Happy Zombie

When I discovered these IKEA Godis Chokladkex treats, I didn’t care what was inside.

All I saw was the wrapper.

I did some research…

… and remembered the Half Rectangle Triangle Tutorial at the MQG website.

My little 8″ x 9″ mini quilt. Or a potholder.

Proving that dessert should always be a priority.

Fabrics: A Stitch in Color by Malka Dubrawsky for Moda

Super lucky us, Jen and I got to be beta testers for Elizabeth’s new Refrigerator Magnets Quilt Blocks Pattern. Not only am I lucky enough to be able to participate, Elizabeth even gave us each a gorgeous bundle of fabric to play with PLUS a package of printable freezer paper sheets (which is freaking brilliant and works fantastic)! I knew right away what I was going to make with the letters…

the phrase Treat Yo Self from Parks and Rec from the episode “Pawnee Rangers” (season 4, ep 4). I LOVE Treat Yo Self. Love.

(if the embedded video fails, click here. You can also watch a deleted scene from Aziz Ansari’s tumblr here.)

Elizabeth’s patterns come in lower and upper case letters, punctuation and numbers - and in 3 different sizes. HOLY COW! Each letter, number and punctuation also comes with a “how to” assembly page. I’m so visual, so this was right up my alley. While I was making my letters, I 400%’d the pdf so I could do a quick lookie look at what as I was supposed to be doing.

I love this block pattern pack. Crazy, madly love. And not just the patterns themselves, but I love Elizabeth’s instructions and I learned how to do Freezer Paper Applique. I had the same kind of feeling when I learned how to drive a car - something new, something liberating and something that I’m going to love doing. Another thing I like about Elizabeth’s freezer paper applique pattens, is that you can press open your seams and your blocks lay nice and flat, and with less bulk than traditional foundation piecing.

(I have since removed the periods)

Treat

Yo

Self

Treat Yo Self: Bretzles from Costco

(Violet & Griffin)

Treat Yo Self: Fly wine


(Elizabeth)

Treat Yo Self: The Walking Quilted

(the walking quilted)

Treat Yo Self: Serious cuteness

(Leon Sugar and Cannon, Violet’s daughter)

Treat Yo Self: Portland summer sunshine

Treat Yo Self: Babies!

(Amber and Christina)

Treat Yo Self: Photo bombing

(Amber, Jen and Christina)

Treat Yo Self: Baby kicks

(Jen and Christina)

Treat Yo Self: Awkward moments

(Amber, Jen and Christina)

Treat Yo Self: PMQG Show & Tell with rockemsockem quilt model

(Bill, me)

Treat Yo Self: Refrigerator Magnets Quilt Blocks Pattern

Treat Yo Self: To a big, heaping spoonful of Ron Swanson sugar - coming soon on my blog! (silent squeal)

… well, at least in the produce aisle.

It has been a wet, dark, mucky and gloomy Winter Summer so far here in the Pacific Northwest.   The good side of that, is that little things like berries and the occasional sunny days are all the more magnificent. Reminding myself that our Summer is not ¾ empty, but it’s ¼ full.  And that ¾ is the perfect time to go quilt something.  Reminding myself.  Reminding myself.  Reminding my… SQUIRREL!!!

(squirrel = UPS truck with a fabric purchase)

I bought some great London fabric by The Henley Studio (from Makower UK/Andover) from both Pink Chalk Fabrics and the Fat Quarter Shop.  My big plan was to sew with it on the weekend of the Diamond Jubilee, as well as simultaneously with Fat Quarterly’s London retreat.  Transporting myself to London from my little spot at our Portland MQG All Day Sew.  I had it all planned out - I would make another Lunch bag from Ayumi’s pattern (I think this makes 9 bags, now).  I was so careful, too.  Making sure I had my directions running in all the right ways.

Easy, this is the 9th time I’ve made Ayumi’s pattern.
Focused and mindful.
No sweat.
Piece of cake.
I can make Bag9.0 with my eyes closed.
I can sew this bag in my sleep.
I don’t even need to use a machine… I can mind-sew it.

Of course… naturally… I am full of $#!+.  Oh yeah (Kool-aid Man voice).

Sigh. Not gonna toss it. I sewed the outer and inner units together and trimmed it with some top stitching. I guess I have a too-small iron cover.

Or a hat for Traci.  (Meg, Amber and Jen are the happy little sewing bees in the background)

With no purse to finish now, I’ll just watch Violet make her beautiful bee block for Sally.

