The Frosting on the Cake

So ... I'm older ... but just by a year. Saturday was the official jumping off point, but let's just say it was a week of celebration and smiley faces. On Monday, several friends got together to inagurate the occasion. A lunch at Wildflower Bread Company full of fun, food and festive cards and gifts. The lovely piece of cake, pictured above was part of the surprise, but just in case you are tempted to taste it (and I was ... and I did) it now masquerades as a handy-dandy pin cushion, thanks to my friend and a boffo pattern by this gal.

The Gees had been with us only a week before, but they retraced their 6 hour steps to be with me for the big day. They also came to go to the D-Backs/Angels game and rubbed it in only slightly when their beloved Angels creamed/humiliated our beloved D-Backs.

Oh, who cares!? (Sorry, PDaddy ... I know you care and I do too.) We had 3 days full of this begoggled little guy who scares the bejeebers out of us because he thinks he can swim anywhere.

So ... there you have it. I'm older. I'm okay with it. I still have more blessings than candles.

HAH.

Note to Self:

So ... the quilt (top)s are done. Except for the sandwiching, quilting and binding, but seriously ... after all this time ... who is even counting. I am very pleased with both of them and I really had fun making them.

But ...

I would not recommend doing two quilts at the same time. Just one quilt at a time.

One.

If you beg to differ with me ... please don't beg ... just state your case.

And tell me which one is your favorite.

Sunny & Bright

So ... what to do in the summertime when the heat starts to fry your brain??

Let's start with a fun, fun summertime read. Gravity vs. the Girl by Riley Noehren is a fabulous (funny and touching) pick and not just because that pink cover is enough fun all by itself. If you have read this, or when you do ... let me know.

Next on the agenda: plant a summer garden, keeping in mind that there is more than one way to acquire a green thumb. Here we have the June block from Miss Sunshine herself ... Anne at Bunny Hill. For free. Yowza.

Last but not least, you could jump in a body of water like a pool or the ocean or a lake. Please take no offense at my suggestion to go jump in a lake ... I mean that in the kindest way, really I do. If no larger body of water is accessible at the moment, simply create some puddles with a water fight. L'il Gee thought that was the best alternative of all during his Father's Day visit.

I have found I am quite adept at creating some puddles by sweating a lot. Wow ... I am just full of practical summer fun suggestions.

Do tell. What are some of your sunny ideas?

Separated at Birth

So ... I bought a new tablecloth a couple of days ago. I have a round table in my kitchen and ... it requires a 70" round cloth and those are not always easy to come by, so ... I snatched it up at my TJMaxx because ... it was the very stunning blue that I love so much. In fact, you could honestly say that I was in love with it the minute I laid eyes on it.

Ummm, it turns out there was a very good reason for that.

It turns out that this was not the first time I had purchased this very same fabric.

It turns out that the pillow I purchased some time ago for my bed was sporting the same lovely blue in the same lovely paisley pattern.

Naturally I felt it my duty to bring them together in the same room ... or on opposite ends of the same space. It was that or cut up the tablecloth to make other throw pillows for the bed and this was clearly the easier choice.

So there you have it: Rationalization, Laziness and Memory Loss. A trifecta of weakness in one swift decorating move.

Just please tell me you have done the same thing ... sometime??

une petite excuse

So ... here's the deal. I am still working on the 2 "Hot Cross" quilts. Deal with it. I spent a week in the Big Apple and a week with The Cold from Heck. Very, very little sewing got done during that time which means no sewing/fabric/colorful blogposts.

However ... I do have the following story and accompanying pics:

Over Memorial Day weekend, Sonny Boy & the Mrs. went to the City of Lights, aka Paris, France. They brought back souvenirs only for the family favorites Li'l Gee and Miss Dub. Those souvenirs were books and berets. Their gifts came with a set of instructions ... pictures must be taken of them reading the books, wearing the berets ... and ... sporting the obligatory parisian mustache. (If you hadn't figured it out by now ... we are not what you would call a normal family.)

It's pretty obvious why these two are the favorites and why no one else is offended. Please ... they are such an obvious choice ... non?

Oh, oui, oui.

Promises Kept

So ... I promised you I rose garden and I will not disappoint! These were taken at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens last Saturday morning. I am just so grateful that last Saturday morning, I could stop and smell the roses. This Saturday morning my head is on the brink of total explosion, and smelling roses ... or anything else for that matter ... is quite out of the question. So today I will just enjoy the sweet memories.

And pray that my head will eventually clear and/or explode.

So ... in uncharacteristic fashion ... I offer you a picture of ... moi ... as proof that our lovely trip was not just a lovely dream. Try to focus on the Empire State Building.

Here we are at the NBC studios. I actually peeked into the famous "window" but alas, Matt and Meredith had long since left.

This picture is of a cemetery that lies directly across from Ground Zero. The headstones have dates from the 18th & 19th centuries. So ... not only did it withstand the wear of over 200 years, but it withstood the blasts and the fallout from the buildings. The church ... St. Paul's Chapel ... served as a place of refuge for the firefighters and other volunteers. We were very, very touched to be there.

This is a picture of my baby boy, Sonny Boy. When he was even smaller (before he exceeded 6 feet) he loved, loved, loved dinosaurs. It was quite a thrill to see him enjoy this exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Right after this, I asked him if he would like me to send him his dinosaur sheets ... which I still have in my possession. He politely told me it was all right to keep them at my house. Isn't he sweet?

Sonny Boy and the Mrs. live in Brooklyn so we spent some time there. Yep, we ate hot dogs at Nathans on Coney Island. Probably the most delicious hot dog I have ever consumed. The ambience was superb.

