a new look for Miss Dummy

Yes, that's the name of my vintage dress form. Pam asked me if I was going to be one of those people who gives their dress form a name...uh, OK, I guess not! But without a name, how do you talk about her? Because you will be talking about her.

She's really not such a party girl...her neck was just a good place to stick the lampshade project I've gotten bogged down with.



You have to admit--this is a much better look! It's this pattern and I really had a good time with it. Had to do a tiny bit of tweaking because apparently my body has some freak issues, but the instructions were great and the fit is really good. I love peasant tops and this one is nicely fitted thru the body--most of us don't need that maternity look.

The fabric was fun--BariJ's "Full Bloom" gave the top a nice, sort of Anthropologie look to it.

So Miss D better enjoy it, because as soon as the sun comes out again, she'll be back to wearing the lampshade.

the Quilt Life!

If you've been here awhile you remember the road trip Pam and I took in October to Houston to attend Quilt Market. What we weren't really able to discuss was the fact that we were On Assignment for The Quilt Life magazine!

Thought I'd have a little bit of time to post about this latest bit of excitement, but I'm already getting requests from readers to turn "Coffee with Friends" into a pattern.

Yeah, I may be biased because Pam and I are lucky enough to be featured in the premier issue, but honestly? It's an awesome magazine!

The photography alone is amazing. Just a super, inspiring read--if you haven't done so already, by all means subscribe!

And don't forget to check out pages 74-76...I'm particularly partial to those.

P.S. I'll let you know when the pattern is ready!

let's talk about saturday

Don't you just hate those blogs where people go on and on about all the wonderful places they've been and the people they've seen and the stuff they've found? Me, too. So I really do kind of hate myself for discussing last Saturday.



Pam and I stayed at our very favorite place--the Apple Farm. The parking lot is more beautiful than most people's flower gardens, the food is delicious and the rooms are super nice. If you're nostalgic for the 1980s and loved the world of Waverly chintz, floral wallpaper borders and pickled pine furniture, you'll be right at home. It's all so very comfortable. And doesn't have that motel smell...know what I mean? Even the nice places tend to have a certain aroma.

Should have taken a pic of our room--just picture a big bay window and sweet brass beds with pale pink and white blankets.

The weather was a little iffy--it rained pretty hard Friday evening and we were hoping for a better Saturday.

Pam had already met Susan Branch at Quilt Market many years ago but I'd never met her. One of the most fun parts of being on Twitter is getting to talk to Susan--pretty much every day. So when we heard about her Farm Stand event, we knew we'd have to go! I tweeted my impatience with the length of our drive...and Susan tweeted back that Pam and I were to count cows--most cows wins a prize. That was an easy one--Pam was driving so most of the cows were mine!

We wanted to get to the Farm Stand sale early--and don't let the gray clouds fool you--it really didn't seem at all dreary. Just nice and fresh.



That's Susan still directing set up.



We met Susan right away and she's exactly as you'd hope she'd be. Completely delightful.





It was a good thing we were among the first to arrive--otherwise I'm certain our treasures would have been snapped up before we got to them.



I found all my treasures in or around this tent...the tablecloth is a duplicate of my favorite vintage cloth that I'd already chopped up for valances...love the pillowcase and the doll bed and the big hunk of crochet. And look who else is here--my prize from Susan!





While I wouldn't normally recommend a cupcake breakfast, if they're Amy's cupcakes, any time of day is perfectly reasonable. She and her trailer could not have been cuter. And by all means try the chocolate peanut butter cup--you won't regret it.



It was sad that we had to take off so early--it was after all a long drive home and we both had stuff of the non-fun variety to attend to. Our last stop was in Paso Robles at the Cowgirl Cafe--amazingly good food.



Here back at home are my favorite Susan Branch items--I got this sugar bowl and creamer many years ago for Mother's Day. I was a stay at home mom and money was very tight--but I fell in love with these and my husband bought them for me. Pretty sweet, huh? What's not so adorable is what is kept inside the sugar bowl...that badly discolored quarter was made that way after it was eaten by my then 2 year old son. And that's all I need to share of THAT story.

