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My Favorite Things...101...Two for the Load!

Some of you may have noticed that Cheryl Winslow posted a comment that "you should have a 13th bear"...Alas, it's less than a week before Christmas, and "the bears have left the building"...as in, the bears have left Target ("Tar-Jaay").  But wait, what about our wee tiny bears Boo & Honey?  Some of you will remember them from front & center at our FQM booth, if not look here...Well, they are ba-ack, and better than ever thanks to Cheryl...Here's a few pics of their antics...

Cheryl nick named them Bear Claw and Bear Paw...Here they are giving each other a "tiny-bear-hug", on their wee Navajo inspired quilts...

Monkey see, Monkey do...

Wherever you'll be, what ever you do, as long as we'll be there together...

Hands are for Holding...

Alas, here they are all ready to go to good homes...Cheryl made her quilts into little sleeping bags...she said "so that the bears will travel well"...

I told her if she kept going, before long she'd have an entire mobile home made of fabric, and that she'd better stop now (while she still could)!

Here's a closer look at Cheryl's two mini-mini quilts...

Tomorrow, we'll announce the new home(s) for all of our new furry friends...
Stay there "12 Bears" fans, 'Tis the season, and I guarantee you, it truly is better to give than receive...

Back in two shakes...H2

 

My Favorite Things...84...Tiny Bears All in a Row & Kitty Cats All Aglow?

In case I haven't mentioned it, things have been absolutely nuts around "The LakeHouse" here since market.  I came into my studio this morning, and the bears were all waiting to see me.  They wanted to remind me to tell you about a "Bearly There Special Event" that we have planned for Xmas.  I will be covering this fun new project in HOLLYBLOG really soon.  But I'm not quite ready to tell you the details yet, so you'll all just have to stay tuned...and keep a watchful eye  ;)

It the midst of all of the excitement here with the bears, Di & Shirley & Jackie found the new Feb 2008 McCall's magazine...

Not one of you mentioned seeing the quilt that I designed that was supposed to be in there too...and since I have yet to actually lay eyes on the magazine, I am wondering if it's even in this issue?...

Meanwhile Sandy Kitty, part of Pam Kitty's posse in the Bay area photoshopped her way into the fray...I am guessing this was originally part of an internet ad (for naughty behavior?...LOL), but I have talking bears in my office, so who am I to judge?

So much more to show and tell, I can hardly contain myself!

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...81...Editors with a Sense of Humor!

Some of you may remember that I offered a prize to the first person to find the February 2008 issue of McCall's...

No one has actually had a siting yet, but a few of you have reported that you are on the prowl for it...
Apparently there has been a slight delay getting the magazine into the stores...This picture's just in of the McCall's editorial staff:  Kathy Patterson, Beth Hayes, Ellie Brown & Lise Neer...Now you know what you are looking for! 

So let's up the ante, shall we?...first THREE people with pictures of themselves with the magazine (open the to the blogging article) wins a prize...!

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...60a...Who Wants to Lick the Beaters?

Day 13 of 13 A Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts -- Part One

While we're renovating, what passes for a kitchen at the Boulders (aka Casa God Awful) is in the basement.  This gives the cats, Kammie especially, a bird's eye view of what's cooking!

She knew we were due to make our entry for the Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts, so Kammie wore her new Cherry Baby bib to celebrate the occasion...(thanks Auntie Megan!)

Here's the little hoover herself, waiting patiently for good fortune to shine on her...

Pink is her favorite color...

Who wants to lick the beaters?

Hey wait a minute, this is my party...and besides I was here first & mom loves me best!

Lickety-Split.

And they licked...

And they licked...

And the party's only just begun!

Please join us again tomorrow morning for part two of the last of our Baker's Dozen of Dazzling Delicious Desserts!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, the last is really just the beginning...right after that, we'll have prizes galore for not only our favorite DDDD bloggers, but also our favorite guest commenters.  And I'm giving you all 24 hours to think something up!...a funny observation, a favorite family food story, etc...

I'll even have a list of other blogs you might enjoy visiting for more delicious recipes.

Back in two shakes!...H2

Oh, and one more ridiculous thing...I don't want you to think that I don't enjoy your comments.  But for over 3 weeks now, I have not been able to receive your comments, nor have I been able to reply to them, as I normally try to do.  I have contacted typepad's tech support over 6 times, with no change.  Have any other typepad bloggers had this problem?  They just keep telling me "we're looking into it"  "rest assured, we're looking into it" "hold your pants on, little lady"...blah, blah, blah...uh oh, I'm whining again.

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My Favorite Things...59...Marvelous Megan!

Day 12 of 13 A Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts

Laverne & Shirley, Lucy & Ethel, Thelma & Louise...

Megan & me...

It's true opposites attract...
She's a people person, I'm a bit of a loner.
She's the nice one, I whine a lot.
She's coiffed and manicured every day, I am "Miss Yoga-Pants".

Those of you who've met or talked with Megan over the phone, know that Megan knows just the right thing to say.  She's also incredibly well-rounded (annoyingly so!); and in addition to wearing a lot of hats here at LakeHouse Dry Goods, she is a prolific quilter, has been the president of several guilds, and is, as I like to say "our own Erma Bombeck".

