Mary Lou that's who!

Happy Saturday my friends.. how are you? I'm having a two Saturday weekend since Bret had yesterday off. I love that. Two days to lounge on the swing with coffee and magazines. This morning I'm reading my friend Mary Lou's new book, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks. I've been a fan of Mary Lou's work for years, starting with Whimsies and Why Nots.

This book, written with her friend Melanie, is another great book about whimisical style. And like a great friendship, they've combined their talents to instruct us on how to make these fun blocks. The first half of the book is about construction and technique and the remaining half is projects and a great gallery of quilts made by Mary Lou and Melanie to inspire you.

The projects are cute..

and I'm pretty sure you can find something that suits your fancy.



Would you like a chance to win a copy of Out of the Box with Easy Blocks? Mary Lou has generously sent me an autographed copy for one of my readers, so leave a comment and I'll draw a name next week!

The one with the crappy photo!

I know, everything about this photo is bad, including the fact that this is the only block I have done. I will say though, I have a good excuse.

OH! You want the excuse. Well yesterday for the first time in ages I met up with Elizabeth!!! We had a great day out, lunch at Chevy's then a bit of shopping in Walnut Creek. Great fun and a good catch up, we haven't actually gotten together in what seems like months..so happy day for me.

I'm using my phone to check block placement here, the way these bowties are set you need to have the the blocks going in the right direction for the alternating snowballs to work out. Glad that I actually thought ahead instead of just plowing through and then realizing it. Like I normally would.

Lately I'm really enjoying watching other people sew. Those stinken Farmer's Wife blocks are still killing me.. the small blocks are wonderful but holy cow the photography and the fabric selections are what really gets me. See what Lori, Camille, Kristyne, Sherri and Amy have done. By no means are they the only people that I follow doing it... just who I'm thinking off off the top of my head.

That's about it here. What about with you?

It's Cotton Time

Hahaha I think I'm so funny! Ok, I'll snap out of it. I was looking at my Cotton Time this morning with my coffee. It's a great magazine, and this month's edition is really wonderful. It just kills me though I can't read every little word on there. Like what does it say in the two o's?



I love the photography in the Japanese craft books. So many perfect little props. And the lighting.. we'll it's a whole wonderful style that I love. And let's face it, the projects are darling too. Maybe it's the fact that I can't read it that makes it so good? I'm not really sure but I love it.

Not much doing here in Pamkittyville. Nothing worth photographing anyway. I vacuumed yesterday, and according to the clear canister it's been a while! Which is weird because I like vacuuming. But it was just stuff like that. I'm savoring every moment of the cooler weather we've been having. Bret came home early and we had a chance to go out and have a nice dinner over in Pleasanton. So August started out pretty good. How about for you?

Monday

Well summer is slipping away fast isn't it? August 1st!! I can't believe it. This weekend was warm but not too warm. Bret has had Friday's off now and again, and we're enjoying long leisurely weekends. Sadly a little too leisurely as we're getting nothing done. I guess it doesn't have to be all about achievement does it?

Inspired by a quilt found via Pinterest, I'm amassing a little pile for a pillow. Just for something fun to pick up. One thing I learned a long time ago from my friend Joyce, if you have a little pile of things to sew, you can make good use of those odd ten minutes here and there.

What did you guys do? Something fun?

Thursday!

Indeed it is Thursday and I am posting! Does this mean I've pushed past my boring Wednesday slump? Probably not! But this weeks Wednesday was pretty fun. I went over to Alex's for a while and that was a blast. Who wouldn't want to spend some time with her! I showed her how to do something but I'm not telling, you'll have to wait till next season of the Quilt Show to find out what!!! NO! I'm not on the show, but she'll show you what I showed her .

I'm happily blanket stitching. It has begun to heat up in these parts again, so most of the lights are off and it's working out ok. Nothing to intricate to stitch so I don't need 20 lights on to see. Luckily I don't need the iron for this either.. just blissful blanket stitching.

