Wednesday, July 31, 2013

What are you up to?

This week has a me a little slow off the mark. I don't know if the nice weather has me lulled into a sense of complacency or what.  But I just can't seem to get motivated. Maybe I'm in that lull between projects, not sure.

Stitch Zakka
 
The coffee has been extra delicious out on the patio though.  It's almost cool enough to need a sweater out back.. almost. I have to enjoy these nice cool days, there's still plenty of summer left.
 
Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my strike offs.  I'm so excited about Pam Kitty Picnic and I'm glad you are too.  You guys are the greatest! xo
 
 

Monday, July 29, 2013

A story that's straight from the heart.

Welcome to Monday!  How are you? Was the weekend wonderful? I sure hope so! Friday I spent the day over Holly's working on the Pam Kitty Picnic strikes offs that came in. It's going to sound totally cornball when I tell you this , but when I saw them it was like seeing the designs again for the first time.


Pam Kitty Picnic
 
To back track a little for those of you who might not know it, LakeHouse shows all it's collections on paper first. It's a way that's working for us, and we can insure that we print  the right amount of fabric.  Ordering too much or too little are equally disastrous as you might imagine.  LakeHouse has been successful with this because they have such a great reputation, and I can't tell you how excited and thrilled I am to be working with them. 

Pam Kitty Picnic
 
But back to my story. I've been seeing Pam Kitty Picnic on my computer for  quite a while now.. we usually start working on the collection  6 months or so before we show it to you at Quilt Market in May.  So by now I'm used to it, kind of taking it for granted almost, because you know it's been  a while. 

Pam Kitty Picnic
 
And then we pull the strikeoffs out of the envelopes and OH MY GOSH it's like falling in love all over again.  It's fabric and I can touch it and it has turned out so well that I can't even believe its real. I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, Holly does 99% of the work here, more to be honest, and it's just absolutely amazing. 

Pam Kitty Picnic
 
Of course some things aren't quite right yet, things that I don't necessarily notice catch Holly's eye and so there's some tweeking to be done.  We spent the day looking at each strike off deciding which one we liked and what we might change to make it better, what looks like an error. 

Pam Kitty Picnic
 
I hope you're falling in love with the line as well.  These yellows are just like sunshine.   For those of you who are hoarding Pam Kitty fabrics and for shop owners who have some Pam Kitty left, you'll be happy to know that we also pulled out our shipping samples of Pam Kitty Morning and Pam Kitty Love to make sure that we're telling a consistent story, and that our older fabrics will blend seamlessly in to our new collection.

Pam Kitty Picnic
 
One of the things I love about LakeHouse from way back in my quilt shop days is that the colors are so rich and if you're not displaying them as a group, you can slide them right into the color wall and they make friends with all their neighbors.  We have a lot of prints here that make good basics I think.  Of course I'm more than a little  biased about that! 


Pam Kitty Picnic

When I laid out the greens next to these whites I thought to myself, these are so cool and nice, I just want to layout on the lawn and have a picnic and I realize OHMYGOSH ...Pam Kitty Picnic. It's just the feeling we'd hoped we captured and I'm here to say, for me it did.  I hope that you want to go on a picnic too ..  If you're a shopowner who's been on the fence about ordering, I hope that you'll place your order soon for what I think is the prettiest collection so far. Friends and quilters, I hope you'll want to buy our fabric when it's available in stores.   I know you have a lot of choices available to you, and I hope you'll think about Pam Kitty Picnic! I appreciate all your support and friendship more than you can imagine.   xo
 
 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Stitching for the Kitchen

Good morning! Welcome to my day of the Gooseberry Patch Stitching for the Kitchen  book tour. The people from the publisher Sixth and Spring generously sent me a copy to review and invited me to participate, how could I say no! 


Gooseberry Patch

Like all of Gooseberry Patch's publications, this one is chock full of their darling little illustrations and delicious recipes.  There are 30 projects for your home, perfect for yourself and for gift giving.  Have you been to Kay's blog? She made the  cute Market Tote Bag, and you can read about it here.
 
Stitching for the kitchen
 
I have a long time love for log cabin blocks, so this Log Cabin Potholder was the perfect project for me.  Gooseberry Patch and I agree, we like to pre-cut all our strips to the correct size so that our blocks turn out nice and square. This potholder is a perfect project  to use up your leftovers! and turns out adorable don't you think?  To see another cute project made up, check out Wild Olive's embroidered tea towel!

cherries
 
Cute right?
 
