Thankful For:

Happy Thanksgiving Friends!!!!!

Tomorrow is TURKEY DAY! woo woo! We are having a low key and relaxing day around here. I've been working on a lap quilt for myself. It's made out of...

you guessed it...

more scraps! I'm hooked and it feels GOOD. I've completely used up every single linen and neutral scrap I had. I'm now adding in bits of very special fabrics and just piecing a little bit each day. I can't wait to finish it and show you guys! And I can't wait to finish it so I can have a warm lap ;)

I haven't farmed yet this week but I'm thinking maybe on Friday I'll make a block. It's hard to concentrate on sewing when everyone is home because I'd rather be hanging out with them! But I'm making progress on my cross stitch & Kristi sent me the PERFECT green! thank you!!! <3 And I started my hat (Tosh Erin Hertitage, I love this yarn!)! But before I finish any of those things I NEED hand warmers! Chop & I were out last night & my fingers were FROZEN!

I'm feeling thankful for a lot in general. An amazing husband. A great family. Supportive friends. Good food always. Exciting projects. Jam. Linen. Pinterest. The color gray. That a new Muppet movie comes out tomorrow. Eggnog. Really, I'm thankful for EVERYTHING. I'm not hard to please. I just like cozy things, great people and the roof over my head. And I'm appreciative for it all.

Have a great week friends!

Tales of WIPs

How many WIPs (works in progress) do you have right now? No seriously. Think about it for a second! Here are my WIPs:

This is my Lizzy*Kate ABC Halloween. Kristi & I are stitching along together! I just took it out of my frame and rolled it for storage until next Fall. It's going to be a long term project, like work on it each year. I think it'll take me til 2013. I assumed it would be EASY but it actually requires a lot of concentration for me. And I get REALLY excited to work on the colored parts, then lose interest with the black words.

This is Damson. My absolutely 100% least favorite WIP. Like, I think daily about frogging it but I think I'm like 45-50% done and it nags at me. Do I finish it? Frog it? I don't think I'd even wear the finished shawl at this point because I'm so not into this project. Plus it's kind of dainty looking and that's not really my style. I think I was just REALLY eager to knit with this yarn & assumed I could finish it pretty fast! (WRONG!)! (pigeonroof studios original sock in ghost orchid if you are curious!)

This is my FAVORITE WIP, Daybreak. I can knit a few rows while watching TV and feel like I actually am making progress. I love the yarns, Shibui & Koigu. I had picked a third Koigu for the the last bit, a drab olive but now I'm thinking I'd like to try something different...maybe a peach? a bright pink? either way, I love this and I know it's going to get worn a lot! But I kind of don't want it to end because it's a really relaxing and fun knit.

These are Log Cabin Socks, they are for Chop as a combo birthday/Christmas gift. I'm running low on yarn, I think I'll be able to barely eek out the rest of this sock. He tried them on a few nights ago and they fit so that was exciting! I'm knitting these along with Kayanna, who's making them as a gift too! I like working on projects with blog friends, it's encouraging!

Here are my two hooped projects. One is my Thanksgiving cross stitch that I have officially torn a hole in the linen trying to fix a slub, I might mail it to Kristi & see if she can fix it (I haven't told her this yet, lol). And then my long term embroidery project! This is from Flora, I sent her a flickr mail asking if it was ok if I embroidered her October desktop and she said it was fine. Woo Woo! I love working on the teeny tiny details. It's like blackwork but with a mustard pop (which makes it not blackwork at all ;)) I can only embroider during the day, my eyes are struggling at night...haha. Old lady right here!!!

The only quilt I'm currently working on is my Farm! I just finished binding a baby quilt. And I made a cute heating pad cover a few weeks ago (I can share it if anyone is curious).

I like having a few big long term projects that I can come back to and work on, plus some small/easy types. I feel blah if I have too many projects going on at once that don't make me happy (like right now with Damson!) and I feel guilty buying things like yarn. I don't feel guilty buying fabric because I use everything I buy, I'm not hoard-y, but yarn, I feel like I need to have a pattern & needles ready to go.

So how about you? Any WIPs? How many projects do you work on at once?

{*~Confessions of The Shy Farmer~*}

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*~}

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

{*~Sewing Summit: Wednesday~*}

I don't even know where to begin you guys!!!! I start to cry like a weenie whenever I think about it and start to see photos.

This was seriously an amazing trip! SERIOUSLY! Sewing Summit totally was incredible!

I'm going to have to break this up into multiple posts because there is so much to say! Is that ok with you??? I just don't want to forget to mention anyone! And if I had my way, each person I hung out with would have their own blog post because I hung out with some EPIC ladies!!!!! (especially the cutie Iowa broads! OH, FOR CUTE!) I can't even get into how much I freaking LOVE all the gals I met & hung out with. I like, want to invent a transporter so I can hang out with them always!

Also, I didn't bring a camera. Crazy right? I only had my phone. I've been getting photos from friends all day, once I organize them I'll post about my pals more, I have...get ready...only 7 photos of friends on my phone!

(Angelune gave me a Toronto mug. I wish I was there ALWAYS!)

So I flew out of Sacramento on Wednesday & arrived in Salt Lake at like 12:45. I downloaded the delta airlines app so I could track Karyn & Katherine's flight. I only had to wait like, 25 minutes for their flight to land and I met them at their gate. It was amazing to be able to meet them! They both spoiled me rotten and even Angelune sent me a present! what! So sweet!!!

