Tuesday

Good morning!  How are you? We didn't really properly catch up yesterday, how was your weekend?  Busy? Fun?  Did you sew at all?  I had a busy and fun weekend, but no sewing, so yesterday I got caught up on my list of things to do and among other things, finished up Linda's tea cozy. 

 

Once you have your block make it's smooth sailing.  I machine quilted this cozy like the last, just following around the triangles.  Super fast and easy.  I love how it looks like a little crown when you pop a teapot under it. 

 

I used my red cherry print on the back and the blue Recipe for Success as lining. Using all my favorites on this project makes me happy!

 

What's making you happy this week? 

 

 

A post full of warnings.

Good morning.  How did the week go for you?  I hope good. The weather has been nice all week, but it looks like it's going to be a warm  weekend around here.  FYI I'm going to try and not complain about the heat too much, but I make no guarantees. You've been warned.

So hey that's my mushroom and frog from Monticello Antiques up in Portland. Last time Elizabeth and I went to Portland we went and it was FANTASTIC.  So the whole time I'd been telling Holly about it I'd been hoping it would still be good.  AND IT WAS.  I would hang out there all the time if I lived close, it's crammed with treasures.  Do you watch Grimm? The ladies behind the counter were saying that a lot of the set props are purchased there and all the people are so nice! I love that show, and now I feel like a real insider. (not to mention being 2 degrees from all those people on set!)

Anyway, I had to show you I'm almost done with my tea cozy. You probably though it was going to be like a lot of PKM projects, started and then that's the last you see of it.  It was so easy to make, seriously, you have to give it a try if you're into Union Jacks and tea cozies. Or even just Union Jacks.  Honestly, I'm lame at paper piecing and even I could do it. Here's the link, so think about it.  I don't know what it is about stuff from England but I just can't get enough of it.  Is that the lure, the fact it's unavailable? Or it's so expensive to ship? Or worse, it's like that online site Dot Com Gift Shop. So far they don't even ship to the US, SO I'M WARNING YOU DON' T GO LOOK IF YOU ARE GOING TO OBSESS ABOUT CUTE STUFF YOU CAN'T HAVE. More warnings.  Honestly I don't get it. Someone here could be making a fortune with adorable stuff without hardly even trying. 

 

I have to be probably the second to last person on the planet to try these Clover Wonder Clips.  Normally I don't pin bindings at all, just fold over and hold them by hand.  That's just the way I learned. But the last time I made one of my bags with buckram I was wishing I had something besides pins.  I saw them at our new Joanns and I had a coupon so I figured what the heck.  And they're red, so who doesn't love that? Anyway, they look cute and now I own them. I  can't wait to try them on a bag. I think that's where I am going to love them.

 

Ok, that's enough of my ramblings for today right? It all starts to sound like crazy-talk if I go on too long! Hope you have a super fantastic weekend. xo

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!  How was your week?  I've had a busy few days, but I managed to get some sewing in!  Remember way back when I made the cute Union Jack tea cozy from Lynn's pattern?  Well cousin Linda asked me if I'd make her one out of my Pam Kitty Morning strawberry fabric. ( a year ago)   I've managed to put it off since my last visit, but this week I made reservations to go back to Minnesota to see Linda and Mark and figured I'd better  get busy. 

 

I'd forgotten how challenging paper piecing is for me.  My brain doesn't want me to get those triangles right.  Thank goodness you end up cutting it as I've managed to have  two corners where the gingham doesn't go to the edge.   But gosh I love the block.  I suppose you've seen all the wonderful Union Jacks on Instagram, they're having a Jumping Jacks Quilt Along with Joanna's Jumping Jacks pattern. 

 

This weekend hopefully I'll get it finished. It took the better part of yesterday to get this done.  By the end my brain said walk away so I did!  Not to jinx myself but the rest should be easy enough.  Lynn's instructions are great and any problems are my own for sure! But even though it was at times frustrating I loved putting the block together!  Making something for someone is super fun.

 

Ok, hope you have a great weekend.. any big plans?  See you next week!

Thursday

Good morning peoples!  So yesterday I slacked on blogging but worked on accomplishing.   I was feeling pretty happy with myself at first.  Then I noticed that little short bit and  when trying to figure out if it was in the seam allowance, noticed that I missed a couple of pieces. 

 

I think the biggest problem I have is that whole flipping back and forth in combination with angles.  That's a huge area of weakness. I remember paper piecing in the past and I'd have a triangle perfect then flip and what do you know, it's going the whole wrong direction. 

 

Anyway I got it together and managed to get all the units done and sewn together.  It's undoubtedly off a smidgen here and there but it doesn't seem to matter.  And if it does, don't tell me! It was a challenge and I feel totally happy with the results. Lynn's wonderful tutorial is perfection and my mistakes and challenges are all my own.

 

Maybe tomorrow I'll be brave enough to cut it and assemble it into the tea cozy.