Now this ... this ... was a highlight for sure. We were priviledged to land some 12th row seats at the Gershwin Theatre to see Wicked. I am not entirely certain that I breathed more than once or twice during the entire show. Fab. U. Lous.

But I honestly have to say that this picture depicts what was most awe-inspiring to me about the Big City. The Big-ness. The Crowded-ness. The Thrilling Feelings that those inspire.

Tomorrow (or next time ... I brought home a wicked cold as a souvenir and must be cut some slack) I will bring you some flowers. I will promise you a Rose Garden.

Till then ...

A really big bite from a really big apple

So ... here's a trick question for you: Is the ever-so-lovely picture above ... (a) our home, now that the summer folliage is in bloom, (b) a cottage where small creatures speak in squeaky voices and clean stuff without being asked or (c) Tavern on the Green in Central Park? The answer of course is (c), although we didn't go inside so (b) may still be an option.

Yep, we spent the last 6 days in the Big City. Wow ... is it BIG! What a thrill to see so many things I had read about (and seen on Law & Order) for so many years. (This was my first trip, PDaddy hadn't been there in 30 years.) I am black and blue from the constant pinching. The picture above was taken at the "Top of the Rock" at Rockefeller Center.

This picture of Radio City Music Hall ... not far from our hotel ... was the scene of the Tony Awards just two days later.

This picture is of our lovely and oh-so-serious tour guides, Sonny and Mrs. Boy. It was taken after a most delicious dinner at Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown ... home of the soup dumplings that are so delicious you want to cry.

And just in case you are wondering ... there are blog posts up the ying-yang with just some of the hundreds of pictures we took. Did I mention that we also walked miles and miles and ... miles?

Excuse me while I put my feet up and bask in the memories.

June's Official Ambassador

So ... June has busted out all over and I'm just tickled pink. A whole summer ahead to absorb some vitamin D, fry some eggs on the sidewalk and take a few side trips. Which shall it be first? A little sand between our toes?

A little wind in our sails?

Or this one. And just what could this one be?

Do tell.

Welcome to June. What are your June destinations?

Permission to Fly

So ... basically, I've got nothin', so I'm resorting to some thoughts I had a couple of months ago. The fact that I can retrieve those thoughts is nothing short of a miracle. Sometime in April, when my June issue of American Patchwork & Quilting arrived, I was so taken by this first page, I didn't delve into the rest for several minutes. (Another miracle, btw.) This was the very credo that caused me to form the Patchwork Pilot Club, now thriving at this store on the 4th Wednesday of every month.

I have used a combination of my own patterns and those of others as the basis for our projects. During the months of March and April, we worked on Bluebirds of Gratitude, my pattern that grew out of the birds that I hand appliqued in Seattle last summer. You can see that pattern here.

Everyone is still in varying stages of piecing/applique/borders, but I had to show off Sharon's because she was the first to finish her quilt top. I was wowed by her choice of batiks and I am not kidding, I got a little teary when I first saw it. All the others continue to add their own touches such as Michelle's blacks and pinks, Margot's rich florals and Sue's machine-digitized birds in an altered layout. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that their quilts don't look just like mine does on the pattern.

So ... my plan worked.

How about you? How much do you/do you not like to switch things up in a pattern? As you can see ... you now officially have permission to do so.

The Pokey little Piecer

So ... remember three eons ago when I had the bright idea to do two, two, two quilts in one? Remember how I found it to be energizing and refreshing? Remember how I am the slowest sewer on this planet and a few others in the galaxy?

Yeah ... I was seriously reminded of that this week. Oh, I still had a splendid time picking the fabrics and watching them "grow" on the wall. I fell deeply in love with these Patasserie babies and surprised myself every time I picked yet another neutral out of my stash that I didn't remember owning. But it seemed to take For Ev Er to finish these two. And keep in mind that they are far from finished.

I have a serious question. (Really ... I'm am serious this time ... seriously.) Should it have taken me one kajillion hours to sew these 50 simple blocks? And by "one kajillion hours" I mean 3 or 4 hours a day for more than a week. How long do you think it would have taken you?

I must admit that a bit of time was taken up in the decision to add the "odd block" to my study in neutrals. I actually decided that this is one quilt that will hang in my kitchen and I wanted it to pick up just a hint of the dark blue in my kitchen curtains. I may or may not use that same fabric as the resting strip. That 3-hour decision is yet to be made.

So spill people, I mean it. If you are a speedy-and-still-relatively-accurate sewer, I want to know how and why. If you are pokey like me, tell me how you have learned to live with that.

Pronto.

Phase - ology

So ... I'm still baking bread. Seriously. It wasn't just a phase. I have made multiple loaves with varying degrees of ground wheat in them, plus one dessert and one batch of hamburger buns. All right ... so the hamburger buns didn't exactly turn out, but that was basically a shaping issue. It was hard to judge the shape of the buns before they rose and so I basically made pita bread. I'm over it.

When I was young ... so many, many years ago ... my mother would often refer to any passing interest of mine as a "phase". For some reason that would hurt my feelings, as if she didn't trust me to stick with something for very long. Like my interest in sewing my own clothes in the seventh grade. And Roger B*.

As an adult, I have had my share of phases. Like macrame. And Shabby Chic. And eating only healthy foods.

I knew that quilting was going to be a major part of my life when I was still at it a year after I first started. Twenty years later I have definitely decided it is not a phase. And I have those same vibes about this bread making thing.

How about you? Dish it up on some of the "phases" in your life. I promise not to laugh ... and (if she were here) neither would my mother.