Aren't they adorable??? It was seriously like hanging out with the cool kids. They were always dressed amazing, incredibly sweet, super talented...just GREAT gals. I won't lie, I was intimidated. When I first moved to CA I was kind of hip. I dressed all cute. I was city-ish. Now I am country bumpkin status. But thankfully they liked me.

Salt Lake City was so beautiful. Our room was big and amazing. Katherine & I sat in our room & chatted & stitched & shared my minky blanket & just were COZY while Karyn napped. I started an embroidery & worked on Damson. Both are coming along nicely.

Ok! I'll be back tomorrow to talk about Thursday! Beware, it's going to get reallllyyyyy photo heavy!!!!

If I'm in any of your photos, please tag me on flickr! I want to be able to post tons!!!! I loved meeting everyone and want to relive like, EVERY SECOND.

true story!

{~*it's official*~}

I love to teach! It's just plain AWESOME! Seeing people learn & be inspired is the best! I taught autumn comfort baking yesterday in Redding at That Kitchen Place. I couldn't have asked for a better group of ladies! Everyone was really interactive, asked questions, shared stories.

It was EXACTLY what I want Sewing Summit to be like & today is the last day you can sign up!

Sewing Summit is going to be a *great* time. You can meet all your online friends, be as social (or anti social!) as you want, learn from super talented ladies & just be part of the online quilting community but in REAL LIFE. I'm excited to meet everyone, chat about mini quilts & just be part of the quilting movement.

I've been still knitting! It's crazy, I learned to knit in 2003, and to be completely honest, I sucked. I could do hats & fingerless mitts but that was about it. And I'd like, two things a year & then give up.

Lately it just CLICKS. I've been finishing projects like a girl possessed! I'm going to take a little time tomorrow morning & update ravelry with photos of the things I've finished & then link to it here. I've been really good about finishing what I start & it feels GOOD. I cast on for Damson, it's so fun so far. I'm using some pigeonroof studios original sock yarn & it's BLISS. watching the colors change is fascinating.

I'm getting ready to fall asleep! I hope you had a nice weekend!

{*~Hi Fall~*}

Fall is my most favorite time of year. Hands down. Without a doubt. It's bliss.

Today I woke up and went outside to a beautiful sunrise. Drove down to Starbucks- wearing my finished Pogona and had my first pumpkin spice latte. It's been an overcast kind of day- clouds! Eek! Pam says it's been raining at her house in Shasta Lake! I am totally in my element. Canned some nectarines into a browned butter spicy compote. Took a nap. Did a little sewing. Planning on reading, hand sewing a late wedding gift, knitting & cross stitching the rest of the day. Craving Mexican food, something kind of spicy, very filling with cheese and black beans.

I picked up a moleskine at Target a little while ago. For $3. But it's red. And I have to be honest, I hate red. BUT IT WAS $3! Instead of $15! How could I walk away from that?! So I've been slowly working on a cover for it. It's taken me a long time, mostly because I get tired. It's my FAVORITE thing ever (big shock) stars! The block of stars is 4.5 inches. The photo looks like I chopped off some points but I pinkie swear I didn't ;) I'm kind of hooked on quilters tweed, loulouthi and mustard-y repro prints lately. Fall colors are my very favorite.

This week is your last chance to sign up for Sewing Summit. I'm super excited. A little nervous about traveling. Very nervous about meeting so many people. Nervous about my energy level (I'm napping like 3x a day!) Not nervous about teaching because I realize I have a LOT to say about mini quilts & inspiration. I also have this strange feeling like the first day of school, WILL THESE PEOPLE LIKE ME? IS MY HAIR WEIRD? ARE MY PANTS FUNNY? I'm excited to spend time with people who I talk to DAILY. I'll be bringing a lot of hand work so I can just SIT and stitch.

My attempts at mobile blogging haven't been going so hot. Forgive my textless Farmer's Wife post with one random photo. Oi. I am so not tech savvy. I think I was born in the wrong era.

Did you make a list of fall goals? I'd sure love a pair of thick worsted weight socks & to make lots of cranberry treats. And a pumpkin donut.

{*~ x x x x x x ~*}

I'm attempting to blog from the wordpress app on my phone. I hope this works :) Kristi (stitchystitcherson I'm not sure how to add links ;)) & I are doing a stitch a long! We are working on a Lizzy*Kate pattern called the ABC Halloween. I'm doing mine on evenweave that I tea dyed! It's a REALLY fun & relaxing project. Kristi's stitching is seriously perfect, like, the best! I totally admire her stitching skills.

I hope you are having a good week! It's still hot as heck here. Normally I'm first in line to buy a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks & I'm not even motivated! I'm trying to hold off until it drops below mid-80s.

Is it fall-like where you live?

{*~Hi!~*}

Things are very quiet around here at Casa de Porkchop.

I'm having some personal problems and my days are quiet per drs orders. Very quiet. Like didn't check my email for 7 days and have been sleeping more than I think I've ever slept in my life. It's been different but ok!

One afternoon on twitter I was talking to Kayanna and she mentioned she was knitting Pogona by West Knits and I thought...hey! I like that! AND! My LYS is carrying a ton of MadelineTosh so I cast on using a color called Rosewood and it's been like knitting with air! Total bliss.

