Guising Mini Quilt

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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?!

Patchwork Smash Book Cover

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Yesterday I got a Smash Book! They seem to have been popular for a while now but I only learned about them yesterday when I saw them in a cute craft store in Grass Valley. I decided to get one because I *love* gluing and pasting and sticking things in books.

In college we had to keep sketchbooks, I remember seeing classmates frantically scribbling in a brand new book the morning of finals so they'd have something to turn in. Not me! I had multiple filled moleskines. I just love starting with a flat book and cramming so much stuff in it that it barely closes anymore.

I've kept up pretty well with Project Life, I stopped in Mid-May, I couldn't seem to find a binder solution that worked for me and I realized...I'm kind of dull. My days are pretty similar and my cards started to get boring. Big time.

SO! I decided to get this Smash Book and give it a try. I tend to hang onto things, my purse is usually filled with little scraps of paper and torn magazine pages. I think this will be a really fun way to collect memories from this year. For some reason turning 30 is *really* exciting to me!

I used only scraps to make this, my scrap bin is out of control so I thought I'd better use what I have. I did one of my favorite blocks for the center, it's called Friendship! I have bits of fabric that friends have given me in here, Lindsay, Karyn & Lizzy all contributed to this. I love sewing with bits from friends. The inside has a little pocket and I boxed the bottom corners so the bag will stand up on it's own on my bedside table when filled with stuff. It closes with a fold over snap.

I decided to try something new to me, free motion quilting using Aurifil 12 wt cotton. The weight that folks usually use when sewing is 50 wt, it's standard sewing thread. I'd say 12 wt cotton is similar to 2 strands of embroidery floss. Embroidery floss has 6 strands and most folks ply them down (pull them apart) to two for cross stitch or embroidery.

I've been knitting a pair of oak leaf socks and thought my book needed an oak leaf. I used a leather needle in my machine simply because it had the largest eye out of any of the needles I had on hand and then 50 wt cotton in the bobbin. You really want a large eye for the thread to go through, otherwise the thread will rub and break.

With the thicker thread, you really want to stitch SLOW. For some reason people free motion quilt with the idea that FASTER IS BETTER, I'm not sure why. This has never worked for me (I'm not an expert though ;)) Slow is much better with this thread, really let the machine take the time to place the stitches and the needle pull up the bobbin thread. I didn't draw the leaf on the fabric before quilting, I'm rubbish at following lines.

I love that the 12 wt looks like hand embroidery, it's has really neat stitch definition and the cotton has a really beautiful shine.

Did you guys know they make gray sharpies?! I died when I saw this yesterday!

:):)

Aurifil July BOM

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I'm totally bummed out that my blog didn't post this right away because I super love Sarah! And I love this summer-y block. I started stitching it onto a tote bag for my library books, all summer long I've been obsessed with mysteries and visiting the library 3x a week! I guess summer is just a time for sitting outside and reading (and stitching!)

I've had a crush on this quilt for the past year or so, it's seriously dreamy. My grandparents used to take me to a lot of antique stores in New England and I saw these very traditional & primitive eagles on things and I love them. But this! Wowzers. It's so fresh & fantastic. I'm not sure it's something I could ever sew, I *love* hand applique, but mostly because I don't have very much of these colors in my stash. I think it's one that I'd want to just drive to Sarah's and steal. It just appeals to my traditional Yankee soul and my California boldness. Does that make sense?! I think this quilt is in her book Quilting from Little Things?! But I'm not 100% sure. Maybe I can ask for the book as an early birthday gift? *wink wink*

Don't forget, you can post any of your completed blocks to the flickr group and you can win thread! Woo woo!

Things I've been doing: Brandywine Shawl, Books & Guising Needlebook

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I knit a shawl called Brandywine which is I *think* the hardest thing I've knit to date. It took me about 3 days and it was SO satisfying. Totally a boost of confidence.

I need to get more blocking pins, I accidently blocked the center point incorrectly and I want to re-do it so it doesn't look crooked.

I'm so obsessed with historical books right now. Like, I can't even contain how much I love love love love them. Here's what I've read so far:

Shadow of Night The Dark Monk The Lady Julia Grey Bundle (I totally loved this so so so so much!) Ravishing in Red

These ladies are ALWAYS talking about grabbing a shawl, their woolen shawl, sitting around the fire with a shawl, walking outside with a shawl. I was going shawl crazy. Ignore that it's 100 degrees here, I decided I HAD to have a shawl. Haha.

Lizzy very, very, very, very sweetly sent me some Guising.

