I'm Here, Even When I'm Not.

I have a bigger better blog post for you, my beloved, but it must wait a bit, the forces of time an the internet are against me. I wanted to say hi, though, and tell you you look pretty today. No, really. And your hair looks good. Those pants, they really fit you well. Back with more, soon, including some giveawayness. In the meantime, look at my cat.

The Worst Haircut.

I just got it. It's awful. It's cry-all-the-way-home and then cry-more-in-the-shower and then cry-a-bit-more-in-the-mirror bad. It's just SO SHORT and took me SO LONG to grow this sad little bit of hair. I asked to still be able to put it back. Is that not the oldest request in the book? And if I try to pull ANYTHING back, it just slips through my fingers. Nothing there. And it's horrible.
So I'm shamelessly using you. Tell me stories that are worse, please? This is maybe 4-5 months worth of hair, and I am crying like a baby, so now I TOTALLY get why all the girls on ANTM cry when they cut off their 3 feet of hair. It HURTS.
STORIES, PEOPLE.
NOW!
I'm off to wade in self-pity, and maybe do a bit more ponytail-less weeping.

Trips! From a Long Time Ago! And Fabric That I Bought!

So, a million bazillion years ago, I got to go to Jacquie's house, and it was awesome. Here are pictures, and a bit of narration.This is the road to Jacquie's house, it is windy and hilly, and not unlike Arkansas. She lives in the Arkansas part of Kansas, which I didn't know existed. Anyway, it was an ADVENTURE, and even more of an adventure when I got to drive out, later, during a rainstorm, in my Suzuki Forenza. Which is not a car that is build for gravel roads and bad weather, but I survived, and need to get back to the point, which is, THIS IS THE ROAD. A lot of nonsense already, and this is just the first set of pictures.So, Jacquie has a lot of fabric. I touched it all. Her house is AWESOME, also, and I didn't take pictures, but she has a giant front porch with these hammock-y swing things that I want to live in. Also, living in ArkansasKansas is kindof beautiful, and has lots of pretty views and such. Which I failed to photograph, because I was busy touching all her fabric. She is lucky I did not lick it.
This is Bruno, Jacquie's studio assistant. He is very helpful, if you need a small-horse-sized dog to lay on the ground next to you. This is a quilt that Jacquie is going to make and I am SPOILERING it! But she said I could, so. It has my birdies!!!This is Jacquie's machine, which is a thing to be revered.
So, h'anyways, we had a bunch of stuff, and sewed and chatted and it was fabulous, and THEN, two days later, I had one of the most fabulous fabric experiences of my life. If you live anywhere around the KC metro/Lawrence area, you know Sarah's.
I had been told FOR YEARS that I had to go there, but I never managed to get there until recently. I went with a few of my fab KCMQG kids, Jaime and Jenny, and we met Jacquie there. Drool, friends, at the massive stacks of fabric, and I just BARELY scratched the surface of all the boltage. Not bringing a wide angle lens was a sad mistake. I showed some serious restraint, and made out with a good selection of goodness for not tooo many moneys. It's an amazing place, though, and I know I could get lost in there for hours if I didn't have people to pull me out of fabric-touching mode.
Guild "Sewing Saturday" was a few weekends ago, as well, and I left the fabulous Harper's with a small set of FQ's as well. I still remember the first time I went into Harpers a few years ago, being totally amazed by HOW MUCH FABRIC a quilt store has. It was a news flash to me at the time, because I had never been into a TRUE quilting store, it was my baptism into the world of fat quarters and WALLS of all the quilting cottons I could imagine. It was joyous.
Long story short, I now have more fabric. Is anyone surprised?
PS: What is this hedgehog doing to this apple? No, do not tell me. I do not want to know. He is certainly confused.

POSTSPLOSION!

This is a giant load of post, kiddies. Changes have been afoot, and trips have been taken, and general mayhem has been achieved. Without the mayhem. Whatever. There has been STUFF! GOING! ON! Like massive amounts of tote-bag-makery. And a small bit of quilt-beginning. And a decent amount of fabric-shoppery, but I am getting ahead of myself. First things first: The internet kindof likes me. A little. Not like we're dating, or anything, but every once ahd a while the webs are dropping hints that they thing I am not so bad. You know google alerts? The little things you can set to see if people talk about you on the internet? If you are vain and silly, as I am? Well, 99.9% of "aunt june" google alerts are obituaries. There are a lot of beloved and dead aunt Junes out there, and I get emails every day telling me about them. But this past week, there have been a smattering of non-dead-aunt references, references to little old me, and it is always surprising.

