Happy Zombie

What does one do with savings after sharing a Seattle hotel room for $32 (each) a night with three sleepy time snuggle buddies?  One shops, of course!

Fabric

Daiso

Burgerville

Resources:
Parkland Parish (super friendly staff & customers)
Trains, Fabric, etc. (no, seriously)
Island Quilter (Love!)
The West Seattle Fabric Co. (Love!)
Drygoods Design (Love!)
Pacific Fabrics (yes to Northgate, SODO = NONO)
Daiso Tukwilla  (a super small Daiso)
Burgerville (it’s Walla Walla Onion Ring season!)

Harvest - my favorite time of year. Harvest. Fall. Autumn. This is my Spring. My time of year when I feel most alive, most energized, most creative and most cozy. The crock-pot comes out of hiding. And so do I.

I got all nostalgic and harvest happy looking at a past blog post - so I thought I’d revisit it and re-post it… because Autumn is just around the corner and I CAN.  NOT.  WAIT!

From Fall 2008:
Ever feel like you’ve walked straight into the pages of a magazine?  Me neither.  Until Saturday, that is.  My kick-ass girl gang trip to Barn House was heavenly and I had to touch everything to make sure it was real life - and not printed pages.  Heavenly.  Delightful.  Magical.  Beautiful.  Breathtaking.  And a little macabre-larious too (saving that for the end of the post - no skipping ahead).  My challenge was to whittle down all my photos into only 3 dozen.  Between Paula and me, I think we snapped a couple hundred photos.  Click.  Click.  Click…  we just couldn’t stop.  Barn House is located in Battle Ground, Washington… which is about 30-40 minutes NE of Portland, Oregon - and about a 2 hour drive SE from my house (in Astoria, Oregon).

Mother Nature put on quite a show for us - the fall colors looked like they were airbrushed on.

Entrance to the barn - this is such an E Ticket!

Our hosts.  Far right is Jermonne, one half of “J & J” of Barn House, aka Joe and Jermonne. Everyone at Barn House was so friendly and gracious, and made everyone feel like a VIP guest.

A chicken feeder - something ordinary into something beautiful.

Terracotta pumpkin patch.  Ishy.

Bulbs.

A sweet little garden just outside of the refreshment tent.

Seriously.  I feel like I walked into the most beautiful wedding or party setting ever.  Over the top, but the good kind of over the top.

All creatures great and small love Barn House.

Beverages. For all.

Breathtaking.

Cardamon bread, pumpkin bread, marionberry bread… I was in bread utopia.  Oh so very good, especially the cardamon bread.   Also on tap was coffee, mimosas, fruit… just so much good stuff.  Edited in:  I found out who the mystery baker was (all we knew at the time was that her name was Karen).  One never knows who they’ll meet in our wonderful little internet village… and Karen is from an IRL village just up the road from me!

Fantasy tables and settings.

My inner harvest is tingling on high.

Harvest.

I love this lamp idea.

Brave? Ballsy? Either or both… I loved it.

My inner harvest is now past the tingling stage.

My inner harvest is smokin’…

… my inner harvest just exploded.

So macabre, so hilarious… so something that I get such a kick out of.  Dexter meets farm house chic.

This photo should probably come with a warning, but what the heck…

Not the end - I may revisit the rest our of wonderful day, too.

Pin It

So this last weekend was the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. The Portland Modern Quilt Guild had an exhibit. And the Sweet Hot Yams set up camp… Yam Camp. This should be a 10-part post, but I’m too lazy so I’m doing a two-parter. This post is more for me than anyone else (I had such a blast I want to remember every second), but should anyone reading enjoy my ride with me… pull up a chair and buckle up. Pour yourself a G & T.

Sunny and gloriously arid Sisters made me forget all about putting sunscreen on my “sisters”, but luckily I was so proud of my SOQS name tag and ribbons that I snapped a self-photo of them. Showing my ta-tas on a post about a quilt show? Gravy.

And so it began. Violet, Heather, Traci, Irene, Joan and myself head up to Sisters. Elizabeth, Kristin and Gibby will meet us up there later. Sadly missing at Yam Camp was Mo, Jen, Shelly and Sally.

