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

Snow Day

I'm going through a really boring phase here. So I'm trotting out the weather to entertain you. Because finally, we had some weather. Elizabeth was on Twitter showing off her snow photo yesterday. I didn't get to see any snow in my backyard, which was a huge disappointment. So I went looking around a bit to see what was out there.
I wasn't the only one looking to take some pictures of snow. Looks like these folks were too.. lets hope they didn't tweet and drive.

And then I came home and finished up this little project. See what I mean? Not even the same kind of shelf.. but I still like how it turned out.

I'm featuring my Cath Kidston soap, which I ordered just for the box. I can't use products with fragrance, so I gave the soap away. My mom will like the soap, and, well, I'll enjoy the box. Also seen here is my little Martha Stewart Ornament, the chair. Seriously, it's a close as I'll ever get to the darling one that Alicia has. (you'll need to scroll a bit) I am all about the copycat.

OMG She is so smart.

You must MUST go here.
Could Monica be any funnier? I think not.
Now I need to use my super powers to think of something to blog about tomorrow.
Activated.

Crazy Good.

Seriously, this is the kind of Christmas spirit I wish I could harness. Check it out. Could that be any cuter?

Oh and what about this?

Happy weekending peeps. xo

Oh Dolly!

Or is it Oh Holly? What I do know is she's done it again! Dolly Dresses 2 and 3 are my favorites from Quilt Market. I may have mentioned it.. I'm not sure. Anyway starting today Holly will be featuring some of our favorite people. Hop on over to her blog and check it out. I'm going to go hug my Dolly Dresses book. And you know what's cool? You can print your own PDF of all the fabrics so you can get your shopping list in order. And seriously, can't wait to see what people are doing with that panel!!!

Now to wait till spring to get my hands on the fabric, that' s going to be rough. Have a good weekend peeps!

Wednesday

So peeps what are you up to? I seem to be busy all day but accomplishing very little. Yesterday I went to Michael's and to a couple of Joanns. Why is always so crowded? Is there a good time to go? If there is I don't know when. Didn't find the small dark pink pom poms, the trim kind. How can I go about copying Elizabeth if I don't have dark pink pom pom trim?

I love this shelf. Of course in my mind I was thinking it was a totally different shape so what exactly was I thinking??? Anyway, my shelf needs some pink pom poms.

I just love close up shots because they don't reveal the fact that my sewing table is a mess.

Cute huh?



Went to Elizabeth's yesterday, her house is looking wonderful. She's working on the second tree. I can't wait for her to share some photos. I love looking at Christmas decorations.

Ok, what shall I do today? You guys have a good day. xo

Cheery

So yesterday Elizabeth and I finally got out on a little road trip. Our friend Becky had written all about a new antiques store in Turlock and we decided to go check it out. We haven't been getting out and about like we have in the past. Weird. Elizabeth enjoyed the shopping and also the Chipotle lunch. I'm not going to lie, I loved it too! But ha, she didn't have her camera and I did. Before she knew I was going to take her picture she brought me this darling little snow girl.

It looks like my Christmas decorations are coming together here in the sewing room.

Happy Day my sweet peeps! xo

December

Good morning my sweet little peeps, how are you? Is your tree up? I know so many people have been working on their Christmas decorations already. I did pick up a couple of red cyclamen for the front porch pots but that's about as far as I've gone with the decorations. I'm working on the mood though, as you can see.

I checked into what I was up to last year on December first.. I was over at Elizabeth's and we were working on our Sweet Simple Scarf Sets. And she had cookies. Too bad Nick isn't there to make more. Because cookies=Christmas Spirit I believe.

You can still download that PDF, there are a lot of cute scarf sets out there just begging to be fixed up. Of course you can download my Come Around for Coffee pattern as well. It would be cute in some Christmas fabric.

Or like me, you can just drink some coffee, there's still 24 days to go.

Good Morning!

Good grief peoples, it seems like forever since I sat down here at the blog. How goes it with you guys? All that Christmas talk for the past two weeks has me all mixed up, it's still November right?

So I was totally thinking about all the crafts people mentioned during the blog hop. Amy mentioned the TV Guide folding, that's how I know she's much younger than I, we were folding Reader's Digest back in the day. Pat mentioned that on her blog, which cracked me up. It was crazy fun just thinking about stuff I hadn't thought of in years.

Of course I had to go looking to see if I could find some kind of picture of the fish. The internet is amazing because it took like a minute to find that. But here you go, a Sweetheart Soap fish.


