Let's just drag birthday week out as long as possible, shall we? I didn't get home until nearly 9:00 on Friday night, after running all sorts of errands, and I was still so pooped on Saturday that I took a three hour nap. That may have had something to do with the fact that I also cleaned out the chicken coop, and swept off another big section of driveway. Enough with the excuses, however, I have another giveaway to tell you about.

I felt the need to make something with paper today, so I made a little set of pamphlet-style notebooks, and experimented with an accordion book. The accordion book is a little wonky, but I like how it looks standing up like this, and the pages are my favorite printmaking paper. I know I've talked about my old red book for sketching and ideas and quotes, but I also usually have a little notebook in my purse for to-do lists and grocery lists, and other sorts of temporary scribblings. So I hope you will find these handy, and very usable. They all have Amy Butler cardstock covers, and two of the notebooks have brown paper pages and for the third I used ledger paper. 

Speaking of Friday night errands and grocery lists, lately I'm all about visiting ethnic grocery stores. This week I did the bulk of my shopping at 99 Ranch, a local Asian grocery store. It's gigantic, and they have all sorts of interesting things, including a deli with my new current obsession, banh mi (Vietnamese/French-style sandwiches). I also got ingredients for my gyoza and vegetables for a couple stir-fry dinners this week. Last week I visited a Mexican grocery store and made a big batch of Chile Verde. Their produce was so cheap (tomatoes for 59 cents a pound!), and I even treated myself to a carnitas taco from the taco counter at the front of the store that was one of the best I've ever had, and only $1.50. Of course I can't forget my favorite ethnic grocery store, Mitsuwa Market, home of all sorts of wonderful Japanese deliciousness. Between these three, Trader Joe's and Fresh & Easy, I almost never have to go to a regular grocery store, and I definitely spend less. So today's giveaway question is: Where do you do most of your grocery shopping? Any hidden gems to share? 

I'm also really excited to show you this book (Quilts, Baby!), which arrived this week:

I think the official release date is May 5, but Amazon says it's shipping in 1-3 weeks. I have two patterns in here, but even if I didn't, I would still want to buy it, there's a whole lot of cuteness inside. Here are my patterns, a bubbles quilt, and one with little crosses:

And here are some of my favorites by other quilters:

I think I'm going to use this pattern for the bird baby quilt I'm making, and will use the bird print instead of solid yellow for the big rectangles. And holy moly is this one adorable:

I love this one so much, those little cats climbing the stairs just kill me:

Okay, thanks for looking at all those pictures of books. There might be one more giveaway tomorrow, I'm working on something and I'm not sure if it's going to pan out, fingers crossed!

I hope you are all had a LOVEly Valentine’s Day! We don’t go to crazy around here, a bucket of KFC and maybe a card or some flowers is the norm, but Mr. HeyLucy was feeling virtuous yesterday and decided to forgo the usual fried chicken indulgence. We made prime rib instead, and it was delicious.

I have some happy gifts for you: a few fun little game links. Gatuno is a cute adventure game. You are a cat trying to find a sad little boy a Christmas present. Wrong holiday, but the sentiment is the same. If you find that one too frustrating (and there is a walk-through available here, in the comments), here’s a super simple adventure created as a project by an animation student. The music and imagery are quite nice, even if it takes only about a minute to play the entire game. This isn’t actually a game, but it’s fun to watch (make sure you have your sound on!). Hema is a Dutch store that I loved when I lived there, sort of like a smaller version of Target. And the most imaginative of all, I’ve saved for last. Samorost is so original and lovely. It wasn’t too hard to figure out, and the graphics and sounds are just so perfect. It’s a nice little escape.

I’ve decided to do a small project or two towards the completion of my studio project each weekend, and use the rest of my free time for actually playing and enjoying the space. The projects for this weekend included putting up a shelf above my worktable:

I’ll be using it to display art. I have a few things awaiting frames right now, and a tiny Amy Ruppel painting on the way, so I’ll show more when things are nicely arranged and displayed. I also recently ordered some Black Apple paper dolls. I spent yesterday cutting and mounting them in Ikea frames, and I love they way they came out. I hung them right where I set up my ironing board when I need it, so I can enjoy them while I iron.