If you want to hear Megan and me being interviewed recently by quilting's podcast queen Annie Smith, click here.

So here she is, super-mom & domestic goddess Marvelous Megan Johnson...Let's give her a big hand, won't you?

Back in two shakes...H2

Oh, and here's a few quotes from Erma:

"Insanity is hereditary. You can catch it from your kids."

"In general, my children refused to eat anything that hadn't danced on TV."

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'"

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My Favorite things...56...Cat Snacks

Day 9 of 13 A Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts

"What's for dessert?"  (Setting aside her catnip-flavored-bong*) Vickie asked, donning her new monogrammed bib...

And tonight, V is also for Vivian...Vivian Love to be exact (what a great name, and oh the alliteration!)...She's yet another online blogging buddy who just happened to be a) in the small world category, a friend and neighbor of the marvelous Gina Halladay of Quilter's Buzz  b) showing a quilt on her blog back in July that she made for a her daughter's wedding gift...and somehow pictures of that quilt came back to me.  I am so glad it did...It seems like it took years for someone to come up with the easiest, (and  IMHO one of the prettiest), quilts using the now famous Hydrangeas & Raspberries fabric.  You can read the whole story and see it on Vivian's blog.

Tonight, Vivian also has a special dessert for you...and perhaps a peak at what she's working on too.  Could it be something for FQM?  Just wondering...Chocoholics take notice, here's Vivian...

Back in two shakes...H2

*come on, lighten up, you think her eyes are spooky and stoned looking too, right?

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Favorite Things...49...The Cat's Out of the Bag?!

Day 2 of 13  A Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts

This is our little office trouble maker..."Crown Vic" aka "Vickie Von Dixel"...I bet with a little work in Photoshop, I could turn her into a purse...(doesn't she look like she's got a handle growing out of her back?) For some background on Vickie see my post from June 25th...

Let me explain what you are seeing in the photo...Vickie is on a 6 foot long low bench (one of two) that I lay out the new fabric swatches on, as they come in from our mill in Korea.  On a tack wall behind the benches I have the May 2007 LakeHouse Library cards pinned in place so that I can see how the all of the existing and new designs work together.  It's fairly late in the game now, so I have all of the Fall 2007 intro fabrics all laid out in neat little waterfall style piles to approximate how the salesman sample cards will be laid out.  I guess it's really my fault that Vick decided that she could make herself comfortable on top of these new fabric samples.  Somewhere in the midst of the day, I must have thrown my purse ontop of all of this arrangement, and the next thing I know Vickie's enjoying "the splendor of of it all"...(rolling around on her back, of course!)

You know how it is with cats, whatever you are working on is the place that they want to be, right?

Our guest today is yet another animal-loving-quilter...Brenda Riddle of "From Little Acorns" fame. Bren is also getting ready for FQM, and she's made something "yummy for your tummy" too.

Take it away Brenda !

Oh, and just so all of you out there in the quilting blog-o-sphere don't think that our all of our guests are working on projects with only LakeHouse fabrics, I'll give you a hint:  tomorrow's guest is one of the most prominent jewels in the "Moda Crown"...Hope to see you then.

Back in two shakes...H2

 

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My Favorite Things...40...Midlife Crush

A man who loves to cook, loves to talk about cooking, is a tall, sinewy, sexy drink of water...that man is Anthony Bourdain, cooking's bad boy.  I am am here to bring you a trifecta of hilarious and roudy "reads" for what's left of your summer.

Oddly, I started eating at his restaurant eons before he became a best selling author...why did I make the huge trek down town to 28th and Park when I live 2 very expensive cab rides away uptown?  Great bread, large tables of good looking men to look at, great wine, really cute waiters in ties and denim shirts, the New York City's absolute Best French Fries and that Parisian favorite "steak frites" (steak with french fries).

"Kitchen Confidential" is what put Anthony Bourdain on the map..."A Cook's Tour" memorializes his "global adventures in extreme cooking", and "The Nasty Bits" are some of the gems he's penned since becoming a globe trotting cable network chef & demi-god...Just Google him...I'm not the only one who is reminded of bad-boy boyfriends of days gone by.

Read it, you'll like it. My one caveat is that he is as take-no-prisoners and foul mouthed as one of our quilt community's own---let's just say a famous (infamous?) magazine editor and leave it to that.

Reminder, our blog-able feast starts in early September...think chocolate, lemon, creamy, flaky, crispy, crunchy, raspberry, chiffon, apple, chocolate, blueberry, repeat...It will be a baker's dozen worth.

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...22a

Remember the movie Eraser Head...the extreme lighting and the cast shadows of the guys hair against the wall?

She could've been in pictures.

See you tomorrow...H2

My Favorite Things...21

The Circus came to town yesterday and my friend Amy emailed me this picture with the caption "geez, and I can't even get Gizmo to do "paw"...Gizmo is her Shi Tzu.

Next time, part one of my northern CA trip...

Back in two shakes...H2