Happy Zombie

I love Sew,Mama,Sew’s Giveaway Day! LOVE it. I love giving a giveaway goodie and I love going to all the giveaways. In the years past, I’ve met and made some really good friends through SMSGD.  Not to mention discovering a bunch of great new blogs.  Sometimes the best gifts are hiding behind other gifts (it’s how I discovered my friend Krista) - so be sure and go back to all the sites you fell in love with that you discovered through Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day!

I’m giving away a 3″ jelly roll of my Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabric (29 fabrics in all). Leave a comment - maybe you’d like to comment on what your favorite sweet treat is at the moment or what you’re craving?  I’m CRAVING my late Omi’s tapioca pudding - and eating it with her in her kitchen in Germany.  Right before dinner.  She was that cool - dessert before dinner! 

Drawing for the HMYY jelly roll is open to domestic and international commenters, and ends on Dec 16th at 5pm-ish PST. I’ll use Random.org to draw a lucky comment number.

December 17, 2011 Edited in:
Giveaway Day has ended and we have a winner, winner, Happy Mochi Yum Yum jelly roll dinner (aaaand, exhale)!  Thank you all for joining in on the giveaway.  The comments were so fun, and came  from such amazing and wonderful people.  Everyone’s comments were so kind, interesting, YUMMY, touching and poignant (and some cracked my ess up!).   I would LOVE to go all Oprah and say, “e v e r y o n e - l o o k - u n d e r - y o u r - s e a t…” and I’d have a prezzy for everyone.  But I’m only me, with crazy fantasies… so I thought I’d add an extra winner and draw two numbers.  Using random.org for comments 1-972, the winners are #24 Cindy and #810 Jo… please look under your seats!

Where Women Create + 12 Days + 48 artists + Holiday magic + prizes galore = A W E S O M E N E S S!  I’m so freaking thrilled to be included again in the WWC Twelve Days of Fabulous Holiday Giveaways. Today is DAY 2 - my day… and I’m a little speck of bell pepper on a pretty amazing pizza!  Holy schmokes - you should see who I’m sharing the day with and the rest of the line up!

My give-away is a Fat Eighth bundlette of all 29 pieces in my Happy Mochi Yum Yum collection. Go there now and leave a comment to enter (and for all the other prezzies too).  Go.  Now!

Welcome to my day of Sarah Fielke’s Quilting From Little Things blog tour!  I’m so honored and excited to be included in this tour, especially since I had the privilege of making a quilt from the book long before it’s even available.  AND because I love Sarah so dang much.  Somewhere between my mailbox and the publisher’s shipping department awaits my copy of Quilting From Little Things… waiting to cradled in my arms, to be loved and to be devoured (knock, knock, delivery organization).  Like everyone else, I’ll be visiting all the blogs on the tour (list below) to peek inside Sarah’s delicious new book!

What I love so much about From Little Things is that you make little things!  Great to try new things + learn new things + instant gratification.   Sarah has a great gab about her new book with Pat Sloan on American Patchwork & Quilting Radio show.  It’s a great listen!

Since my book is still in transit and I have no book photos to post, I decided to do my own photo-shoot with the little quilt I made from the Diamond Chips pattern - and enlist the help of my Blythe doll, Melvita. She did fine… fine until I had her do some The Walking Quilted shots. She didn’t get how I didn’t want her face in the shot, and she was not happy.

Not happy at all. In fact, Melvita broke down into a tantrum. I’m pretty sure she even gave me the finger.

Turns out Melvita just can’t handle her gin & tonics.

But that’s ok, Melvita - be that way…

… because I have Photoshop.

Check out the past, be current and check out what Lissa is sayin’ today, and then step in to the future and enjoy the entire book tour!
28 Nov: Fat Quarterly
28 Nov: Amy Ellis
29 Nov: Thomas Knauer
30 Nov: Camp Follower Bags
30 Nov: Ryan Walsh
01 Dec: Happy Zombie
01 Dec: Moda Lissa
02 Dec: Mrs Schmenkman Quilts
02 Dec: True Up
03 Dec: Pink Chalk Fabrics
03 Dec: Pam Kitty Morning
04 Dec: Sew,Mama,Sew!
04 Dec: Pat Sloan

Sarah’s publisher has set up a deal for the Quilting from Little Things blog tour readers to get a discount of $5 off at MarthaPullen.com. Use promo code QUILTLITTLE to get your savings before the blog tour promotion expires (7/31/12).