Violet makes a final shove at the fabric, sewing machines, clothes and *special quilting gear*.

We pass Detroit Lake on the way to Sisters, one of my favorite places on earth. Maybe even the universe.

Yam Camp! We unpack our priorities and our *special quilting gear*.

Then some of us go for a run, some of us pretend to go for a run and some of us photograph runners. Then we rest… photographing runners while sitting on the porch with a Sangria is E X A U S T I N G.

Dinner at Three Creeks Brewing, right next to the beautiful Sisters Movie House. (I’m so enamored with this movie house!)

A little beer tasting - and color inspiration. I see solids and I’m suddenly hungry for Autumn.

After dinner, our new Friend of The Yammies and dinner guest, Rob Appell invites us to see what’s in the back of his truck… QUILTING TOOLS - and he had prezzies for all of us. Confession: I’m totally name dropping and bragging that Rob had dinner with us AND he had treats for us. Double the treat factor.

Things Violet says, “I want a donkey and ride on it to my mailbox”. I did imaginary cart-wheels when I spotted this hood ornament. After dinner we head to the grocery store, with Traci as our official cart driver - we spend more time admiring the quilts than shopping. Quilts are hung EV. ER. Y. WHERE in Sisters. Before and after the show, there’s no shortage of quilts. Sisters is a well hung town.

The next day Elizabeth arrives, and that night Kristin arrives. Gibby will arrive on show day.

The floor is slowly disappearing and the fabric piles quickly growing.  I make my Pick a Pocket purse for Violet with her gorgeous new Peacock Lane fabric; Irene succumbs to sewing fraught…

… and I crank out two FWQAL blocks. Block 7 I loved, Block 8 had me dropping a lot of F-bombs (especially after the block finished smaller than my other blocks). My extreme ultimate super dislike for templates is substantiated.

And then Bari and Tula arrive at Yam Camp for a few hours of yammy good times.

We hit Three Creeks for a second time, this time Bari and Tula joining us. Bari waves hi to Pam and we WYWH’d her, Elizabeth and I split a beer sampler and Traci orders some ranch dressing on the sly to sneak some of Irene’s fries.

After dinner we hit the Stitchin’ Post - one of my favorite quilt shops on the planet. Elizabeth spots the Bari display; Violet spots her petal purse pattern (and just so happens to be using the purse!); Elizabeth, Traci and Violet spot Lizzy’s new book.

“OMG, Elizabeth… is this your book?!”. Ok, I was a little loud, but to pipe me down Elizabeth modeled with her book for me. And suddenly more hootin’ and hollerin’… Valori pops in the store. And as busy as she was, she stopped to take some time with us. LOVE. HER.

Next post quilt show pics…

Fish don’t fry in the kitchen; Beans don’t burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin’, Just to get up that hill.
And down the hill. And back up the hill. Up another hill.
Around 3 mountains (South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister)…
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show here we come!

The Portland Modern Quilt Guild is converging on the 36th Annual
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show™ on Saturday, July 9th - and we even have an exhibit there! I hope everyone who’s going, will stop by and visit us. We’ll be in the courtyard between Paulina Springs Books and Jennifer Lake Gallery (Violet and I have the first shift).

At the Stitchin’ Post from 1-3, PMQG’s  Susan Beal will be there to do a book signing for her crazy awesome Modern Log Cabin Quilting book during the show.  Susan’s signing is not to be missed!

A bunch of us from PMQG that are attending the SOQS are armed with a phone and twitter account. No doubt we’ll be tweet’n and a twitpic’n - so keep an eye on us!

