LizzyHouse

Favorite thing #4 or... 5?

Sorry to be so absent! I've just been working like crazy to get everything ready for Market.

SOO. Here is my favorite thing from this week.

it's my Mom's book, City Quilts. Her advanced copy came this week. But to be more specific it's City Aviation. Holy COW! The quilts came home this week, and it was my first time meeting them. I nearly fell out of my proverbial chair. It's incredible!
I'm so proud of her, and all of the work shes done. I know that the book is going to be a huge hit, because her perspective, and work are so unique and beautiful. Not to mention the fact that each of her quilts, if they were painted on canvas, would be considered equivalent to the likes of Josef Albers. She has a real gift.

It's like she trained at the Bauhaus before she was ever even born. 

It's like candy!

So I think me and everyone else involved is on their "pre-market slim down". So there is no candy. There is no cake. There are no sweets. There is no joy.

jk.

But I have to tell you that working with Castle Peeps is like eating candy all day long with all of the benefits and none of the side effects!!!

I think that most candy is probably more visually satisfying than it is actually satiating. Never do you eat a gummy lifesavor or Midnight Milky Way and feel satisfied. NO. You need more. But yuck. After you eat 2x your cats weight in Reeses Pieces you want to die! It makes me feel like candy might not actually be meant for human consumption.

I think for the most part, candy is linked to nostalgic memories of summer, class parties, holidays, and things like that. I actually find now that most candy for me is strictly emotional. We did some serious damage at Target for Easter just because of the memories/happiness it evoked. Knowing better, we shipped everything off to siblings and friends in need of Easter cheer.

Candy case in point: I buy a bag of circus peanuts because I remember how happy/silly they seem to me... I do not buy a bag of circus peanuts because they taste like inflated banana styrofoam. 

So honestly. Castle Peeps fills that need for inverted sugar and colorful memories, without ever having to feel nauseous.

Here is a pic of Finn cooperating with me. Castle Peeps would go well with children, but all I've got is Finn.

also, if you know that you are going to need it/ love it/ use it/ hoard it, go ahead and join the Castle Peeps Flickr Group!

Favorite Thing #3

Let's just say, I wept with Glee. This needs no explanation.

I do love a bit of cake!

It's almost market time!!! That means a number of things. New Fabric. Freak of nature late night sewing. Bad eating/sleeping habits... and anticipation. It's like a semi annual family reunion.

These are my peeps!

But this Market is Especially SPECIAL, because my dear sweet Mother's book is entering into the world. 

SO, in honor of that, and our new found cakely tradition... we are throwing our second semi annual cake party. We will be holding our very own launch for City Quilts. Unfortunately, I will not have a kitchen to bake in, in Minneapolis, so we will be ordering the cake. But hear you me, come Houston, the cake will be mine once more. 

We don't have a location just yet, as I will have to scout out the convention center when we get there, but I will tweet the word when it's all figured out. Here are the facts that we do know:

So forget your diets and come cake with us! Noon on Saturday at some mystery location in the convention center, so it's convenient and we can all get back to work (or schmoozing). Anyone who is attending Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis, Minnesota and loves the House family is welcome to come!

see you there!

Late nights with the Castle Peeps.

This weekend I was in Utah with my Mom and little sister, Ashlee. It was nice to get away from the pre-market craziness for a day and a half, and of course it was really nice to see Ashlee. Oh! and I got a haircut! It looks really nice, and is now ready to grow out... it's a really good transition cut. BC (before cut), my hair was really into that super awkward middle phase: not short, not long, and not cute. No pictures yet, as I am working on a transformation.

Let's talk about Castle Peeps.

It's beautiful. The colors turned out incredibly. It's surprisingly fun to cut. It's my favorite collection to date. All 18 pieces work so well together. In fact, I wouldn't want them to be apart from each other. There is a real functionality to this line that I think my other two lacked. I've been up late lots of nights getting as much distance out of my one yard pieces, because my five yard cuts are off having an adventure of their own... in Idaho... or Oregon... wherever they are... they better work out their issues and get home.

Can't wait to show you more! Have a great week everyone!

Favorite thing #2

My favorite thing this week is definitely my little sisters new blog. 

She is literally one of the funniest people that I have ever met... in my life. Reading Melissa's blog is such a treat, because it isn't really about anything. She's not selling anything, she's not pushing any kind of agenda, she's not trying to get you to listen to her new music, or get you to try a new recipe... there is no business. It's just Melissa being funny about her celebrity crushes, new sewing projects, her cat Minkee, and life in nursing school. 

She is currently garnering all star reviews from our peanut gallery of peeps.

So if you ever want a laugh, check out our Little Melysses S. Grant. She's the House families wild card. You absolutely never know what she will say or do next. And that's why we love her.

straight for the goods.

I think there are magnets in cats, and in fabric. As soon as the box was open, Finn was went straight for the fabric like it was his job.

Now he's just sitting and watching. I guess it is his job.

Only six weeks until Market! I've got big BIG plans! and you guys! You'll all have to come to my School House. It's called Bridging the Gap. Again, I'll talk more about it later, but you'll love it.

Ok. Everybody do the Whirlwind! More pics of Castle Peeps this week!

