Happy Dance!

Quick note of happy dance. Just got a call from the fabulous Laura Heine who said she is done quilting my Asian Log Cabin quilt and she says it turned out awesome!! She even asked if she could take pictures of it for her website. Oh joy! I cannot wait to see it! I also finished quilting the grad night auction quilt, now on to the binding. Also made two cute purses and a pineapple table topper. SO I need to post some pictures this week, I know. We all know how I fail to keep those picture promises, huh.

busy takes on whole new level

oh crud. how am i ever gonna right this ship that is so tipped over in a sea of busy! I cannot remember working this hard in so many different directions since my kids were in grade school and I worked full time plus at a crazy law firm that had me flying all over the country. Now, I am self employed lawyering, so I have no one to blame but me, but whine, whine, I will. I have been referring to the convergence of all these cases and depositions and hearings as "the perfect storm" because it's all landing on me at once.

The bright light in my week will be thursday when I get to teach my first ever quilt class at Thimble Creek!! I am so excited and so ready to get a sewing break.

Last week, I finished the school auction quilt top and my peeps quilt top, but this week, nothing has happened in the studo (insert "cricket sounds") so I have to satisfy my quilting needs by looking at everone else's blogs!!

OH and I received a great package from Celeste in the fat quarter shop. I have never seen the fabric she sent before, it is so unique and springy!! I will post more and pictures soon, but I just want to say thanks! n case Celese visits my humble and not so quiltilicious right now blog.

Well back to the grind, ttfn

OK So lots of pictures in this post! First, the APRON SWAP! OMG, I love my apron. My swapster must have been looking in my closet and my sewing room because it is SO ME!!

And, she sent swap goodies. (Not pictured: the m&m's that my husband and I swooped on and devoured) Pencils, more candy and the cutest cupcake iron on! yay!
Hey, ya know what's really cool, Marissa will make you an apron too, yup, she has a business making these gorgeous flirty aprons. Check it out:

I somehow forgot to get a picture of the apron I made. Duh. But lucky for me, Debi really likes it and posted a picture on her blog. cowgurlsblessing

More on the goodie I put in with the apron later in this post.

ALSO, we had an awesome girls' retreat in Bodega Bay.

This is Karen, sewing away while we watched chick flicks like Mama Mia!

Uh oh, Carol and I even got up and danced.

I am always annoyed at movies that show a bunch of girls sitting around and then breaking into spontaneous song and dance numbers, and then here we were, doing that same thing!

We also watched Hairspray an the Holiday to round out the chick film fest.

But of course, the retreat wasn't all about dancing and singing, we were there to CREATE!! oh, but first, better have a hot tub. That dancing wore me out, how 'bout you, Carol?

Ah yes, this didn't suck. Cosmos in the hot tub!

Ok, so what did we dream up in the tub?? I decided to make a pocket cowboy for the western themed apron I was working on for the sassy flirty apron swap. We named him Shane because he has an "S" on the belt buckle.

He kept staring at me with those blue eyes. Shane, I am trying to sew!!

Go hang out with Karen in the hot tub!!

When Karen had enough of Shane and his two dimensional conversational skills, he sneaked away to Donna's bed. Shane, Donna is busy working on her scrapbook now. Her WEDDING scrapbook! Get out of her bed.

No, no, no, I didn't mean for you to get into mine!

Shane, you are in need of a hobby!
Yes, read a book! Maybe that will improve your conversational skills.

uh oh, look what I found blooming on the patio. She says her name is Betty, but I think it is TROUBLE.

No sense fighting the inevitable, so Donna whipped up another batch of cosmos, and we let the two have the hot tub while we got to work:

Did we actually make anything? I am glad you asked! In addition to the cute apron and the happy couple, I made:

This is a log cabin with Asian themed fabrics that I started last century (ok, like 2004) and decided to finish this weekend. I came up with the colors and layout on EQ5. (On Tuesday I shipped it off to Montana, Laura Heine, to do some magical quilting.)

Then, I made this autograph quilt for the Grad Night dinner dance auction, in blue and gold fabrics for our school colors. I just need to add the borders and quilt it. I brought fabric for the borders but meh, I didn't like it at all!! Didya notice how the gold fabric blends into the floor. weird, huh?




