{*Info About Update*}

(sneak peak of some liner fabrics)

Hey Gang!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

{Cozy & Carrots}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

xo

{*Please Help A Friend*}

No pretty picture today gang, just some words. My friend from high school, Christina, has lost her father. She's the only living member of her family and is struggling to make funeral costs. This brings me to absolute tears because I watched my mom plan her soulmate and my step fathers service not long ago and the thought of anyone having to go at it alone, really really upsets me.

I honestly can't say enough about her, she goes around the country educating people about HIV, she volunteers, she is *the most* SELFLESS person I have ever ever ever known! Words can't even explain how much good she does!

I used a lot of the money from last nights sales to help her and if you could give her $5, $10, whatever, it would be *amazing*. I know it's so hard to donate with todays economy, but really anything helps!

Thanks *so* much taking the time to read this!

More info can be found here!

{*Shop Update*}

The Shop Has Been Updated!!!

I totally have spring fever and made some really pretty spring like pads!!! I used some garden themed fabrics and just had a blast sewing!!!!

I'll have liners listed this weekend, tomorrow I'm washing and shrinking more bamboo and a bunch of new fabrics :) I'll gladly combine shipping if you'd like me to hold off until I list more stuff, just leave it in the message to seller or send me an email :):)

If you have spring/cabin fever these pads will hopefully provide cute eye candy to cheer you up!!!

xoxo

edited to add: in the odd chance that the pad you've purchased oversells, I'll send you a message asap with your choice of either a refund or I'll sew you another from the fabric :)

{*Ms.McPorkchopCrankyPantsGrumpsteinthe4th*}

I, Ms.McPorkchop, am in the funk to end all funks. No amount of retail therapy will help. No amount of chocolate will save me. I am CRANKY. Instead of whining about it, I'm going to try to be positive and show you my sewing machine!

Look at all that JUNK! I was sewing myself a pair of panties this morning when my machine jammed, prompting me to actually look at the machine and holllllly smokes, what a MESS!!!

Yup! That's my amazing vacuum cleaner! Trust me when I say that my machine needed this. Surprisingly (sarcasm) it's running a lot smoother now!!!!

I've done everything in my power to make myself less grumpy, attempted picking out quilt fabric (fail! can't choose!), had an amazingly delish lunch, took new fabric photos, watched comedy online, listened to my favorite guns and roses pandora radio station and had a major dance party, worked on two big custom orders and got one shipped, ordered fabric for an order that I screwed up, worked in my sketch book...

I even went for a bike ride! I only made it around the block because my front tire is flat-ish. BOO!

I think know why I'm in a grump mood but I just can't seem to shake it!!!

What are your favorite ways to de-grump?!

(P.S. All emails will now start to be replied to at night! Now that I have an extra few hours of sunlight, I'm sewing and working longer into the evenings, rather than replying first thing in the morning!)

{*Break Time*}

I'm positively beat gang! I think I'm suffering from a bit of winter blues. Anytime the sun has been out, I've stopped whatever I've been doing to sit outside and absorb as much of it as possible! I'm honestly excited about living in the Redding heat this summer!!!!

I wanted to share with you this photo I took this weekend, I love that all the ornamental and fruit trees are starting to blossom here! It makes me so so so happy. About 3 seconds after I took this, I started to get hailed on. haha. Go figure!!!

We both took the weekend off. It involved lots of popcorn, thrift shop trips, a bookstore visit, The Office, long car rides and toting my camera places. We've been t.v.less for quite some time, so t.v. is a rare treat for us. We reallllyyy are in love with The Office, so much that we've stayed up until 4 am each night watching! oops!

The weekend didn't start off so good, I have three missing packages and that bums me out. I, get ready for this, lost my engagement ring. Yup. How terrible is that. I lost it on Friday and we found it around midnight last night. Let's just say I spent a lot of my weekend in the dog house!!!!

If you've sent me an email on Saturday or Sunday, it most likely will be answered either late tonight or tomorrow. I made a  FAQs about custom orders too!!! I'm going to *stop* taking custom orders on Friday, March 13th, so I can work on them and get caught up!

