Happy Zombie

I did it.  I made the transition from flip-flops to shoes - and feeling rather Halloweenishy.  Huge thanks to Calamity Kim for showing the cutest shoes EVER on her flickr.  Kim kindly led me and my plastic money down the cute shoe path.  The T.U.K. Women’s Cat Mary Jane can be found here.  I have a foot issue - so I took my seam ripper and removed the straps.  Tadah… my Meowy Janes!

These shoes should come with a warning.  You will be stopped by the nicest people where ever you go with Meowy Janes on your feet - your shoes will be admired and inquired about.  Not for the shy or anti-social.  This concludes the warning.

I just can’t stop gushing over this DARLING kit I bought in Jen’s etsy shop. When I received it, I thougt no way can I cut into this… must leave adorable kit intact. After a few days of opening and closing the tin’s lid… fondling the contents - I took a deep breath and got out my scissors. I thought I heard the fabric let out a quiet scream, but soon realized it was just gasping for air (let me out, let me out).  Jen’s kit was so put together, she even added a precious little needlebook.  I feel like I hit the mother-load of all things cute and kit’y.   And Jen even snuck in a few pieces of Minny Muu!

I dove in with my handy dandy yo-yo maker, and decided once the yo-yo was made I couldn’t see enough of the gorgeous Swell fabric (you know, Swell… by the Urban Chicks… yes, those Urban Chicks… Pam’s friends). Anyhoo…  I decided I wanted to see more of the Swell, and took a stab at making some hexes.  I have those nice big hex plastic “patties”, but they were gianormus.   Enter thought bubble over my head.  Now a light bulb.  Now me squirming.  I have to pee, I’ll be right back.  Back to thought bubble.  Question mark.  Light bulb back on.  AH HA.  I can finally use my Darlene Zimmerman hex tool and make my own from thin plastic.  Now thought bubble turns to wavey dreamy remembering blur seeing on Pam’s blog she had all the info about the ruler. Ding sound. Elbow cupped in my hand while my other hand rubs my chin. Yes, yes… Pam’s done all the work writing about it, why duplicate it?!

So I wasn’t quite done with my kit, and it hangs on my design wall waiting to be bound. I’m stumped as to what color fab to bind it in. I fear red will make it look Valentiney, and the aqua is too hard to match… so I’m still in audition mode.  [Thought bubble… WWPKMD?]

Seeing Pam’s post, and seeing that Nanette and Jenny have also gotten Jen’s kit (and that Doe needs reviving, and maybe Laurie too)… I knew I had to shout from the roof-tops, that dang it… I must have kick ass good taste!  Oh, and that I’m also lazy.

PS… speaking of Laurie, if I’m not too late… a little someone-someone needs a new home.

Dang… my posts have been getting sparser and sparser.  I’ve been so busy with getting ready for Market (that’s SPRING ‘09 Market… not Fall ‘08 - sadly I won’t be able to attend Fall Market, sniff).  Busy, busy, busy… but I did manage to get in some fun play-time with my friends.  And what a wonderful time it was!

My little girl gang recently was treated to a wonderful day at my friend Sally’s house to celebrate her new craft studio. Many know of my friend Karen and her talented ways… but there’s another Snyder-girl who has the same gifts… Sally! Karen… cloth. Sally… paper. What a dynamic sister duo. So much to show, so much to tell. I think this is the longest/biggest post I’ve ever made, so I’ll keep my words to a minimum (I can hear the sighs of relief).

Lime + Black + White = Bliss

Sally with Bette.  Bette is Karen and Sal’s mom… and also my pretend mom/my second mom.  Bette is gifted too… with kindness, wit, humor, generosity, grace, beauty, style, extraordinary fashion sense and so much more.

Big sis Karen (R) and Connie’s sis Carol (L).  Carol was visiting from Oklahoma and became an honorary member of our girl gang/mini guild for the day.  I think she should move up here and become a permanent member.

L to R - Connie, Carol and Karen. (say that 5 x fast)

Sal shows us what’s in her drawers… Robin is caught off guard by what I just described.

Bette… so proud of her talented daughters.  Behind Bette is a mural Sally had commissioned.  It looks so real and you can’t help but want to touch it.

Endless storage hidden behind cupboard doors.