 
For a complete list of Gooseberry Patch blog hop participants, check out my post here.  And then hop over to see my friend Scott, he's posting about it today too!  Now scoot, check it out and then get back to your happy weekending!

Friday, July 26, 2013

Where does the time go?

Even though the week seemed long, it went by so fast, and there often seems like there is so little to show for it.  Blog wise anyway.  There are always things I can't show yet, and things that aren't photo worthy. Everyday stuff like watering the flower pots and emptying the dishwasher.  I haven't fused or cut another shape since the little bee skep and bird. 
 
I have finished my cups for Sarah.  It's not too late, you can read on her blog here how to join in the fun. She's shown cups on Facebook and Instagram..http://instagram.com/sfielke# they're really cool. I really love being a part of something I suspect is going to be pretty cool in the end.   



I made two cups because my cup with the gingham saucer was just ok.  Not enough contrast with the background.  The cup shape is lovely isn't it?  So different than the normal cups  you see. Kind of fancy.  I'd make a million cups for Sarah, I think she's great and I am so happy to be able to participate in something with her. 
 
Sometimes life just seems grand doesn't it?  You just can't help but be happy.  Today is extra happy, I'm off to see Holly at the LakeHouse Studio.  Some of my Pam Kitty Picnic strike offs are in!  SO EXCITING.  
 
Ok, have a good weekend everybody!! xop

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Buried Treasure

For a lot of years I worked in a quilt shop.  It was great fun for all kinds of reasons as you can imagine.  One of the really fun things was making samples for the shop.  I love lots of different styles, and it was a wonderful outlet for using colors outside your normal range.   Recently I unearthed a project that I'd made from Marsha McCloskey's Fat Eights and Friends when it first came out.  Some of the old unquilted tops no longer speak to me, so I give them away or donate them,  but this one still made me happy, so I had it quilted up.  Love it.  I see some of my first pieces of Japanese fabric in this quilt, I saved every little piece because at the time, it seemed to precious and expensive. 

QUILT
 
I'm cracking myself up over my desire for good photos.  I have a new lens and have to say you can throw all kinds of money at your expensive camera but if the 'photographer' doesn't fully 'get it', you'll still have the same photos.  Couple that with a less than pinterest lifestyle, well you get this.  My pot with the sticker residue that will not WILL NOT come off and somehow always ends up pointing out. My crumbling  See Rock City birdhouse that we just can't quite bear to throw away but is in really really rough shape. That was a great vacation. And I never ever noticed that my little bird had paint splatter on her. I guess age has diminished my eyesight just enough.

QUILT
 
But you don't need to have a pinterest lifestyle to enjoy pinterest that's for sure.  You'll find me there later.  So in the meantime, what are you up to? And how did it get to be Thursday already?

p.s. complete surprise to me... look at these cute red vintage style scissors from Sharon!  I just about died when I opened the package.  They are so PKM! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend.


scissors from Sharon at Daisy Cottage Quilting

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Intimidated

Hi there... what are you up to?  Yesterday I finally got out my roll of Heat and Bond Lite and got busy tracing all the elements of my Celebrations Yard Party quilt.  I can't find the pattern on Pat's website right now, but I know it must still be available!  It's adorable, right? 

to do list

I am more than a little intimidated by the applique. The only other big project that I've done was Elizabeth's block of the month quilt Flight of Fancy, which you can see here. Of course I had Elizabeth around to help me on it, so that made it seem less intimidating.

Yard Party

I'm taking my time, picking out fabrics, getting them ready.  This is as far as I've gone, I love the bee skeps and couldn't wait! 

What are you working on? 

Monday, July 22, 2013

Stitching for the Kitchen

Hi there! This week kicks off the Gooseberry Patch Stitching for the Kitchen Blog Hop.  I'm happy to be included in this hop, and can't wait to show off my little project! Gooseberry Patch books are always so adorable and this one is no exception.

Gooseberry Patch

Here's the list of stops along the hop!  This morning, hop on over to Gooseberry Patch and read all about it! Then follow along for the rest of the week to see some cute projects, including mine next Sunday!

