LizzyHouse

Little Shop, Little Shop of Patterns.

You can sing my title to the tune of "Little Shop of Horrors"... one of my all time favorite musicals. I played Ronette...

But this is just a friendly notification that my little pattern store is open. The patterns are on pre-sale right now, and will be shipped as soon as they arrive. This isn't the permanent look... or even the permanent location, but will be for now. Also, I will continue to add things over the next few days

enjoy!

WAM!

Eat your heart out peeps!

Pre-Sale starts tomorrow!

correction! pre-sale starts Monday!

This embroidery dream was designed and brought to life by Nicole of Follow the White Bunny, an embroidery genius!

Dream Journal Challenge

I think it's really difficult to form good habits. I take it back. I know it's really difficult to form good habits. But I am always trying to. And hopefully the more small good habits I get, the easier it will be to add more and more positive, effective, and good habits on to those. I think you need a good habit foundation. You can't build your house on failed diet attempts, or spent savings... but you can lay a foundation for success.

Soooo. I am starting a dream journal. I have been giving it a lot of thought. A couple weeks back I had been tweeting about my dreams each morning and they were a. crazy and b. fleeting. So I am going to commit to writing down my dream each morning when I wake up. If I haven't had a dream that I can recall, I will just write a short little bit about how I slept.

I want to be my own resource. Won't that be cool to reference yourself? For artwork or poetry or short fiction or quilts or whatever?

So I want to challenge anyone who wants to play along. Here are my personal guidelines for you:

Don't start on a Monday. If you start on a Monday, and then you don't actually start then you feel bad about it and won't start till next week and the likely hood of actually EVER starting gets lower and lower. Commit to a random Thursday, or something.

Write the dream down as best you can. Explain it in your own way... whether that is through words or images, or even bullet points.

You don't have to make this a major time commitment. Just give it a few minutes each morning, and beware, the longer you wait the farther you get from the real deal.

Ok? Does anyone want to do this with me?

Also, I am using a blank Moleskinne large cahier in black. So there you have it. And to start off I'll share my dream from this morning.

I was by myself. I was at a large corporation/ government kind of place... it was very 1984. I was infiltrating the place. I built up relationships, and got other inside people. Then after I had been there for some time, a few of my friends from real life showed up. Mallori, and one other person I knew, but never saw their face. I worked out a plan on how to achieve a specific thing... about shutting them down. Very 007. And then I did my plan, and it went really well, but then it started over and I went back to the beginning of the plan, and I refined it each time. The 4th time got a little clumsy, the timing of things was off, and the faces of the people I was working with were changing... but I was still successful. I could feel how nervous I was, and also how cautious. At the same time I could feel that I had pushed it aside to do whatever it was that I was doing to shut these people down. It was like espionage Ground Hogs Day starring Bill Murray. The color of the dream was very cool. Lots of gray with bits of green, and caution tape with yellow. The feeling was cold and dangerous.

End scene with the AC dude knocking on the door.

see? Easy Peasy. And maybe that could come in handy later... who knows, anyway it is written. 

what are you dreaming about?

Sovereign Picnic

I had been waiting to get the perfect picture of this quilt... then I decided that I wasn't so concerned with perfect, I was concerned with my self imposed deadline. Luckily, in my opinion, they were able to meet up in the middle.

So with my skills, and Melissa's skills combined... we got a really cool shot. Melissa made the dress and modeled and I made the quilt, cut the watermelon into cubes, laid out the quilt and shouted directions in 105 degree pre-rain weather. I don't know if it actually started raining after we shot, but it was pretty threatening before. The sun really worked to our advantage! I know you aren't really supposed to shoot at noon, but I didn't mind rotating. And we House's know how to model in direct sunlight with our eyes open. We live on the wild side, obviously. Anyway, it made the pictures seem like I was using a really intense flash, which was cool and also gave them a vintage kind of feel.

I was happy. And I hope you are happy.

Check out Melissa's blog for the details on the dress! Which really looks cool in the orange flags, I must say! 

