{*~1.26~*}

It's almost the end of the first month of 2010!

Our vacation ended two weeks ago. We drove home to a very very very messy house. Humboldt County was hit by an earthquake while we were gone! Our fridge tipped & dumped all the contents on the floor, shelves fell over, it was bad. Worst part? We came home over week after the quake. Imagine smashed eggs on your kitchen floor. For over a week. Barf right? So I spent the entire week cleaning. And cleaning turned into an obsession and some hard thinking.

I realize that I have wayyy too many belongings! Too much stuff for one girl! So I've been cleaning and paring down my life big time. I sorted through fabrics, makeup, books, yarn, you name it, I'm going through it. Be prepared to see a lot of destashing around this place in the upcoming weeks!

It's been exactly one month today that I've given up meat. I feel different. Lighter maybe? I noticed I'm not as puffy. It's challenging the way I cook and the way I look at food. I've lost a total of 7.4 lbs (keeping track of what I'm eating w/weight watchers! Their new iphone app is great!). I did yoga last night!

A few things I learned: Baggy sweat pants = material to trip over! Sports Bra is 100% necessary unless you want a face full of boob when you downward dog. Pedicure is a must, looking at my toes made me want pretty nails. Breathing correctly is going to totally help me. I have super bad asthma and deep breathing is a challenge but I felt REALLY good afterwards.

I also got the new wii fit, I have wii fit, but they came out with another game! I haven't tried it, yesterday was the first day we actually had FLOOR space!

In addition to cleaning, I've been sewing here & there. Mostly late at night. I'm working on two baby quilts, a quilt for Porkchop & I, two minis for swaps and a Valentines Day quilt for Porkchop! I've also been working on some stuff for my etsy shops.

Today was the first day I've seen the sun since like, November! It was GREAT! Our "house" is only two rooms, a bedroom and a front room/kitchen which is ALL windows, while I was screen printing/sewing/cleaning today I was wearing a tanktop! Shock!

I'm off to cook dinner, draw and answer emails! I'm *WAY* behind in answering emails and whatnot, I'll catch up ;)

{*~6.1.2010~*}

It's 2010! It's 2010!

This year I decided to make some resolutions. I'm not the resolution type, but I need a little burst of motivation this year. I'm going to share them with you!

I started the new year in *true* Mrs. McPorkchop style, with a double ear infection, sinus infection and out of control asthma! GOOOO ME! So my first few days of the new year have been spent laying on the couch, crocheting a giant granny afghan and watching reruns on tv. Doing lots of thinking. Lots of daydreaming.

Some of my resolutions are the 365 project, I'm not comfortable taking a self portrait everyday, so a photo a day is more "me", and then each month I'm going to set mini goals for myself, my entire month of February I'm taking a photo a day of something pink/red/coral with FILM and getting them all developed the last day of the month. Cool right? At the end of the year I'd like to get a blurb book printed of 2010.

I'm launching a fantastic new online shop within the next week or so, kindle cozies, iphone cozies, mini quilts, slots for custom mini quilts, patchwork camera straps...it's going to be RAD! I want to start sharing the stuff I sew more, I only post 1% of the stuff I create on a daily basis, mostly because I'm paranoid people won't like what I make. (Note to self...maybe work on some self confidence?! lol See below!)

I also decided that 2010 is going to be a slow year. I'm not spending money on anything "new". I'll buy fabric for projects and whatnot, but I'm just not wanting to spend money on silly things, no new nail polish, no "impulse" purchases, no new clothes unless things fall apart. I really want to get ahead financially and be more comfortable with who I am, instead of who advertisements say I should be. I'm planning on going on a MAJOR purge when I get home, donating, cleaning, selling...just streamlining my life, less STUFF. I'm the first to admit that new shiny things are my emotional pick me up and that isn't good or healthy! After I spend money I feel guilty, so this year, stop spending money of silly stuff!!!!

