Monday

Hi there Happy Monday!  How was your holiday weekend?  I had a great one! The weekend is always more fun when Bret has an extra day off.  How did we spend it?  I'M NOT EVEN SURE! I think Lowes, the grocers, some basic errand running, probably a lunch out.  Pitiful I can't remember back that many days!

 

Brunch with Pat on Saturday was super fun. The food and the company was great, and of course it's always fun to see Pat's Patriotic Décor.    The weather was kind to us, a nice breeze and not too hot, till later in the day  anyway.

 

Cups, dishes, table linens decorations, flags, plants.. she's got it all, even her ice!! Its stars!  But seriously it's been super fun to be included for a lot of the years  but it  was the last brunch, Pat's hanging up her  apron and calling  it quits.  Sob.  End of an era! Thanks Pat, you're the best!

 

Bret and I went out in the evening and found a spot to catch the Alameda County Fair fireworks.  First time in a while they've had them, it was fun.  It was good weekend overall!

 

Now is time for some detective work.  My friend Sarah found these things out flea marketing.  For some reason I'm just crazy to know what they are. I've followed Sarah for years and she's always finding cool things but  this is driving me bonkers.  Maybe someone will recognize them.  So far no one knows for sure but we've got tons of guesses. 

 

Ok, big plans for the week?  I've got stuff to do and I better get busy.  Have a good one friends. xo

 

Sewcation

Hi there, Happy Friday!  I'm home from Utah and my sewcation.  I had a blast with Nanette, we went to a lot of great shops, did  some sewing and we hung out with her family.  It was pretty fantastic.  While I'm happy to be home with my people, I sure miss hanging out with her.  We even had lunch with Lori one day, and that was fun, no photos though, just trying to live in the moment.. but it makes for boring blog posts. 

 

 

We all love fabric, and I managed to score a lot of it while we were out.  I'm in love with the cute Elea Lutz Little Joys fabric.  I'm taste testing those prints, trying to decide what to make.  For sure I know Frankie would like some Christmas pillow cases.  Now to decide which prints and then order more yardage. Until then, HoardCity.   Also I'm loving Lori's garden text print, and I'm saving that with these aquas below for a little project.  I think they'll all mix up with Pam Kitty Garden and Fog City Kitty quite nicely.  I've got some of Tasha's new fabric too, super cute..  I love her toile prints and those strawberries.. precious. If I can't sew with friends I can sew with friends fabrics, right?  It's just about the same. 

 

 

Three day weekend for my peeps, so I'm sure that we'll be busy doing something, even if it's nothing!  What about you?  My friend Pat is having her last Fourth of July Brunch, so I'm excited to be there for the event.  If you've followed along with me for a while, you know Pat what a great time it is.  Now what to make! That's always hard for me.. deciding that.

 

Ok, happy weekend people!  Be safe in your celebrations!!! xo

Tuesday with Krista

Good morning from Utah! I am up with the birds, I am so excited to be here. Can't wait to get my coffee made and and get to the sewing machine!

Just wanted to share my Quilt Show Quilt Market interview with Krista Hennebury. Hope you'll take a peek at Krista and I talking about her new book!



Heres the link to Krista's blog, hope you go check it out! http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com/

I am having a little trouble with normal links working on my tablet, can't quite figure it out.

Ok, better get a jump on the day! Xo

Road Trip

Woo hoo!  Good thing I have this ginormous Paul Bunyan size cup for coffee from Roseann as I'm headed out for week visiting Nanette this morning! This cup is is by the same designer that my everyday sized Paul Bunyan mug from Linda.

 

A long drive necessitates extreme measures. 

 

I will live large!

 

Anyway, I have some sewing ready to sit and sew and visit.  We're also headed out for some shop hoppin!  I can't wait to see what Nanette has in store. 

 

I'll be instagraming all week, so you can follow me here.  And speaking of instagram, holy cow, take a look at all the Pam Kitty Garden projects with the hastag #pamkittygarden, so much fun! 

 

Thanks for all your lovely comments and emails about the Country Living magazine!  Now have a great week everyone!  xo

Country Living

Hi there happy people!  How was the weekend? It was wonderful weather here, not too hot, which is always nice.    The most exciting thing was getting the July/August issue of Country Living magazine. 

 

 

 

Holly and I  had heard that they'd included one of the Pam Kitty Garden prints (Pam Kitty Floral LH14019B Pink)  in an article as one of the 'get the look' items. It turns out Sarah Richardson has it on her list of "Classic Country Patterns for a Steal", and I couldn't be more thrilled about it.