Like most creative people, I think, I swing between the two extremes of, "I am AWESOME! Bow down to my awesomeness! Or at least, my general okay-ness!" and "ohmylord i am a hack and why would anyone be interested in me and am i even doing good work and is it original and where is it going and should i get a real job because i am only qualified for retail and i will miss not working saturdays ohcrapohcrapohcrap." Which, I am not saying this to garner pity, or have anyone reassure me, but I just think it is a phenomenon a lot of us go through, and it evens itself out generally, but it is why it is SUPER helpful to occasionally get the ol' interweb pat on the back from someone who is NOT your mother. This paragraph was supposed to have been, like, one sentence. Ahwell. The point, I think, was if you want to read about how generally ok a few other people think what I make is, you should go check out the awesome, really nice write-up Gwyneth, The Daring Librarian, did on the new Overdue Book Calendar. Which is out, and which I will eventually post about, but she did a better job than me anyways. Caitlin has been making some clutches from my bike fabric, and she and I are also going to be in a booth together at an upcoming local craft show, so yay for quilt guild friends! Also, Karla of ZAPOLDesigns wrote a little post on one of my bags. And then, there was a nice little mention of the calendar again on ohdeedoh! Thanks, guys, for putting a smile on my face!Ok. So. Early last week this was the way my sewing table looked, and I had no reason to think that it would ever change.This is the view now. What happens is, you start hanging out with the wrong kind of people (Bernina dealers) and then all of a sudden, BAM. My friend and fellow KCMQG officer, Jaime, told me about some pre-owned mechanical Bernina's they were going to be getting, and would I like to take one for a spin? Initially I was all, pshh, naw, but then THE BEST HUSBAND EVER made me an offer I couldn't refuse--- a combined anniversary/birthday/Christmas gift. But I was still not sure, because, folks, I hate change. And learning new things. And so when I went to the Bernina store Jaime works at last Tuesday, I was seriously hoping that I wouldn't like this machine any more than the beloved Viking, and that would be that, but people. Berninas, they are THE STUFF, and I had heard others say it, but a few minutes into the demo, I knew it to be the truth. This machine is a workhorse, not fancy, but it can do so many things so easily, and it is all so PRECISE and POWERFUL and SWISS and whatnot. I love it, I really do. I cannot yet bring myself to give up the Viking, though, for a lot of sentimental reasons... I still feel like a bit of a traitor, especially since I absolutely love that machine and was super happy with it.I meant to put a lot more stuff in this post, but I am getting the 7:00 lazies, and I want to go watch the fourth season of Dexter on dvd, so I will save the rest of it for the near future. Teaser? I go to someone's house, and I SEW! And then I go to a fabric store, and I BUY! When I write it down like that, it honestly doesn't sound too interesting, but it is? Mildly? To me anyway?
Baxter says hi, by the way, from the ugliest chair in the world.

I'm on decor8! WHAT?!?

Wow. I don't even know what to say here- I was just ging through my google reader, la-de-da, and then thereisapictureofmyhouseandmyfabricandohmylordwhatblogisthisit'sFRICKENDECOR8! WHAT?! WHAT??!??!?Now, I swear I'm not going to get all Oscar-speechy, but I just want to thank everyone who reads this thing, end everyone who comments, and everyone who has bought something, and everything who has considered buying something, and everyone who likes QT iced tea as much as I do. You all make me SO happy. At this point last year, I was just starting to dip my toes in the fabric-design-serious-about-Etsy waters, and now... Well, the feedback I have gotten from people has blown my mind. I mean, I always knew that I thought I was making good stuff, (me = egomaniac, but only Tuesday-Thursday), but it's the most amazing thing to have other people like what I'm doing. So, thanks, all of you, even if you're just stopping by. You've made my day, and my year, and my decade. Uhm, maybe not that last one. But you're still awesome. Wanna come over? We just got a barbecue grill. And you can use the bathroom, but the sink water in there smells. Just a warning.
THANKS!

Oh, and also, Jessica and I are the same person. Who knew?

I Thought It Couldn't Get Much Better...

But then the lovely Sonia of Cozy Homemaking sent me this link to her giveaway! Can you believe how awesome this pincushion is?!?! Maybe I'm biased, but I think it's just the best thing ever! Go over to her site and sign up to win it, IMMEDIAMENTE!

Today is the Day!!!

I'm Etsy's featured seller! Check it out!
Also, check out the super-cheesy photo I had to take of myself... This was about 4 hours worth of camera-timer-setting-cheesy-smiling-torture, friends. But I am GIDDY with joy! And, you might notice some new additions to my shop... or should I say shopS.More on the new shop later, I'm off to do a happy dance!