2010 I'm going to indulge in things that make me smile more, everyday things, new skills, small pleasures etc. I'm learning to crochet, I want to embroider/cross stitch more and I'm really into kawaii. When Mr. McPorkchop is putting drops in my ears,  I've been looking at kawaii websites on my iphone. Kawaii is so fantastic and genuinely cracks me up. Lisa gave me some kawaii stickers and I promptly attached them to my sewing machine and kindle. I also have been obsessively reading japanese craft magazines and I love the interiors of their homes, light filled, bits of patchwork here and there. I need more order to relax and unwind at night.

Less internet time. I love the internet. Don't get me wrong. But I sometimes find myself comparing myself to other people, flickr, blogs, etc and it gets old and depressing. "Why can't I sew that fast? Why didn't I think of that? Why can't I take photos like that? Why can't I sew that neat/straight/beautiful? Why is my stuff wonky? Why can't I dress as cute as her?" I'm not the only one who thinks like this and 2010 is the year to work on less negative thinking! In my slow year, I'm slowing down my sewing/quilting/scrapbooking/crocheting...I want it to get genuinely make me happy during the process, not a giant rush to finish it so I can get 9000 comments on flickr..haha. ;) I'm not competing with myself or anyone else, at the end of the day, it's just ME in my own skin.

Spending more time with my best friends. I rarely get to see them and I miss them so much. 2010 is the year to really give my all to my close friends. I ended 2009 by breaking off contact with one of the most rotten people I've ever come across and I realized staying friends with her was taking up time I could have been spending with people I genuinely LOVE. 2010 will be out with the grumps and negatives, in with the besties and new friends! I got to meet up with Lisa & Christin a few weeks ago and it was  BLAST. I need more lovely ladies like them in my life...or just spending more time with them in general, lol. I want to be closer with the people I interact with on a regular basis, be prepared friends, your about to get a ton of Amanda! ;)

The biggest change of all...going vegetarian. I spent an afternoon out at Mr. McPorkchops grandmothers cattle ranch and it was GREAT! Her home is gorgeous, the land is stunning, the cows are hilarious (and EXTREMELY well treated! I need to point that out!) but at the end of the day I realized I'm just *not* comfortable eating meat anymore. I've been thinking about this for the past year and two days after Christmas I decided to try it and haven't looked back! I'm doing it in combination with Weight Watchers. Something I've learned about myself is I need to stick to an "eating plan". I either over eat or under eat. Neither of which make me feel great! Sticking to a plan and being more "aware" of what I'm eating, at what times, is something I need to do. I've decided that when I get home I'm taking all my books that I read once and bringing them to a local used bookstore and trading them in for some vegetarian cookbooks. I also had some gift certificates that I've been saving and bought two cookbooks that I've been obsessively reading cover to cover. The Passionate Vegetarian and Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. Both are fantastic. I'm planning on subscribing to a CSA delivery once I can find one that I like! My biggest challenge is allergies, no soy so that cuts out most pre-made vegetarian foods and I can't have any raw fruits or vegetables. But roasting has been AMAZING! I could eat roasted veggies 24/7. And soups. And hearty winter warm salads. Amazing! It's been pushing my culinary skills to the extreme, but I'm loving it! I got an immersion blender with a gift card and holy smokes, I use it CONSTANTLY. What a nifty tool!

2010: The mantra is "awareness, slow down, grow and enjoy".

Signing off and leaving starbucks....xoxo

{12.23}

I love this vacation so far! So much excitement! So many plants! So much cooking & baking!!!! So many hugs. So much peppermint. Discovering Seinfeld!

I'm currently writing this at starbucks, using their wireless, as my father-in-law has an ancient windows based computer which slays me, so it gave me an excuse to come out, listen to some Christmas music and have a brulee latte. I've been using the internet....sorta...on my iphone, but 3G is spotty and rare. Google reader and it's 1,000+ unread posts scares me!

I have so much to share!

But for now, I wish you & yours a happy holiday and a merry festivus!!!!

See you on the flip side of Christmas!

xoxo

{~*Winner*~}

I'm going to keep this short & sweet today, I'm supposed to be packing for a month and my allergies are pushing me to my LIMITS today!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my little give away, I loved reading what everyone likes about winter!!!