I randomly scored 4 lbs of strawberries so I quartered them and grilled them at 400 degrees with a big splash of pomegranate vinegar. Once they reduced down like CRAZY I brought them inside and made jam with them. I reserved one cup of the chunky berries and blended the rest. I added some white & pink pepper and canned it. It might be my FAVORITE thing I've canned all summer. Very bright tasting with a burst of spice.

I joined a local sewing group, so that's AWESOME! It's been super fun to sit and sew with other people. Although it's crazy humbling, these ladies are so talented, but really welcoming which is the best!

Last week Pam came up! It was so so so fun. I freaking LOVE her. She's hilarious. We had Gobblers and went fabric shopping. I slept the entire next day. She is wayyy too much fun. You can read about our outing here! She says it way better than I could. You know how you just meet someone and you instantly adore them? Yup! That's PKM!

I snuck in an hour yesterday and an hour today to Farm. I am still totally a wife! I picked two easy blocks: Economy and End of Day. I needed blocks I could finish quick, have fun with and not feel like I've been abandoning you guys & Angela! I'm hoping once I'm back on my feet I'll do 3 a week until I'm caught up, until then I'll just post one block a week. When PKM & I hung out I got some new 1/4 yards for my blocks & I'm excited to cut into them. I really love End of Day (the bottom block) it looks fancy when it's really incredibly easy.

The Pumpkins teamed up with the ultra talented Melody Miller! You can now cross stitch her BEE!!! So awesome right? I'm dying to make it!

Sewing Summit is just around the corner! Literally! I booked my flight this weekend and I'm excited and NERVOUS. I think it's going to be a fantastic time and I've been working my butt off getting ready for my class. (I see that photo & I realize I've lost a LOT of weight! eeee!!!!) If you've wanted to meet your online friends, take classes from some super passionate people and have a sewing filled weekend you should totally come! I'm rooming with Karyn & Katherine.  I have a whole list of people I'm excited to hug and jump up & down with in real life. I'm thinking by Sunday I'll have no voice from all the shouting and talking! If your coming to Sewing Summit, leave me a comment; I'd love to check out some new blogs & put some names with faces!

I'm off to knit and watch the season finale of Torchwood! PKM got me interested in it...and of course we chatted about the greatest tv show on earth...HAVEN! She's one of the only people I know who watches!

:):)

{~*2011 Butte County Fair & It's FRIDAY!*~}

Last night Chop & I swung by the fairgrounds to see how my entries fared and it was a REALLY fun experience.

ALL MY CANNED GOODS WON. Everything had a ribbon. That felt so incredibly AWESOME!

Here's how they went:

• Danish Cherries & Honey Peach Butter- 1st place
• Cinnamon Cranberry Relish, Peach BBQ sauce, Plum Vanilla Sauce- 2nd place
• Peach Bellini- 3rd place

That's so cool right? After last Saturday's class of canning students and this win, I am feeling GOOD about canning. Even if I didn't win, I'd feel rad, but heck, ribbons!? Great! There were a lot of entries too.

The downside?

None of my quilts got ribbons! I entered:

Swoon, Oregon Star, Pink & Brown Log Cabin with the tiny middle star & All in a Row table runner.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bummed. I am!

Not to justify it or make it sound like I was wronged, but I entered Swoon into Holiday Quilts- there was an entire section just of holiday quilts hanging together...but Swoon was hanging in a completely different section! Like 4 rows away! So maybe it was entered wrong? And then my tablerunner should have been with all the kitchen stuff...but it was hanging with my mini quilts. Hmmm. Either way, it's ok! I'm hoping someone sees them and is inspired! And gets excited about quilting and realizes there is an entire world out there beyond the "quilting norm".

I honestly am so freaking proud of myself just for ENTERING. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there. It's one thing to post a photo to flickr, it's another thing to enter it for judging by strangers who have NO clue who Heather Ross is, or care about "what's trendy" in quilting. It was a big chance that someone would get it and that's totally ok!

Mark your calendars because this girl is teaching Autumn Comfort Baking on October 1st in Redding, CA at That Kitchen Place on Hilltop! It was a blast teaching canning and I'm so excited that they invited me back to teach baking. The classroom is incredible, you can watch what I'm doing on the stove via mirrors and tv screens, so there is NO bad seat in the house! Recipes will include Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread & Spicy Chai Vanilla Muffins. Call (530) 222-1160 to book your slot!

I visited Tracey this week and she taught me how to make dresden plates. Oh boy. How great are dresdens?! I made two and I'm hand appliqueing them onto their backgrounds. One will stay mini, the other somehow became an idea for a throw yesterday.

I've still been a Farmer's Wife, I've just been BAD about blogging them. I took a photo of one of my blocks, someone left a snarky comment, I got discouraged and deleted it. But now if you are curious about my blocks, you can visit this blog and at the bottom of the left hand side, there is a SLIDESHOW of all of them! That's so cool right? It takes a minute or two to load though. Next week my Farmer's Wife post will be HUGE, an entire months worth of blocks to share with you! Angela is going right along beautifully! She's pro at Farmer's Wifedom, blogging & being organized!

Aneela made All in a Row! What the WHAT! How freaking cool is that?! She mentions not having Halloween fabric...um...guess who needs to remedy that situation STAT? ME! I'm so making her a little packet of goodies.

So if you'd be so inclined, I'd love it if you could vote for me! Voting lasts until September 1st and I know, I sound like a broken record but please please please take a second and vote!

What are you up too this weekend? Anything good?

{*~This Week~*}

This was such an exciting week! I'll begin by saying that my camera battery is charging so you'll have to forgive my iphone photos k?

