Summer Reading

2014 is the Summer of the Book around here at Casa de Porkchop.

I'm just sitting over here, reading & obsessing over books. 24/7.

I want to visit my local bookstore that Saremy introduced me too and pick out books based solely on their covers, pretty much EVERYDAY.

I've become obsessed with taking my Studio Calico bits & bobs and making bookmarks with cross stitched pieces from our Summer Sampler. I think frappuccino is going to be next because it's adorable. I'm also slowly but surely working on sewing a book cover because my books keep getting smushed in my backpack.

Here is my summer reading bucket list:

• Read a classic I've never read before! I started Jane Eyre this morning and I bought a super pretty copy of Sense & Sensibility. 
• Read more YA! Favorites have been: We Were Liars, Sinner, Ruin & Rising and These Broken Stars.
• Tackle unfinished books! It's very, very, very rare for me to not see a book through. I was slagging along with the first Game of Thrones FOR TWO SUMMERS NOW and I can finally say not only did I finish it but I loved it!
• Finish trilogies! I am the worst at loving the first two books in a series and being afraid the final book will make me hate the series so I just don't read it and then inevitably I get spoiled and super annoyed. Terrible right? But I'm also the girl who (spoiler alert!) once I saw Mary & Matthew get married, stopped watching Downton because to me- that was the perfect ending! I finally finished Hunger Games with Mockingjay (loved it) and Immortal Instruments with City of Fire (blah!). I have 3-4 more series that I have to finish up.
• Read more physical books! This is a big one for me. I've owned a kindle since they started selling them and I *love* e-reading. But I do think a lot about indie vs amazon so I am buying more locally and supporting the library. Also, we are house hunting and I heard a rumor that Chop is going to help me build some bookshelves so clearly it's my job to buy more books ;)

I've been going back & forth about updating my blog this summer. Part of me wants to take the summer off and part of me feels like I shouldn't. We (The Pumpkins) have a ton of new patterns (and some are limited edition!) and have been super busy getting stuff ready for this winter so I feel like I have a LOT to say but at the same time, I don't want to sound like an ad 24/7!

In knitting news, I'm working on Zuzu's Petals in Madelinetosh DK- the color is Modern Fair Isle (it's the project that isn't a sock in these photos!) and it's pretty! One of my summer goals is to make a "fall wardrobe" of knit goods. I want to make a cowl, a shawl, a hat and a pair of mitts. I have until about November because that's when it starts to get cool-ish here. I'm just knitting away slowly but surely, a few rows here and a few rows there. It's nice!

Also, I find myself listening to this concert over & over through out my day. It's funny because I technically think of them as a winter band (do you do this? think of certain bands and albums for different seasons?!) but I just love listening to this! I also recently got the audio version of my favorite book, The Raven Boys and o m g. It's read by Will Patton and just fantastic, so if you are looking for a new audiobook, pick that one!

:):):)

Making Project Life Work For Me

I got caught up on Project Life this past weekend and finished my pages yesterday. Woo!

If you aren't familiar with Project Life, CLICK HERE.

Here's what works for me:

• Printing my photos at home! I used this video tutorial to learn how to print two photos onto one page. I have this little printer and I *love* it.
• Studio Calico Project Life Kit. This is the big one for me. If I spend money on a subscription, I have to use it. If it arrives in the mail, I'm SUPER excited to get home and use it. Each month is different so my book doesn't look like all one theme which I really like. It's also gotten me to try to use the filler cards more- they are just cute! And I like the journal cards, it's hard for me to not use a million photos. Photos are awesome but if I just did them...it would be way smarter to just have an album printed at the end of the year! This way I can add more "real life" stuff to my book with out relying on photos to tell a story.
• Smaller size. I use a Snap! Binder I bought in December at Michael's on mega clearance. Sadly they don't have any left and mine is now full! I'm debating buying a different binder type for May but I want it small. 12x12 is super overwhelming!
• Printing photos every other day (because I use one sheet of photo paper for two photos). I tried once a week, once per month and once every two weeks. Every other day works for me, especially now that I'm using more journal/filler cards. I can share my thoughts super fast. I have a phone timer set on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays to remind me. Once a month was SUPER tedious for me, I couldn't remember half of what I'd done or the dates. Which brings me too...
• I don't date my cards. I have a first of the month card and an end of the month re-cap card. The re-cap card I talk about stuff that happened, books I read, food I loved. The first of the month card I usually write things I want to try or events happening. I don't date my cards because sometimes there just isn't ANYTHING to share or maybe one day was so neat that I have 4 photos.
• If I'm not sure what to add somewhere or I've tucked away a movie stub somewhere special (aka now I can't find it) I'll add a little sticky note with what is supposed to go there.

What didn't work for me:

• Using a core kit. I bought the 5th and Frolic (I think that's what it's called?!) kit from Michaels. I used a 50% off + 10% off total purchase coupon in December which was awesome but by mid February, I was sick of using the same papers over.and over. And I was barely into the project! That was when I was *super* glad I joined Studio Calico, it freshened things up and made it less cookie cutter-y! Also, the S.C. paper is much better quality and more sturdy.
• The Becky Higgin's corner rounder. It hates the photo printer paper and kept chomping my paper. Super sad because part of my album has rounded corners, part doesn't.

What I want to try in the future:

• Adding text over photos in photoshop!
• Making more layers of stuff on my cards. Right now they are pretty simple, sometimes I add a sticker, sequins or washi but I want to add more cute layers.
• Make one page one photo!
• More paper ephemera. Add more receipts, little tokens from events, etc.

Who's projects I admire & finding inspiring:

• Life.Love.Paper
• Kelly Purkey
• Jamaica Makes
• Annette Haring
• Hey Jen Renee

In reality my Project Life kind of looks like a 14 year old with a brand new glue stick made it, I think I'm ok with that. I practically use up every little sequin or sparkle that comes in each monthly kit. My layouts aren't fancy, they are fast and get the point across. I'd *love* to have a book like the ladies I linked too but...they are legit scrapbookers! I'm not so much or even remotely at that skill level! YET!!! BUT I am glad that I've kept up to date and my book is totally me. I like that I took so many photos when I was working on Follow Your Arrow because it documented the whole thing! I like printing silly things like cat memes. I like printing book covers and including them. I like jotting down daily thoughts- even though my penmanship is awful. I realllllly like knowing that at the end of the year I will have documented all of 2014!

How about you? Are you doing Project Life this year? How's it going?

Let's get cozy.

First off, thank you for all your kind words and emails on my previous post. It was amazing how many friends reached out and said "YES. The joy of creating isn't there anymore" or  "Let's all share MORE little things". I have a few more thoughts to share on this subject but I'll save them for another day k?