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It’s like someone crawled into my head - and designed a product just for me!   I must have been sending signals out to the universe - and Panasonic must have had their aluminum foil hats on. Or it was Santa… and he came early (and misplaced his alleged Naughty List).

This is not an infomercial - this is a review and big fat thank you to Panasonic for making the Panasonic 360° Freestyle Iron Happy Zombie Cordless Dream Iron!

How could I not love the shiny and slick sole-plate with generous steam holes and crazy shape that reminds me of Stewie Griffin’s head.  The Panasonic 360° Freestyle Stewie 360° feels awesome in my hand and has such a sweet glide in all directions.  The 10 minute auto shut-off is perfect for me, too, because color me neglectful.

The gravy on top of this iron’s boat of gravy is it’s carrying case.  I love it SO MUCH I want to hug it (full disclosure… I kinda hugged it a little).  Snap off.  Snap on.  Bam.  Easy as pie.   I’m an on-the-go sewer and am always lugging my sewing gear to friends houses, Sweet Hot Yam sewing circles, retreats and Portland Modern Quilt Guild sewing days. My thorn has always been packing my pesky iron, especially at go-home time.  Not any more!  And I love that in limited sewing spaces - I have a spot to put my iron that’s not on my mini travel ironing board.  Cue choir.

I’m so in love with this iron, that I asked some super amazing awesome people if they’d be interested in providing one of these baby’s for a give-away on my blog.  And they said yes!  Iron name change request to The Happy Zombie Cordless Dream Stewie 360°… not so much. Leave a comment and I’ll draw a name from Random.org for a winner on Thursday, Dec 1st at noon-ish (PST), and Panasonic will send the winner the iron.  If you like - share who your favorite cartoon was from childhood. Mine was Scooby Doo (and still is).  Though I do love me some Family Guy!

December 1, 2011 Edited in:
Winner, winner! The Panasonic 360° Freestyle Iron give-away has now ended. Thank you all for joining in on the give-away! Using random.org for comments 1-805, the winner of the “Happy Zombie Cordless Dream Stewie 360°” is: #36 - Mary Anne!

I am weak. Resistance is futile.

1. by madeonmainstreet, 2. by canoeridgecreations, 3. by sewcraftyjess, 4. by liveacolorfullife, 5. by berries_are_yummy, 6. by missbehaveblog, 7. by stashstudios, 8. By sebskins

If I make Amy Butler’s Weekender Bag - I will have climbed the Mt. Everest of sewing. Now to find me a Sherpa…

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I may have used the same fantasy and title before (recycling my obsession crushing on Andy Cohen), but Pat Sloan is interviewing me again on her radio show. I KNOW… ME.  Me… AGAIN!   A brave woman she is after the last interview!  I love Pat.  I adore her.  Who doesn’t?!  She’s Pattlestar Galactica - everyone’s portal into the quilting universe (which is super fun to say in robot voice).  And new since the last time I was on Pat’s show, Pat and American Patchwork & Quilting have joined forces!   It’s like American Patchwork & Quilting and Quilts & More has come to life in our ears.   Audible nirvana.

I’ll be on via live stream Monday, June 6th at 1pm PST - LISTEN LIVE HERE, or listen via podcast anytime by downloading the show at iTunes here.

As witnessed by anyone who heard me the first time on Pat’s show, I sorta kinda talked a lot and we ran out of time. So just in case that happens again, here are two of my current projects that are featured in the Summer 2011 issue of Quilts & More.

My “A Toast to Coasters” project I actually teased about in November of 2008. In the issue it was redone in new fabric, but my heart belongs to all things made in 30’s fabrics. I wish I had taken more photos, but this is all that I took.

My second project in the issue is an “iPurse” goodie bag. The project kind of evolved from a badge holder/tiny purse I made back in October 2009 - to a iphone purse/badge holder.  I did find this photo of my orginals - I see them hanging just under my 3 aqua buckets.  Here’s a supersizeme pic for the flickerless.

Fingers crossed I don’t make a doof of myself tomorrow and hope I can curb my robot talking! Thank. You. For. Listen. Ing. Wish. Me. Luck.

