Happy Zombie

Trying to play catch-up, but I keep landing on the Sidetrack Express.  Sidetracking instead of working… something in the paper caught my eye.  I took it as a sign…

and then I declared it Staff Appreciation Day!

Be good to your “staff” too! Seriously.

Idol chatter… I gotta talk about American Idol. Just gotta. I see stars! What an amazing group this year (and some not so amazing to me - Cruella de Rocker). I adore David, though last night’s performance wasn’t his best I thought, bummer - but I trust he’ll bounce back. I also think Brooke was amazing and I think she’s got a pure and true love for singing. I had leaky-eye listening and watching her (and I loved how she took a shoe off to play the piano… just like most of us do when we sew on the sewing machine!). Loved Chikezie’s performance, song and style! Plus, I have a fantasy he’ll make it really big and will take on a duet partner named Macaroni. My other faves are Carley, Michael and Jason. I like Syesha too, and think she’s as cute as a button. She’s Hello Kitty come to life (you’re shakin’ your head agreeing with me).

I’ve been meaning to post about my quilt in the latest issue of Quilts & More, but have been under the weather with that cold that’s going around. You’ve either had it, are having it or you’re about to have it. It’s a doooooozie! Luckily I have my very own publicist and cheerleader who cheered me on even before I got an issue myself (how does Pam always get things first???!). Giant mahalos to my other cheerleaders on the squad too. Thank you Nanna Jamma, Cyndi, Connie, Lisa, Wendy, Anna, Vickie and Amy!

I see stars… do you? Maybe if you click on my graph drawing you can see them. Q&M has named my quilt Spice is Nice (which I think is a great name), but I’ve named my quilt Peek-a-Boo Stars. I love the fabs I used, but kinda hard to see the stars hiding in there. Olly olly oxen free!

Another change made for the issue was going from row construction instruction to block construction instruction (makes me wanna sing Conjunction Junction, what’s your function after typing that). For this quilt I set it using row construction. Much easier to get the stars where they belong and still keep all the hair on your head. If you look at my graph drawing, you can see my row setting. E-z cheezy, macaroni and chikezie.

And other stars… some hometown loggers are starring in AxMen on the History Channel. I’ve been obessed watching the loggers log the storm damaged forest across the street from me, and now I can watch on tv some other parts of Clatsop County being logged too. Who knew loggers would be tv stars! Well, I did, actually.

Hmmm… interesting epiphany of mine. Thom Beers the creator of Deadliest Catch and AxMen… features many of our local fishermen and loggers - just like our local high school mascots… Astoria Fishermen, Ilwaco Fishermen and Knappa Loggers. Are the Seaside Gulls next? Sorry Mr. Beers… I beat you to the punch. Ga-head, the Tillamook Cheesemakers are all yours.

Feeling a little Perez Hiltonishy with this post.  And now I must nap.

My friend Lisa is a bag enabler, and I love the awesome rockem’ sockem’ little bag she made me!. Lisa has mad sewing skills and the inside is just as amazing as the outside (I have to wait for better weather to take an interior pic). I love pink and green too… how did she know!?! Psychic abilities must be another one of her many amazing talents. Lisa also put inside the some delicious Aloha fabric for me. Mmmm! Have you met Lisa? She’s awesome. We met over a strawberry, and now I’m addicted to her blog as well. Lisa’s blog is so much fun, and her field trips are the bomb. Edited in: Here is a link to Lisa’s post about the box bag.

Speaking of bags - I’m makin’ a bag and as I get to the “threading” the drawstring part, I thought I would share my tip. I wrestle with sharing tips because I always feel like everyone knows it already and I’m the last to discover it and then I feel like a doof for posting it. Necessity was the mother of my invention, so if you already know this tip - humor me and pretend you didn’t learn it already via your grandmother’s great aunt who’s been doing this since before the bread slicer was invented.

E-z cheezy… here’s whatcha do. Get an el-cheapo letter opener with a puka on the end. I got mine at my local Safeway for 99¢ (which means it’s probably about 49¢ elsewhere). Thread and knot a ribbon to the end of the letter opener. I suppose if you’re not lazy like me, you could actually tack or sew it down instead of knotting it. Attach a safety pin to the other end of the ribbon.

Attach your drawstring or strapping to the safety pinned end. Your letter opener is now one gianormous Land of the Giants sewing needle… and you can thread your drawstring through the tube/channel with speedy ease.

Before you know it… you’re done and doner with that pesky drawstring.

It’s so hard to write this post without saying OHMYGOSH… but seriously… OHMYGOSH did I come across THE cutest pattern ever. Ever. EVER. I said EVER.