Second off, can I just share with you guys some stuff that is inspiring me lately?

Tubularity! Whyyyyy is Martina Behm so dang CUTE? This is such a neat little pattern, it's something I can see myself wearing a ton. Also: I'm drowning in sock scraps. A quick dive into my scrap tub revealed these leftovers that I thought looked neat together. I probably will need to buy yarn or break into other full skeins today which I'm a-ok with! I'm not 100% sure I'm doing the increases correctly (she has a video but mine aren't looking *exactly* like she shows them) but I like knitting it. I'm looking forward to moving from yarn blob to yarn blob. That's a technical term k?

Ashburn! This is my summer knitting goal. I bought four skeins of Candy Skein Savory Fingering in Honey, Oyster, Grape Fizz & Plum. I got to meet Tami at Stitches West and she is just awesome! I can't decide which combo of colors I'll use but I'm excited to wear it next fall. This is one I'm really looking forward to just enjoying the process and relaxing with. I think it's going to feel similar to Multnomah, that is my current shawl that I keep it in my purse.

Bertie Bott's Yarn! Um WHAT! I was digging through my yarn bin and came across this cutie that Chop bought me...in 2012. WHY HAS IT NOT BECOME SOCKS YET?! Both pairs of socks on my needles right now at two at a time, which is totally fine but I want to have a single sock to keep in my purse. This is so sparkly. And Harry Potter themed. And a present from my favorite dude.

Reading. Reading. Reading. No seriously. I can't stop. This is my Goodreads in case you are also into reading. Which I hope you are.

The reading frenzy started when I discovered BookRiot. I don't know why it never occurred to me to look at book related blogs/websites but I fell down the rabbit hole and I AM SO INTO IT. Then I learned tumblr has a ton of YA book fandom. Now I'm using tumblr again and loooooving it.

My main reading goal this year was 75 books. But I wanted them to be REALLY GOOD reads. None of this "self published 100 pages stuff". Don't get me wrong, there are some super talented self published authors but I feel like the majority I read last summer/fall just weren't for me.

Here are five of my favorite books so far- also, I'm the worst at explaining why I like books so just pretend this is super eloquent k?

• These Broken Stars. I've never read anything space related before and I reallllly liked this. Only the first bit takes place in space and I liked the world building. I hope the rest of the series involves space ships because they just seem really neat.
• Cress. Oh oh oh. This is the online fandom I stalk the most. It's just such a unique series and it's beautifully written.
• Dreams of Gods & Monsters. This is my second favorite online fandom. Taylor very boldly inserts new characters and details into this book- the last in the series. Full confession- I rarely read the last book in a series. Especially if it's one I love. I'm always too afraid the author is going to kill it for me. I was satisfied with this ending. I'm looking forward to re-reading the entire series again from start to finish.
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender. This one surprised me. The writing is just DREAMY. Poetic. Haunting. Strange. I liked it because it was just really unique.
• Half Bad. I read one person say that this book could have been the childhood story of Snape. I'm not sure about that but it is also a really unique read. White Witches vs. Black Witches and White Witches...aren't the greatest. It's a dark story, I think it would be a good October read.

I'm currently reading The Name of the Wind, good friends suggested it and I'm looking forward to a long meat-y read. Speaking of meat-y reads- I decided that this summer my goal is to finish Game of Thrones. I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm 59% through this book and just ARGH about it. I read it and I keep waiting and waiting and waiting for SOMETHING GIANT to happen but it's a about a MILLION little stressful events CONSTANTLY happening! I'd find myself reading until 1 or 2 am just waiting for it (I don't even know what it is!) to happen. It's just super suspenseful but also not at the same time. Does that even make sense? Probably not. But I follow a few fandom blogs on tumblr about the books and it's just a fascinating culture to me that I'm genuinely mad at myself for not just reading it! Also: 59%! That's a ton. But now I can't decide if I should start again or pick up from where I left off or WHAT!

Also, I'm currently cross stitching a new club pattern. And it's awesome. It's so kawaii and based on my favorite holiday EVER and I can't wait to start sharing photos with you. We have everything ready to go and I don't want to make any bold claims but this just might be the best thing Ashleigh has ever designed for me. Yes, for me. Because IT'S MY FAVORITE FLIPPING HOLIDAY IN MY FAVORITE COLORS. Granted, it's her favorite holiday and favorite colors too but...I request CAKE and there is CAKE. I said OWLS and received OWLS. I said PUMPKINS WITH ONE TOOTH and...yup. It's going to be good.

I'll be back hopefully soon to share my million photos of Once Upon a Time Sampler & Tea Time.

One last thing, Tracey suggested I try Young Living Deep Relief roll on essential oil blend. I'm pretty excited to give it a try.

<3

Coastal Cranberry

Do you have someone in your life who is just incredibly full of life, absolutely hilarious and just a privilege to know just because you know that just having them in the world makes it *that* much better? Last Wednesday I said goodbye to my friend Judy and I sort of feel like the world is a little dimmer without her in it. My friend Brenda Lou blogged about her and it sums her up perfectly, the pictures she posted are so amazingly Judy. She also spoke at her service and I'm so glad she did. <3<3<3<3

Chop & I don't visit Eureka very often, it's a really emotional place for me. It's where I learned how to quilt and met amazing friends. It's where Chop & I decided to get married. It's where I went to college and then dropped out. It's where I learned I need the sunshine more than I ever realized. It's where I learned that there are some things I just can't see on a daily basis. Going there always sort of stirs up all these emotions in me.

Seeing my friends was absolutely fantastic, Judy *loved* tea parties so after her service the quilting ladies threw a tea party in her honor. They all wore pearls, long gloves, fancy dresses and prepared little sandwiches, it was incredible. I wore a cat dress. And a sweater. Because I forgot how dang cold it is on the coast!

After the tea party we walked around Old Town, my friend Katie suggested two shops: Yarn & North Coast Knittery. If there was ever a time for retail therapy, this was it. I got a skein of Madelinetosh Sock in Black Velvet and a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Cranberry Ice. As I was looking at them I realized I must have had cranberry sauce on the brain because both skeins are different, yet the same! Isn't it funny how our minds gravitate towards a color but in different variations?!

We had a great dinner out with my friends Liz & Larissa, followed by ice cream in Arcata. This trip was so much food! SO MUCH! But one place, omg. Larissa mentioned a new ice cream shop in Eureka called Living the Dream and holy smokes! The flavors! THE FLAVORS!!!!! Avocado gelato! Siracha! Miso!Tomato Basil Sorbet (I had this one! amazing!) Humboldt Smokehouse Bacon (Chop had that one!).