The beach cottage is so charming, I love the feeling of the home.

 

Here's a larger swatch of the fabric!  SUPER EXCITING.  I guess now I'll do some panic purchasing of more yardage!  This has been one of my favorites and I've used almost all of mine up. 

 

That should keep me on cloud 9 for a while don't you think?  Have a happy week everyone! xo

 

Friday!

Good morning!  Happy Friday peeps!  How was your week?  I'm all caught up with my stunt sewing now, so I can get back to working on all the in progress things around here.  

 

It's Father's Day weekend.. do you have big plans?  We'll be spoiling Bret this weekend, and keeping cool with the arrival of some hotter weather. 

 

Lots of #farmgirlfriday  action going on..I'm looking forward to seeing some more great blocks. Lori has been a busy Miss Bee  teaching at two Farm Girl retreats, but she's still sewing up a storm.. so follow along with her on Instagram.  My week is coming.. I need to get busy. 

 

Ok happy weekend everyone!!  xo

Snapshots Triple Scoop!

Good morning! How was your weekend?  We're still weekending here, Bret has the day off!  We've had some nice weekend weather so we've had fun and caught up on chores and I even got a lot of sewing done!

 

It's Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots day again! The months with this quilt are flying by. This month is Triple Scoop Sundae and it's cute with a cherry on top! I've used my Pam Kitty Garden fabrics.

 

So by now you know the drill!  You can catch the video over on the Fat Quarter Shop YouTube Quilt-Along page here!  Then catch the most recent pdf over here on the Jolly Jabber! Just scroll down till you see the cute sundae!!  Then download your block and get busy stitching.  We're also hoping you'll donate $5 for the  pattern to the St. Jude's Research Hospital, it's a great cause!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing your blocks on Facebook and Instagram!   Be sure and tag them with #fqssnapshots and #fqsfun so we can all see them!   You can also join the Facebook group and post them there! 

 

Ok, have a great week everyone! xo

Classic and Vintage

Good morning and happy Friday!  This morning I'm going introduce you to the latest Classic and Vintage block from Fat Quarter Shop,   Delectable Mountains.  This block has a  rich history in American Quilting.  Doesn't it make you think of the early American pioneers coming   to the west over the Rockies?  

Fat Quarter Shop has a free pattern for this block, and like all of their patterns, it's clear and concise and easy to use to whip up a pile of Delectable Mountain blocks in no time.  There's also a video where Kimberly shows you how to make one. 

 

If you'd like to see some examples of great old Delectable Mountain quilts, take a peek at  my board on Pinterest here.   Once you make one block you're going to want to make a lot more, and Fat Quarter Shop has a t downloadable pattern for a quilt for the nice price of $4.98.  That's a bargain for sure!

 

Now head over to the Jolly Jabber and see who else is making Delectable Mountain blocks and be sure and download your free pattern! Don't forget there are a lot of Classic and Vintage videos over on the Fat Quarter Shop you tube channel!

 

Ok, have a happy weekend!

Rain

WE HAD RAIN! Lovely soft rain  all morning and in the afternoon it rained a little more earnestly!  Oh it was so divine I could hardly concentrate on anything else.  My beautiful blooming black stemmed hydrangea was heavy with all the big fat drops of rain on it!

 

My pots all soaked up the water like sponges!

 

What a day people, what a day!

Sizzle

It's officially summer in spite of what the calendar says, it was in the high 90s yesterday... today should be cooler, low 90s and then the week will cool as it progresses.  While I don't want to complain about the heat, it seems extra hard with the drought, the glimpses of green are so few and far between.  This is a giant park at the end of our block.. sob. Doesn't look like a nice place for kids now, and all the lovely shade trees around the equipment are gone. OUCH that slide would really burn you! The trees along the street, not pictured here, are looking pretty stressed, and I fear for a couple of the redwood trees. 

 

I still  see people doing stupid things with water.. but hopefully most of the people are following the rules.   My back lawn looks like this park.  Not a fun place to be on the swing anymore. 

 

BUT I DON'T WANT TO GET TOO BOGGED DOWN IN IT.  My sewing room is still full of beautiful color, even though it's a hot mess.  I'm working on the quilts for Holly and the new Sunrise Studio fabrics are ADORABLE. 

 

Ok, better get to work instead of dilly dallying around here.  Keep cool northern hemisphere people! xo

 

Friday

Happy Friday!  How was the week? I mainly dorked around my house all week, a little of this and a little of that.. plus laundry!  Coming home to a broken washer has me full of appreciation for  my washer and dryer. I was taking my good fortune for granted, won't be doing that again!

