{*~Sewing Summit: Wednesday~*}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

true story!

{~*Pumpkin News*~}

 

The Pumpkins are at it again!!!!!

I was telling Ashleigh that Sugarloaf, our mascot, needed a Halloween Costume and she went and zombie-fied him! He sure is creepy AWESOME! I'm going to start working on him at Sewing Summit. You can find him HERE! And then she made our candy corns in costumes too!

In anticipation of Sewing Summit and last minute sewing, we are having a little sale on Hoop Travel Bag! Even if you aren't attending Sewing Summit you can get our best selling pattern for $1 off! Awesome! It'll be perfect for those of you traveling or even just sitting at home relaxing and cross stitching!

I'm putting the finishing touches on my presentation...tomorrow is packing, laundry and last minute stuff day!

I'll see you soon in SLC!

{~*it's official*~}

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

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

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

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

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

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

{~*Happy Thursday*~}

It's been quiet around here. Lots of knitting & cross stitching. I'm REALLY excited for Sewing Summit! I can't believe it's NEXT WEEK! I'm leaving Sacramento on Wednesday morning to spend a little extra time with Karyn & Katherine. And help Erin & Amy if they need it. This is going to be an absolute BLAST.

My class is coming together so well. I'll be speaking about mini quilts because it's what I LOVE. I'm bringing a bunch of my favorites, plus a few new ones that haven't been seen, including one from a not yet released book! So that's pretty fun! You can still register but time is running out! Sewingsummit.com! Check it out!

I'm a little unsure how my days will be in SLC, right now I'm sleeping 14 hrs a night & napping twice a day. But I totally don't want to miss a THING. I think I'll bring two small handwork projects & just sit & stitch with friends. Hopefully there are lots of cozy nooks! I wish they had a kitchen so I could bake with everyone! Wouldn't that be a blast?!

I'm currently knitting Ptarmigan & still working on my Lizzy*Kate stitch a long with Kristi. Both are coming out well & I'm proud of them for sure!

I'm teaching a class all about autumn baking on Saturday at That Kitchen Place in Redding. Exciting! This morning I baked Chop pumpkin spice cinnamon buns with vanilla chai icing. He's going hunting this weekend & I thought he might like a little something sweet!

I'm not sure how much blogging I'll get done between now & Wednesday, my poor little laptop is so grouchy! If you use instagram I'd love it if we were friends! I want to delete flickr together & JUST instagram! Everyone is so friendly!

Oh & yesterday I saw Tracey...she is BIG!!!!!! and ADORABLE! that baby is coming SOON. I'm thinking it's going to be a boy!

Have a good Thursday!

{*~Hi Fall~*}

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

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

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

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

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

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

{*~Farmers Wife: Practical Orchard~*}

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

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

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

Is it fall-like where you live?

{*~Hi!~*}

Things are very quiet around here at Casa de Porkchop.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:):)

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

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

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

Here's how they went:

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

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

The downside?

None of my quilts got ribbons! I entered:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are you up too this weekend? Anything good?

{*~This Week~*}

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

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

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

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

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

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

Started making plans for another FW block.

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

And...

last but not least!

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

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

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

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

xo

{*~Swoon!~*}

SWOON!!!!!

In case you missed the memo, I'm obsessed with Halloween. OBSESSED. It's my most favorite holiday ever. Chop & I got married the day before. I love all the decorations, the cuteness, the spookiness, the macabre. Black & Orange. Burgundy and Brown. It's just an amazing day. Actually, the entire month of October is super fun. I think instead of being an August baby, I was actually an October baby. I adore pumpkins, pumpkin spice lattes (best!), baking, leaves, cool evenings but warm days, remembering trips to VT with my grandparents to be a "leaf peeper"!

When I first saw Swoon in some Quilt Market tweets, I knew I had to make it. It just had to happen. In all honesty, I'm not a "full size" quilt maker. I don't feel the need to make dozens of bed quilts or throws, I'm very much a mini quilt maker. I like little every day patchwork or very long term big quilt projects like Farmer's Wife. But this pattern was so so so so great, very traditional but very fresh at the same time.

I've been hoarding a fq bundle of Riley Blake's Boo to You for a year. I'm not really a fabric hoarder, it's not really my nature. It's funny, people hoard Heather Ross, Denyse Schmidt, Erin Michaels...me? Halloween fabric. Yup. Kind of dorky!