It was so, so, so nice to see my friends, I can't say that enough. Even though I "see" them daily on facebook, it's so different than when I'd sew with them twice a week. I miss having that sense of belonging for sure. They welcomed me into their group, taught me literally EVERYTHING about quilting, encouraged me and just are great people.

On our way home we took something Chop & I refer to as "the owl drive". Ironically here in Gridley we also have an "owl drive", the one here we see barn owls & great horned owls. The coastal version we'd see short eared owls. We used to drive out there and sit up high on this cliff over looking the ocean and just talk. I'd mostly cry (it was truly a rough time in my life) and he'd hold onto me. I tend to do my best thinking in the car, surrounded by nature. I think it makes me feel small and helps put things into perspective, does that make sense? This time the drive was quiet, I thought about how drastically my life had changed in four years, about my friend Judy, about my husband. It was a good drive. We went down on the beach and walked in the sand.

I worked a little bit on my Cameo, it's the perfect car knitting, very relaxing. I haven't worked on it since then because we are gearing up to launch our two new clubs: The 12 Days of Christmas & Christmas on Gingerbread Lane! It feels so good to just sit on the couch and stitch away. Also! New albums came out on Tuesday that I've been looking forward too! I can't stop listening to The Magpie and the Dandelion and Let's Be Still, I think I love Let's Be Still more right now but that could change. Also, last winter one of my friends burned me a mixed cd and it had a few Bon Iver songs on it, so I also got For Emma, Forever Ago. I think of the bunch, that's the best for cross stitching too. But it's been out for a million years ago clearly, I'm the last to know. ;) (also, these are amazon affiliate links! But remember, I only link to things I actually buy and like.)

I'm going to go back to stitching now, I'm in the process of finishing this project by Friday. I haven't decided what I'll do with it yet, I thought about having it framed but people in our Stitch-a-Long Group have been posting the cutest wall hangings and pillows from their projects so I might do that. :)

Hello, nice to see you!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've blogged! Yikes! I hope you'll forgive me!

I'm recovering from surgery! I don't want to get too personal because that's not how I am but it's just going to make my life a lot more enjoyable. But the downside is I'm healing super slow and I've reached the point where I want to DO EVERYTHING but physically can DO NOTHING. So frustrating!

I spent an entire week on the couch, doing nothing but reading and knitting. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of amazing. I very rarely sit still that long and to just SIT with zero obligations felt incredible. I knit a pair of socks in 4 days! 4!!! That's amazing to type. I read soooo many books, they deserve a blog post of their own. The socks do too! And then I knit a pair of fingerless gloves. I also finished some Halloween socks but the yarn is disappointing so they don't deserve a blog post of their own. ;) But now I've reached the antsy stage, I wish I could have bottled the week of calm. I did nothing on the internet except goodreads and it felt kind of nice!

Before surgery I had a week to get things together & prepared. I finished my birthday quilt which you can see in these photos. I was SO hoping to have it completely done before surgery but I ran out of time. It worked out ok though because once I piece the back, Lindsay is going to quilt it for me! YIPPEEEE! There is something super magical about sending out a quilt top and having it come back super fancy!

Ashleigh & I have been working our butts off. We both are so crazy for Halloween & Fall, after a million hours, we decided to run TWO CLUBS. This is huge for us and it's awesome. Basically, we made a list of all of our favorite things and realized we had to go big or go home. And we went big. If you follow us on facebook you'll know that we've been sharing sneak peeks here and there, it is SO hard not to share the entire projects. Halloween Sampler is strictly Halloween and it's incredible. Skull & bat LACE BORDER. Hand dyed floss! Hand dyed fabric! It's very different than what we've done before & I love it. My floss arrived earlier this week and I can't wait to work on it.

And then! We are doing our very last season, AUTUMN! It matches the previous seasons, 25 squares of seasonal goodness but NOTHING Halloween. I love this one because Ashleigh literally crammed everything Autumn into this. Baking. Apple picking. Pumpkins galore. KNITTING (yes! That's a sock! On a blocker! With a yarn ball & a circular needle!) Woodland Creatures. Snacks. I would go as far as saying these are our two best charts to date. Seriously. I can't stop gushing about it & I'm pretty sure everyone on instagram is sick of seeing me work on it.

My birthday was last week, it was the first time I haven't made a giant event of it. I mostly slept and read. I ate 1/2 a kit kat. I watched some owls. Chop surprised me with balloons, yarn, flowers, a vacation in October...the whole shabang. He's totally a keeper, he's had the patience of a saint with me.

Here are a few things I *love* x a million:

• The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits 2013!!!! I cast on for a sweater and am currently stuck, until someone helps me I decided that this chart should be SOCKS TOO!!! Ginny's Socks!!! Chop calls them Lumpy Space Princess Socks and I'm totally into that.
• On the Adventure Time note: Ashleigh made me a MARCELINE MUG!!!! Best BFF ever!
• I bought myself this bag for my birthday. How could I not? Every October I watch the entire show, all the seasons, from start to finish.
• Also: $10 for this masterpiece? How could I not?
• I promised myself no more yarn for the rest of the year (I'm pretty pleased with how well rounded my stash is at the moment!) but after absolutely hating my Halloween striped socks, I decided I *need* high quality amazing Halloween striped socks. I've read amazing things about Desert Vista Dyeworks and ordered two skeins with my birthday money. Can you guess which ones?
• I like this guy, I think he's sort of eerie & spooky! He's not Matt Smith whom I adore and I hope he loves Clara as much as I do though.
• Have you guys seen this quilt? I know, I'm late to the party but I'm thinking about using my entire Halloween stash to make it. I can't stop thinking about it...
• New Civil Wars! What do you guys think? I love Joy, don't get me wrong but I miss John Paul's voice a lot on this album.
• I could look at this website all day long...and I often do.

Sheesh. That's a lot.

I'm going to go read & eat a pomegranate. <3

Welcome to the Frog Pond!

It was 109 degrees yesterday.

I was pretty sure I was melting all day. And I was also all hopped up on mango iced green tea.

All day I sorted. Cleaned. Organized. I love starting a new month with a completely clean slate!

I made piles of quilts that I want to finish and send to Lindsay. I seam ripped three quilts apart. I found a missing piece to a project that I'm going to wrap today hopefully.

And then I went through my knitting.

Oi!

How did I get so many projects going at once? Crazy! I should know better. I try so hard to knit a whole bunch of things but I'm much happier when I only knit two or three things at once. And if we are being *really* honest with ourselves, I'd be fine if I knit my entire sock stash into plain vanilla socks. I know, I'm boring!