 

Today is Farm Girl Fridays.. I can't believe we're in week six already!  I love seeing everyone's block on Instagram.  It's also the day to pick the winner of the Teach me to  Applique Book!  It's Elaine K. who said "Appliqué is definitely something I want to learn. There are so many fun aspects to quilting!"  Elaine, email me at rocketqltr@yahoo.com and I'll send your book to you!

 

Big plans for the weekend? I'm going to be sewing up a storm for Holly.   I'm using my backup machine, my beloved Bernina 1260 is in the shop.  I'm nervous about it, apparently it could be the mother board and finding one for an old machine might be problematic.  I have a nice Bernina 180, but it's just not the same.   Yikes.  I guess this is my problem, I fall in love with something, like my machine or my phone with a keyboard and I don't want to let that go for something new.  I can learn something new I JUST DON'T  WANT TO.   Talk about old lady problems.

 

Time to get more coffee and get a jump on the day!  Hope you all have a good weekend! xo

Pam Kitty Around Town

Hi there!   I'm still thinking about my vacation, a lot!  I had a great time in Minnesota.  One of the fun things that Linda and I did was attend Pat Sloan's book signing at Barnes and Noble!   It was  a great chance to meet up with Roseann too.. so super fun time.  Pat had a nice turnout, you can catch some pictures over on her blog here. 

 

Jennifer Keltner was there to introduce Pat.  Jennifer is the Publisher and Chief Visionary Officer at Martingale now. 

 

Pat is a great public speaker.  Linda said she really enjoyed it even though she doesn't sew or quilt!  I think that says a lot!   

 

I really like Pat's book, it's a great resource even if you never make one project! I picked up a signed copy of Pat's book at the event, and if you'd like a chance to win leave me a comment !  I'll pick a winner at the end of the week! 

 

Ok, that's it for now!

 

#pamkittyaroundtown

Pam Kitty Goes to Quilt Market

Good morning friends! Seems like forever since we've met here for coffee!  I just went through my photos from Quilt Market and thought I'd share some with you.  It's just a small sampling, you can find tons online, you might even already be tired of looking at them at this point.  I saw a lot online myself, and hope that I've captured some that you didn't see. 

First off is my friend Sherri and her daughter Chelsi.. I'm sure by now you've seen their cute new line of fabric Bright Sun.  I've followed along on Sherri's blog for many years and am so happy for her.  If you click over she has several posts about quilt market and a lot of great photos. 

 

One of the most exciting things for me to see is a quilt made up in  Pam Kitty fabrics.  This cute Spoolie Bird quilt by the girls at Stitches of Love is made using Pam Kitty Garden fabrics. My favorite part of this is the fact that you can get laser cut kits, no tracing, and no cutting, it's all done for you.  Just turn on your iron and get busy!

Here's a corner of the Under a Garden Moon booth.  I particularly love the Tessie pattern, at the center of the photo laid out under the book. I have it in my pile of things I'd like to do.  Amy has a lot of really delightful patterns, you should check it out.

 

Here's Gudrun's booth! I love the quilts she displayed, my favorite being that Strip Plus pattern, featured prominently on the left side of the booth. 

Here's my favorite from the Anka's Treasure's booth. I have admired Heather's work for a long time, her designs and fabric selections are so appealing. This quilt on the cover of her book Angles with Ease 2 is great, and it has that 'make me now' quality that makes me want to whip out some fabrics, get my cutter and get busy. 

Sherri who owns This and That Patterns had a lot of great patterns. This is just a little piece of her cute booth that featured some of her wonderful new patterns in her book Winter Wonderland just out in May.  It was exciting to see a bunch of Pam Kitty Picnic featured in her quilts! 

Here's my friend Celine in her Perkins Dry Goods booth.  Celine designs great traditional patterns and she has two tools, the Corner Cutter and the Perfect Piecing Seam Guide.   Check her blog here to see her new patterns for spring.

Terry Atkinson of Atkinson Designs had a great trailer in her booth. She and her husband have recently bought a reproduction Shasta trailer inspiring her to design some cute new patterns, including Wanderlust show here in her booth. I think Terry has the best instructions around. 

I'm sure you all know Cindy from Taylor Made Designs! She's been in the business designing clothes, dolls, purses and quilts for a long time! I have a nice collection of her books and patterns.  Her daughter Elizabeth joined her again in the booth, she's so fun.

 

It's not market without a trip past the Riley Blake booth to see Lori's display!  I don't even know how Lori manages to get it all done!