Karen finished her Celebration quilt with the awesome applique'd balloons and presents (the flames on the candles were left behind at home), and all that's left is for me to quilt it for her. I wish you could see the stitching on the applique. It is tres magnifique.

She and I took that class together a long time ago. Here is my version of the same pattern:

Fun, huh, how different they can look depending on fabrics. Nice fuzzy picture, too I might add.


Carol made this awesome quilt. This was a funny process for her. She had all the fabrics picked out, but ended up changing her mind here and there before she cut them out. Then she cut, cut, cut and sewed, sewed, sewed. AND then, she DIDN'T LIKE IT for a while, until we all looked at it and decided that it was very aquarium-like. The orange dot fabric strips look like Nemo fish or these beauties I snorkeled with at Lover's Cove on Catalina Island. The center blocks have a wave like seaweed about them, don't they?? So Carol changed her plan on the border fabric, and ended up creating a gorgeous aquatic quilt. It's about 4 feet by 5 feet I think:

whew. So you see, I have been a busy bee. And I am happy to have my computer back and running faster than ever.

LOOKIE LOOKIE. My favorite blogger, Ms. Craft Rage herself, Rachelle, has nomitated me for a Kreativ Blogger award.

Because of my quilts and my sewing room. How awesome is that! Rachelle is quite deserving of this award for her wit as well as her creative sewing. Check out her blog and read about the hotness, her crazy animals and her quest to create the perfect wedding dress. So the rules are that I now get to nominate 5 blogs for the same award. I would like to nominate:

1. Inside a Black Apple Emily is an artist with an etsy shop you must check out. I got the most beautiful print of the girl from Pan's Labyrinth for my husband. He loves that movie and loves original art. I can spend a lot of time looking at her blog and shop!

2. Crazy Mom Quilts This is the most prolific crafter ever. She makes about a quilt a week, no joke. plus she knits, makes clothes for her cute kids and publishes tutorials on her site for the rest of us.

3. Marianne of Moonbeams in a Jar is so flippin funny and creative and she has two boys the same age as mine, so it's fun to read along with her adventures and that of her sidekick, Miss Kitty. (you have to go see Miss Kitty in her inaguration hat)

4. That Dorky Homemade Look. Lisa Boyer is a quilter, author and very entertaining blog writer. I love when she takes her audience on trips around the island. She lives in Kauai. Poor thing.

5. Monica, another fave, of Happy Zombie fame. Go to her blog and you will see. She creates stuff for magazines, like quilts and purses and pennie pockets for garsh sakes. She is uber talented, funny and cutting edge.

OK SO TWO HOURS OF BLOGGING LATER, I AM READY TO SIGN OFF FOR NOW! I got things to do people. Like sew! Next post: what I got in the mail from MONTANA. No, it is not Shane's brother. ciao bellas.

LUCKY LUCKY ME

Well, I finally posted pictures from the January 1-4 retreat in Napa, see below, and here I am, packing for another retreat to Bodega this weekend. Lucky, Lucky me. This weekend I will be working more on the Alice quilt and hopefully I will remember to take pictures.

I am also going to work on an apron for the current, SSEN flirty apron swap and hopefully also get the Grad Night quilt finished.

tonight is sewing group, so also sewing before I head to my sewing retreat. woo hoo! hope you all get to do something fabulous this weekend, too!

New Year's Resolution

UPDATE -- PICTURES ADDED

REDUCE! That's my resolution. But not reduce me, reduce my stuff. I intend to pass along 30% of my current stuff - clothes, linens, housewares, crafty stuff. So, I started with my hall closet. Whew. Then, I tackled the dining room drawers, cabinets. I got a hefty bag to go to the dump, and a car load of stuff for Goodwill, plus found some much needed storage room in that closet for when I get to the kitchen overflow - big platters and stuff.