Can we talk for a minute about how much I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween? In case you missed it, I'm addicted to Halloween. It's my very favorite time of year and it's just so much FUN.

And then my head & little heart exploded when Lizzy designed this line. It's like she took all the things I ADORE about the holiday and turned it into fabric I could have and love forever & always. It's that good. Halloween fabric is either hit or miss for me, there are some lines that recently came out that are a definite miss for me but this is the hugest HIT! Even if you aren't into Halloween, the jewels and tiny little stars are so great, I'm going to save up and buy a yard of them because I think they are GREAT classic basics in fresh colors. I'm not just saying this because Lizzy is my friend, I genuinely ADORE this line. Phew.

I accidentally lost two pairs of Addi Turbos (cue crying fit) last week and I decided ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I'm getting my sock needles under control. I made this little case last Monday but I didn't bind it until yesterday, the Porkchop's are a little under the weather and some couch time and binding was necessary. I love the sparkly numbers and that binding fabric is my favorite.

Can we talk about these nifty things?

My friend Audrie, who's pretty much the cutest ever, sent me these Clover Binding Clips! These are a DREAM COME TRUE! Soooo clever and amazing! Thanks pal! <3

:D

Amy Butler Frenchie Bag: A Summer Project Tote

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I decided I needed a new bag for all my knitting. Something I could toss some yarn, some cross stitch, a book and various other crafty treats in. I was rummaging through my patterns and found my copy of Amy Butler's Frenchie Bag.

This was the first bag I'd ever made from a pattern before, back in 2007, I made one two summers ago and now this one! 3 Frenchies!

I love how FAST this bag is to make. After cutting and interfacing, it's only about an hour of sewing. Hand stitching the handles on and choosing the fabric took me the longest! This is totally a beginner friendly bag for sure.

One thing I forgot? How narrow this bag is! haha! It's SO cute but it doesn't fit nearly as much as I'd hoped! This weekend I had: knitting book, sock, needles, little zip pouch and little notions bento box. It all fit but it was squished! And I left a bunch of little things home >:( It's not that the Frenchie isn't big because it's TALL but I think it needs some gussets or something to give it more DEPTH. I'm going to need to make another bag, this time with Anna's Go Anywhere Bag pattern. That one looks like it has more space & I think I'd love the outer pockets so much for little things like my notions bento and bunny tape measure.

I do like this bag though, I used some of my precious Heather Ross fabric and some amazing Clover Handles. I love, love, love using Japanese handles on bags, I think they just take handmade to a different level of sturdiness and cuteness. It's hard not to like something when it's in all your fav's (actually, speaking of Heather Ross fabric (Snow White?) Was anyone else really excited to see the previews for that new Snow White movie, only to be let down when you saw Kristen Stewart? She is forever making that same mope-y bored face. Lame.)

This is a bag I'd totally make again and probably will soon, I have a few friends with birthdays coming up. But I think in the meantime I'm going to give Anna's pattern a try! I kind of want to hold off until Heather Ross's new line of fabric is available though...those little mice kill me!

Pow Wow Quilt

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Last week I made myself a new little quilt.

I love little lap quilts. I like knitting in bed with one on my lap or sitting outside in the evenings with one. I saw Allison, Cluck Cluck Sew, had a new quilt pattern, Pow Wow & I knew I wanted to make one ASAP.

I've never used one of her patterns before and this was so easy, so well written...it was seriously perfect. Sometimes I don't want to *think* when I sew, I want to just space out, chain piece and listen to music. This quilt fit the bill perfectly. She gives you all the info you need in a very easy to understand manner. One of my favorite things is she marks each size quilt separately in nice & neat little boxes, I hate when a pattern gives you 5 quilt sizes and they are all jumbled up within the pattern and you have to hunt around for your size. I'm going to buy more of her patterns now that I know how great & easy they are! (ps: I'm not being compensated for this review, I purchased the pattern myself & while I've met Allison, she doesn't know I'm reviewing it or anything. Just so you know this is an impartial review ;))

I'm kind of obsessed with hot pink & navy blue right now so I used some scraps and random pieces for this. And then I added a sneaky little mustard yellow in there for good measure. My background fabric is Lizzy House's Outfoxed Peach jewels. I'm so obsessed with this fabric, I've already mentioned that before but it's the most perfect background color, I have 3 quilts now with that as the background. In some photos it shows pink, in some it shows a cool white, in some a peach. It's really versatile.

I used a bunch of voile for the back, various squares and left over pieces, it's so soft. It has the Quilter's Dream Orient batting which is one of my favorites, silk/bamboo/tencel. Oh! And I used Lizzy's candlesticks in the peach-y color for the binding. I think that's everything.

