I Heart Mark Lipinski

I love Mark Lipinski...

the big news is that Mark told us Thursday on his blog Pickle Road that he is officially done with the Quilter's Home Magazine and the QNN and Quilter's Home bunch. Woah. Celebrity Quilting TMZ where are you??? Who knows what happened, but he tells us that he is planning better things...gotta love a guy who calls ya cupcake!
There was a great article about him published last year at NJ.com. It says it all. xoxoxo to you Mark!

Fun in San Francisco

The Happy Couple 23 years later!

I always love going to SF. Especially when it's our anniversary! Here's my bouquet from the sweetest husband ever, purchased at my favorite corner flower cart where the flower man Arthur wraps up beautiful dahlias for me. He even pinned a gardenia to my shirt. Lovely man.


Have you seen these little resting pigs? They are a symbol of Happiness and are super adorable. I want one...I want five really. They are big bucks. Expensive Happiness.

Also in Chinatown, a cute hole in the wall..The Sweetheart Cafe. No, we didn't eat here. We ate here.

This wonderful display at Anthropologie made me smile. Cotton in Bottles. Who knew?

and lookie here...Kaffe Fasset at Crate and Barrel...nice!

And last but not least The Urban Safari Truck. I can say no more but what next SF? The Urban Artic?

It was Build a Kite Day at Crissy Field...such an amazing sky filled with color!

This one was just awesome...skin divers with a shark following them!And then on home to Chico until next time.

More Sunscreen Please with a Side of Sombrero

This is not quilting news, but please take a second to read. All summer long I had a tiny place on my nose that just wouldn't heal. My goodness, isn't that one of those SIGNS of the badness? Today I had a procedure that left a quarter sized gouge on the top of my nose. They found very bad little cancer cells all the way to the muscle gals. Really. I hope you have a large brimmed hat and have yourselves checked out every year. If you would like to hear what the Skin Cancer Foundation has to say please go here. The carefree days at the beach when we were young had alot to do with my predicament. Baby oil mixed with the yummy smell of Coppertone was not exactly 45 spf.


For sure my modeling career is over with this newly carved beauty spot, but the good news is I will live to quilt another day!

Celebrations and Stars

We are heading down to San Francisco for 3 days to celebrate two auspicious occasions! Our anniversary celebrated at the St.Francis

where we went all those years ago for our honeymoon and Mike's class reunion at Marin Catholic are the reason to celebrate and I say anytime you get to go to SF is just plain great anyway!

I made another star this week, much more traditional in fabric than the last one.

I have such crummy light to take photos in that I always end up outside on the cement. Look who's paw is trying to sneak in the photo...seconds later that vase almost went over. I caught it just in time. Silly Miso. Have a good weekend!

That one and more!

It's been a busy week! We are just about to remodel our kitchen/dining room and I have been scouring the town for tile, flooring etc. Good story on the "accent" tile to remind me to keep in the budget! I was at Tile City and the most gracious man alive was talking me through all the various stuff when I was following him to a display and stopped in my tracks. The most incredible, beautiful, unique and all my colors tile was right it front of me.

THAT ONE! He turned, came back, and then looked at me kinda funny. When I said, is it the most expensive tile in the store? Well yes he said. Exactly. Geez. Wouldn't you know it. An entire Tile City and I fell in love with The Jeffrey Court Canadian Glass Mosaic known as "Murano". Heavy sigh. We'll see. Maybe I could just wash dishes and buy tile instead of a dishwasher!!

Ah, Guess Who WON THE NEW JUKI Sewing Machine!!!

Carmen and Pam with the new JUKI

So tonight was the big Top Ten Quilt Sampler Party at Honey Run. The Grand Prize being a brand new Juki Sewing Machine. While we were all waiting for 8:45 to arrive, I said to the lady next to me, I had better eat a piece of cake for good luck and I got up and went and did just that. Chocolate to be exact.

Then the moment came and they pulled the green ticket and tadadadatada "Pam Bush".

No, way. Yes, way!!! Turns out the story even gets better!

When we were sewing on Monday, Debbie and I decided that we should pool our resources and bought $50.00 worth of tickets together. We wrote little extra initials on the tickets really small so we would know if the winning ticket was one of our double luck tickets.

