.

Warning!

Blogger, left home again without a car, is reduced to blogging about colorful trash cans at Daiso and rather boring limited edition candy.
Don't let this happen to you.

Impromptu

Even though I didn't have a car yesterday, I still managed to get out! Elizabeth came to my rescue and we went on a little trip to The Quilter's Inn. The place was MOBBED. We saw some famous people (I'm talking about you BariJ) and some great sewing friends.

Janis was having her drop in sewing class so there were tons of people there! Here's a sample of some of the amazing sewing going on, this is Stephanie Costello's wonderful collage table runner. The picture in no way does it justice, it was AMAZING. Everything about it was good. It just said sunshine to me. So good.

I even got home in time to vacuum and hop on the treadmill with some Cold Case to watch. So how was your day?

Fresh

It's a gloomy day here in Pamkittyville, weather wise anyway! I don't mind though, it's a perfect day to stay home and do something. Ok, I admit it, I'm TRAPPED home as my car is in the shop. Drat. But on the bright side, I have some new magazines to read. And plenty of vacuuming. Color is really making me happy lately. These two magazines covers have me all excited about spring. I just want to make stuff when I see them.

Even the January Nordstrom catalog is telling me to get busy.

Here's my sunshine today. I love those mini daffodils, what about you? I could carry this pot around the house with me so where ever I am they're cheering me on.

Ok, what's up with you guys?

Things I don't get.

So on the list of things I don't get (besides 80's crafts making a reappearance) is burlap. I love to look at blogs about sewing for your home, or fun decorating blogs, and I'm seeing TONS of burlap. I'm even seeing burlap purses out there. I bought some burlap yesterday (and this photo with the primrose is for you KathiD) and you know what, burlap is still scratchy....

...and will not get any better with washing. And drying. Although warning to those who might try, check that lint trap at regular intervals..that weird fuzzy stuff is after 5 minutes in the dryer. The strings are just what I trimmed off the end. I know, you're supposed to just let it hang dry but I had great hopes that I would have a burlap understanding at the end, and I don't. So if you know the secret, please, tell me.

On a very different and fun note, Jen is using my Come Around For Coffee pattern for a block of the month. Super cute job Jen! I love your Fig Tree cups!

Ok, have a great weekend special peeps!

EEK!

It is going to totally sound crazy, but my favorite gift this Christmas was my CottonTail Cottage. It's the coolest cardboard play area for Binnie and she really likes it. And I like watching her play on it. Our dogs and the rabbit don't mix, so we sit locked in the bathroom and she hops around in it and gets her exercise.
I think if you want to blame someone for this, you should blame Elizabeth for showing me the Disapproving Rabbits website where I found links to wonderful rabbity goodness.


I mean really, now can you resist that face?

Primroses and Pansies

I don't make resolutions but I try make some personal improvements each year. Lately I've been in a bit of a rut... neglecting things that normally bring me pleasure, becoming rather disorganized.. that kind of thing.

And being busy. I used to be a lot busier.. weird huh? Anyway, yesterday's get busy plan involved some errands that I' d normally let go till the absolute last minute like OHMYGOSH THE DOGS NEED FOOD or other emergencies like that.

I also treated myself to a trip to Alden Lane Nursery, it's primrose season. They don't yet have quite the full color selection that I'd like to see, so I grabbed up just a few pots and some pansies. I love them, their scent reminds me of childhood.

Ohh something else I'd like a lot. A crazy bunny topiary! Ok you snow peeps, I bet you think this looks good, but believe me, year round weeding isn't the paradise you'd imagine.

Some Sewing Content

I have to be honest, I haven't spent much time in the sewing room the past month. So here's Cyndy, who has! This is a lovely piece made with shot cotton. My timing was perfect, I ended up at The Quilter's Inn when the machine quilter dropped this off. The machine quilting is wonderful.


So what are you up to peeps?

Back to Normal

So peeps, how was it all? I had a great time but I have to be honest, I'm glad life is getting back to normal, whatever that is!
I didn't do much of anything the past week or so. And my house shows it! So I'm going to kick off this first week of back to the grind by ignoring it all and heading out to wish Elizabeth a happy birthday!

Pickin's might be slim around here, I'm a complete dud lately. Don't forget me ok? I've been blog hopping like crazy and I can see everyone is so productive its a bit intimidating!

Alright, better get busy! Have a super day peeps and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!!

HAPPY 2010!!!!

Happy New Year Peeps! Thanks for all the wonderful support, comments and emails over this past year, I appreciate them all.

You guys are the greatest and I hope that 2010 is full of happiness and good health for all of us! xop

The week between..

Good morning peeps! How did it go? It was a great Christmas here.. family, friends, food.. and now we're back on our regular routine. For a few days anyway.So what was the best part for you? For me it was a week long visit with Frankie. I think it was the longest she'd been home in probably a year! But there were plenty of wonderful things, like two sets of visitors from Oregon, my brother and sister-in-law and of course Monica!!!