Gotta get this off my chest before my bra rips apart at the seams (it’s already a tight squeeze in there). A real shit bomb has been dropped on our beautiful quilting/crafting/sewing community recently. All the negativity and meanness I’ve seen displayed recently has given me the vomits - especially when there are kind, decent and talented people being targeted in a rampage of thoughtless comments. Way too much “keeping it real” being slung.  Making a disparaging remark about someone’s artwork or fabric or pattern or book or style or where they buy their fabric or technique or whatever is not ok just because it’s followed by a “just keeping it real”.  Keeping it polite will make you sleep good at night.

I realize the rampage of mean and ugly comments/posts are the minority - and by speaking up… I hope to increase the love and decrease the hate.  I cringe at the thought of a new blogger or a new sew/quilter being intimidated by mean comments or posts - whether it be to blog, tweet, flickr or join a guild. The overwhelming majority of quilters, sewers and crafters are really, really, really nice people.  It’s so cliche, but the more the merrier.

A few of my own personal “rules of the road” when it comes to blogging (and commenting), and if it encourages just even one person to jump on board and enjoy the ride… I hope I do that.

1. I blog for me and I treat my blog as a journal and a failing memory back-up system. Getting comments and meeting people via comments I get, and most of all - the friendships born of it… that’s gravy.   I could care less about “following” and hit counting.  For me it’s all about the quality of my friendships, not the quantity.  I blog because I like to blog, not because I have to.  Period.

2. I always try to leave comments for others, and also try to read the comments left for others. When I first started blogging, it was easier to visit blogs because  there were only a few dozen crafty blogs at the time.  Now I have hundreds of favorites and it’s hard to keep up, but I try. I found one of my very best friends in the whole world because I read a comment she left on someone’s blog.

3. I LOVE show and tell! I think anyone who’s in a guild will agree… show and tell is the favorite part of the meeting! I love to see what people are making, what people are doing, where they went, who they saw. One of my all time favorite “field trip” reads was on Lisa Boyer’s blog when she took us to the post office.  Sharing is not bragging.  Bragging is not sharing.  Sharing is sharing.  Period.

3a. I love to see what people are working on - why I show what I’m working on.

3b. I love seeing peeks into people’s homes and where they live - why I show mine.

3c. I love seeing places people go, especially if I can’t go there myself - why I show mine.

3d. I love seeing what’s on the other side of the camera - why I show mine. (aka the good use of “keepin’ it real”)

4. I am me. I want to be positive, inspiring, friendly and polite. Being positive, inspiring, friendly and polite does not make me a phoney. It’s the same way I treat people visiting in my home, or at the grocery store, or the DMV, or that nice kid at Staples who was so friendly and helpful. To that a-hole driver who cut me off on US 101… meh, you not so much.

5. On my blog and in my 3D life… I celebrate all quilting, all fabrics, all resources.  Not everything is my cup of coffee, but I’ll keep that to myself.  Just keepin’ it polite.

6. Tell people that I took notice… and fixed my reader feed to show in-full in Google Reader. Seriously, I had no idea it was so irritating - I guess I needed to check my own blog in my reader sooner!

7. Tell Google that it’d be nice if they’d updated all the blogspot blogs with an email field in the Name/URL option so non-blogspot people like myself can stop being called “no-reply bloggers”.   TIA, Google.

8. Continue apologizing for having an inbox that looks like an episode of Hoarders and sucking at emailing.

9.  Share some damn good reads:
- Katy’s my opinions are mine and mine alone
- Amanda’s Reality Check
- Sarah’s Easter, and a Little Rant
- Krista’s No take-backs

10. Tell people my son and daughter in-law flipped a U-ie and chased down that car in their neighborhood to take a pic of the IQUILT (New South Wales) plate for me.  Best Mom’s Day card ever!

Ok. I’m done. And my girls are happy now that there’s more room in the bra.

Edited in:
I think there might be some confusion with the way I wrote my post - but all this isn’t about me, it’s about what’s going in Internetlandia right now… flickr groups, blog posts, comments on blogs, comments on Amazon, Facebook posts and comments - it’s a whole bunch of stink in a whole bunch of places. I personally haven’t been hit (that I know of, that is!), but I take it personally that our beloved, creative and kind community has. I just can’t sit quiet while good people get crapped on, as well as all the negativity that might potentially discourage any new quilters and/or bloggers from jumping in. This isn’t about me. This is about all of us.

Why is it that every time March 17th rolls around, all I want to do is verbally accost strangers with a: “It’s manly, yes… but I like it too” and “Always after me Lucky Charms - they’re magically delicious!“?  I guess it’s my way of punching people who aren’t wearing green.

