Happy Zombie

SOLD!  Sold.  Sold.  Sold!  One more time… SOLD!  We’ve had our other house on the market for almost a year and half, and FINALLY yesterday, we officially sold it.  I never thought this day would come!  It seems like it was decades ago that Cindy was peeking in the windows with me at the new house, and that Angelina was standing in my aqua sewing room at the old house the day before we put it on the market.

It’s been hard times owning two homes - the “new house” and the “old house” - this horrible economy is touching all of us in one way or another.  I just hope everyone else who’s been negatively impacted sees a light at the end of their financial tunnel soon too.

A while back ago, I made my own St. Joseph to help sell our house. If you google St. Joseph, you’ll find all you need to know about him. I combed google images, and came up with my own version of St. Joseph… St. Joe-Joe-a-Go-Go. My post about him WAY BACK in September 2007 is here. My more “traditional” St. Joe-Joe-a-Go-Go pattern is still available.

Fast forward to now-ish. We got another buyer (the other two buyers bailed, lots of heartache and trouble). When I asked Joe-Joe to find us a NICE family this time to buy our house (after dealing with those not so nice buyers)… Joe-Joe did just as I asked. It took him a while, but he did find a nice family - even though we had to drop our price way, way, way low (ouch!).

One has to be careful what they ask Joe-Joe.  When I first made him, I asked Joe-Joe… “will you please find us a buyer, and fast”.  Well… the NEXT day, our neighbor came over and asked us about our little travel trailer in our driveway, and were we interested in selling it.  Sold.  [edited in: I just read my Sep. 07 post. It was St. Anthony who sold the trailer!]  So next I asked Joe-Joe more specifically… “Joe-Joe, can you please find us a buyer for our house on such-n-such Ave.”.  Enter bad buyers.   After great financial cost to us and us bending over backwards… the buyers walked.  So then I ask Joe-Joe again, but this time I ask him for a NICE family to be our buyers.   Like I said, it took him a while, but he came through.

So really fast forward to now-ish.  We were waiting for our closing date to soon approach.  It was just around the corner - only a few weeks away.  All was going great, inspections great, yada yada.  Just waiting on the buyer’s lender.  I get an email from my friend Sharon inquiring about Joe-Joe, and I think… why, I’ll just send her my Joe - and she can be his new momma!  The day she received him… is the day we got the call that there’s a hick-up on from our buyer’s lender.   So I ask Momma Sharon and Papa Hunka if I could have temporary joint custody with Joe-Joe, and if he could take a trip north to visit his old mum for a few weeks.  Sharon of course said yes and would do so as soon as she got back home.  And then a bee flew in my bonnet.  I told Sharon to hold off… I had an idea…

I made a new Joe-Joe… this one different, a little less traditional and more my style… a little bit HelloKittyBabushka-ishy, but still holding the bluebirds of happiness.  Hello Joe-Joe!

I finished Hello Joe-Joe last Wednesday morning, placed him on my shelf-o-joy… and by that very Wednesday afternoon I get the call saying to meet at the title company on the following Friday! Done. Sold. Freedom.  Thank you Hello Joe-Joe!

I’ve added Hello Joe-Joe to my freebie arsenal of patterns - you can get Hello Joe-Joe by clicking here. May he bring you joy as a guardian of your home & family… or may he help you sell your house… or both!   Keep him in a place of honor and do not pass him on if you make one for yourself.  If you want to gift one, you’ll have to make a new one specificly for the recipient… but that makes him all the more fun and special!  Plus it’s always fun to play with Crayola crayons!

~Whew that was a long post. And now I must nap.

I’m not a huge fan of American football, but I am a giant fan of Super Bowl munchies and Super Bowl commercials (I loved the NBC promos the best).  I managed to cook up THE BEST wings recipe I’ve ever had. Saw Martha make them earlier this week, and I KNEW I had to try them.  The wings turned out SOOOOO GOOD.  We ate them so fast, I couldn’t even manage a photo of them.   This recipe is definitely going into my extensive recipe collection (of 5 or 6 recipes).

