Peas In A Pod

Tucson Happenin's

Hello Everyone,

Well, as I said, I am in Tucson, visiting my folks.  I am so excited, because I got a wonderful gift the other day!  My birthday is coming up, and my mom and Sweet Pea made me a chocolate cake.  So, we had cake one night and celebrated my birthday.  Sweet Pea was so excited to give me a gift she bought me...new towels and hotpads for our kitchen...with horses all over them.  They are really cute, and I love them.  I forgot to take photos, so I'll take them later, when the stuff is in my kitchen.

I opened another, and I was so surprised, you could have knocked me over with a feather!

My very own Kindle!  I have been wanting one soooo badly, and they gave me one!  I totally did not expect this and am so excited.  I already downloaded my first book and can't wait to start reading it.

My mom asked me what the first thing I wanted to do here was, and I said, "Get a pedicure!"  I haven't had one for so long, and I just wanted to be pampered.  So, we all went down to the nail salon and got our nails done.

Snapped this of Sweet Pea letting her fingers and toes dry.  She got both polished.  Very cute.

Yesterday we went to the neatest museum.  I highly recommend this as a stop if you like dollhouses, or if you are with a little girl.  Both applied to me.  It's called the Mini-Time Machine Museum of Miniatures (click here to go to their website).  It is an entire building devoted to dollhouses and miniatures, and there are some really AMAZING things in there...historical dollhouses, enchanted dollhouses, Christmas dollhouses.  Just incredible.  We had a good time.

Then, I talked my mom into stopping at one of my favorite quilt shops, The Quilter's Market, because the museum was only about 15 minutes away (both of which are about an hour from Mom and Dad's house).  I meant to take photos for you, because the store is always so colorful (they have a lot of bright fabrics and batiks--stuff that is harder for me to find at home).  But, I was so excited to be there, I completely forgot.  So, you'll have to visit their website (click on the store name above) and check it out.  They have the nicest staff, too.  I picked up some Aurifil thread (hard for me to find at home) and a collection of fat eights of neutral fabrics (I'm trying to be mindful of what I need to add to my stash).  It was fun.

Sweet Pea had a swimming lesson in the morning.  She's had a few while visiting here.

 

I have been so frustrated, because after 2 years of group swimming lessons, she's not swimming as well as I think she should be.  After three or four private lessons with Mary Beth down here, she has made great improvements.  So that is awesome.

Finally, in other news, we have been looking for a kitten to live outside at our house and catch those nasty little field mice that are running around.  Yesterday, Papa Pea called me and said he found someone giving away free kittens.  Finally!  I couldn't believe how hard it was to find a kitten!  One would think they would be a dime a dozen!  This seems like a nice one.  He e-mailed me a photo of her:

She's 12 weeks old (big for that, huh?).  Seems to be getting along well with the dogs, and Papa Pea says she likes to be held and likes to follow him around.  So, that's good.  Sweet Pea wants to call her Bella.  (Could be confusing, since one of our dogs is named Belle, but oh, well!)  Sweet Pea is beside herself with excitement.

Well, better run.  Hope you are having a good weekend and getting some sewing done!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Hooded Towel Tutorial

Hi Everyone,

Just a brief post for now, because I'm running out of time.  I have to run in a few minutes.  If I have time, I'll post some more this evening.

I ran across another tutorial that I think is really great.  My mom and some others I know are always looking for the hooded towel pattern.  I've always had a hard time finding it when I want it.  Instead, I found it now.  So, I am posting it for your records and my archives.  Here's a link to it, and I will post another link on my Free Tutorials link (in the sidebar on the right).  I have been archiving tutorials there.

This Hooded Towel Tutorial is again from the Make and Takes blog.  I am starting to really love this blog. It has a lot of great projects on it.

Photo from Make and Takes blog from the tutorial.

I think this would be really fun to do some embroidery on.  You could dress it up or make it even more fun with a little decorating.

Hope to talk with you more.  Have a great weekend!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Celebrity Interview: Pat Sloan and Anne Sutton from Bunny Hill Designs

Hi Everyone,

Today, Pat Sloan did a nice on-line interview with Anne Sutton from Bunny Hill Designs.  Check it out if you like Bunny Hill Designs designs.  I do.  I think they are so cute, but I've never attempted one yet.  I have drooled over them for a long time.  (Good looking smoothie recipe in the interview, too...)

Also, Pat gives links to Anne's website.  She has a really nice set of free snowman patterns that are just adorable.  You might want to "hop" on over to Bunny Hill Designs and check out Anne's blog, too.