Props for the shoot. These are my favorite dishes I own. I found the whole set at the Boutique Salvation Army right by the Costco in Portland last summer. 24 pieces for $14. I recall on that day my friend Darcy bought not one, but 2 Teddy Rupskin's.

These are some of my favorite shots. Also, this is a peek at our back yard, and a wake up call for the peeps who still think Texas is a desert.

Something I owe you.

Ok. I owed these to you in June. Squam, surgery, sisters, birthdays, and summer kept me from you, and in turn you from them. Here is the first round of a not so sneak peeks. Round two tomorrow, if I am lucky.

These patterns, and a few other, wink wink nudge nudge, will be available for pre-sale at the end of the week. If you are a store and are low on Castle Peeps, stock up now!

and a tiny peek at the back of the Night Watch cover.

pretty cool huh?

Last day of Camp

Hi everyone,

Today is the last day of Castle Peeps Summer Camp. Thankfully there won't have to be any tearful goodbyes. Instead you just get to look back and reflect, make, or be inspired by all the great projects that were contributed to CPSC this summer.

So make sure that you head on over to Amanda's, of Ms.McPorkchop fame, to check out her Castle Peeps Party Bunting post! Amanda is brilliant. Check out her flickr and weep. She's got it going on for sure.

Who doesn't want mid-century medieval party bunting? Get cracking peeps!

Tomorrow I will post a wrap up of the camp so you can remember what a great time you have had this summer!

To wrap up our summer, me and Melissa are taking a baby road trip to San Antonio tomorrow to go to Fiesta Texas. It should be great!

Castle Peeps Summer camp tonight!

Sorry for the delay today! I'm flying out the door to go to a brief family reunion at my cousin's place in Des Moines, Iowa. We are going to the fair. It's supposed to be a great State Fair... and all I can say is that I better meet a reporter who has to really weigh the decision to be with me, or keep up his big time job. And I will only be satisfied if my Mom wins in the jam and jelly contest with her famous mincemeat, by getting the head judge drunk. She's a little heavy handed with the brandy. A winner is a winner... that's what I think anyway. But I'll tell you what, if Blue Boy doesn't win the grand prize in the pig contest I just don't what I will do. That and someone is going to fall in love with a jazz singer... doesn't someone always fall in love with a jazz singer?

oh wait... that's State Fair by Rogers and Hammerstein.

Check out Maya's Summer Camp project tonight. Maya is in my opinion, a master human being. She's a feeler and a thinker, a maker and a doer, and I am grateful to know her. So whatever she does is sure to be golden. 

have a great weekend everyone! And if the Summer Camp project, or the State Fair clip weren't enough... I turned in new artwork for a new collection of fabric on Tuesday, and that's all I can say about that until it comes out. Too many people like stealing my things, so you'll get a big wow when it's really out and about.

lovedove,

Lizzy

videofilm.

Here is my schoolhouse from Spring Market. I mention in the vid that my patterns will be out "next month," three months later, I am still working on it. It has been a crazy summer. But no worries, they will be out soon. Honestly. Also, I was really parched during my session so my mouth was really dry so I kept licking my teeth. That isn't a normal habit of mine...

Also, I look 12...maybe 15, and really I do have eyebrows.

Beyond that I hope you enjoy.

Castle Peeps Tournament.

Hiya Campers!

Are you still with me? It feels like we've been separated, and that's pretty much my fault as I am currently being haunted by a new line of fabric that has become quite the challenge to finish. It's past due and sucking the life out of me!!!

Bottom line. There are only a few weeks of camp left, and I hope you will stay with me!

This week, prepare to have your mind blown! Your counselor, Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts, has made an incredible "Tic-Tac-Toe on the Go" board. I just love it, and the great thing is, is you can pretty much play anywhere! Fantastic. So head on over to Julie's for the great full tutorial, and get going!

Have you had a favorite camp project?

Here is a recap:

week 1

week 2

week 3

week 4

week 5

week 6

Needless to say, I hope you are having fun!