Random Number Generator picked Amanda's comment:

Amanda (hey, great name!) please send me your address and I'll pop your scarf in the mail : ) modernacorn@gmail.com

Thanks again everyone, I hope your having a great Hump Day!!! I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow for a whole MONTH! INSANITYYYY!!!

{~*12.14*~}

As promised, today I'm giving away a shot cotton and far far away double cotton gauze scarf! What better way to get into a winter spirit this Monday?!

Yesterday I made two scarves and I've been wearing mine nonstop since then. It's lightweight, soft, you can scrunch it and wrap it around your neck perfectly plus it's long enough to knot. I'm planning on soaking mine in some Soak Wash, I have a tiny bit of the celebration scent left and I'd love for this to be even softer and smelling of Christmas! (Don't worry, I won't wash yours!) The edges are unsewn so you can fray it to your hearts delight. The shot cotton is a beautiful two toned fabric of a peachy-brown and a soft sage-y blue/green. The far far away is designed by Heather Ross and has the best little frog princes ever!

I got the idea from spool sewing and I think it would make a great last minute gift!!! It was easy peasy, although I didn't use their exact size or sew it the same, I kinda winged it by measuring a favorite scarf and then slicing and sewing!

If you'd like to win this scarf, leave a comment between now and Tuesday, 12/15 at midnight. Tell me your FAVORITE thing about WINTER. I know, I know, a lot of you are already sick of snow and cold, but there has gotta be something you love about winter, even if it's just that starbucks has brought out red cups and caramel brulee lattes! lol.

If your interested in a scarf for yourself or a friend in addition to the giveaway, I have more of this shot cotton and far far away left, just shoot me an email at modernacorn@gmail.com

Last but not least, a blurry photo of the scarf in action, what can I say, it's cold in here and my hands were shaking!

Have a great Monday! Stay warm!

{~*12.13*~}

Two shot cotton & far far away scarves completed.

A mini quilt bound but handsewing will happen tonight on the couch.

A small wallet was created but I'm torn on binding fabric.

I haven't eaten anything today except a klean kanteen worth of water and a venti peppermint mocha. Too much good stuff was happening. I sewed with my favorite ladies and was too busy creating.

Come back tomorrow, I'll be giving away a shot cotton and far far away fabric scarf!

{~*12.12*~}

I missed blogging and posting my photo yesterday. But I had a good reason. I had to get an eye appointment ASAP. I've been having migraines and a black spot in my right eye. Well it got worse yesterday. Of course everyone is trying to use their insurance right now so finding an appointment was tricky. Turns out I have a piece of eye tissue that is loose and causing migraines. It's apparently very common and will go away on its own. Great! I hate having my pupils dilated more than anything. I laid on the couch with my eyes shut all night instead of quilting. BORING!

I did sneak in a quick trip to an antique store while buying some fabric for a quilt binding and picked up this very tiny box of ornaments! Each ornament is only the size of my pinkie nail! So charming!

This morning I decided to use up some various stuff in our fridge, as we will be going out of town for a month on Thursday and I want to have the fridge empty. So I baked some eggs on a bed of tomato basil feta sauce. It's my first time using my ramekins and my first time baking eggs. I officially will never ever make eggs another way again! They came out amazing. Very flavorful and perfect for scooping onto toast! I like very runny eggs, Eric does not. At all. So I baked his way longer and it was like a little well done egg on some tomatoes, he liked it, lol.

{~*12.10*~}

Keeping it short and sweet today. Migraine is taking the wind out of my sails and medicine is making my stomach feel raw.

I'm building a mini quilt in a dark room. Cutting circles and applique. Building the first snow ball fight of the winter on fabric. Aqua, red, pink with bits of green and white.

I've used an entire 5 lb bag of flour this week. I've learned the tricks of using yeast in a humid cold drafty house. Yesterday a giant batch of cinnamon rolls were made. Half for now, half for later. Tonight is homemade pizza. Mine with baby greens, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes, and whatever veggies catch my eye at the co-op. His with meat. Lots of meat.

Tonight I'll be quietly sewing, letting my mind drift. Making some snowflakes and pebbles. Enjoying a whole wheat, yeast-y, cornmeal-y pizza crust. With hot peppermint tea.