Cherri of Sew On: @Cherri_sew_on
Christina of A Few Scraps: @afewscraps
Elizabeth of Oh Fransson!: @elizabethagh
Gabrien of Dahlia Handmade: @dahliahandmade
Heather of House of A La Mode: @HouseofALaMode
Heather of oregonsurfers: @oregonsurfers
Irene of Mushroom Villagers: @mushroomvillage
Jen of BettyCrockerAss: @bettycrockerass
Jill of Made on Main Street: @mom_street
Joan of wishes, true and kind: @joanhcallaway
Kristin of Sew,Mama,Sew!: @sewmamasew
Me:  @Happy_Zombie
My “Sisters” twitter list: twitter.com/happy_zombie/sisters
Meg of Megs Monkey Beans: @megsmonkeybeans
Rachael of 2nd Ave Studio: @2ndavestudio
Traci of HipFabric:  @hipfabric
Violet of Violet Craft: @violetcraft

(If you’re a PMQG member going to the SOQS and have a twitter acct., please let me know and I’ll add you to the list)

Some of us will be at Sisters for four days in a vacation rental (Yammer Time!). Sweet Hot Yams + sewing machines + Sangria: things may or may not get out of hand… and I will deny everything.

A funny thing happened on my way to Portland Modern Quilt Guild at PNCA last summer - I met THE most amazing, talented, friendly, fun and enthusiastic women ever.  One of those incredible PMQG women happens to be Cherri - and this last Saturday Cherri held an open house to celebrate her new studio with all her friends and PMQG members.   The night before, I was excited like a kid who couldn’t sleep in anticipation for the big field trip the next day, and I almost put a dress out… and shiny shoes… and stockings… and then I remembered I hadn’t shaved my legs.  Hello blue-jeans.

Cherri’s studio space is in the old Columbia Sportswear building in the Cathedral Hill area of the St. Johns neighborhood in Portland.

My first time to St. Johns - what a darling/artsy/quirky neighborhood.  I fell in love.  It was my first time across the St. Johns Bridge too (I’ve traveled under it, just never on it).  As we enter the building, we can’t help but be in awe of the views, light, beams and space. Retreat fantasies begin.

A peek of what’s inside the Sew On studio.

Something Crafty inside peeking at us.

Violet and her girls (one of which belongs to the pink boots, both of which belong to the peek’sters above).

Mingle, mingle.

If you spotted Kristin (in the tan coat) - she’s one of the a winners of the Project Modern Challenge 1!!

Ice cold milk.

Cookies cookies, cookies!

Traci demos the party favors - adorable little color pencils.

One of Cherri’s WIPs.  GENIUS use of fabrics.

Beautiful finished quilt.  Stunning.

WIP Wall.  These blocks make me want to dance they’re so beautiful.  Cherri has an eye for color and makes each piece sing to my eyes. Eye music.

Sew On Royal Security Force

I love when art happens… the coats, the quilts… all the colors go so beautifuly together.  Planned?  Spontaneous?  Or maybe it just happened because someone put a bird on it.

A gorgeous quilted and embroidered prezzie for Cherri made by Jen.

Another prezzie for Cherri - Marcia made the cutest little bag (a mod’d mini version of Alicia Paulson’s Jane Market Bag - with birds on it and goodies inside, and it even matched what Marcia was wearing. Art happens yet again. Birds.

IRL tutorial… Jen shows us nifty tricks on putting in a zipper and making a clutch bag - which she gave to Tamara (after Jen finished it in only a handful of minutes).  I worked hard at trying to convince Jen she needed to re-do the demo - about 8 more times.

Traci tutes her daughter - Social Media 101.

Cherri lets us all have a turn trying out her new Handiquilter long arm machine.  Rachel so kindly gave everyone a quick lesson and lots of supportive guidance (thank you, Rachel!).   Joan, Jill and Traci take a whirl.  It’s so much fun, and dang it… now I want one, too.

In the queue to be quilted.

Cherri’s inspiration board - it’s a like 3D version of Pinterest.  I’d like to repin some of that FMF right onto my board.

Cherri tells us what’s the haps are on her inspiration wall - hopefully we’ve convinced her to do a tute on her blog to make that cool knot block. Cherri has a gift - she’s got insights and ideas and she knows how to convey them and share them. Cherri could find a way to make the phonebook into a work of art - and she’d be able to teach you how to do it, too. Even without a bird. I’ve learned some of the neatest things from Cherri - from how I look at things to how I do things. And she’s a kick in the pants and a kind soul on top of it. Everyone needs a Cherri in their life - and we’re so lucky she’s in ours!

Joan and Jen have also blogged about our amazing day, and have more to tell + have beautiful photos to see.

