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I came home to buttons today!  Lovely Pat from my home state of California read my pathetic tale of being stymied in my search for buttons and she emailed me and graciously offered to share her supply of vintage buttons with me.  Can you think of anything kinder?  And she made it sound like I was doing her a favor by taking some off her hands.

Pat I can’t thank you enough.  Look at all those buttons.  I have plenty to get me started on my projects.  I have to find a pretty jar to put them in – I love how that looks.  So evocative of a gentler time, when recycling was just second nature and things like buttons or worn out dresses would be re-purposed into some other needed item.

Speaking of projects I have to come up with one because I am going to my very first quilting retreat this weekend.  I admit to being nervous because I will be in the company of some very accomplished quilters and I am such the novice.  And, well you all know what kind of sewing machine I have. 

I feel like the kid going to a Girl Scout overnight without a proper sleeping bag (that actually happened to me – we were living in Ankara at the time and we didn’t have one so we followed the directions for creating a bedroll out of blankets right out of the Girl Scout handbook.  Let me tell you it doesn’t stay together AT ALL while you are sleeping.  And let me also tell you that 9 year old girls, even Girl Scouts, can be mercilessly unkind if you stand out even a tiny bit).

Where was I?  Oh yes – quilting.  I am assured by my sister Nicole that 99.9% of all quilters are fabulously kind and won’t mock my sewing machine or lack of skills.  In fact what better place to get some tips and good advice?

I was going to buy new fabric for the weekend but in all good conscious I couldn’t because I have about four projects just waiting for me (I see all you quilters out there looking at me, indulgently, thinking that four projects in the wings is NOTHING – I know how you operate.  Stash indeed).  So I decided to work on my Christmas table topper.  The fabric is Maison de Noel by 3 Sisters.  I am going to make a very simple around the world pattern.  I think I can handle that.  This topper is a total copy of one my niece made (maybe hers was a throw sized quilt, now that I think of it) and I even have her book with her little bits of fabric glued in it as a guide. 

I just have to cut the fabric which is my very very very least favorite part.  It’s probably why I buy fabric and then never make anything – I can’t get past that first step. 

I love the shades of red and green in this line.  It’s not overtly Christmasy either – just the one holly print.  I could leave it out all year if I wanted to.  The plaid will be the backing and I think the toile is a containment border.  I have to check Sara’s notes.  I know better than to try to piece with the silky plaid material.  One project I actually did finish had that same type of fabric and it was a bear to work with for a beginner.  It just kept getting away from me and my seams were all wavy.

Goodness maybe next week I’ll have a post on a finished project.  Wouldn’t that be something!

Actually the title should be mockingbird of sleepless nights.  For the past several nights I have been bedeviled by a mockingbird outside my bedroom window.  Oh lord is he ever loud.  And persistent.  If being woken up in the middle of the night wasn’t bad enough when I went out to my car yesterday it had been pooped on, quite dramatically I might add, by the same darn bird.  I’m sure of it.

About 15 years ago when we moved into a new house I woke up in the middle of the night because of a mockingbird.  Only it wasn’t the bird that woke me it was my husband standing out in the driveway in his underwear throwing rocks up into a pine tree.  I thought he had lost his mind.  Never mind the impression he was making on our new neighbors. 

So I get up and wait for the light of day so I can take pictures. 

This pretty teacup was given to me by my niece Sara.  She just started collecting Paragon teacups and saw this one and thought I needed to have it for my birthday.   I love pink and gold together.  It reminds me of the old I. Magnin gift boxes. 

I think what I love best about a lot of Paragon teacups is that the outsides tend to be elegantly restrained and the inside so opulent and lush.  A little gift for the drinker of the tea.

istockphoto

I’ve been tagged with the honorable Thinking Blogger Award by Marilyn of Ivy and Lace Cottage, Cindy at Romantic Homes, and my very own sister Nicole of Sister’s Choice.  I am so very flattered to be included as one of the blogs that inspires you in some way.

I had to laugh as I read Cindy’s post because she says anyone that has a blog should get the award because if you are like her then blogging is something you are thinking about constantly.  When I leave the house I aways check to make sure I have my keys, my cell phone and my camera because you just never know when blogging inspiration is going to strike you and you best be prepared!

I couldn’t possibly just list five blogs that inspire me – look at my list on the right – that’s only a partial list of the blogs that inspire me and that I frequently visit.  I’ve just been too lazy to update my links (okay okay – it’s on my to do list).

When I started blogging nine months ago I did it more as a journal for myself.  I’ve never been able to keep a regular, hand written journal because in order for my thoughts to flow cohesively and somewhat coherently (most of the time) I have to be typing.  My brain doesn’t work when I write by hand.   So I started a blog, writing to an imaginary reader.  Amazingly enough I started getting some real, live readers and that’s when the inspiration really started.  I felt, what?  Validated, in some small way, I suppose.  I’m read ~ therefore I am.  It’s very basic, this universal need to be heard.

So what I am trying to get at is that my inspiration is you.  Yes you.  Thank you for listening to me.