July 22
Gooseberry Patch

July 23
Momma Young At Home
Craft Gossip

July 24
Glued to My Crafts
Green Eyed Momma

July 25
Sew Serendipity

July 26
Smashed Peas and Carrots
Marsha's Spot

July 27
Wild Olive
Only From Scratch

July 28
Pam Kitty Morning
Blue Nickel Studios

July 29
Old House Homestead
Susie QT Pies Cafe
Prairie Flower Farm

July 30
The Crafty Princess Diaries
Gramma's in the Kitchen
Two Maids A Milking

August 1
Vicki O'Dell
Homesteader's Heart 

August 2
A Creative Being
Delightful Country Cookin

Friday, July 19, 2013

TGIF

Hi there, Happy Friday!  I'm back and feeling pretty chipper in spite of what my cough sounds like! I had a nice couple of days laying around even though overall I never really felt too terrible...but I'm back in the swing of things.

cup of kindness
 
When we last met up I showed you my strawberry pillow. Thanks for all the lovely comments. The Strawberry Social quilt and my strawberry pillow were just the kind of fun projects that I have needed.   But then they were over and I have been wondering what to start. Luckily my friend Sarah came to the rescue.  She put out a request for tea cup blocks, and I'm getting ready to make mine. That will tide me over till I get my act together on a new project. 
 
And now for the winner of the Strawberry Summer Surprise, it's Jan who said:
 
"Anonymous  I visit your site nearly daily, it is my morning boost! A fire destroyed the home of a young couple and little daughter a couple of days ago in our town. She is a budding quilter. A sewing machine was donated for her and people will be giving her quilting supplies so if I am chosen, I will pass this sweet little gift on to her! Thanks. Jan "
 
Jan, please contact me so I can send your prize! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! xo

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Ahhhhchoooo.

Good morning!  Thanks for all the really nice comments on my final project yesterday!  You guys  know exactly what to say and how to say it!  I had so much fun with Kimberly and Debbie with this project.  Super thanks to Fat Quarter Shop for hosting such a great sew-a-long! 

This week is off to a rocky start for me, I have the dreaded summer cold!  I'm not really all that sick but plan on spending a lot of time with a box of tissues next to my chair and plenty of crime tv. But I don't want to leave you wondering if I finished up that strawberry pillow! 

/strawberry social pillow
 
What do you think?  I'm so super happy with it.  It was simple to make, just whip up 4 of those luscious ripe strawberries  and sew them in a row.  Take your left over 3 1/2 inch strips of background and stitch them on as borders.  Quilt it up and make a pillow.  I simply grid quilted the strawberries and outlined the blocks and that was it!  I think the hardest part was those stinken pom poms, but I Googled up a couple of tutorials and took the best they all had to offer and gave it a go.   I have an envelope back on it, so once I sewed around the edge it was pillow time!
 
I'm probably going to relax  for most of the week so I can kick this bug to the curb. I'll check back in with you guys and announce the winner of the strawberry drawing by the end of the week! Take it easy! xo

Monday, July 15, 2013

Time's up, Pencils Down!

Good morning my happy friends! How are you?  I hope your weekend was a good one.  This week is starting off with a bang! It's time to turn in our finals for the Back to School with Pam Kitty class. 

Back to School with Pam Kitty

To find the perfect spot for photos, we headed over the Ravenswood Historical site in Livermore.  Although built about 20 years after the Civil War ended, it seemed like a perfect location. 

RAvenswood

RAvenswood

Here it is draped over the guest cottage porch rail.  I think it's so pretty and colorful, and I'm very excited about the way it turned out.  My friend Diana quilted it for me. 

Back to School with PKM

Back to School with PKM
 
 
Back to School with PKM
 
Here are my yardage details:
 
Outer Border    2 yards
Inner border     1 yard (that gives you good long lengths to piece)
Sashing            1 yard
Posts                1/8th yard
Binding            1/2 yard
Backing            5 yards
 
Cut sizes:
Sashing            1 1/2 inches
Posts                1 1/2 inches
inner border     2 inches
Outer Border    6 inches
Binding            2 1/4 inches
 
Thanks so much for following along with us on this project. I can't wait to see Kimberly and Debbie's quilts! Also, be sure and check out the flickr page... lots of cute blocks there. Need more inspiration...check out the Pinterest Board!
 
Ok, time to head over and check out Kimberly and Debbie's quilts!!!  Thanks everybody!
 

