Living in the country is great because there are all of these random things all over the place. It’s like nothing is regulated here. The other day I was driving for no particular reason, lost as usual (I dunno, to me a fence and a bail of hay is just not a landmark), I happened upon a little gem. It was one of the best junk barns I have ever seen! I bought a set of dishes, all various shades of white. There were 122 dishes in all for 60 bucks!I have plenty of dishes but that is not the point. The point is the bargain.

So anywhoo now I have all of these dishes and nothing to do with them. So I am gonna paint ‘em! super fun. I sort of want to paint grotesquely fluffy kittens on them doing bad kitty things. That might be a little much so for now I am open to ideas. If I work anything out on them I will be sure to let y’all know.

I just got back from Quilt Market, like two mintues ago (then my BFF showed up for a visit and here I am a few days later, sorry!) and I wanted to share a few things that I think are both brilliant and hillarious. This first one may need some clarification. First, I collect foreign products that use english in odd ways. I have this little pink pencil case from Korea that has a poem about “gold plated friendship” and “hot shafts of wheat,” innapropriate translations are the funniest thing ever! So when my new friend Angela gave me these little swatches of Japanese import fabrics I just about peed my fancy little pants. If you can’t read it from the picture it says: “Mom’s Cake! Harmony of wheat and chocolate. Table with love.” It sounds like some exotic yet poetic love affair between two baking products from opposites sides of the tracks brought together by the gentle hum of an egg beater. I picture this scene unfolding much in the manner of Fried Green Tomatoes or the Secret Life of Bees minus the epic drama and heartfelt moral tradgedy. I love it. The second treasure I disovered were some very lovely yet sort of disturbing, but in a good way, vintage buttons. Now, I don’t ever buy buttons but I fell in love as sometimes happens. The pugs and the poodles just seemed like something I should have. The horse head is sort of Godfather-ish which I really liked but the real gem is the other one. Is that precious little old fashioned charmer chasing an oversized bat? Yes, indeed she is… naturally.  I also got these nursery rhyme buttons, for the sake of cuteness. Everyone around me is having babies so I am all about finding baby stuff at the moment. I guess I am just at that age where all my friends are getting knocked up. I have a baby quilt to do list a mile long which is fine by me. Baby quilts are little so they go really fast. Good thing I designed a baby-ish fabric line, right? It’s like my 7th sense is some kind of baby detector.

So Here’s the deal. I get five to ten emails a week asking me where people can find those owls from Full Moon Forest. They are pretty much just gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. I have some left but I’m saving them for my grandkids or maybe to sell on ebay when they become antiques. Think of this collection as a Full Moon Forest II using everything I have learned in between then and now. I always hear people say ” If I knew then…” well I do so I did. I loved that first fabric line and it sort of came and went in a flash. I never felt like it had the chance it deserved. By the time people started to see it and ask for it it was all snatched up. So Hushabye is an homage to my humble beginnings. I hope y’all like it. By the way… 

Hushabye is due in stores in August!

My radio silence will soon be coming to an end. The day is coming closer when I can actually show you what I have been working on these last few months. I can’t wait! This is just a taste. Please be patient with me. I’m a fragile little bunny when I am working.

I’m “it” I guess? So I have been tagged? Notice all the question marks? I hated this game in grade school. I thought when I grew up that these things would go away but I guess not. I am expecting to be sent outside for talking to my neighbor at any moment. Being the graciously good sport that I am and because I happen to like Lucy(the traitor who tagged me) I am going to play along. 

Seven Randomly Honest Things About Me… 

1. I have a black belt in Tang Soo Do. I have been studying since I was 5. That’s my goofy picture up there. I used to go to karate class while my mom got her nails done next door. It seemed like way more fun than sniffing nail polish remover, a sentiment that changed by the time I got to high school. 

2. I am six feet tall and I love every inch of it. If you need me to come over and get something down off of a high shelf I would be more than happy to. 

3. I haven’t had TV in my house for almost 10 years. When I moved out of my parent’s house to go to college I couldn’t afford it. I guess I just never got around it once I finally got a job. 

4. I secretly want to be a hip hop super star, if only I could rap. I collect limited edition Nike’s and Adidas, like the ones they wore in Run DMC. I heart tennis shoes. 

5. I will watch anything with dancing in it no matter how dumb it is. I love to dance and have absolutely no rhythm. I once watched Napoleon Dynamite 7 times in a row trying to learn the entire routine he does at the assembly. I figure if he could do it then I could. I was wrong. 