{~*12.9*~}

Sometimes sewing and ideas come naturally and work themselves out easily.

Sometimes sewing and ideas come natural and refuse to work themselves out without some screaming, yelling, hair pulling and seam ripping.

Ok, that's a bit of a stretch, but I'm working on a mini quilt that just isn't working out. Something about it is off. I don't know what. But it just doesn't look right. Maybe it's the size? The fabrics? I'm going to step away from it for a bit and let it marinate.

I'm currently on day 3 of a migraine. I thought it was over this morning but in the past half hour, it's back. With a vengeance. Which is annoying because I have some patchwork camera straps that I'm excited to make!

I'm sensing the rest of the evening is going to be me, under a blanket, on the couch, reading a book. Speaking of books, has anyone ever bought ebooks of ebay before?

{~*12.8*~}

I thought today I'd talk about some quilting stuff I've been working on. As you might know, I got a new sewing machine. This has made sewing for me about 100x easier, not because it's fancy and high tech but because of SPACE. It has a large work space that makes me SO excited to sit and sew. No more struggling with small details!

When I was in college I'd frequently become inspired by an environmental surrounding, seasons, objects found in nature. I'm realizing I'm not even close to being done exploring that theme, be it in painting or in quilting. Everyone has been posting on facebook and twitter about snow, freezing temps, bleakness. I personally find a great beauty in the winter. My tumblr & flickr have been full of winter images. Maybe it's because I'm far away from snow, so I appreciate it more, lol. I needed to create something within that theme this past weekend.

In a lot my drawings, paintings and prints, I put the focal point in the bottom right/left hand corner. I always have. Chances are I always will. I find it creates a comfortable clean tension with negative space that I can't wait to fill with little circles. I love little circles. I don't think they mean anything, I just genuinely enjoy their presence. Pebble quilting is something I am extremely in love with.

It seems to make sense that I should be able to take the things I enjoyed creating in fine art and apply them to quilting. I'm working on some mini quilts that take the things I enjoyed about painting and printmaking and applying them to fabric. It works, both are a 2D medium!!!!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of these with you as I work on them. Drawing with thread via quilting is very satisfying.

It makes me feel like the thousands of dollars in student loan debt is worth it.

....almost. lol.

{~*12.7*~}

Brrrr! It's mighty chilly here this morning!

And I'm not complaining one bit!

Last night I had a minor kitchen disaster. Let's just say we needed to leave our house for an hour because the smoke was so bad. Eeek. So we got freezing cold milkshakes, Mr. McPorkchop had root beer, I had candy cane. We drove around with the heat blasting and looking at Christmas decorations.

We came home, nestled on the couch and watched White Christmas. I hand sewed the binding on a mini quilt and I have one more to bind tonight, so we also rented a Muppet Christmas Carol. I'll have photos up tomorrow hopefully.

Both etsy & bigcartel are completely sold out, I'm hoping today to get some cores serged and prepped for pads this week, but I'm unsure where to put my serger now that I have the big machine and I can't lift the machine myself because it's at a weird height. And I'm a wimp and don't want to drop it accidentally. Ohoh! And I'm pretttyyyy sure putting a serger on a $9 folding mini table from Target is a bad idea, haha.

I need to head to the post office this morning, I'm semi tempted to throw on some smart wool leggings and jeans and attempt to walk up to Henderson Center. And snap tons of photos along the way. It's supposed to be around 44 degrees today. I do however think that my asthma is aggravated by cold weather, so I'm not sure if I'll do that or not.

I'm planning on making a pea soup in the crock pot today, we have some left over ham from thanksgiving (vacuum sealed and frozen! not just hanging out in the fridge getting yucky, lol!) and I have some really primo local dried peas, I'm just going to kinda make it up because some of the recipes I'm coming across are kinda dodge-y (cream of what??? no thanks!) I'm also planning on making an herb dutch oven bread to go along with it. It's a cozy food kinda day :)

Have a great Monday everyone!!!!

