I am pleased to annouce that I am a Pellon Designer! Woot!! Checkout the Pellon blog!

We ate a lot of spectacular food in PDX. Monumental food.

First up was Slow Burger. We went to The Standard – which was a pretty hip little bar in it’s own right – but they didn’t have a hood and couldn’t cook real food. I feel like for six bucks an app, that shit better be cooked, right? Toaster ovens don’t cut it, this isn’t KC Mo. I digress. Slow Burger was pretty great. There were only a few things on the menu and the walls were lined with PBR (cha, right?) and apparently it’s owned by the same dude who owns a super hip bar called Slow Bar. Given how long it took to make two burgers (they’re not kidding, this grub is slow) I can only imagine what ordering a drink would be like.

“Where the fuck is my drink?”
“Oh, sorry m’am, we’re wringing the alcohol vapors out of a local hipster before we swish them in our house house hippy bitters…”

Next little gem was Frank’s Noodle House. While I want to make jokes about a Chinese dude named Frank, I can’t because the food was so damn good. The kimchee was the best I’ve ever had, the noodles were hand made and holy god the dumplings were orgasmic.

I will say though, the fried noodles were way better than the soup… not to say the soup was anything to sneeze at, just get the fried babies.

My Father’s Place was nearly impossible to find. I know that’s really dumb to say because it’s kind of in the middle of everything (everything being a string of cute bars, venues and other cool places to sip PBR and smoke American Spirits on the sidewalk) but it’s not labeled very well. It just says “diner” or “lounge” or something vague like that on the awning. It was fantastic. That burger had an egg in it. And ham. And all the other beasts of land and sea. It was like Noah’s Arc on a bun. My eggs Benny was pretty bangin’ too.

Plus, they have a photobooth.

The last place I want to encourage you to nom is a little African food truck at the PDX Saturday market. I didn’t get a picture because I was too busy explaining to a family where their shellshocked, peremed-up midwesty tween could get some white-people-friendly food. (The 80′s called, they want their xenophobia back…)

En fin, we did not get donuts. Both, yes both, Voodoo Donuts were packed. Like, lines around the block. I don’t care how cute your snacks are, there is no way I’m waiting in line for a zombie-shaped hunk of fried dough.

Oh Internets, QM was a crazy/scary/wonderful dream… I can’t even tell you how much fun I had!

The quilts were beautiful. I think this one is seriously monumental.

The booths + fabric were great. Alexander Henry’s booth was awesome. The dolls, the Ghastlies… winning, lots of winning.

Rashida Coleman Hale’s booth was also one of my favorites. Simple, classy, delicate. She’s super nice too, just in case you’re wondering.

Booth-y, booth-y, booth-y!

I fucked around with Jenny. She’s incredibly funny and nice and lovable!

I tried my best to freak her out…

Ha. I love her. I just want to put her in my furry bunny pocket and take her everywhere!

Can we talk for 30 seconds about how great and match-y the floors were? I want that hexie floor so bad it hurts! How, oh HOW do I get one of these?!

So much good food.

So much photobooth.

So much top-secret fun! Can’t wait to spill the beans!

Love these girls. (Rachael + Kelly)

And this girl. She’s so cute I wanna throw her girl into traffic! (Kat.)

Thanks, ladies, you made my weekend magical!

Oh, zombie dolls, I love you more than wor-

AAArgghh…

3/4 have arms and legs…

1/4 has nothing…

1/4 has a shirt….

1/4 is just always nakkey, so that’s taken care of.

You can’t really tell, but they’re all different shades of green which totally cracks me up!

My business cards arrived! I’m so excited to give them away!! There are a ton of them, so I figure I’m going to give them to everyone. Even people who don’t want them.

And here’s my freshly dyed bedhead. I’m pretty stoked that both Rachael and I are going to be rocking the Manic at QM!

I just have to show you guys this. My friend made it (and kind of gave it to me/I stole it) and I love it.

In other news, I started a pretty ambitious + out of left field project…

Quirky zombies! I’ve got four (well, three zombies and a skeleton) in the works and let me tell you – these babies are absolutely to die for! (Cha, I went there…) I was thinking about interfacing and remembered this old trick to interface your stuffies so they don’t get distorted and bloat-y when you stuff them… and it just kind of hit me – stuffed zombies! Quick u-turn to Joann’s for some green fabric and here I am. I figure I’ve got until Friday to finish these guys and one or two other little things and I can totally make four zombies in three days! Can’t wait to show you how cute they look when they’re finished!

Just a quick litte pop-by to show off a kind of cool new quilt I started. I’ve been cutting up my scrap box into 1.5″ squares with the idea of making something… first I did those 9patches, but I have to say, I don’t love it. Next thought was postage stamp random… but once organized all the bits into color piles, this just kind of happened.

I really shouldn’t have started sewing them together. I’m not sure how to make it grow now. The finished blocks are just so much smaller than the cut pieces that I don’t know how anything lines up anymore… I may have screwed myself, but I think I’m going to keep paying around. I like that it has a kind of nebulous growth pattern, it just kind of mushes into another color naturally. We’ll see what happens, right?

Been working on some new stuff for the shop. Clocharde shop, not etsy shop. 

Made some business cards… for Quilt Market. Which I will be going to. In a week and a half. (Insert freakout here…) I’ve got some QM related news that I’m not sure if I can share yet, but let me tell you, it’s giving me a stroke. Speaking of which, I randomly found out that I have a small chunk of money that appeared out of literally nowhere… which is pretty much the only reason I can afford to go. Thank you sweet Our Lady of Perpetual Tention, you saved my ass!

The lovely Thomas Knauer gave me some advice (he designs fabric, so obviously he’s a grown-up, right?) and now the back of my cards are yellow with white writing. Much better.

If you’re going to QM, let me know and we can meet/photo/kick it like rockstars! XO!

I’m sure you’ve all figured out wether or not you won Covert Robin prizes or not, but in case this is news to you…

winner of a vintage sheet fat quarter pack from Cassie (elegantitus) is: Shannon of Sweet Puddles

winner of a gift certificate from Clara (Clover & Violet) is: Ruth of ruth plus two

winner of a lotta scrap bag from Courtney (mon petit lyons) is: Bobbie of From This to That

winner of a handmade market tote from Jane (buzzmills) is: Wendi of Sew Cat Sew Creations

winner of a fat quarter bundle from Jill (Made with Moxie) is: Samantha of At Home with Mrs. H.

winner of pdf patterns from Karen (Sew Well Maide) is: Melissa of a happy stitch

winner of a gift certificate from Kelley (casa crafty) is: Lilly of Lilly Hillage Urban Textile Art

winner of a creativity pack from Melissa (a happy stitch) is: Nissa of Nissa Made

winner of an embroidery kit from Rachael (imagine gnats) is: Lisa of In The Boon Docks

winner of organic zippers from Stephanie (The Crafty Kitty) is: Kelley of Casa Crafty