{~*Lucky*~}

I've just finished updating the shop! It took wayyyy longer than I expected because half way through importing my photos I bumped something and lost them ALL!!! Plus, this is my largest update that I think I've EVER done!!! Sweet!!!! There are some limited edition pads, liners, cotton backed pads, fleece backed pads...I tried to do a little of everything! YAY!

I've had amazing mail days the past few weeks, like amazing. Like swaps so fantastic that I haven't photographed them because I ripped into them so fast. Yup. That good. Yesterday I got these gorgeous Liberty of London from Kristen who just got back from London. I about died. They smelled AMAZZZZZING! I kept thinking "Liberty smells perfect, warm, cozy"...it turned out she'd packed them with some stuff from Lush! LOL! How great is that?! Hahaha! Even Liz yesterday commented on how nice they smelled! hahaha! These are going to be a quilt! I haven't decided on a pattern, I have found a few prints online that I'd love to have once my budget allows for it! Any pattern ideas would be great! Joelene sent me one that looks really great!

I was up wayyyy too late last night working on orders...I ended up doing an ENTIRE order wrong. Charming right? Sheesh. The order was going to be backed in cotton, I backed them in fleece. FAIL! That teaches me for staying up too late working! Next time sleep and get up early!

Tomorrow I'm going to the post office and farmers market. I have orders, swaps, etc to mail out. And yay for farmers markets!!! I'm dying to see what kind of local yumyums I can get! Mr. McPorkchop is on his way home from work right now and has stopped by Trader Joe's! YAY!!!!!

Don't forget that there is still time to enter my giveaway! Thank you so so so much to everyone whos emailed me, mentioned my blog, etc! I'm in awe of the positive response I've received! I love love love knowing that there are lots of people out there who are open to the idea of cloth! It keeps me going! Your kind comments have seriously made my week! I'm giving you all the hugest hugs EVER. EVVVVERRRR!!!!

Have a fantastic weekend! xoxoxo

{*Info About Update*}

(sneak peak of some liner fabrics)

Hey Gang!

I'm currently working on a whole ton of great things for the shop, a few wet bags, a ton of liners, plus of course pads. Combined with a whole slew of custom orders. Unfortunately I'm going to have to push back the update and make it either Tuesday or Thursday evening. I'm pretty sure Mr.McPorkchop & I both have a stomach bug. Ew. xten.

I am so so so so sorry! I'm holding 5-6 customers pads right now for combined shipping, if you'd rather I pop them in the mail for you tomorrow so you don't have to wait, please please please please don't hesitate to email me. If you don't mind waiting, I'll post again with a more concrete time of the next update.

Also, I've gotten several emails and etsy convos about a pad maker who has started selling "look-a-like" pads on etsy. I'm so thankful that you all are keeping an eye out for me. Yes, the pattern is a tracing and yes, it upsets me very much. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it yet. But thank you so much for all your kind words and support.

I have gotten a lot of great new fabrics this weekend, plus I washed and preshrunk several yards of bamboo and cotton fleece, so once my stomach calms down, this little house is going to turn into a factory of pad goodness! If I hold off until Thursday to update, chances are the update is going to be pretty big, which I know would make quite a few of you very happy ;) OH! And I was able to get more Mendocino Mermaid fabric in blues! YESSS!!!!

I'm pretty excited about a new book I got, well, it was a gift with a coupon, but I got Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing. Wow. Absolutely gorgeous book. Very funny story, I had some great fabric, several yards, on Saturday night I pulled out my old sewing machine and brought it into my bedroom with the intent of sitting on my bed and sewing sleep pants from a pattern in the book. It was a great sewing night, my bed provided lots of cutting space, I was listening to some guns and roses, I had my favorite pine candle burning, Mr. McPorkchop was doing the dishes, primo crafting conditions! Well, low and behold, I made them and they were terribly tight, not fitting at all. I was pretty bummed out, especially because I made a size large and knew I was making them with a lot of ease. This morning I'm cleaning up some books and stuff so I could sew in my nook, came across the patterns and the pattern I'd cut out, low and behold, I cut all four pieces...out of JUST the front leg pattern, not the front and BACK leg patterns. Nice right?! DOH!