I think this week I'll take a bit of a break here on the blog.. nothing exciting about vacuuming and putting stuff away. Lets meet back here after the New Year ok? xop

Merry Christmas

Here's hoping all your Christmas dreams come true!!! xop

Christmas Eve

Warning... it seems loud to me here, so turn it down!

Friends and Fun

Yesterday I had the chance to hang out with two of my favorite people, Elizabeth and Alex. Just a little Christmas meet up. I took a million pictures of Elizabeth's amazing home, even Alex got out her fancy new camera to play with.

We spent a lot of time with those pretty aqua vintage ornaments, then realized there were tons with our reflections in it.

It was a super fun day! Thanks for having us over Elizabeth!

Ok peeps, can you believe tomorrow is Christmas eve? Are you ready? I'm lucky my very organized generous mother-in-law volunteered her home again! I'll be cooking there and its a dream as she cleans up as I go. I'm so lucky!!

p.s. Scott is having a big 200 post give away, head on over and enter, he's got a lot of goodies there.

Christmas Surprise!

What a surprise! Monica texted yesterday that not only was she in California, she had some free time and did we want to meet for lunch??? UH, DID WE!!!!!

I'm not going to lie, high jinks ensued.

No Whimpy Bags

Good morning Peeps, how was the weekend? Christmas is creeping right up on us at a pretty fast pace right?

Just have to show off this little number I saw over on Penny's blog.

Penny's bags are always so well made. Look at the close up of those interior pockets when you hop on over there. AMAZING. I think Penny might of heard how much I LOVE THAT DOLL DRESS FABRIC. I think I mentioned it.

Ok peeps, that's it for today! xo

Stalled

I think it sounds perfectly reasonable to start a whole new project when you have several in bits and pieces around your sewing table.

Resistance is Futile

Coming soon on a Christmas tree at my house.

Elizabeth's Dolly Dress Quilt Auction

Today is Elizabeth's day to show off her Dolly Dress Quilt. I think its screaming cute with its scrappy swag border and all the embellishments on the wonderful LakeHouse Dolly Dress Panel. I think the best part about this quilt is that it's up for auction!! Hop on over to Elizabeth's blog to read all about her quilt, and her auction. It's a great chance to help the victims of the Irish Floods this year.

Capstone Festival

Phew, I'm off to a late start this morning peeps. Yesterday Bret and I went to Frankie's Capstone Festival and we got home late. The Capstone is a senior thesis paper, and the topics in the division were all very interesting. The evening was amazing. About a dozen of the students did 3 minute presentations on their thesis and all of them were powerful speakers on very serious topics. I am so impressed with the group. Also impressive, when these kinds of events stay on schedule and when they said 6 to 8pm they mean 8 on the dot.

I only got a couple of pictures that turned out well, here's Frankie and Dr. Stromberg, the Director of Humanities and Communication looking over her presentation.

And Frankie and her friend Kyppriana. So cute and so stinken smart. And even better.. college graduates.

Christmas Centerfold

Wow people, did you see this in the December issue of American Patchwork and Quilting? My friend Renee is featured in a lovely article about a Patchwork Christmas! You know how much I love Renee's booth, here's a chance to check out her home! Be sure and hop over to her blog and check out her Christmas project.

Ok peeps, you guys have a good weekend. xo

Day Out

Yesterday Elizabeth and I headed up to the Quilter's Inn to drop off a couple of quilts and some patterns and to SHOP. Cyndy and Marby were manning the store and they are great fun! (check out those cool birds by local artist Alex Lofrese!)

Elizabeth was working on fabric for a garment, and I think she might have chosen some fabric from a line by a certain Famous someone local, but then that's her story. I had a lot of fun making some fabric combinations. Man I miss that for sure.

Anyway it was a great day. Headed to Elizabeth's to see EVEN MORE DECORATIONS. Really her home is so wonderful I can't wait for her to show it off.

Today starts some days off for Bret. Maybe in the next few days we'll get our tree up. I warned him.. we'll be needing to see those Star Trek ornaments!!

Have a great day Super Peeps.

More Weather!

Hard freeze again last night, these are from yesterday morning, my whole backyard was a frosty wonderland. Kid stuff I know to so many of you, but I can't stop looking at it.
Here's something you rarely see, snow anywhere near a sign for Santa Cruz!! I took a little trip to San Jose to do some Christmas shopping yesterday. I had great luck and it felt like a miracle.

I even sewed. And drank coffee. It was a great day.

Now I better get crackin! I'm headed over to Elizabeth's today. Not only will I see her Doll Dresses quilt, we'll head out for a ride over to Quilter's Inn to drop off a quilt.

You guys have a great day! Hope you're up to something fun. xo