I ended up frogging a pair of socks and a shawl! I liked the socks but wanted to go up a needle size because the fabric felt a little too stiff, plus I want to do a different pattern I think?! And then the shawl. Meh. You guys helped me pick Brooch and I love how it looks but I didn't enjoy knitting it. I sort of feel like since knitting is my favorite hobby, I want to keep it that way and only knit things that bring me 100% joy.

Now I feel SO much better. I'm working on a pair of plain socks, a sweater and my mystery shawl. Way more manageable! And my sweater is on hold for a little while until I can decide what size I should make, so really I only have two projects!

Can I share with you a silly photo? This is Chop & I from Friday night. It was 106 degrees and we were sitting outside in Redding and he was making me laugh about who knows what, this guy is TOO MUCH! So snarky! We saw Old Crow Medicine Show and it was truly one of the best shows I've been to in ages. Their energy was so infectious and their music is incredible. The amount of talent on that stage...wowza! We danced all night and were covered in sweat but smiling like crazy. Sadly my engagement ring broke for the 4th time (o m g) so today we are running to Chico to get it repaired. Oi! I'm thankful I noticed it, I would have been heartbroken if I lost it! <3

Briar Rose & The New Leaf Obsession

I genuinely feel bad for anyone that crosses paths with me this summer. Chances are, I'm going to talk your ear off about New Leaf. Poor Instagram, all day long I'm like NEW LEAF! NEW LEAF! NEW LEAF! Ask Ashleigh. She made the mistake of asking me if Animal Crossing was like Frogger (fair enough!) and I spent an hour yakking about my town. Poor Smash.

So what's new New Leaf?

The newest in the Animal Crossing series of games! Quite possibly the cutest, most fun video game everrr!

I hemmed and hawed about buying it. I read a million reviews. And I decided as an early birthday to myself, I was getting New Leaf. It didn't hurt that Target had the 3DS XL on sale either. And in pink.

After a hilarious afternoon scouring Yuba City for the game, I bought the very last one at WalMart and I did a little dance in the check out line. That might be weird but you know, it was WalMart, so I didn't stand out. ;);) You can download the game through the 3DS but I wanted the physical game.

You start the game as MAYOR! This is huge! Compared to past games you can customize your town so much more! It's incredible! I'm already on my third house expansion, a gardening center has opened up in my town and I won a Bug Off!

My typical New Leaf day is watering plants, buying clothes, picking fruit, digging up fossils, fishing and visiting the island. YES. THERE IS AN ISLAND! Incredible. Also, I have some new neighbors I've never had before, including a little frog named Croque!

Naturally on day one once I ran out of battery life I decided to make the 3DS a little pouch and I'm so glad I did, I carry it everywhere. Seriously addicted.

I just measured the 3DS and make a quick piece of scrappy patchwork using a beautiful Briar Rose bee from Amanda. Seriously, how sweet is this line of fabric? It's so charming. And it goes perfect with the New Leaf theme. Because you can catch honey bees with your net. Or you can shake trees and get stung. Either way! I think the bee prints and the clover are my favorite for sure. Once yardage is available I think I'm going to buy bee fabric for a dress. Or sleep pants. Or both. Amanda has fat quarter bundles for pre-sale and I'm so tempted to snag one and make a summer-y Sparkling Cider. Because that would be so fun!

I made the little pouch on my featherweight, which was really exciting for me, I don't have a zipper foot and it turned out just fine! woo woo

<3<3<3 Back to my town!!!

I love Saturday's!

I  love Saturday mornings. Chop goes to work for a few hours at 6 am (did I tell you he got a new job? He's an Ag Biologist for our county now). The light was just too pretty this morning not to share. Bright mornings = best mornings!

Of course I treated myself to an iced chai, normally chai to me is a fall drink but cinnamon & cardamom just sounds great today. I went through the drive thru at 6 in my pjs, quite possibly one of my favorite Saturday activities. Who needs to be cute when you can wear leggings and a giant Domo tshirt. ;) Not this girl! I spent the morning alternating between knitting and answering emails. When you email The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, more often than not you are getting a response from me. Generally the first of the month is a busy day, lots of people wanting to change email addresses for their subscription or first time cross stitchers having questions. I try to answer all our emails within 30 minutes or so, I want people to be able to cross stitch all day happily! <3

As a random side note: it's getting hot here! Last night I decided to get some summer clothes. I'm looking for modest & cute summer dresses. I'm not a small girl but I'm not ashamed of my size, I simply don't think all of my curves need to be on display.  I found a *cute* maxi dress at Old Navy, it was black, sleeveless but had nice and thick straps (raise your hand if you hate visible bra straps but when it's 115 degrees you don't want to wrestle a strapless bra!) it fit great...but IT WAS SHEER. Completely sheer. Like, the-world-would-know-my-undies-had-flowers-on-them sheer. Total bummer. I looked at 5-6 different places and ended up with just a striped jersey skirt. I bought The Staple Dress, I need to just sit down and sew a bunch. But I'd really like some jersey dresses! I'm on the hunt!

Also: I really want pink flip flops but the practical side of me is like, just get black. I've literally been mulling over this decision since April. I know, ridiculous.

Random post? CHECK! ;) Have a good weekend friends!

Real Life Talk: What's Your Style?

I've been thinking a lot about personal style lately.

Chop & I have a huge goal to be homeowners next year and we started a pinterest board of things that we both like. It's been a lot of conversations such as:

"Can I put neon pom pom garland on your bear head?'

"Will you help me glue my mini figs onto magnets?"

"Wanna wrap some yarn around these antlers and spray paint them gold so we can put them on a coffee table we don't own yet?"

"I saw this on pinterest- let's build it" "Of course I know that aged wood that big is expensive"

"Our front door should be mustard colored!!!!"

"We need stars on our bedroom ceiling. No, not the glow in the dark sticker kind."

"Let's get a small marlin and hang it in the bathroom!"

"Basil Grimm Jennings is the best cat name ever right!? Can we afford adopt a grumpy little fatty within the first year? Wait...you want a dog? And ducks? Are we starting a farm?"

"I'm going to want to hang my pots & pans from the ceiling. Can you buy me a drill as a housewarming gift? Oh...I guess I'll need a stud finder then. BUT I ALREADY MARRIED YOUUUU so clearly....!!!"

How do you blend your love of ridiculously cute and your husbands love of hunting? With patience of course. And good sense of humor. And trying to figure out what your TRUE style is. Like the stuff you actually LOVE LOVE. Not like, only kinda sorta like on Tuesdays but LOVELOVE.

My TRUE style is a whole lot of:

• kawaii
• cat tshirts
• leggings
• pink fabric (but I won't ever wear pink. unless it's blush.)
• halloween! gimme the orange, the black and a million apple cider candles. and candy.
• fruity scented body wash in the summer only
• glitter EVERYWHERE.
• cozy

Sooooo these are things I love...WHY DO I HAVE THINGS THAT ARE THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE IN MY LIFE?! For example, I only wear gray tshirts and cat tshirts...why does my wardrobe consist of a million dresses? Dumb! I purged my closet and donated a ton. Then I started thinking about:

CRAFT STYLE!

