PLUM STREET SAMPLERS

Love All Around

Last week was the Valentine's party at Soph's school, and since I was being a crazy-woman trying to get ready for market, Mike decided to attend in my stead to take photos. Kids always love Mike, as he's not afraid to act just like them. :) When I try to get photos of kids having fun, they get annoyed with me happily chirping, "Hey! Let's get a picture! Come on, you guys!" But when Mike wants a picture, they all love it bc he's already made himself one of them by being loud and boisterous and sugar-hyped.

And bc instead of saying "cheeeeeeese," he makes them shout, "Hook 'em Horns!"

 

I don't think Mike noticed the kid in the back doing the "thumbs-down" sign. I imagine things would have gotten ugly and the kids may have heard Sophie's dad say to him quietly, "Meet me on the playground at 3:30. You are going down, dude." Mike's a kid that way too.

Here is Sophie with one of her BFF's... Soph's friend is one of the tallest in her class, so she bent down to accomodate her little friend. Sophie loves her for that.

 

Here is Soph, on the way to school a few days before, with her Valentine box. There was a box-decorating contest going on, and the judging took place during the party...

 

She and I worked very hard on her box, and Sophie was so excited to show Breanna her very first tag creation! She got to use the shimmer spray she'd been dying to get her hands on, and even stamped out the "LOVE BIRD" all by herself. Great job, Sophie!

 

And guess what! There were different categories in the contest, and Sophie's won the prize for "The Prettiest Box." Congratulations, Sophie! 

And thank you to Mike for making the Valentine's party extra special. Love you! :)

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Speaking of love... before I go, you have to check out the French General fabrics I ordered from Kim. They're the new wovens from the Rural Jardin line...

 

Aren't they scrumptious?

 

I can't wait for the prints!! Thank you, Kim!

Threadheads!

The next time Kim at Threadheads Unite! tells you she's got bundles for sale from Moda or French General or whatever, run - don't walk - over to her site and get your order in before she runs out! She's exceptionally good at getting your order to you lickety-split, and with extremely good prices.

Look what I managed to snag before they were sold out:

 

It's the new line of prints by French General! Gorgeous!!

 

I also got a quilted tote bag, and my husband asked, "Did you get a new Vera?" It certainly does look like a Vera Bradley bag, but nope, it's not. I don't have a photo of the tote bc it came out blurry, but I do have a picture of a new dish that Kim sent to me (she knows how much I love red toile!), and the dish is on top of the tote bag. :)

 

Isn't it lovely? What a sweet, thoughtful thing to send! When I excitedly showed it to Mike, he looked at it blankly and said, "It looks like a kidney." I politely informed him that yes, it is called a kidney dish by some. But I just call it a dish. He then said, " You could let my mom put her teeth in it." 

I will never again show him anything fun that I receive.

Besides, that dish it too shallow for Polident. It would, however, hold a freshly-harvested husband kidney. He'd better learn to sleep with his eyes open.

Thank you, Kim - for the lovely dish, the fabulous new fabrics, and your excellent customer service! :)

Threadheads Giveaway!

I just wanted to let you all know that there's one day left to enter the giveaway my dear friend Kim, from Threadheads Unite! is having! Oh gosh, that French General stuff is to DIE for - and take a look at the kits she'll be getting soon! I'm already in line for some new fabrics from her... I can say very objectively that even if Kim wasn't a personal friend, Threadheads has superior customer service and extremely prompt shipping. You won't be disappointed! 

Btw, I'd sure love that tape measure. Maybe it will improve my French, oui?

Frenchip

I am in love with the French. It seems like everything that comes across my computer screen that is French leaves me either inspired or hopelessly giddy  - whether it be a French stitcher's use of beautiful red fibers in their embroidery, the photos they post of  fruit stands brimming with brightly-colored fruits and vegetables, the friendly comments and emails I receive that I have to translate bc my 3 years of high school French didn't exactly stick... or my new obsession: a particular line of accessories that is nothing short of gorgeous...