After PMQG All Day Sew we go out for Mexican food (so very London-ish, eh)… I watch Traci and Violet drink something out of giant cereal bowl that tasted like Froot Loops with tequila to me.  One sip and I was glad I was sticking with a Coke.  This has nothing to do with my sewing fail - I’m just so amused by this drink that I’m making it a part of Bag9.0’s story.

The following day I pick up where I left off, and redo Bag9.0’s main body. So cute is Ayumi’s pattern, and I love it in this London fabric (+ some of Darlene Zimmerman’s long ago Little Darling’s from my stash for the band and handles).

I’m so glad I Instagram’d/tweet’d/flickr’d my Bag9.0 Diamond Jubilee Edition fail - Sandie left me a comment on my flickr pic with a great tip: “Turn it inside out and then fold a couple inches to the outside.  It’ll still be upside down inside, but once you fill it, who’s gonna notice?“.   And that’s just what I did.

Lesson learned: When life gives you lemons… Instagram/tweet/flickr about it. Thank you for the lemonade, Sandie!

The SLMQG is hosting the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild EZ Dresden Challenge - projects, prizes, inspiration, fun… all using Darlene Zimmerman’s EZ Quilting Easy Dresden.  Holy cow, it’s the 20th anniversary of Darlene’s rulers! I love Darlene, and I love her rulers. I have every EZ ruler ever made with her name on it.  Love.  Them. Love. Darlene. Much of what I know about quilting I know because of Darlene. Did I mention I love her?

A few years ago I made Elizabeth’s New Wave quilt using the EZ Dresden ruler - step into my wayback time-machine.

I have nothing to do with this event, other than I’m so excited about it, and think it’s awesome and want to pass it on + I got to recycle a blog post + a whole new world of genius ideas are going to be/being blogged to use the ruler for.  The Easy Dresden Ruler: not just for breakfast anymore.

I saw this beautiful and interesting piece on the Royal School of Needlework on this morning’s CBS Sunday Morning.  The art of stitchery and history.  Too good not to share!

(if the embedded video fails, click here)

I’m so excited to be a part of Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen’s Quilting Modern book party!   Jacquie and Katie are two women who I so greatly admire and am in awe of.  Both of them in their own way have sparked a flame in me like only a few others have (like the Gee’s Bend ladies and Denyse Schmidt for example).  I shouldn’t say flame, it’s more like a torch.  When I think there’s nothing else that can be done with pieces of cut up fabric sewn back together again - Jacquie and Katie find a way to.  And they make me want to drop everything and do it, too.

When I first got a copy of Quilting Modern, my dilemma was not which project to make - but which one to start first. I want to make EVERY project in this book. And not just the projects I’m in love with, but Jacquie and Katie write in a such gentle, easy and loving way that’s such a joy to read. Especially since I rarely read words and only do pictures. Yeah, they got me to read it’s that good.

My first project I started with the Swirling Medallion Quilt. I made mine a little smaller to make it into a pillow. What I really like about this project is that it feeds the part of my soul that likes measurement, order, accuracy - and it also feeds the part of my soul that likes whimsey, improv and rebellion. This project is a perfect marriage of quilt happiness to me.

I liked the color choices from the book, so I kinda followed suit. For the yellow I used a fabric from my Happy Mochi Yum Yum collection, some Kaufman solids, and some weird-unknown-to-me cotton budget fabric (that I actually like) from JoAnn’s that looks linen but it’s not.  It’s fine Corinthian Linen.

Bam.  Two hands.  I love my new el cheapo “quilting gloves” from Harbor Freight (hubs’ LQS).

I quilted the top without a backing, this way the batting snuggles up to my pillow form and it keeps a nice shape. I discovered this trick on accident, and will always do my “pillow quilts” this way from now on.

Sew on the back pieces to make it pillow and then I’m done. So fun, so fast.

Bam. Pillow.

Bam. Dog. My ham dog loves her photo taken and HAS to get in every shot possible.

Bam.  My other ham. My pets are the Kardashian’s of the animal kingdom.

I hope you’ll join in on the big Quilting Modern celebration this weekend (Queen Elizabeth isn’t the only party girl this weekend), and pop in see what the other parties goers are up. Twitter and Instagram, I’ve seen lots of us via have been making projects from the book, plus I heard [knowhatimsaying] there might be a few give-aways of Quilting Modern, so be sure to check out everyone who’s at the party.