Friday, July 12, 2013

Strawberry Summer Days

sWell my dears, we're at the end of another lovely Strawberry Summer week. I haven't had such happy sewing in a while.... you know that kind of project that just makes you feel good to work on and you're not quite ready to let it go when it's done?


Strawberry days

To celebrate Strawberry Summer, I picked up some cute treasures on my  day out to Japantown to share with you.. Strawberry Hello Kitty..

Strawberry days

A fun Strawberry lunch set from Daiso..

Strawberry days
 
And some fresh cut Pam Kitty Love fat quarters in strawberry colors  already to use in a summer project.  Or for hoarding, either way!

Strawberry days
 
Leave a comment for a chance to win  this Strawberry Summer Surprise and next week I'll pick a winner. 
 
Ok, have a happy weekend friends! xo

Thursday, July 11, 2013

More more more.

I know it seems silly but I just can't quite say good-by to this strawberry block.  So, yesterday I made four more.  I used leftover bits and pieces that had laying around at the end of the quilt.   Seriously this is the cutest block ever right? 

more strawberries
 
I noticed the very clever Debbie Taylor used mixed up greens in some of her strawberry tops, so I pulled out a couple of scraps and managed to mix mine up a tiny bit. It's a cute idea. This little strawberry patch is destined to become a pillow.  I found a nice pillow form that's 14 x 28 so I'm making it work.  I had originally thought three strawberries, but I'm all kinds of lazy and don't want to make my own pillow form. And yes, it did cross my mind that I'm probably going to more trouble trying to make it work than if I'd just made the stinken pillow form.  
 
This seems like the perfect time to say hey, if you've made something with Pam Kitty fabric leave me a link to your photo or email me a photo, I'd love to see it and share it on my Facebook page. If you share something on Facebook and I don't comment, leave me a message so I go check it out!  
 
Here's a gentle reminder to shop owners, we're in the home stretch of the sales period for Pam Kitty Picnic!  No time like the present to put in your order!
 
Ok, that's it for today! Tell me what's going on with you!
 

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Strawberry Social

I persevered yesterday thanks to a marathon of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.  I managed to get all my borders sewn on and it's nice and flat and square.

strawberries

Of course I face the same problems.. where to get a photo. I would love a nice flat one.  In fact, that's what I wished for the most while making this quilt, a nice flat photo of the whole quilt.  Margot alternates the direction of her leaves in her quilt, but not on the diagram, and I would have liked to see how she did it.
strawberries

I managed to get something I'm happy enough with.  Just the right amount of to and fro with them, I wanted it to have the same kind of whimsy Margot's quilt had. 

strawberries
 
I love how it turned out, I like the pinks I chose, but I also wonder how all red would look. Would that be too much? Just too ripe and juicy? Well either way,  love it. Sorry again the pictures aren't better. I climbed up on the ladder a couple of times and but it's pretty warm here and the a/c wasn't on yet and I just felt to hot and sweaty to go back and try for more.
 
I still have some strawberry ideas to play with. Are you making this quilt? I've been pretty lousy about checking blogs lately so let me know. I'm dying to see them! xo

Monday, July 08, 2013

Monday

Happy Monday! Hope you had a good weekend? Was it a long one with the holiday thrown in? Normal weekend for us.  The weather has cooled off, the BART strike is over, all is right with our world.
 
I had a happy sewing time, I managed to get my  strawberry stems done and blocks sewn into rows and rows sashed. 
 
strawberries

strawberries
 
Just need to finalize what green inner border I'm going to use and then I'll be ready to finish this up! I'm pretty excited about it. I think the Margot's pattern is very cute and her instructions are good. I'm also totally in love with the background on this. I love the little bits of blue in there and I'm thinking of adding a  blue inner border instead of green. Not quite sure yet. I  have a bit of my blue stripe left.  Still considering my options.

strawberries
 
Anything on your agenda this week?  I want to hear all about what's happening on your side of the screen! Happy week!

Friday, July 05, 2013

Warning:This might sound like complaining.

Happy Friday!  How was your fourth of July?  We had a very low key day around here.  Good thing  because  Wednesday was brought to us by the BARTocolypse... not familiar with that phrase? Well BART is our Bay Area Rapid Transit  system, and for the past week, the workers have been on strike.  Without getting into politics, because who needs that on this blog.. lets just say it's an inconvenience for the ridership, which includes Bret, my husband.