And speaking of a funny thing that happened on our way to Portland Modern Quilt Guild at PNCA… we found the Mug Rugs’ birth mother.

L to R: Traci, me, Violet, Joan and Elizabeth.

Edited in: Cherri’s quilt that hangs by her entrance is her version of “Starry Night” - from the Better Homes & Gardens bookazine “Antique Quilts: Classic Favorites & Modern Remakes”.

I know not everyone is as nuts about the Olympics as I am (or Laurie or Carol), so I warn you…. if 16 days of international love, peace, happiness and sports is not your thing… this is a very long post.  My sons, hubby and I are koo-koo for Olympic Cocoa Puffs.  When we learned 7 years ago that the 2010 Winter Olympics were going to be in Vancouver, BC… we said WE HAVE TO GO, whether we had event tickets or not.  Or not is how it turned out.   Seven years is not long enough for me to plan - I was too late to buy tickets.  So we just went to be there.   The world was going to be in Vancouver,  and by golly we wanted to meet the world.  Hello world.  I love you. 
Peace Arch

It was all very iffy when we were going and for how long. Lodging was one thing I was able to secure. So as it turns out, DH2’s school schedule changed. He was going, then wasn’t going… and then he was going - and that left us with leaving on Friday night and returning Saturday night. In the big picture of things, 5+ hours driving to get there is no biggie. Seriously. Live on a Hawaiian Island for six years - where a road trip means pulling out of your driveway, driving in a big circle… and ending up where you started. Roads trips like driving up to Vancouver are still very welcome - even after having left Oahu 10 years ago.

Check Point Charlie-DudleyDoRight

Entering Canada, we were greeted with beautiful Canadian border buildings and super friendly border agents who seemed genuinely happy to have us visiting. I think I found the Nordstrom of border crossings. Beautiful British Columbia lets us know where to find Hope if we need it.

As we get closer to Vancouver, the landscape is dotted with what’s to come… a beautiful international pot pie. Vancouver has beautiful flavor!

Go Canada Go on the freeway. The first one of THOUSANDS of flagged cars we’ll see.

The freeway suddenly turns into a city street.  Poof.   Just like that.  My Californian brain can’t conceptualize that we can get anywhere without a freeway… but look… there it is, we made it to downtown Vancouver on a city STREET!   No fuss no muss… and everyone was driving so friendly.

Along the way into downtown, I spot this condo complex. I have a thing for roof lines and pitches.  Roof-utopia.

Further down the street, this building reminded me of Germany.  My parents immigrated to the US from Germany via Toronto - and settled in California right before I was born.   I consider myself to be an Almost Canadian.   Go Almost Canada Go!

Go Canada Go at the Vancouver Police Department.

Gonad go!   Oh Canada, you’re awesome.

Oh. All. Right.

Vancouver’s Chinatown. OH THE COLOR!!! I cracked up at the SHARE THE ROAD signs.  I SWEAR it’s Wayne driving the ‘76 AMC Pacer and Garth riding a bike.  Hmm… Mike Meyer’s IS Canadian.  Go Wayne Go Garth Go!

A fire station in Chinatown. I have a thing for doors too. I danno about firehouse… this screams quilt studio to me.

This ramp ended in a road block.  But worth it.   Oh the colors colours!  Go Colour Go!

A happy discovery… Vancouver’s Gastown District.

Charm, pride, history… I love the Gastown District.

I think I’m going to start having a thing for awnings too.

Million dollar (CAD and USD) view from where we parked our car. Yeeze… we could have had a picnic in our car with a view like this.

A steam clock on Water Street.

Crosswalk on Water Street. Go Crosswalk Go!

In a souvenir shop, DS2 does a shout-out for our family. Oi Oi Oi Team JoJoJo and Team OmiItoMarco!

My do-something-nice opportunity. Some thug punk a-wipe turned the flag upside down into the planter. I dusted off the dirt and replaced it properly.

I used to collect Olympic pins.  Before they were readily available like this (or on the internet).   I used to have to buy them through a broker with this thing called an envelope and this sticky thing we used to lick called a stamp.

Go Bus Go!

At Canada Place. More colour, colour, colour!