Just in case I'm not back tomorrow, you guys have a great weekend. xo

Buying Happiness

I know you can't really buy happiness, but a trip to Diaso comes pretty close. We'd had a bit of a crisis here, our strawberry strainer broke over the weekend, and I needed a replacement. I love that little triangle shaped strainer tucked into the corner of the sink to catch things like tea bags and potato peels and other food recyclables. So you can see I had to go. Necessity.

Of course just stepping inside is a treat to me, it's almost like euphoria to see so many pretty colorful items. Of course that could also be the plastic off gassing... who knows.



I'm telling you, it's a happy place, see what I mean? They have everything. And them some.

Recently on twitter Katy was talking about making some little purses, and when I saw these I figured I could make some too. Hahahahaa I know.. I'll put them in the pile along with the glamp and all the other projects.

Thankfully it was mission accomplished. With a side of tiny strawberry bowls because HOW COULD I RESIST THEM??? It was clearly meant to be.

I know, kind of dime store chic but I love it.

Crime Scene

I know it's probably hard to believe but I did get some sewing done over the weekend. Brenda's pattern is pretty easy to follow and I just turned on the tv and got busy.

I think this owl is so cute! Sadly it's my lack of organizational skills and general untidiness that slows my process down quite a bit, finding just the right fabrics for all the pieces and parts becomes a bit of a challenge.

Of course every time I look at him I can't help it, I start thinking about the opening theme to CSI.

Ok, have a good day crime fighters! xo

Super Friends

Ok, how was your weekend? Busy one here as usual. Well probably not busy by other people's standards but for us, yeah, busy. What about you?

Just have to show you the package that came from my friend Roseann! She and I were chatting on Facebook about the Glamp pattern from the Quilted Fish. Have you seen it? Its a super cute idea and I got all obsessed about ordering a pattern and light kit from her.

Of course sweet friend that she is, she included some goodies with my order. I love that Minnesota bag and it's going right into my car to handle my shopping needs!

She's also sent some of that pretty Minnesota fabric tied with twine and it includes that little lucky horseshoe. And look at all that cute tiny pom pom fringe!!! Lastly, the stumpwork pin cushion kit. DARLING. ( you can find some other kits on her website here) I might be tempted to pull out my embroidery floss and get busy on that. (or at least think about it real seriously) I can get some tips over at my friend Bari's blog We Love French Knots, which has it's grand opening today I believe!

I actually did sew quite a bit over the weekend. More on that later. Hope you guys had fun. Ok, back to work for me. See you later!

Hey! P. S. My friend Sandy emailed me that she's selling some treasures over on her etsy! Check it out! You never know what kind of treasures you'll find!

Give a hoot.

I don't know what it is about Thursdays that I just can't get it together to post lately? Could be Wednesday has turned into kind of a dud day here in PKMville. Hard to say.

Yesterday I went up to Wooden Gate to score some fabric. Particularly boy fabric. Our good friend Shawn has welcomed his son Mason into the world, and I want to make a quilt for him. Not like I didn't know about Mason for a while, since he was just born! But you know me, Pam Procrastination. Yeah, it might as well be my middle name.

Its a pretty pile of fabrics, and I'll be cutting into them asap. I picked up Brenda's darling pattern, I am so happy to have a chance to make it, I love it when she first showed us. And you can see I have some Rosalie, Bari and Verna there, I love using fabrics designed by friends.

So you can see I'll be having a sewing weekend. What's on your agenda? xo

So all about Monday..

I hardly know where to start when it comes to working on the strike offs. Holly and I spent the whole day going through all the fabrics. There were between 2 and 4 pieces for each print to review. Some had differences so subtle I couldn't even tell what they were. Holly was patient and showed me how to use the charts to evaluate each print. Then we laid out each of the prints by color and reevaluated in reference to the rest of the same color. That fruit print.. needs work but it's there to see how it looks with the rest of the yellows. Then we looked at the results in reference to the other prints.

Pinks turn into reds then to blue.. you can see we were still evaluating one of those blues. I don't remember which one we chose, they were both so good.