Another person who's work I admire is Allison from Cluck Cluck Sew.  Her new line, Hazel, is fresh and fun, and all her new projects are delightful.  You can't help but feel happy looking at them.

I am always thrilled to see Rosalie! Here she is in front of her display at the Ella Blue booth. I love her cheerful fabrics.. we like the same types of prints and colors! I had a wonderful chat with her and Jodie on Sunday afternoon when things slowed down.  Its so great to see people at market you almost forget it's work!

JODIE!  Seriously yours truly can be such a nut ball.  I am cruising her booth, chatting it up, talking about her pal Ann, admiring all her wonderful projects and it takes like TWO DAYS to realize Jodie and JODIE RIC RAC are the same person. I fight a losing battle with actual names and social media names or blog names.  And seriously how cute is her line Backyard Circus?  It was great meeting up in real life with her.

Of course you can't think of Australian quilters without thinking of Gail Pan. What fun she is. I am in love with that cute sewing themed little quilt behind her in the photo, Sunshine and Butterflies.

New to me, but not new is Kori from Olive Grace Studios.  I just loved her booth and all her pretty projects.  Her soft colors  were so pleasing to look at, and I liked her combination of piecing and embroidery. 

 

One of the exciting things I got to do was walk around with John from the Quilt Show, and talk to some people about their projects. My first interview is available here. My segment is about the vintage quilts.. but there are more to come. I spoke with some of your favorite people.. so I'll keep you posted.  I loved talking to Carolyn Springer about her collection of vintage quilts! There are other interviews with Alex posted as well, it's a fun glimpse into what's up!

 

Ok, that should do it for us today!  Hope you had a good weekend! xo

 

 

Friday

Hi sweet friends! How are you! I am enjoying my time here in Minnesota with my family.  The weather is sunny and warming up a bit, and its nice and sunny.  I am enjoying all the beautiful green everywhere.  I need to soak it all up before I go home.

Just a few more days then I head back home to my people and my sewing machine. Do you have big weekend plans? Tell me all about it! Xo

Tuesday

Good morning friends! How are you? I am enjoying a wonderful Minnesota vacation with Linda and Mark! Its beautiful and green here, so lovely.  And best of all the company! So great.  Today we are headed over to see Pat Sloan at Barnes and Noble, shes doing a trunk show there and that should be fun. 

Barbara Bailey, you are my Quiltmaker 100 Blocks winner, so please email me your address so Quiltmaker can send your magazine.

OK super friends! Time to get another cup of coffee!

Snapshots Month 5

Hi hi good morning!!  Rev up your Alphabitties, it's May 15 and that means it's time for this months Snapshots Block, Kindred Kitchen!  I think this apron block just might be my favorite block, so far anyway! 

 

Do you wear an apron?  Growing up my mom always had an apron on, usually one that had long ties that criss crossed in the back or that tied around the neck.. classic fifties style aprons that all the neighborhood moms wore.  I didn't own an apron again for many years, but now I use one around the kitchen for cleaning up and cooking, you know, the job that aprons do best! 

 

 

This apron reminds me of my mom's aprons growing up, it's cute right?  And this Snapshots quilt is all about memories and so it's absolutely perfect! I used my cute Pam Kitty Garden Birdies in aqua and the Gingham Rings in navy, with picnic plaid for the pocket.   Every apron needs a pocket! 

 

Head over to the Jolly Jabber to get your pdf for this cute block! Kimberly has a great video to show you how to make it, just head over here to the Fat Quarter Shop you tube channel to see it. Then download your block and get busy stitching.  We're also hoping you'll donate $5 a pattern to the St. Jude's Research Hospital, it's a great cause!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing your blocks on Facebook and Instagram!   Be sure and tag them with #fqssnapshots and #fqsfun so we can all see them!   You can also join the Facebook group and post them there! 

 

Ok, today I'm in Minneapolis at Quilt Market!  It's the first day and I am looking forward to seeing all the new things!

 

 

Tuesday

Good morning!  I hope everything is coming up roses where you are!  I've now entered the pre-market-panic-zone.. not even sure why really.  Nothing seems right about my clothes and do I have all the chargers for my devices???  I NEED MY DEVICES.  Today is the trip to the salon to refresh my disguise as someone younger than I am.  Or at least someone with brown hair.

 

Yesterday I made a little bag to surprise Holly, she has some cute pins, and they're chunkier than my little round pins so  she needed a bigger bag to tote them around with her. I adapted the laundry bag I made last summer to add a contrasting band.  My sewing machine is having a bit of a mental breakdown, it doesn't like anything but a regular straight stitch, so no cute applique.   It's headed to the shop while I'm gone. 