The International Broadcast Centre on the left.  BOB COSTAS & STEPHEN COLBERT… I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!

Canada Place overlooking Coal Harbour.

The Welcome Centre at Canada Place.   Because I love typing like a Canadian… centre, harbour, colour. Downtown was peppered with volunteers - answering questions, giving directions, saying hello and welcoming visitors. What wonderful ambassadors they were to Vancouver and Canada. Thank you volunteers for making us so welcome in your home.

The Olympic Flame in all it’s glory.  Like Cinderella’s Castle in Disneyland… it looks much bigger on tv. Much controversy about the cauldron - it’s surrounded by fencing. The fencing was moved closer before we got there, but still bah hum bug over it. I think it looks like a captured alien being interrogated. FREE THE CAULDRON!  FREE THE CAULDRON!  Go Cauldron Go!

One of the improvements made was to set a “viewing area” atop this balcony.  Hey, let’s go up there! BTW, that’s me in the pink hoodie.  EVERYWHERE you see EVERYONE with “iPhone arm”.

Ha. I guess we won’t be going up to the viewing balcony. Oh sure, we can wait in the queue with 20,000 of our new best friends. I think the end of the line was at the entrance of Stanley Park. Back to the chain link fence we went. But it was fun. SOOOO many people speaking so many languages and everyone was so happy and festive.   It was an amazing experience I’ll never forget.  It really did feel like the center of the world there.  I say this EVERY Olympics… I wish the world lived in the same peace of the 16 days of glory - but doin’ it 365 days a year.

Go Canadian Doggies Go!

“Mom. Mom… where are you going? Mom!” - I was zombian’ over to the red and aqua container. I don’t know what it was… just that it was red and aqua and it caught my eye.  Wink.

More red. And a wish list for my yard.

On our way back to the Gastown. The sweet smells of Germany taunted us. The line was huge. HUGE.

As we headed back to the garage, we came upon an Old Spaghetti Factory on Water Street in Gastown.  We really wanted to go, but we decided we weren’t going to come all the way up to Canada and eat at an OSF  when we can do that in our Vancouver (Washington).  BOY do I regret it.  They had beautiful outdoor seating and a huge Euro vibe about it.  I almost wept. And the weather was 100% al fresco dining weather to boot (as you can see by my Winter Spring Olympic footwear).   It was packed, the final reason we nixed it. Look at this photo I found on flickr.  Yeah.  We passed that up - but we had a consolation… we found an all you can eat sushi place and WENT.  TO.  TOWN.  We’re going back to Vancouver and we’re having dinner at OSP on Water Street.  No ifs ands or buts.

I don’t know how it happened, but I became a Russian athlete/coach stalker - in hopes of befriending them and they’ll hand over their adorable red and white jackets/hat. Laurie has a great post about the US athletes attire at the opening ceremony.  While I love the Ralph Lauren outfits… I gasped when the Russian team walked into the stadium with the red/white swirliques on their hats and jackets.

I see Redwork.

I see felt.

Team Russia is using a German car with their red swirliques.  I take this to be a sign.  Swirliques and an Audi… this should be my car.

Why, hello Russia.

I go to a mall about once every 2 years.  I had no choice but to visit one in Vancouver - I had to go to The Bay if my life depended on it.  But it was fruitful and worth it.  Oh so worth it.

Coffee and dessert the Canadian way. Go Timbits Go!

The flip side of the Peach Arch as we head back into the US. The border agent asked us the standard crossing questions. He then asked us, “Oh please don’t tell me you drove from Oregon just to spend one day in Vancouver?”   Um.  Well.   Now my brain is thinking that clearly no matter what our answer is - is that we’re gonna look like Cocoa Puffs and the next thing you know our truck is being torn apart and inspected.  I did volunteer my apples for ag surrender.   Maybe that did the trick.  Doing the right thing is always best.  Plus the last time we crossed from Victoria I smuggled a few Cuban cigars into the US and I’ve been carrying the guilt.  In case the border patrol is reading this… I just made that up about the Cuban’s.  BTW… Dear US Government: Safety and security is job one and we’re grateful for the US Border Patrol’s service and dedication.  But have you seen how pretty Canadian’s crossing is?  Our border agents look like they’re working out of 3rd world outpost and it’s not looking too welcoming to our visitors.  I think we can still kick ass and look good at the same time - just saying.

