I've been WHAT?

Tagged!

The lovely Annie at SimpleArts tagged me last week. I was still on my Birthday/Retreat high so its taken me a while to actually post my tag.

So the rules for being tagged are that you mention the person who tagged you, talk about seven things not necessarily known about yourself, list seven other bloggers you enjoy reading and tag them to join in the fun!

Ok, so here are seven things you may not know about me:

1. I'm a glutton for "reality" TV. My favorites are Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars, Jon and Kate Plus 8, Little People Big World, Ghost Hunters, and So You Think You Can Dance. My favorite routine from last season is Lacey and Neil's Mia Michaels Contemporary piece. I've included a few other of my favorite routines from last season: Neil & Sara's Disco, Danny & Sara's Tango, and Sara & Jesus's Contemporary dance.
2. I lived, actually lived, in England for a summer when I was 18. Three whole months in England and it was wonderful!
3. One of my favorite places in the whole wide world is Disney Land! This is also one of my favorite places to souvenir eat!
4. My favorite Muppet is Kermit the Frog. I was fortunate enough to own a Kermit doll when I was little and he was one of my best friends. Besides, he taught me all about "Bein' Green."
5. I love to cook and experiment with recipes. My favorite things to make are Grandma's Apple Roll, Chocolate Pudding Fudge Cake with Chocolate Glaze, and Tuna and Noodle Casserole.
6. I love my sister-in-law and I am so glad she loves our family! She has become one of my very best friends... and not everyone can say that about their in-laws!
7. Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney Princess and is the reason for my passion of all things pink!

Now to name the bloggers I'm tagging! I only hope I can come up with seven!
I'm tagging...

1. My sister-in-law Karen
   
2. My friend Cherri House
3. My brother Ryan
4. My friend and Quilting Stash Podcast listener Laurie Drean
5. Sandi Henderson of Portabello Pixie - She is such a doll!
   
6. Heather Bailey

Ok, so 6 out of 7 ain't bad, right? Keep an eye out for their postings!

My Birthday Weekend

It's still my Birthday month and I'm finally able to sit down and write about my Birthday Weekend/SimpleArts Retreat. It was so much fun to hang out with so many creative women. I was excited to go and I don't think I realized just how much I needed to get away and recharge my batteries. I'm glad it happened when it did because ever since then I've been running around like a mad woman!

So anyway, here are some little highlights from the Retreat...

Friday was our little Shop Hop day. It's great because there's such an eclectic grouping of shops within a 45 minute drive of each other. Here's where we stopped:

• The Quiltery in Paso Robles: Most of their fabric is only $5 a yard, so it's a great place to stop! But be careful... $5 a yard can still be dangerous!
  

• The Quilter's Cupboard in Atascadero: I absolutely love the staff at this shop! They are the friendliest staff I have ever come across in a quilt shop. EVER. And I've seen my fair share of quilt shops!The orange and red collection is what I found at the Quilter's cupboard. The orange and purple collection is what I got as part of a ginormous door prize they gave us. What a treat!

• Susan Branch's Heart of the Home Store in Arroyo Grande: I just want to snuggle up and make this shop my home! We were also very lucky that Susan was able to be there to meet with our group. She is such a swell gal!

• Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab in Arroyo Grande: OH! MY! HECK! This is one place you don't want to go if you're on a diet! They custom create all of their flavours and they even have a Periodic Table of Ice Cream! If you're in the area check this place out. You won't be sorry.
• The Cotton Ball in Morro Bay: I love this shop. Plain and simple. I love it. They've got Fabric-Fabric, Decorator Fabric, yarn, ribbon, stuff for embroidery, and so much more! My most favorite "birthday gift" (thanks, Mom!) was the Sublime Stitching transfer packs and book I got at the Cotton Ball along with some floss and a hoop! I was in Seventh Heaven! Here's a pic:

All of my embroidery goodies now reside in my cute little Amy Butler sewing box I got at Joann's a while ago.
It feels good to be so organized!

What I got accomplished: Well, not very much got accomplished. If you count shopping, eating, shopping, eating, watching movies, fixing my Amy Butler Purse, eating, sleeping, getting my tootsies done and making another tote as accomplishments, well then, I was the most accomplished one there!

You can even see some of the movie we were watching in the background of the photo. I think we were watching Bride and Prejudice.

Here's a couple pictures of the other tote I made. I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning and my table buddy Holly stayed up with me! I got the fabric at the Cotton Ball and it's from Tina Givens's line. I just fell in love with those chandeliers!


The inside pockets are from Amy Butler's first line, Temple Flowers, when she was with Free Spirit. Because I was finishing my Amy Butler purse I brought my whole stash with me and tat fabric just happened to match perfectly. A girl has to be prepared!



