Happy Zombie

My two favorite times of the year are when Amy Ellis has her Blogger’s Quilt Festival. Both festivals coincide ish with Spring and Fall Quilt Market’s. If you’re unfamiliar with the BQF, it’s an online quilt show where everyone posts their favorite quilt (at the moment). BQF has evolved and grown over the years, and now there’s even Viewers Choice voting - and prizes. Lots and lots of generous sponsor prizes! If you’re interested in participating in the show-n-tell aspect (like I am) and/or submitting your quilt for voting… and/or to vote… or just plain want to see a bounty of beautiful quilts - head over there now - PS, submissions close today!

Here’s my favorite quilt at the moment, it’s my teenie quilt-as-you-go-log-cabin quilt I made specifically for some Tammis Keefe Tribute cat fabric scraps I got from my friend Elizabeth (pretty much where 99.5% of all my amazing scraps come from!).

I also secretly make teenie quilts just so I have something to bind. On the night of the final game between St. Louis and the Giants for the NLCS title, I rushed to get my binding sewn on so I’d have it to bind during the game.

Full disclosure: I find baseball painfully boring, but the Giants are The Other home team (go A’s!) so it was exciting and fun to watch and my teenie quilt was going to be a Lucky Giants Quilt. And they won the NLCS.

And then the Giants won the World Series. Coincidence? PS: You’re welcome, San Francisco.

So now that the World Series is over, my teenie quilt is now my Happy Halloween Quilt.

And because I’m so lazy because I’m so filled with holiday spirit and like to over extend my holiday seasons - I threw in some graphite Winterkist into my SF Giants-Halloween-Christmas-ish teenie quilt. Bam. Seasonal multi-tasking.  PS:  You’re welcome, Santa Claus.

If there’s a sign with holes in it… Pam and I will stick our heads through it.   Priceless.  Curious onlookers watching us… that’s gravy.

Did you know that shopping at a kawaii store called Loyal Army Clothing can make you silly punchy? Add adorable Frankie Pancakie to the mix and encouraging us… and you get more then curious onlookers - you get Nordstrom staff calling the Walnut Creek Police Department. Just kidding. Only security was called.

And then there were cupcakes. And coffee. And see-you-real-soon hugs. And then tears.

Pics from my iPhoto… odds and ends of things that crack me up, inspire me, embarrass me and make my heart swell.

In Portland, Oregon in the South Waterfront district - peppered with train/trolly tracks.   I love this sign.  Though I am puzzled that the bike has no front tire.  Maybe the sign means, “Caution: Ride with all tires” or “Beware of floating tire thieves”.

Five Guys in Beaverton, Oregon.  It’s not every day I get to sputter things like “Let’s do 5 guys for lunch”.  Thank you to Jackie who suggested I try the hot dog there. WOW!   I’ve found THE perfect hot dog.  Mad love fest for the Five Guys hot dogs!   And yes, I really did want to word that differently.

Target in Walnut Creek, California.  Thanks a lot Wipeout.  Now every time I go to a Target - I have an urge to jump on the big red balls.   Shout out to Sarah… Good Day, and big balls.

On I-5 near Eugene, Oregon. Oh Land of Lincoln… you are so funny.  You really have to super-size this photo.   The best part… the couple in the car looked like textbook Norman Rockwell midwestern grandparents.  And also funny… this is a numbered plate.  You mean there’s more like this?   Watch out Missouri… I’d keep on eye on Illinois - they may have plans to copy (and slightly modify) your Show Me State nickname. EDITED IN: If you don’t have flickr or can’t read the plate… I’ve edited what it says on my photo’s caption here.

Lunching at Bagels by the Sea in Seaside, Oregon…. I caught the color fairies spreading a little color magic.

On I-5 near Mt. Shasta. The color fairies spreading even more color magic - and this time in my colors.

At my parents house in Walnut Creek.  Yes, it’s a bull.  Yes, it’s a chair.  Yes, we are an odd family.  After his recent trip to Australia to visit my oldest son and DIL - my youngest son brought me back a shopping bag from Oz.  He said he knew I was going to go gaga over it - and that I would probably blog it.  Yes - and yes.   Mission complete.

Sunkist Zombie - circa late 60’s. I hated my freckles as a kid.   HATED.  THEM.  Now I wish they’d show up more.  I guess if we had that stuff in the sky (sunshine I think it’s commonly called)… my freckles might just pop out.  Photo credit:  George George of Berkeley, Calif.  Oh yes, definitly circa 60’s.

Mami Zombie - circa late 30’s/early 40’s Germany.  I’m seriously ticked at my mom for not saving her toys for me.  I’m sure the captain of the Mayflower would have made room for the buggy.