6. I have 6 wisdom teeth instead of 4. I have been telling my Mom for years that I was supposed to be a twin and that’s why I have two extra teeth. She always said that was impossible… until two years ago when she had twins. 

7. And finally… I drive for fun. When I lived in Los Angeles I would get in my car and drive all the way to San Francisco and then turn around and come back, for no good reason. When gas prices went up so high I wanted to cry, it was like Daddy took my T-bird away. 

Now you know all of my dirty little secrets. Guard them well. I must pass this painful little game on to some other poor suckers. Sorry guys but it must be done. Besides I wanna know all your random quirks too, so serve it up! 

Here are my victims:Helen , Michelle , Holly , Joanna , Lizzy , Aimee , John 

This was attached to the post below yesterday but I am having all kinds of malfunctions here. Occasionally that is what life gives ya. Anywhoo this is the full drawing of what is on the dog bed. I think it’s cute. I said some funny stuff at the end of the other post but I can’t remember it and now it’s gone and I am being a big frustrated baby. So there you have it. Enjoy the pooch!

Meet Dakota. She is the one and only true love of my BFF in North Carolina. Dakota and I have a rocky history beginning with the eating of my ipod and ending with the ceremonial burying of my wallet in the backyard. We have worked through our differences mainly being the attention of her owner and my friend. I have bowed to her unyielding presence as the queen of the household and now we get along just fine. In an effort to seal the deal on our life long sharing of her owner I made her this gift of peace and unity. It was also another opportunity for me to indulge in the splendor of Spoonflower. So I made this portrait fabric and fashioned it into a dog bed in which she can rest her royal rump after a long and arduous day of burying my prized possessions (or at least the things that are the most difficult to replace like my driver’s license). I told you I have been busy and this is just the beginning of many little projects I have indulged in since my removal to isolation.

I am putting my vanity aside for just a moment to show you something that I didn’t make. For the record I am green with envy. It is so ridiculously cute that I can hardly stand it. If Erin wasn’t my best friend I would probably pull a Tanya Harding on her and knee cap her. But then where would I go for pizza and movies? When the strike off samples came in for this I fell. in. love. Nothing but the actual fabric could really do this group justice, the colors are so fresh. I secretly want to redecorate my apartment with it, make a bunch of clothes and bags and maybe just roll around in it when no one is looking. The samples were sitting in the design room at Moda for weeks and I would go in and pet it, talk to it and try to coerce it into thinking it was mine, to no avail.  I mean really, look at it! Paint by number deer! paint palette polka dots! wacky citrus colored wood grains! A-maz-ing. One person should not be allowed to have that much style. It’s unfair.

Lush will be hittin’ your hot little hands in December. I am going to beg borrow and steal to get it a touch earlier. I know Erin gets advance yardage so maybe I will invite myself over with a pair of scissors and a large bag. Erin is one of those awesome people that can’t comprehend her own genius so maybe she won’t put up a fuss.

Lumberjacks and 90′s grunge rockers would have had a lot more dating possibilities if their button-ups were made of this kick-awesome flannel. Who needs plaid when you can rock some hot pink swirls or electric teal bird shaped foliage. I mean really, I would be way more into spending time with a forest ranger if he looked as stylish and sensitive, in a masculine way, as shown through his shrewd sense of fashion.Anywhoo, here is my new line of Nesty flannels. Get cozy, enjoy! 

I’ve got it bad! I can’t stop making these little hexagons. The are seducing me from my little project bag across the room.  They whisper my name and beg me to make just one more, then it’s “well just keep going until the thread runs out”. This can’t be natural or maybe I’ve been watching too many sci-fi movies, both are possibilities. What are they you ask? They are little paper hexagons that fit a charm pack perfectly. The only drawback is that they come in packs of 25 or 150 and charm packs come with 40 pieces. It’s sort  of like that whole hot dog /bun conspiracy but I won’t get into that here. I don’t even eat hot dogs but I reserve the right to be upset about it anyway.

Sorry for the detour. So you take these little paper hexagons and wrap a charm square around it and losely stitch down the corners. It is so satisfying! they are perfect every time with oh-so-little effort. I’m a line it up, make it match kind of girl so the precision is intoxicating. It’s going to take me forever to finish (because I am dead set on doing the whole thing by hand, we’ll see how long that lasts) but I’ll keep you updated on my progress. I am making this one out of Full Moon Forest, Flutterby and Nest. The first two collections are hard to come by at this point so I had to do a little bargaining with my mom to get her to release some of her stash. That woman drives a hard bargain.