Today the newest Mortal Instruments series came out and last week the new Sookie! I'm dying for a good few days of reading but I'm anxious to finish my socks & little sweater. I really really really super want a skein of Bernie Bott's yarn! crazy fun right?!

:):)

Basil the Donkey Applique Kindle Case

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If you know me, you know that there are 5 things I'm obsessed with:

*trashy romance novels. *donkeys/burros/mules. *Heather Ross. *hand work. *scrap sewing.

I had a few scraps left over from some fqs Ashley shared with me and I decided I needed a new kindle case after mine met it's demise after a dip in a bubble bath.

I haven't had time lately to work on needle turn, it's one of my favorite things to do but I'm SO.SLOW. I wanted a little project just to practice on..a little somethingsomething. So I made this donkey! He's inspired by a stuffed donkey Porkchop bought me in Ashland:

Cute huh?

And then once I started, I wanted to keep going! He needed little flowers around him. And little stitches with Cosmo sparkle thread! And the back is a scrap from my friend Sarah P, she sent me a piece of Heather Ross laundry fabric! swoon!!!

He's totally far from perfect, pretty wonky and as I was working on him I realized I should have made his ears and face one piece but thats ok! I love it & it was fun to embroider & applique!

ps: last night Chop said it looked like he'd been made into taxidermy! haha, he's supposed to be a merit badge. you know, for being a champion donkey. ;)

Quilt in Progress

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I started a new quilt this week!

The pattern is called Outfox the Fox by Lizzy House. I am TERRIBLE at using patterns and this just CLICKS. The way she has it written and laid out is perfect. Really easy to make it bigger or smaller, it's just GREAT.

We need a quilt for our bed for spring/summer. Right now we have a wool quilt and it's SO perfect for fall/winter but too much in the summer.

Here is our bed currently:

To be specific, this is my side of the bed. My side has extra quilts & blankets because I'm constantly freezing. Right now I'm using my Modern Maples on top, the pattern can be found in Quilt Dad's Pretty in Patchwork: Holiday book if you'd like to make one too! It's big enough to cover all of my side of the bed. Plus I have a voile & minky blanket, a linen & Neptune quilt and our wool quilt. Like I said, I freeze. The hot cocoa flannel sheets are from Garnet Hill last year and they are the softest, silliest things ever. Can you tell lately I love hot pink, dusty lilac, gray and brown?!

I never blogged this pillow I made, it's a simple basket block but I used Lizzy's peach jewel print from Outfoxed for the background and I LOVE IT. I'm going to use it for my Outfox The Fox Quilt! I love that it looks like peachy white but it's SO MUCH BETTER than that. The jewels are one of my FAVORITE Lizzy things. When I saw this quilt at her house I kind of latched onto it...I might have asked if I could sneak it home...if I had an unlimited budget I would love to have made this pattern in Hello Pilgrim but I went with my stash instead. (Budget Gold Star?! ;))

I'm just waiting for the yardage to arrive so I can finish it up and send it off to Lindsay to work her magic. I can't even begin to express how much I *love* her quilting, I have another quilt to show you guys that she quilted for me that is REALLY rad! She's pretty much the cutest thing.

In exciting news, The Pumpkins are having a SALE! You can get Fruit of the Month between now and March 31st for only $10! That's rad right?! It'll give you guys something fun to work on in between the desserts. Also, come visit us on facebook! We like adding your photos to our facebook page so folks can see the stuff you guys create!

Patchwork Prism Quilt Workshop

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So tomorrow I'm taking a class in Sacramento with Tracey and I'm completely un-prepared for it. We are making the above quilt- Patchwork Prism.

With Anna Maria Horner.

Um yeah. THE Anna Maria Horner.

Super cool right???

One problem!

I HAVEN'T PICKED OUT ANY FABRIC YET. Not a single piece. It doesn't help that a good chunk of my stash is neutrals.

Anyone want to come over and help me? I'll feed you toast, jam and brownies!

ps: who wants to place money on me being super awkward? if I wear my circle scarf, is that like, the equivalent of wearing a bands teeshirt to see them in concert? total faux pas? I'll report back & let you guys know how the day went. ;)

colors I love & knitting

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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!!!!