 

I love the look of paper piecing and OH MY that Ringo Pie group makes me practically faint every time I look at it. Every block is so clever and the fabric choices so fun. And even better, the large group of friends is certainly enviable.

 

So what's on your agenda today? Anything fun?

Fat Quarterly Morning

Hi there! How was your weekend? The weekend was great here! Sunday morning I woke up to this luscious quilt on my instagram feed!!!

 

Earlier this year, Lynne Goldsworthy from the online modern quilt e-magazine Fat Quarterly emailed and asked if I'd send some fabric for a quilt in the summer issue.  HOLY COW YES I WOULD.  I've been waiting patiently ever since to see what she made.  Lynne is so talented, you might remember her from the wonderful tea cozy.  

 

Lynne said in her email to me " It was the retro kitschy feel of the fabrics that made me think of a happy housewife back in the fifties with a print dress, ermine trimmed gardening gloves and kitten heels waiting patiently for her husband to come home from work! " 

 

This quarter's issue of Fat Quarterly Issue 14 comes out today August 5th!  You can click here to buy your copy. 

Now let's get busy and have a happy week! xo

Monday

Monday has rolled around again bringing with it some slightly cooler weather. What did you do over the weekend?  The weekend here seemed short, Saturday I picked up Bret from the San Francisco airport, home after a trip to Atlanta and Virginia for work. Happy he's home!

 

Here's proof positive the tea cozy is done! There's even a teapot under there, and it's English! I'm super happy about how cute it turned out and Lynn couldn't have written a nicer tutorial for us all!

 

I felt restless this weekend.  Do you ever get that way? You  have tons of stuff to work on  but nothing suits your fancy. So I made a tiny tulip block. (4 inch square)  I am in love with this shape, you'll be seeing more of it come this fall, it's the tulip in my free pattern for Pam Kitty Picnic.  I'll show you that another day. In the mean time, did you see the link on the right for the swatch pages?  Just click and away you'll go to see the collection!

 

Ok, now seriously, I need to get busy.  Have a good day everyone! xo

p.s. I was inspired by Lori's cute little tulip pillows when I added this pot to my tulip shape today! Have you seen them? Totally adorable! I'm glad I have those thimble rulers !

Hidden in Plain Sight: A PamKittyMorning Story

Hi there friends, how are you?  Hangin in there?  We're still sheltering in place here in PamKittyVille, how about where you are?  I hope you're finding what you need at the store and some how getting through it all. We are doing ok, saw Frankie across her garage the other day, dropping stuff off and picking up stuff.  

When I first started this post LAST WEEK, I was about to begin searching for something in my house.  What a clever title.  I typed it in and I was feeling smug, thinking I would find it right off. I knew I had it,and double checked my blog posts to find a picture to make sure, and I was  convinced I knew right where it was. But like all smug prideful thoughts, I COULD NOT FIND IT.  I'm not going to go into the measures I went thru to find it either, as it took a while week for me to just give up (for now).  (temporarily)DEFEATED. 

But also I did manage to get some stuff done.  I made myself sit down and put these blocks together.  I really love the quilt, and while the contrast between lights and darks isn't great, I love how it turned out, even the big contrast red blocks.  I need to find a big chunk of batting around here and get it quilted.  I think I will do it myself, in a simple grid pattern.  The design lends itself to that that. No need to mark it.  

Another thing I did for fun last week was stitch up this cute teapot.  It's from Ayumi Mills Pink Penguin blog, you can find it here.  Here blog post shows how to make it with freezer paper piecing, and I tried kind of a hybrid version of that and paper piecing.  I should have taken the time to just use the freezer paper method as it would have been much easier.  I'm not getting any smarter with age I'm afraid.  I really love it though, it's quite a jaunty little block.  I was inspired by The Sunny Day Supply little tea cup cozy, you can see that on instagram here. Everything Ayumi and the SunnyDay girls make is so charming and inspiring.  I could look at their photos all day. Pretty photos really make me happy.  

While browsing around on Instagram's explore feature, I a saw the cutest cross stitch by NeedleWork Press.  You can find it on Facebook, it's a free pattern. Probably like a lot of you, I cross stitched A LOT before I got into quilting.  I loved it.  

Dug through all my old cross stitch supplies and found all the floss and and a piece of aida and started stitching today.  UGH.  MY EYES.  They just don't see like they used to.  That's how far I got before I just had to say uncle.  Even with my glasses it was a challenge and that's 14 count aida! Still it's such a charming little project, not to big, and I hope you take a peek at it over on their Facebook page or on Instagram. 

That's what I've been up to.  What about you? Hope you have some sunny weather to perk up the days.  I'm enjoying the backyard before it gets scorched by the sun.  We put the umbrellas out and cushion on the swing and it's delightful.  I'm headed out there to work on some binding.  Hope you're well.  xop