And of course I have to talk about the food. The food! Annie brought one of Icing on the Cake's world famous German Chocolate Cakes and even had them write Happy Quilting! on it! It was so yummy and it lasted us all weekend. We had lots and lots of goodies on hand and, of course, the lovely people at Camp Ocean Pines kept us well fed. (Can you say "bread?") And of course, BBQ Monday! We stopped at Main Street Grill on the way out of town Monday afternoon. I so miss that place! Even if you're a vegetarian, stop there. They've got something for you, too! And, if anything, you can give yourself a good carb coma by eating a whole basket of their to-die-for fries!


A charming and relaxing time was had by all and I can't wait to do it again in September!
Until next time!

Friday's Frenzy

Ok, so here's what was going on all day Friday...

Ta-da! I made a purse! My very own, one-of-kind, Amy Butler Inspired purse! "Why would I do that" you ask? Well, let me tell you...


I was perusing the Craftzine Blog when I saw it and practically fell off of my chair!

I knew I had to enter this contest but it took me forever to figure out just what I should make so I went scavenging online. I looked high and low for ideas to spark some inspiration. I started at Amy's website and found this free pattern she has up there for these wonderful Fabric Necklaces.

That was my first inspiration: Turn the Necklace into purse handles by using wood balls instead of styrofoam. It'd give it more weight but it would also make it sturdier and longer lasting.

Now I needed inspiration for the body of the bag. I looked at the Flickr group to see what other were doing. A lot of it was taking Amy's Fabric and one of her purse patterns, whipping up a purse and posting it to the group. "Blah, blah, blah", I said. So I went looking some more. I found the perfect template at Torrid.com.

I had my handles, I had my bag, I was ready to go!



After I drafted my bag body and cut out the muslin shapes from the pattern, I drew the lines for my Foundation Pieced design. I chose my fabric and just went for it!


All-in-all I worked from about 10:00AM-8:55PM last Friday, not counting my internet research. The deadline was 9:00PM (Midnight EST) to submit your photo to the Flickr Group. After some trouble joining the group itself and, being a newbie to Flickr, having trouble loading my picture to the Group, I finally got it posted at 10:09PM Friday night. The good news? They accepted my picture! I guess there were other members having trouble loading their pictures.

Here are some more pictures of the finished product. I think I'm going to make another, now that I know what I'm doing, just to improve on the design. I love this bag!



Now all I have to do is name her. I better come up with something that suits her charming purse-onality! Ha ha!

It's that time of year again...

You know - That time of year where I start to become overly anxious and reflective because I'll be ONE! YEAR! OLDER! and I feel I haven't really done much in the past year. And its almost to the point of panic when the day itself comes around and all of the fears and apprehension of being ONE! YEAR! OLDER! melt away with the first bite of the sickeningly sweet cake and frosting - pink, of course - and receipt of packages big and small, wrapped in a robe of colored paper and trussed up with ribbon to match. I LOVE Birthdays, don't you?

This cake is called "Kirsten" and you can see it and many others here

So this year I've decided to make it easier for my family by providing them a list with pictures of some ideas of what I would like for my birthday. Next Sunday. The 9th. Just in case they've forgotten.

The first item on my list is this cute little pair of earrings from Bombalurina. They're turquoise Czech glass and they are just about the most charming thing I've seen in ages.


Next on my list is this little beauty from Target: the Sunbeam Simple Press Iron. It's sleek, it's pink, and it's got a retractable cord! But most importantly it's pink. Oh! And did I mention it's pink?

Speaking of things pink, the people at Hasbro have finally got it spot on! They now have Monopoly Pink! You can buy and sell malls and boutiques, receive "text messages", and use your special Bank Card! The 13-year-old in me wants this very much. I saw it while on a Crayon Recon trip to Toys "R" Us and just fell in love with it.

You know what else I saw at Toys "R" Us that day? This absolutely adorable Hello Kitty Tote! Sure its a little creepy to see Hello Kitty's head on a cupcake like that, but come on, if you were given a cupcake like that wouldn't you go "Aww!" and then devour it? I would, too.


The last thing on my list is this nifty little chunky ironing board! It's 14" by 24" and has for legs instead of one giant loopy one. Polder makes it and I think right now you can only get it online. And ::hint, hint, Mom:: it would be perfect to take with me to the Retreat next weekend!

Mom is having one of her very cool SimpleArts Retreats over my birthday weekend and I've decided to go. They are so much fun and so dang relaxing and I wish they happened more often. Also at SimpleArts this month, in honor of my birthday, we're doing something super cool for listeners... more to come...

Well, I guess enough's enough for today. I'm still recovering from yesterday's all day sewing frenzy. Here's a little sneak peek of what I was working on...


...And let me just tell you, it'll charm your socks off!