I have a thing about fabrics with white backgrounds and these whites... amazing. And my yellow dot on white, I'm weeping over how much I love it. I need a bolt, I never want to run out. And you know that's just the start. Holly is a genius and she took my little wad of ideas and turned it into something I think is pretty wonderful.

Then after a day of work, we celebrated with some carefully chosen perfectly matched candies. Isn't that what everyone does?

I hope you like what you see here! The sales period for PamKittyMorning is in its final weeks and soon we'll be sending our print orders to the mill! From then on it's the waiting game!

Indeed

Those are strike offs with my morning coffee!!

Holy cow people, I HAVE A LINE OF FABRIC. I mean I knew I had a line of fabric but somehow seeing it on actual fabric.. incredible. I'll have a few more photos to share tomorrow, gotta run right now, need to work on a quickie project for Alex. See you later! xo

And then it was over.

The weekend came and went. Nice cool weather, happy about that. Bret is home from his trip, super happy about that.

Cup of delicious coffee courtesy of the very kind Miss Jean. It seems extra good today, thank you!!! I'll be thinking of you while I sip away.

The highlight of the weekend. Pretty crazy right? So what about you guys?

Yesterday

I'm really enjoying this crazy cool weather we're having here in Northern California. It's going to heat up again by the end of next week, so I'm enjoying every chilly second of it. Believe me, 70s is much preferable to the high 90s plus we'd normally be having. It is cutting into my regular swing time though, it's too chilly out in your pjs at 7am. Yesterday I was barely able to flip through my Mollie Makes before I had to come inside.

Oh well next week I'll be complaining I mean mentioning it was too hot at 7am to sit out for long.

My little hydrangea is confused, some of it's leaves are already turning fall colors and it's still blooming like it's spring. Anyway, I'm off again to the airport this morning. Bret has been doing a lot of traveling lately. He hasn't been as lucky with the weather though. He'll be happy to fly through the fog this morning and walk out into some cool humidity free air!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend my very special peoples. xo

In the news

You could have knocked me down with a feather when Roseann sent me a picture from the latest FabShop News magazine. Me. Right there. Holy cow.

Honestly I still can't believe it. Any of it. Thanks FabShop Network for featuring my fabric in your magazine !!

Taking care of business.

Good morning everybody! What's new in your neck of the woods? Today it's time to take care of some business around here.. and that's the business of fabric. PamKitty fabric to be exact.

I've received some very nice emails from my bloggy peeps saying they'd like to know just who will be carrying PKM, and I'd love to have a nice list of lovely shops to guide them to! But I need your help.. if you are a shop and you've ordered PKM, or if you know that your local quilt shop or favorite online shop has ordered it, let me know, so I can add them to my list. I know it seems like October is forever away, but the school supplies at Target tell me that it's just around the corner.

Of course now is also the perfect time to ask your favorite shop to carry PamKittyMorning!! Thanks to all of you who've asked your favorite shops already!

Greetings!

Hope your weekend was fantastic! The weather here was perfection on Saturday and pretty darn close on Sunday, even if it was a tad warmer. Windows open! No a/c!! I even pulled the covers on Saturday night. Chilly! It was like being rejuvenated.

Didn't want to disappoint you guys, so I finished my blocks and made the pillow. I love how it turned out. Well I like it a lot, the non-matchiness of it kind of bugs me, but I'm trying to be cool about it. I dug through my stash and found everything to finish it, so all I had to buy was the pillow form. And for that, 50% off coupon, so I bought the expensive one, well worth it.

I used the method that Elizabeth taught me.. and I love how nice it turns out. That woman makes a mean pillow.


See how sweet it looks with the pillow she crocheted for me? Meant to be. Ok, what's on your agenda this week?

Not so tricky

So yesterday I was feeling pretty smug, but that's as far as I got. I had some fabrics laid out for the last 3 blocks of my asterisk pillow, but then never got around to cutting them. What's with that? Maybe today.