Back to iPhoto… Amy of Park City Girl is getting ready for her next Blogger’s Quilt Festival.  It’s almost time to pick a quilt!

I teased about it here - that something was up.  A lot of laughing and trunky-business… and now the cat’s out of the bag and our story will be told.  Our day at Alex’s - she interviewing Pam, Elizabeth and me for the Daily Blog at The Quilt Show.   I cringe seeing myself on video.  For certain I thought I looked like Heidi Klum as my parents have told me… only to discover it’s not true… is so very painful.  So, so, so very painful.   Grab some popcorn, Red Vine’s and Milk Duds… and enjoy the six part series of the Blogging Queens Adventure - Part One.

Bonus features…  behind the scenes.  Or more appropriate… behind the screams.

Pam and Alex prepping for production. That’s right.  TV lingo.

Alex and Pam prepping.  More TV lingo… Monica:  When does the craft services truck come?

Pam and Alex get Pam’s quilt hung on the wall.

Elizabeth (and her quilt) gets hung on the wall.  Don’t worry E, those pins should stop hurting in about 5 minutes.

Alex posing for her Al Roker shot.

Elizabeth gets interviewed.

Pam gets interviewed.

Dueling interviews. Alex interviewing Pam who’s interviewing Alex, and so and so forth and they told two friends who told two friends…

No relevance to the story… just a cute shot of Pam.

All three of us getting interviewed. This was my favorite part, as Alex had us place our blogging arsenal in front of us. If only we had had ONE MORE camera to take a photo of it all. Good thing Alex was armed with a video camera. My other favorite part was saying my blog was ad free… and poof, I now have an ad! I should have said my blog has no X-5. POOF.

As it turns out, the entire morning was one big rouse for me to pay up on my TQS membership.

“No, no, no… we don’t take American Express“. Later I was flogged, tarred and feathered.  I’m thinking that entering Pam’s contest might be in order. Or dig out my Visa… because I want full access at TQS.  And besides… these #@$%! feathers hurt.

Behind the screams… Elizabeth & Alex = trunky-business.

How nice… Pam even provides a complementary ¼ full bottle of water for her trunk *quests*. You know you’ve arrived when you’ve landed in Pam’s trunk. You know you’re an A-Lister when you’ve been served a ¼ full bottle of PKM water.

Blogging Queens Adventure:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6 Fin

Something’s going on. There’s been a rash of Trunky-business in NorCal lately.  A trunkidemic.
You know you’ve arrived, when you see this person on a roadway snapping your photo - and this person providing the production support.

High-jinx and video tape… a bit of quilting, a bit of comedy… and a heaping spoonful of Al Roker. ALex ROKER.

Something’s going on over at The Quilt Show… a sneakie peakie on The Daily Blog.

Help.
I’ve fallen in a trunk and I can’t get up.

The fun continues on my visit home…

Pam’s blogged it here, and Elizabeth has blogged it here… and of course I’m always on the short bus to ProcrastinationLand - so I’m finally blogging about it too. An über fun filled night and day.  It just went waaaaaaay too fast and I wish we all could have had more time together.

We started our Girl’s-Night-(and day)-o-rama with our wonderful friend Nireko at Emil Villa’s in Walnut Creek (officially it’s the Hick’ry Pit.  Whatever).  We ate.  We laughed.  We ate.  We laughed.  Nireko had us in stitches.  And there was pie.  OH.  THERE.  WAS.  PIE.  I stole these pics from Pam… because I’m still driving down that road.  Nireko showed us some new Lecien fabric that is just to DIE FOR, which left us competing with the pie for our drool worthiness.  I’ll show it when it gets on Lecien’s website.

Pam and I look like we’re getting chummy as a pose for the shot, but we were REALLY sitting like that. Smallest booth on the planet, and it’s always me who’ll find it.

We all go home, with just enough time to sleep (and digest our food).  Up and atom the following morning, and back on the road we go.  Heatwave was already in full swing, and Pam had her car nice and cool. Ahhh. First stop… Thimble Creek.  I haven’t been to TC in years, and this was my first visit since their move from Walnut Creek.  It was great to see Roxie, and wish I could have seen Joe too.  Joe and Roxie are just THE nicest couple, and it’s reflected in their wonderful business.  TC is great, and I could just hang out there for hours on end.  PS… if anyone is looking for some Minny Muu 3… I saw some there.

Elizabeth and Roxie.

The wonderful Chickie cutting my fabric. Maybe it was Pam’s fabric. Or maybe it was E’s fabric. Hard to know, since I told Chickie and Sandy as they were cutting Pam and E’s fabric, “I’ll have what she’s having”. I just noticed I have no pics of Pam while we were at TC. Mustabeen because I was nipping at Pam’s heals the entire time. Watching what she was picking out, and then I could get some too (like having a personal shopper).

