Inspiration

So yesterday I was working on cutting backgrounds for my basket quilt, and got to day-dreaming  looking  off in my hutch and my eye caught those cute little vintage forget-me-nots. Well at least that's what I've always called them.  The actual forget-me-not flowers are very invasive here not unlike the millinery version. I can't resist them when I see them, so I have a bunch of little bundles of them here and there.

 

As usual I digress, which has been a serious problem for me lately.  Hence the cutting for baskets, STILL. I know, and I'm not done.

 

ANYWAY.

 

Those little flowers got me thinking about Terry's cute Hexie Garden quilt, and so I pulled these out to cut. Those hexie flowers reminded me of these little vintage flowers and OMG how cute would this be? I'm debating on doing a white background or waiting till my pink dot on white arrives. Maybe have yellow centers? or mixed centers? And should all the starry centers be one color or mixed. SO MANY CHOICES. 

 

Today Frankie and I are off to meet up with our pal Amanda of HeyPorkChop fame. Do you follow along with her? I love her style, my favorite thing is following her on instagram.  She has a lovely way with composition and her photographs are so interesting to look at.  We've got a fun day planned so I better get ready!  Hope you're having a good week!  Just in case I am not back here tomorrow, let me wish you a happy and fun  weekend!!! xo

Wednesday

Thanks for the nice comments and emails about Pam Kitty Picnic.  I've gone through it all, lovingly refolded each piece and cut blocks for my basket class.  I love them so much.. just thing of me sitting at my sewing machine and saying it just like Holly Hunter did in Raising Arizona.

Indeed. I am a nut.

In the mean time, right before my yardage arrived, I cut out this little project.  Stay tuned.

Exciting!

So how was your weekend?  I had a pretty great one myself.  Friday, while I was in line at the market, my phone rang.  I don't know about where you shop but it's non-stop-noise at my market so I just let it go to voice mail.  The next thing I know, my phone tweets to let me know I have a text. And another. IMPORTANT. CALL ASAP. It's Holly!  Five minutes later I called from the parking lot fearing the worst.  After two days of being lost (YIKES!), THE PAM KITTY PICNIC SHIPPING SAMPLES WERE IN!  Super exciting!

 

 

I threw my groceries in the fridge and headed over to the studio!  Holly had them all set up when I got there and boy what a sight to be hold!  So colorful and pretty out in the afternoon sun.  This is everything except the cats and plaids, which should be here soon.

OHMYGOSH. Oh. My. Gosh.  I'm so super excited about them.  Thank goodness I had procrastinated like crazy cutting baskets for my class, I spent the weekend cutting baskets from Pam Kitty Picnic. 

I just have a small amount right now to get started with, so I've got a bit of stage fright when it  comes to cutting. 

I hope you can see the nice range of dark to light in each color.   Holly and I want you to have a nice variety so that your quilt has life and sparkle. 

 

I look at each pile and find a new favorite each time.  I can't thank Holly enough for the opportunity to collaborate with her.  Her experience and attention to detail is what makes the fabric so wonderful. I hope you're going to love it!

 

All righty.  I still need to cut more baskets and get ready! I can't put it off any longer, the class is fast approaching!  And hey, this coming weekend is Quilting in the Garden at Alden Lane!  Any one coming over this way to see the show? I should be walking around there on Saturday, excited to see the quilts and grab a visit with my friend Keiko, who will be there in the Prairie Queens booth. If you see me there stop me to say hi!

 

Ok, better get busy!  I'm so happy!  Have a great day my sweet peoples! xo

Sunny Days

Hi there, happy Friday! What's on your agenda for today and this weekend, anything fun?  I'm finally getting around to pre-cutting for my class with Laura Nownes. Have I mentioned it like a million times that I'm taking the class at Alden Lane? Because it feels like I keep repeating myself.  Probably because I'm pretty excited about it.

And I'm in luck, the cover quilt uses three fabric backgrounds so I'm totally going to do that. I don't even have to do any fancy calculating, she's done it all for me.  And look at my sunshiney selections!  You know my love affair with my yellow on white prints, I've waxed on about that a lot as well.  What haven't I yakked about really?  I've rounded out my two yellow on whites with Holly's pretty yellow on white dot from Sweet Things.  I love the two tone dots, and how it goes so perfectly with my prints.  Plus how cute, big dots little dots.  Is that like fabric alliteration?