I got some of these lovelies from my friend Kim, from Threadheads Unite! a few days ago. I've got the fabric to go with them on order from her - fat quarter bundles!!!! Woot! Woot! - and I'm extremely excited about it, bc is there anything better than a brand new fat quarter bundle? (New linen doesn't count, but it's a close one.)

The pincushion is filled with fine sand, which makes it nice and heavy. The sewing roll (shown opened) is wonderful, and comes with what you see here.. as well as a packet of red cotton floss and a chart to embroider one's initials on it. (The pincushion also comes with the same packet.)  Btw, the jelly roll in the photo is from Moda's Heritage line of fabrics, which I also got from Kim.

Needless to say, it was a good mail day, as well as a good French day. I'm thinking of making it a goal to add a little French to my life each day (LOL), so maybe today I'll watch Chocolat while stitching on a model, or perhaps I'll cook something else from my My French Kitchen cookbook. :)

Enjoy your day!

Dutch Beast

Okay, I am seriously burned. out. It's amazing how I can look at a chart page and think, "Oh I can easily have that done in a month. One page per month, and she'll be done in no time!" I'm sure I'll be chanting that very thing - over and over again -  when they buckle up my straight jacket and put me in a padded cell.

I'm supposed to begin page K this month on Dutch Beauty, but after nearly jabbing my eyes out with my thumbs, throwing the sampler to the ground in a crumpled mess and stomping on it with the muddiest garden boots I could find, using it to pick up dog poop in the back yard so my hands wouldn't get dirty, and blowing my nose on it, I decided to fold it neatly away until I could gather my wits about me and continue on. 

Here it is in all its madness, resting on the back of my love seat. Notice it takes up almost the entire length of the love seat. I now call it my hate seat.

I still feel like that spinning monkey will throw doo-doo on me at any moment. I'm also starting to hear voices. 

Enough of this. On to happier things.

My mother  gave me the SWEETEST GIFT yesterday!!! (cough-finally-cough)  Look at the table topper she made for me!!

I've got it on my coffee table, and I absolutely LOVE it!!!

Thank you so much, Mom!! I love love love you!!!

It's National Quilting Day!

Why, I had no idea! Not until I read about it over on Kim's blog, that is.  Go take a look! She's having another of her fantastic giveaways!!

And look what Dora did with the Hares' Easter freebie from yesterday:

I love how she changed the colors - and I love those floss tags! (She stitched "Spring" on the back of it.) Thank you for sharing your finish with me, Dora! :)

Happy Quilting - or floss tagging, whichever strikes your fancy. :)

Pieceful Thursday

Since Margaret  and I have a "Ruthie Sunday" going (the day we've chosen to work on our Ruth Bacheler SAL), my friend Kim and my mom  and I have decided that we'll have a "Pieceful Thursday," which would be a special day for our quilt piecing - although Kim and Mom get quite a bit more piecing done than I do, as you can clearly see by their blogs. (Yes, I do need to assign myself "days" to do things, or nothing will get done!) 

Unfortunately, my Pieceful Thursday didn't exactly go as planned, as I had many things pressing on me that needed to get done. However, I have to show you what arrived in the mail from Kim! Oh, bless my soul, she sent me the new Beach House fat quarters -AND the cool tin lunchbox (as I call it) from Blackbird Designs!! 

Here are the Beach House fat quarters, all spread out:

Thank you, Kim!!! If any of you need to enhance your quilting fabric stash, Kim's place over on ebay (kwiltykim) is the place to go. I would say I have no affiliation, but she's my dear friend! :)

Although Pieceful Thursday didn't pan out this week, Sunday Ruthie did. Margaret has been kind enough to keep her mad stitching skills in check while I caught up to her this past weekend. As you can see, I finished the left border of Irish stitches:

I'm very excited to begin the alphabet at the top this coming Sunday. Almost there, Margaret! :)

I took Margaret's advice while working on the border and listened to an audiobook, which really made the stitching go faster. My sister gave me this one by Jan Karon for Christmas one year, and I'm really enjoying it!