And no, there's not much to tell about Sunday--spent most of it in a Benadryl-induced haze. Which was fine. Because the cobwebs have gotten blasted out of my head and I'm ready to design and sew again. And it's about time!

the weekend that's worth a couple of posts

It was long overdue, this weekend. I desperately needed to get out of town--2010 has not started out particularly well--far too many dramas and stresses and so forth to deal with. I needed to get away so that the cobwebs could get blown out of my head and maybe, just maybe some creative juices could get flowing again.

So last weekend seemed the perfect opportunity to drive down to the central coast and take in the fresh air and meet some new friends. Bloggy/twittery friends!

OK, so we'll start with Friday. Pam picked me up promptly at 7:00. Which is actually late for us.

First stop was KathiD's place. I tend to think of her as @KathiD because she's really a great twitter pal. I'd recommend that everyone go see her place--it's terrific. Just turn right at the corner where there's no street sign. She says it must've come down in the storm, but there sure was no sign of it. ("sign" of it--get it? I crack myself up).

So at this point we're wondering if she really did want to see us, but she was there waiting and did seem quite welcoming!

Her place is amazing. Her studio is amazing. Her dogs are amazing. Her shoes are amazing. What really captured me was her chickens. And obviously her rooster. I may be a city girl, but I recognized that guy straight away. Wouldn't you know his favorite hen is also a redhead? Of course!



I was enchanted by those chickens. And their indoor/outdoor living quarters. And then I saw the coolest thing--KathiD opens a lid and there are eggs in the egg boxes! Aqua-trimmed egg boxes! I told her how special it was to finally be able to see where eggs come from. She tried to set me straight by explaining just what the hen has to do, but LALALALA I want my eggs to magically appear in egg boxes, thankyouverymuch.


So after a delicious melted cheese-based lunch, the three of us headed out. KathiD wanted to stop at the Cotton Ball and who could blame her? Wasn't difficult to find some fabrics I'd never seen before. Pam says that's not true--that I HAVE seen those fabrics, but somehow they looked better on Friday.


Then we went to Cambria which is ever so charming. Got some ribbons at one of our favorite shops and then enjoyed looking at plants at the shop next door.

Sadly we had to take KathiD back home and then it was off to our hotel. To rest up for Saturday. Which yeah, I know, has been discussed at length all over blogdom, but you'll be hearing about it here as well. Very soon, even!

has anyone seen where my blog has gone?

What with one thing and another, it seems this poor blog has been neglected of late. I keep thinking that for SURE I've blogged about stuff, but no, it's just been little tweets here and there. Twitter seems so much easier--if there was a 140 character limit for Blogger, these posts might come a little more often. And perhaps you wouldn't get bogged down reading them.

Thankfully we've had a few really nice days lately--I'm sorry for all of you still deep in winter, and believe me, this sunshine will NOT last--but check out my almond tree! Even I, with my sad little camera, was able to get an Action Shot with a bee. The tree was full of them that morning. Once I got a few pics, my eyes were about swollen shut--a definite downside to this time of year.

I'm gratified that the Sweet Hearts towel kit was such a hit--and I'm awfully sorry that even with the extras I was able to put together I couldn't come close to making a kit for everyone who wanted one. I would like to do more kits in the near future--with some of my vintage fabric bits, if possible.

I'd love to know what sort of kits you'd like to see me offer--more towels? Something else? Please let me know!



Speaking of kits...I was thumbing thru the latest issue of APQ the other day and came across this ad--so if you've been wanting a kit for Rose Delight, Jennifer can help you out! And she's way better at having enough stuff on hand than I am...



Finally, while it's still February, check out this month's pic in the Irish Quilting calendar! Wish I could be there with my quilt...

saying goodbye to "sweet hearts"

Sweet Hearts was my second pattern ever. It was the design that made me decide that I'd really like to be doing what I'm doing now.

It has sold very well...but it's pretty old now, and it's time for Sweet Hearts to retire. As of the end of this month, it will disappear from my website.

Pam, as usual, came up with a cool idea. She thought it would be fun to send Sweet Hearts out with a bang. So that's what's going to happen!



She came over today and we got out some fabric...LOTS of fabric, actually, and played around with the motifs from the pattern. We ended up using the medium sized heart and the small one...and a couple of stems and leaves.

And here's the result!



That bigger heart is made from one of my favorite vintage napkins...and gotta love the big pink rick rack peeking out over the ruffle.