Our hostesses:
Tall Grassprairie Studio – Jacquie Gering

Sew Katie Did - Katie Pedersen

The partiers:
A Stitch in Dye – Malka Dubrawsky

Fat Quarterly blog - Tacha Bruecher

Film in the Fridge – Ashley Newcomb

Generation Q – Jake Finch

Handmade by Alissa – Alissa Haight Carlton

Happy Zombie – Monica Solorio-Snow

i heart linen – Rashida Coleman-Hale

Oh, Fransson! – Elizabeth Hartman

One Shabby Chick – Amber Carrillo

Pink Chalk Studio – Kathy Mack

Quilting is my Therapy – Angela Waters

Red Pepper Quilts – Rita Hodge

Sew, Mama, Sew! - Kristin Link

Sew Take a Hike – Penny Layman

West Coast Crafty – Susan Beal

Whip Up – Kathreen Ricketson

Wise Craft - Blair Stocker

There’s also a Quilting Modern flickr group, and it’s so much fun to see what everyone is making from the book.  I already have my next project figured out, Tunnel Vision - because I have a tiny 3″x 6″ piece of Heather Ross mermaid fabric, and now I know how to build a quilt around it.  Thank you, Jacquie and Katie!

My youngest son asked if he can use my sewing machine. Whhhhhaaaaaaa? I heard what he said, but what *really* I heard was, “Mom, I think it’s so awesome that you sew, and like you I think it’s so empowering to make something instead of buying it, and I want to be just like you because you are so damn cool with your sewing ways“. Well. Something like that.

So naturally I asked him what he wanted to make (a pouch for his rappelling harness belt-thing), and off to JoAnn’s we went. When one of your kids wants to go to the craft store - you STOP EVERYTHING AND GO AND LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT AND PINCH YOURSELF REPEATEDLY AND THEN GO HOME AND WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT IT IN ALL CAPS. Dear sweet child-o-mine knew just what he wanted and how much of it. Fabric. Trim. Buckle. Plastic. No shopping list, no notes. I told him I find it helpful to have notes and some sketches. He then pointed to his noggin and said his notes and sketches where in there. When we got home and set up my travel-machine, all I showed him was needle up - needle down button and the back stitch button. And to town he went.

My son was a total improv sewer (OMG!), and has a knack for 3D sewing just like his super talented grandfather (my dad, my sewing mentor). He just kept sewing, and building, and cutting, and sewing. And like me, he also had a knack for unsewing.

HOLY COW, THIS BAG IS GOING TO MAKE ME GO ALL CAP AGAIN. Yeah, I had to beg him to blog about it. I pretty much keep my family’s lives private and respect their wishes for privacy. But NOT TODAY.
And now to talk him into making a quilt. An improv one of course.

Because I’m on a giveaway roll, I have another one. At Quilt Market, Mo and I were in line at the United Notions/Moda Home booth for Amanda Jean’s and Cheryl’s  Sunday Morning Quilts book signing (OMG, I love their book so much - and love them, too!), we met the fun ladies from Marmalade Fabrics who made the wait in line so much fun.  When someone from United Notions was handing out these darling Kansas City souvenir hankies to all of us in line, I squealed so loud that my new pals at Marmalade said they’d give me one of theirs to give to one of my blog readers.  How sweet is that. I know, crazy sweet!   Leave a comment by this Tuesday night ish, May 29th, and I’ll draw a name by Wednesday morning (which is noon-ish my time, PST).

Edited in #1: Occasionally my website goes on the fritz (it’s old, really really old) and my blog doesn’t send comments to my inbox. I wanted to answer everyone’s kind comments, especially to you everyone one who said I didn’t look old enough to have a son that age (and he’s my baby, I have an even old son!). Seriously, it was so heartwarming to read everyone’s kind comments. It was a pretty big deal for me to discover my little sewing savant, and just as big a deal to me to get all these lovin’s from this awesome quilty-sewie-crafty community of ours. A huge big thank you. Major huge thank you.

Edited in #2: The giveaway has now ended, and I wish I had a Moda Kansas City hankie for everyone (that’d be a squeal en masse!). Using random.org for comments 1-156, the winner is #49 by Florence!

Fresh off a giveaway, I’m doing another one! This little bundle is like the last giveaway, it’s been set aside and waiting for today’s Sew,Mama,Sew!’s epic Giveaway Day - the crafty universe’s semi-annual gift giving day!

Easy as pie: no cheezie commenting requirements (unless you want to tell what your fave pie is, or cheese) - just leave a comment by May 25, 2012 at 5 pm PST when Giveaway Day ends.

Up for grabs is a 6″ charm pack of Winterkist and a gaggle of cut-out Gnomas.

My new line is not yet out, so this is a chance to get Winterkist-bits early (it’s due out this summer, so keep your eye on the Sew,Mama,Sew! shop!).  I will ship internationally.

