Monday, June 28, 2010

Pop Quiz

Which one of these checker board type configurations would I rather be playing with right now? Hmmm.
Queso, Kim came over and we made another snap bag (get your own pattern here) and almost finished binding a wee tiny turtle quilt and then I got the above checkerboard quilt arranged. It will have navy blue sashing 3/4 inch finished and a piano key border. The pattern is from Fons n Porter October '07 issue, it's called "Checkers."

I made enough blocks for two quilts but then I realized that each quilt would be too small (48 x 60) so I am going to make one big quilt. It is a wedding present for the second cutest couple I know. They like simple clean lines and bold but dark colors so I think its perfect.

Alas it is a keyboard I must attend to now. . . I will work on the quilt more this week while my guy is out of town. Sigh.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Snap Happy.

I have been wanting to make one of these for a long time. The open and close mechanism is made from a spring metal tape measure. Yay dollar store!  The pattern is by Stitchin Sisters.  Wissinkah@aol.com.

And check out our sweet peas sprouting.  These pictures were taken just 3 days apart. Wow!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day!

Braved the traffic and the sun to take in some NASCAR racing at Sonoma today. Great race, great day.  Hope you all had a good one.

Monday, June 14, 2010

This is not helping my AADD



Why do I have this look on my face? Porque I have made this "vow" sort of thing to FINISH some quilts, make the quilts I have already cut up, planned or bought the fabric for. . . but, in addition to the Happy fabric I raved about in my last post, I had to go and travel around the blog world, and find the amazing quilts of Don't Look Now! I mean, clearly it is not my fault if I take a detour to make the I (heart) pink quilt or the monster quilt. OMG, must have, must make. Maybe I can make a DLN quilt with Holiday Happy fabric.

. . Hmm, I love it when a plan comes together -- (nice A-Team reference, yes?)


ok, but there are also the awesome new fabrics and quilts out there, like Caramel Town, also by Lecien, Cherry House quilts and the awesome book, City Quilts; Elizabeth at Late Bloomer Quilts and her gorgeous, fun, happy, bright new fabrics that, in my opinion are like electric versions of Cath Kidston's fabrics. Then there is Holly Holderman of Lakehouse Dry goods. Check out pictures of her booth at market on the blog and her new fabric line Fun Flowers 1, 2 and 3. OMG again.
I am back to head spinning, quilt planning and drooling on my computer. I love love love the amazing variety of fabrics and inspiring designs out there. It is worth the AADD despair of knowing I will not be able to make all the quilts in my head and out in the quiltiverse, just to be able to make a few and admire the rest.
Hey, back to my AADD, I realize that I have an apron that I got in an apron swap that would fit right in with that black, white and hot pink and orange color theme of the Lakehouse booth:

(modeled by my blonde twin, ha ha) Actually it's me when I was blonde, about a year ago. Speaking of hair color, today I was brunette and tonight, I am a red head!! Well, Cherry Chocolate is the actual name of the color that I gooped onto my head tonight. (why are hair colors named after food??) It seems like a very mild and subtle color here at 11 pm in my house. I can't wait to see it in the sunlight tomorrow. ciao




Saturday, June 12, 2010

Revised. Table Topper, finishing projects, I heart Sundays

Summery table topper I made out of my stash. Perfect for this warm breezy day. It's 36 inches square, no overhang off the table to make your legs all hot when dining "al fresco" (Who's this Al Fresco guy anyway?)

So my adorable man pointed out that this is one of the only projects he has seen me complete from start to finish in the almost one year we have been together. HMMM, got me thinking that I am not a "finisher." I am a starter, a dreamer, a planner. I have AADD. Artistic attention deficit disorder. I am distracted by new fabric, new patterns, dreams, greeting cards, whatever idea pop in my head, so I leave the boring old quilting or binding or rest of the piecing on one project to start another.

I took his comment to heart and (drumroll please) I actually put the binding on a fairly good sized quilt last night as well. My celebration (party cake) quilt. So, yay, cross another one (well, one) off of the list.

BUT I CONFESS! I really want to start a whole new project using Miss Happy Zombie's bright and happy Christmas gnomie-licious fabric. It's actually called "Holiday Happy." Luckily, the fabric isn't available to me yet, but when it is, I will be hard pressed to avoid my AADD - I dreamed up a great design for this. I love that she used such fresh, bright colors for Christmas, don't you? I have decorated Christmas in this color scheme before and it is truly holiday happy.

Sundays are such great days lately. It has been really fun for us to find new restaurants to go to, and then going to eat and out to the movies with youngest son. He is so much fun to be around. Even if he wasn't my kid, I would want to hang around with him. This past Sunday we decided to go for pizza instead of our usual breakfast fare, and saw the "A-Team" and it was GREAT. Surprisingly great. I mean, I love action movies, but I thought this was going to be very cheesy and kind of immature. BUT it was a wonderful balance of funny, unbelievable stunts and plans, great dialog, great casting. I highly recommend it. Pay for the big screen to see the big action. Then, go home and bind a quilt. Like I did. If I can finish a project, so can you.

heck, I might even bind another one of the multitudinous unbound quilts roaming about the abode this week.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

So close

I thought I had all of my pieced arcs complete at drop in tonight but alas, when I laid them out on the table, I was, you might say, a few tacos short of a fiesta pack.  But don't they look purdy.   Next step is to piece those curves eh? But I am not afraid.  Nossiree, bring on the circles.
Queso,  why can't the rest of life be as cheery as these dotty fabrics? I think my weekend will be just that:  dotty. I think that's my new word for great/ wonderful/ happy.  How was your weekend? Dotty, thanks.  What kind of movie should we see? Action? No, how about a dotty one this time. Queso clearly it's time for bed. Dotty dreams all.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Week in review: dots, frickles, dads, tickles

Happy week. Dots: got a lot done on my spotty quilt
Frickles: found a great BBQ restaurant that serves fried pickles aka frickles. Also great breakfast as younger son will attest, battling his chicken fried steak. (The steak won.).  Dads: Went to visit family. We took "pumpkin" aka "princess" aka "sweet pea" on a road trip to northern AZ to see my Dad. So we both got Daddy time.  Tickles: playing with pumpkin / princess / sweet pea and reading the latest Skippyjohn Jones book was so much fun.