A sure sign we’re back in the USA. Deep fired delicacies on wheels.  We are home.  And I miss Vancouver oh so much.  At least I can watch from afar via Carol’s blog and flickr.  Go Carol Go!

Thank you, Vancouver. We heart you.

Yesterday in the Pacific Northwest - the weather was hot, sunny and A/C worthy. Herr Zombie and I took a little trip inland to Battle Ground, WA for Barn House’s 2009 Fall Harvest and for Beyond the Garden Gate’s Vintage Gathering (also in Battle Ground). My mini sequel to last year’s adventure (Part I & Part II).

A sweet day with just hubby and me - a nice drive, seeing my friend Karen from TheCityWho’sNameICanNeverSpell and buying some of her incredibly awesome Cardamom Bread, hoping to see my friend Laurie and finally getting to meet her IRL (please notice that I typed that in a non-stalker font)… and for seeing all the harvest goodness and getting my harvest groove back on.

This vendor (The Olive Kat) at Vintage Gathering had THE most beautiful Pyrex display I’ve ever seen - and I wanted it all to come home with me (and I brought my husband with me why?).   I sucked at taking good shots, but I found some photos of their booth here (along with gobs of photos of the entire event).

Next stop… Barn House.   The weather was sunny and beautiful, but I was jonesing me some rainshine.

Sudden craving for some baguettes, balsamic vinegar, basil…

I wish this was my barn.  And I’d live in it.  And I’d hang my hat here.

Of course I’d have to have my TV hidden behind it. I may be able to live in a barn - but I do need my TV. My fantasy barn comes fully wired.

Continuing on with my living in a barn fantasy… this would be my spa slash bathroom. My fantasy barn comes fully plumed. And with a housekeeping and kitchen staff.

This would be my craft slash sewing room.

Oh beehive.  Shout-out to Nanette and Lori!

I know the actual arrival of Fall is still weeks to come - but I could really give an ess what the calendar says. Why?
1) My friend The Queen of Cuteness, aka Jenny - has released my long awaited dream blog, where I can live in AutumnLand year round at Owlsorts. Three words - Ooooh. Emmm. Geeee!

2) Fall at Casa de Zombie starts when I take a certain someone out of the closet and recycle him.

Jack’s coming out of the closet (again)- from 2006’s Halloween.   I know… it’s kind of like handing out stale left-over candy from last year.

No dust, no rot, no seeds, no funny smell.   Just Jack.  For your own recycled Crayon Jack, click here.

Tingle on Wayne… tingle on Garth.

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

His & hers therapies. I’m so happy to say that Mr. Zombie is finally home. And thanks to modern medical marvels, aka the PICC line (a “diy” IV system) - the Infection-Zombie gets his RX treatment at home - rather then spending 6-8 more weeks in the hospital. That just blows my mind.

The hospital (OHSU) was fantastic and they couldn’t be more pro-family and made a bummer situation so much better. And perks that scored big with me… the staff of course, but also the 24/7 cafeteria with really good organic/free trade coffee. But home is best, not to mention I can do without the daily almost 2 hour drive each way.  Mr. Z’s infection (in the donor bone) will take a while to rid of, but he’s on the right track and we see progress each day. Our heartfelt thanks to all who bestowed us with good wishes and thoughts, comments and emails… now THAT was truly the best RX - for both of us!

Physical therapy starts again soon for Mr. Z. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was picking up my “prescription” while I was in Arizona.  Ahhh… Arizona.   I had blast with my girl-gang.  I want to go back.  This was my second time in Phoenix, and I need a third -  I want to visit my sweet pals Jona and Bren… and a trip up to Sedona is in order too.

I love the Arizona flag - I’m just gaga about it.  It’s so graphic and bold, and very, very cool.   It has an art-quilt quality and fantastic branding to it.  I want to cut up some fabric and make one for myself.  I love the flag of my home state (California Republic) and my adopted state’s flag (Oregon) is a snooze… but Arizona’s flag is King of The Flags.  Top flag dog.