Edited in: The giveaway has now ended. Using random.org for comments 1-669, the winner is #515 by Pippa (in France!). My only problem now is finding an envelope large enough to fit Pippa’s prize as well as myself in it.  Stuff.  Squeeze.  Adjust.  Stuff.  Stuff.  Seal.  Ship.

I’m ready to go to Market - all my Winterkist samples sewn, all my photos taken, all my lovely email answered, all my clothes packed and all my hairs dyed.   I even managed to get my freebie pattern ready for the printer on the day of the deadline and not after.  The earth just tilted on it’s axes a little bit.  All that’s left now is to pick up Mo, and off to Kansas City we go for our Mo & Mo Go To MO adventure!

My free Peek-a-boo Gnoma pattern for Winterkist is availble here.  Whew, I got it done just in the nick of time.  The Universe was smiling on me, it even provided a sunny day for photos.

This shot is solely to brag on our sunshine - but it’s not really bragging since I live in the greyest city in the United States (fact. for real). Confession: I did not baste or pin my layers before I machine quilted this. Fact 1: I’m nuts. Fact 2: I’m lazy. Fact 3: Flattest/no lump quilt I ever made. I KNOW, how crazy is that. Fact 4: I will never, ever baste again.

There really must be gnomes in my woods - who else could have chopped this nice stack of wood. Actually, my nice neighbor across the street…

…but it’s more fun to pretend it’s Gnoma’s ancestors… Heinzelmännchen.

Some more goodies for the Lecien booth.

This is a sample for Elizabeth’s schoolhouse - for the debut of her freaking-awesome-beyond-words new book Modern Patchwork. All of the quilt patterns in Elizabeth’s book also have a mini version of each quilt, and the one I made is from her Metropolis pattern. I had so much fun making this mini-quilt, and I plan to make each mini-quilt in the book. I’m going to lazy-ass Julie-Julia my way through Modern Patchwork. I have a copy Modern Patchwork (no, I’m not giving it away - oh hell no!), and it is incredibly, jaw dropping beautiful, clever and fun, and I each projects leaves me marveling how Elizabeth thinks those designs up.

I went a little bag crazy.

Anna’s 241 Tote pattern. I FREAKING LOVE THIS PATTERN. And I love seeing all the different ones that are being made. I see many, many more of the 241’s in my future.

My Better Homes & Gardens Six Pocket Purse pattern and Ayumi’s Lunch Bag purse pattern. I can’t stop making the “Ayumi bag” either.

My newest baddiction (bag addiction) is Jeni’s Drawstring bag pattern. So cute and so fast, and also fun to see the different ones being made. LOTS more of these are going to be in my future, too.

A little give-away of Winterkist. It doesn’t hit the stores until this summer (you can put yourself on the Winterkist email notification at Fat Quarter Shop), so this is a chance if your not going to Sample Spree at Market (or going to Market) - to get a little sampling of your own.  I’ve got two little 6″ charm-pack bundles (each with a Gnoma of each size in the bundle).  Leave a comment and when I get back from Market I’ll draw two winners on Sunday, May 20th.  For kicks, if you want… you can tell me your favorite color at the moment. And because I love knowing what colors people are diggin’ these days. Editing in: drawing winners on Monday, May 21.

RESOURCES:
Peek-a-boo Gnoma Quilt pattern
by Monica Solorio-Snow
thehappyzombie.com/pdf/peekaboognoma.pdf

Six Pocket Purse pattern
from Better Homes & Gardens publications by Monica Solorio-Snow
allpeoplequilt.com/533

Metropolis Quilt (mini version)
from the C&T book Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman
www.ohfransson.com

Lunch Bag (purse) pattern
from Pink Penguin tutorials by Ayumi Mills
ayumills.blogspot.com/2010/08/tutorial-lunch-bag.html

241 Tote pattern
from Noodlehead Patterns by Anna Graham
noodle-head.com/p/patterns.html

Lined Drawstring Bag pattern
from In Color Order tutorials by Jeni Baker
incolororder.blogspot.com

PS, if you want to see Winterkist at your favorite LQS or fabric store, gently bombard your favorite proprietors with a Winterkist wish and Winterkist kisses. Or send them a link to the Winterkist book and ask them to visit the Lecien booth 1124, 25, 26 in Kansas City this weekend!

PS2, I can’t thank everyone enough for all the kind and heartwarming emails and comments I’ve gotten recently and haven’t been able to answer. I hope maybe I can have a little in-box amnesty and please know how much I cherish your kindness and sweet words, and plan on responding soon. Ish.

Edited in: The giveaway has now ended. Using random.org for comments 1-254, the winners are #14 by Jenelle and #67 by Heather!