When I saw Riley Blake came out with Trick or Treat, I knew I had to just GIT R DONE (yup. I went there! ;)) So Chop got me some for my birthday and the rest is history! There were a few agonizing moments, like when I realized an online fabric shop shorted me on my background fabric (Kona Ash for the blocks!)! Tracey (hi friend!) saved my butt by letting me borrow some Moda Gray and I REALLY like that it's two neutrals.

Right now the quilt is at Butte County Fairgrounds for the fair at the end of the month. One of my hugest pet peeves is when bloggers say they go to quilt shows and don't see anything "modern" or "fresh" or "young", well duh! We have to get off our quilter butts & ENTER these things! So then other folks will enter and it'll start a good circle of inspiration! ;)

I've never been a "competitive quilter", last fall I entered a mug rug into a Halloween contest and lost..haha. One night on twitter Shari suggested I enter it into the Riley Blake Contest and I decided, what the heck! First the fair, then this contest!

But the total best part? I have a giant freaking HALLOWEEN QUILT FOR MY BED!!!! I can't WAIT to get it back at the end of the month, wash it, crinkle it and sleep under it. It's totally my pride and joy and my special little heirloom quilt! I just need to pick matching fabric for some new pillowcases...hmmm. And bunting. And maybe a mini quilt from my scraps.

I'm spending the week getting caught up on my Farmer's Wife blocks, preparing for my canning class on Saturday and trying to recover from being sick. I attempted to go to the gym this weekend and lasted 15 minutes (instead of 45 :/) on the treadmill. I'm going to yoga this morning and hopefully I won't die.

OH! AND! Guess what guys? I am making a SKIRT. And it FITS! I had to run out and get a zipper last night, I should finish it this week. I've never invisible zippered before! This is a total learning experience but my crazy hard work at the gym has paid off. A pattern I would have had to alter to fit I was able to sew straight out of the package with no adjustments. o m g!

okok. I'll let you guys know when voting starts!!!! I'm going to be chatting more about the pattern and my wonderful quilter in the upcoming weeks too! AND!!! Angela finished her Swoon too and wowzers, it's a beauty!!!!

see you soon!

xo

ps: Thanks Chop for helping me find the best spot in downtown Gridley for our quilt shoot. You have the patience of a saint. ;) <3

{*~Canning, Baking, Binding~*}

I've had a stomach virus all week. So lame. Haven't sewn. Haven't done much of anything except sleep, cross stitch a tiny bit and be slightly stressed. But I had a TON of peaches, tomatoes and cherries that if I didn't do something with, they would have spoiled, so I bucked up and spent the day canning.

It was a good day! I've started listening to Jim Dale read Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. It's so amusing. Jim doing Luna Lovegood slays me. I did learn that cheapest isn't best, I bought a $4 cherry pitter at the hardware store, thinking there really wasn't a difference between it and the $16 OXO one (amazon sells it for $12, but I try to buy local.) Welp, big shock, it broke yesterday and stabbed my finger open. This is the last batch of cherries for the season but I know I'm definitely buying the OXO one for next season!

I ended up making 9 jars of Zesty Peach BBQ Sauce (Ball Complete pg 263 double batch, added cinnamon and ) 6 jars of Danish Cherry (Ball Complete pg 186- used Agave instead of Corn Syrup, doubled the amount of almond extract) and 2 jars and 3 ziplock bags of Fig Balsamic Roasted Tomato Sauce.

I got my Fig Balsamic from my mom, but you can buy it here. It's made in the town that Chop grew up in so that's kind of neat! They make super yummy stuff!

For the sauce I filled a baking dish with tomatoes cut into chunks, sliced onions, garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes, fresh basil, a red bell pepper (our first one off our plant!), a big glug of the fig balsamic vinegar, some EVOO. We have a pretty big grill, so I turned on the outer two flames on medium and set the dish in the middle. The temp was about 375-400. I would go outside and give it a good stir every once in a while for about an hour. I don't put it on direct heat because I like some bits being really caramelized and others being mellow. It bubbles and cooks brilliantly. Once it was mostly liquid and had some good brown bits, I ran it through the food processor. I added bottled lemon juice to each jar and canned it using a 35 minute water bath and 5 minute rest. I also took a few sandwich sized zip lock bags and filled them and stuck them in the deep freeze. I like having a chunk of frozen sauce to toss in the crock pot with chicken and couscous.