Did you have a good weekend???

*EDITED: I've deleted my typepad so older posts may not have their photos :( Sorry about that!*

{*Secrets Revealed!*}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

{*Stash Interview*}

Good Afternoon & Happy Thursday!!!

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

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

What do you usually sew?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you iron it?

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

How do you sort it?

Color Chronologically!!!!

Do you have any special folding techniques?

Nope! Just nice and neatly!

How do you store your fabric?

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

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

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

When do you say enough is enough?

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

What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects?

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

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

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

What’s your definition of the perfect stash?

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

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

I love them!

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

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

xoxox

{*OmNomNOM!*}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

{*Crazy right???*}

The past two days have been *crazy*!!!!

Things are finally starting to break up sinus wise, thankfully, because I seriously was ready to scream! Lots and lots of steaming my face with eucalyptus oil!

So I woke up yesterday and was intent on being super productive and totally was! I got 6, yup, 6 custom orders of over 4 pads in EACH order done and shipped, they came out so so so nice! I got to back two of the orders in organic cotton instead of antipill fleece and I just adore how thin they are! I had an amazing sewing day. Mr.McPorkchop and I went to the beach and watched the storm blow in and played with my camera a bit. It was just shaping up to be an amazing day...but before that, I stayed up super late the night before working on this little pouch!

Am I the only one who is addicted to charming little pouches?!  It took me so so so so long to come up with a good pattern, one with gussets, no visible seams, something simple, but really really nice. I never took sewing classes, so everything I design is self taught, I found some great tutorials, but nothing really struck me, so I spent an entire night sewing, resewing, building, unbuilding, just to come up with a simple pouch! LOL! Thank goodness for .99 cent muslin right?!

I used vintage bed linens, organic cotton, japanese neighborhood fabric for the tag, organic cotton ricrac on the zipper, two vintage laces and the softest velvet EVER! Boy am I pleased with the results and I have a few others cut and ready to be sewn! I also found the best interfacing and I'm really happy with it!

I've added this new little pouch to my shop! I'm going to be adding some new pads and sets of wipes this week too so check back or rss the shop!

SO! Back to my day..the bad news? My amazing day was cut short by, get ready for this, an allergic reaction to *something* so bad that I got to spend my evening in urgent care! Charming right? I had what looked like a really really bad sunburn from my neck down. Not fun. My skin literally felt like it was on fire, I was sweating! Ewwww!!! Today it just looks like red little bumps, which is a lot better. I'm taking steroids for three days, yuck! They say to take them with food or milk, I'm having them with pudding ;) Because you know, pudding is both ;)

Okok, I'm going back to sewing!!! I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I also have 60+ etsy convos that I'm trying with Mr.McPorkchops help to reply too, if you need something urgently, it might be best to email me directly, modernacorn@gmail.com

xoxox

{*Weekends*}

I can't believe it's Sunday!!! It feels like I've wasted an entire week, which of course, I did!!! I hate being sick because then you have to play catch up and everything feels all rushed and disordered.

Thankfully lots of little things have gotten done, for example, modernacorn now has a new shop!! That's so exciting! And you can now click on modernacorn.com!!!!!! How exciting is that?! I'm going to slowly ween away from etsy but I'm going to be constantly updating the new shop, so RSS/bookmark that one! The cart system has been known to oversell, but hopefully it'll go a little better this time! If you could click around and let me know that all the links work, that would be great!

Yesterday was a surprising day! Full of unexpected things! I needed to get out of the house. Badly. I wanted something very cold to drink, lots of tissues and cough drops and I wanted to just sit in the car and be content looking at things through the window. Mr. McPorkchop took me to two thrift stores, sadly, I've completely neglected the thrift store scene here in Eureka! Our friend, Garmin, showed us some and we went exploring. I got a set of vintage pillow cases that look like either bad stone lithos or really great crayon drawings. I took some poor photos of them, but they are hilarious, big ducks, squirrels, bright colors, they are great! I also got two sets of vintage sheets, score!!! One size doesn't fit my bed, so I'm going to upcycle them into pads and bags this week, they are so very pretty! The set that I'm keeping has been printed with a pattern that looks like cross stitches! I love it!

