Happy Zombie

I’m so excited… the current issue of Quilts & More (Spring 2009) is hitting the newstands! Inside this issue is my little mushroom needlebook project and pattern. So fast, so fun, and I’m so thrilled Q&M wanted to publish it, and just as giddy because my project is in my favorite color combo…  Red. White. Aqua. Mmmm. I couldn’t be happier how it all turned out and what a beautiful job (as always) the good peeps at Meredith did with it!

Cover-girl alert!  Look, look, it’s Roseann! Roseann’s beautiful “no diamonds to sew” quilt is definitely on my to-do list, and looks like it would be a fun quilt to make at a retreat (I’m having retreat withdrawls… I need one.  Bad!). Also on my to-do On my done-list, because I couldn’t stand just looking at the photos and not making one fast enough - is the ADORABLE “Sweet Slice” cake pattern by Cindy Taylor Oats.  DAR.  LING!


I was so excited to make it, that I took a short-cut (that I SHOULDN’T have), and didn’t use fusible interfacing as directed.  Bad me, because my cake got a little lumpy, saggy and out of shape (but I still love it).   Note to self: add fusible interfacing to my entire wardrobe.

More magazine love… my teenie tiny little studio is being featured in Cloth Paper Scissors STUDIOS (Spring 2009)! Holy scrap, my head is sure to snap off when I see it. I couldn’t be more honored and flattered to be in the issue, especially since my goofy little Happy Zombie Hideaway will be amongst the great studios of Melissa and Betz! And speaking of cover-girls… that’s Melissa’s studio on the cover!

From the super wonderful STUDIOS editor Cate - The Spring issues of Cloth Paper Scissors Studios is now available for pre-order. It will be available on select newsstands March 31. If you’d like to pre-order a copy, you can do so here.

A little behind the scenes about getting my studio ready.  Sure, it was one thing to get my studio cleaned up and lookin’ pretty, as well as cooperation from the weather (Oregon = dark days)… but the biggest task was getting ME all cleaned up!  Super-Cate wanted a photo of me.  OF ME???   Ugh. Ugh again.  I don’t do pics of me, so I wanted to submit these:
Me… Simpsonized.
A no-go.

Me ala Juniper Creek (when I was deciding what to wear at PDX quilt market).
A no-go.

I even sent pics of the real me… in a hoodie, Hurley hair and no make-up.
A no-go.
So I did my parents proud… I foof’d my hair, foof’d my face with mascara and lip-gloss, and I even donned a blouse (with buttons and everything!).  So if you see the issue, know that a lot of time, effort and elbow grease went into jazzing things up.  My studio was a piece of cake.

And speaking of studios… THIS is my version of heaven.

ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN! I love this. Ok, take out the part that it was an illegal act, and possibly a traffic hazard… I love it!  Love.  It.

In other zombie news… have you seen Fido?  My new fave movie… right up there with The Goonies and Shaun of the Dead (it’s for the greater good).   Fido has everything I love… obscurity, super saturated color, campy retro charm, witty humor and of course… zombies.  I love the fictional ZomCon company (Zombie-Containment), which tells us “A better life through containment” and  “Be Happy - Be Scared“.  Pam has grabbed the former as her motto, and I the latter as my motto (which I think is the icing on the Happy Zombie cake).

In other warnings.  If someone tells you, pssst… pssst… hey little girl, wanna come play at Facebook?  Do not walk in the opposite direction.  Run.  RUN for your life.  Facebook is an evil plot to take over every minute of your spare time.  DO NOT FALL FOR IT.  Oh sure, your friends will tell you it helps keep up communication in place of email (I’m a sucky email-replier), and your friends will tell you it’s like a “2 minute blog”, and then you have a friend who joins - and even though you email, text and talk on the phone with her… you’ll want to know 24/7 what she is doing right now.  Before you know it, you will be a Facebook zombie and you’ll be forming all of your sentences in third person… “[your name here] is“.  You’ll have friends who play fun little google games, and you and your friends will get sucked into that too. Like this game:

UNFORTUNATELY: Google “unfortunately, your name”, including the quotes, and ta-dah… instant laughs.

- Unfortunately, Monica lost her voice and had to retrain her vocal talent.
- Unfortunately, Monica screws up and the stripper turns out to be a hooker.
- Unfortunately Monica hasn’t been convicted of anything (yet — she IS under investigation)
- Unfortunately, Monica’s dress turned out to have a bit of DNA on it.
- Unfortunately, Monica wakes up while David is standing over her with a pair of scissors.
- Unfortunately, Monica has committed another out-of-context faux pas
- Unfortunately Monica can’t act.
- Unfortunately Monica is blonde (for the most part) and comes with a thick Italian accent.
- Unfortunately Monica fails to heed Miss Cotton’s sage words and is attacked by some of the women in the village
- Unfortunately Monica had fallen into a vicious circle of drugs and prostitution

You.  Have.  Been.  Warned.

Instant gratification.  From the first cut to the finishing knot on my binding - in less then four hours I was done. And that includes intermittent times I dorked around on Facebook. I guess now would be a good time to mention that this quilt only measures 18” x 22”. Small enough that I can quilt it after I’ve bound it.

I was working on stuff and decided I needed some play time… letting someone else do the driving while I putz around in the passenger seat. Lori Smith’s From My Heart to Your Hands little fat quarter patterns are just the most perfect, the most darling and the most fun little patterns. I did mod mine (from pattern #1505) just a tad - I added an inner border and made the outer border wider.

Last weekend when I sewed with my friends at Momma Made It, Sharon (the owner) had this quilt/pattern on display,  and I knew I had to make one.  So while at Momma Made It, I stocked up on quarter yards cuts and fat quarters of Civil Warhishy (War-ishy?) fabrics… and $40 worth of fabric later… I have a quilt the size of a fat quarter.  WTF?  How did I manage that?  Oh well… I guess I’ve got lots of leftovers to make more.  Good thing I have a stockpile of Lori Smith’s patterns!

The older we get, the faster time goes by.  I’ve learned the secret of making time stop (and with no help from Jack, Sawyer or Hurley).   No Dharma Initiative needed… just join Anne’s  crazy cute “A Tiskit, A Tasket BOM” (block of the month) and you’ll see how slow time can go by.  At the beginning of the month, I was stalking patiently waiting at Anne’s blog for her to upload the February block.   Now I wait for March’s block.

Tic.

Tock.

Tic.

Tock.

Tic.

Tock.

Time has stood still - I can hardly stand waiting the next 10 months!

I’ve used Moda’s Swell and Sweet (by the Urban Chicks) for all the applique on my blocks.  My February block - I’ve used all Swell. If anyone is looking for Sweet… go visit my pal Jona at her Fabritopia shop!

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!

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 feel like Heidi Klum just gave my dogs Liberty and Madison the “in”, thanks to fellow Oregonian Hannah Lindsey!  Hannah sent me this beautiful artwork she did after she spotted the photo of my dogs on my blog.

I’m blown away by her talent and her beautiful work. Of course now my dogs have gone all super-model on me and submitted me with a rider - beef flavored spring water, cashmere doggie beds, quality time with the UPS, FedEx and DHL guys (and rides in their trucks), pearl collars and 24kt gold dogs tags…

Lindsey doesn’t have a blog, but she’s got some of her other beautiful artwork posted on her flickr.

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.