This year my good friend Pat Sloan has made it easier for me to expand my verbal répertoire with a copy of her Tour Ireland With Pat Sloan book from Leisure Arts.

It’s more than a quilt book - it’s a beautiful tour of Ireland.  Pat makes you feel like you’re actually there, and gives you a beautiful glimpse of Irish life and scenery (except that how dare she didn’t take you and left you stuck at home vacuuming and cleaning stale Cherrio’s out of cracks in your car’s seats). I’ve never been to Ireland - unless you count the one time when I was 12 and we stopped for refueling at Dublin’s airport… and Pat’s book is like going there without having to take a long flight!

Want a copy for yourself??  Hop on the Tour Ireland blog tour! Leisure Arts is generously going to give TWO lucky commenters each a copy of Tour Ireland With Pat Sloan from each one of the blogs on the tour:

Canton Village Quilt Works - Jackie Kunkel
Crazy Mom Quilts - Amanda Jean Nyberg
Happy Zombie - Monica Solorio-Snow
House of A La Mode - Heather Bostic
Leisure Arts - Cheryl Johnson
Let’s Sew! - Pat Sloan
Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts - Amy Lobsiger
Pam Kitty Morning - Pam Vieira-McGinnis

Please leave a comment by 11:59pm PST this Saturday, March 19th.  I’ll have random.org draw two names and announce the winners from my blog here on Sunday morning.  And by morning I mean around noon.

Edited in:
Apparently one is supposed to pinch - not punch. This is what happens when a post is drafted while watching Sons of Anarchy.

The winners!
Pat will announce all the winners from all the blogs - on to her blog early this week. Keep an eye on Pat’s blog!

Reason #883 why I love modern quilting - it’s the way many modern quilters are photographing their quilts in fun, new ways. Quilts being photographed out in the wild and hung by human hangers.  And I LOVE how they look like zombies… not a I’m coming for you to snack on your brains the walking dead, but a kinder, happier, beautiful I’m coming for you to make you warm and cozy The Walking Quilted.

To all the quilters who give me my walking quilted jollies… I thank you!

A big, huge from all sides of my heart THANK YOU for the oh so kind comments left for me about my happy mochi yum yum strike-offs.  EACH and EVERY ONE of you made my heart swell with happiness (and comfort!).  I am at a loss for a word that goes beyond thankful, so I thank you all to infinity.  And beyond.

I’m so honored to be caboose’n the last day of Bari’s Inspired to Sew Book Blog Tour! I’m just honored to be a part of it, period!  Bari is giving a copy of her beautiful book to one lucky person on my blog - and all you have to do is leave me a comment.  If you’d like to mention what INSPIRES you TO SEW in your comment… please do!

I’m inspired to sew when I see something, and think how much more I’d love it if I made it myself.  I also feel empowered if I make something myself.  I think people who cook feel the same way - there’s a very nurturing quality about making stuff, especially if it’s for someone else. Reason #126 why I love Bari’s new book… it’s not just drop dead gorgeous… but all the projects in her book are something I want to make - to make for others.  Like Bari’s tea-cozy… it’s something I might be able to buy ready-made - but not even close to as pretty as Bari’s projects.  Plus after I make them they’re infused with love - that’s something that can’t be bought.

I love this tea set… cozy, pad and teabag.  It just screams to me to make it - and then have friends over for tea.   Not just sewing projects… but little projects that make doing something all the more fun, and with friends.  The little tea projects are sew-cial treats!

There’s lots, lots, lots more inside the beautiful pages of Inspired to Sew - and a copy could be yours!  Leave me a comment by midnight PST Thursday, February 10, 2011 and one lucky name will be drawn.  If you haven’t already, be sure to travel back in time to stop by and visit the other blogs on the tour.  WOW… look at this list-o-greatness I’m with!

January 31: Mary Abreu - Confessions of a Craft Addict

February 1: Jennifer Paganelli - Sis Boom

February 2: Jona Giammalava - Stop Staring and Start Sewing

February 3: Rashida Coleman Hale - i heart linen

February 4: Sarah Fielke - the last piece

February 5: Jenny Doh - CRESCENDOh

February 6: Cara Wilson - Cara Quilts

February 7: Deborah Moebes - Whipstitch

February 8: Monica Solorio-Snow - Happy Zombie

EDITED IN:
Give-away has now ended. And the winner is…
…
…
… (these are drum-rolls, BTW)
…
…
… gotta go to Bari’s blog and find out here!!