That's all I have time for today.  Sorry this is so brief!  Leaving for Tucson tomorrow.  Will talk to you more when I arrive!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

A Special Gift, Guest Bedroom (Cowboy up!), Study

Hello Everyone,

I had a special phone call the other day from my realtor here in Michigan.  Now, before I tell you about that, I want you to know that I haven't had that many positive experiences with realtors.  (If you are a realtor, or if one of your loved ones is a realtor [Jill], I am sorry.  I am not making a generalization about all realtors, but I seem to have encountered my share of weird, kooky, and downright obnoxious realtors in my day.)  So, I've always been skeptical of them.  (No offense intended.)  However, Peg has been THE BEST.  Seriously, I count her as a friend here in Michigan now.  I have really enjoyed getting to know her, and she has just been so helpful to me in many ways since I've moved to town.

So, anyway, she calls me up one day and asks if I'd like to have a grandfather clock she's had for about 30 years and is ready to get rid of.  This is something Papa Pea and I have sort of longed for, so of course we said yes.  Well, we went to pick it up, and to my delight, it looks very, very similar to a grandfather clock my grandpa made.

 

My grandma always kept it in the kitchen, and I remember how the gonging would sometimes keep me up at night.  I have always loved my grandpa's clock.  So, I was really excited to have this.  It's sitting in the eating area of the kitchen for now.  Not sure if it will stay here (that's where Papa Pea likes it) or if it will go in the living room.  We'll see.  How thoughtful of Peg, huh?  See, I told you she was special.  Peg, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!

Even though we don't have carpet in the basement yet, we are moving furniture down there, because we want to get it in the house.  Papa Pea wants it out of his workshop area so he can set that up in a way that is functional for him.  I can understand that.  We won't get carpet in the basement (probably) until we build that addition.  So, it's going to be a while.  We'll throw down some rugs in the meantime.  But I thought you might like to see the progress down there.

Remember this room (below)?  Unicorns and rainbows?

 

Well, we pulled up that carpet (smelled of smoke) and stripped that wall paper.  I painted it the same "straw" color we painted our bedroom.

The paint is still wet in that photo.  Still need to paint trim and window.  Pulled out the baseboard heater.

Put in some furniture.  I was really happy to be able to put my cowboy quilt on this bed.  I made it specifically for this bed back when we lived in our first house in Idaho.  I wanted it for the guest bedroom.  We finished the unfinished basement and had just painted the guest bedroom this color when we sold the house....before I could even get the quilt on the bed.  Sigh.  Then, the next house we moved to had blue carpet in the guest bedroom, so I put this quilt away for 2 years.  (The carpet was too nice to replace at that time.)  You'll notice it's a little too big.  That's because it's king sized (and the bed is queen sized).  I did that on purpose, because we had Tempurpedic type mattresses on the bed, and they are soooooo tall.  But we have those on our bed now, and just regular mattresses on this bed at this time.  Someday we may replace these with taller mattresses.  That's okay.  I think it still works and is more like a bedspread.

The pattern called for these fussy-cut 1950's cowboys.  I totally LOVED this fabric and this pattern.  I had to buy it.  BUT, I thought it was pretty sexist to ONLY have cowBOYS.

So, I alternated the cowboys with these great cowGIRLS on the quilt.  (Kathy Olkowski did the awesome quilting for me.  She is the one who quilted Sweet Pea's quilt, too.  She is so good!)

I thought I was quite clever to buy enough of the cowboy and cowgirl fabric to make "his and hers" pillowcases to match.  Too bad--because I had never made a pillowcase before--I didn't take the directionality of the fabric into consideration when I reserved the extra fabric.  Shoot.  Had to make the heads going sideways to have enough fabric.  Sigh...  Oh well.  I guess it still works.  Now I want to buy or make a couple of cute smaller pillows for the top.  I am thinking of something leather.  Any ideas?

I really like this bed.  Papa Pea hates it and wants to get rid of it so bad.

I don't have many accessories in the room yet.  But I loved this lunchbox from Moda.  I bought it just for this room.  I am thinking I'll put guest supplies in it (extra toothbrushes, etc.).  I want to decorate the room with 1950's cowboy stuff and general cowboy stuff.  I think I may even hang Papa Pea's and my dress spurs on the walls.  We don't have our horses anymore, so it will be a good reminder of them.  I'll keep you posted as we finish decorating.  Still much to do (like put the light fixture back together, among other things!).

Okay, remember this room?  Tiny room with the airplanes?  This will be the study.  I stripped the wallpaper and we tore up the carpet.

I painted it this lovely sage green.  I love it.  We are putting the file cabinet in the closet.  As soon as we get all the closet doors painted, we'll put them back on.  Our dark wood furniture looks really good in here.  I'll show you more of that later.

Hope you enjoyed this little update.  Talk to you more tomorrow!

Until Next Time,

Mama Pea

Cute Tutorial for Little Bag

Hello Everyone,

A while back I saw this cute tutorial and meant to post a link to it.  However, our home remodel has kept me hopping too much!

I e-mailed Amy, of "Diary of a Quilter," and she gave me permission to post this link and the photo of the project.  I think these would be such cute little gift bags, or May Day baskets for little girls, or lots of things I could make them for.  Maybe you'd like one, too.

 

Thanks for sharing this cute idea, Amy!

Until next time,

Mama Pea