 

Ok, that's about it really. See you when I get back! And if you're coming to quilt market, see you there! xo

 

The Monday before Market!

Good Morning.. welcome to what will be a fast paced week for a lot of us attending Quilt Market.  I head out of here on Wednesday morning, but not too early, thank goodness.  Normally I'd want to be on that earliest flight but I decided to switch things up and take a more relaxed approach to travel, and take a midmorning flight.  Too soon to tell if I'll regret that. 

 

You may remember when I made a small camera case to hold my then new point and shoot Canon camera.  That black case seemed to make sense at the time, I mean it matched the camera, but didn't match my bag, so I had to remedy that before market. I love the aqua Pam Kitty Garden prints in my new Farmer's Market Bag, so I pulled out some more and got busy. 

 

My friend Roseann sent me a box of happiness recently, and included, among other things, was some adorable crochet edge bias tape we'd seen when we went to CHA.  Turns out the pink is  a nice match to the PKG and it pleases me each time I open that little case to get my camera out.  Need some?  You can catch Roseann on Facebook and order it from her!

 

 

 

The case is a nice snug fit, and believe it or not, even without an buttons or magnets, that little flap stays put.  I can pull that camera strap out and  carry the camera that way. You ask why not a cuter strap?  Well the spot that the strap slides into is so minuscule I'm not sure I could make that happen.  I barely could get this one in!   It doesn't bug me.  Honestly.

 

Quilt Market has a bonus side this year, since it's in Minnesota.  Not only will I see all my quilt market friends that I see just once or twice a year, but I'll have  a week to spend afterwards with my cousin.  I don't know if we'll find anything more exciting than this guy..  or for sure this! But there will be plenty of coffee drinking and catching up. 

 

Ok super friends have a good week! xo

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks!

Hi there !!! Welcome to Day 5 of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks blog tour!  I'm very excited to be included in Volume 11!   I'm so happy to be one of a handful of people who have been included in all magazines! 

 

My block was inspired by this cute vintage canister I saw on vacation.  Love everything about it, the cute heart shaped leaves, simple posy shape and the little scallop border it's sitting on! 

 

I love the simple vintage style, and I feel like I captured that in my block!  I can just see this little pot of flowers sitting on the window sill of an little old cottage! 

 

Thanks for including me in your  magazine Quiltmaker!  It's a great publication, so many interesting blocks, applique and pieced, all techniques included!   If you have collected these magazines you know what I'm talking about, if you're new to Quiltmaker's 100 blocks then I encourage you to pick one up!  If you'd like a chance to win a copy from Quiltmaker, leave a comment here and we'll pick a winner next week before I leave for Quilt Market!   You can have another chance to win by heading over to the Quilty Pleasures blog and seeing what they're up to! There's always great content just waiting for you to discover it! 

 

Happy weekend everybody!

Farmer's Market Tote

Good morning sweet friends!!! How was your weekend?  It was such a nice weather weekend here, warm but not too warm, and sunny!  I sewed all day Saturday and then soaked up all the happiness outside on Sunday afternoon.  We're in for a cooling trend this week, so to me, perfect weather.  Sunny but not hot.

 

Finished my latest Farmer's Market Tote Bag.  Gosh that aqua on the sides is my favorite print, favorite color.  Of course I love it almost as much in the pink and peri and super excited for the white that's coming with Fog City Kitty.  I used my new faux patent hot pink handles from Emma Creation which are a great with the pinks in the collection!  Super excited about the handles, I think they just add a nice touch to the finished product. 

 

Next up is a cute little coordinating camera case. I'm thinking pink.  What's on your agenda? 

Farm Girl Friday

Good morning and welcome to the first Farm Girl Friday!   I'm excited to be part of Lori's farm girl friends sewing along with her new book, Farm Girl Vintage!

 

I hope you're going to sew along with us.  Each #farmgirlfriday  two bloggers will be showing off farm girl blocks.  There's lots of super cool people on the list so you're going to want to check in over at the Jolly Jabber each Friday to see who's sewing! It's going to be motivating and #farmgirlfun.   I hear there's even a cute farm hand  playing along! 

 

There's lots coming your way and while you wait, check out this great video from Kimberly talking about how to use your backing fabric  as your binding!  I'm glad I saw this, I've never don't it before and can't wait to give it a try.  It's an old school technique that would be prefect for potholders!

 

Happy Friday my sweet friends!!