Kitty Zombie in the Night Garden

That sounds ominous doesn't it gals? But it was not as scary as I thought. Using a new template that I bought from Sarah, I decided this morning to give it a whirl with fabric scraps I had going on my table.

Having started the Granny Square blocks for the quilt a long fun, a couple weeks ago I cut a bunch of my cherished Pam Kitty Morning into 2 1/2 inch strips. They were all cutified in a basket on the cutting table and then my scrap basket produced the pieces of Holiday Happy and the nice Joelle Haverson solid that I would never throw away. Ever! If only I can produce this little sweetness. The Night Garden templates are simple and the instructions in Little Things are really good because I haven't ever sewn one of these dreaded Y seams before and it kinda turned out ok! I tell you that these fabrics are just the cheerleaders of sewing! It was a good 90 minutes of play and sew on a chilly but clear Saturday morning. Gonna share my fun and then get to my Day Time Garden chores. Have a great weekend! xo

Bobcat Sewing

Yes gals, it has been quite a wonderful week of sewing here at Bodega Bay for our annual sewing week. The weather has been just beautiful and we have had an exciting visit each day from our new sewing mascot, "Bobby". Can you believe it! He has shown up each day around 2 pm. I caught him checking out our sewing marathon.

Plus I have made some great progress on new and some ufo projects.

This is our work space. It didn't exactly look like this on the last day!

My She Project was just in pieces on Monday and now they are all completed and ready to be given to my Sew Sisters in a couple weeks at our sew weekend at Morningstar. We each made 15 girls that represent us. I can't wait to get them all!

My appliqué japanese daiwabo and other sweet special fabrics are represented in this little quilt.

My Granny Squares are coming along nicely. Can you see a special name in the middle? Hee.

I will have more to show when we get home. Tomorrow we take our time getting home going to Petaluma to the Quilted Angel. Hope you all had a good week. This has been a blast!

Pink Lemonade QAL

Thanks again to Lori for hosting this fun quiltalong and getting my sewing brain back in training! I know that having a project to complete was just the thing I needed. Here Miso Pretty inspects the yellow for the contrasting blocks. I think she agrees it's just right.

My corners are two shades of pink.

This "Charleston" fabric with the wonderful green and pink shapes will be my backing.

I am going to quilt heart shapes in the yellow blocks to represent the shortbread cookies

I would love to eat with a beautiful glass of Pink Lemonade.

Come on over, I am sure they'll be plenty to go around. Have a great week gals!

Say Thanks with a Pillow

I've been back at work and the new semester starts Monday.I have been keeping up with my Humble Quilts Lemonade Quilt blocks and plan to sew it all together this weekend! I also whipped up a birthday quilt for my daughter that was sent off to the quilter's yesterday. So, I have been productive and it feels great!

16,000 students will descend on our little town this weekend and make their way to the library for help and study so, to keep ourselves up to the challenge at work, we decided we needed a new coffee maker. The new fangled kind with the pods. We googled, we asked, we read reviews. And then someone upstairs said, "I don't use mine, take it!" Wow. Free. And with lots of little pods to go with. So to thank her, I whipped up a coffee / library book themed pillow last night. However, the Rare Books behind my modest pillow are not included with the thank you!

Sometimes the spontaneous project is the most fun. Done in a little over an hour, and delivered this morning! Have a good weekend friends, and stay warm!

Things are New Again

I am looking forward to this New Year. I know it's already 5 days old but it feels good. I am going to start by doing a sewalong called "Pink Lemonade" with Lori of Humble Quilts. I have a decent stash of reproduction fabrics that are wanting to come out to play. Thanks Lori for getting the New Year sewing started off right!

I also want to do the Building Houses from Scraps sewalong here.


Can you imagine how adorable 365 houses will be? If not in one quilt then scattered everywhere. Friends, be on the lookout for them appearing on your doorsteps when they start stacking up! Thanks to Jenneke for doing this international sewalong! She is in the Netherlands and it's truly amazing how many people have signed up to sew. Blog land is a wonderful place.

I've done a bit of clean up in my yard and planted some pansies and snapdragons in anticipation of Spring. Chico is always wonderful in the Spring. It's where I have lived for 38 years. I never get tired of spring flowers!
Hope the first week of your New Year is going well and you are happy. That is what matters!

What Debbie Made!

These 3 gifts are so adorable I had to share them with you gals. Thank you Debbie! We are hoping to get back to sewing and jewelry making in the New Year. A resolution to sew more is always a good thing! a velvet pear with a silver spoon stem and button embellishments
A Christmas Owl Mug Rug


and a fussy cut Santa baglet!

Many Happy Gatherings

I really wanted to get some sewing done when we got home from Kauai. I truly had visions of sewing the last few seams of so many quilt tops that have been waiting for me. They are patiently going to have to wait until next year. I swore (I did!) that I wasn't going to hit the ground running when we got back from our vacation. I was going to go with the flow. Ha ha ha.

We Bush gals and little Deakin managed a real photo session with Park Avenue Photography in Paradise.

Then there was the cookie party. We started this tradition when Carmen and Eva were 5 I believe. They are now 22. Of course I wasn't going to miss this annual event.


Then a few days later, John and Vicki came to town from Seattle and some of us old college friends gathered to catch up. We even had a few grown children that humored us.

The Chelsea Womens' Book Club Dinner was the next night. By golly, I rested up and even managed to get there on time, with my reading and my dessert.

It went by in a blur.

(What is that blur in the photo?? Hmmm.)

We usually share a reading and this year we all shared memories of our childhood.
Mary Ann had prayed so hard for a Queen Elizabeth doll when she was young. A raffle at her school was being held to win her. She sold lots of tickets.
She prayed the Rosary many times a day. And on the day the winner was announced it was some guy named James Anderson. Turns out, James Anderson was her "Uncle Jimmy" and the coveted doll was under the tree Christmas morning! (Dear me that doll is in need of a doll hospital stat!)

We had a great Christmas morning here on Meadow Road. Deakin got right in the spirit!

Lulu brought the new baby, Charles Franklin aka Franky.

Carmen brought Homie her beautiful Maine Coon. He was so happy to rustle through the wrapping paper.

We've only got a few days until the New Year. Time to rest, regroup and get ready for another year. I am looking forward to it!

Hawaiian Quilt Shop!

Back on the mainland and boy it is chilly up here in Chico! I wanted to share some photos of Kapaia Stitchery in Lihue Kauai.

We had quite a few days of beach time and hikes and gardens and finally it was time to get grounded in the land of beauty with some quilting folks.

It's a really friendly place and has a wonderful selection of those wonderful hawaiian bark cloth heavy fabrics and batiks. And especially nice is the selection of precut Hawaiian applique motifs all ready for your needle turning pleasure.

They have a wonderful selection of needlepoint and fun gift items that are made locally. I loved the tea towels. I may have come home with "several".

Wish I had this beauty on my wall for Christmas!

We had a wonderful trip and this week is filled with get togethers and eating and twinkle lights! Hope your week is merry and bright! Aloha!

Aloha from the Garden Isle!

Just wanted to say aloha from Kauai to you gals! It is just beautiful here and we have had lots of rest and adventure...in that order! Here's what we saw yesterday and an ocean full of whales and dolphins. Super Wonderful! Today to the Rain Forest and the Gardens. Aloha!