We drove to my favoritest little town, Ferndale California! I got out of the car and walked around. After a week in bed it felt so so so nice to stretch my legs! While walking around of course...

I discovered a darling quilt shop. Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop!!! Gosh was it *charming*!!!! Tons and tons and tons of Westminster and Free Spirit, lots of Kaffe!!!! I got some gorgeous new fabrics! Lots of beautiful discontinued prints!

While we were in there, Mr. McPorkchop carried my bolts of fabrics around they took photos of him, hilarious!!! I of course, still sick, nose red and raw, was looking less than charming, but I did get asked to donate to the Fortuna High Schools sober grad event! My birdie sling gets lots of attention, which is so very nice. I also was embarrassed to admit that I didn't have a business card on me!!! Small business owners should always carry these! Sheesh!!!

On our way home we caught sight of the most amazing thing ever!!! We somehow caught Great Blue Heron "rush hour", they were all leaving the marsh-y area and heading into the heronry! Seeing twilight and then these large birds flying into these huge trees was amazing!!! They are absolutely gorgeous birds!

This morning I had tons of new fabrics to wash so Mr. McPorkchop & I went to Arcata and had some breakfast with my BFF Aric while our laundry was being done. I wish I had gotten a photo of it but Mr.McPorkchop & I were both wearing jeans tucked into wellies, it was so great!!! I also saw that a little boutique was carrying Heather Ross Munki Munki p.j.s, but they were closed! BOO! But you can bet that I was drooling through the window!

Aric kindly brought me over 3 tablespoons of soy sauce a little while ago, lol. I need some for a recipe, but I'm allergic so I didn't want to buy an entire bottle. Yes, I know I know.

I'm so insanely inspired to get sewing with these new fabrics, so you can expect new pads and bags to be listed to the shop very soon, I'm also plugging right along on custom work too, yeah for being productive!!!

Have a great Sunday!!!

xoxo

{*Love It!*}

What a DAY!!!!!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go figure ;)

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

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

{*New Blog*}

this is my wordle!

isn't it cuuuute?!

Well, thanks to my amazing friends, my website is off to an amazing new start!!!! I'm going to be deleting typepad and during the time I'll hopefully make sure that all my older posts still have their original photos. I'm also adding to my bffs, so if you've linked to me, please please please let me know, on typepad I could see what sites referred people to me, but this one I haven't quite figured out yet!

I was tempted to post a photo of myself today with my amazingly red nose, puffy face and bed head, but I'm prrrrrrretty sure you don't want to see that! Today is my all time sickest day, sheesh. I've been falling asleep every few minutes and I've only been able to eat half an english muffin. I'm forcing myself to be better by tomorrow, I have orders piling up and I want to work darnit!!!!

Last night I got out of bed for an hour, not smart, but I'm so insanely inspired by sewmamasews doll quilt a long that I grabbed some fabric scraps and started cutting 20 3 inch squares...by hand...in bed. Yeah. That's how desperate I was for something creative!!! I have them all done and ready to be pieced! In my medicine fog I picked some strange fabrics, hopefully they'll all go together nicely. Also, did you guys see that the rad quilter oh, frannson is going to do a beginners quilt a long?! You know I'm on it!!! I really really want to learn to quilt and so many of my friends are talented quilters, like Brooke! My favorite quilting inspiration bff is Christin that scarf is so so so rad!!!

Ok, I'm ready to fall over, off to take more medicine and sleep. ARGHHH!!! I need an i.v. of orange juice!

xoxoxo

{*Not Good*}

(my all time favorite mug, my favorite teeshirt and swaddled like an egg in blankets)

The truth is, I'm not very good at being sick.

Most people take days off or can suffer through work and sleep well at night. Either way, they rest.

I do neither. I'm in this odd state of inbetween-ness!

I've spent the day two days in this odd working yet not working, relaxing yet not relaxing state. Mentally, I'm here, making plans for kidnapping? stalking? erm "visiting"  maru, saving inspiring images, fabric window shopping, replying, writing, re-writing, drawing plans for my big side project, but physically, I'm a sneezing, coughing, fever-y mess! No fun!!! I hate being super inspired and not able.to.do.ANYTHING!!!!

