Happy Zombie

Signs of life… my life.  Getting back into the swing of things after our vacation (I’m STILL in de-vacationize mode). Signs that I was nearing Home Sweet Home. I know, bloom where you’re planted blahblahblah (actually, words I live by), but home really isn’t Home to me unless my family’s there too. It was SOOOO great to go home and be with ALL of my family (special shout out to Jodie… Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie, Oy Oy Oy), as well as hang out with my peep n peep. A trip of a lifetime for me. More trip stuff later - after I finish de-vacationizing and catching up on everyones blogs.

Good-bye Oregon. We’ll be back, I promise (or more appropriately… I warn).

Signs I’m getting closer to home… time to turn on the A/C.

Ahhhh. The sign that I’m home…

I took this photo for Kathleen from my iphone to taunt her. A pay-back because she did it to me a few months ago. But my evil (but oh so fun) plans backfired on me since she was getting ready to leave… for Paris. PARIS! So if there are any fellow Cali ex-pats who are looking at this photo and feel like I’m taunting you… well, I AM. Maybe this is how I’ll finally get to Paris myself. If the day ever comes when I get to go to Paris, be assured I will be posting taunting and tantalizing photos of crêpes.  Holy crêpe!

Posted in How I Live | 31 Comments

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

Posted in Quilty n Crafty, Stuff | Comments Off

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!

Posted in Stuff | 46 Comments

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.

Posted in Quilty n Crafty, How I Live | 48 Comments

If happiness came in stacks, this is what it would look like.

My special delivery from Japan. A glorious collection of Lecien’s darling Minny Muu.

It’s as if someone crawled into my head and designed fabric just for me.

Too cute for words, even though there are words. I’m pretty sure it says something in French.

Wish I could show what I’m going to do with it - my secret project for Lecien! But that will have to wait until Fall. I’m pretty sure I’m going to make another Merry-Go-Round, and I’m thinkin’ I may do one out my Minny Muu’s secret project leftover fabric.

If there was an awards show for Best Comments Ever (and the Oscar goes too…), hands down my blog would win. Wolfgang Puck would be catering my after-party, and all you wonderful peeps who leave me the nicest (and funniest) comments would be the guests of honor. I’m so touched by each and everyone of them and I thank you so much! Sometimes I even show my parents, and remind them that those notes they’d get about me from school when I was a kid - notes from the principal, the counselors, the teachers… that one day they’d read something good about me. Thank you for proving me right! Please forgive me if my email replies slack in the next few weeks… but I’ve got me some sewin’ (and a couple of bloggie-goodies too) to do. Whoo whoo!

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

Posted in Quilty n Crafty, So Stinkin' Cute | 58 Comments

I first saw the Merry-Go-Round quilt on Nanette’s blog here, and then on Michelle’s blog here… and I was so smitten with their quilts… I had to drop everything and make one myself! A while back ago I had seen an afghan in a home dec magazine, and I was looking at it… studying it… how could I make that out of fabric. So I tried. Started with a hex shape, and then went round and round log cabin style. Ugh. Took FOREVER to do one block, plus there were a gazillion seams (and not to mention a crap-load of Y seams in my future). Failure. Fabric afghan nuttin’ but a bust. Until now - and Sandy Klop is the genius behind my quilt dream come to life. “Dream” may be a stretch… but I’m pretty stinkin’ happy. Like craving for some exotic food that’s out of reach, and right there on your friends blogs is the recipe for the dish. Good times at Casa de Zombie. Good times. Edited in: You can get the pattern here.

I made mine a little different then the pattern. Smaller and set different. I used my Darlene Zimmerman purple triangle tool. I love Darlene’s tools, and she’s the queen genius of all quilting geniuses. Of all my favorite quilts, there’s a bit of Darlene in all of them - either her patterns, her fabrics, her tools or the tricks she’s taught me.

I’ve been having so much fun playing with the triangle tool, a bee flew up my butt and I thought up a fun little project to do with friends - four friends total to be exact. Kind of like a cookie swap… I’ll share it later, but for now I have to keep mum because my girl-gang is coming over on Monday for a sewing day, and it’s going to be a secret project for us. Anyhoo… I made my MGR with 9 fat quarters and used the leftover fabric for a pieced back. It may not stay long in it’s current locataion, as that chair is the bird watching perch for our cats. Yeah. Cat hair. Sucks. I heart you James Dyson.