Best of all, I've got enough of everything left over to create FIVE kits. That's it--only five. Each kit contains a Dunroven House tea towel, all the fabric needed to duplicate my towel (including a piece of that awesome vintage napkin fabric), the pink rick rack and of course the pattern, and instructions for finishing the towel.

The price of the kit is $20, and that includes shipping. If you'd like a kit, please email me at latebloomerquilts@yahoo.com. If you're one of the first five, I'll email you back with full ordering instructions. It's a super fun project and it went together pretty fast too!



I'll be hanging my towel in the kitchen any day now. I'm determined to actually use it. Well, probably.

All kits have now been sold. If I can come up with the materials for more, I'll let you know. Thanks, everyone!

wanna see some quilts?

Just click here...and you'll be amazed by the gorgeous quilts that are on display at The Quilt Show's special exhibit at Road to California.

If you keep going, you might see a quilt that's a little familiar...
I'm quite humbled to have one of my "work quilts" among such amazing pieces.

I blame quilt market

Let me start by admitting that I'm really not a cook. It's not that I'm bad--I've never made anyone sick with my cooking (to the best of my knowledge), but it's just not my thing.
In my humble opinion, cooking takes too long, makes too big a mess, and the results are never adequately appreciated.

If you were to have corn muffins at my house, they'd have come from a mix.

Until today.

When Pam and I took our trip to Houston quilt market last fall and stopped in Fredericksburg, we ended up having lunch at Rather Sweet Bakery.

The name didn't ring a bell but as soon as we went inside, I realized I had heard of the place and the cookbook, but again, I'm not a cook.

What Pam and I ate there so enchanted me that I asked for the book for Christmas. A gift my husband was glad to provide!



First up? "Rather Rich Corn Muffins". What sold me on this recipe was the amount of butter and whipping cream it called for. That's right--3 cups of whipping cream, people!*



I will admit that shredded cardboard would taste good with enough dairy goodness thrown at it, so this seemed like a good recipe to start with.

I simply cannot express how amazing these muffins are. The smell, the texture, the TASTE (and the batter--believe me I licked off that beater).

There are a couple left if you want one--but they're going fast.



*I only had a pint of whipping cream so used milk for the rest of the liquid and that sure seemed to work.

please excuse me while I show off my loot!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. It was an awesome day...now that my sons are pretty much all grown up it's great to get together for dinner--it just doesn't happen that much anymore. So that's what we did--had a delightful dinner at the San Leandro Marina.

If you follow me on twitter, you'd have heard about the ever so romantic gift from my husband--a Ped Egg. Yup, that's right! He also included a box of 100 Calorie Snickers bars so I guess his heart's in the right place (?) I am a sucker for gadgety things, so I did have to try it out. And without getting too graphic, it does do a great job but eww, so creepy.

The highlight of the afternoon was when Pam came over. She is the absolute master of gift-giving. It's so hard to shop for her because it's impossible to even come close with a gift for her--it's terribly intimidating. She always knows exactly what I'll love--and manages to find things I can never find on my own.

Check out the vintage breadbox. It's perfect! The photo isn't great but I wanted you to see how it looks with the valance nearby.


And this milkglass pot in my very favorite shade of pink...with a miniature rose inside.

As a decal-obsessed person I'm always looking for vintage examples. Garden girls seem particularly tough to find. Look at this girl on the tin!


Finally, I about hit the floor when I saw this letter "E". Pam bought it from our pal Becky, who always has the very best stuff (I think I have something from Becky in almost every room of my house!)

I hope 2010 continues on in such a merry way--while I'm grateful for a friend like Pam I'm also so blessed to be able to enjoy time with my family. I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing eldest son order a margarita in a restaurant tho...how did he get old enough for that to happen???

Happy New Year!

With the beginning of a new year, I'm hoping we can all enjoy the old...

Look forward to playing with the new...


and continue to inspire each other to create new things.

As a quilter, I'm hoping the new year brings vintage roses, lots of polka dots, and happy colors. How about you?

holiday fun

I got to spend yesterday with two of my favorite people...Pam and Alex were both at my house for a visit.
Much fun was had by all but it is weird to have people aiming cameras at your stuff!