I saw this post on Craft: about a Bob Ross embroidery and went all goo-goo-Mc-drool-drool over it (who didn’t love Bob Ross and that little chipmunk he kept in his pocket?). Thinking how much I loved this style of art/embroidery… I instantly knew it was from the Doodle Stitching author, Aimee Ray.

So that lead to a click here, a click there… and then. And then. And then… (sorry, bad Dude Where’s My Car humor - I couldn’t resist)… and then… I found Aimee’s pattern for her ADORABLE felt Matryoshka nesting dolls. OHMYGOSH are they cute. Seriously, seriously, seriously cute. I swear I heard a harp playing when I first saw the photo. [Aimee’s flickr photo used with permission]

With Aimee’s permission, I enlarged the largest doll by 175% - and this is what I made:

Don’t ya just want to squeeze it? Sorry, but I won’t allow it. You’ll just have to make your own. I put the jar there for size reference. When I go big… I go BIG.

I didn’t give my doll a mouth… mine of course is a distant cousin of Hello Kitty and Mimi… so no mouth. I think her eyes are smiling. I did give my doll a name… Natasha. I’m giving her the option of joining the staff - I’m leaving it up to her. I think if the staff gets any bigger I’m gonna have a Dunder Mifflin on my hands before I can say dwight schrute three times, really fast. I know Natasha would like to be a cozy to something… but we just can’t figure out to what yet. We tried the iron, but the iron is too big. Tried my imac/monitor… but it’s too wide. So for now, Natasha is my giant water bottle cozy. Not really workin’ for me - or Natasha. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking…

I’ve gotten emails asking for a pattern… so I made one and you can get the PDF pattern in my shop or at my Craftsy shop.

Though I didn’t make a sample, Jackie gave me a great idea to make one dipped in chocolate - so the pattern has a template for chocolate too. Zero fat… zero calories, enjoy!

I have a Euro-pass aboard this train - and I just can’t seem to hop off the Sidetrack Express. Trying to catch up with everyone, write a pattern that’s due, mountains of laundry, get out of my jammies, blah, blah, blah… and up pops the greatest little toot on June’s blog. I couldn’t just try this later when I had more time. No. I had to do this now. Right now. And now the bee is flying up my butt again, as I’m already fusing fabric to cardstock in my head! Must get off the train. Must get off the train. Must get off the train. What’s really scaring me is if I go here, here and here… I know all three of those fabric-pimpettes are going to send me to another project I’ll want to start RIGHT NOW.

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who’s on the train with me. Click if you dare.

Sweet and innocent Mr. Mochiko…
Watching.
Waiting.
This purse strap is MINE! At least I can say my sewing is done. ~WHEW! Ha. For now at least. But I do so love to sew.

And now Mamacita Naturita has it in for me too. It’s snowing! Doesn’t she know I have a deadline???

Like trying to end a phone call with a dear friend - you’re just about to hang up and a new topic starts.  Ok, after this post I’m REALLY going on my repair/clean-up break.  I said to my self “Self… no more babbling about The Storm - blech, enough already!”  BUT… I thought this was just too cool… and it’s kind of a mental segway for me to go from storm mode back to quilt mode.

The forest across the street from us has to be logged because of The Storm.  I’ve never actually seen logging in action and I’m in awe of the process.   Never in a million years would I have thought a California city-girl like me would be snapping a photo like this from MY driveway. The super skilled guy operating the picker-uper thingamabob makes it all look like a magical dancing tree ballet.

When I first looked at this photo, it reminded me of the a quilt I saw at the NW Quilting Expo in Portland last Fall.  I’m guessing for the quiltmaker it was Art imitating Life.  For me it is Life imitating Art.  I really, really, really, really would love to know who the quiltmaker is!  Anyone know?

Edited in:
Thank you Tami from Lemon Tree Tales for the answer!
From Tami: I saw that same quilt at the 2006 Pacific International Quilt Festival and thought it was amazing. Luckily I took a picture of it and the information sheet. It’s by Janet Fogg of Lake Oswego, OR. It’s called Winding Road Ahead and measures 103″ x 103″.

This is her artist statement about it: “Logging trucks are a common sight for people living in the northwest states. As an artist living in the region, I have always found them to be a powerful visual image. Because I enjoy combining traditional quilt blocks with illustrations to create quilts with a concept, I decided to transport the logs by constructing a logging truck out of log cabin blocks. Hand dyed fabrics by Jeanette Viviano.”

I googled Janet Fogg and found her quilt collection. A must see!

SHORTCUTS without all the blahblahblah:
GALLERY here.
FAQ here.
PATTERN here.

