Happy Zombie

I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking where Lecien can be found after posting about my stack-o-happiness (aka the darling Minny Muu #3 fabric).

One answer is to ask your local quilt shop to carry it. Or… you can shop online for Lecien. I’ve added my favorite online recourses to the bottom of the original post as well as here.
Shop.
Enjoy.
Feel the fabric love!

Linkie-Love: My favorite online retail resources for Lecien:
FatQuarterShop.com
SuperBuzzy.com
PurlSoho.com

I’m goin’ on a blogging break for a bit. Too many coals in the fire at the moment. Good coals… but still coals. And visitors. And visitees & visitees. And not like I’ve made a lot of posts lately… like a “break” would be something unusual. If my blog had a door knob - I’d hang one of those “We’ll be back at:” clock signs with movable arms, positioned at such-n-such-o’clock. But I wouldn’t know how to McGiver the arms to rotate them into a perpetual spin - or at least a 3 week spin.

The last time I had coals in the fire, I left some sneak peeks here. Not too bad of a wait for me to spill the beans since the project was last minute and all happened so fast.

I’m so excited my magic 6-pocket (aka Pick-a-Pocket) purse made the cover of the Fall ‘08 issue of Quilts & More. THE COVER. My head is about to snap off. And not only that… since I used some of Tula’s beautiful Fultterby fabric… it’s like sharing the cover with my future sofa crasher Tula herself. Why, we’re practically Mary Kate and Ashley now. I guess I should stock up on some Slim-Fast if I’m gonna be Mary Kate. Ok, NOW my head has snapped off. Edited in: Tula is not crashing on my sofa… it’s just a standing open invitation/inside joke.

Also in the issue is my secret Friendship Bag (aka To Market - To Market bag) . I can’t even remember when I made it, it was so long ago. What evolved out of wanting to dress up baggies of goop (Amish Friendship Bread starter) for my pals… evolved into all sorts of size bags, especially for grocery shopping (for light weight items only). Fun to make, fun to give!

In the back of the issue is a sneak peek for the next issue (Winter ‘08). That Silly Lil’ Doe - akamai friend of mine can read me like a book… and asked me if I designed/made one the items. If my head hadn’t snapped off, I’d be able to hang it around my neck on a lanyard to hold my scissors, needles and thread.

Ok… time to stoke the coals some more. As almost every signature pens in my late 1970’s high school yearbook… Have a cool summer, man!   Sidenote to Cheech & Chong… whoo whooooo!

A little field trip to Pomeroy Living History Farm near Battleground, Washington. Please keep your arms and hands inside the bus at all times.

Last weekend was Pomeroy’s 13th Annual Quilt Festival, and it was MAGICAL! The theme this year was butterflies. My friend Karen (queen of the butterflies) was the featured speaker, and I was her Vanna quilt holder at her Saturday performances (ok, not a *performance*… a speech slash lecture slash show-n-tell… but since there was a stage, and I happened to be on it… well… it became a performance). Sit down. Buckle in. Hold on.

Quilty bliss.

Path-o-happiness

I’d like to add some aqua paint or drape a quilt on this tractor. Silly me… it’s not decoration, they actually use this tractor. It is a tractor, right?

The fresh picked beets were calling my name. And some sour cream. And some herring.

The fence is not to keep the farmer in, it’s to keep me out. And the deer. Nibble. Nibble.

Outside of the blacksmith’s barn.

Inside the blacksmith’s barn. Much fun was had during a round of Let’s Tease The City Girl. Ok, so I don’t know the difference between horse shoes and shoes worn by loggers - but I CAN navigate the L.A. freeway system with one eye closed.

Edited in: A priceless comment from Karen, “Now, I have to tell the story of the blacksmith shop. There were some horse shoes with big cleats on them hanging on the railing in front of us. I asked the blacksmith why they had cleats on them. He said it was to help give traction when they were logging. And Miss Monica added, “I bet it helped them climb the trees!” Ahh, the visual image of those horses climbing trees……..”

I heart chickens. I sure miss my mine, especially at times like this.

Entrance to the big barn, greeted by my favorite flower (I love how the dahlias match the quilt).

Inside the big barn, this quilt knocked my flip-flops off. I’m a sucker for solids.

Outside of the big barn… an occasional aroma in the air would remind us these guys were there.

Lunch time! We could eat in the “farm cafe”…

or we could dine in the tea room. Karen treated for tea. Though I had an Americano, because that’s how I do tea. I also skipped on the Strawberry Soup. Wasn’t really my thing. Had there been some Belgium waffles under it, and whipped cream on top… then yes I would have devoured it.

Time to clear the scone crumbs off my chest… it’s show time.  A little pre-show PR with Debbie and Karen.

Karen’s presentation was “Depression Era Quilts”. Karen is always entertaining and informative. She’s the Mike Rowe of the quilt world. Quilty Jobs.

Every now and then I see a vintage quilt that just sucks the air right of me. This is one of them. Not only was it beautiful, but the workmanship was exquisite.

The hexes are so tiny and so sweetly fussy cut. I imagine this took decades to make.

If you look at this photo in super-size-me… look at the binding on the gold quilt - and you can see the binding size’s relation to the scale of the hexes.

A wonderful day, with wonderful friends, wonderful weather (overcast… love it). Hard to end the field trip… more photos to see (and no funky piggie smells) here.