 

Anyway my pal Alex has treated me this class, and will be sitting there next to me.  I hope Laura doesn't have to separate us.  And speaking of Alex, I but you're wondering if I'll ever ever chose the winner of those two books!  Well YAHOO for One Line Lane who said "This sounds like a great book! Thanks for a chance to win it." and  Helen who said "I love scrap quilts and am always on the look out for great patterns that I can use some of my scraps to make. I have quite a collection of scraps because I can't seem to throw any out if they seem to be a usable size."  Ladies email me your addresses so I can get those books in the mail to you! 

 

Ok everybody! Thanks for the nice comments on my strike offs yesterday! I am IN LOVE with those cats and those little squirrels and the bird and the big.  I know Holly worked so hard making that so perfectly perfect and I appreciate it so much.   Happy weekend  everyone! xoxo

Pam Kitty Picnic!

Yesterday I went over to Holly's to see the last of the strike offs. The panel is very detailed and it often takes a couple of passes to get the details just right. 

But it's totally worth it  in the end, because I think it turned out fantastic.  Just look at that little sad face! Who spilled those cherries?

 

 

Be sure and invite all your friends and neighbors to the Pam Kitty Picnic. Even chipmunks and squirrels and the sweetest of birds.

And check out the adorable party goers! I can't wait to make some cute pj pants, now just to pick which color!

 

I hope you're as excited as I am to get my hands on some Pam Kitty Picnic!!!

Yak yak yak.

Hi there, wasn't yesterday's Jelly Roll Jam fun?  The quilt was super cute, and there were so many adorable examples out and about.  I particularly loved Kristin's quilt with the tricycle over on Sew Mama Sew.  The Jelly Roll Jam quilt is perfect as it is, but also perfect  for the addition of some applique!  Kimberly did a great job with the video don't you think?

 

On to other things.  When I was in Minnesota, Roseann gave me a copy of Terry's Hexie Garden pattern.  She had a wonderful version with a dark background, you can see it here. I love the pattern cover version as well,  so I chose my favorite white dot and whipped out this pink and red block, thinking, as Roseann had suggested, a pretty pillow.  I know, I'm up to my neck in pillows here at the Pillow Repository, but it's so cute. Now all I can think of is do I have enough of this to make a whole quilt or how soon will this be here?  OH THE CHOICES.  

 

But seriously, look at that cute pattern cover.

 

In the meantime, I'm also working on my ClubHouse projects for fall. Can't show you those yet, but I think they're fun, and I hope you think they're fun too.  Even the small projects are time consuming because of the preparation that goes into having all the partially done bits and pieces for step outs.  It will be a while before I get to sewing on video.  Talking and waving around the project is pretty much the only thing I can do right now.

 

Ok that's pretty much it on my end, what's going on over on your side of the screen?xop

 

 

Take a Shortcut with me!

Good morning, hope the weekend was good to you!  Pretty nice here, weather is cooling down and so far my phone is telling me that in a few days we could actually have some rain!!!  I'm crossing my fingers for that, because you know fall and rainy days are perfect quilting weather, and do I have the perfect project to take advantage of that weather!

By now you're probably already familiar with this Jelly Roll Sensation! I was lucky enough to participate in some Jelly Roll Jam making myself thanks to Kimberly and her crew at The Fat Quarter Shop. I selected a Glamping Jelly Roll and got busy.
 

The hardest part is selecting which strips you're going to use.  At least that was it for me. The strip sets worked up fast and I was ready to assemble my quilt in no time!

And before you can say Jelly Roll Jam three times fast (well almost!) I had a finished quilt, with enough strips leftover to make another one!

The best part about this project is, the pattern is free!  You can download it from The Fat Quarter Shop here!  

 

And even better, check out the great video about making a Jelly Roll Jam quilt!

 

Here' s a direct link just in case!

 

Now pull out those jelly rolls you've been saving up and get busy!  Don't have a jelly roll on hand? Pick up a jelly roll between 9/16/13 and midnight 9/22/13 and get a 20% discount over at the Fat Quarter Shop! 

 

STILL THERE'S MORE!!  Check out these other great blogs for more Jelly Roll Jamming!!!