Today was the first time in a what seems like ages that I could sit out back on the swing without catching on fire. All this week I've just run out, watered my pots and then run back in. But today I sat out with a magazine for a while, watered my pots in a more leisurely fashion and made a quick tour around the yard. Found this.

What the heck is up with my little crabapple blooming again? It's not covered in flowers, there's just a sprinkling of them, almost like someone had wired little faux blooms on it. Wow, don't get it. Maybe Ferne will see this picture and tell my why it might be blooming again.

That's it today. It's errand day, need to take my mom to the market. Also need to see if I can score the latest Mollie Makes. Roseann has me all flustered panicking over finding it. Hope you guys have a great weekend. Keep cool. xo

Tricked you.

You probably thought you'd never see this project again. I sure fooled you. I worked on it yesterday as it was pretty darn hot out there.

Nothing much else up. Kind of boring, sorry. It's too hot for coffee outside even. What' s up with you?

Sewing weather

Just like in the winter when it rains, super hot weather is sewing weather. Yesterday was one of those days, just too hot to do anything but stay inside. I went out long enough to go to the post office and the grocers.. that was it. Gotta say though, the post office was so cool inside I was a little sorry that it only took a couple of seconds to get my letter mailed thanks to my pal the postal ATM.

Anyway...way back before market I'd found a little gem while I was reading my blogs. Katie's post here shows off her wonderful asterisk pillow and I went off my nut looking at it. So go, look at it and you'll see what I mean (you need to scroll just a tad and then it's all BEHOLD LOOK AT ME.) I love it and it's not too cute... it's just the right amount of cute. I'm not kidding, go look.

Yesterday I was determined to give it a try, so I got out some of my Annie's Farm Stand and used these instructions to make a block.

I love how nice and tidy it presses up. It seems like it will be the perfect thing for a sew day. I could prepare my squares and strips, pack up my small cutting mat and be on my way in no time.


Some careful pressing had mine lining up to the 6 inches it's supposed to be, I'll be more careful in the future.


Still I totally love it. I know I'm really late to this party, but it wasn't till I saw Katie's that I was totally won over by it. Ok, now what are you guys sewing on?

All good things..

So how was the long weekend? We had a bonus day here, Bret took Friday off. That's always a treat for me, we get to have some fun but also get some chores done. The weather got hot again, which isn't my favorite thing. Trying not to complain as we have temps in the 100s. I know you AZ people have it a lot worse. And ...there's no humidity so really I'll curb my complaints. (as best I can, seriously I'm only human.)

Of course yesterday was Pat's annual 4th of July Brunch. I was lucky to be invited again this year.

Her shady backyard is perfect for an outdoor event, and it was quite pleasant.. I was surprised when my car told me it was 100 out front.

It was really the perfect spot for a PamKittyMorning.



Inside and out it's a holiday!

The menu always changes and the food is always delicious. Who doesn't love a pot luck?

Just a small part of the party crowd.

Pat's garden is decked out in patriotic finery. I'm always inspired to really get busy when I get home. Sadly I'm lazy or I'd be out buying plants and flowers today.

Pat received this pretty pincushion as a birthday gift this year. It's so cute..vintage looking and fun.

It was a great time again, and I thank Pat for inviting me and for everyone for being so welcoming into the group of long time friends.

Ok, tell me what you did this weekend!!!

Long weekend coming!

Wow what a week right? It just seemed long to me, what about you? I think for me part of it was Bret being gone for a whole darn week and part was because I'm working on stuff I'm just not good at... always a challenge. Anyway I'm looking forward to the long weekend, what about you?

That's what I'll be doing in the morning, that big new mug (thank you TJMaxx) will be chock full of coffee and I'll be swinging on my swing out back reading magazines. Yes, there will be some BBQ action going on and maybe we'll take a drive. I'll be having 4th of July brunch with Pat and her friends. I'm so very lucky to be included in the group. Yikes, best behavior time.

All you folk have a happy long weekend. Be safe and see you back here Tuesday! xo