Bah-humbug. It’s too early for the holidays. But… it’s never too early to get ready for holiday giftmaking! I took the Handmade Pledge. Have you? Hardly an arm twisting, eh. Another passing of a hundred posts has come and gone (I’ll be having my post-postaverary soon - stay tuned… sister-friend Karen is going to join in the fun), so for now just a little holiday pattern to you from me. And besides… it’s Frankie’s 20th birthday today! Happy Birthday Frankie! Words cannot express my thanks and gratitude to all of you for the joy and inspiration you all bring me on a daily basis… on your blogs as well as the wonderful comments you leave me. So many ideas and so much inspiration I’ve gotten from all of you, and I hope I can do the same for you with this dinky little pattern of mine.

Being the Charmaholic that I am… I had to find a way to put my stash to good use! And while it looks like I eat alone, in actuality - I’m just too stinkin’ lazy to set a full table just to snap a photo.
I know there’s a way to photograph quilts so they don’t look all wonky. I just don’t know what that way is. And it certainly doesn’t help matters that my method of photography is point-pray-click.   Maybe your photos will be much better.  Please add your pics to the gallery here!

This little Jingle Jolly finishes at 16” x 40”. I used a charm pack of Holly Jolly by Sandy Gervais for Moda. My pattern calls for 37 charms… exactly what’s in the Holly Jolly charm pack!

The entire pattern is free for download here. If you like this pattern, you might like to make a similar pattern and go hog wild and make a 62” x 68” size quilt from a 12 fat quarter bundle from Karen’s pattern “Cheaper by the Dozen” in her book “Bundles of Fun“. I know it’s fun… because I’ve made one. It’s a perfect retreat project or a sewing with friends project.

To make this runner - you will need:
37 Charms (I got my Rx filled here)
⅔ yard black polka-dot fabric for star centers and binding
¼ yard solid black fabric for star points (my other Rx is filled here)
⅝ yard backing fabric
20” x 44” piece batting

Thank you to Claire and Missy for hosting the wonderful Handmade Parade Holiday Gift Guide and asking me to join in the fun. You will find this Jingle Jolly pattern cross-posted there as well as many, many, many more holiday goodies by clicking here.

And thank you to my pal Kim who keeps me focused on getting this post done! ;o)

~Whew. And now I must nap.

My life is blessed with talented women in it!

My wondertwin Pam. Have you ever seen a more darling bag?!? I know the answer is no. Mix one part PamKittyMorning and one part Elizabeth/Late Bloomer Quilts = one killer pattern! Super powers activated! Connie and I are crashing the Anna Lena quilt retreat this weekend… I’m so making one of Pam’s bags while I’m there.

Liquid Sky Love. My friend Kathleen of Liquid Sky Arts is an uber talented artist. Paper, jewelry, photography… talent just oozes out of her pores. And to top off all that talent… she’s the super sweetest person ever. I ordered my holiday cards from Kath… soooo stinkin’ cute. I loved seeing her name on the back of the cards. Too effing cool! If you want to see the front… you can take a look here.

I can’t guarantee Kathleen will hand deliver your order like she did mine, or include a kick ass gift for Mimi… but you will love, love, love what ever you order from her!

That sweet Sharon of Red Geranium Cottage. Not just a talented quilter, but if you’re a regular reader of hers you’ll know she’s the Super Shopper of All Things Cool & Cute! I was supposed to be all “shhhhh” about the little baggie she was sending me. I said I’d keep mum, but I lied. Liar, liar - my pants are on fire. And why did she send me the darling little bag? Because I made my own contest on her blog! I highly recommend starting a contest on someone else’s blog. And just look what all she sent! I think I said “oh my goodness” like 57 times as I opened her package! And speaking of contests… I’ll be having one of my own soon! Hmmm… what could it be.
And not only did Sharon send me one bag… BUT TWO. And look at the rest of the goodies too! As you can see I “opened” one of the bags… I just had to see the inner workings of such a neat little bag. And that cookie… Sharon thinks I’m going to eat it, but I’m not. Cute trumps sugar. At least for a week anyhow. We’ll see how my willpower holds out.

I have my annual mammogram next week… I’ll be using Sharon’s Moda Quilt Pink tote bag for what ever I’m working on while I’m waiting. I actually like getting my mammogram. Not the turning my boobs into Swedish pancakes part, but the feeling of doing something good for myself is quite wonderful. Plus… I get mine done at OHSU at the Center for Women’s Health and it’s almost like a spa day up there.

From bags to boobs… and now I must nap.

Jack’s coming out of the closet - from last year’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.