Do you have one? You know you do! I know you do. When I look at instagram or pinterest, I can immediately pick out the majority of my friends without looking because their style is SO THEM.

Here's my craft style:

• I DON'T KNOW!

No. But seriously. I like to knit socks and make little patchwork. I've been sorting through fabric and yarn and I realized my taste is alllll over the place!

But now I'm trying to figure out what I actually like making and what I actually just like looking at. Do you do that? Have things you like to look at but when you think about actually creating them you kind of gag a little bit because the process is so uninspiring to you?

I want my crafting time to be super joyful and I want my future home to be filled with creations that are totally rad and us. For example: this week I cut out a Halloween Donut Quilt. That's both fun & glorious because it's Halloween AND donuts.

So yarn photos...I decided I obviously NEED a giant color affection shawl. I've given away almost all the shawls I knit last year and I want something halloween-y autumn-y squishy! But I can't decide on my third color. Last year my big birthday long term project was a pair of mittens that I only wear when I need to find something at the bottom of the freezer. SO! This year it has to be something I'll actually use a ton. Oh AND my next pair of socks will be these pirate ones. Because I've had the pattern for a while and I found a good gray for them in my stash. And because they look tricky awesome!

How's this for the most random blog post ever! What is your style? Does it transfer to your crafting? What color should I use to go with the orange and the gray?

ps: the winner of the embroidery book is Denica! Shoot me an email so I can forward your info to Lark Books! :):)

Books I read in February + A new Kindle case

February was a good reading month. I'm taking a knitting break and I'm too blind to cross stitch in the evenings so I spent quite a few nights tucked into a quilt on the couch reading.

I made a new case earlier in February, I had a little pile of scraps just begging to be made into SOMETHING.

The block is a 4 inch Sister's Choice block. My previous case was super cute but too big for this kindle. The lining is a super pretty cursive fabric that Windham makes, I bought a half yard which is rare for me, I usually just buy fat quarters and I've used up every last bit of this print. I think when that happens I need to take note and buy a yard. The backing is this bizarre glitter wool that JoAnn's had in their red tag section. It's sturdy which I love. I had a few little bits of glitter floss laying around so I added a few french knots. I'm not sure why but lately I add a few hand stitches to everything I make, regardless if it needs it or not.

A few people asked which kindle I have and about the sticker. Chop got me a GelaSkin for it for Christmas, mine is called Enamored Owl! I really wanted a Lizzy House one because...um constellations on a kindle? YES PLEASE but they don't offer her. Lame. But the quality of the skin is nice and it wasn't hard to apply.

The kindle I have is called a Paperwhite. And it is the greatest thing on earth. This is the 4th kindle I've owned and I wholeheartedly love them. It drives me bonkers when people say "kindles are killing books"!!! No way! I have the bank statements to prove that I'm doing my part to keep the publishing industry in business. ;) I have the plain paperwhite, without 3G and with ads.  I actually like the ads, a lot of times I'll find a new book that way. They are only on the screen saver and the bottom of the home screen, nothing while you are reading. The paperwhite has a built in light that I adore and you can adjust the brightness. I've also found the touchscreen on this is more responsive than my previous one.

OK. Let's talk about books!

• Golden Lily & The Indigo Spell. Oh how I wanted to *love* these but I ended up hating them. I was a huge fan of Vampire Academy but these..oi. There can't possibly be a character I like less than Sydney. She's made out to be perfect but she just comes across as neurotic. And dull. And practically with an eating disorder. And a martyr. Did I mention dull? By the end of Indigo Spell I was just ready to be DONE with it. I'm not going to bother with the next one.
• The Covenant Series. I raced through these and enjoyed them. I know a lot of people call this a Vampire Academy rip off and I can partly understand, although it seems like it's becoming a sub genre now, teens in mystical schools. The first one took me a little bit to get into but by the last book I was in love. Alex is similar in personality to Rose so reading this after Bloodlines was refreshing, I like girls with personality. ;)
• House Rules. I love this series. I think of all vampire series, this is my very favorite. I find Merit to be awesome, I love the supporting characters and I find her relationship with Ethan to be pretty dang great. I do wish she'd held off on sharing something in this book a little longer. (I don't want to spoil it!)
• Sweet Evil. Not that great. I thought Anna was dull. I won't read the sequel.
• How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf & How to Seduce a Naked Werewolf. Molly Harper is one of my favorites because her books are hillllllarious. I read Naked Werewolf and I listened to How to Seduce. Both are funny and a little less dark and more sweet than her Jane Jameson series. I listened to Driving Mr. Dead last month too and enjoyed it. Amanda Ronconi is so perfect for narrating her books!  (also, I just saw Driving Mr. Dead is only $1.99 right now on kindle!) I like to listen to books while I cross stitch or sew, it's something different than music!
• Rapture. I'm glad I finished this series, it wasn't bad or amazing, just middle of the road!
• Cinder and Scarlet. I read Cinder on a whim. I noticed all my goodreads friends (the 6 of them I have, lol!) read this and enjoyed it so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Good characters, neat world building. I finished it and liked it. Then I started the sequel, Scarlet and I LOVED IT. I devoured it. It was like her writing and story telling got kicked up a notch. I loved the additions of the new characters, their stories and how they inter-played with Cinder's. I'm super excited for the 3rd in the series.
• Kiss of Steel. Meh. Entertaining enough but not one of my favorites.
• Fate Interrupted. Every once in a while I'll try something everyone seems to loooove. I got lucky with Cinder (yay!) but failed miserably with this one. The premise sounds cute, girl opens a cupcake bar and is interested in a player. It's sort of like a college girl wrote this for her creative writing class about her dream life gone wrong. Instalove (gag) but omg he's a player (ugh) and noooo his past is coming back to hunt him (oh noes!)! Her sister is vile, imagine a locker room of 16 year old boys who just had their first coors light and you'll get how the sister speaks. It's so raunchy it's completely unbelievable. And it's not even GOOD raunchy that makes you blush, it's the kind of raunchy that makes you feel gross and want a shower. I feel like this could have had potential but instead I felt like I wanted .99 back. Also: hugest pet peeve ever! Authors who turn novellas into two books. Don't be lured in by the potential of cupcakes. ;)

This month Chop & I are doing a spending fast, we are extremely frugal right now but are curious how a complete freeze on our spending can help us by the end of the month. So no new books in March! Clockwork Princess comes out on March 19th so I'm most likely going to re-read the series, I pre-ordered the book back in August and I can't WAITTTTT! I love this series a zillion times more than Mortal Instruments and I'm both excited and SAD that it's coming to an end.