I finished Colette's Ginger! I learned how to install an invisible zipper although mine isn't super invisible and I learned how to use the blind hem foot (#5) for my sewing machine! It fits great. I started out making the size 18, the waist band was too big so I kept trimming it down, I think I should have done a size 16, I think I could take in a little bit of the A-line but for the time being, I really like it.

I made whole wheat garlic onion pretzel bites! I got this recipe from King Arthur Whole Grains Cookbook

I'm waiting anxiously for my pumpkin plant to do SOMETHING. It has had so many blossoms but no pumpkins! COME ON PUMPKINS!!!!!!

My bangs are finally long enough to pull back. I seriously regret cutting my hair in April but now it can be pulled into a small little pony tail (Chop calls it a stump?!).

I made some Farmer's Wife blocks this week! I'll blog about these later on.

Started making plans for another FW block.

Made some progress on my cross stitch. Until I snagged a slub in the fabric and am unsure what do next! It's on the left hand side of the top right orange square. Bummer dude.

And...

last but not least!

My quilt made it into the final ten!!!!!! Last night I assumed I was out of the running, there were some really awesome and beautiful quilts entered. Imagine my shock when I saw I was still in it!

I'd honestly be SO grateful and appreciative if you would take a second and VOTE FOR ME! I love this quilt so so so much and hope you do too!!! Voting will continue until September 1st, so I'll be mentioning this again and often (sorry in advance!) and if you'd be so inclined to spread the word to your friends, I'd be SO jazzed!

Tomorrow is my canning class in Redding! I'm really excited, we'll be making plum vanilla preserves and smoke-y bbq sauce.

I have so much more to share but this post is already gigantic. Maybe Sunday I'll write more ;)

xo

{*~What's Up!~*}

I've been doing some rad stuff lately and thought I'd blog about it today!

Last night was Toby Keith & Eric Church. Seriously AWESOME!!!!!! Eric Church was PHENOM and TK was just as amazing. We spent the night being COLD and cuddling on the lawn and listening to great music. We are on a strict budget but we got Groupons for $20 for $40 of tickets! How great is that?!

I've done some fun canning lately, I can't remember what I told you guys I did last, so here's a run down.

• Peach Pie Filling (Ball Complete pg: 175- My changes: used cider vinegar, no apples, vanilla bean paste, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and fresh ginger)
• Spiked Cherries (Ball Complete pg: 155- My changes: soaked the cherries in vanilla bean paste and coconut emulsion, used Captain Morgan's Rum)
• Zesty Peach BBQ sauce (Ball Complete pg:263- My changes: used Sand Dune honey which is really neat, extra garlic and a big dash of cinnamon. I grew the onion and for some reason every few onions I pick are CRAZY spicy but it's GOOD. The sweetness is followed by a dash of heat and then the taste of garlic. VERY good!)
• Strawberry Lemon Marmalade (Better Homes & Gardens Canning Magazine, pg: 19. This one didn't set up well so it's more like thick liquid strawberry sauce. I put it on some chicken breasts, grilled them, sliced them & added them to a salad and they were GREAT!)

We've had a weird summer weather wise here. Normally from July until late August we have a LOT of days of 95-115 degrees. We've had like, 4? It's been REALLY mild. My amish paste tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. I put all my tomatoes in the soil too early and they got early blight. But I kept pruning them and feeding them so they are ok and GIANT. Fact: If you use a nitrogen based fertilizer, they will grow lots and lots of foliage but few fruits. SO! Once I cut back on feeding them, they now have TONS of tomatoes on the vine. I think right now I have about 15-25 lbs of tomatoes. I'm hoping they all ripen at once because my mom gave me the Kitchen Aid food mill attachment for my birthday! (and sausage and pasta maker!) I'm going to can tomato sauces. We have 7 plants so I think it'll be PERFECT for canning.

It was also a bad idea to put corn next to them, my corn now has crazy purple streaks running through it because of a lack of phosphate! Our squash is doing great, our pumpkin has BIG blossoms on it, we have a tiny little sugar baby watermelon on the plant, three artichokes, four bell peppers and no matter what I do, our kale just keeps going and going and going!

Now that I'm feeling pretty good about my gardening skills, Chop & I spent a Saturday morning at Ace Hardware planning, they had the entire store 25% off so I got a few cases of canning jars and we got some seeds and this little seedling home! It's essentially a plastic planter with a lid to sprout seeds, it was like $6 before the discount and we have a TON of stuff in there...imagine my surprise when I SAW WE HAVE SEEDLINGS!  These are winter squash and ice burg lettuce! Western Gardening Guide says we are in Zone 8, which means we can basically have food gardens year round! I'm hoping I can grow greens because that's the majority of our grocery bill. We spend a LOT on lettuce, spinach and broccoli.

So you know I co-own The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery so I'm REALLY into cross stitch but I rarely get to sit and stitch. One of my autumn craft goals was to learn to stitch on linen. I learned to cross stitch on aida and I know how to use waste canvas, but linen seemed impossibly hard. I struggle with counting on aida. Kristi & Pam have been AMAZING and just told me to BUCK UP and try it. And guess what?

I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!! Linen is WAY easier than aida! It's like you naturally know where to stitch next. I love it so much that, no joke, I had to lock my hoop & supplies in the car because all I wanted to do was stitch and I had work I had to do.