So surprise when you are reading this Debbie! Looks like we have joint custody of this fabulous machine! And thank you to Carmen for being such a generous quilter. The party was really so nice--the food delicious, and the company truly wonderful!

Other great photos from tonight's party!

Lizzie and her Kaffe Hexagon Quilt soon to be a class at Honey Run!

Carmen Rolfe shows her Top Ten Quilt Shop!

Tom Rolfe, Carmen's husband brought his sprint car to the party! Notice the Honey Run Logo? Good luck this weekend in the World of Outlaws Races in Chico Tom!

56 Times Around the Sun

Yes I really did have a great birthday weekend! Family on Sunday and Friends on Monday! We had a sewing day in the new Honey Run classroom and I was showered with sweet cards, bottles of wine and look at what Debbie made for me. A purse with my Favorite Fabric and Debbie's signature Polka Dots. Notice a business card holder (that makes me feel so grown up!) and a checkbook cover too. Wow. I am so lucky! Keep track of her because I have a feeling she will soon be on Etsy!
Thanks again everybody for a way to start the new year in my world!

Friendly Table Stars

Since I am on a holiday theme, I thought I would tell you about my Friendly Table Stars. Every Christmastime, I make a few of these small quilts and give them to neighbors, friends at work, or someone on my list that I know would like a homemade gift.

It's an easy star to make and gives you a reason to buy all those fun holiday fabrics! Plus the finished star looks really great with a little holiday flower pot in the middle with those cute star points shooting out. The one above is made with Figgy Pudding by BasicGrey for Moda.


Over the years I have improved on the construction details. Sure, it's just a Sawtooth Star, but it's a friendly one! I started off making them with leftover half square triangles and scraps. My latest rendition uses the Jumbo Quilt in a Day Flying Geese Ruler to really speed up the whole process.

Be sure to clip at the seam intersections to make your geese lay flat and make the top smooth.

At first I just stitched in the ditch and called it good, but after I began feeling a bit more comfortable with free motion quilting, I dared to squiggle around and embellish with thread. Even fun shiny thread. Each time you make a new one, you'll be inspired to try something new.

If you start now, you most certainly will have a starry stack of happiness ready to delight those near and dear!

Friendly Table Star

An easy Sawtooth Star to make for any holiday! Using the Jumbo Quilt in a Day Flying Geese Ruler!
Do you need an easy gift to make for a neighbor, coworker or friend? This project goes together in a snap and can be dressed up as much as you like or as simply as stitched in the ditch.

Fabric Requirements for One 20 inch finished Friendly Table Star

Focus Fabric for Star Center, Star Points & Binding 5/8 yard
Background Fabric for Geese and Corners 1/2 yard
Backing Fabric 5/8 yard
Batting 22 x 22 inches

NOTE:
Before you begin cutting into your Focus Fabric for the Star Center & Point squares, cut 3 strips 2 1/2 inches wide from the Width of Fabric (WOF) for your binding. Now open the remainder of the Focus Fabric into a single layer for cutting the squares

Cut Star Center
from Focus Fabric a square 10 1/2 inches

Cut Corner Stones
from background fabric, four 5 1/2 inch squares

Using The Quilt in a Day Jumbo Ruler makes this project super easy. Follow the easy directions accompanying the ruler.
The following two squares will make all four of your Star Point Sides!
Cut one 13 inch square of the focus fabric
Cut one 11 1/2 inch square of the background fabric

Cut backing square 22 inches
Cut batting square 22 inches

Put it Together!
Once you have your cutting done and have made your Star Points (jumbo geese) then you are ready to sew!

Sew the top and bottom Star Points to the Star Center Square first.
Sew the corner stones to the Side Star Points and sew to the larger unit.
Clip the seams on the reverse at the corners so that your piece will lie flat.
Make your quilt sandwich with batting and backing and quilt as desired.

Stitching in the Ditch will give your Star definition.
Additional quilting will enhance your Focus Fabric.
Use a matching thread or use monofilament if you prefer.

Attach binding, a label and roll up with a festive ribbon and your Friendly Table Star is ready to go.