Hubby is still on sofa-duty after his big knee surgery, and DS#2 was out golfing… so it was very low key at Casa de Zombie for Super Bowlapalooza. Well, I did get a little jacked on some Mountain Dew - and went into sewing over-drive.  I finished my Inaugural Day “Aquamerica the Beautiful” stitchery that I had posted about here.  I made a few mods to the pattern - made it bigger and put the wording on the border.  At the last minute, I decided to make one of the fruiten plains red. Red and aqua.  I just had to do it. EDITED IN: I just KNEW I should have trusted the red~squiggle~of~doom under the word “fruiten” when I retyped the pattern’s wording. After hearing both Beyoncé and Faith Hill sing it as “fruited”… I knew that THEY couldn’t be wrong - so I googled the lyrics to America the Beautiful, and sure enough… it’s FRUITED! Oh well… the word fruiten has kinda grown on me now. Dude, where’s my fruiten. Fruiten Loops. Fruiten punch.

I’ve teased about this project before, and am going to recycle the tease.  This is for a Fall 2009 project - but the actual project for the issue is in Aviary by 3 Sisters from Moda. Very cute in Aviary… I wish I could show it, but for now my prototype in my 30’s stash will have to do for a photo.

More recycling… my Pennie Pockets have gone green. Well. Pink. And red. But I have recycled the project for Valentine’s Day and for using Moda pre-cuts (Layer Cakes and Honey Buns). My Valentine Pennie Pocket tutorial is here at the Moda Bake Shop.

I thought Swell was my all time favorite fabric… but now I’m just as smitten with Sweet (also by the Urban Chicks).

Sweet is delivery dated for this month! Don’t you just want to squeeze it!?! Ga head… give my blog a squeeze while you wait for your local quilt shop or favorite online quilt shop to get Sweet in.

If you’re reading this on a laptop… your screen is squishy squeezie. Touch it, you know you want to.

Nothin’ says lovin’ - like somethin’ from the Moda Bake Shop oven!  Step inside, step inside!  Inside the Moda Bake Shop you’ll find tummy rubbin’ recipes for your delicious Moda ingredients like Jelly Rolls, Charms Packs, Layer Cakes, Honey Buns, Dessert Rolls, Turnovers and Fat Quarter Bundles.  Angela has been busy getting the kitchen all set up (I think she never sleeps), and busy bakers (Angela, Camille, Joanna, Laurie, Lissa and me) have been cookin’ up sweet delights for you to bake!

My worktable looks like it’s snowed  Moda pre-cuts (the prettiest snowfall EVER), and I have more projects coming soon.  My mind is whirling in a blizzard of excitement deciding what project to create next.  My first MBS project is a no-sew project - a nifty and quick reversible calendar cover using Layer Cakes (10″ x 10″ squares), iron-on adhesive (fuse) and an inexpensive pocket calendar with a clear removable cover.

Don your apron… gather your ingredients… and come on over and bake up some fun!

Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs has a crazy cute free BOM she’s started on her Bunny Tales blog.   As soon as I saw it, I wanted to drop everything and get started on it.  Who needs to eat?!  Bad example.  Who needs to do other stuff?!  I’m not the only one who’s dropped everything to start it either.  Anne S’s fabric block was so cute… but so was Anne B’s darling version in wool.  What to do, what to do… so I did both.   My background and appliqué is fabric, and my non-denominational frozen precipitation figure (with the giant schnoz, oops) is wool felt.

It’s all a mystery, but Anne has great instructions so you can do some planning ahead. For my blocks, my background is from my coveted bolt of yellow Moda polka dot (my sunshine-on-a-bolt), and my appliqué will all be in Swell and Sweet.   Swell. Sweet. Swell. Sweet. Swell. Sweet.  My apologies to the Urban Chicks for the image popping into my head of you two getting tattoos.

