December Daily: Let's do this.

Yesterday I received the hugest package ever from Toronto.

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

That's crazy sounding right?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's a Kawaii Winter Wonderland!

 

Ashleigh & I have been working on something really special the past few months and I'm excited to finally be able to press "publish" on this blog post.

We are just not ready for Dessert of the Month Club to end so we came up with a fun new secret project: It's a Kawaii Winter Wonderland Club! We seriously love surprising you and watching our designs pop up on flickr, facebook and instagram.

This is a mystery club, meaning it's a surprise what you'll be stitching up but we'll be posting sneak peeks through out the month on our facebook page. 

In November, once a week you'll receive an email from us containing a pdf. In this pdf you'll have 5 little blocks (these are numbered like days!) of stitching. By the time we finish sending the emails, you'll have 25 completed blocks!

This is a countdown to Christmas or Winter. It's completely non-denominational but of course if you wanted it to be an Advent Calendar it most certainly could be!

Some cute things you'll be stitching:

• nature!
• food! (a pickle!)
• drinks!
• creatures! (Shhh, there is a certain owl that is ADORABLE)

Once you purchase the sign ups, you'll receive a pdf with the complete color list and instructions, along with the stitching schedule! Woo woo!

For a limited time the signups are only $10 but they'll rise to $16.95 on the 10th of November. We are working on a few contests and some little bonus printables for the club! And of course we do gift subscriptions if you want to stitch a long with a friend!

Any other questions, feel free to email us directly at thefrostedpumpkinstitchery AT gmail DOT com. I'm away from my computer this week so I won't be able to answer any comments.

Winter! Winter! Kawaii! Woo! Woo!

September: an instagram wrap up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:D:D:D

Kitschy Digitals & The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Eek!

We are so excited!

Danielle Thompson, who is an amazing creative force, designed/curated/worked her butt off on this incredible digital online marketplace. Imagine Ashleigh & my surprise when she invited us to take part!!!

You can find some of The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's patterns along with so many other super talented designers now all in one place!

Even better! A grand opening sale until Friday! Use code GRANDOPENING15 to score 15% off!

We have a super cute exclusive to Kitschy Digitals pattern called Drinks All Around that is soooo perfect for summer road trip & picnic stitching!

Yayayay! How's that for a rad Monday?!

Happy Weekend: Knitting & Reading

TGIF!

It's a long weekend! Woo woo! Happy Memorial Day! Tomorrow we are going to a BBQ and Sunday we are going on a long drive to the high desert! I'm pretty excited.

My two favorite weekend (and evening) activities are knitting and reading. I like to knit while we watch tv (I'm currently obsessed with Fairly Legal & wishing Haven was on RIGHT NOW) and I love to read outside and before bed.

I'm part of a book club online and my friend Shelly, who's pretty much a professional reader, has started a book review blog! She got us all hooked on the 50 Shades series months ago, she's good at finding neat reads. I personally like my reading light hearted/smutty/supernatural. I look at books as my escape and I love love love to read. Anyways, this weekend I'm reading a few of the books she's recently reviewed. I got a kindle touch & I'm working on getting used to it. Some days I wish it was backlit (usually in the evenings before bed!) but I really love the screen on it!

I've started knitting something new and fun. Squirrel Sampler Mittens! They are by far the most complex thing I've knit yet, I've learned lots of new things: picot edge, how to hem a knit good, stranded knitting and...

Yarn dyeing! I bought a skein of gray yarn off etsy but unfortunately it was much more BLUE than GRAY. My friend Amy had sent me a big box of acid dyes last fall and I decided..what the heck! I'm going to try this! And it worked! My blah blue gray went to the rich deep charcoal I had hoped! woo! I sort of felt like a backyard scientist when I was working on it.