So far this weekend I’ve also finished knitting my latest scarf, made a couple more shot-cotton scarves for gifts, and started a new quilt. I’m planning on spending a good amount of time in my sewing machine chair, so I hope to have a quilt top to show you soon. The crocheted cushion is courtesy of one of my favorite internet people ever, Yvonne. It was part of our annual Christmas swap and I love it with the cushion I’ve got on there.

Now I just need to decide on a color to paint the chair. What do you think? Maybe it’s time for an opinion poll.

Thanks for always bing so nice around here. A couple pictures from my home were recently featured on Apatment Therapy, which is incredibly flattering, but the commenters over there are awfully full of snark. I don’t really understand why anyone would take time out of their day to criticize something as personal as another persons home, but I suppose it’s their decision how they use their time.

I'm back from visiting family for the holidays, and I have so much to show and tell. I also had a long day at work, so I'm just popping in to share some pictures of the quilt that was worked on, although not finished, and I'll catch up some more very soon.

I took the four-pointed star quilt with me, and my sister, sister-in-law, and I put it up. Cary didn't like the way the corner was looking, so he decided to fix it for us.

Please notice that he is wearing a wrist pincushion. Maybe I should add this to his mySpace. I'm sure his fans would be impressed.

We didn't get a ton of quilting done, but it's well underway and I hope to finish it soon.

I'm back to normal! I was so disappointed to get a cold last week, it's been about two and a half years since I've had a bad cold or flu. I was going for a new record and instead I got sick twice in a month. That's just dumb.

I feel terribly behind, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. I have e-mail and comments to respond to, and I will get to it soon, promise! I'm not ignoring anyone, just trying to get all caught up. Meanwhile I promised to share quilt tops, so here is a little glimpse:

It was dark and gloomy this weekend, so this is the best I can do for now, but I think you can see that I've got quite the bonanza here. I think my New Year's resolutions for 2009 will involve finishing a couple quilts, starting with the Double Wedding ring quilt.

I need to do a little research first. I'm somewhat concerned about the stitching. It's all done by hand, and I'm not sure just how sturdy it is. There are a few places where pieces need to be restitched. I think the fabric itself is still in good shape. Also, the rings are actually the edges of the quilt, it's not square, so I think I have to turn the edges under and sew it by hand? Or can I bind it normally? It would be a pain, but it's doable with a bias binding. I'm just not sure if that's how it's traditionally done. Any expert quilters out there? Mom, what do you think? Either way, it's going to be so cute when it's done.

The four-pointed star is fun too. I haven't looked too carefully, but I don't think there are many fabrics repeated. I think it might have been made from the family's old clothes. These quilts have been in the family for a long time, my mother-in-law doesn't sew or do any kind of handicrafts, and she doesn't really know who made what or when it was made. I think the fabrics look like they are mostly from the 1930s and 1940s.

I feel like I hit the lottery with these quilts. There will be periodic updates, I'm sure. I'd really like to finish and use them. That seems like the best tribute I can give their makers.

Despite the gloominess outside, it was warm and cozy inside our little house, and I put up the Christmas tree last night while the fire was roaring in the stove (thanks to Mr. HeyLucy, fire-builder extraordinaire). Between the tree and the fire the cats were in heaven. At one point I found Lucy sitting in the middle of the tree, precariously balanced across several branches. Oi. They especially like it when the lights are on. I still have all my glass ball ornaments to hang, but that should be done sometime over the next couple days. I wire them to the branches with florist wire, so the cats can't easily bat them off, although they will try.