What is it about organizing stuff that feels so dang good! Why can't it feel that good to stay organized and do the daily stuff to keep it up. I swear the container store is like my best friend/worst enemy. Keeps me tantalized with the illusion of perfectly matched storage bins neatly labeled and lined up in the closet. I buy all that stuff, get it all set and pretty and then what happens?? chaos seeps in. oh well, I fight on. Next item up for project organization is my horrid bedroom walk in closet. ha ha walk in . . . that's funny. hurdle in . . . shimmy and squeeze in maybe. I wear like 1/3 of what's in there at most, I swear. why do I have so much stuff I don't wear? delusion.



ok, so one area that is fairly* organized (*always room for improvement) is my sewing loft. And I have recently returned from a fabulous sewing retreat in Napa. I am working on a really fun project based on Alice in Wonderland. I am such a bonehead that I did not take a picture of it when I had all the parts laid out, but I will try to recreate it at home. It's basically a background with pieced and appliqued items to be sewn all over it. I really love how Alice turned out, and the Wicked Queen. You will see, later.

LISA PROMISED TO EMAIL ME PICTURES OF MY ALICE QUILT IN PROGRESS. LISA IF YOU ARE READING THIS . . . :-D



The other gals were super industrious as always, and on a variety of different projects. Pictures to be inserted soon. HERE THEY ARE:

Above: Diane's translation of a Russian Church

This is Sandy's marvelously huge applique extravagana.

Here is an easy peasy quilt I made for my brother in law's partner:

Chickie's sawtooth beauty. This is also a very large quilt, about 90 inches square I think.

Lara was making this for her boyfriend, who has always wanted a real log cabin. Now he will have the quilt, so almost there, right??

I so love hanging out with these amazingly talented, funny and inspiring ladies. I am blessed to have found this great group.

Below are Nancy, Nancy and Kathy showing off their retreat creations:

The hotel was awesome, too, and the weather was perfect (for me) kind of gray and misty rain and cold. I was in quilty heaven.



I got three quilts off to the quilter on Friday. These were sent to Laura Heine at Fiberworks for her magic touch. Retro kitchen is PICTURED ABOVE, Peppermint Twist is my own creation that I blogged about here, and then there is a Mary Engelbriet fabrics Turning Twenty quilt, too. I can't wait to see them all quiltilicious.

Pictures soon (soon as I find the cord I need to connect camera to computer -- do you think I can find a product at the Container store to corral that? I once lost my ipod cord for days and found it in a most unusual spot - ha ha)

Are we Ready??

"Are we ready?" Trick Question. Irrelevant, because you are going to have to face the fact that Christmas will be here in less than a week, my friends.

It has been a whirlwind of activity around the ol' quiltilicious studio, and not enough on the quilt or 'licious side, but mostly on child rearing and my "day job" bleck. I really was hoping for that mythical relaxing-by-the-fire-while-making-my-handmade presents-and-sipping-cocoa thing, but instead it is squeeze in 10 minutes here and there for shopping, throw everything in the loft and sort it out later, throw on the same black sweater I wear to every holiday event and run for the car with my makeup bag in hand. oh well. next year?

I am the multi-tasker though, so on my way to another of my endless holiday obligations, I pulled over and took these pictures of fall foliage. Who says we don't have changing seasons here in CA?

On a completely different note, here is the finished quilt, renamed Spiked Melon. I am so excited that I get to teach a class on this! Woo hoo! (This is a pattern in Karen Stone Quilts that she calls Lady Liberty goes to Hawaii)

Last night we had our late night sewing drop in group and our White Elephant exchange which was a lot of fun. I managed to make progress on 2 Christmas gifts, so I am fairly happy with that turn of events. It looks like Saturday I will have some elf time in the afternoon, and on Sunday morning, too. (Party Saturday night and Sunday night, sheesh!)

Oh, just to see if anyone is reading this, I have an extra copy of the book "Cookies and Quilts" by Judy Martin that I would love to give you if you post a comment. I will give the book to the first person who responds that they would like to have it. Howz that for Christmas spirit? No guaranteed Christmas delivery though.

I am off to make gingerbread houses!

Have a Merry and Bright, and drink some eggnog.

Santa's workshop is buzzing!

Ok, quick post with a shout out to the Happy Zombie who created this awesome project for us all to enjoy. Go make some Pennie Pockets!!

I managed to make my sugar and salt scrubs (thanks Martha Stewart) and this adorable penant-style pennie pocket for my friend's son last night, PLUS I finished my gift for our Thursday night sewing group white elephant exchange, PLUS I nearly finished my magnetic memory board thingy for another kid on my Christmas list.