Wow… it [the cupboard] recesses really far back.  I bet it almost reaches Idaho.

Sal showing Connie and Carol the closet.  Something very foreign to me… a closet door that opens - and nothing spills out of it into a big heap on the floor. Must take notes.

So this is what those big sliding things at the bottom of a cabinet are for.

This is what organization looks like up close.  Again, very foreign to me.

Serious knobby love.

Bette typing on a vintage iPhone.

Who are you sending a text message to, Bette?  “Why to Monica, of course!”

Window delight.

Sparkle delight.

We all wore lime, black and white for the occasion. I made little fabric flower broaches for us to don.

Even Chris and Michelle dressed in lime/black/white for the party.

Ok, not really.  Psyche.

Craft tote I made for Sal. I used my Quilts & More purse pattern and extended the width of the pocket piece by 4″, and pleated it to make the pockets expand to hold crafty tools.

Tree-o-gifts on Sally’s kitchen table.

Look, look! A little bit of PamKittyMorning at Sal’s!  Licorice scotties from TJ’s.  Mmmm.

Sal set her lunch table so beautifully.  It was almost too pretty to eat at.  Almost. Nothing will stop me from partaking in a food event - no matter how pretty or cute.

Karen dishing up some YUM mac-n-cheese.  Another talent of the Snyder Sisters… mac-n-cheese.  I love both of theirs equally (keeping the peace so they’ll both feed theirs to me again).

A nice shot of Robin - she always has a wonderful smile on her face.  Always.

Dessert for the eyes.  Glass candies.

To cap off our wonderful day, we stopped at Carriage Country Quilts on the way home. Sigh… what a wonderful day it was - and it was even SUNNY!

If happiness came in stacks, this is what it would look like.

My special delivery from Japan. A glorious collection of Lecien’s darling Minny Muu.

It’s as if someone crawled into my head and designed fabric just for me.

Too cute for words, even though there are words. I’m pretty sure it says something in French.

Wish I could show what I’m going to do with it - my secret project for Lecien! But that will have to wait until Fall. I’m pretty sure I’m going to make another Merry-Go-Round, and I’m thinkin’ I may do one out my Minny Muu’s secret project leftover fabric.

If there was an awards show for Best Comments Ever (and the Oscar goes too…), hands down my blog would win. Wolfgang Puck would be catering my after-party, and all you wonderful peeps who leave me the nicest (and funniest) comments would be the guests of honor. I’m so touched by each and everyone of them and I thank you so much! Sometimes I even show my parents, and remind them that those notes they’d get about me from school when I was a kid - notes from the principal, the counselors, the teachers… that one day they’d read something good about me. Thank you for proving me right! Please forgive me if my email replies slack in the next few weeks… but I’ve got me some sewin’ (and a couple of bloggie-goodies too) to do. Whoo whoo!

Linkie-Love: My favorite online retail resources for Lecien:
FatQuarterShop.com
SuperBuzzy.com
PurlSoho.com

I found Silvia’s etsy shop via Jenny (aka the center of the cuteness universe). Only problem with LookMamaMadeIt is that I wanted to buy EVERYTHING she made/sold!

This cake is so cute I could weep. Packaging is also weepy cute, and even a custom card of my choice on it. And no, it’s not my birthday - those are banned.

Silvia is a handcrafting goddess… her beautiful and skilled stitches make me gasp (that’s nice talk for “I’m pea green with envy”). Little itty bitty perfect stitches. I don’t know how she does it. Cake comes with a lit candle that you can tuck in between the strawberries, and you can see more photos here. I’m thinkin’ I may need some cookies too!

Hands. Nothing is more beautiful to me - then when it’s made by hand and infused with love. There’s an old primitive image with a heart inside a hand, and it’s always been such a profound image/icon for me. It is my Nike swoosh, my Lacoste alligator, my Gucci “G’s”, and my Mercedes almost-a-peace-sign. Heart. I am blessed to be surround by friends with not just love, kindness and laughter… but some serious talent!