 

Kaye Prince: http://miss-print.blogspot.com/

Sew Mama Sew: http://www.sewmamasew.com/

Diary of a Quilter: http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/

Quilting Gallery: http://quiltinggallery.com/

Pile O Fabric: http://pileofabric.com/

Piece N Quilt: http://www.pieceandquilt.com/

PS I Quilt: http://www.psiquilt.com/

Quilt Story: http://quiltstory.blogspot.com/

Angela Yosten: http://blog.angelayosten.com/

Red Pepper Quilts: http://www.redpepperquilts.com/

Cupcakes n’ Daisies: http://www.cupcakesndaisies.com/

I’m a Ginger Monkey: http://imagingermonkey.blogspot.com/

 

Now that's it for today!  Go out and get busy!

Scrap Quilting with Alex Anderson

Hi there peoples!!! As you know I'm a lucky duck when it comes to friends and having Alex Anderson as a friend is lucky for both me and you today !!  Alex has a new book out and it's fantastic.

 

I love scrap quilts, and Alex helps you develop a strategy for fabric selection, design and construction. She offers advice on the process and she's got a handful of great projects to try your hand at.  Last but not least is a wonderful gallery of vintage and modern day scrap quilts for inspiration.   

 

 

 

My personal favorite, today anyway, is Seeing Stars.  I love stars but what grabs me most about this is the little bits of  dots that appear here and there.  I would never have thought of that, but now I'm just nuts for it! Of course Alex being Alex she's given me two signed copies of Scrap Quilting to give away.. so please leave a comment for a chance to be entered to win!  And if you can't wait you can order one here, or even pick one up at Alden Lane at Quilting in the Garden! 

 

Ok, that's it for this week!  Happy weekending! xo

 

p.s. I'll draw a name next week, so remember to leave a comment!

Thursday for the Greater Good

So what's up with you guys?  I've been busily doing I don't even know what anymore.  Seriously how did we get to Thursday so fast?  It's been a busy week including a trip to the eye doctor. Also for some crazy fun we went to see The World's End.  Bret and Frankie had already seen it, but they wanted to go again with me, we're all fans of Shaun of the Dead and (my favorite) Hot Fuzz.  It's the end of the Cornetto Trilogy and was pretty hilarious. No doubt we'll find our favorite line and begin quoting it with great regularity until we're sick of ourselves!  ("I'm not made of eyes" being my personal favorite along with  "for the greater good" from Hot Fuzz.)

 

 

But back to something we can all agree on, swaps are pretty fun!  When Catherine of Cat and Vee   fame discovered over on Instagram that I'm a nut for Koala's  she told me about the  Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and said she'd grab some Koala gifts  and send them my way.  Holy cow, look at this bounty. As soon as she realized Frankie's name was well, Frankie, she grabbed up magazines, not even yet knowing how much my Frankie LOVES THEM.  And she included one of the Panda Monium panels that I adore as well as many delicious treats and little goodies.  I can't wait for her to receive the package we sent her. I'm a mess when it comes to swaps, but Frankie helped me by finding a lot of fun goodies from Monterey that hopefully say California along with mix of other things.  Holy cow Catherine, it's an amazing swap gift!  Now hurry up postal service!

 

So that's today!  Stay tuned, tomorrow I have a give way!  See you back here!

Fall Feeling

Good morning!  Yesterday I took my coffee out back to the swing with this Vintage Holiday magazine. Even early it's warm enough for pjs, and later it just gets plain old hot. I long for fall but not for the pumpkin spiced lattes everyone is talking about, but for the cooler weather. 

Even the garden is trying to feel the fall temps.. I have lots of leaves on the ground already and the crabapples have already changed colors.  My weather app says that maybe the 18th it will be in the 70s.  That would be nothing short of miraculous.

 

In the meantime, I'm working on my fall ClubHouse project.  Did you know that you can become a member of The Quilt Show for free?  There is a lot of free content over there, in fact the ClubHouse is free,  but the shows do require a paying membership.  I hope you'll tune in to check it out and share a photo if you make the shopper or any of the upcoming projects.

Ok, time for me to get busy!  xo

Minnesota State Fair

One of the super fun days I had in Minnesota involved a trip the state fair.  Lets just say the people of Minnesota are made of sturdier stuff than me.  I thought since it  is often over 100 degrees here in Livermore I could walk that fair in 97 degree weather.  Feel free to laugh out loud at my silliness.  Although I didn't make it to see the quilts and a lot of stuff along that aisle, I did manage to hold it together long enough to get back to the car, but believe me it was a stretch!  So I saw about  5 hours worth of stuff. And ate the most delicious cream puff I've ever eaten.  But that was it. Too hot!