Edited in: The yummy, yummy, yummy yellow background is a Moda Basics called “Dottie” and the color is called “Butter”. Call your local/online quilt shop TODAY and BEG them to order you some. And then please let me know about it… I want need to buy more!

It’s been another wonderful year for me here in this happy, crafty and creative blogland.   Old friendships grew stronger, and new friendships continue to grow.  Thank you to all that have showered me with their friendship, kindness and generosity.   Every little thing… every big thing - means the world to me.    I mean that from the top, bottom, sides and center of my heart.

We had a white Christmas - and it was magical. I was already getting tired of snow and hoping for rain instead… but on Christmas morning it snowed again.  And it snowed, and snowed and snowed… and at one point the snow was the size of silver dollar pancakes.  Now all is melted, and we’re back to normal North Oregon coast weather… rain, wind, rain and more rain.  No more s-word. Done.

A year of new.  No resolutions for me.   Just a fresh start for 2009.  The year 2008 was a wild ride for me.  I’ve had some peas and carrots cookin’ in a pot - which takes a long, long, long time to simmer.  Even though it’s scary and the wait is long and secretive… it feels fantastic to start the new year and to be taking risks!   Of course, my New Year’s Day had me in my jammies at close to 1pm while in the garage sharpening pencils.  Getting things done that I’ve been meaning to do forever.  My in-box is next!

All the hub-bub and hoo-haa before Christmas and our Wii bowling tournament on Christmas day, I needed to rinse, repeat and untangle for a few days.  Best place I can do that is in my hideaway - my sewing room.  My bliss.  I had treated myself to some Woodland Bloom charms by Lila Tueller for Moda that Anina was selling in her wonderful Twiddletales Store. Moda’s charms are my absolute weakness.  Not that I will, but if I ever commit a crime and I’m being interrogated by a good cop/bad cop… I will sing like a bird if charms are flashed in front of me.

My favorite most relaxing thing is hand stitching binding down on a quilt.   So I played with a way that I could use the same method for appliqué.  The no fuss no muss method, which I’m all about. I don’t like pinching, or pinning, or snipping… just fast, easy and fun.   My method is the same as the fusable stuff you sew on, but EVERY time I’ve tried it, I ALWAYS end up pressing and fusing in the wrong places.  Like to my iron.

I take my background fabric (my beloved Kona Snow) and my Woodland Blooms print - right sides together, an Ikea saucer, a pencil and I trace around it.

Stitch on the lines.   Backstitch to lock.   Slit the background, trim edges and turn inside-out.

With my favorite chop-stick I “finger press” the seams.  Round n round I go.

A quick basting to the background fabric of the block.  Slit-b-gone.

I stitch as if I’m stitching binding.   I just love doing this.  Nothing to hold down.  Nothing to turn under.  Nothing to pinch or squeeze.

Nothing but relaxing fun.

It’ll be a while before all the blocks will be put together.  For now… I’m enjoying the bliss of appliqueing 37 happy little circles.

Wishing everyone a happy non scary year of new!   xoxo-m

Sunday morning I yanked open my bedroom curtains… and I found this!  I shouted HOLY SNOW (actually, it sounded more like HOLY MITten).   Why oh why did I not get a jump on Pam and Elizabeth’s DARLING mitten/scarf/hat project!?!

I looked to my left and saw this.  We’re not in snow country, so this is an extra special treat.  I think Angelina, Paula and Sarah agree!  And the snow hides all the bird poop that adorns my bench.  Nice snow.  Nice snow.  Thank you snow.   Thank you British Columbia for sending us your wonderful snow producing arctic air.

I ran to the living room, and all I could see outside of the windows was white delight. Laugh at me Minnesota or Michigan peeps. Ga head, laugh at me. I love this snowfall too much!

My happy little corner, some eggnog and snuggling up to some embroidering/finishing holiday projects.

Before I sat down in my happy little corner… my fascination with looking out of my kitchen window had to be clicked.  Too worried about meltage, I dissed the dishes. At least they were rinsed.

Poof.  No more dirty dishes. Ha… I need to crop the rest of my house.