I also completely understand the hype behind Plucky Knitter. I'd bought 3 skeins from her back in 2009 and used them and loved them. I was able to get a few skeins recently, honey wilkes was one I was dying to get in plucky feet. I'd made a honey cowl from the same color in worsted weight and knew it was super pretty. Now that I'm using it in these mittens...oh boy! The color just G L O W S! It's kind of silly for me to be knitting these mittens, it's rarely cold enough here for them but I *really* want them. I'm obsessed with all things autumn/acorn/halloween/sampler/new-england-like, so this just HAD to happen. I haven't quite decided what to change the numbers too, I thought about 1982-2012 for my birthday or Fall 2012?! I have a little more knitting to conquer before I get there :)

Also, if you haven't signed up yet, check out Dessert of the Month Club, June is coming out and it seriously is the cutest thing ever. I've stitched him on 3 different things in different colors. He is THAT CUTE. And addictive.

Phew! Have a good weekend :)

Hexipuff: The Beekeeper's Quilt

I made a hexipuff today!

Hexipuffs are little knit hexagons for The Beekeeper's Quilt!

I have little scraps of yarn from my socks and I thought it would be fun to make a hexipuff from each blob of yarn I have left. I was thinking they would be tricky but they are EASY PEASY. I started on dpns but switched to magic loop, I find it easier. I did have a tough time on the 3 needle crochet bind off, mostly because I'm kind of clumsy but it's me, not the pattern.

I love love love this pattern, it's really cute, well laid out & clever. $5.50 is totally a bargain, because I know I'm going to just keep making little puffs over & over. I'm going to make a hexipuff or two from the leftovers of each pair of socks I make (crosses fingers!), I think I have enough yarn leftovers right now to make 5-6. It's just like sewing a scrap quilt, except these are knit & you can always add more. I like that part a lot.

This puff was made from Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Valentine, left over from my heart socks.

These are my current socks: Charade in Cakewake Yarns Footsie in Edisto. These are REALLY fun but I've been sewing a lot lately so I haven't had a chance to work on them as much as I want too :)

Don't forget that Fruit of the Month is on sale until Saturday for only $9.95! And Saturday night Dessert of the Month for April comes out! EEK!!! Have you posted your guess what the new dessert will be on facebook yet? The first person to guess correctly gets a free pattern of their choice! woo woo!!!

I'm going to finish sewing for the day...and obsessing over this album. Don't laugh, it's soooo good!

Quilt in Progress

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!

From The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery Flickr Group

photo from jenniferworthen

I thought it might be fun today to share with you some photos from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Flickr Pool! It totally makes Ashleigh & I so excited!!!

I've linked back to the original photos so make sure you click on them and tell the folks what a great job they've done!

photo from vonathon

Is that not the cutest thing ever? It's our Fruit of the Month plus Lizzy*Kate letters! LOVE! LOVEEE!!!

Sarah's 10 year old son Jake made this Devil's Food Cake!

Nicole's Apple!!!

Aneela's cute desserts and hoop bag!

Zombie Pumpkin!!! by Sarah!

I could seriously post stuff from our flickr group all day, it's filled with so much hard work and cuteness! If you aren't already a member, come on over! We'd love to have you!

Have you noticed a new look to our patterns?

Ashleigh has been crazy hard at work this month completely revamping all our patterns. Each one now comes with a fully illustrated "how to" guide and is just ONE pdf, rather than a zip file with multiple files. She gets an A+!

Tonight I'll be emailing out the March Dessert of the Month, we are having a contest over on facebook, if you can guess or come close to guessing March's Dessert of the Month, you can win a free pattern of your choice! Woo! And of course it's never to late to sign up!

ps: looking for Dessert of the Month floss bundles? the workroom carries them! woo woo!

Happy stitching! x x x x x x x x x

Dessert of the Month: Devils Food CupCake!

Do you know what today is? NEW DESSERT OF THE MONTH DAY!!!!!!

Are you excited?! I sure am!!!!

I can't wait to see all your little devils! Eep!

Kristi- the amazing Stitchy Stitcherson, is our cover devil, she stitched the horns & tail in pink which makes for a sweet devil, I've made mine with red horns & a tail....the choice is yours!

Don't forget, you can still sign up here!

ps: this guy would look so cute with Rose Cosmo sparkle floss!

January Fun

Where did January go???

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off to tackle my inbox! Yippee!!!!