 

First on the list was a trip to see Roseann at her shop in Heritage Square.  She was so busy we barely had time to chat, but it was great to see her! Her shop there was as adorable as her shop in White Bear Lake.   Luckily we squeezed in a day trip with her later in my vacation, she took Linda and I out shop hopping to a lot of fun places including All In Stitches in Zumbrota. Delightful shop and we had a nice lunch with the owner, Sandy! We had a super day.

 

Every year Roseann has something 'on a stick'.. and this time it was the Faster Fido Pin Parker.. many of them sporting some PKM fabric.  She is just so clever I can't stand it. 

 

This is the official PKM area.  Roseann told me so many people came in to pick up PKM, it looks like she's cornered the market there.  The evening before someone had come and bought an armful so she was folding fat quarters in the car on the way to the shop that morning so the display would be filled.  That just totally made my day!!! 

 

 

Don't you love the colors? 

 

Had a bite of Linda's Poutine.. interesting!

 

Have you seen the movie Butter?  Hilarious.

 

There was a huge floral display featuring Dr. Seuss.  I guess this is the perfect time to confess we never read Dr. Seuss as kids.   Shocking right? There were lots of great displays, but aside from The Grinch .. well I couldn't identify most characters.

 

 

Something for everyone in the crop art section.  You know my family loves some Star Trek action!

 

 

I'm sorry. This sign just kills me. Hammertime!

 

Mostly I was astounded at the crowds of people. Minnesota folks love the fair, young and old. 

 

Ok, more later on my trip.  Like usual, in my excitement I've either not taken photos or taken a lot of bad photos.  You'll see, don't worry!! xo

P. S. You can see lots of pictures of crazy stuff on Instagram here.

Tardy slip

Good morning! I'm off to a late start this morning, I don't know what came over me!  I guess after so many days I just got out of the habit. What the heck?

 

Anyway I'm back and trying to settle in and get some work done, but it's hard after such a nice vacation. I will have vacation photos to show, but I've been lazy about getting to them. I had such a great time and I am going to miss Linda a lot.  And who wouldn't want to live close to Roseann?

Ok, tell me what you've been up to! I'm out of the loop! And HAPPY MONDAY! xo

The Last Minnesota Morning

I am always happy-sad on my last day here. Happy to see my little family at the end of the day but sad to leave my Linda behind. I have had such a great time with Linda and Mark, so much fun with Roseann, a great visit with Val and Mike, well its just hard.  You guys get it.

Tomorrow I am sure I will be zonked out so I will 'see' you next week. Thanks for coming on my vacation with me!!  Xo

Wednesday

Its my last full day in Minnesota and as happy as I will be to see my little family I will be sad to leave Linda behind.

We are off to spend the day with Roseann today! it should be a super fun day. What's doing with you? I have only had my phone so I feel. A tiny bit out of touch.

Ok Linda is suggesting I get it in gear! Have a great day. Xo

Tuesday Morning

Good morning! I can't believe my Minnesota vacation is almost over. This morning was cool and with the open windows I could hear the bees buzzing in the flowers outside and it was so lovely.

This past weekend Linda and Mark took me up north to Duluth and a little beyond to the North Shore of Lake Superior.  What a beautiful sight.  With the road construction along the scenic hiway we had a happy diversion to a spot with easy access to the beach so we walked along the shore. The big flat rocks were warm and many people had come to picnic and just lay out and soak up some sun. I am not sure in all my travels that I had even been to one of the great lakes and it was a wonderful experience.

Since then the weather has really cooled off and been a perfect slice of heaven. Yesterday Cousin Valerie and Mike her husband came by to say hello and it was great to see them. Each day of my vacation has been wonderful and I am so grateful for Linda and Marks hospitality.  I wish that Linda and I lived closer so that I could see her more often as she is a sweet friend and coconspirator.

Thanks for all the comments on my ClubHouse. I am excited to work on the next ones when I get home. If you haven seen it yet head over to the Quilt Show and take a peek!! (Www.thequiltshow.com)

Well the coffee is brewed so its time to grab a cup. I hope you are all well my special sweet friends. Xoxo