I've been sewing of course. Not a lot. Remembering stuff takes a lot of time. I found some of the holiday Junior Mints. That makes me thing of Sharon.

Ok, I'm trying to get back in the groove. Tell me what's new peeps! xo

Happy Thanksgiving Peoples!

Hope you have a great day. xop

This Picture Has a Story

Back in the middle of the hop, my bloggy friend Jen.e tagged me for a cute little photo meme. I adapted the rules for my own photo library, and came up with these two shots.

These came from a day with Frankie. We had gone for lunch at Toasties and then went to the cemetery to see the deer, then drove along the beach, toooooo cold to get out of the car!

Tag. you're it! Let me know and I'll come check out your photos too!

here are the rules:
*open your first photo folder
*scroll down to the 10th picture
(if you don't have 10 in that one, then go to the next folder that does)
*post that photo and the story behind that photo on your blog
*tag 5 friends to do the same

Winners!

Get a load of all those prizes!! Gudrun announced the winners over at her blog! Congratulations to Thea, Arlette and What Comes Next! There's still another chance to win a prize if you post a picture of your finished blog hop project on the Flickr site. You will have until Tuesday December 1st to upload your photos. We will then draw a name of one lucky person to receive some goodies. Instructions on how to upload a photo are on the Flickr page. This gives you an extra week to get some of these finished and snap a photo.

Thanks again everybody!

Back At It.

Good morning peeps! It's a regular Christmas-free Monday around here! Whoo hooo! Because seriously, I'm so over Christmas. This week will be focused on getting ready for Thanksgiving around here. You know, during the day, not on the blog. I have no heartwarming Thanksgiving stories, that I can think of anyway. Plenty of stuff to be thankful for, but you know, stories.. not so much. I was looking through all my photos from the past couple of weeks thinking I'd have tons to talk about from regular life, but turns out, the two things I have are Frankie's birthday and my ironing board cover.

One exciting and fun, and one not so much.

Tomorrow if all goes well we'll be revealing the winners over on Gudrun's blog. I can't thank you guys enough for the wonderful turn out on the blog hop!

p.s. check out the flickr pool, you guys have been busy!

Crafty goodness

Today is about Christmas crafting. .. its been a while since Frankie and I did some crafts, I think this is the last one we did together.. that I can remember anyway. Inspired by Alicia's pompoms and some Japanese craft books. Its a fun project, very happy and colorful. Alicia references this tutorial, over at Kiddley. Perfect for young and old. And even grinches.

I wonder where my mom got all her great craft ideas when we were growing up, you know, without the internet! Was there some secret mom underground where the instructions for soap fish were passed around? You know, those oval shaped bars with matching tulle over them to make a big fishy tail, sequins glued on. The little pearl headed pins we used for them to stand on? Any one? sound familiar? I know other people made the mosaic ashtrays, I've seen those in antique stores. I think those were kits. Leather laced wallets? Embossed Copper? WOODBURNING????

Ok, well that's enough of that. I guess we'll end this holiday blog hop on that slightly scary note!!

Today is Linda's day!! I know she' s cooking up something good for us. Check it out.

So hoppers, thanks for coming by and listening to my crazy Christmas stories. I hadn't thought of so many of them in ages. Gudrun will be tallying up the comments and announcing the winner in a couple of days, so stay tuned.

And starting Monday, back to our regularly scheduled program. Yikes, it's almost Thanksgiving! Thanks again everyone. You guys are the greatest. xo

Favorite Christmas Quilt

Good morning peeps! First off a special good morning to my sweet little Frankie, today she turns 22!! I'm so proud of her and love her so much. Happy Birthday!!

Now back to our regularly schedule day of the Cross Country Blog hop. Tomorrow is the last day, make sure you've made your comments on everyone's special day so you can be entered into the big drawing. It's Roseann's day and get out the Kleenex, I know she' s going to be tugging at our heartstrings again today.

Today's topic is about our favorite Christmas quilts. R is for Rose isn't a Christmas pattern, but when I saw this wonderful border print from a 3 Sisters Christmas line a few years back I knew it would be perfect. Elizabeth helped me out doing the embroidery, she didn't like my puffy paint idea (just kidding).