:):)

Truffle Party!

EEK!

Yesterday after finishing up my computer work I sat down and started working on my truffle. I've been seeing a lot of internet hype about Downton Abbey & thought I'd give it a try. It's available on PBS! I finished my truffle. What a lumpy cutie! I used three strands of DMC iridescent combined with one strand of Cosmo gray that matches my linen. I wanted the sparkle to POP.

Confession. After using a smidge of sparkle in my truffle, I want this sparkle floss bundle so I can add sparkle to all my months! The Cosmo sparkle floss is so amazing compared to DMC. Really smooth and doesn't get all crunchy. I know. Weird. But sometimes floss can get CRUNCHY! Even with thread heaven! This sparkle floss is like BUTTER. But the two colors I have didn't work with the truffle. Hrumph. Maybe a Porkchop can get me this bundle for Valentine's Day! (I don't want sparkly jewels...I want sparkly embroidery floss. Haha! ;))

I just put the finishing touches on February...I'm hoping today while I'm getting an oil change in our car I can work on March. I'm wishing I had green sparkle floss for him! I think that's what I love most about these little desserts, you can totally customize them! Make them however YOU want!

Check out our official Pumpkin Pattern Tester- Kristi-...does that orange not make you SQUEEL?! Her stitching is so nice and neat. Even though I cross stitch a lot...I am SO not at her level of awesomeness. My goal by the end of 2012 is to be a neater stitcher!

The Dessert of the Month Club sale ends TONIGHT! at MIDNIGHT! That doesn't mean you can't join tomorrow! It will just be $6.95 more! So from now until MIDNIGHT, it's only $10 for the entire year! One time payment! 12 pdf cross stitch deliveries! That's pretty rad right? Especially since we decided that some month's will be getting cute recipes. Like next month!

Ok! off to run errands! See you soon!

ps: I'm so in love with my linen from dovestitch! It's really soft and sparkly and awesome! I'm not affiliated with them at all, just totally crushing!

Dessert of the Month & Project Life

Happy Sunday!!!!

I thought it would be neat if once a week I shared with you my weeks worth of project life cards. Project Life is SO much fun for me. If you've never heard of it, check out some links here, here and here

I've been making 4x6 inch cards to store in this little library drawer. Every day my phones alarm goes off and I set a timer for 10 minutes to reflect on my day and make a card. Super fun & achievable since I take about a zillion cell phone photos a day. I've been using scrapbook paper I've been collecting just because I love paper and my pogo printer. I'm keeping them simple and fun. Sometimes I write a few words that capture the day or glue a receipt to the back of a card. I love things in multiples and already seeing this cute little stack of cards makes me super happy. I bought myself a Martha Stewart Valentine's Day Mat Stack (I think it's called?) with a 40% Michaels coupon so I think the entire month of February is going to be PINK! eek!

Dessert of the Month!!!! My linen from dovestitch arrived yesterday afternoon & I watched some Psych and started stitching. I'm SO excited with how many people are stitching along with us! I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the blog posts/photos/tweets etc! I want to make sure I link to, re-tweet, like photos and I don't want to leave anyone out! So if you've blogged about dessert of the month, could you leave me a comment or if you know of a friend who's blogged about it? I'd love to do a round up this week of links! Truffle PARTY!!!!!

The pattern is on sale for $10 only until TUESDAY! Then it goes up to $16.95!

Also- twitter & instagram friends, let's use the hashtag #dessertofthemonth so we can keep up with each other!!! Fun!!!

I can't wait to share with you February's dessert. Seriously. Each time I look at him I get excited. My mom thinks I should send out dessert recipes for each month...why didn't I think of that? I think next month I'll include a recipe! That would be cute right?!

Yesterday I canned habanero marmalade! It is so amazing but too spicy for me. I'm going to try grapefruit marmalade next weekend, I'm testing recipes for a winter jam class I'm teaching in February. I'm crossing my fingers Chop & I go out for frozen yogurt today, I haven't had any since OCTOBER! What the heck?!?!!!

Have a good Sunday pals!