I treated myself to an early birthday gift of new floss! Now that theworkroom has an online shop, I can just buy x amount of each color of cosmo floss and it comes cutely wrapped. Not too expensive presents that are an instant cheer up! I got a color card and I keep a mark on it of each color I have, I almost bought a palette from the shop but realized I already owned 75% of the colors. Ha! Then! Chop laminated my current project's chart! So I can write on it with a dry erase marker! I love it! I'm currently stitching this one! I want to stitch EVERYTHING Barbara Ana designs! Kristi & Pam also got me interested in Weeks Dye Works floss, oh boy. What a dangerous rabbit hole that is. But Pam sent me some and I heard a rumor I have a package from Kristi on the way ;)

This past week I went to Tracey's house and sewed for a bit. She made me lunch and I chatted with her adorable son. We live close to each other as far as the crow flies but road wise it's about 30 minutes. I love the drive to her house, rice and ag fields nonstop! I rummaged through her E P I C stash and convinced her to cut me some bits and pieces for Farmer's Wife Blocks! She's the BEST! I'm going to have to return the favor. This totally shows how amazing she is. I've been giving her jams and stuff I've canned and a few weeks ago I was complaining on facebook how people never give the jars back (I have someone who seriously has 12 jars!) and it was partly joking because obviously I don't mind a jar or two. Well, she bought a case of jars and gave me some! How great is that?!

That's a LOT in one post! But that's whats going on! It's my birthday on Monday so I'm leaving! I'll be back on Tuesday with my Farmer's Wife Blocks!

xo

a

ps: I want this so bad for my birthday!

{*~Quilt Album Software Review *edited!*~*}

I love being organized. I feel like everything in my life runs much smoother when I know where I'm at in all my projects.

One thing I'm absolutely NOT is tech savvy. If you've ever visited The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, you'll see super cute icons, logos, cross stitch patterns...tons of computer illustrated goodness. And that's not me. That's my amazingly talented business partner, Ashleigh. I'm lucky if I can edit photos some days.

So when Pat asked me if I'd review Quilt Album software, I was hesitant. I wasn't sure I'd be able to figure it out and I like to keep my blog very ad-free. You won't see a zillion giveaways, sponsored blog posts, etc here. I'm just a girl who loves to sew & stitch and share those things with you! Plus I'd be really embarrassed if I couldn't figure it out.

I forwarded Pat's email to Chop who told me to give it a try and he'd help me. And I am SO hooked. I'm really glad she invited me and he told me to buck up.

Here's my completely unedited review. I did get the software for free and I was invited by Pat. So there is that to keep in mind!

It's available for instant download which is AWESOME. I'm realizing now I hate waiting for stuff in the mail. It's $29.95 which to me, is something I'd pay for. I was kind of using open office, EQ7 & flickr to keep track of projects and it wasn't working out, with QuiltAlbum, everything is in one spot and easy to search. Flickr is $25 for ONE year. So add another $5 as a one time fee for permanent software that will never expire. That is awesome. Flickr can sometimes get cranky or you have to set things to private, then you have albums, sets, collections...too much! At least for me. This is easy, enter in a quilt name and you can put EVERYTHING in one section.

QuiltAlbum is REALLY easy to use. Even for a bad computer user like me. In an hour I entered all my Farmer's Wife blocks, two quilts I designed in EQ, 3 mini quilts and some fabric bundle ideas. That is AWESOME!

You can drag and drop photos into the album. I'm always making fabric piles of "quilt ideas". I added a few photos of these stacks with quilt block ideas. This way if I'm ever thinking, "hey, I'd like to try something new", I can just look through my album, see bundles of fabric I already put together and LOVE, some blocks ideas and VOILA! Ready to go! This is going to be really handy for days when I'm "cleaning" up my sewing room and finding fat quarters and falling back in love with them. One snapshot on my phone, upload later that night with a note to use this fabric in a new quilt, bada bing, stored in the computers memory, not mine. And it might help with all the piles of fabric everywhere so I don't "forget which colors I liked". ;)

Here are some things you can add to your quilt album:

• project title
• the date you started/finished
• who designed the pattern
• who quilted the quilt
• what type of batting you used (I LOVE this one, I like to try different varieties often and this way I can keep try of what quilted & washed up best!)
• quilt construction. So for example, I used Y seams for the first time in a block, I made a note of that.
• quilting method- I liked this a lot too because I could write, free motion quilted with a different foot or used walking foot with yada yada stitch length.

And then there is a large section for notes. Cool right?

I also took a photo of each of my sewing machines, inserted in when I bought them (in the quilt started area), when I had them serviced (in the notes) and if I noticed anything weird lately (also in the notes).

So I'm REALLY enjoying this software. I'm thinking of it as a virtual sewing organizational kit. Lots of space but not so much that I feel overwhelmed and annoyed. I loaded it on our netbook because I like to keep it next to me when I sew because it's small, although it is available for Mac's (yipee!) so I'll probably install it on there as well. I'm not sure if you can have two different computers sync up and have the quilt same info on both laptops. That would be GREAT.

The one thing I didn't like and some of you might think this is silly, it's the font/color scheme. Maybe I'm used to macs where the layout is very clean and crisp. The navy blue, hot pink and purple just seemed dated and stale to me. It doesn't deter me from using it but I'd love it in neutrals. I'm afraid some people might be turned off by the logo/colors and think it was too fuddyduddy and not want to try it out and that's a bummer! Maybe it could be freshened up?!