My Favorite Thing #1

I was going to make a cute little image to post today for the new "my favorite thing" series, but my brain is fried with work stuff... so I opened illustrator, and just sat there staring at it. It's not going to happen today.

BUT regardless, today starts the every Friday display of my Favorite thing from the week! Anyone who knows me, knows that any given thing at any given moment could be my favorite. So this little post will allow me to have new favorites all the time... which is what I do anyway, so I figured I would at least share it.

This weeks favorite thing needs a bit of a back story:

I have always had a love for Hall and Oates, but that love was solidified a couple years back when Mallori bought Allen a Hall and Oates cassette tape from DI to play in his '92 Buick. We literally listened to Hall and Oates greatest hits everyday, every where we went for about 2 years. Unfortunately, Hall and Oates thought it would be clever to slip in a new song, on a cassette of pure gold, with the HORROR know as Adult Education. As punishment from time to time, Allen would make me listen to it. Knowing full well how creepy and weird it was.

Anyway. I love Hall and Oates. So my favorite thing this week is the new The Bird and the Bee album. It's a tribute album to Hall and Oates, singing their greatest hits. It isn't all of their greatest hits, but it sure is nice to listen to, and thankfully they didn't try and pull a fast one by including, Adult Education. 

It's fun to listen to, dance to, and it has been really great to work to. So I highly recommend that you take a listen. It's only 9.99 on itunes! The highlights are definitely: Heard it on the Radio, and Sara Smile.

And that my friends has been my favorite thing.

Have a great weekend! and Happy Easter!

And I'm here now...

It's late, so I will be brief, but most of you will read this in the morning... so I hope it warms your hearts to see me alive and kicking in your google readers.

March was fantastic. I feel enlightened.

There were lots of pros and a few cons.

Here are the cons:

• The first week, I seriously had withdrawal. I self induced the obliteration of my attention span from years and years of overly frequent/ obsessive computer use. I think anyone who has lost their cellphone, been abroad, or gone into the wilderness knows what I am talking about. Serious technology withdrawal. I kept reaching for my laptop and slapping my own hand. I eventually started hiding my laptop, and it worked.
• I did relapse a few days. Almost lost a couple hours to youtube. That was a rough day. Damn you kittens!
• I realized that I don't really have friends in Texas anymore. It's just me, my Mom, Finn, Pine, and Mick, and that tweeting and being on the computer kept me connected in a social way that I missed. 
• That made me feel a little pathetic when I realized that that was true. 

Here are the pros:

• I gained back some of my attention span!
• I successfully changed my email habit from every 40 seconds to 4 times a day.
• I never watched live tv. Only recorded things, and I was working while they were on.
• I kept watching Netflix throughout the month, because I can't really work without a movie playing.  And I decided I am totally ok with that. It helps me stay on track.
• I got a bike, and shed some of my woe is me weight, literally and figuratively
• I submitted a fox piece and was excepted into the 5th issue of Uppercase magazine!
• I have started working on a new secret project that is going to blow your minds, and it has a really super tight deadline, and it has everything to do with Castle Peeps
• I designed 1.5 lines of new fabric
• I read a lot of Steinbeck
• I taught the two Sister Missionaries in my ward to quilt!
• I kept a journal
• I gave myself permission to move on with my life
• I realized where I am going
• and lots and lots and lots of other things.

I feel like March was a blessing in my life. I remember why I started it, to be a more Olympic me, but the finish is so much greater than the start. I had an idea of what I might gain, but there was no real clear point a to point b.

There are a lot of things that I have wanted to do, things that I was planning on doing, but I just wasn't. I don't know what exactly I was waiting for... but I thought a lot about the advice that I give people on a very very regular basis:

Make whatever you want happen.

You are capable of anything and everything.

There is no limit to what you can do, if you decide it is important enough to do.

Well, what the hell was I doing about it? It's like I needed someone to give me permission to move forward. Well, if I was waiting for permission I got it... like a good kick in the pants; I got it.

I believe that we are led to do the things that we do. We all have paths. I know that there is a God who loves us and truly wants the very very very best for each of us. I feel like I've been really lost, and I feel like in that I felt like I was alone. Just left to manage. Well, once I took the time to take the time to shut up and shut everything off; that's when the answers came. That's when the fabric designs came, that's when the new projects came, and that's when the desire to be better all the time came. 

The most amazing thing, the thing that brings me to tears is I wasn't just getting ideas for myself, I was getting inspiration for my peeps too. So not always, but maybe sometimes, if you aren't listening or can't hear, someone else will be, and they can share with you.

That was March. I'm in a new place! April is going to be a little crazy getting ready for Market, and my SCHOOL HOUSE. I'll talk more about that later.

Two new things to the old blog-a-roo (which by the way was 3 years old mid-march).

1. 2 posts a week (that's my goal anyway)

2. a third post on Friday called: "my favorite thing" which will essentially be whatever I deem my favorite thing from Friday to Friday. Be it shoes, a tweet, a new recipe... you name it... it's probably my favorite.

Ok. So if you get a chance. Do a media detox. Or just create the chance. There are so many things waiting for you. 

oh and ps. my hair has gotten really long (for me).. also, this was not brief. It turned into something else...