{~*12.6*~}

Yesterday I worked out my grumpy mood. I wasn't nearly as productive as I'd hoped, but I learned a little more about my sewing machine, which is a bonus. I have a mini quilt to bind today, I'll have photos for tomorrow.

We picked up our mini tree, it's sooo cute! I love it something FIERCE! In addition to the flocking they also glittered it, amazzzzing!!! Of course we bought way too many decorations than will fit on this little tree, but thats ok :)

I also got my package that I was waiting for yesterday! YAY!!! So I'm going to pop all this weeks photos to costco to get printed and then I'll December Daily them all tonight and have a recap hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm REALLY excited about the papers I got yesterday, Hambly Screen Prints had an awesome Cyber Monday sale, 30% off plus free shipping, so I got some stuff I'd been wanting but was out of my budget, like clear thick overlays in wood grain patterns! Sooooo excited!!!!

And I can't stop listening to this!

My best friend Jenny got engaged last night to her boyfriend Matt, I can't even begin to describe how excited I am for them. I love them both to bits and pieces and can't wait to go on double dates with them when we are rocking matching velour leopard print sweatsuits with heels and giant sunglasses in our 70s. It'll be great being the aunt to her kids and she'll be the aunt to my cat babies! YAY!!!!

Also, I have five pads in stock right now on etsy, if you purchase a pad today I'll gladly refund your shipping! So free shipping all day today! I'm hoping to get up extremely early tomorrow and serge cores all day! I'll be adding daily liners, overnights, and 8 inch pads to the shop all week as well!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

{~*12.5*~}

Today is kinda a grump day. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. A package I'm anxiously waiting for arrived in Eureka but won't be delivered until Monday. The movies I was so excited to see this weekend aren't playing in the local theaters.

Instead of pissing and moaning, I'll focus on some positive stuff:

• We are picking up our Christmas tree tonight and visiting Target for tree trimming supplies.
• Mr. McPorkchop cleaned an area at the foot of the bed to place our tree.
• I'm organizing my sewing area today.
• I have 6 yards of fleeces that need to be made into cores this weekend. I'm not too jazzed about that part.
• I love my sampler but I'm not impressed with how the stitches are, so I'm thinking about doing it my way (aka I love stem and back stitch!)
• Dinner is in the crock pot and I found an awesome mix of heirloom beans in the freezer, I'm thinking about making a veggie bean soup this week!
• I treated myself to a pair of applique scissors yesterday.
• Mr. McPorkchop printed out some Russian Dolls for a project I'm hoping to work on today!
• I got some vinyl for a project, I might try to see how hard it is to sew today, any sewing with vinyl tips you have would be great!

Given the choice between going back to bed and riding out this bitchy mood or working, I'd normally pick going back to bed, but I'm not adding feeling guilty to the grump mix of today. I think I'll take a hot shower, clean up the living room a bit, maybe listen to some new music and share with you this photo...

of my DREAM CAT!!!!

I love it's color, little grump face and chubby body. If it were mine, I'd name him Parsley DouglasFir McPorkchop the 1st.

...Mr Mc.Porkchop swears I only love him because he looks like my moms cat, Simon.

{~*12.4*~}

(I love the shake it app for the iPhone! It makes photos so cute!)

Today was fantastic. So fantastic I don't even know where to begin.

• Organic Handmade Egg Nog ice cream for me, Chocolate Grasshopper with mint Newman O's for Mr. McPorkchop at Arcata Scoop! It was the most charming little place, very modern and cozy all at once. The ice cream was the best I've ever had in my life. And I eat a lot of ice cream. (Clearly! lol!) The egg nog was so spicey and nutmeg-y and cinnamon-y. It was a dream come true. The ending notes were very creamy and pleasant, not too rich.
• We went to the fair grounds for a big craft faire, it was great! I got some Christmas shopping done and just enjoyed being around some high quality gorgeous stuff!
• We then visited the zoo and walked around outside in the crisp air! I saw the bear, some snoozing gray foxes, some peccary and I got to pet some donkeys. Pretty fantastic.
• A quick stop at starbucks, where I promised last night I wouldn't go, but really, the day was too perfect and could only get better with a caramel brulee latte!
• Then....we got a CHRISTMAS TREE!!! We were hemming and hawing about getting one, our house is VERY tiny and we have NO room, but I'm thinking we can put it at the foot of the bed...best part? IT'S BEING FLOCKED RIGHT NOW!!! YEAH!!!!