OH P.S. Head out to Thimble Creek if you live in the area for their awesome sale. If you don't live in the area, you should.

Flirty Apron Swap, flirting with Jason Statham

I received my beautiful apron in the Flirty Holiday Apron Swap. I am so overwhelmed! Here I am modeling it before we went to dinner on Thanksgiving. I actually wore an outfit to match the apron which is how much I love it!!!



This was my first swap. I had mentioned that I love black and white, sparkles and polka dots, and I got it all. My swap partner is an excellent seamstress, and made it reversible! It is so darn flippin' cute!!! Thanks Terri xox. I am definitely going to have to kick it up a notch for the next swap I do, these gals are amazing! check out the results at the Flirty Apron Swap







So, here is the first picture my nephew took of me in the apron, before I was "gussied up" I thought I'd share it here because it shows a couple of things: me in my natural state, no makeup, baseball hat. tomboy central. and me in my NEW natural habitat, the sewing LOFT which I have already trashed, and finally, there is a peek of my LibertyMelon quilt on the chair which I am in the process of whipstiching the binding onto (oops, ended my sentence in a weird preposition).







OK, so more pictures of the loft:




Here is my nephew holding the apron for me:
See the picture of the little girl in yellow? Me at age 4 in a smashing pantsuit, baby.




Happy Thanksgiving!!


by the way, and thanks for asking, Thanksgiving was fun - I managed to piss off my mom and mother-in-law both! M-I-L within 15 minutes of my arrival, wow, a new record! I love family. She did have a great line, though, told me I was "too sarcastic for my own good." Ouch baby, very ouch. Very true, but very ouch. Oh well, ON to the next batch of relatives, with Thanksgiving Part Deux tomorrow at my bro-in-law's. Wish me luck on not causing a ruckus with my OTHER mother-in-law, yes folks I get 2 - yipes.







BONUS: Movie review. Atonement. Amazing, tear jerker ending, excellent story, excellent cinematography, wish I had seen it in the theater. Definitely you must see it if you have not already, then we'll chat.



And, Transporter 3. Laughably bad story, terrible acting on the part of the "hot babe" but worth it to see Jason Statham (picture here from the first Transporter movie) without a shirt and kicking the stuffin out of bad guys. (glad I got to see his abs on the big screen. delish.) I really wanted him to do the same (kick the stuffin out of, that is) to his co-star though. That actress is annoying! ack.
So, I am holding my breath for the Brazilian Job.
Here is a bonus picture of Jason asking me what I want for breakfast. Oh wait, no, this is from the movie Crank. I get confused. I'll have a croissant and black coffee, though, in case he's listening.


oh, and pass the sarcasm, I seem to be running low.

Crisp Fall Weather

I love this time of year! I want to put on a sweater, sip some cider, crunch through leaves and leaf through all of these shopping catalogs that are piled so high that they are doubling as furniture in my house!

Fall / Autumn whatever you wanna call it, I love it. I just wish that here in sunny CA there was more of a distinct break between our last 90 degree day and Christmas. I can usually squeeze in only a few sweater-wearin', cider-chugging days before I am eyeballs deep in ribbons and bows. Plus we have numerous birthdays in our family between October 10 and December 24 so we are constantly on the go, parties, celebrating, eating cake. . . oh gee, why do I love the Fall??


speaking of Christmas, I am going to make some really cool bath scrubs and fizzies for gifts this year. I bought the ingredients at soapgoods.com and can't wait to get started.

I am going to my weekly sewing drop in tonight to work on an apron for the apronista swap. I am doing a cool black on white scrolly fabric with an intricate applique.

My quilt studio is finally set up in the loft, all I need now is to address the lighting situation, so hopefully I can get that done before Christmas. I have plenty of daylight, and some general illumination at night, but I want to do some snaky track lighting to really brighten the area. Seeing is quite important when quilting, no?

Even without optimal lighting conditions, I sketched out some ideas for quilts and projects last night, and I am really excited to get some of them off the ground. 2009 projects, though, because I have enough going on to get me through the last 41 days of 2008. Yikes. best get to gettin!



except, ps: Can I brag? Someone at my gym seriously thought I was 25 years old today! Not bad for 41, eh?