Chop's Birthday & Aurifil Thread

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Yesterday was Mr. McPorkchop's birthday! I threw him a little party to celebrate. I'm big on birthdays. My birthday I try to drag out as long as possible, I start reminding people in March. Which doesn't sound crazy until you learn that my birthday is in August. It's not that I want a zillion presents, but more because I love celebrating. Anything. Had a good hair day? Party. Got a quilt in a book? Party. Got a big wholesale order? Party. Taught a successful class? Party. Went a whole week without buying fabric or yarn? Party! (at the fabric/yarn shop ;)) jkjkjk! (kind of ;))

But I have a feeling when your birthday is so close to Christmas...you get kind of screwed. Pardon my harsh language here but really. Combined gifts because the person obviously remembered Christmas but your birthday? Not so much. Christmas cards that say Happy Birthday. No way! Not for my ChopChop! So I spent the day yesterday making him a perfect birthday. I made chicken enchiladas, a funfetti cake from scratch, a quilt, some decorations. He got home from work and was promptly fed about 90 pounds of food. And tonight we are going to a local restaurant! woo woo!

Chop's Birthday Cake Recipe As adapted from Fannie Farmer Cookbook & my mom ;)

Makes two 8 inch round layers

1 ¾ cups cake flour (minus 2 tbls if you don't have cake flour & are using all purpose) 2 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 10 TBL softened butter 1 cup sugar 3 egg whites – aprx ½ cup 1 ½ tsp vanilla (clear if you want a pure white cake, paste/standard extract if you don't mind an off white cake) 1/2 cup cold water 1/4 cup jimmies (I like a lot. You can use less :))

Heat oven to 325. Grease the bottom of the cake pans. Add a circle of parchment paper to each pan. Grease the parchment.

Sift dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream the butter and gradually add in the sugar. Beat until blended. Add egg whites one at a time, mixing one minute in between each addition. Stir water & vanilla together. I used vanilla bean paste and my cake turned out off white, if you use clean vanilla extract you'll have a perfectly pure white cake. Alternate between adding the water/vanilla and the flour mixture to the creamed sugar. Once combined fold in jimmies. Separate evenly between two cake pans and bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes using a tooth pick test. Mine was done at 18 but our oven is slightly cranky.

For the frosting I used this Classic Buttercream and it'll be my new go-to frosting recipe.

We had a super fun night! And I had a cake for breakfast. So that's how my day is going so far ;)

In other exciting news, I'm one of Aurifil's 2012 Designers! Super neat right? I'm really excited to work with their 12 wt thread...and...my month is OCTOBER. mmHMMM!! You know I'll be stitching up something crazy cute & Halloween-y! Or Autumn-y! Or Kawaii! It's top secret until then. Each month I'm going to work on my fellow designers blocks & blog about them, I love the group of ladies, each one has a totally unique style and I know everyone is bringing something rad to the table!

You can (and should!) quilt-a-long with us! You can win aurifil thread by entering your photo of the blocks we work on into the flickr group!

I'm hoping since Pam and I have months close to each other we can get together & work on our projects at Starbucks! woo woo!!!

I'm off to finish up a zillion last minute projects so I can take a few days off! woo woo!

This Week:

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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 Quilt

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Over the past two weeks I've made myself a new lap quilt. I didn't want a throw or something to cuddle up with Chop in. Just a lap quilt. Something I can have on my lap in the car. In front of the fire. While I sew. For traveling. Small was my ultimate goal. I had made this one with that intent & sold it to someone who totally fell in love with it two weeks later, since then I've missed the feel of a small lap quilt. I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me this long to finally sit down & make a new one!

I've been scrap happy this month and finding immense pleasure in sewing with the tiniest bits of things that are really special to me. I decided that this quilt would be scraps only. Not cutting into fat quarters. No buying new fabric. Just using scraps and being inspired by my home places board on pinterest.

I'm drawn to very open, clean, minimal homes with a cozy feel. But not impersonal feeling modern homes. And apparently things that are european, especially dala horses. I really want one! Like a nice white ceramic one. Or a pine one. ANYWAYS. I picked scraps that I felt conveyed this cozy intimate feel, my favorite Japanese linens, some special Japanese tone on tone fabrics from Karyn that I couldn't bear to cut up. That was my other rule. No cutting of the bigger scraps. I wanted to leave them intact so I could get the most out of them. I used a scrap of my favorite house fabric from Ink & Spindle which made me feel SO EXCITED but SCARED. I'm glad it's there. Once I started sorting through my scraps I realized a few things:

  • I had lots of fabric with houses & homes on it. I love love love little houses!
  • I had lots of fabric that is playful, kawaii-esque. And I want more more more!
  • I love fabric with TEXT on it.
  • I love love love international themes on fabric. France, Sweden, Japan, Russia...
  • I finally used some TRIM in a quilt! I collect trim and mostly it just marinates in my stash. I used a Shinzi Katoh cat trim I bought a spool of last year.
  • I had lots of fabric that reminds me of my friends. I have lots of fabrics from Karyn; who is one of my closest friends-I'd say almost 1/2 of the fabric is from theworkroom, Amanda sent me some scraps that are in here and I'm totally loving getting to know her better via instagram. One of my favorite cream fabrics is from Ashley, it's like little bear paw quilt blocks!