To finish it off, I royally screwed up my knitting! BOO! I need to take out a row, but I'm kinda scared too!

OH! And I've been having really good fabric kharma lately. My friend Joelene mailed me some Robert Kaufman sprinkle fabric! And I found some swell fabric for Megan that she'd been looking for! I love when fabric makes me and other people happy.

Also, it was nice to read everyones comments regarding allergies, it's good to know I'm not the only one!!!

Argh. Ick. I think we are going to run to the store for some saltines >:(

{Cozy & Carrots}

I want to start tonights blog post with a very huge, very sincere, thank you. Thank you all so so so much for helping my friend Christina. I got so many emails last night, facebook messages, twitter tweets, you guys made me cry. I love you guys to bits and pieces. Thank you all so so so much and as I hear more from Christina, I'll post it here. Seriously. Thank you so so so so much again. If I could give you all hugs, I would. xten.

This is going to be a ramble-y entry. Just giving you a heads up.

I've been having a super hard time sleeping. I think it's from the medicine I've been taking since I had my charming allergic reaction. But really, who knows! Daylight savings? Too much energy? Need to create until dawn?! Last night was a doozy, I wasn't asleep until around 5 am this morning. Nice right? Mr.McPorkchop has been teasing me saying that 12:30 am is the new 2:30 pm because I'm up building stuff!

What am I building? Not a quilt for the quilt a long because I'm lame and can't seem to pick fabrics.  I worked on a knitting bag for myself. It's no secret that I'm really social online, but not to much in real life. On ravelry I joined two local groups in attempts to meet new crafty local friends. I had plans to go to Purl 'n Hurl Humboldt last night, but they were cut out after I had to have a business meeting. Yup. A business meeting. Crazy right? It sounds so official!

ANYWAYS! I made myself a knitting bag. So I can take my knitting places without shoving it in my purse. And tangling it up. Because I've done that before. I'm really grumpy right now with yarn in general, you know how earlier in the week I mentioned a package going missing? Well I ordered yarn for Mr.McPorkchops Valentines gift, yarn for a swap for a pair of Maine Morning Mitts, yarn for a hat for Mr.McPorkchops dad and the package is missing, USPS shows the seller printed postage, but it never entered their system and the seller hasn't responded to any emails. I filed a paypal claim. I've *never* done that before and it made me very, very, very, grumpy. I hate being without yarn, without money and I can't work on a swap, Mr.McPorkchop is Valentines Day giftless and Mr.McPorkchops dad is hatless. BOO!!!

BUT! I decided to take a second chance with buying yarn online. Since Jan.1st I've lost a little over 12 lbs so I thought a treat was in order for myself and I ordered a skein of SweetGeorgia sock yarn from the twitter suggestion of Yahaira! See the scarf she's wearing oh so beautifully in that link? I'm knitting that! Holy smokes! I've never knit anything remotely lace-like before! So exciting! So scary! The pattern is called Ishbel and it's designed by Ysolda Teague. I'm knitting it in a hand painted green color way called lichen.

Pretty right? I think green is becoming my favorite color. Well I wanted a sturdy bag. Something fun. Something rad. I wanted something deep but not huge, something that could stand up on its own, something structured but soft and something quirky.

I cut my remaining pieces of three fabrics that go super cute together and are also limited print/out of print. Deep breath!!! I wish I'd brought the pink fabric down a little more. I'm also unsure how to keep it crinkle free, you can see some wrinkles in the photo from where I flipped it inside out and then right side too. But all in all, it came out neat! I'm jazzed about it!

I used two Heather Ross fabrics, one from lightning bugs and the other from west hill. The lining is from Erin Michaels Lush and its the prettiest wood grain print. I added a little typewritten tag on the inside that has a Harry Potter (big fan of the Potter) quote about knitting! Awesome! You can see the tag here.

I also used a metal zipper! How cool is that? It gives the bag a really sturdy feel. I got the idea from Heather Ross's book, Weekend Sewing. I ended up using 3 different types of interfacing on this bag. Fusible craft heavy weight fabric on the outer fabric to keep its shape. Soft fusible fleece on the lining to give it some body. And sewn in heavy weight pellon for the panels along the zipper so the zipper wouldn't fall in with the weight of its self.

