Kind of like Hemingway's cats

Have you ever heard the answer Hemingway gave when asked why he had so many cats?
"One cat just leads to another." He replied.

Well, this is what the internet is like. I get the Apartment Therapy emails, which feature cool products. Today's 'daily find' was a great handmade ceramic measuring cup-like vase that was apparently in Martha Stewart Living recently. (Note to self, check previous issues of Martha more closely.)
So I clicked on it and found out it is from a fabulous new store by those amazing people at Antropology and Urban Outfitters.  (A job at their headquarters would be my dream job. Not only is the campus way cool, and you get to work with/in fabulous design all day everyday, but you get to bring your dog to work!!!)

The store is called Terrain. It's in Pennsylvania. I'm glad it's not anywhere near Chicago because I would probably be there all the time, drooling over fabulous garden and home things that I can't afford. Then I would be depressed, because the stuff is so cool, and I couldn't afford it, so it's better that it's far away from me.
I totally love these planters:

Who doesn't love a classic fountain?

This one would be more pratical for me though since my dogs use our current fountain as their personal water bowl.

Ah, but this one is my favorite. It's called the 'Bonsai Fountain.'  It doesn't look like a fountain, but the description assures me that it is indeed a fountain.

Oooo, and then there's this:

A saddle stone! I love these things. Stupid, I know, but I can't help it. I just love how they look in the garden. They were used in the UK as supports for buildings in order to keep critters out of grain and what not.

There was also a link to some flickr photos of the actual store, which led to the OhJoy blog, which led to the new tiles from Dwell for Heath Ceramics which then led me to tell you all about all of it! See how that worked?

These tiles are totally a quilter's dream in ceramic. Check these babies out! It's a quilt, but in tile, and not tacky! That's the best part. I'm rather persnickety about tacky tile.

 

I need to tile something in this:

I don't know what just yet, but I'm sure I can find something that needs to be tiled.

I also found The Bicycle Muse on the OhJoy blog. Check these helmut hat covers out!

Yes they are hats for your helmut. I'm completely amused by them.

See what I mean? One thing just leads to another!

I'll leave you with another Hemingway quote that I enjoy:
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach to you keep your mouth shut."
Words to live by.

PS - don't for get about the stash sale the first weekend of August!!! *see July 26th post.

A Stash Sale and Dingle gets a new 'do!

I took Dingle (Daisy) and Magic to the groomer last Friday and got an accidental new 'do for Dingle. I received a call from them mid-morning explaining that she was confused for a different Golden Retriever, and that they accidentally gave her 'a puppy cut'. I just laughed. They were glad I was laughing. It's only hair, it'll grow back, and compared the Dr. Suess-esk haircut my father gave our Old English Sheepdog years ago, it doesn't even rank on the bad-hair-cut-o-meter. My father shaved down her body, and left her head and feet for last since she hated those parts being messed with, and then the clippers died. She looked silly for over 2 weeks while we waited for the new clippers. Dingle before:

Dingle after:

At least they didn't shave Magic!

He smelled so good after his bath that all the dogs kept creeping up on him to get a whif.

As those of you who know Jennie and I personally, you will have heard by now that we, along with our friends Paige and Pattie, are having a giant quilting stash sale Friday August 6th - Sunday, August 8th. The hours are 9-4 daily, and it will be held at 1400 New Haven Drive, Cary Il.

I have been ruthless about culling my stash herd, and am not done yet. Here's a sampling of what I've decided to find good new homes for:

And I'm not done yet! I'm getting to be like DiscoJen, 'just get rid of it' is her mantra! And I have Binding Guru Karen to thank for the organization. She color and genre grouped it all and had the fabulous ideas to use those boxes for easier perusal and shopper ease. I must say some of it was very, very hard to part with, but I was strong, so I hope you all come out and give the fabric a new home. The prices will be great!

Homemade Wedding

Well, it got a little crazy around here, but thanks to a team effort, the 15 table runners were finished in the nick of time forEmily's wedding!

Things were going well, but then my father-in-law had a mishap in Florida and had to have some risky surgery on his neck, so the hubby flew down to be with him the entire week that I was supposed to go to Paige's to quilt the runners. I couldn't very well leave the dogs locked up for 11 hours during the day, then lock them up at night again.