I'm taking the entire day off and spending the night relaxing with Mr. McPorkchop. Tomorrow begins the cramming of studying for two weeks of finals, ahhh the joys of studying to be a biologist! I'll be back at work at my sewing machine tomorrow morning :)

{~*12.3*~}

Last night I started to feel pretty sniffle-y. Whenever Mr. McPorkchop & I leave the coast and head inland and then come back to the coast, my sinuses do crazy things. I think they aren't used to humid..then really dry..then humid. I've been trying REALLY hard to not get sick, once my sinuses get infected they'll stay that way for a really long time or until I suck it up, go to the drs and get antibiotics.

So I went to bed early, got ten hours of sleep, woke up and felt pretty crappy. I took some mushroom pills and then a scalding hot shower with eucalyptus oil, rinsed my sinuses with my neti pot and just stayed home and sewed, all while drinking extra pulp-y orange juice and hot water with honey and orange slices. After a few hours I seemed to feel fine so Mr McPorkchop invited me to go to the movies! We attempted to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I had grand plans of holding off on taking my daily photo until I could snap a photo of one of our movie stubs. We got there, our movie rewards card got us free popcorn, the movie started...and the sound was TERRIBLE. It sounded like listening to a robot! Everyone left the theater and got tickets for a free show. No big deal, we figured we'd drive two towns over and watch it there...only it's not showing there. BOO!!!! So I might see if Mr. McPorkchop would like to go see Up In The Air tomorrow night! I'll admit, I'm really bummed, you might not know this, but I'm a HUGE Wes Anderson fan...as well as Roald Dahl!!! I love the idea of this movie!!!

Today while I was working my bestfriend & I were google chatting and we've decided to spend New Years together!!! Mr.McPorkchop & I will drive down to the Bay Area to spend the night with her and her bf! We are SO excited! Dinner and then fireworks on the Embarcadero in SF! YAYYYY!!!!

Tonight is a new episode of Bones, which I'm unnaturally excited about! I love Booth and Brennan!

As a side note, I'm starting to work on some mini quilts for sale and I'm curious, if you were to buy a wall hanging, would you want it prewashed or not? I've been debating quilting some complex designs and have thought about sketching them out on the fabric before hand with either my sewline pencil or a clover disappearing ink pen....thoughts?

I hope everyone has had a great Thursday and is staying warm! I had to turn the heat on today!!!

{*~12.2~*}

I got up early again this morning and boy am I glad I did! It's been crazy around this place today!

Firstly, it's starting to get cold in here!!!! Today it was 47 degrees at 9:30. Temp INSIDE the house? 53 degrees. BRRR!!!

Secondly, I've decided that I *love* adding pads a little bit each day, it's wayyy easier! I added two more today! I get up each morning and can package the previous days orders with no problem, when I package 20+ orders in one day it pretty much kills an entire morning/afternoon because I'm so slow! LOL! I'll be adding new pads daily to both etsy along with my dot com shop :D I also discovered a new to me post office this week, it's sandwiched between two thrift stores and Joanns is across the street! BEST!

Thirdly, I'm obsessed with not only farmville, but also finding vintage bottle brush trees! Lisa gave me the idea to collect one tree each year, so I'm on the hunt for the perfect little one!

Fourthly...well..there really isn't a fourthly, lol. My morning was spent running errands, visiting the quilt shop where they got some bolts of Nicey Jane! I admittedly wasn't in love with it when I saw the online swatches but seeing it in real life? Gorgeous!!! I'd love to make a sparkling cider quilt from it eventually but for now, I'm making some pads :D Tomorrow I'm starting a quilt for a certain someone.