I added a secret message within the quilting...be cozy & content. Often when I'm sitting down "relaxing", my mind is racing of things I "should" be doing, so this is my reminder to myself to be content.

While sorting my scraps I found a small piece of plain linen left over from a pouch. I thought it would be fun to try and cross stitch on it so I took one of the trees from the L*K pattern I'm working on and stitched it onto the linen but I had NO idea what I was doing, somehow it's only the size of a quarter. But I *love* it. Unfortunately I didn't finish off one of the ends properly so one of the stitches is coming off :(

While rummaging around I found a bunch of tiny hsts I'd made from kokka robot fabric & shot cotton. I've always wanted to have a zig zag quilt but don't really want to make one. Weird right? So I pieced a small (2x4inch) zigzag into this quilt and pieced the other hsts randomly through out.

I loved Claudia's perfectly pieced cross in her Swiss Pixel Quilt but I don't own any red fabric (true story! crazy right???) and if I did own red fabric, I'd be paranoid of it bleeding on my quilt (as a side note this is the first time I used a color catcher!) so I used my favorite Lizzy House Castle Peeps fabric to make a cross. I like it because the candle sticks remind me of a winter night. The rest of the back is Heather Ross FFA2 Purple Moons, I had a chunk left over from an older quilt so it worked PERFECTLY! I quilted it at home in a simple stipple in my favorite King Tut thread that variegates from cream to linen to off white to pale gray.

I'm super glad I made this. It's kind of like a little treasure, lots of special out of print fabrics, it's neutral so it'll always match everything in our home and it crinkled up beautifully. AND! I even pieced in some selvedge! Normally I don't save mine but I had some from a piece of Megumi Sakakibara fabric that was TOO sweet to not include! I feel like I could show you guys a zillion more photos but I don't want to bore you :)

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! I finished knitting my hat & one mitt. I bought myself a skein of Tosh in Glazed Pecan that I've ALWAYS wanted the day after Thanksgiving and I hope it arrives soon! I've been listening to this a lot this morning and it's very sweet! I'm working on a Maple Leaf Farmer's Wife Block & debating making a Bear Paw...even though the book doesn't have one. SPEAKING OF BOOK, I've LOST my copy. I have no idea where it's gone too! I have all the files on my laptop but WHERE IS MY BOOK! oi!

x x x x x xing

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It was nice to hear about everyone's WIPs yesterday. I think the general feeling is that it's ok to have a tons of projects going at once and I should frog Damson. I'm going to let it marinate over the weekend & see how I feel about.

Yesterday I started a new cross stitch. This is called Snowy Day, by Lizzie*Kate. I do feel funny blogging and working on another companies cross stitch patterns when I co-own one of the cutest cross stitch companies out there. But sometimes when you work on creative stuff all day long for work, you want to just work on something for FUN and MINDLESS, without any ulterior motives than to just sit & stitch. Makes sense right? Also, I'm using a skein of Weeks Dye Works "Whitewash" that PKM sent me and is BEAUTIFUL! I want the Pumpkins to design patterns using these neat hand dyed flosses, they are kind of pricey though ($2 compared to Cosmo at $1 or DMC at $.60).

I swear, November should be called Scrapember  here around Casa de Porkchop. I've been sewing with my very favorite bits and pieces, using up every last scrap. I *love* it. I bet you guys are getting tired of me talking about these scraps! So, long scrappy story short,  I made a new project pouch yesterday.

Here are the details:

  • Scavenged zipper that I had cut too small for a previous project.
  • Measures 9x6 inches.
  • Fabrics: FFA2, Shot Cotton, Cross Weaves, D2, Greenfield Hill, Liberty of London, Hometown.
  • 4 inch star.
  • Scrap silk batting.
I wanted to sew something kind of sweet & special but not start something "new". Like, I didn't want to cut into fat quarters or buy anything or really think too hard to be completely honest. I just sewed up some of my favorite scraps and backed it with my favorite Denyse Schmidt. I know everyone is all hullabaloo about Flea Market Fancy being re-released but I love Greenfield Hill way more! Library Stripe is so perfect!
I wish I had miles of the fabrics I used in this pouch. Seriously. They are my favorites and the colors I love to sew with.
I got a skein of Madelinetosh Erin in Faded Calico yesterday, I'm hoping to cast on for Crooked Paths soon! I'm not sure how flattering the color will be against my skin but I'm hoping for the best. I want a cozy knit cap!
What are you guys doing this weekend?