SF

Wednesday I drove him into work after the main commute was over, around 10:30 am. I figure it would be a nice day to escape the heat out here in the Tri Valley and Frankie was free to join me for a day in San Francisco.
SF
I'm not a fan of driving in the city at all, let alone in the BARTocolypse, tons more cars and people than normal and  tension.. exhausting.  As you know I love to drive but OMG people ... it was insanity.  Frankie and I wanted to hit Japantown first. And luckily there was room in the parking garage for us.  We wandered around and enjoyed the sites and the shopping.  I was a little disappointed in the Kinokuniya book store, not a big craft book selection. Looks like San Jose will still be our best spot.   Then we decided we'd head over the de Young Fine Art Museum. 

SF
Passed these cute pastel houses along the way. 
SF

Parking lot was crammed, and in fact the whole Golden Gate Park was chock full of people.  I was caught off guard thinking it was a week day, forgetting that duh it's a  TOURIST ATTRACTION. It was lovely weather there though.  Here's me trying to grab a shot of the darling shutters on this building while also trying to get out of an area that I shouldn't be in. 


SF

SF
More inspiration along the way.  I loved the side of this house, the brick foundation is cool with it's random large bricks, and the wrought iron trim.. fantastic.  I thought for sure there was some quilt inspiration in these photos, the shutters, the colors of the homes, the Chinese Pavilion. 

SF

SF

Anyway, we thought about heading out of SF but ended up over in Daly City.  Bret called and said he was ready around 4pm. Hahahaha, an hour and a half later we ended up back downtown in the financial district.  Creeping along.

SF
We swooped down off the freeway and when I say swooped I really mean slowly crawled down at about 1/2 a mile per hour and grabbed Bret off the sidewalk and headed  back to the freeway and up the carpool lane to the bridge.  Which took ONE HOUR. I'm pretty sure it's l mile or less. 

SF
And then we headed home. Once off the bridge everything opened up.  My car tells me the average speed for our trip, and from the time we left Daly City till we got home to Livermore, my average speed was 17 miles per hour.  And from the time we left the bridge till we got home we were doing the limit. 
BUT, all that being said it was a nice day.  We enjoyed our visit to Japantown and even though we couldn't get to the museum, we enjoyed the ride through the park.  We had a nice lunch out and then sure, the ride back to downtown was a pain but over all I give the day a B.  And best part, today my husband has a ride with some folks who have a parking spot! So in the end win win. 
 
Now, tell me how the fourth was at your place!  I want to hear all the details! xo

Update:
 The strike is over! Phew, back to normal!

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Warning! This post contains lizard photos.

Good morning! I felt like I should warn you guys, some people just don't like the not so cute wildlife. So we'll start off with the strawberries.  I am loving them. I hope to have them done today, yesterday I had a ton of errands to run and didn't get as much sewing in.  I am still so in love. 

first batch of strawberries
 
But now to the lizard talk.  Holy cow people, I've never seen such cool lizards in my backyard!  I was watering all my pots early and these two lizards were either fighting or possibly  "courting" as my husband called it.  Not sure which.  Or maybe just playing, who knows.  They were not afraid of me at all, when they were on the patio I walked right up to them. Later they moved it to the garden area.

backyard friends

It was a while, I managed to finish my watering and then go get my camera! And I took these photos standing about a foot away from their little playground.  I didn't want to get too close, all I could think of was if they ran up my pants leg.  I KNOW THAT'S NUTS but that's where my brain went.
 
backyard friends

Growing up we used to catch lizards and keep them in big pickle jar terrariums we lovingly set up for them with dirt and rocks and little plants.. you know those big old  jars that looked like barrels?   We'd then start catching flies to feed them and  after a while  my parents would make us release them. The lizards remained unharmed, well except for a few who lost their tails and the emotional damage of living in a pickle jar!

backyard friends
 
I think this is a Western Fence Lizard.  I found a great site to identify lizards.  They showed a bunch of different types, alligator lizards which I've had before and OMG legless lizards which sorry AREN'T THOSE SNAKES?   Anyway it was interesting, I really love nature and reading about stuff. 
 
Well tomorrow we'll be back to lizard free blogging. I'm off to the dentist now!  Everybody keep cool! xop 


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