Also, my website got a freshening up this morning from Jody, thank you! If you leave your feed/reader you can see I now have a button if your interested in custom quilts/quilted gifts! Just click it and it'll pop up my email :)

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday! I'm off to work on some mini quilts and try not to freeze! :)

*~First Time~*

Today has been simply fantastic!

I woke up bright and early, 6:15!!! Holy smokes! Normally I'm an 8:30-9ish kinda girl!

I played my new obsession, Farmville, for a little while. My best friend has been playing for the past month and we always joke about it, well somehow yesterday afternoon I sat on the couch with the warm laptop resting on my stomach and played for over an hour building my farm! My first love? Reindeer!!! My second love? CATS! Shanna sent me my first cat last night! I was way too excited! I'm collecting reindeer, at last count I had 28 of them! haha.

I spent the morning packaging orders, replying to emails, working on December Daily, making new pads and popping dinner in our crockpot! Then I swung by the fabric store for some flannels to match the start of my fabric bucket! I decided to make a bucket to keep all my winter sampler embroidery stuff in. I know flannel isn't really the "ideal" fabric for a bucket but I really like it. I'm playing with color combos and textures I've never tried before. And then...

I quilted it. On my new machine. I was struggling at first, the machine will beep if you are going too fast and are running the risk of skipping a stitch, then Mr. McPorkchop said "Why are you using the foot pedal, the machine sews without it, remember, the lady showed us". And it was like a little light bulb went off in my head! So I unplugged the foot pedal (which I'm not sure I even had to do), pressed a button, next thing I know, the needle is moving and its my job to move the fabric. I'm not going to lie, I was SHAKING the entire time! I was so scared for some reason! lol. I'm also really weird, ready for this blog readers? When I concentrate on something, I kinda stick my tongue out a tiny bit, it's my "focus face". Totally embarrassing and dorky but it works. Like opening your mouth when you apply mascara. I know lots of people do that! lol!

Well, it worked. One small skipped stitch in the entire thing and it was me going over a large seam too fast. No overlapping threads. No jagged lines. It's not 100% perfect, but it's the best I've ever done! I've got the chapped lips now to prove it!

I'll post photos tomorrow of the completed bucket! I hope everyone is having a great Monday!

{*~Last Day Of November~*}

I feel like time keeps flying by me! Like my to do list is longer than the time in a day. I feel like I can't catch up! I've been neglecting my friends, my blog, my shops. Starting tomorrow I'm going to start posting once a day, three things that I'm thankful for or that inspire me. I'm also doing a December Daily, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to share pages from that with you guys! I need to learn to slow down, breathe and look more around me!

Today I'm learning my new sewing machine! I'm REALLY hard to please with sewing machines, I've been test sewing for the past 8 months :/, but this one is fitting the bill perfectly so far. It's called a Bernina 820 I'm pretty much in love. It's amazing. I've named her Greta. I can honestly say that this sewing machine is like the cream of the crop, it allows you to have COMPLETE control, no guess work, everything is laid out really well! I did buy something neat, it's called a Sew Slip, it's been pretty neat so far, it's like a slick surface and allows the fabric to really glide! I've been practicing quilting all morning!

I've updated etsy with new pads, if you follow me on twitter you may have read my tweet, if you purchase two or more pads I'll refund your shipping! Just enter either twitter or blog, depending on where you found this info from :)

It's only 11 am and I've already showered, cleaned, updated etsy, practiced quilting, replied to 25 emails (still have 25 more...blech!), packaged up orders, balanced my checkbook and paid some bills. I'm going to run to the post office, the bank, the coop and Michaels! I need a red stamp pad! I'm also dying to make a large bag for my embroidery, I think 3 years ago? Mr. McPorkchop bought me a gorgeous winter sampler, made in France, it's stunning. I literally have only finished HALF of one little 2 inch space. I'm hoping to work on it a little bit each night and maybe finish it by March, lol. I need a new "sit in front of the tv" project :)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I'll see you tomorrow!

{*~Swamped~*}

I've been so so so swamped with work lately! I've been getting up super early each day and sewing late into the night. I've discovered the most fantastic Christmas pandora radio station and I've been LOVING it!!!