The little pin I just had to do. I'm such a big fan of mockumenteries and the tv show The Office. I've been watching Best in Show and I decided I totally needed prize badge of some sort, plus the horse fabric is begging for it!!! And then the preppy pink and green combo? Totally inspired by Andy Bernard! Have you seen the things he wears? He looks like he's stepped out of a J.Crew catalog and just finished sailing for the day! I love it!!! I also love that Michael Scott turns EVERYTHING into a dramatic production or contest or holiday. So my knitting bag isn't just a knitting bag, it's a dream that I'm a champion knitting- horse back riding- bug catching- day dreaming extraordinaire! Hilarious!!!! I have plans for some Heather Ross jodhpur fabric and wall paper fabric as well. The more preppy the better. I'm bringing out my East Coast roots...kinda.

I made this bag while twittering with my friend Kristen about bikes and bike bags. Who knew I'd find something new to be completely obsessed with?! I finished the bag and several custom orders around 3 am. Awesome!!!

I woke up this morning afternoon, worked on more orders, took a shower and was grumpy. Actually, I laid in bed and cried my eyes out for a good 45 minutes. Crazy right? For the past 6 months I've been allergic to shampoo. So I've been switching. And switching. And trying new things. And spending wayyy too much money on shampoo.  And over time, the allergy has gotten worse. Enter this morning, me in the shower and my hair coming out in clumps. I've never ever had hair this long in my entire life, its only a little past my shoulders and I'm not emotionally attached to it, I just want to be able cut it and donate it hopefully this fall and be able to help someone. I'll spare you the details but lets just say that it was an extremely painful shower. Mr.McPorkchop brought me to Target, I had a list of things to avoid from my doctor and we found yes to carrots! Mr.McPorkchop very kindly bought me the hair mask! I put it on and it felt really cool and nice. I'm stuffed up, but Mr.McPorkchop said that it had a very light and clean smell. I left it on for 20 minutes, it says 15, but I was in the middle of prepping veggies to be baked. I rinsed it off and no burning, no pain, nothing. No new hives which was *amazing*. I let my hair air dry then I gently combed it. Success!!! My hair is super shiny and soft. I was able to part it differently and loosely braid it to hide the damage. Awesome!!! I'm totally going to head to Target tomorrow and buy the shampoo and conditioner. I even joined their carrot club and facebook group, lol! No animal testing! Ecofriendly! Affordable! Available in lots of places! That is so so so awesome to me! Clearly as the small owner of a small ecofriendly business, I love and want to support other ecofriendly businesses!

Can I vent for a moment? I hate having allergies. Most people think its something as simple as avoiding something, but it's totally not that easy. Allergies come and go. I get allergy tests once a year and each year, crazy differences. Lately they've been through the roof insane, so I'm hoping going to Redding this summer will help, a very dry climate might be amazing for my asthma. This post pretty much sums up allergies. I have had sinus infections ever since I was a kid. I get them once or twice every 2-3 months, these are the kind of sinus infections that knock you on your butt! I had tubes in my ears in elementary school to help with chronic ear infections. I tried allergy shots. I've taken (am taking) steroid regimens that have made me gain weight. Allergies, in short, are horribly lame and I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. So when I can find something that doesn't make me itch or sneeze, I sing it from the roof tops!

See! I told you this post would be ramble-y! I did get a few liners done today for the shop, I'm going to work on more through out the weekend and will update the shop either Sunday or Monday night. I got some new fabric in the mail today and it's going to make the *cutest* liners ever!

Have a great weekend everyone!!! Thank you so so so much again!!!

xo

{*Secrets Revealed!*}

Ok! Well, its time to spill my guts!!! If you follow me on twitter you know my secret...but...

Mr. McPorkchop & I are screen printing at home!!! Soooo excited!!! We have hemp grocery totes and organic cotton produce bags on their way, as well as a whole slew of drawings! YAYAYYY!!!!