In a panic I asked others for help and Jennie, being the wonderful and amazing friend that she is, said she would quilt them for me on her Grandquilter in exchange for some of my Heather Ross collection. Emily and I found the perfect pantograph to quilt, but it needed to be shrunk down to fit the Grandquilter. Jennie's hubby was able to scale it down to the proper size and it ended up being better than the original size. And because Jennie is awesome, she also squared them all up for me! Isn't she the best?!?!?

Emily helped out with the runners too. She was my ironing minion. She was a big help. Ironing takes a lot of time, so having someone to iron while I cut and sewed was a huge time saver.

Here are the results or our efforts:

We searched TJ Maxx and Homegoods for the pots. Emily had found a few in the colors of the fabric, and we all went on a hunt to find enough of them. Emily's friends planted and nutured the herbs for them and made recipe cards featuring the herbs in that pot. I cut left over fabric to back the recipes.

The little pots are citronella candles that we found at TJ Maxx. They totally matched the pots and the fabric. And as a bonus, they kept the bugs away!

I quilted the pinwheel table runner myself. It's based on the Pleasant Home tablerunner. The fabrics are all Lantern Bloom by Laura Gunn for Michael Miller. It's the same line that I used for my boss's quilt.

The gorgeous pot was created entirely by Emily's friend, I think it was Alison, but I'm not totally sure, so I'll have to double check that. Isn't it perfect?

The cake was awesome! Check out those 3d lantern blooms!

The reception was held at the Glessner House, which has a great history to it. The Glessner family was very interesting, especially the women. If you are in Chicago, you should put it on your list of things to see. The park next door was beautiful too. The ceremony was in the park, and unfortunately, the 30% of scattered showers that we all thought wouldn't be a problem, was a problem.

Beginning of the ceremony:

The rain begins and the men all totally ignore it, but the women are all feeling like Emily.

The men continue to ignore it, but the bride takes action to protect her dress and everything else she worked so hard on. It was cute, she kind of grabbed the two men and they all shuffled to the shelter of the tree.

They planted an oak tree in honor of the Emily and Brett's wedding. The groom's friend performed the ceremony, and gave a little oak tree info while they walked over to it. He read that the oak is associated with Zeus, the god of lightening. He chuckled, looked at the black cloud overhead and said, "that's a little ironic."

The music the whole night was fantastic. The groom is a musician and two of his friends planned and performed all of the music for the ceremony. I didn't get pictures of them unfortunately. The acoustic guitar was really beautiful.

And the food, OMG! The food was beyond good, it was amazing! They did two signature drinks that were perfect for the heat. One was lemonade w/vodka and mint, the other was grapefruit juice w/gin and basil. Emily even found alcohol that was organic and produced here in the midwest. The hubby commented that he doesn't like gin, but he could drink the Death's Door gin all night. And then proceeded to do just that! Luckily the bartenders weren't overly liberal w/ the gin.

The caterer was City Provisions. They try to do things as sustainable as possible and use local and organic ingredients when possible.

Even the hubby, who usually doesn't pay much attention to food was carrying on and on about the food. The chef and I bonded. I really liked him. He told me not to miss the crab cakes, and he was not kidding. Holy cow, they were amazing. I was bummed because I missed the grilled shrimp on grits appetizer when we took the mini tour of the Glessner House.

It was just such a fun wedding. Everyone danced and mingled and talked to people they had never met. A very friendly crowd. Emily's Aunt Mary did the flowers, and they were gorgeous. Other friends helped design the invitations, and Emily took a letterpress class and printed them herself.

She didn't have any attendants, just the children of her friends, and they all wore what ever they wanted. Two of them had on ties made of Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey! The funny thing about that is that Heather Bailey is the sister-in-law to Laura Gunn, the designer of the table runner fabric! What are the chances! Of course no one realized that buy me, with my crazy fabric identification skills.

I have a ton more photos of the runners up close, as well as the zebra and hot pink You Go Girl bag and Fruitcake Christmas quilt that I also made during this time. The issue is that I took the SD card out of the camera to get the photos off of it, and now I can't find the blasted thing. I'm sure it will show up, and it will be someplace stupid where I left it.

Tomorrow I work out at Tammy Tadd's, and Sunday I have tickets to see Sting w/the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Ravinia!!!!!! Thanks Eileen!!!!

DiscoJen, Sophie, Ashley and I are going. The hubby commented that it will be an estrogen-fest. We have been planning our menus. It looks like there will be rain, so I'm going to try to whip up an oilcloth backed blanket tonight for it. And I will be able to use my super cute Liberty of London umbrella if it does rain, so it's all good!