Kansas Star

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I'm in love with this block, it's called a Kansas Star and without the burgundy border, it measures 5x5 inches. It was so fun to piece, it's made using more scraps from Farmer's Wife blocks, a favorite Robert Kaufman Cross Weave plus a bit of Essex Linen. I'm totally hooked on making scrap minis right now, they go together in an afternoon & I can play with various bits and pieces to create something fun & unique! Plus I can practice fun quilting styles.

And! I got new toasty socks today! woo woo! warm toes!!!!

 

 

 

 

{*~First Frost Mini~*}

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Woo Woo!

So Amy, who I mentioned previously is super cute, is hosting a sew & tell all about mini quilts. To be completely honest with you guys I had to ask her what that meant, she kept talking about link parties. That was a hot topic at Sewing Summit. Link-y Parties. I'm not hip and Sewing Summit taught me a lot about the internet. Haha! ;) But she explained it and it's cute! From what I gather, you add your link and then everyone can go around and see all the mini quilts! You know me, I'm into anything involving minis!

Amy asked me if I'd take part & I of course said YES! And you can do it too! I was worried I was late but apparently you have until tomorrow and some very nice folks have offered some sweet gifts! You can read all about it here! And before anyone says they don't have time or fabric or whatever, you can do it. I made this today in a few hours from scraps of scraps. Mmmhmm!

Here we go!

It's called First Frost Mini!

Here are the details:

I keep a coffee tin that I covered in scrapbook paper next to my sewing machine. When I foundation piece my Farmer's Wife block, I toss the remains from the blocks into this tin. So these are scraps of my scraps from my blocks! Each square was a scrap that I cut to 2x2 inches and made into a nine patch (Pam & Tracey will be proud, I pressed my seams to the side ;)) , added a little coral-y border too and finished off with some shot cotton in my favorite color. These are some of my very favorite fabrics, I'm literally using the smallest bits & pieces lately that I can't bear to part with but HAVE TO USE RIGHT NOW. Each fabric is special & has a place in my heart, dorky, but so true! It was exciting to use them and it's winter-y but still autumn-y, like the first frost of the year! I love rounded corners on quilts right now, I'm glad I did it on this little mini. Extra special!

The quilting is a free style- free motion. I didn't mark it, just made a loop-y doodle pattern. I got a new foot for my Bernina that I'm really enjoying, #15 if you are curious! The tension isn't perfect because I quilted it just on the top & batting, no backing. And my machine is now a lint-y mess. Big shock ;) The thread is King Tut, it's a pretty variegated cream/beige/gray. It's backed with Puti de Pome flannel. I found this gold and white glitter ric rac in a package of Christmas decorations from the garage, but you can buy glitter ric rac at JoAnns now, it comes in three colors. I might have bought some a few nights ago ;)

The quilt measures 9x9 inches. I think that's everything?!

So drop by Amy's blog, say hi & link to your mini! And! You can add it to this new quilt flickr mini quilt pool!

 

Woo Woo! Happy Saturday :):)

{*~Farming!!!~*}

in ,

It's been pretty busy around Casa De Porkchop lately!!!

I taught a holiday canning class in Redding at That Kitchen Place that was a total blast. I love love love teaching cooking classes, especially canning. We made honey brandied pears, cranberry orange walnut compote, spiced pumpkin butter, vanilla vodka and mexican hot chili cocoa. I made them a whiskey plum crumble to snack on while we cooked. I really want to blog more about food things but I'm not sure where to begin! I generally cook 90% of our meals from scratch, recently I've been cooking wild game (!!!!), I've been doing some canning for Christmas gifts,  I wrapped about 150 lbs of deer meat & discovered ducks in Chop's lunch box. That's a LOT! Haha! Tonight I'm making Swedish Meatballs with the cranberry compote I canned...nom!

