Happy Zombie

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.