Bits of Randomness

My last post was over a month ago! Yikes. Work has been seriously very busy, not my usual very busy, plus school is in session again for my High Schooler. Well, I will try to collect some thoughts I have had over that last month:

FIRST THINGS FIRST: THANK YOU TO MAR for my AMAZINGLY lovely pif gift! I am going to add a picture in the morning when the light is better to take a snap of the gorgeous Mary Engelbreit embroidered tea towels and the sweet zip pouch made with ME fabrics!! I swooned when I got them. xoxo



It's weird when your child is an adult and living on his own. My son is adjusting better than I. My husband and I were supposed to go over for dinner tonight, cooked by son and roommates, but then we got the call: "uh, yeah, dinner's not gonna happen. We were planting a shrubbery and hit the water line, so, yeah, uh, we don't have running water and we're kinda too stressed too cook" FUNNY, right?! except we own the house in question. . . [gotta love the monty python reference he made to shrubbery though] OK, so, deep breath, the kids shut off the water, had the neighbor guy help them, and are fixing it themselves, so yay! the boy is growing up. . . maybe. I didn't have the guts to go see it yet.





My melon quilt is at the quilter's! whoo hoo! It's all done, and my brother-in-law helped me find the perfect harlequin design deep peach and orange backing fabric at my super local qs, Main Street Quilts. guess what, chickens, I forgot to take a picture. lame. While I was there, I also dropped off Hella Pink to be quilted, which I blogged about a long time ago . . .





While putting away the melon quilt fabric, I made another small quilt out of the leftovers, and it turned out pretty swell, so say I. Yah, no picture, but that one is still here so there is hope.





I found the perfect purse! I have been looking for a nice sized, i.e, big enough to hold day planner, makeup bag, ipod, lunch, cell phone, crazy huge George Costanza wallet. I wanted it to be leather, a really durable purse (cuz I treat my purses just a bit nicer than Pete Townsend treated his guitars) and I found it! I love the size, love the color. But that's weird, cuz I used to h8 orange. Now I decided I lurve it. And in my world, it's a neutral because I am sick of changing purses. harrumph.





Um, and my other big find is my NEW (to me) CAR!! I got a 2007 BMW 335i coupe. It is so dang cute! It's silvery gray, very sporty and fast. I bought it from a private party - a dentist - who is a car fanatic, so it's very well cared for. Isn't it weird though, going to buy a car from someone? You have that, "I hope this isn't a scam or a criminal lair I am being drawn into" feeling, so of course, you bring your girlfriend with you, like the two of you could fight off a gang of crazed chop shop meth fiends. Then you get there and you realize the seller is thinking, "I hope this isn't a scam or a lure that leads to my story being featured on American Justice." But of course, it was all legit and civilized, so now I have a new-to-me car.

My eight year old nephew, Hurricane Morgan, is returning for a visit on Friday. He will be staying for a week, so I plan on being exhausted the following weekend. He told his Mom that he hoped that he got to cook with Uncle while he is here. Isn't that so cute? Every time he visits, my husband gets him involved in cooking for the family. We also sew gifts for his Mom.

We are rearranging the house. Swapping the quilt room, which is currently in the downstairs bedroom that is off of the family room, with the upstairs loft library. I am excited because the loft is a bigger, open space with room for friends to come over and play. Yippee. BUT I am also weary of the ginormous effort this is going to require. Thank goodness my boys are big and strong! I am excited to re-organize and clear out some clutter. I think I am going to get a book on quilt room set up to help with the layout. Any designers or organizers that want to come set up my new space for me?? [cricket sounds]

I have a magazine recommendation to all of my legions of fans: Clean Eating has menus, meal plans and shopping lists for really tasty and healthy food. I have been cooking on Sundays all of my lunches for the week with recipes from this magazine. The website is good, too.

So, here I am, a virtual Girl Scout-knock off, knocking on your virtual door: I am on the fundraising committee for Grad Night at my son's High School and we are having a Longaberger sale to raise funds for the cause. If anyone is interested, you can visit this website, and 25% of anything ordered goes to safe and sane Grad Night. And I promise I will buy your kid's girl scout cookies if you do!

OK, survey: Monday Night Football is over and I have two options: clean the kitchen, or sit in my quilt room and ponder the quilty makeover . . . yah, noo need to survey or take a vote, pondering wins.
ciao.