Yesterday I used my amazon.com gift certificate! Curious what I bought?

Linen, Wool, Cotton

Patchwork Style

andddd!

Sew & Stow

I think I spent around $11 out of pocket, which is really cool! The down side is of course in order for free shipping, I have to wait for them to be shipped all at once and since two of them are pre-orders...welll I'll be getting some nice books in April! haha!!! I have a feeling in a few weeks I'll move on and become side tracked, then the books will arrive and it'll be a very pleasant surprise!!!

The photo above is taken with of course, my handy mac book which has lived on my lap for the past two days. We've been searching the web, networking, applying to shows, spending time with our online bffs, reading google reader, making lists, playing with twitter, trying to respond to etsy convos....

Speaking of etsy, I'm about 65% through my convo inbox, which is super rad. I also updated my policies, be sure to check them out. I had quite a few convos from customers regarding someone buying my pads, tracing them and trying to sell them :( This makes me very very very sad. I like how Amy Butler 's FAQ puts it:

"We always encourage folks to create their own unique pattern designs to create products for sale. There is so much potential for great design. If you are inspired to work with Amy's patterns, she always says..... "if I can do it, so can you! " Go out there and make your own, unique amazing creations! The energy and passion behind small business is what makes the world go round!"

I say the same thing! Cloth is great! Etsy is great! DIY is super great! Create your own awesomeness! Trace your favorite panties, thats how I started! But its not ok to "borrow" someone elses design.

I have an extremely loyal customer group, I'm giving you guys big big big hugs on the heads up and kind words.

I woke up this morning convinced that I was totally fine, not sick anymore, everything was great! I got a whopping 50!!! yup FIFTY cores serged for custom orders. About half way through I started to feel kinda icky. But I was ignoring it. And about two hours into it, I was done. My head, nose and throat were like NO WAY LADY!!! NO MORE!!! So I finished up the cores, cleaned the inside of my serger and came back to bed.

So I'm drinking some scalding hot peppermint tea with marionberry honey and looking at flickr. I <3 flickr so much. In a bad mood? Search "kawaii" and be prepared for cute. Want to smile? Search scottish folds and be extra prepared for awesome cat overload. Flickr is just GREAT!

I'm going to leave you guys with my most favorite and inspiring flickr streams!!! Be prepared to click *favorite* over and over again!!

teapoweredphoto
moaan
Kup, Kup Land
keldemean
tommy.toast
lifelovepaper
daily bungalow

okok! Have a super fantastic evening!!!

xoxox

{*awe man!*}

Awe man!!!

I'm *sick*. Nooo fun! I've felt it coming on the past few days and I've done everything in my power to stop it, but last night while working, my throat felt scratchy and this morning = no voice and sore throat! BOO!!!!

You know me, I normally feel guilty not working, but one of my 2009 goals is less guilt, so today is being spent in bed with hot tea. I'm catching up on some reading and researching! Last night also marked getting the ball rolling on my huge side project, I don't want to jinx myself yet, but I think its going to be so so so cool and the supplies have been ordered!

 I woke up to a jam packed full inbox, I've been unsubscribing to store news letters and junk mail, about 80% of my 100+ emails were from friends and etsy! CRAZY!!! And nestled in my inbox was a $25 gift certificate from Shanna to Bake It Pretty!!! I was stunned! I was jazzed! I was so so so excited!!! The above picture is from her custom order! So much fun to sew!!! Of course, being an avid google reader user I've seen all the pretty stuff that has been made all over blog land from supplies from here! I ended up getting so much neat stuff, a gnome cookie cutter, a mustasche candy mold, just some really great new little treats, including little popcorn bags for small lienr orders, hilarious!!!!!! Thank you so so so so much Shanna!!!!!

Want to hear a neat story?

So I'm in bed and my bed is under a window. I can look outside the window, under the curtains while laying down.

I'm laying here, working on some stuff, when I hear a little thud.