I'm really content sewing in the kitchen. I get to look out the window and it feels more relaxed. I can see the woodstove, I can keep an eye on whatever I have cooking and my ipod dock is on the kitchen counter, so it's working out nicely. I do HATE daylight savings though! I need sunshine! And lots of it! The whole sun setting at 5:30 is cramping my style. So I'm trying to sit in front of the windows and sew. It went from being 80 degrees to 60 degrees in like, 2 days! But I'm so not complaining about the cooler temps at all. I can bake & can all day long without the kitchen being 150 degrees ;)

The Chop & I celebrated two years of marriage on the 30th of October! I debated blogging something mushy & awkward but he's already terrorized enough by me ;)

So! The Farm! Let's chat about it! I have 52 blocks done! Woo Woo! That's all of them above! wowzers! Not the greatest photo, I know. Two of the blocks I'm going to redo because I hate the colors. The 18 blocks in separate photos are all new. They just feel GOOD to work on. I listen to my favorite music, drink this new Target brand cinnamon decaf coffee I discovered with oodles of pumpkin spice egg nog and chop into my favorite fabrics.

When I say favorite fabrics, I mean fabrics that I've been holding onto 5x6 inch pieces of for years. I'm not going to lie, it's kind of emotional! I'm chopping up fabrics I've had since 2005 that I know I could never again be able to buy! I want to use them in a project I know I'm going to love and I've accepted that this quilt will be an heirloom. Some of the seams are so teeny tiny in order to use these scraps that I doubt I'll ever wash it and I'll most likely use it as a coverlet and turn it down each night instead of sleeping under it.

There's a lot of exciting stuff going on right now that I should note:

I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting something but that's ok ;)

{*~Confessions of The Shy Farmer~*}

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Hi guys!

Shy Farmer McPorkchop here!

It's true. I rarely pop into the flickr group. I forget to blog my blocks. I get shy.

I think because when I look at everyone's blocks, they are so uniquely THEM. Some are matchy matchy from one line of fabric. Some are all in their favorite colors. Some are just solids. But each person's blocks are so great and mine are just..unique. I sew my blocks with whatever I feel like sewing with that day. Whatever story I feel like telling. Whatever color combo comes into my brain that day. So my quilt is totally not cohesive and ALL scrappy crazy fussy cut wildness. Which is kind of scary. (ok. very scary)

I've always admired the girls who are SO cute and well put together and classy, but that's not me. At all. I'm a little more rough around the edges. And I'm 100% a-ok with that but for this quilt I'm feeling SHY about it. I see Camille & Angela's blocks and they are so sweet, totally perfect and beautifully pieced and I am like I WANT TO BE SWEET & PERFECT LIKE THAT!!!! But that's just not me. I'm a goober. I'm like "let's throw all these fabrics together into this one block and run with it".

And so I was shy! It IS intimidating being a founding member of this GIANT quilt-a-long. So see, I'm just keeping it real over here. I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't intimidating, there are SO many talented folks sewing along with us. I mean, it's pretty outstanding.

The thing that kind of jolted me back to reality was at Sewing Summit so many people would come up to us and be like "I'M A BAD FARMER!!! I'M BEHIND!!!! MY BLOCKS AREN'T PERFECT!!!!" It was like, true confessions of quilters.

And of course my automatic response was "WHO CARES! ITS YOUR QUILT! SEW WHEN YOU CAN! HAVE FUN WITH IT!" Because that's my nature.

But WHY WASN'T I TELLING MYSELF THIS?! Who knows. Either way, I love these blocks! My quilt is totally not perfect, two of my blocks are only 6.25 but that's ok. I'm rolling with it. And you should too. No more being shy!!! Plus, I'm very glad I got to spend time with Angela because guys, she is amazing. Seriously one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I want to hang out with her like, ALWAYS. And if I'm a less shy farmer, we can work on our blocks & encourage each other & I don't feel like I have to hide from her...haha.

Here are some of my current blocks:

They are: Northern Lights, Storm Signal, Friendship Star, OneWho'sNameICan'tRemember&I'mLettingMyNeighborBorrowMyBook, Homeward Bound, Snowball!

The moral of the story is, I'm going to keep farming, you should farm too & I finally was able to buy eggnog this week. That is so exciting!!!! OH and!!!! I'm on ravelry & actually using it. So let's be yarn pals. ;)

 

{~*Grump-Over*~}

in ,

I'm going to go ahead and say two things: I'm a bad blogger.

I am so grumpy that Sewing Summit is over. I'm referring to it as a Grump-Over. Like a hang over. But extra grumpy.

Each time I sit down to write about it I realize I just CAN'T put it into words. It was the most fantastic fun. I got to meet everyone online who I truly adore and then I got to meet all sorts of new people who now I want to hang out with daily but can't because they live a ZILLION miles away. To make matters worse, I updated my iphone and somehow LOST all my photos. I think about Sewing Summit and I kind of want to cry. If you know me, you know this is very un-Amanda-like, it takes a lot for me to be really emotional but I LOVED SEEING YOU GUYS. And it bums me out that I can't just pop over to their houses to hang out. Dorky? Yes. True? TOTALLY. I am the most blessed girl to have all these lovely & talented ladies as my friends. SRSLY.

