I had a phone conversation tonight with my friend Anne, about how to balance things in my life. You know, work vs. play? Seems mine is a little out of balance right now. So the minute I hung up the phone I went shopping. Well, I didn’t actually leave the house, but it’s a start!

I spent an hour shopping on the internet. Thought I would just peek at the Easter goodies, maybe find a new bunny, maybe not. Well guess what? I am addicted to bunnies! I can’t help it. Given the chance and a credit card I can buy lots of bunnies in a very short time. So much for my comment on being picky about bunnies in the last post. Lasted for a day.

Pottery Barn was my first stop and look at the bunny platter I found! It has little bunnies around the edge! How cute will my fresh baked tarts look on this platter? You can have one too! Just go to http://www.potterybarn.com/ and do a search for “bunny platter”.

Next stop was Sur La Table http://www.surlatable.com/. They have all kinds of kitchen things and at this time of year they also have bunnies! Here’s what’s coming to my house very soon…a topiary bunny. One I have to try to keep alive! He might even sit on that bunny platter I bought! At least for a photo (:

No, I didn’t buy these little bean bag bunnies. But aren’t they cute? I may have to go back.

Tomorrow I’m off to Home Goods. Yes, the real store. There’s one near my house and I hear it calling my name!

You know life is too busy when…

• You’ve been tagged and you don’t remember until days later
• You haven’t blogged in days
• You think cooking is frozen dinners in the freezer
• You ask yourself why on earth you committed to do all the things you said you would do way back when they sounded so great
• The only clothes you wear make you look like you can’t afford to buy any new clothes
• Your valentines dinner is a subway sandwich

I’ve almost finished the projects I’ve committed to and soon I can move past these deadlines and onto others! I hate working under stress, but I seem to always find myself right in the middle of it. It’s like I wait, run and jump right into the stress pot. My friends that know me, are shaking their heads right now saying, “yes, that’s how she is” LOL!

So now that I have a minute, it’s time for a “TAG” game! Jackie at http://www.cvquiltworks.blogspot.com/ has tagged me (check out her post on her Ikea table for her studio. That table is wonderful!).

The rules :

• Place the name of the person and URL on your blog.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Write 7 things about yourself.
• Name 7 of your favorite blogs.
• Send and email letting those bloggers know they’ve been tagged.

I can’t name 7 of my favorite blogs because I have WAY too many favorites. It’s getting to be a problem because my list is getting very, very long and it would take up the whole post! I can’t be alone in this. Don’t you find your list has grown?

Here’s who I’m tagging…

Angela at http://cottagemagpie.com/

Elizabeth at http://the-latebloomer.blogspot.com/

Pam at http://pamkittymorning.blogspot.com/

Brenda at http://web.mac.com/fromlittleacorns/little_acorns/blog/blog.html

Vickie at http://www.bloomcreek.blogspot.com/ (She’s really going to kill me so everyone go over and tell her you are waiting for her to blog…that will stress her out!)

Seven things about myself…not very exciting but true:

1. I never pump my own gas unless under dire circumstances. It’s a rule with me and I go out of my way to make sure I don’t have to. I LOVE when I cross that state line into Oregon. In Oregon you can’t pump your own gas, it’s the LAW! In California they don’t care LOL! See this pump? It’s not my friend.

2. I’m a real bunny snob. Now there’s a surprise! I’ve walked past many a bunny that doesn’t fit in my collection. It’s a horrible thing to be, but I can’t help it. I know a good bunny when I see one, and good bunnies are hard to find. The Bunny Hill lady is a bunny snob. Who knew?
3. I’m also a lamb lover but with lambs you can’t be so picky…they are much harder to find!

Would you believe these are in my back yard? (Only kidding!)

4. I’m a collector of pie birds. Yes, pie birds. I can’t help myself. Did you know that pie birds are not always birds? See that little fox in the middle? He’s my favorite. I can’t resist a pie bird.

5. I love to read mystery books. Light hearted mystery books with cats. How can you go wrong with a cat mystery?

6. I search all over for vintage books. I love the really old ones. I love to pour through the pages, read how they were written and then stack and decorate with them.

7. I have all but 2 of the back issues of Victoria Magazine. You can imagine my delight when I saw that it was being published again! This is one of my favorite magazines and I love to sit and look through them over and over.

So now you know 7 things about me that you didn’t know before. Or did you? I get razzed a lot about that pumping gas thing! No one knows about the pie bird thing…not even my husband! He’s oblivious to things like that and hasn’t a clue what they are.

Hugs, to all of you! May you have a stress free week (:

Anne

Hi everyone! I’m feeling a bit stressed because I have so many deadlines looming right now. I know I said I’d be doing the “tag” blog, and I will…just not until I get through these current projects. So stay with me. I’m still here!

So how stressed am I? Well, I’ve resorted to machine applique in order to get this project completed. I know you are all SHOCKED! Don’t worry, I still love hand applique and it will always be my favorite, but there are times when you just have to get it done faster than your little hands can do it! I love this machine applique so much I’m going to do a tutorial for all of you when I get a chance. It’s amazing how fast you can get done, and even more amazing how it looks! I never use invisible nylon thread. I use DMC 50 wt. machine embroidery thread in both the bobbin and the top. Look at how those stitches just sink into the fabric! I had this block done in one evening!

Here’s something else I’ve learned about my newest fabric “Flowers for Emma”. Sometimes you’re so close to things you can’t see the forest for the trees. I spent so much time drawing this main fabric that I never thought about cutting it up into blocks. I was only thinking of it as a main focus print. But when I desperately needed some four patch blocks I cut it up and look at the result! I have four patches with swirls, birds and all the colors I love!

Don’t feel too sorry for me having deadlines and work to do. The one you should feel sorry for is my little Bitsy girl in the photo below. She’s trapped inside this helmet for another week. She’s doing much better so I guess it’s worth it.

Hugs to you all!

Anne

Yesterday was my Bunny Club meeting at our local quilt store, Thimble Creek. It’s a bit like the photo above, we all fit into one area and we all kindalookalike (that’s my made up word…isn’t it great?) . Sometimes there’s a shy one, but usually they get drawn into the “goings on” one way or another.

We have show and tell, fabric envy, shopping fever and lots of fun! What a nice group of ladies and you can’t imagine the amount of talent they have! Some work on applique, some on embroidery, some on wool projects and then of course some work on Bunny Hill projects.

Pat at http://pat-bitsandpieces.blogspot.com/ was kind enough to email me a reminder to take my camera so I have pictures to share! Thanks so much Pat!

A French embroidery project from Chickie in those chic colors, beige and red.

Chickie also made a wool pillow using my “Cabin for Rent” pattern,

Fabric envy

And all the applique that you can imagine!

And for a perfect ending to a very nice class, Chickie let me take a picture of her cute little bunny pin she was wearing. Something about those bunnies I just love!

Wish you all could have been there!