I peek up and a RAVEN peeks down!!! He was sitting on the gutter and looking at ME!!!

We stared at each other and then he hopped away. CRAZY!!

His beak was so very black and thick, which is how, in all my ornotholigcal brilliance, I knew he was a raven and not a crow. I wish I had my camera.

I actually wanted a net so I could keep him, but thats creepy and we won't go there!

I think thats my signal to go back to sleep. Etsy now has info on custom orders in the policy section and a notice that I'm sick, so please please please be patient with convos!!

have a great tuesday!
xoxo

{*ooo*}

I went and visited my mom this weekend! It was ammmmazing!!! I have some photos that I need to upload too! Have I mentioned how rad my mom is? Well, she is!

This week is looking insane already, helloooo Monday! I came home to a stack of etsy convos, I'm not done replying yet, so if your waiting for me...I'm here! Just slow!!! I've also been working on a side project that is almost done and makes me very very very excited.

I am pretty excited though, Mr. McPorkchop has given me a $25 gift certificate to amazon.com and I'm at a loss for what to buy!!! I can't decide if I want a crafting book or a novel or something!!!! I might get a crafting book because there are several really great used book stores locally for novels..

So my dear BFF blog readers, if you had $25 to spend at amazon.com on a book, what would you buy?!

{*Late Night Crafting*}

I did some late night crafting last night. I started this bag around 6 pm and finished at around 10pm. Not bad. For me, sewing anything past 5pm is late night crafting. Since I sew for a living, I sew in my "off the clock hours", which is after 5, when my house is dark and impossible to see ;)

Mini pattern review :)

Pattern: Amy Butler Birdie Sling
Fabrics: All Anna Maria Horner "Good Folks"
Modifications:
2 1/2 inch gussets, I like wide bags. This flattened the bottom amazingly!
I added two D rings and a strap! The strap is actually an old J.Crew belt from a few years ago that I was wearing as a necklace for a while, but I couldn't resist using on this bag! The yellows together are perfect, the velvet is so plush and soft! Plus of course I was hugely inspired by Marc Jacobs with his amazing use of the chain link in his bags. Lately I just have a thing for bags with extra straps. My current bag has a strap so I can wear it across my chest. I just love them.

I used the lining material to contrast with the bags for the loops that hold the d rings into place. Instead of using craft store hooks, I used hardware store ones, I really really like their heft. It's a nice contrast to the softness of the fabric.

Unfortunately one of the things that I didn't like had nothing to do with the pattern, but an error on my part. I bought the remains of a bolt of pellon heavy weight interfacing. It ended up being CRAFT heavy weight interfacing instead and boy oh boy, this bag is TOUGH. It stands up completely on its own. It made the pleats tricky and they don't "hang" nicely. It's almost...crunchy. I ran out of interfacing, went back to Joanns, bought the "normal" heavy weight interfacing and...it melted the interfacing and fabric, the whole piece just pucked up and I couldn't even remove the two pieces from each other. And that was on the low setting of my iron. With a kitchen towel over it. Charming!

I did use the fusible fleece on the lining and I love love love how plush and full it made the inside of the bag, I'd use it again on bags, no question about it.

I was hugely inspired by theworkroom.ca

I loved how she put a favorite quote in her birdie, so I tried the same thing. I'd never type written on fabric before and it was a blast. Lately, I'm not going to lie, I've been listening to a great powerballad station on Pandora. I love great 70s and 80s jams. I ended up with an entire "page" of organic cotton all typed up!

 

I adore my typewriter. It's BLUE!!! And has a little suitcase. I got it at a yard sale for $5. The best $5 ever! It works beautifully. So I spent an hour coming up with favorite song lyrics. November Rain. U2. Whitesnake. Yeah. I went there.

I ended up listening to a great live version of "Dream On" by Aerosmith. I freaking love them. Maybe it's hometown pride? Maybe it's because my mom was rad and snuck into their first concert at Boston Garden. Either way. Love that song.

