Happy Zombie

I finished my projects for my Aqua/Red Swap partner and I’m hoping to get them in the mail today. My little quilt measures 22” x 33”. I really hope my partner likes it. Making a quilt for someone you don’t know is hard since not everyone has the same tastes or likes the same styles. The best part of this was that I had fun making it for my partner!

I made this quilt from solids and the prints are 1930’s feedsack reproductions. No pattern, sans the paper-pieced schoolhouse block. I just kind of made it as I went along. I got the schoolhouse block pattern at Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine. Sidenote… I’m not one who enjoys paper-piecing (my brain just can’t do it!), but this was a very easy block to paper-piece. If I can do it… anyone can! I also used the Tri Recs rulers to make my pinwheels. I just love all the tools from EZ Quilting and Darlene Zimmerman!

A few other things to add… a pair of aqua socks (that’s so fun to say… “aqua socks”… “why that just knocks my aqua socks off!”) and a checkbook cover I made with Moda’s aqua “5 Funky Monkeys” line. I liked the check bookcover so much… I made one for myself too.

I’ve been hesitant to show what I’m working on for the Aqua/Red Swap. I don’t even know yet who my swap partner is. I guess this is just a peek, since this is just a small fraction of what I’m making. I’m much further along as pictured… but that’s all I’m showing until the swap has been made.

I’ve been so inspired by all the blogs I visit to make all the goodies that are offered. This is my Wee Wonderful Wee who I call WEElohalani. You can make one too at the awesome blog Wee Wonderfuls. You can also check out the pool of Wee’s made from so many talented people in Wee Wonderful’s Wee Gallery.

When we moved to the mainland from Hawai’i… I brought with me yards and yards and yards of Aloha fabric. Over the years my big box-o-Aloha fabric has hardly been used and I thought it’d be fun to put a dent in it! Hardly even a dent to make my little WEElohalani… but oh what fun! Cute thing is… I have friends who’s daughter is named Alohalani.

I’m so in love! I found a guy in WI selling an aqua washer and dryer. Oh how I want the set! The adult voice in my head is saying… “too much for shipping, too pricey for something that doesn’t work like today’s washers/dryers”. The child voice in my head that likes pretty things is saying… “pack up car… road trip to Wisconsin! Time to visit the The Chicken Lady!”. Damn you adult voice!

Ok, so today was my big day… the day I was to start my Morning Pages. I wake at 6:45ish, ready to start my Brain Drain with the morning pages. So I pee, make coffee, lets the dogs out, feed the chickens… must find all those composition books I have stashed away somewhere… searching, searching, searching… oh look… there’s my computer. I should probably check my email. While I’m online, I’ll just pop in and take a peek at my favorite blogs. Hmmm… I wonder what’s new and pretty on eBay. Mmmm… nice washer and dryer! Too bad that photo has been taken on someone’s gravel driveway…. I should just clean it up a bit in Photoshop. It is now 10:40am. Where did my morning go?????!!!!

Note to self. Start morning pages tomorrow morning.

I know I’m like so many quilters… more tops get done then the quilting on them. It doesn’t help that I’m a hand quilter either! I thought I’d show a little peek of what I’m quilting at the moment (mind you there are four more tops in the closet waiting to be sandwiched and quilted as well!). One of the tops in my closet is a New York Beauty set in black… Meine Güte is that going to hard on the ole eyes to quilt! Anyhoo… from left to right:

1) Two years ago my friend Karen and I were each other’s Secret Pal at guild. Not a secret between us… but from the rest of the guild! We decide to “pick each other” and we had so much fun! Not to mention we each got killer quilts we loved!!! Karen made BEAUTIFUL blocks of embroidered images, appliquéd and buttonholed. It is just beautiful and it’s almost done

2) This quilt was made with the (April Cornell Poetry Collection by Moda) scraps left over from the actual “Room with Blooms” quilt that is featured in this month’s (October 2006) Better Homes & Gardens - American Patchwork & Quilting. My friend Karen designed and made the Room with Blooms quilt and asked me if I wanted the scraps. Well… being a new member of Bev Wakeman’s Scrap Busters at Anna Lena’s… I jumped at the chance to prove to myself I could use scraps! This quilt is almost done!