Also in the Department of Keeping Mum… I have to keep this under lock and key until Fall. And it’s killing me because what’s coming is so stinkin’ cute and I want to share about it. I guess I could hint with something like “zinny zuu” or “tiny cow sound”. But I won’t. And besides… I’m making Doe squirm and I’m enjoying it. Maybe when my package comes I’ll snap a few shots of what’s inside. For now the waiting feels like an etirnity. Hurry DHL, hurry!

Posted in Quilty n Crafty | 24 Comments

I found Silvia’s etsy shop via Jenny (aka the center of the cuteness universe). Only problem with LookMamaMadeIt is that I wanted to buy EVERYTHING she made/sold!

This cake is so cute I could weep. Packaging is also weepy cute, and even a custom card of my choice on it. And no, it’s not my birthday - those are banned.

Silvia is a handcrafting goddess… her beautiful and skilled stitches make me gasp (that’s nice talk for “I’m pea green with envy”). Little itty bitty perfect stitches. I don’t know how she does it. Cake comes with a lit candle that you can tuck in between the strawberries, and you can see more photos here. I’m thinkin’ I may need some cookies too!

Posted in So Stinkin' Cute | 14 Comments

Mine! Or as Doe told me (ala the seagulls from Nemo)… mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine…

Thank you all for your support - and helping to keep the American economy rolling. We’re all doing our part, eh. I called Flowers N Fluff and paid via phone, and sweet, sweet Robin from Robin’s Parcel Express picked it up for me and brought it too me at our Redwork Club at Karen’s house. Robin holding on tight as I snap her pic, and no time to fiddle with the camera… that’s a heavy table she’s holding!

Show and Tell at Redwork… Karen shows a goodie she found in Sweden recently. I think it says “stockings”.

Another Swedish gem. It says something in Swedish. We don’t know what. But it gave me the idea to embroider something that says, “Etwas auf Deutsch”, and I’ll be asked, “what does it say?“, and I’ll say… “something in German”. “No… what does it SAY?!“… again… “SOMETHING IN GERMAN”. Round and round I’ll go. Kinda scary how easily I’m able to entertain myself.

We all went gaga over the vintage Lady of the Lake quilt top one of the ladies brought.

The colors of the prints were amazing and in such great shape.

A very fun day, all in red. But sadly… there was a lot of blue too. Very, very, very blue.

Edited in: I do not know why the Anna Lena links are not working at the moment, but I’m sure they’ll be working again soon.

Posted in Quilty n Crafty, How I Live | 26 Comments

Hands. Nothing is more beautiful to me - then when it’s made by hand and infused with love. There’s an old primitive image with a heart inside a hand, and it’s always been such a profound image/icon for me. It is my Nike swoosh, my Lacoste alligator, my Gucci “G’s”, and my Mercedes almost-a-peace-sign. Heart. I am blessed to be surround by friends with not just love, kindness and laughter… but some serious talent!

Pam got me all hooked up at Spring Quilt Market. I had no idea Market was going to be one big Trick-or-Treating booty-palooza. Who knew there would be so many goodies for me to come home with! Obviously Pam did, and she made me this darling Happy Zombie Going To Market tote bag, stocked with the official snack food of PamKittyMorning and Happy Zombie… Cheeze It’s. Pam made one for E and herself too, and we three were quite the fashionistas with our PamBags. Pam also had an extra special treat for Karen and me… ADORABLE little pincushions she made from vintage planters. Mine is the sailor, Karen’s is the little girl. So cute I could weep. Holy crap… Market was back in May… and it here it July and I’m just now writing about it!

Most of the photos were taken at Karen’s studio, and that darling vintage book has two sides… a naughty side and goody side. I found it in the previously loved section at Powell’s, all aqua and orange - screamed Karen even though I was inches from keeping it for myself! Anyhoo… Karen keeps it on the goody side, and every time I’m at the studio I flip it to the naughty side.