I also made the most delicious hot chocolate ever, to sip under the Christmas tree lights. Here's the recipe, if you want to try it yourself:

For each serving mix together in a saucepan: a generous teaspoonful of good cocoa powder, an equal (or slightly more if you want it sweeter) amount of sugar, a tiny capful of good vanilla and some finely grated Belgian chocolate (about one square inch). If you're feeling adventurous, add a pinch of cayenne pepper. You won't taste the pepper, but you'll feel the heat when you drink it. It's quite nice. Add a little milk, and stir until all the powdery bits are well incorporated into the milk. Add more milk to make a big mugful. Heat gently, until piping hot, but don't let it boil over! I speak from experience when I say that you will have a big mess that is not fun to clean up if it boils over. And here's my top secret weapon to make it truly the most delicious hot chocolate ever: get yourself one of these little gadgets, and whip up each cup for a minute or so before serving. I found mine at a local Ace Hardware store for $10 or $15 I think, which is a little extravagant for a tool I use for only one thing, but it doesn't take up hardly any space and it really makes all the difference, so I don't regret purchasing it at all. Serving it in a pink café au lait bowl, and sitting down with some knitting and a feline companion will make it just perfect.

There will be more Christmas-y stuff here this week, and a special Christmas gift for my lovely blog readers, so be sure to come back soon, I don't want you to miss out!   

Today's nonsense is brought to you by my fuzzy head cold. I fear I may be about to ramble incoherently. Sorry in advance. At 3 p.m. I realized that I forgot to apply deodorant this morning. I was going to say that it's been all downhill from there, but I'm pretty sure the downhill slide started on Friday morning, when I woke up with the runniest of runny noses.

I had big plans this past weekend for Christmas tree decorating, Christmas gift making, and the continuation of the great studio clean out. I was also going to write virtuously about how I had a good attitude towards Thanksgiving despite the fact that I had to spend it a day late at the home of my mother-in-law, eating the re-heated Thanksgiving Dinner for Four in a box from the local grocery store, listening to her complain about everything from the cost of paper towels to how difficult it is to find quality blouses at her local thrift store these days. I managed to help her balance her checkbook, and ignored the usual comparison of my obsessive sock knitting to that of Madame Defarge. She wasn't too bad this visit, and she was even quite pleasant at times. She sent me home with several vintage, pieced quilt tops, which I will photograph and share sometime soon. The quilt tops are, I believe, from the 30's and 40's, and include a gorgeous double wedding ring quilt-it's double or maybe even queen-sized! They are all hand-pieced, and there are a couple spots in need of repair, but otherwise all they need is batting, backing fabric and quilting!

She also gave me this sweet little bird that her aunt always had on her Christmas tree.

Instead of all those wonderful activities for what was a beautiful weekend weather-wise, once I got home late Friday night, I blew my nose every 10 minutes, rearranged the pillows to the proper angle for prime sinus drainage, counted off the hours until I could take the next dose of Theraflu/Benedryl/Airborne/Tylenol, none of which did much to alleviate my symptoms, and carefully maneuvered so as not to disturb the two cats curled up on either side of me (and the occasional dog, too). I am thankful for my lovely laptop, which kept me entertained for the last three days. I found all sorts of fun and interesting things out there on the interwebs. I watched movies on hulu.com (Master and Commander (one of my favorites) and 24: Redemption (Yay! a new season, finally!)) and Netflix (Dan in Real Life (meh, it was alright), Gone Baby Gone (pretty good, but sad)), played zilch and Bloon Tower Defense III and various escape from a locked room puzzle games (I think this was one of my favorites, and easy enough that I didn't have to cheat and get a hint), and found funny t-shirts that I think I need and lovely little videos of what look like miniature worlds, but are actually real life-sized ones, thanks to a little tilt-shift action (try this one, it's especially lovely, although the monster truck one is cute).

So, it wasn't the best Thanksgiving ever, but it wasn't the worst, and I still have a lot to be thankful for and one day soon when I'm feeling a little less fuzzy and incoherent I'll make a gratitude list. Although I suppose I could start by pointing to that list of links over there on the left under Family. I am thankful for family, even though I didn't get to spend time with them and they are all far away. And for Mr. Heylucy for getting me cookies when I'm sick. And for cats and dogs who will curl up next to me to keep me warm. I hope you all had lots of delicious turkey and that you're not sick of the leftovers yet!