Either way, I'd buy this software and I like that it replaces flickr, open office and random sheets of scribble paper. It feels GOOD to have everything handy in ONE computer program and then later on when I want to blog/flickr about something, I have all the info in ONE area, I don't have to hunt around to remember who designed something or try to guess the measurements!

If you'd like to win a copy of QuiltAlbum, leave a comment telling me how you currently organize your quilt projects. Don't leave some silly comment like "hi, nice blog post, enter me, k thanks bye". You won't be entered because you gotta answer the question, that's the law around these parts ;) !!! I want to know how YOU organize stuff. I'll announce a winner on Wednesday when I blog my farmers wife block! Sound good? Good!

Thanks for reading my review & see you on Wednesday!

Hi everyone! thanks for your comments! If you get a chance, check out Jim's comment:

"I noticed a lot of mention of flickr. Well, you can post your complete album online on flickr, facebook and any other online photo place that you can post jpg’s. You can also post your complete album onto an iPad or Color Nook. The album page will not only have your quilt picture, but all of the information about your quilt. See an album on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltalbum/sets/72157625012753649/show/"

That's CRAZY AWESOME! I'm excited to give it a try! Thanks Jim!

{*~Camping~*}

We've been doing a little bit of camping lately. It's pretty great! We have an off road custom built trailer, it's kind of like a wall tent meets a tent trailer. You can ride your quads on top of it to haul it around places. Pretty fun.

In the mornings I have hot chai and yogurt. And stare off into space. In the mornings I'm a distracted space cadet.

It was super pretty, we stayed in the McCloud area! It was pretty warm, 90s. But then again here at 8:30 am it was already 88, so waking up at like, 65 was NICE!

I wasn't feeling so hot so I mostly read. A lot. 6 books. All fluff but fun!

The inside of the trailer has two beds...this was our side, my father in law has the other one. We have 0 degree mummy bags that came in super handy two weekends ago but this past weekend we just slept under a quilt on top of the bags. We also got these great camp beds from Cabela's, they roll out and are super soft! Our bags zip together too. I'm a barnacle to Chop when I sleep at night. And I can't sleep without a bear. Yup. I admitted it!

This week is looking full and jam packed full of good stuff, which is always exciting. Our garden is freaking out, the tomatoes refuse to be contained by their cages, zucchini is growing crazy fast, tomatoes EVERYWHERE (but still green), peppers are growing and I got two new plants this weekend so I think we are building another bed tonight.

• I just got this bat pattern, I'm so excited to have a little flock of bats!
• You can now shop theworkroom online! This makes me SO SO SO EXCITED! so much COSMO floss! Japanese craft books! Purse supplies! Ahhh!!!
• The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery has a new caffeine themed pattern!
• Guys. It's JULY. Sewing Summit is in OCTOBER. That is SO SOON!!! I'd love it so much if I got to meet a bunch of you!!! Tickets are selling fast!
• I'm pretty obsessed with my longwinterfarm black coconut perfume. I totally copied Karyn and it was so A M A Z I N G!!! The pumpkin cheesecake lip balm is pretty great too!
• On Saturday I'm taking the entire day off and doing nothing but watching Halloween movies and starting my swoon quilt. Maybe listening to Harry Potter on my ipod. I just have to get my mile long to do list DONE! But first...more Halloween inspiration!
• Check out Angela's super pretty Christmas quilt!

Have a good Tuesday! See you again soon for Farmers Wife week 6!

{*~Bloggy Love Day! Quilt Trippin!~*}

Hi All!!! Welcome to Bloggy Love Day!!!!!

Pat very kindly invited me to take part....so here goes!

#1 What is your most interesting or unusual item in your studio?

Confession:

I am a little thing collector. If it sparkles, is Japanese kawaii or is stationary based...I gotta have it. Here are a few of my small collections! They are a little unusual...Chop thinks I'm secretly a magpie ;)

Ashleigh recently made me a ceramic little guy. Gray is my FAVORITE color. I keep my hand quilting threads in him. He's sitting on top of one of my FAVORITE japanese cat tea towels (Shinzi Katoh if your curious!)

My favorite tape measure! His little cactus arm pulls out! So you can measure stuff! I love him SO much.

I collect fishing lures! Each and every time we go somewhere, I'm buying a sparkly lure/fly. The more glitter, the better. Weird shapes? Awesome. Fake bugs? I'm so there! These are a handful of my collection, I think I have about 25 now. I keep them on the windowsill in front of my sewing machine, when the light hits them they throw little shiny spots onto whatever I'm sewing.

Oh boy. I am OBSESSED with these. I collect shaped paper clips. I also have bunnies, unicorns and pigs. I'm hoping eventually to own all of them. They make boring things suddenly fun, contracts, organizing invoices, etc. Who can deny a smile when your stuff is held together with a whale?!

#2 Who would you like to hang out with for a day and why?

Hands down, without a doubt. MARU!!!! He's the cutest cat EVER!!!! I'd swim to Japan if I thought I could meet him. He's very pudge-y, a little grumpy, he jumps into boxes, makes cute videos. He seriously is the greatest creature EVER!!!!!!! My day isn't complete until I check out his blog and see what he's been up too!

#3 What is your top tip?

(embroidery pattern by Wild Olive)

Ok this is a new tip!

