{*~Oregon Star~*}

It's Saturday night & I've just finished cleaning our bedroom & starting one of many loads of laundry. Very glamorous right?

Earlier this week I cleaned my sewing space.

Things were starting to pile up & it was driving me batty. I went through projects and seam ripped many, shelved a few, purged several. Amongst the piles were several mini quilts.

My favorite part of quilting is that actual quilting process, I put on my favorite music, depending on the mood of the quilt this can be anything from Metallica, The Who, Paul McCartney, Rilo Kiley to Guns and Roses (a personal favorite), and just quilt quilt quilt. Sometimes I quilt several small quilts, sometimes just one. And then they marinate. See, I hate making binding. I don't mind sewing binding on, I love the hand sewing bit, but actually making binding? Barf. I'd rather stick hot pokers in my eyes.

But this little gem had been sitting too long and too many of my favorite t.v. shows were on that night...I feel guilty watching tv without my hands keeping busy. So 2 tv shows later....

Oregon Star was done!

Oregon Star is a traditional quilt block, foundation pieced with a total of 64 pieces, not including the backing or binding. The mini is a 12x12 inch square. It took me about 2 days to piece, mostly because I fussy cut and really took my time, with that many pieces the seams can get bulky fast, so lots and lots of trimming took place. And a fair amount of seam ripping, with something so precise, the slightest "oops" was really visible. And there are still a few mistakes, but nothing that bugged me enough to re-do.

One thing I used that I *loved* was Carol Doak's foundation paper. You can buy it anywhere, your local quilt shop, online, JoAnns. I bought mine at Scottie Dog Quilts in Eureka. Basically, it's the best paper to run through your printer and sew with.

Another thing I used with the binding was Thread Heaven. I bought it two weekends ago & I'm obsessed with it. It's a small little box and you just drag your thread through it. I'm the type of person who whether I'm hand sewing or cross stitching, I use too long of threads and then complain when they tangle into a mess. This stuff? No problem! No tangles ONCE. That is a miracle! I believe I paid $3.99 for it and I don't think I'll use it up anytime soon.

I am debating putting this little number on etsy. I love this quilt, don't get me wrong, but the response was overwhelming and I want to make someones day by selling it. I tend to keep mini quilts until I'm bored with them, then I shove them in a box and forget about them. Bad bad bad! I'm just not sure how on earth to price it since it took forever!!!

I hope your weekend is going well, Mr. McPorkchop & I saw Despicable Me and absolutely loved it...SO cute!!!!

<3

I've bit the bullet and listed the mini on etsy!

{*~Turn That Frown~*}

Is it weird to say thank god it's Monday?

This weekend was so terrible and so awesome all at once. Mr. McPorkchop was only home for a short 2 days instead of 3 and a half. Him being home and just being him was the amazing part of the weekend. We've tentatively come up with a plan for after he graduates and where we'd like to live. It was partly just a nice time to have a goal to work towards instead of being so glum about our current situation!

The not so amazing parts? Wes's dog Molly passed away and I felt terrible that I couldn't be there for my mom, it was her last sort of living link to him. She was ancient, 17 years old for a doberman, she's had an amazingggg life, but it was still sad and even sadder to talk to my mom. It's times like these that I hate living so far away from her! Then a *huge* order that I finished (65 pads) ended up with a miscommunication and we mutually agreed to cancel the sale, thats putting it very very very nicely. I started working on my small batch of custom orders for the shop, only to cut some fabric wrong and have to reorder it and hopefully it'll arrive today and I'm crossing my fingers that overnight shipping really means overnight. We went to go see Up!, our local theatre just got a new 3D thingy and the projector broke, so after sitting there for an extra half hour, they refunded everyone, totally not a big deal, but I wanted to poke the eyes out of the other patrons, there was only like 5 people working, clearly, it wasn't their fault, and people, wow, they just thought they were entitled to free EVERYTHING. I was shocked and I genuinely felt so so so bad for the staff! I then went to a local fabric store for fabrics for a swap, only to realize the fabrics had been sold out. ARGH! I totally promised something and then couldn't deliver, that is *not* me and I'm very upset about it.

So what did I do?

Sewed. Started watching comedies. Had some beer. Cuddled. Bought some new fat quarters. Learned how to free motion quilt.