Plus, to be completely honest I have this terrible fear I'm going to leave someone out and they will hate me. So please don't k?

I miss these girls:

 

(the above awesome photos are from Karyn who I miss every.single.stupid.day)

(Don't even get me started on how much I love this girl!!! Farmers Wives FOREVER!!!!)

(Karyn took this one too ;))

My class! eep!!!! I seriously couldn't be happier with how it came together. My goal was for it to be interactive & positive, I didn't want to just LECTURE away to a room full of bored people. I decided to be myself 100%, follow my heart and just tell everyone WHY I make minis. Why they are great. Why they inspire me. How to make small patchwork easier and less intimidating. I brought a bunch of samples, some done, some not, just to show everyone that we ALL start some where. I wanted people to feel like when they left, they wanted to go home and sew a mini. And that it didn't matter your budget, time, space, etc, YOU COULD DO IT. Minis can be WHATEVER you want them to be!

Confession time guys!:

I'm not a hip blogger. I don't complete a zillion projects. I don't make money off my blog. I always forget to tell you guys stuff. I have a bunch of quilts, FW blocks, knit things, etc I haven't shown you because I guess I forgot? I take photos with my phone and not my camera lately. I'm bad at looking at other blogs & commenting. I'm slow at swaps and emails. I don't always have the newest, fanciest fabric, nor the budget to buy it all up with. I'm not perfect at piecing, quilting or binding. I don't know the latest & greatest quilt on flickr. I don't sew what is trendy or rad. I just do my own thing, in my own little world, blissfully unaware of everything around me. Until Tracey is like WAKE UP AND ADD THESE CUTE FRIENDS TO FLICKR! (She doesn't really yell at me but she does show me her cute friends & because of that I knew an additional 5 people at Summit ;)) I was walking around Sewing Summit completely CLUELESS to 70% of what people talked about, which was slightly awkward but I'm pretty sure no one minded.

But I do love to sew. I do love to create. I sew what I personally love. I smile when people leave me comments and meeting people in REAL LIFE who knew who I am..SURREAL. My goal was to walk up to pretty much everyone, introduce myself and shake their hand. It's just my nature to be polite and open. So many people were like "I KNOW YOU!!!!" AND GAVE ME THESE GIANT HUGS or a certain CluckCluck told me "Of course I know you, you inspired me to make jam!" HOW DOES THAT GIRL KNOW ME? SHE'S FAMOUS! My little mind was blown. No joke. I got to meet freaking Camille & Bari J. I got to meet my Toronto other halves. I got to meet my amazing Midwest girls. I got to meet other cute tattooed girls who quilt my quilts & make 40 quilts in a freaking year. I got to meet Erin & Amy who worked their BUTTS off for this all to happen. I got to meet the sweetest Florida girl who has been the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's biggest fan. I got to meet someone who I have been internet friends with for five freaking years. THOSE ARE THE FAMOUS FOLKS!

Ok, back to this. I finish my class and my phone is flipping out. So many amazing tweets, so many kind emails. so.much.good.stuff. I almost cried. Instead I had some beer & a cheese burger and my first fried green tomatoes. And now each day people are tweeting that they are making minis. Sewing and having fun. Being part of the community. Loving quilting. THAT IS WHAT I WANT. I want to be part of THAT community. Even if you didn't go to Sewing Summit. The community where it doesn't matter if your blog is sponsored, if you complete one quilt a year or one every ten years, if you sew with fancy fabric or cheap stuff, where it's not cut throat, where YOU can be YOU, I can be ME and we can support EACH OTHER. Sewing Summit was SO POSITIVE AND ALL THAT AND MORE. I think it's important we see each other! Look at each other in eye! Give each other hugs! Jump up & down in fabric stores! Eat candy with each other!

While I was teaching, it was like watching light bulbs go off above everyone's heads in my class. To see the gears turning. To hear you laugh, see you smile, have you share your mini quilts. It was unreal. You asked questions, you shared ideas, we talked about how to display your minis, I teased you for being German (poor Claudia who later gave me CHOCOLATE!!!) and it was just plain GREAT. I sincerely hope everyone left feeling motivated, confident, excited and passionate about quilting.

I couldn't have done it without you. Without your comments, your support, your tweets, your kindness, your hellos, your offers of tea in bed. It's true. You guys are my cheerleaders & pals.

 

xo