"all my life is in books written pages
live and learn from fools and from sages
you know its true
all the things you do come back to you"

I'm a big fan of kharma these days and each day I do something small and nice for another person. There is too much negativity in life lately with the economy. Right now, everyone needs all the small help they can get!!!

So that is my new bag. :)

I've gotten a lot of etsy convos asking when I'll list new pads, right now I'm slammed with custom orders. I got two amazing custom orders this week, one from my friend Shanna who let me pick the fabrics so so so awesome!!! I have another one right now where the customer is letting me surprise her! I love that!!!!!! I'm going out of town this weekend but I might pop a pad or two in the shop today. :)

I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday and weekend!!!

xoxox

{*Friday!!!!*}

YEAH!!! It's Friday!!!

I've spent the day working out several custom orders, sewing 4 new pads for the shop!, baking and cooking up a storm!!!

Speaking of storm, its been hailing here all day. This morning was a record low in our bedroom, I got up and it was 45 degrees. Not acceptable. I turned on the heat and crawled back into bed. I left etsy feedback, replied to some emails, working on some computer projects until it was warm enough to emerge. Not fun. 

Today I've been on a cooking spree! Baked amazing brownies and am currently making soup! We bought a small steak on sale at Safeway to split for dinner tomorrow night, I made a marinade for it! Lately when I go grocery shopping I play a game, its called "see how much you can save". I try to save more than I spend and lately, it's been getting pretty close, last week we spent $24 and saved $19.75!!! That's freaking AWESOME! I pretty much won't buy stuff unless its on sale! Budget Budget Budget!!! I love printing coupons online!!!

Right now I have my favorite dutch oven on the stove cooking French Onion Soup and it smells *amazing*! I even dug out my ramakins!! Speaking of cooking, does anyone have any links or suggestions for taking food photos indoors under lamp light? I hate how yellow my photos turn out!! Links or tutorials, ANYTHING would be great!!!

Tonight I want to knit! I ordered a skein of malabrigo this week for a trade for some japanese craft books but it hasn't arrived yet. I have a skein of twinkles super bulky yarn that I'd like to destash, but I'm unsure what to make! I might make an unoriginal hat from the yarn harlot but I'm not sure I have the right size needles! Grrrr! I think I only have a size 10 1/2 and I'm not sure how well it'll go, but...it can't hurt to try! I really love the color of yarn I have, its called urchin! It's so soft and squishy!!!

I'm also planning on spending my weekend with the last issue of Domino :( Sad Story!

okok! Off to finish up my soup and spend some time watching jeopardy with Mr.McPorkchop!

Have a super fantastic weekend!!!

xoxo

{*Almost There!*}

I'm so glad its almost Friday!

I've updated the shop with two super pretty overnight pads! I seriously love sewing overnight pads! They are so great for showing off bold fabrics!!!

Speaking of sewing...

I'm currently working on a birdie sling. I really like it so far, I have the entire bag cut out, but unfortunately I made a mistake cutting out the lining, I cut the outside fabric pattern...with the inner lining and the fabric was too small. Oops! So now I'm just waiting for the lining fabric again and I got some donut fabric today in the mail! How great is that? I'm 99% sure there will be a donut pad in the shop tomorrow! The fabric is actually a flannel imported from Japan and its irrestible! It's so so so soft!!!

This is insane week weather wise!!! It's been down pouring daily, then suddenly it'll hail, then suddenly its sunny for four minutes and then BAM! rain! It's also pretty cold, our house is extremely drafty and I've had to keep the heat and that makes me verrrryyy grumpy. I've been looking quite puffy, smart wool leggings under sweats, tank top, teeshirt, long sleeved teeshirt, hoodie, wool socks pulled up to my knees. This morning I almost put on mittens to package orders because it was.that.cold.in.here! When I woke up our bedroom was 47 degrees. I know that doesn't sound cold, but HELLO! That's indoors!!! Even with the heat on 24/7 it hasn't gotten above 57.

Well, we made a big investment this week (read $10) and bought rabbit ears for our tv! We have 3 public access chanels and I'm feeling pretty good about that!!! I'm excited about being able to watch things like...local news and weather! Hahaha!! We so far are getting around 7 channels, awesome!! The HD Channels look so so so good!