I've never free motion quilted before and my machine came with the foot, a special feature, blah blah blah. I was just too wimpy to try it, but you know what? When things are bad, thats a perfect time to try something new right! *grins* It was pretty fun! I don't know if I'll do a lot of stippling, I think its called? I found it more fun to "draw", if that makes sense!

We watched Reno 911 and season one of Seinfeld this weekend. I've never really watched either and I really really loved the dumb humor and dry humor of them both. Sometimes it's nice to take a break from over thinking and "thoughtful" movies to just laugh and be silly. We also saw Night at the Museum 2. Ohhh dear, what an unfortunate movie! lol! But we had fun holding hands, being snarky and drinking fountain sodas bigger than our heads.

Today I'm going to package up orders, work on orders, request my mail man comes tomorrow to pick up the orders, finish wrapping up some swap packages, go to the bank, you know, typical Monday stuff. I'm hoping a bit of work and running around will kick me out of my funk! Maybe I'll even get a coffee!

OH! And guess what? I won a gift certificate from pink chalk fabrics! Sweet! I'm not sure what I'll get yet, as having 2 months off from work pretty much slaughtered my clams (we call money clams, I'm not sure when or why, but we do) and I need to get to work!

On that note, have a fantastic Monday and tomorrow I'll post the winners of the giveaway!!!!

{*Phew*}

Phew!!! What a crazy weekend!!!

After the Wednesday pad giveaway, things got really really hectic around here. It turns out quite a few people are very very unhappy with the lack of custom order availability and I got to hear about it. I've never gotten so many mean and hurtful emails before. It was quite the shock. At one point my email topped out at around 190 emails. Most of them were FANTASTIC. Some left me in tears and I'm NOT ok with that.

So I ended up unplugging my computer and just focusing on working and finishing up orders. Wowzers, I got almost 100 pads done by Saturday morning, so tonight I've been able to list some custom slots! With these slots all you need to do is pick the top fabric! Easy peasy!!!! Just purchase the listing, I'll send you a link to a super secret website where you can pick your fabrics! Then I'll mail you pads! woot! This way all orders will be easy to manage and no more sewing 15 hour days! As orders get fulfilled and shipped, I'll be adding more to the shop! Sweet!

Don't forget that I'm *always* willing to combine shipping. I've set some of the shipping prices kinda high but I *always* refund over shipping costs or upgrade to priority. And since I'm updating the shop constantly, I'm also more than willing to hang on to your order so you can keep shopping for a few days! No problem! Just let me know!

After Saturday I was seriously BEAT. Mr.McPorkchop very kindly took me to a daffodil show on Sunday!!!! They are my ALL time favorite flower and it was so nice to walk around and just look at the flowers! So awesome! It was really neat to read all the names and see the different varieties! I pretty much want a giant batch of them. Did you know some varieties have pink trumpets? They are the sweetest things I've ever seen.

It was odd to not have anything super pressing to do, so I started to clean up the sewing nook. I get a ton of emails about what I do with my scraps and the truth is, I save every little last piece. I can't bear to throw any away! I'm not sure what I'm saving them for. But last night, it kinda came to me. Ok. That's a lie. This flickr group has inspired me to bits! I suddenly found myself sitting on the floor, cutting bits and pieces of scraps and laying them down.

Next thing I knew this happened:

And then this!

Whoa!!! Crazy!!! So so so so so much fun!!! They are going to be quilted and turned into a clutch! woot!!!!

I have several pads ready for tomorrow, it got too dark for me to photograph them. Also, want to see a mistake?

I made this super rad pad bag this afternoon. Was just putting the finishing touches on it when I realized I put the nylon too close to the zipper, so I trimmed it and...accidentally poked a hole in the nylon with my scissors! EEK!!! I ran to JoAnns and found a washable fray check so I'm going to try it. It totally breaks my heart because if you know Heather Ross, you know that the VW fabric is discontinued (so are the white flowers) and super hard to find, making it so so so expensive on etsy and eBay. I paid an arm and a leg for it, only to make a mistake on the lining...oh GRRRRR!!! Look at those cute little buttons?! So much fun to make. I might list it tomorrow and maybe offer free priority shipping? A small discount?! I don't know!!! Sheesh!!! I'm referring to this bag as the VENTI bag! lol. It's so big and nice!!!

I'm going watch antiques roadshow and work on some more pads for the shop! I'm still responding to emails, so bear with me!!!

Happy Monday!!! xoxoxo

{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