Also, I started reading two Kindle Serials, which auto update with new chapters. Have you guys seen these? They are pretty neat, I got two of them last month: Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic & Falling for Fredrick. I'm enjoying both, since you can only read a little bit at a time it makes me want to take my time and read sloooow.

And I also requested some books from the library so I have something to look forward too!

What did you read in February?

PS: You can see what I read in January here.

December Daily Book Progress

So December isn't turning out to be too shabby!

I'm definitely in love with this project, although obviously I'm *not* a posh scrapbooker, I think I'm more of a "let's just glue this to this and add glitter" kind of documenter but that's ok. You can find my first thoughts on December Daily in this post.

Here are some things I've enjoyed about December so far:

• working on my candy cane socks.
• having sugar cookie lattes.
• reading books by Scandinavian authors. I spent a full Saturday reading "The Keeper of Lost Causes". And I'm anxiously awaiting a Jo Nesbo paperback to arrive.
• I made dollar store glitter stockings and hung lights in our bedroom. First time for both of those things in 5 years.
• had an amazing baking day with my mom.
• having gluten free ginattas that my mom made me for breakfast. (!!!! amazing !!!!)
• discovered I don't like white mochas, but I'm pretty sure it's because the Starbucks here is hit or miss.
• my mom gave me a bit of this pineapple vinegar and WOWZA! It's quite possibly my new favorite thing!
• flannel sheets! It's hard to be sad when you are wrapped in cozy.
• working on our newest club, Woodland Sampler! The Workroom has floss kits too! 
• I treated myself to this & this! I'm aiming to turn both yarns into socks in January. I took a pair of socks apart a few days ago and I realized I *really* like the sport weight socks I made, so DK could only be better, plus she's from GRIDLEY! And then STRIPES! YES PLZ! I haven't knit a pair of striped socks yet and I'm dying too!

I haven't missed a single day yet with this project. I sat down on December 1st and put all the prompts in the order I thought I'd like to write about and added papers in the pages. Each evening at 5:30 my phone's alarm goes off, I sit down and make the page. I pick and photo from either my phone or camera and add it to my Rite Aid album and every few days I've gone and had them printed, then I glue them into place. It's not very fancy but it's working well for me!

I didn't take photos of all the pages, some are too personal but I love just stopping my day for a half hour and just THINKING. No pressure, just sitting and reflecting. It's shown me that I have a *lot* of little things each day to be thankful for! Perfect!

An Obsession: Sugar Cookie Latte

Yesterday Ashleigh & I had a Frosted Pumpkin Business Meeting. We are *so close* to finishing our new year long pattern, Monthly Woodland Sampler!

We always have breakfast at The Roost in Chico, I love the Chico Scramble, Ash usually gets a California Benedict and Chop got French Toast. Then we go to Bidwell Perk & work our butts off.

Last week we discovered the amazingness of The Sugar Cookie Latte. Yup. Crazy right? We couldn't stop thinking about them all week, so yesterday...again with the lattes!

The stars aligned and I had my camera in my weekender (which is the perfect bag for carrying a laptop, books, notebooks, cross stitch, etc) so I thought I'd share with you this crazy yummy drink!

Part of me wishes I had the recipe but then part of me is glad I don't...I'm pretty sure if I had it I'd drink it 24/7 and become giant sized. Instead I'll just have it as a little treat when I visit Chico.

They were playing bits from this Sigur Ros album and it sounded so winter-y, I'm debating getting it. I'm thankful for Shazam so I can subtly learn about new (to me!) music without awkwardly asking people around me if they know what music is playing ;)

:):)

December Daily: Let's do this.

Yesterday I received the hugest package ever from Toronto.

I've never actually been to Toronto. And I've only ever "met" the sender of the package, whom I consider one of my best friends once. She's from Toronto but we met in Salt Lake City.

That's crazy sounding right?

Well, thanks to technology I get to talk to Karyn daily. She'd been texting me, saying another Toronto friend included a treat in a package for me and they wanted it to arrive by December 1st. Oh! Oooo!

I just about died when I opened the HUGEST package of fabric from Karyn and then an AMAZING assortment of paper goodies from Agnes! I'm not sure she has a blog but her name is createsomething on IG and she is ADORBS.

I spent a good 15 minutes crying like a goober. It never fails to amaze me how *kind* people are.

So today I'm sitting in front of the fire, listening to the wind & rain and building a December Daily.

I have very mixed feelings about the holidays. I adore Halloween, Thanksgiving is nice because I love cranberries & who doesn't crave a giant vat of gravy once a year?! But Christmas?

Not so much. It's like once December 1st happens, overnight my body tenses up and I dread the entire month. If it was socially acceptable to sleep for a month, I'd do it in December. I might go as far as saying that I *hate* December. And that's a strong word coming from me! Also, a bad outlook that I'm trying to stop myself from having. Nice things happen in December, like Chorp's birthday!

But this year things have been a little less scary, we launched Kawaii Winter Sampler which is a little more winter than Christmas. It's been super fun to watch people stitch up these characters each day on instagram. As I work on my own, I've been listening to She & Him Christmas ($5!!!)...or The Hotel Cafe presents..Winter Songs which has been getting me in the spirit in my own way, plus it's hard to be grumpy when you are cross stitching things like yetis and hot cocoa. I have just a few more to do & I'll be done, I know it's something I'm going to frame and hang up each winter.

So this is the year that I'm going to do a December Daily. I have all the supplies given to me by Agnes (incredibly generous. Have I mentioned that?!) ;)) I'm not a Scrapbooker by any means but I do love to document EVERYTHING and I have a Smash Book about 1/2 filled since my 30th birthday in August. Having a mini book dedicated to December documenting Christmas at 30 just seems right.

I'm using the prompts on Annette's Blog, this way each day I'll have a specific thing to talk about & find joy in. I haven't picked what to put on the cover of my book yet, it's just a plain moleskine that so far I spray painted with Krylon Glitter. Because everything is perfect with glitter. And I bought this stamp from Tina, who is super inspiring and we know I have an instgram addiction.

If you need me, I'm sure I'll be covered in glue and bits of paper by the end of the day. ;)

ps: wait til I share with you the goodies Karyn sent...she always picks the best fabrics.

September: an instagram wrap up

It's October 1st today. Amazing! October is my very favorite month and I just want to relish every single second of it.