Beauty found in a Phoenix strip mall.

Surprise!   Or as I like to say… Supplies!  This never got old for me, even though I drove the girl gang nuts and was threatened with getting kicked out of the car.  Arizona has the best names for cities and towns.   I love these names… Bumble Bee, Happy Jack, Carefree, Grasshopper, Christmas and Sunflower.  And these towns/cities say “Arizona” all over them… Skull Valley, Iron Springs, Black Canyon City and Maverick.  Best flag.   Best city names.   And a ton of In-n-Out’s.   Sigh.  You rock, Arizona.

At a JoAnn’s in Phoenix.  Merchandising the HZ way.

Sure is loud in here.  Ahhh.   That’s better.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) and Calavera de Azúcar (sugar skulls) are not an easy find here in the Pacific Northwest. I KNEW I’d score big in Arizona!


Another score were the tiles I found at Hobby Lobby.   And what a score Hobby Lobby is!  So jealous they’re not on the West Coast.   I first heard of Hobby Lobby via Blogland… and I must say that I really liked it.   It’s as if Micheal’s and HomeGoods had a night in Vegas… and 9 months later a little Hobby Lobby was born.

And then there are the fabrics that came home with me - even though there was already some of it at home.  For the I-Just-Can’t-Get-Enough-Of-These files.  There’s always room for more Sandi, Tanya, Heather and Jennifer in my cupboards!  We visited Quiltz - a shop being featured in the upcoming Quilt Sampler.  We had high expectations, and boy did Quiltz deliver.  I can see why it made the top ten in Quilt Sampler.  Beautiful store and wonderful shopkeepers and staff.   The store was heavily peppered with my favorite fabrics (in my realm of unreality, I know they set the store just for me).  A definite e-ticket of a quilt shop, and the small world part - was that the owners were from Scapposse, Oregon… just up the river from me.

Fabric shopping is all good and fun, but there’s nothing better to make your husband’s-having-emergency-surgery-and-you’re-out-of-state-scrary-sucky-day… then to come home and find that your sweet friend Nanette has sent you some cotton love from her stash.  A total OMG moment.  LOOK at what she sent me!   Talk about vintage goodness, and all the better because it’s from Nanette’s cupboards-o-joy.  Just dreamy. Nanette has a knack for vintage fabrics. She’s THE vintage fabric whisperer. I’m just waiting for the day she gets gobbled up by a fabric company as a repo designer - and we can all have some of her vintage joys in our cupboards.

But wait, there’s more!  Nireko sent me these beautiful Lecien bundles of Mrs. March’s 30’s.  Sooooo stinkin’ cute.  Nireko sent me some other goodies, like the darling box she made - and filled with tiny little Japanese treats that are Triskit sized.  Saving that for another post.  Just too darn cute.

And now that we’re settling back in to “normal”, and the big scare is on it’s way out… time to focus on some more fun stuff!

My bags are packed.
Liquids are in 3 oz. bottles.
The entire girl-gang has shaved their legs.
The dogs have been feed, brushed and de-pooped.
I’ve stocked up on corn-dogs, pizza rolls and Hot Pockets lovingly prepared meals for the boy-folk.

Camera… charged.
iPhone… charged.
iPod… loaded.
Flip-flops… on. (they’re always on, so that’s not a clue)
Dogs… sad.
Triskit… ready to go!

The girl-gang+Triskit is hitting the road. Or rather the skies. Where will we land?   No one knows (except Pam!).

Because I’m a 12 year old trapped in a 40mumblemumble yeat old body … and because playing hide-n-seek is my favorite game (hubby and I even play it with our dogs)… I’ve enlisted Triskit to play hide-n-seek with me. I will be iPhoning Triskit in secret locations throughout our girl-gangpalooza trip and uploading them to my flickr. First person to guess our location (or nearest to our location) by Tuesday morning (April 7th) wins a kitchy airport prezzie that I’ll pick up from there.

- Guess as many times as you want.
- One guess per comment please.
- Yes, I’m 12.
- Comment here.
- Follow the clues here.
- TAG… YOU’RE IT!