This week also marked the last stitches put into a new design I'll be releasing soon (the one I previewed a couple of weeks ago), called Bird in the Bower. I've got to get the frame ordered from Valley House Primitives today, and it should be ready some time in March, along with a couple other things I'm working on. 

Btw, another great way to pass the time while you're stitching is to watch dvd's.. I have to glance up many times while I'm stitching, but I do manage to get a few x's put in the fabric. While working on my model, I watched these:

I loved all three! Is Keira Knightley not the most fabulous actress ever?? I love her! And oh my, I love Paul Giamatti in anything. He makes an acceptional John Adams, and I highly recommend this series by HBO if you haven't seen it. 

Off to meet a girlfriend at Starbucks, so I'd better scoot. I hope you all are enjoying the weather where you're at... we had 60's a day or so ago, and today it's a tad nippy out there at 14. I think the robins showed up too soon, bc they were all huddled on the ground this morning, feathers fluffed as full as they could get them!

Barista, here I come!

Embarrassing

My mother (over at Littlebit) recently posted an accomplishment of hers regarding her new Bernina Quilter's Edition sewing machine and a pillow top she quilted. Here is the evidence:

She also mentioned that this particular pillow top was SUPPOSED to be a TABLE runner for "someone whose name she would rather not mention." But we all know that it was supposed to be for ME, her ELDEST DAUGHTER. Hmph. 

Tsk, tsk. Can you see the meandering quilting pattern on the top of all the perfectly-pieced triangles? Ugh. It's really sad that my own mother would flaunt her workmanship this way.

 That's what I like to call vanity, and the Bible clearly teaches that vanity is a sin. Mom, you know that this quilted pillow should really be at my house, where it was originally intended. 

Thou shalt not steal, and I won't say Who said that, but I think you know. Now GIMME THAT PILLOW!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND - I'LL DIE WITHOUT IT!!! Thou shalt not murder!!!!!!!

(For those of you who may be reading this and thinking I'm pitching a big fit and mistreating my mother, please know that I love her more than anything... and to my one and only sister: if Mom gives me that pillow, I'll split it with you, maybe.)

For the Love of Beans

Remember my Bistro charm squares? Here they are, all sewn together for my table-topper:

 

Ahhh... they make my heart buzz.  But wait! What's this I see.......???

 

Why, it appears the Bean Fairy has paid me a much-deserved visit! 

 

 

Now that's something to be thankful for. If the pilgrims had been blessed with this stuff, no turkey would have ever been able to outrun them.

That was such a stupid statement, I should probably lay off the coffee for tonight.

Quilting Demon

Yesterday I decided to stay true to my word and actually SEW TOGETHER the crazy-colored squares I purchased in my Pumpkins Gone Wild charm pack (see previous post). But before breaking out my long-forgotten sewing machine, I recruited my Resident Organizer, Sophie, to clear out my fabric-and-stuff cabinet and get my sewing box(es) in tip-top shape.

 

Oops, I forgot to tell her that there are needles stuck in just about everything (which is why I got her to do it).

 

When she was FINALLY FINISHED (hellllooooo, I'm waiting to QUILT!!!), I revved up the machine:

 

Oh heavens, I clearly forgot to clean the poor thing first (click on image to enlarge):

And voila!! 

 

 

When Hobby Lobby opens tomorrow, I'm going to get some black pom fringe to sew around the edges. Won't that look terribly cute? I can't wait!! I remember back when I used to think that black pom fringe was the most hideous thing in the universe, but now that I'm starting to embrace my inner gaudy-girl, I'm loving the stuff!

Btw, as a favor to Sophie for cleaning out my sewing box and fabric-and-stuff cabinet, I promised her I'd show you all a preview of her Halloween costume, which she's verrry excited about:

 

Can you guess what she will be? :)

Next project: Bistro or bust!