Something I'm bad at is blogging all the things I create in a month. I'm not sure why, I guess I just finish a project and start another, by the time I'm ready to blog about it, I've forgotten about the previous project or something?! IDK! Also, I realized I don't even have a blog banner! Clearly I am NOT a professional blogger. And half of the time I can't even find my camera or cord or my computer is being grouchy (which more often than not this is the case!)

Can I share with you guys some highlights of September?!

• I did a lot of sewing! I finished up two quilts and started two more!
• 
• I made another weekender! And I have cut out a third but this time patchwork ala Oh Fransson & One Shabby Chick! Do I travel enough to warrant three weekenders? Nope, but they make AMAZING knitting bags! Here is mine in the car!
• I got my Harvest Quilt back from Lindsay, who quilted the most beautiful pumpkins on my quilt! I'm going to do a photo shoot of this gem soon for SURE.
• Prune season finally ended and I get to have Porkchop back! I'll write about this more when I blog the Harvest Quilt!
• I knit myself a pair of bunny slippers! I'm so obsessed with these cuties!!!
• 
• I finished knitting Marin. I haven't had a chance to add this to ravelry because I took actual photos of it that need to be edited. Man, this was a FUN knit. Like, I want another one BADLY. I ended up having to buy a second skein of tosh sock but only because I accidentally used a size 6 needle. I think if I didn't go up a size I wouldn't have had to buy a second skein. Either way, this is definitely a FAVORITE and very FUN knit. Even just typing this I'm thinking I might want one in this skein of Plucky Oatmeal I got ;)
• It wasn't ALL finishes though. This month I cast on for 4 projects and frogged them ALL! So now on my needles I currently have a pair of leaf socks which I tried on last night and they are not fitting well BUT I'm 3/4 of an inch above the ankle and I'm not sure I could bear to frog them this far in. And! I'm test knitting some color work for a friend! So two projects. I'd love a hat and a pair of fingerless gloves this month!
• 

Speaking of frogging, I took apart my sweater! I just wasn't enjoying knitting it. As a result I have 5 skeins of well matched Tosh Sock in Firewood for sale! $120 which includes flat rate shipping in the US! If your interested, shoot me an email: frenchtoastcake AT gmail DOT com. (I'm keeping the 6th skein which is the one I'd knit with for a shawl, maybe Brandywine again?, so the skeins I'm selling are hanked and brand new!)

• I did a lot of reading this month, my favorites were The Diviners, Lux Series and The Raven Boys!
• I spent a TON of time in the kitchen. I refilled my pantry with staples like tomato sauce, salsa and sausages. I've become slightly obsessed with coming up with the perfect breakfast sausage recipe. I did two types this weekend, patties and sausages in casings. Today I smell like maple syrup. I love when breakfast sausage is maple-y, slightly sweet and has a nice texture. I even made curry for the first time using Shutterbean's amazingly simple recipe! DELISH!
• I also participated in a project called 30 Days of Lists which I finished and now have a crazy cute little book! I think I might scan it and share it with you? If you'd be interested that is! ;)
• I saw two movies, ParaNorman & Hotel Transylvania both I LOVED. And we went and saw Jason Aldean & Luke Bryan last Thursday. OMG. Great concert but I might be biased because Jason is my very, very, very, very FAVORITE! Total babe ;)

I guess I had a lot more to say than I thought! My goal for October is definitely to share more and use my camera a ton. And I'll have an embroidery pattern available from Aurifil Threads that I'm excited to show you! And The Pumpkin's are releasing a new sewing pattern and KAWAII WINTER SAMPLER CLUB! Yup! AMAZING right?!

:D:D:D

Guising Mini Quilt

Remember when I knew how to use the straighten tool in photoshop? No? Me neither! I need photoshop for dummies ;)

Today is my 30th birthday & I'm probably doing something fun for myself, like baking a chocolate coconut cream pie. Or eating potatoes au gratin in stretchy pants. Or knitting some new socks. I have lots of things to think about today. My 20s, I'm excited to say, are behind me. Woo Woo!!! 30 year old me is already way smarter than 28-29 year old me. I'm sure I'll talk about this more this upcoming year.

One of my favorite things EVER is Halloween (did you miss this memo ;)) and I made this Halloween mini last month and never shared it! One of my goals is to share more. My goal in August is to make myself a Guising quilt, just a simple lap quilt. I can't wait to start it, this line makes me SO happy!!!!

The template I used was this one which was SUPER fun but I somehow lost the directions (of course! ;)). I'd bought it years ago and this was the first time I'd tried it! It was my first time doing lots of curves and lots of y seams. Not too great but not shabby. I'll share it either way! ;)

I quilted it using 50 wt Aurifil in a chocolate brown, it's really pretty. I used a scrap of Quilter's Dream Orient batting and it's so soft and drape-y, very dreamy, even for a mini!

Normally I don't wash my minis but this one I SOAKED because I used gray chalk to mark the lines. I'm glad I soaked it, it gave it a little crinkle but nothing too crazy. Perfect!

Cross your fingers that birthday me is eating lots of treats & hopefully wearing a Pusheen tshirt. It feels weird to schedule posts in the future but I'm going to go with it! I feel like I'm Alan Rickman leaving myself voicemails. Only a few of you will get that joke, the rest of you will think I'm crazy! ;)

Come back tomorrow for some Farmer's Wife blocks k?!

January Fun

Where did January go???

Oh right. I went on a major cleaning spree and vacuumed up my power cord and had to wait for another one to arrive. Awesome right? I have an iphone which I truly love but I *hate* writing long emails on it so please give me a few days if you've emailed me.

I've been doing lots of fun stuff, up until late last week it's been bright & sunny here. I've been gardening, our first heads of cauliflower look so amazing, they are my PRIDE & JOY. I sometimes go outside just to look at them and think...I FREAKING GREW CAULIFLOWER. CAULIFLOWER!!!! We've been enjoying giant salads from the lettuce. And my lemons went to curd and marmalade.

I've finished the first 4 months of Dessert of the Month Club and I kind of am dying over how crazy cute it is. So far February & April are my VERY VERY VERY favorites. How are your truffles coming along? You can sign up at any point during the year.

Did you enter your January block to the Aurifil flickr group? You could win $100 worth of thread! I don't know about you but I'd love $100 worth of thread. I'm all out of white for piecing so I've switched to light lavender. Kind of a pretty secret in my quilt blocks ;)

I've been slowly but steadily working on my SOCKS! So I started the month thinking I'd be making Pomatomus but I lost confidence in my knitting skills and frogged. Then I started on Hermione's Everyday Sock but I wasn't in LOVE with them and was running out of yarn scary fast. I took a knitting class and learned magic loop socks!!! from the toe up!!! I'm working on super plain Gusset Heel Socks & they fit PERFECTLY. I'm using a Madelinetosh yarn, this sock won't win a beauty contest but I've learned so much & I'm very inspired. Not to mention I'm obsessed with looking at sock yarn online. I blame Kayanna completely for all of this. I'm hoping to finish my second sock this week so February 1st I can cast on for some very pink socks. I bought a skein of Madelinetosh from a girl on ravelry called VALENTINE & I'm dreaming of some simple lace socks. I even bought fancy wooden sock blockers!