If you aren't familiar with my blog, I co-own The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, which is a LOT of cute cross stitch patterns. Well, with cross stitch (and embroidery!), you separate your skein of embroidery floss. I love Cosmo floss and don't want to waste or lose any! Now, I don't know about you, but I love scrapbook paper. It is so freaking AWESOME. But I don't scrapbook. Like, at all. So now I buy a cute sheet of paper and cut in into pieces. The size doesn't pattern, I usually do 6.5 x 3.5 inches, then I hole punch spots for the floss and for a safety pin. I keep multiple thread cards together with the safety pin and then loop the threads through the holes to keep them organized. I stick a bit of washi tape on the bottom if they are threads I'm using for a specific project! Easy peasy and you stay nice and organized. Plus, it's an excuse to buy cute paper! I keep another group of cards for hand quilting threads.

Be sure to stop by these great gals blogs today, they will be answering the same questions and sharing their tips & tricks! Say hi to them and fall in love with their great creations!

• Amy
• Sarah
• Bonnie
• Pat

Thanks again Pat for inviting me! Her blog is full of great quilt-y stuff (the above ladies as well too!!!) and her radio show is top notch!

Tomorrow I'll be posting my Farmer's Wife Week 4! I'll see you tomorrow!

xo

a

 

Guys!

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

Ashleigh & I had a craft date last week...two days of silk screening, tiedyeing, yoga bliss! We screen printed Harry Potter themed fat quarters and ate coconut Popsicles. Then! I had a super awesome day with Tracey who is the cutest pregnant girl ever! So.much.FUN!!!! You can see what we did via instagram!

I treated myself to some new embroidery floss. I'm pretty obsessed with Cosmo, it's the best floss ever. I even got a skein of SPARKLE!!!

I absolutely love to embroider, it's one of my favorite things EVER. So! I've decided every Sunday, I'm going to embroider. Stitching Sunday! I'm currently working on Happy Campers! Mollie's patterns are so CUTE and not hard at all. I used the sparkle floss and I have to say...it's incredible to work with! No snags, tangles & it's BEAUTIFUL! I added sparkle to two parts of the embroidery so far, I'll share when it's done.

Here are some other rad stuff for you to check out!

• Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long! So many have asked how to join! It's simple! Buy the book, sew some blocks, post to our flickr group & add your link to the weekly round up threads!Angela & I post our blocks on Wednesdays, so I'll be blogging again tomorrow with them!
• Rashida is giving away 8!!! yes! 8!!!! paper copies of The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's pattern, The Cutest Cute Bot! Head over to her blog, say hello, tell her how excited you are about her new book & fabric! And! Enter to win a pattern! Woot!
• I started a Halloween board on pinterest. I'm hoping by the end of the month I'll be able to get started on some Halloween quilts! It's NEVER to early to work on Halloween stuff!
• The Sewing Summit is approaching FAST. I've been hard at work building minis for my lecture. I think it's going to be a really fun event & I hope some of you can come!
• I'm absolutely LOVING Ellen's version of The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Hoop Travel Bag! Go tell her how great her hand stitching & fussy cutting skills are!

See you tomorrow!!!

xo

{*~June's Lofty Goals~*}

 

Happy Monday!

I had such a fun weekend. And by fun I mean, laziest weekend EVER. I got caught up on two of my favorite shows, Fairly Legal & Bones. Both had total cliffhanger season finales. I made some pouches. I did some embroidery. I ate cake. I went to the movies (The Hangover 2 if your curious!). Ate yogurt. Slept late. Re-read the entire "fever" series. Wore pjs past noon. It was pretty good.

But now it's MONDAY. Back to WORK! I have a giant list for the month of June. Want to hear some of my June goals?

• Sew Date with Tracey!
• Three new patterns for The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.
• Finish the last of Star-y Log Cabin. I'm tongue tied at the moment. I have so much to say but I feel like I'm giving TMI and just becoming confusing.
• Camp!
• We are going to a wedding this month & I think this might be the perfect gift?!
• Keeping up with my garden. We are using some great plant food stakes and liquid food, I think that combined with the strange cold weather has made everything go crazy. So far I've been able to harvest kale 6x!
• More yoga! I've been going 3x a week but I want to go more. It's so fun.
• Sew a Jane Market Bag for all my embroidery supplies! I like excuses to be organized and make more bags! BUT. This pattern uses 1/2 yds and I literally don't own a single 1/2 yard right now. What the WHAT?
• Do a scrap swap with Angela for our Farmer's Wife QAL.
• Finish my star bed quilt! I have 25 out of 61 blocks done.
• I really want to make Swoon this summer.
• Silkscreen fabric for pouches.
• Craft Dates with Smash.
• Find another great series to get lost in. I'm starting to feel like I've read everything out there!
• Start another e-course!

Do you have any goals for this month???

{*~Weekend~*}

 

Chop & I just got back from a super great trip! We went up to Sierra City for the weekend. We stayed at the Butte's Resort, they had a last minute cancellation & we were able to book the cutest cabin. On Saturday it SNOWED. And it stuck! We went for tons of walks, took zillions of photos, went for some beautiful drives through Tahoe National Forest, visited some great historic sites and played cards. I read two books & crocheted. So relaxing! I also got a book by a local author all about prostitution in the west, it's super fascinating, I love reading about local history.

I had no cell service the entire time & I LOVED IT. I feel guilty when I'm behind on emails, tweets, flickr, blah blah blah, which is silly because it's supposed to be fun! So I'm going to spend the rest of the summer with limited internet time.