We were going to do a traditional set up using this new line of ecofriendly silkscreen supplies we've been planning this for about 6-9 months but I've been on the limb about the whole thing, the space needed for an exposing unit, the fact that we are extremely tight on space in general was a huge thing. We've been researching, researching, researching. Plus our home is extremely humid and I was worried the screens would never ever dry and we wouldn't have a place to stash them so they could be left alone. >:(

When I first saw the info for yudu I was a little on the edge. I should probably mention that I took printmaking for 5 years in college and took less than half a semester of silkscreening before deciding that college wasn't for me right now, but I fell in love with silkscreen. I love all printmaking in general, although admittedly, I'm poor at it and a better painter. But I love love love it. But yudu seemed kinda...meh to me. I was worried it was going to be a shoddy way of bringing silk screen to the masses and undermining silk screen artists in general. But thats a different rant for a different time ;)

Then it kinda started making more and more sense, less space, all in one unit, ecofriendly, no harmful chemicals, did I mention less space?! So we took the plunge and got one!

Ordering the unit was no problem, I bought it online at JoAnns for 40% off plus shipping. It was supposed to arrive today, but showed up early on Wednesday. No problem! We found a super rad table locally at Arcata Exchange, hilariously when we tried to put the table in our vehicle, I tried to remove the sunshade and ended up conking myself in the head, losing my glasses and giving myself a goose egg!!!Yay!!! >:(

The real fiasco has been supplies. My local JoAnns doesn't carry them, which makes sense, its a small JoAnns. So on the 27th of February I ordered every available color of ink, emulsion remover, stop out, registration panels, the whole shabang from JoAnns store front on amazon.com! Randomly starting on the 4th of March, I started getting refund notices. Essentially, they were selling items they never had in stock. :( So amazon gives me 15% off my next purchase...excluding yudu. Wait? What? So I called JoAnns and got the run around, all I'd like is a rain check, I got the supplies for 40% off, they over sold them and/or never had them in stock in the first place, so I don't think its too unreasonable to ask for a rain check, can you tell I've been reading a lot of the Consumerist? After being extremely polite and biting my tongue, I got the rain check, but they have no idea when the supplies will ever be in stock again. I look online *daily* and it appears most sites only have pre-order options or prices through the roof (double retail + shipping). I sent an email to Provo Craft asking if and when the supplies will be available mainstream. I've read on various sites Michaels is supposed to be carrying it in mid-March as well. No response from them. I don't mind waiting for supplies at all, but it seems silly that they sell the kit with no emulsion remover! Odd right? Since I have a ton of silkscreen ink here, I might try printing with my own ink, they say not too, but I might be willing to give it a go.

Once we test print and get a feel for it, I'll write a review and compare it to print gocco and traditional silkscreen to the best of my ability!

I'm the most excited about being able to print my own fabrics. I have yards and yards of organic cottons here that are just dying to be printed on! YAY!!!!

Also, I think I've been spending too many days up late and pushing myself because I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick again..booo!!!! I was up all night working on building our table plus sewing custom orders. So today I got through 75 emails and etsy convos, but I still have about 15 more etsy convos to get too, so please please pretty please be patient with me!!! I also didn't get a chance to run to the post office today, normally I print postage online but my printer is acting odd, so I might run to office max tonight for a new cartridge, so if you've bought something from me this week, it's going out first thing in the morning! Yay!!!!!

Phew! Thank goodness it's Friday!!!!

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? I'm sewing sewing sewing, I need to finish some custom orders and stock the shop!!! :)

{*Stash Interview*}

Good Afternoon & Happy Thursday!!!

First, I'd like to give a very big thank you to sewmamasew for mentioning my little doll quilt. I've actually changed two squares on it since then and have cut the sashing! Now I'm extra motivated to finish it!

During the month of February they've been interviewing various crafty ladies about their fabric stashes and it's been so much fun to read along. I recently (earlier in the week) switched up my sewing area so I thought I'd play along, even though it's March ;)

What do you usually sew?

I sew reusable cloth menstrual pads! The idea is hard to wrap your head around at first, but it's great for you and the enviroment, plus I love to buy rad fabrics!

When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy?

I'm strictly a fat quarter kinda girl! I can't buy large cuts of fabric because I simply don't use all that much! I also share a very tiny two room home with my fiance, Mr.McPorkchop, and as it is, my business takes over our space big time! It bums me out when fabric shops aren't fat quarter friendly, but the ones who are know that I shop from them 2-3 times every few weeks! I do buy a lot of Japanese prints in half yards because I've started making pouches from them, plus once you can't find a print, it's gone forever!!!!

Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need?

I only buy fabric for my shop, I've only bought fabric three times for myself, twice was something I needed, fabric for my birdie sling and fabric for my frenchie bag, the third time was my biggest fabric investment and most prized piece of fabric ever. When I shop for my business, I buy new collections, I buy stuff that I genuinely like, not stuff that "I think will sell", because I don't want to sew with it if I don't love it! Every little fabric I buy for my shop I buy because I adore something about it, the color, the print, the designer...something!

Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it?

Yup! Since my fabrics go on an intimate part of the body, I prewash all my fabrics twice using ecover delicate wash, just to remove any excess sizing, make sure it's 100% shrunk. I wash it asap because I can't wait to get my greedy little hands sewing with it!

Do you iron it?

Oh yes! My iron is one of my most prized possessions actually, and I know how weird that sounds! My mom & stepfather gave it to me as a Christmas gift the day before he passed away. When I opened it he said "well, I had to get you this one, it shuts off automatically", haha because clearly, I get wrapped up in a project and you know...forget about things. Like hot irons. :)

How do you sort it?

Color Chronologically!!!!

Do you have any special folding techniques?

Nope! Just nice and neatly!

How do you store your fabric?

This shelf! Plus I have three rubbermaid clear small bins that hold my home decor weight fabrics and half yards of fabrics. I keep my bolts of bamboo and cotton fleece next to my sewing desk. Anti-pill fleece is in a giant soft squishy pile at the edge of my desk as well in a big basket!

What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash?

I think it's just a matter of buying what suits your personality!

When do you say enough is enough?

When it won't fit on my shelf!!! I'm on a no-half-yards-of-fabric-diet right now!!!!

What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects?

Well, I really really am into quilts right now so I've been saving my scraps and cutting them into pieces! I also like adding fabric tags to things, typing on fabric, gluing fabric to things...

Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it!

Oh man. Ok. This is my favorite, most expensive, most most most FAVORITE (Can I say that again?) print ever! It's a yard of Liberty of London, Tana Lawn. I bought it from a fabric shop in the UK and I just die when I look at it. I'm not sure I'll ever sew with it, I've dreamed of making a skirt with it, but it's only a yard of fabric. It lives in my hutch with my yarn and I only take it out on special occassions, crazy right?! I know!

What’s your definition of the perfect stash?

I'm led to believe that the perfect stash simply must belong to Martha Stewart. I'm pretty sure I've seen bits and pieces of it in her magazine, but come on, she's gotta be rolling in some phenom fabrics!!!!!

I'll share these new fat quarters with you that I just got today!

I love them!

Ok! That's all for today! I'm answering questions about custom orders, packaging orders and working on some stuff today! I might sneak some pads into the shop later tonight!

Have a fantastic Thursday everyone!!!! I'm going to maybe try to make some pineapple shrimp with jasmine rice tonight! eeep!!!

xoxox

{*OmNomNOM!*}

So Wednesdays are my favorite day of the week. I'm honestly not sure why! I mean, each day is new and different, but Wednesdays are just my day!!!

Last night I made the most gorgeous lasagna ever. I'm so glad I twitter because I got all my cooking tips from my pals and its so rad having so many people chatting away!

I roasted some veggies, ohhh veggies, I roasted kale, endive, spinach, bella mushrooms, olives, pinole nuts, yellow squash, japanese eggplant...basically, I cleaned out my fridge. I tossed all the veggies together with some super nice evoo, sea salt and black&white fresh pepper. I couldn't stop grabbing the crispy kale pieces and nibbling on them as I was assembling the lasanga! lol! I used some left over homemade marinara sauce that I had tucked in the freezer and some ready to bake whole wheat pasta sheets!

Not the best photo, but you get the idea!!! I love the size of this dish, it was perfect for 6 serving sizes! Rad! Today it tasted better than yesterday, the roasted flavors of the veggies totally came through! YUM!!!

So I have so much to share with you but I don't know where to begin!!!