I'm kind of (very) obsessed with making box bags. Robert Kaufman and Laurie Wisbrun very generously sent me some Modern Whimsy to play with and I made my good friend Brie a box bag for her knitting. This fabric is so bright & spring-y & just the pop of color I need, our beautiful sunshine has given away to actual winter. Lots of rain & clouds! Thank you RK & Laurie for brightening up my stash! I'm thinking by the first week of February I'll re-open my etsy shops (yup, two of them!) with new treats! eep!

Off to tackle my inbox! Yippee!!!!

:):)

colors I love & knitting

I've been mulling over these colors for weeks. Linen, beige, dusty brown, grey, hot pink, rich wine, burgundy and bits of white. I can't stop thinking about it. Piles are forming all over my sewing room. Websites of fabric are bookmarked. Sketches are drawn on napkins. EQ has some blocks saved. My friend Sarah sent me some scraps that work PERFECTLY with these colors.

I  keep coming back to these little piles and sketches, thinking about a full sized bed quilt and it's like "Amanda...do it!!" "Make it your winter goal." "Start collecting more neutrals" "Work on bits & pieces each day!" The little creative voice in my mind is like...GIT R DONE. (also, the little creative voice in my head wears plaid shirts with no sleeves apparently ;))

I'd like to do a lot of improv piecing with a few little tiny traditional blocks pieced in. I'll send it to the amazing Lindsay to work some magic...then I'll turn and top stitch it. I'm totally smitten with quilts that are turned lately. I love how clean the edge looks and how it feels more playful. I did it with my neutral quilt & I'm happy as a clam with it.

Starting in January I'm going to work on it a little each day. I'm going to start with one of my favorite blocks- churn dash, and create around it. Just work with the stash I have and see where it takes me. And maybe treat myself to a few little bits, my neutrals are surprisingly low ;) Or swap with some pals!

I finished knitting The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief with my favorite yarn. and I'm pretty obsessed with it. I know it's going to be a wardrobe staple. A very fast & fun knit! Only a few episodes of Leverage ;) And! It's going to be PERFECT for next fall. It's a very fall-ish color.

We are starting our sock knitting in January & I'm REALLY excited! If you want to knit socks with us, you are more than welcome! So far it's Kayanna, Angela, Amy and we are bullying Megan into making socks. It's going to be pretty laid back, just a month of sock knitting, I think we are using Pomatomus but Angela is making ribbed socks, so really, any sock goes :) We are keeping track of our projects via instagram & twitter. I'm using pigeonroof yarn & I think I'm going to get a skein of Madelinetosh so the toes are a different color. I'm kind of (very!) excited. I got a ball winder for Christmas and it'll arrive next week, I'm trying to hold off balling my yarn until then. Because the last time I made a giant mess.

It's almost New Years! I'm feeling very excited about 2012. It's my last year of my 20's and I want to make the most of it!

See you in 2012!!!!

Fresh Thoughts

Did you have a nice Christmas?

I totally did! I'm so looking forward to 2012, are you?

This week I want to get everything done. Outstanding swaps, outstanding emails, cleaning, organizing, planning. I want it all DONE.

I want to start 2012 fresh. I want to start it focused and positive and excited. I have a few little goals in mind, I'll share them once I put them on paper. I'm doing a fun knit-a-long starting the first week in January with some cute friends, we are knitting Potamous socks! I've planned a new quilt for our bed. The Pumpkin's will be starting a brand new club (I'll blog about it soon! or sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know!)

Some neat things:

SewMamaSew interviewed me for Reflections + Predictions which was rad! (full confession, I got their email and was like WHATT! THEY KNOW WHO I AM!?)

I got a skein of sock yarn from a shop called CakeWalk Yarns, it is SO awesome! My skein is called Peppermint Bark. I'm kind of into pink this past week. With lots of neutrals of course ;)

One of my Christmas gifts was this mug! I hope it arrives soon! I have the hugest crush on it! (again...pink!?)

I love this knitting needle holder Megan made...I think once my knitting needle set arrives I'm going to sew it a fancy case!

I played around today with the aurifil 12 wt with some machine quilting...it is love.at.first.sight. I can't wait to share with you the little mini I was playing around on!

All of the yummy foods of Christmas have done me in. Tonight I'm making a veggie loaded chicken ginger soup. So excited! I feel like I'm going to have to have light meals for a month to detox all the sugar I've been consuming. But it is so hard to say no to marshmallows!!!!

Happy Holidays friends!!!

This Week:

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow. It starts a new week. A new week that involves Chop birthday (the 21st!) and Christmas. This week:

My lemons started to ripen!

I made a giant veggie lasagna!

I had a mega baking day with my mom!

I finished knitting a sock!

I worked on some of my cross stitch!

I daydreamed about creating something rad from this pile of fabric!

I'm ending the week with a date with Chop...scrabble!!!!

Can you tell I'm in love with Instagram? It's a free app for iphones and ipads, if you have it, let's be friends! comment with your name so I can follow you :)

If you are looking for a last minute gift, check out our Hoop Travel Bag, or maybe Snow Globe Cutie, or even Playful Mr. Fox!

I hope your upcoming week is fun & inspiring :) (and filled with candy, chocolate, cookies, pie...really whatever yumminess you are cooking up for the holidays!)

Neutral Thoughts

This morning I was knitting, waiting for coffee to finish brewing & the sun to warm our backyard enough so I could do yard work when I realized I'm obsessed with neutrals. Like, can't get enough. I'm subconsciously surrounding myself with them.

My favorite quilt. My current favorite sweet; Hershey's Hugs with their sparkly gold wrapper. My knitting, Pigeonroof Studios in Winter Birch. My wish list of a Le Creuset oval roaster in Linen or Dune.

I find it's all I want to create with lately. And it's making me use color very deliberately & sparingly. I'm kind of day dreaming of turning the remainder of my neutrals into a bed sized quilt. With puffy wool batting. Doesn't that sound cozy? I just love these shades & tones, it's very calming & reminds me of winter light. It's very sunny here but kind of a milky soft sunshine. Does that make sense? I've tried to photograph it but it's just not working!

Do you find you are obsessed with a color scheme? Like when you look through your pinterest or Flickr, do you see a color theme? I know certain friends remind me of certain colors, Karyn is blue, Katherine is soft creamy yellow & PKM is red!