What are you doing for Valentines Day?!

Ok! Off to warm up in the shower!!! Have a great night!!!
xoxo

{*Monday Rainy Monday*}

(best new fabrics EVER!)

I seriously have so much to talk about but I'm not sure where to start!

As I mentioned earlier today, I'm having a sale in my etsy shop! I've never had a sale before!

I was totally surprised by a random burst of sunshine so I quickly grabbed my camera and photographed some new pads (the ones above!) and updated etsy! I wasn't planning on doing it today, but the weather was in my favor and I had to jump at the chance!

Did I tell you that we went and saw Coraline this weekend? If there is ever a movie that blows your mind, its that one. It was so beautiful and visually inspiring, the animation was out of this world. The story honestly scared me a little bit, haha!!! I'm going to make a super cute journal page about it tonight!

Speaking of journal pages, guess what I got?! A sticker maker! Mr. McPorkchop bought me a little xyron with a coupon for Michaels, it was only $10! Yeah!!! I'm so so so so excited to play with it tonight! He also surprised with me a digital kit from a print a day! He got me this one called wildflower and wood! I'm excited and I have lots of plans that involve making mushroom stickers and sticking them everywhere.

On that note, you know what? I want to learn graphic design. You know what else? I want to draw more. I really want to take a community education class at the local community college here, its a month long class about colored pencils. I've never been good at drawing. At all. I'm a bit more of a painter, a paint brush and watercolor feels a lot more natural in my hands than a pencil. I'm truly awful at things like perspective. It's not like I don't get it or I don't see it, I just...can't. So I searched for a graphic design class, nothing coming up :( But the pencil class, there are two, one in March and one in April. It's $75 which is a huge investment for me right now. But I wouldn't have to buy anything because me being a former art studio student, I have about 200 prismacolor pencils, plus some fancy italian colored pencils as well. Can I shell out that much money? I'm on the limb. It would be great to have a few hours each week set aside to draw and learn more about pencils. I'm torn!

I'm really hoping this summer I can take an intro to illustrator class. I feel so lame not knowing anything other than how to resize photos in adobe lightroom. I need more computer based skills. Even saying that, I feel OLD. Plus, duh, I'm starting a silkscreen business with a silent partner, if there are two things that go hand in hand, its graphic design and silk screen.

We went to Target for some little stuff and we searched and searched for the Orla Kiely stuff, we ended up finding on an end cap with clearance christmas stuff and vaccum cleaners! They only had a tiny bit, but I got a bucket for instock pads to keep them organized for when they sell and a laundry bag! I can't wait for the cups and kitchen towels! I'm going to post a photo tomorrow of the stuff I got and the little journal page I'm making.

I've also been getting steady little packages arriving with lots of new little fabrics. More fabric stores need to be fat quarter friendly! I've found three this week that have gotten a lot of my business! A half a yard of fabric is wayyy too much for me! I only need small amounts! Plus I'm short on space and fat quarters take up a lot less room.

Want to see a terrible photo?

There you go!!! That was taken earlier this morning! See what the rain does? BLECH!

I got a three fat quarters of a lecien print, they are bears who are cooking! They are so awesome, little salt and pepper shakers, baguettes, bees, lol, just really great prints. Then I found a half yard of my favorite Japanese print!! It's the most charming little houses with birds, so so so so cute! I think this is one of the only fabrics that I've actually used up and had to buy more, thats how much I adore it. It was the sellers last half yard too! And then...

I splurged.

I bought a yard of two Anna Maria Horners new Good Folks prints. I'm making myself a birdie sling. I accidently bought only a yard of each and I'm pretty sure the pattern needs more, so I'm sensing a lot of fudging. Has anyone made a birdie yet? How did it go? I'm using the yellow for the straps and the grey/bright pink for the body. I'm not sure yet on a lining...

I also just downloaded a firefox add on for twitter. Yup. I'm that girl. I freaking love twitter. But I need a cuter background on mine :(

okok! I hope everyone has an awesome Monday! Don't forget to check out the cute new stuff on etsy!

xoxoxo