I've been working on a backlog of pad orders, several quilts, ordering fabrics, getting ready for a MASSIVE shop update, starting December Daily...all sorts of good stuff. I attempted to take photos today of two new quilts that I'm quilting next week but it's a VERY windy day and nothing was staying put! I'm also attempting to get some Christmas gifts done and out of the way! I can barely catch my breath! Not to mention my mind is spinning with ideas for Christmas-y crafts for our little house!

On Tuesday my very best friend is coming over and spending the night...I'm debating making an oreo cream pie using newman o's, I'm cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner this year and have plans for a peppermint oreo cream pie using those great peppermint oreos from Trader Joes, but I figure I can test drive the recipe on Tuesday...just give it a little go..plus two oreo pies in two weeks? Who can say no to that?! Well...my waist line for sure..but whatever ;)

Friday we are heading home for ten days! We are pretty excited! We are cutting down a Christmas tree and riding quads in the mountains one day, heading to Cabelas & Reno another day, visiting my very very very best friend in the Bay Area for a day or two..it's going to be a GREAT Thanksgiving break! I'm bringing two quilts to be quilted because Mr. McPorkchops dad has a GIANT table for me to sew on! BEST!

Okok, back to work! But before I leave, are you on tumblr? It's my favorite thing!

Have a great Monday!

{*Ms Becomes Mrs*}

I can't believe it's already November! And I can't believe I'm a WIFE!!!!

YAYYYY!

Mr. McPorkchop & I tied the knot last Friday. It was a great time even though I forgot my vows and started crying, lol. My uncle, aunt and cousin flew in. My very best friends took Mr. McPorkchop & I out for a night on the town in Chico...oh dear...too many blue drinks were consumed. lol. We spent the weekend in Mt. Shasta and Ashland OR. It was great.

Before I left I had a little health scare and spent yesterday getting rechecked at the drs. No no no fun!!! Who wants to come home from their honeymoon to the drs?! Not me! No way!

Needless to say, November is turning out to be a very exciting month! I'm spending the afternoon replying to emails and cleaning my sewing space. I have tons of pads to sew and great projects to work on. And a heating pad calling my NAME! I have a plan of making a gray and red wreath for our kitchen in honor of the upcoming holidays. I'm thinking the theme of this winter is going to be plaid plaid PLAID! I'm obsessed with winter and having a great time planning winter adventures, which is so weird because right now the weather here in Humboldt is very warm and very sunny! But I'm not complaining!

I've been on a strict no spending diet the past few months, two nights ago I broke down and ordered two japanese fat quarters, the sashing for my wedding quilt, some flannel for some pads (good quality flannel that can take a ton of washings? yes plz!) and...fabric for a new bag! I've decided to brave Amy Butlers Weekender Travel Bag. I've heard its a PITA to sew, but I'm going to totally attempt it. My poor little featherweight sewing machine has been living in a reusable grocery bag from Raleys, lol, so it deserves a proper bag, plus those outer pockets will be perfect for supplies, like my rotary cutter. I'm making it out of Kokka GIANT Russian Doll fabric and some Kona solid cottons. I'm going to hopefully make one and then make a second one if it goes easy enough out of some Kokka Dala horse fabric so I can have a cozy overnight bag. Ambitious? Yes. Crazy? YES. I might even add little purse feet to the bottom of it. Yes oh YES!

This month I'm trying to get stuff DONE. To try to motivate myself, I'm going to participate in Tallgrass Prairie's Joy in the New Year! I have four quilts to finish, my neptune quilt, my halloween quilt, my wedding quilt and a quilt for a Christmas gift for someone who sometimes reads this. lol.

In other exciting news, I'm so excited to work on jamaica's book of lists project! If you know me, you know I love lists! Even better, I won one of her books! SWEEET!!! You should totally join in! I don't know ANYTHING about scrapbooking but I did spend the better part of 5 years doing some printmaking and I have a deep love for all things paper!

And I've been mentioned on True Up today for my fabric on shelves! yay!!! Thanks so much Mary Beth!

Ok, I'm off to clean my studio space and get back into the flow of sewing and working! I hope everyone is having a great November so far!