3) This one is a pattern from Bev’s Stash Busters. It goes without saying that I purchased new fabric and nothing from my stash was used. Ok… maybe some. I think the Kona Snow was from my stash. Wait… I used stash to make the back… but that’s for another post on another day when the quilt is finished (though that is really soon, and it’s even bound).

4) Last but not least, and this one is no where near done (Maybe 40%) is my king size Pineapple Swirl. I took a class with Darlene Zimmerman to make this (I always learn SO MUCH from her), and of course… everyone else in the group has theirs done… and here’s mine… all folded and waiting to be finished. It doesn’t help that I modified Darlene’s pattern… I had a lapse in judgement and decided in the process to make it so much bigger!

So that’s what cookin’ at the moment! When I completely finish these quilts, I will post the photos and not just a hard to see peek.

It seems all I do is paint! But ahh… the fruits of my labor!

The old studio.
The NEW studio… La Petite Mémoire de Sucrerie (The Little Candy Shop).

Or… Check out the flickr badge in the side bar.

What all started out as whim turned into a huge labor, though a labor of love. Truth be told… it all started with my DH. Last fall my DH suggested I move the studio from The Small Room into the Master Bedroom (which was actually two bedrooms before we purchased our house. My dear husband and a sledge hammer… you get the rest) and visa versa. Anyhoo… so out of the blue DH says to me, “You know, we actually spend so little time in here… would you like to swap rooms?”. Hot diggity dog… why sure! So we undertake this crazy Trading Spaces gig and all seems great!

A month or so down the road, I feel the walls closing in on me in The Small Room. With each passing month I SWEAR that room was getting smaller! So last Friday I get a bee in my bonnet and the next thing you know we’re on the road to Home Depot in Longview! My DH is a peach of a guy and he does so much for me (my whims are his labors), but I also know he’d drop everything if I so much as needed a thumb tack from Home Depot. Mind you, Home Depot and Lowe’s are an hour away. Not a problem!

So anyhoo… I’m done with the studio switch, but I still need to tackle the MB now (which is getting a make-over as well). That can wait, hahahahaha.

I find the Trader Joe’s in Beaverton has better plants and flowers then Trader Joe’s in say, Vancouver. As it turns out, according the the checker… Beaverton gets their deliveries from Calif., and Vancouver get their deliveries from Seattle. I don’t know if it’s true… but I do know the Beaverton TJ’s always has nice treasures waiting for me!

I’m not sure what this flowering plant is, but it’s so cute in my bathroom. It’s in a nice galvanized container and it looks like it came from someone named Aunt Ethel who has a farm, fixes pies and tends to the quiltin’.

I almost missed this plant because it was on the windowsill by the checkout. It’s called a “Pincushion”. That’s fitting! They look like little quilting pins! I just hope they last. I got one for my friend Karen who’s nuts about orange, quilting and what I call “Karen Green”. I can’t wait to give it to her!

In the same antique shop where I found the Dixie Girl book… I also found this chair. I didn’t really want the chair, but it “had” to be sold with the seat back cover that I wanted. Ok… works for me. I was willing to pay for just the seat back cover as what they were asking for the whole shebang.

Now that I have it in my studio, I’m glad I have the chair. It’s perfect with my German-American 1930’s-Ikea theme, LOL.

Cluck, cluck, cluck… Our chicken Omlet was clucking up a storm today.

We had no idea why and all that I could think about was she sounded like that darn clucking gumball machine at Bob’s in Longview. DS2 and DH watched her and voila… a fresh warm egg from Omlet’s oven!

I just hope our chickens don’t “sound an alarm” every time they lay an egg. If that’s the case, I’ll be showering my neighbors with the gift of eggs! I just hope she was clucking like that because it was a new experience for her, and it’s not going to be an ongoing thing. I’m sure if I cranked out a watermelon I’d be making a bunch of noise too!

1. It didn’t get over 80˚ today.
2. Shopping for frozen treats at Safeway and not being able to decide on which ones… and getting them all.
3. Cool water splashing on my flip flop adorned feet while watering my thirsty plants.
4. Getting my BOM pattern done for this month AND next month!
5. Sandwiches and salad for dinner and eating outside.