Cindy, Cindy, Cindy… look what she made me. How cute is that! I’ve put it in the center of my dining room table and I’ve been barking at the boy-folk not to put anything on it. I hate, hate, hate when the boy-folk in my house use the table as storage - and I’m constantly after them that the table is not a mud-room. Since putting Cindy’s appliqué on the table… not a single thing has been put on the table. Clearly it means I’m going to dress my table with Cindy’s appliqué 24/7/365!

Edited in: I pleaded with Cindy for the name and author of the pattern because the mob of blog-villagers had torches and were genlty pounding on my blog door for answers. For the greater good - Cindy says the pattern is from the Bareroots book “Down to Earth”. ~Whew… crisis averted.

Oh Jenny, oh Jenny, oh Jenny! Look at the most beautiful peg doll ever! I feel bad for taunting anyone with this, and would love to say they are adoptable… but Jenny has sold out in her shop. Jenny’s little Dolly Pops are so cute and I wanted them all. But being the good citizen that I am, I only bought one so that others may enjoy one too. Patting myself on the back. I was going to name my lil lemon drop dolly pop “Lemonica”. You know, Lemon… Monica… but then all I could think about was that urban legend about the firefighter with the Lemon Jello kid (leh-mahn-ja-low). She still has no name, the search continues…

From across the pond, then across the ditch lives my dear Sweet Peep Louise, aka Queen of the Suffolk Puffs (aka “yo-yo’s” for us commoners here in The Colonies). Louise is also mum to my darling little Kiwi-Girl. Those skilled hands and big heart of hers never end! I love my darling little burlap tote she made me. OMG… all the little Suffolk Puffs with their cute buttons… I want to just eat them! Keep an eye on LouLou’s shop… you’ll always find sweet, sweet goodies there!

And not just the darling tote for me, but LouLou included an issue of New Zealand House & Garden for me. Not just ANY issue… THE issue with her big “Felt so good” spread in it! I was jonesing this issue, I couldn’t wait to see Louise in the magazine! You can peek at the gorgeous photos here. Louise also has a pettern for her cute little bird, but you have to read the article to get the pattern.

Foot. Ha. Public persuasion and all that good jazz - I’ve stopped kicking myself over that adorable red table/chair. But ahhh… that’s for another post. For now I wanted to brag about my friends with skills! Mooahhhaahaa.

Posted in So Stinkin' Cute | 31 Comments

Foot. Foot is what I use to kick myself. Kick. Kick. Kick.

I recently spent a wonderful afternoon with my girl-gang, and after a hearty (as in arteries clogging hearty) and kitchy lunch at The Logger in Knappa, Ore… off we headed to work off our Logger Burgers by going antiquing along Hwy. 30. We ended up at Flowers N Fluff in the-town-with-the-name-I-can’t-pronounce (Clatskanie, OR - a little town Paula recently posted about). Flowers N Fluff is my all time favorite coffee stop - where I get a fill-up going into Portland, and where I get a refill on my way home from Portland. Mmmm. Best coffee ever. What was once a gas station is now a florist, garden, espresso, gift shop, blahblahblah. Ever so cute.

As we pull in, I can see the vintage red table and chair with the darling scallop and pukas. My heart starts racing and I can barely open the door of Connie’s SUV. I wanted to shout “dibs” before Karen, Connie or Robin could beat me too it, so instead… I did the most dignified and mature thing I could think of. I squealed and almost fell to my knees… “OHMYGOSH… I have to have it”!

We wondered around the lovely grounds, so many pretty things… even some bunnies! I spent too much time wondering. I should have grabbed the table and chair, paid for it and stuck it in the back of Connie’s SUV. While wondering and lollygagging (I love that word even if spellcheck doesn’t), the little Cortney Love voice in my head was saying those things I didn’t want to hear… “You have to set a good example to DS about not spending money”, “We have to tighten our belts”, “Save-Save-Save”. I hate you Courtney Love voice. I hate you.

I think my girl-gang was feeling sorry for me, so they asked me what I wanted to do next. GO SEE THE PONIES, of course! And then that effing Courtney Love voice spoke again. ”No. You can’t have one.” And if anyone reading this goes and buys that table and chair that is CLEARLY meant for me… then I expect you to invite me over for some lemon-aid and cookies at my your new table.

Posted in I Heart Oregon | 26 Comments