Ok, I think there' s just one more day to hop. Good thing, I need to go get a turkey. xop

The Mixed Up Day

There's no turning back now, I'm all mixed up on my days. So how about a gift story about a child?? I mean it's close, right? Here's Frankie and Buster. He was our wonderful dog, seen here maybe at 8 months old. We got him 'used', long story, you know the type. Anyway, he was the greatest dog ever in the history of our family.(But don't tell Peep and Rocket) His genius was legendary. You can ask anyone in Frankie's elementary school. Buster was a shopping dog. He, not unlike Santa, could be counted on to get those gifts that weren't mom approved. The best year ever was the year Buster bought a fancy feathered fan from Nordstrom. You know,moms all find that kind of thing impractical and refused to buy it but dogs, well I think we all know dogs love those. Frankie was so in love with that fan. He carried that box with the big silver ribbon some how.. I'm not sure how he got to the mall (and some things are better left unsaid) but you could tell from the box, it was scrunched and there were teeth marks in one corner.

Santa and Buster were in constant communication over the years. CD's with questionable lyrics, Buster was on it. Makeup, Buster told Santa mom didn't approve. That's how it was with them. It was magic I tell you.

So that's today people. I just remembered that fan and it cracked me up. Its in a box in the garage, the original crunched box I think.

Today is Carrie's day. She has a dog, she'll understand. Hop and over and check out what she's up to. And come back tomorrow. Who knows what I'll have in store!

The Kid Story Day

So people, I'm not going to lie, it's getting harder and harder to figure out Christmas stories to tell. Today is a kid story day so I called my actual kid (seen here talking with me on the phone!!)(yes, while we're talking!! for real!) and we could not come up with a good kid story. Her suggestion was to retell the story of that "movie on 34nd street" like it actually happened. Uh, Frankie, people are not going to fall for that!

So, no cool kid story today. I guess there's no hiding the fact that we are total grinches when it comes to Christmas sometimes.

You know who is going to have a really good kid story today? Sherri!!! Today is her day. She's just another reason to LOVE MINNESOTA my friends. What a delightful young woman she is. I tell you seriously, my Christmas (and all-year-round) blessing is getting to know so many wonderful people. I get the chills just thinking about it.

So hop on over there an check out her project. Come back again tomorrow. It's favorite gift from a child!! HOLY COW I JUMPED THE GUN WITH MY SNOWMAN STORY. I don' t know what I'll come up with for that!

Blog Hopping Monday!

I can't believe it's been a whole blog hopping week! I think my regular peeps know I'm a bit grinchy so all this Christmas talk is way out of line for me! Between the remembering and Elizabeth's Big Christmas Decorating Plans (yes, its a plan that requires a fully capitalized name) I'm really in a Christmas Frenzy.
But fortunately, I do actually remember my first Christmas on my own. Well, make that the first year I had a tree. While I never lived at home more than a couple of months after I left for college in (gasp) 1972, I always lived close to my parents and never had my own tree. But in 1982 my parents were living farther away, both my sister and brother were newly married and living closer to me, so I ended up having family Christmas at my house.

My tree was a spindly Douglas Fir from Payless. I remember trying to jam it in the back of my car after work one night. I had absolutely no Christmas decorations, save the box of weird little terra cotta things.. don't even know what they are, but I still have some, and a couple of cheap boxes of ordinary shiny ornaments. Maybe 1 string of lights. And no tree stand, just that little wood "X" stand thing they came nailed on back in the day.

My parents came to stay with me, I slept in my guest room and I had just started seeing Bret so he stayed on the couch. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve family dinner and then Christmas morning my parents headed back home, Bret left and there I was all alone. Kind of sad. But, as luck would have it Bret called, his family had invited me to come for their Christmas. Happy Ending. Or rather beginning, since Bret and I were married in 1985!

So that's my first Christmas story peeps! Today is Terri's day, so hop and over and hear her story!

More Christmas

Good morning my special peeps, how are you? It's another blog hopping day here in PKMLand and its all about a special gift or decoration day. Here's my special gift and decoration, my cool vintage snowman. Frankie gave me this wonderful old plastic vintage snowman last year and I love him. I can't wait to get him out. Of course my kid ornaments are my favorite, the school days crafts are the best, and over the years they've always been on the tree in spite of the teenage eye rolling. I'm pretty sure if those ornaments weren't on the tree, I'd be hearing about it!

Thank you thank you for all the wonderful comments yesterday!!! All so thoughtful and enthusiastic. Late last night Bret picked a number and I counted and Annemarie is the winner...

"What a fun Christmas Blog Hop. Thanks for the Coffee mat pattern - would love to win a prize - I LOVE COFFEE TOO!!! Annemarie."

Well Annemarie, its your lucky day! Email me your snail mail address and I'll get your prize packed up and in the mail. Thanks again to Elizabeth and Alex for the lovely additions.

Today is Kari's day of the blog hop... hop on over and see what she's up to! See you tomorrow!