Pam got me all hooked up at Spring Quilt Market. I had no idea Market was going to be one big Trick-or-Treating booty-palooza. Who knew there would be so many goodies for me to come home with! Obviously Pam did, and she made me this darling Happy Zombie Going To Market tote bag, stocked with the official snack food of PamKittyMorning and Happy Zombie… Cheeze It’s. Pam made one for E and herself too, and we three were quite the fashionistas with our PamBags. Pam also had an extra special treat for Karen and me… ADORABLE little pincushions she made from vintage planters. Mine is the sailor, Karen’s is the little girl. So cute I could weep. Holy crap… Market was back in May… and it here it July and I’m just now writing about it!

Most of the photos were taken at Karen’s studio, and that darling vintage book has two sides… a naughty side and goody side. I found it in the previously loved section at Powell’s, all aqua and orange - screamed Karen even though I was inches from keeping it for myself! Anyhoo… Karen keeps it on the goody side, and every time I’m at the studio I flip it to the naughty side.

Cindy, Cindy, Cindy… look what she made me. How cute is that! I’ve put it in the center of my dining room table and I’ve been barking at the boy-folk not to put anything on it. I hate, hate, hate when the boy-folk in my house use the table as storage - and I’m constantly after them that the table is not a mud-room. Since putting Cindy’s appliqué on the table… not a single thing has been put on the table. Clearly it means I’m going to dress my table with Cindy’s appliqué 24/7/365!

Edited in: I pleaded with Cindy for the name and author of the pattern because the mob of blog-villagers had torches and were genlty pounding on my blog door for answers. For the greater good - Cindy says the pattern is from the Bareroots book “Down to Earth”. ~Whew… crisis averted.

Oh Jenny, oh Jenny, oh Jenny! Look at the most beautiful peg doll ever! I feel bad for taunting anyone with this, and would love to say they are adoptable… but Jenny has sold out in her shop. Jenny’s little Dolly Pops are so cute and I wanted them all. But being the good citizen that I am, I only bought one so that others may enjoy one too. Patting myself on the back. I was going to name my lil lemon drop dolly pop “Lemonica”. You know, Lemon… Monica… but then all I could think about was that urban legend about the firefighter with the Lemon Jello kid (leh-mahn-ja-low). She still has no name, the search continues…

From across the pond, then across the ditch lives my dear Sweet Peep Louise, aka Queen of the Suffolk Puffs (aka “yo-yo’s” for us commoners here in The Colonies). Louise is also mum to my darling little Kiwi-Girl. Those skilled hands and big heart of hers never end! I love my darling little burlap tote she made me. OMG… all the little Suffolk Puffs with their cute buttons… I want to just eat them! Keep an eye on LouLou’s shop… you’ll always find sweet, sweet goodies there!

And not just the darling tote for me, but LouLou included an issue of New Zealand House & Garden for me. Not just ANY issue… THE issue with her big “Felt so good” spread in it! I was jonesing this issue, I couldn’t wait to see Louise in the magazine! You can peek at the gorgeous photos here. Louise also has a pettern for her cute little bird, but you have to read the article to get the pattern.

Foot. Ha. Public persuasion and all that good jazz - I’ve stopped kicking myself over that adorable red table/chair. But ahhh… that’s for another post. For now I wanted to brag about my friends with skills! Mooahhhaahaa.

Life has been so busy, nutty and hectic… Triskit’s arrival was pure sunshine! All I want to do these days is stock up on cans of pork-n-beans, podcasts of Frosty, Heidi & Frank and coffee… unplug my phone, disconnect my computer, disable my doorbell - and plant myself in front of my sewing machine. And take lots and lots of pics of Triskit.

Feeling very Ted Kazinski-ishy… but without all the creepy bomby stuff. Fabric is my ammo - that makes it ok, right? Anyone care to join me? We can make it a quilt retreat! Sigh.

Still no pitter patter. Waiting, waiting for my sweet little Trisket to arrive. My petite Blythe (Rainbow Wish) is taking FOOOOOREVER - but she’s worth the wait.

But other great things are arriving… like my pal Karen’s awesome new QUILTS FROM MY GARDEN book! It’s filled with quilt projects, recipes and craft projects. The photography is BEAUTIFUL and lickable (that’s right - what you lick in the privacy in your own home is up to you - do lick, don’t tell). Read all about it on Kris’ blog… she’s even having a contest to give a copy away to a lucky winner!

What are you waiting for?

Go!

Scadaddle!