Alex had a new camera to play with and you know Pam ALWAYS has her camera with her.


If you want to see a few good photos, head on over to Pam's.

This is probably it for me for a few days...the house will once again be filled with extra noise and testosterone, so I've got lots to do to get ready for that.

I hope everyone has the merriest of Christmases!

thank you!

I've never been so happy to stitch a label on a quilt as I was yesterday.

I want to thank everyone for participating in the auction...even if you just left a sweet comment, because those are always appreciated too!

A special thank you goes to Liz for her generous bid. The money is already in Ireland and the quilt will be on its way to its new home this morning!

Dolly Dresses + You

So here it is! My version of the Dolly Dresses quilt. I'm so happy that Holly asked me to be a part of this fun event. I really liked the way Holly's panel did so much of the work for me, so I kept the center of the quilt very simple, using her preprinted sashing.



Some of the dresses sport rickrack, others have ribbon, but every dress has a yo yo. I've been loving scallops lately, so it was a natural for me to applique rickrack trimmed scallops onto the border.



The quilt finishes at 49" x 60" and is backed with the same snowy white dot as the border.

Darla Padilla of Wildflower Quilting did a lovely job quilting it for me.



I hope you've been enjoying all of the wonderful projects created by the other designers. Some have provided kits, some just plenty of inspiration. Mine's a little different...

If you've followed along with me for awhile, you may know of my love for Ireland. I've had two brief visits and both times wanted to stay...like maybe forever! Maybe it's a sort of racial memory, but both Ireland and Scotland somehow feel like home.

Recently there has been terrible flooding in Ireland. Epic flooding. And there are many people there who need some assistance.

Sherry, the editor of Irish Quilting Magazine, has been doing a lot to get the word out about this cause. You can click here for more information on how you can help.

Here's what I'd like to do:

The dolly dresses quilt pictured above will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going directly to help the people in Ireland.

The auction begins right now and will close at 9:00 pm, Pacific time, on Monday, December 21st.

To bid on the quilt, leave a comment with your bid amount. The winner will be the person who has left the highest bid.
The winner will be able to send the money directly to Sherry via the Irish Quilting paypal account, and I will be standing by to race to the UPS guy with your quilt the minute the money is sent.

And please, spread the word! I'm hoping this little quilt can provide even more warmth for the people who could use our help.

is this what it feels like

when you're ninety? Seriously! This month has just not been going the way I'd planned. My sinus infection has left me so tired that it feels like every day I'm moving at half-speed. So obviously some of the many things I'd planned to make will be a bit delayed. Like maybe months delayed.

But that's not the end of the world!

I've still managed to get one of my favorite Christmas quilts hung...

and bits of the upcoming holiday are showing up here...


and here...

and here...

and even in the downstairs bathroom, which I'd show you but can't figure out how to take a picture in there.

I'm trying to save my energy for finishing my Dolly Dresses quilt...my day is coming up next week and I hope you'll come back to see the quilt and hopefully participate in what is being planned for it! And if you haven't been following along, you need to see what the other designers have done with Holly's doll dress panels. There are some awfully cute projects out there.


So there's really lots more to get done around here...but all I really want to be doing is what he's doing.

sweet (and not so sweet) distractions

It was great to have the whole family home for the long Thanksgiving weekend...and the family grew by one member when Middle Son and his girlfriend adopted a 4 month old kitten. I'd like you to meet Olive!



She's such a sweetie and I love her to pieces and miss her ready purr already. When she was taken to her new home on Sunday I'm told she fell asleep on the center console of their car for most of the hour-plus ride home.



Yet ANOTHER sinus infection has made sewing difficult,(so I'm way behind where I'd hoped to be at this time) but gluing stuff onto other stuff is always manageable. I loved these little snow guys I found at Target...but a bit of seam tape and some millinery flowers makes them sweeter. I'd figured on having guy-girl couples, but the boys just seem so naked now...so they've come back upstairs to be prettied up a bit.

Got out for the first time in AGES today with Pam...she took me to a super cool antique shop and I'm pea green over the shelf she got! With SCALLOPS. Be sure to ask her to show it to you. It's amazing.

So that's it for today...now that the super sized antibiotics are kicking in, I should have more Christmas stuff to show you really soon.