The darling Sandy ringing up my first purchase (oh yes, there was more). Sandy has that “do you need to take out a second mortgage to cover this” look.

Brenda and Anne where there too. Ok, not really there there… but I saw Bren’s four season quilt and squealed with delight. I love this quilt so much. I bought her pattern at last market, and hope to one day make it. Lots of Anne’s goodies too, and picked up a few of her patterns as well.  Wish they had really been there there, but it was fun to see their beautiful works showcased.

As we head south, barely audible from the back seat are my “is it lunch yet?” whines. Having fun works up an appetite (in my case, even sleeping works up my appetite). Chevy’s. Mmmm. And did I mention it was a hundred-n-effing something degrees outside? The ice teas really hit the spot. Funny, after we sat down, we all instinctively whipped out our iPhones and Sidekick… checking to see to if we had emails from each other. Do’i.

Further south, we finally reach Mecca. Well. My Mecca. My version of Disneyland… Daiso.   A “dollar” store of Japanese delights and cuteness. I filled up two baskets and a cart. There’s a Daiso I’ve shopped at in Federal Way, WA… but this Union City, CA one is huge. HUGE. Makes the Federal Way store look like a mini-mart. I have died and gone to zakka heaven.

“OHMYGOSH… What’s that, Monica?”… it’s the ‘mayonnaise rack’ that Elizabeth found for me. After seeing this photo of myself, I noticed the one boob slimming-reducing effect it had on me. I should have bought two. Three,  one for my butt too.  Four… five…  six…

Pam and the find-of-the-day. Insert your own caption here. The use of OMG is not authorized since Pam, E and I have already said it to it’s maximum usage allowance on this item.

The wall-o-sponges. Like a museum of the world’s cutest sponges. So cute, they made us giddy. As Elizabeth said… “those sponges are Sponge Worthy”!

Here’s my sponge worthy buy… a little slice of sponge cake heaven. Who knew sponges could be so cute. Well, obviously the Japanese knew. Thank goodness!

After Daiso, we head back north to Walnut Creek to drop me off (my mom said I had to be home by 5:00 - and I actually obeyed - first time in 47 years). Our fun day is coming to an end soon, and I am so very sad. On the way back to The Creek, we stopped at The Quilter’s Inn in Danville. Darling little shop and the owner and staff couldn’t have been nicer. I could have hung out and shopped all day. Lovely, lovely little shop, and I found some more of the Lecien Antique Rose that I’ve been trying to gobble up for my stash - before it’s forever gone. Oh maybe… it just might come back? Hmmm… I hope so!

At the Quilter’s Inn I stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted this Guadalupe/Dia de los Muertos quilt. I asked if I could take a photo of it and was given persmission. I did ask who made it, but the info slipped out of my brain. I’d love to know if anyone knows who made this and will post it here.  One of the most beautiful and meaningful quilts I’ve ever seen.  I. LOVE.  IT.

Thank you Pam & E for the wonderful time - I hate that we live so far apart!

First stop… my brother’s house. Why? Because my mom told me to. And plus this is where we called home for our visit. My brother never lets an opportunity pass without reminding me the hierarchy slash his positioning on our parents speed-dial.

Audry Doggie… she would have to be given the title of my niece.  Human in fur. Kookoo for Cocoa Puffs dog she is. Loves to watch tv, especially the Olympic swimming and diving events.   Everyone is forbidden to turn to the Animal Planet channel.  Yeah.  Audrey Doggie gone wild.  Yes that is carpet she is on (no wonder Audrey’s KKFCP). Bad, bad, bad HGTV episode (results) that was never aired. <— Edited in:  Not because of the results, but becuase of a production issue.  Not saying it was Chayse Dacoda’s doing. But you know, don’t say anything if you can’t say anything nice. So I’ll just be quiet now.

How to make a butt fugly storage facility look beautiful. I’m obsessed with this building and marvel at the akamai thinking of the designers and planners.

The storage building is on Ygnacio Valley Road in Concord near Cal State EB (I still want to say Hayward). The Luthie church (you can’t see in the shot, but the sign is visible)… I was kicked out of a Sunday service when a was a little one (for talking too much - go figure), and sent outside. My mom says I wasn’t “kicked out”… that I was merely being punished for bad behavior. Joke’s on you Pastor CrabbyPants… there was a playground outside.  And that was my inaugural trip on the Sinners Road to Hell & Damnation.

More trip-o-rama to come… unless I get struck by lightning.