My husband was not interested in happy little corners or eggnog. He wanted to hop in his truck and see the snow beyond our neck of the woods. My jammies went flying and I got dressed in 2 seconds flat. I’m ready!

This is our bridge that links us to our next door neighbor… Washington state.  Some people refer to this bridge as the Astoria-Megler bridge… but the name has since changed to The PamKittyMorning Bridge after Pam adopted it as hers last spring.  The PKM Bridge is the path that takes me to Karen’s.  Karen and I quickly compared snow-notes… to see who had more.   I think I won.  Elevation matters.  And speaking of Karen… SHE’S GOT A BLOG NOW!  If you visit her, be sure to tell her you came from my blog’s high elevation down to her blog’s sea level elevation.

This is not our house (sigh).  It belongs to friends of ours (and former neighbors behind us), and it was built by her great-grandfather.  Just as dreamy on the inside as it is on the outside.  This is the house I got to look at out of my sewing room window at our last house.  Not a bad view at all!

When we got back home, my husband started a fire.  T-man settled in to some football on TV,  and I settled in and did some more sewing.  Christmas is only days away… how did that happen???

I am BLOWN AWAY with the responses and comments on my Pennie Pockets. I heart each and everyone of you, and thank you so very much! I blush. I gush. I am so blessed with everyone’s kindness.

Right after Thanksgiving… and right before I pull out the Christmas dec from the attic, the wheels start to turn in my head about what little pretties I’m going to make as little giftlettes for the holidays. I love containers. I love putting stuff in stuff. And I also needed to craft up something to dress up my shelf above my sewing room window. Light bulb went on - pennants were born. So being that my mind thinks in crafty ways (code for laziness), I decided to give a free pattern as a giftlette instead. Crafting it forward.

I thought about garland…  I thought about a little pocket for my design wall to hold tools, treasures and candy.

I thought I’d swag it, but decided to hang it straight.  At least something now could be straight n tidy in my sewing room.  I strung my pockets on ric rac, but I also thought about the garland Jenny was making here.

Because I’ve never outgrown playing ding-dong-ditch, I thought about little nosegays - a Pennie Pocket with a handle.  Perfect for cookies, notes and mischief.  Or better yet, a little ding-dong-ditch, a nosegay… and my pattern inside for my crafty friends.  Hmmm.

The wheels continue to turn in my head.  Little Christmas nosegays for the tree… or 25 Christmas advent nosegays… or 8 blue & white nosegays for Hanukkah.  Modified.  Embellished.  Embroidered.  Pimped.  So many ideas, I can’t even process them from my head to my keyboard - so I started a Pennie Pockets flickr group here.  Wanna join me in the pool?  The water’s warm - but not that kind of warm.  I promise.

See my ModaBakeShop version here.

Here at Casa de Zombie - we’ve not been immune from our economic crisis (anyone wanna buy a house?), and it’s been challenging times for everyone.  The silver lining, I believe… is that more and more people are going to “go handmade” for the holidays.  Last year I went 100% handmade.  We had an idyllic Christmas - no stress, no fuss, no hard$hip$… just love, laughs and fun. And lots and lots of snacky food.  It was kinda like living a Little House on the Prairie Christmas - sans Nellie Olson - and we had Uncle Tivo versus Pa providing us with holiday stories.  Anyhoo…

I’m keeping an eye on the crafty happenings in blogland for crafty project ideas, and an eye on etsy for handmade gifts.  Starting tomorrow (11.17.08), Martha Stewart is having a “Gifts by You” sewing project contest with prizes from SVP Worldwide (Singer/Husqvarna Viking/Pfaff).  Hoping I’ll find some great ideas there too.  So the wheels are turning in my head, and I think I’m going to submit something - after I saw THIS as one of the prizes.  A sneak peek of what I might submit:

Oh yeah, I could make room in our bedroom for THAT.  Seriously… who needs a bed, anyway.  Or better yet… after we finally sell our other house, I could support our Pacific Northwest timber industry [dreaming out loud] by adding on to our home [/dreaming].  It would be for the greater good, naturally.