Well, lets see, the shop is updated with some very pretty new things! I got some very rad mail today, but don't have photos of it yet, so that can wait..hmmm..ok moving on :)

Ok, first off, Shanna, has written a super rad review of my reversible liners!!! Totally check it out because its a really honest review and that's so so so helpful. Lots of people don't talk about cloth, don't want to think about cloth, cloth just eeks them out and thats *totally* understandable so it's nice to see women being open and talking about it! Thank you so much Shanna!

So, I've talked about how I'm doing Oh, Fransson's Quilt-Along right? Well I'm totally torn on fabric choices! People are already starting to post photos in the flickr pool and I'm so over whelmed! I can't decide if I should use fabrics from my stash, scraps or buy some new stuff locally! I know that I don't want to buy a bundle of all the same fabrics, I don't like anything too matchy matchy, but at the same time, THIS IS SCARY STUFF! This is my first full sized quilt folks!!!! These Three Inspire Me! Choices choices choices!!! I totally have tons of great fabrics, but can I make a rad quilt from them? hmmm...remains to be seen!!!!

Ok! I'm off to sew a bit more before bed! Have a great night everyone! Xoxo

{*Love It!*}

What a DAY!!!!!!!!

Firstly, thank you so much everyone for all your get well soon wishes! You all are so so so nice to me!!!

I woke up feeling ok-ish, so I got to work right away, I got done a super super fun custom order, three pads, I got to chose the fabrics, she said she liked jewel colors, big flowers and birds! AWESOME! I'm super jazzed with how cute these came out! I also ironed and got ready the fabrics for tomorrows custom orders! Score for getting stuff done!

I feel like I haven't left the house in years, even though it's really only been a few days and I needed some spray starch and a free motion foot for my machine, so we visited my favorite local fabric store, Scottie Dog Quilts, here in Eureka! Ok, I adore this shop to pieces, it's owned by a mother daughter team who are just the sweetest most knowledgeable ladies ever!!! I went in thinking "Ok, Amanda..steady...steady...don't sneeze on anyone...spray starch and leave..."! I ended up being "HOLY CRAP NEW AWESOME FABRICS!!!! *Sniffle. Sneeze. Sniffle*". I was so so so excited, they had some of the best new stuff ever, I think you can tell by my stack that I'm feelin early spring, greens and pinks! Hopefully these fabrics will turn into pads mighty fast! Also, Liz offered to teach me english paper piecing! How insanely cool is that? Once I'm not sneezing on every one I'm totally going to take her up on it!

So you all know by now that clearly, when I'm sick, I still want to build stuff and I generally can't even begin to sit still that long. I was up late a few nights ago as I mentioned before, sneezing, as always and I got so inspired by Oh, Franssons doll quilt from sewmamasew! I decided then and there that a doll quilt can totally be made while I was sick! Even better, I could make it in bed.

Quilters out there, don't worry, I can hear your laughter.

I started by grabbing my scrap bag of fabrics, I save all my pad scraps so I can make stuff from them. I cut 20 3 inch squares, by hand, in bed. See the ones that are wonky? Yup. In bed. No rotary cutter, clearly. Oops!

I then started to sew by hand the top row of fabrics. Also, clearly. Hahaha. Not so good. So I put it aside until this morning because I'm honestly not good at hand sewing. AT ALL! I stitched all my rows together with the machine and..viola! I made a mistake! See that bottom square where its 4 linens in a block? Yeah. Mistake. I need to take that apart. I'm going to do the sashing in dark grey corduroy, piece together my own binding from scraps and then back it in plaid shirting or wool. I got a free motion foot today and if it fits, I'm going to try and quilt it that way, but the idea of stitch in the ditch by hand sounds kinda nice too.

Tonight Mr.McPorkchop & I are going to go through a years worth of paypal and etsy receipts for my taxes. Goody! I got some new medicine at Long's so hopefully I'll feel a little better because this weekend we are moving around my sewing space in preparation for my top secret new project! And because my fabric collection, I don't know why, is out growing its space.

Go figure ;)

Really though, I'm sure I'll be asleep on the couch in five minutes, I'm B.E.A.T. Fabric shopping takes a lot out of you ;)

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!!! xoxoxox!!!