One thing I'm pretty into right now (aside from fishing!) is shooting my bow! Chop & I recently celebrated our five year anniversary & he bought me a compound bow! I was totally surprised and SO excited. I picked pink camo because I'm not really a "pink" kind of girl & thought it would be fun to have something bright. We set up a target & some hay in our backyard and we've been spending the evenings getting the bow sighted in. I love shooting a bow more than shooting a gun, it's really satisfying in a completely different way. I think we might check out a local archery range this week.

As I was packing for the weekend I realize I've accomplished one of my goals. I've always wanted a life surrounded by handmade things. I remember when I very first started sewing 5 years ago, I got this great Japanese craft book and the interiors of the homes featured were filled with patchwork. Not just full sized quilts, but every day usable goods, I was inspired that they put a mini quilt over a computer monitor when it wasn't in use. And I fell in love. This little snap shot includes: Amy Butler Weekender, handmade pillowcases, my crochet carrying box bag, a sewing kit, a kindle cozy, a scarf, a picnic quilt & a little pouch for important stuff. Chop & I joke that as soon as I get something new, I have to sew a cozy for it and it's SO true. I love making little easy patchwork from scraps. It's so satisfying. He's been encouraging me to sell some one of a kind little pouches & stuff, I think I might give it a go this week! I'll let you guys know if I do.

This week Angela & I will be blogged about The Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long & I'm so excited. I'm going to sort some scraps this afternoon to get ready for it. It's 111 blocks, two blocks a week! A veryyyyy long term project. But the blocks are SMALL, only 6x6! so two blocks a week shouldn't be too tricky!

See you then!

xo

{*~Huh~*}

 

Soooo here we are. May 26th.

I'm so curious where the end of April & all of May went?! Oi.

This morning I woke up early, I've been fighting the flu for a few days, had a little granola and promptly dropped my iPhone into my bowl. Of chocolate almond milk. And it was being ok, then suddenly...no sound. 4+ hrs later, I have sound but no ringtones, apps, photos or videos. The videos is brutal because it's all my work for star-y e-course, plus two other e-courses I'm working on.

I am totally addicted to my phone. It's true. It's because my macbook is using Tiger and that is now out of date. I'd buy Snow Leopard but with Chop being to the drs so much in the past few months...we are on a strict budget!

I'm still feeling very...blech. Which is not fun. But here are some fun tidbits of stuff that's going on!

• New exciting things at The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery! Seriously, click that link. It's going to make you smile. It involves The Pumpkins + Rashida Coleman-Hale!
• I'm trying to learn how to crochet...totally inspired by Kate!
• Chop & I celebrated an amazing 5 years of being together on the 25th! We are going on a little adventure this weekend. I love that grump!
• I am obsessed with Blake Shelton's Honey Bee. That was one of the ring tones I lost. It is SUCH a cute song.
• Angela & I are starting the most EPIC quilt-a-long next week...The Farmers Wife Quilt!!!! You'll need the book, as we won't be giving out any of the measurements, just offering moral support & working on this big quilt together! I'm planning on doing mine really scrappy & all from my stash. It's going to be a very long term project & I'd (we'd!!) love it if you joined us! It's a quilt I've wanted to make since Chop got me the book for Valentine's Day. It's amazing and even if you are a "modern" quilter, there is a LOT to be learned from these blocks technically speaking! Plus, no rush, no pressure. This is purely for fun!

Have a great long weekend!!!!

{*~Seeing Stars..and fish?~*}

It's no secret I love stars. I'm pretty sure I could sew sawtooth blocks 100x and not get bored. And have it look completely different each time. I love that about classic blocks.

This week I made Lizzy some pillows for her Quilt Market booth. She sent me a GIANT box of scraps from her upcoming line, 1001 Peeps. (It's amazing! Your going to love it!) After a few skype dates, I got to work. I made very simple pillows and used some of the scraps to make a giant hoop travel bag for a project I'm working on. But somehow she didn't have a cute bag to carry her embroidery around in, so I shipped off the pillows & bag for her. I hope she loves it and uses it to death. I attempted improv piecing and it's not my strong suit, but it's very fun to play with!

I also finished up 4 big projects this week so that means I can actually breathe deep and not feel so stressed. I'm finishing up 3 more, including the last star-y e-course pdfs. It's going to feel amazing to get everything done. Sweet RELIEF!!!

Our bed currently has our wedding quilt on it and it's starting to look a little rough. I wash our bedding once a week and it's not falling apart or anything but a few prints are looking slightly faded. And I want to increase it's lifetime. So that totally means I need a new quilt right? Right? Haha. I want WHITE and bits of color. And crisp white sheets. And fancy pillowcases. And I want white curtains. I've already mentioned all this in a previous post, so just go with it k?

I drew up a few options in EQ and ended up with something simple. Very classic. But special. I have someone in mind for quilting it. I'm going to hopefully finish it by the end of the month & it'll be a pattern published by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. That's exciting right?

Lately the Chop & I have been FISHING. Like, EVERY night. It's so much fun! We bring chairs, fishing poles, drinks & just sit outside next to a pretty pond. Except I've become obsessed with it. And it's my goal to catch like, a ZILLION. The other night I caught over 15 blue gills! That sounds impressive until you google what they are. Haha. I'm teasing Chop that soon I'll be sponsored by RealTree & suddenly I'll trust my life to my fishing pole ala Jim Shockey (google him!)!

Hope your having a good Thursday!!! :):)