Edited in:  Check out Rachel’s One Pretty Thing blog.  Holy craft!  Rachel’s blog is the ultimate one-stop shopping of all things DIY Handmade.

My little Roly Poly Circus redwork quilt ends up peeking out in a lot of photos of mine, and I’m asked about it a lot.  Only took me two + years to finally respond about it. RPC is one of my prized quilts.   Not just because it was pure joy for me to make… but because Ruby Short McKim, the designer… is a rock star to me.   Ruby broke the glass ceiling for women - even before ceilings had glass. Ruby’s granddaughter has a wonderful bio about Ruby here.   It’s worth a read.  Seriously.

Sometime around 1923, the Kansas City Star published Ruby’s RPC blocks (I’m guessing the year is correct… since I embroidered it on my quilt, and if I’m wrong… woops, too late now).   I think it was published weekly, but I’m not really sure.  I set my blocks in the order that they were published, even though it didn’t coincide with Ruby’s lil’ poem.

Since going back in time to retrieve the patterns from the paper was not an option, I found the next best thing:
Ruby Short McKim’s Roly Poly Circus Quilt (Spiral-bound) by Jill Sutton Filo
ISBN-10: 0967019702
ISBN-13: 978-096701970

I wish newspapers today would start printing quilt blocks and patterns again. Ahh… good times, especially in rough economic times. Blatant shout-out to the NY Times, LA Times, SF Chronie, The Oregonian… I’m available! Hahahaha. I would love to see feedsacks come back too. I would buy what ever came in a fabric sack. Anything to keep me indoors. Quilting. Crafting. Not being outdoors. I’m an indoor girl, and this is why:

Fabric is MUCH easier to stack than firewood.  And as hard as it is to believe… I stacked all of that wood.  The fruit of some of our downed trees from our big storm last December.  I’d pat myself on the back, but my arms are still too sore.

Speaking of indoors… MMHZ is having a grand old time at Thimble Creek!  Joe and Roxie sent me this photo of what MMHZ has been up to.  Getting spoiled, of course.  :)

UPDATE: Craftietammie left a comment with great info about the KC Star’s “Pickledish“.  I kinda feel like Dr. Frankenstein shouting, “it’s alive, it’s alive”… an old timey tradition being kept alive. Love. It.   Now all that I need is for my Froot Loops to come in a nice fabric bag.  Kellogg’s… are you listening?

I wasn’t able to go to Fall Quilt Market, but little bits and pieces of me where there. And thanks to Pam and her trusty Sidekick and E and her iPhone and their text messages… and Cyndi and her media message…  I felt almost like I was there.

I showed a peek of the darling DARLING Minny Muu by Lecien fabric here, and at Market it was revealed what I was up to.  I designed/made a free quilt pattern for Lecien - which debuted at Market.  The Minny Muu Happy Zoo free pattern is available at Lecien’s website here.  I had such fun making this quilt - the Minny Muu is just too stinkin’ cute… how could it not be fun.  My very talented friend Karen did the beautiful machine quilting and C&T Publishing did the killer photography.  Happy Zoo is hittin’ the road visiting quilt shops to promote the line, so give it a hug for me if you see it. MMHZ is currently visiting Uncle Joe and Auntie Roxie at Thimble Creek, no doubt being pampered and spoiled!

Also at Market were two of my pocket purses (from my pattern here), showcasing Karen’s fabulous FABULOUS new line with Timeless Treasures.

Nerve-wracking for me to make these - since I made them from strike-offs. One boo-boo and I would have been sailing up S-creek without a paddle. Not like I can just run out and get more. I’m still oohing and ahhing over Karen’s new line. The colors are so crisp and happy. Can’t wait to see it in stores.

I can’t wait to read al the posts about Market. I was able to read a few already, saw a few pics here and there… such fun to read - and sooooooo missed not being able to see everyone.