For the Danish Cherry Baked Goodness. I took one 1/2 pint jar of cherries and dumped it into a butter greased pyrex. It's topped with cinnamon, salt, old fashioned oats, flour, brown sugar and for the butter I used a browned honey butter I keep in the fridge. The topping is so easy to make, it's essentially from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook and to be completely honest, I don't measure anything, I just toss what looks like a good amount of each in a bowl, squish with my fingers until it looks crumbly and just sprinkle it on top, bake for 15 minutes at 375. Easy peasy. This is enough for 2 people. Or one person who really loves baked treats! I honestly get confused by a buckle, crumble, brown betty, cobbler, etc...so I refer to everything as "baked goodness". ;)

One thing I do when canning is take notes. I like to note where I bought the fruit, how ripe it was, what changes I made, exactly how long I cooked things for, etc. My notebook is filled from this summer and that makes me REALLY excited. It seems like people always want recipes but I rarely use them. I like improv cooking; a little of this, a little of that.

I'm spending the morning binding and drinking gatorade. I can't wait to blog about my finished Swoon! It's being dropped off tomorrow morning for the Butte County Fair that takes place the last weekend in August! I'm soooooo excited! Do you like my little gray dish? Ashleigh made him for me! I keep my binding supplies in it.

I hope you guys have a nice weekend! I'm crossing my fingers I'll get caught up on emails and Farmer's Wife blocks when I feel less green.

:):)

{*~All in a Row~*}

 

Well my birthday was yesterday! As soon as my birthday has come and gone, it's a sign that autumn is on the approach. I've been feeling a little under the weather, I thought maybe I was just tired but now I think know I have a stomach bug. Lame! But I spent the morning unpacking a little box of autumn decorations and found my All in a Row table runner!

I forgot how much I loved sewing this! It's so fun & easy, I'm thinking about maybe shrinking the foundation patterns and making a mini All in a Row! That would be cute right?

My version is made with scraps and linen, but imagine how cute it would be in linen and solids? Or hand dyed fabrics? Or all different polka dots and stripes?

I got a few pieces of autumn scrapbook paper this weekend, I have no idea why I love scrapbook paper so much. I buy it and then wish it was fabric ;) I saw this cute pin & thought today I might recover some old cans that we haven't had a chance to recycle.

Today I got my copy of The Farmer's Wife Pony Club from Laurie! She sent Angela & I copies of it, how kind was that? I'm for sure going to start this quilt ASAP, keeping with the scrappy theme. We've been talking about starting a quilt a long for it, I'll let you know what we come up with. The blocks are bigger (8 inches finished), it's a mix of templates, rotary cutting directions and foundation piecing. I wish I could have a won a pony to be completely honest. I'm planning on curling up on the couch with this book, some gatorade and a quilt.

But first..a sneak peek!

AHUH! I'm pretty much dying of excitement! Lindsay is seriously incredible & I can't wait to introduce this quilt and her amazing quilting job to you guys!

Some fun stuff:

• You can pre-order the Farmer's Wife Pony Book from Laurie!
• If you want to make your own All in a Row pumpkin table runner, you can get the pattern here!
• modernacorn is having a free shipping sale! free shipping from now until Friday at noon. I'll be adding new stuff through out the week and will ship Friday afternoon. So I can combine orders. Once I get home from the post office around 4:30 on Friday I'll refund the shipping :) I also finished the last of my custom orders, so shoot me an email if you'd like some custom sewn ones!
• totally in love with this color polish!Stephanie is a BAD influence on my wanting of new colors!
• Once I finish my corn pattern, I'm going to stitch this pear!
• super inspired by this blog and her gorgeous fabric combos! I swear I pin like EVERYTHING she does!

Have a good Tuesday!

{*~What's Up!~*}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

xo

a

ps: I want this so bad for my birthday!

{*~Winner & a view from Porkchop Acres~*}

 

I should be showing you my Farmer's Wife blocks but instead I'm showing you my farm. Kind of. This is tomato-town. Monica has started calling my garden, Porkchop Acres. I'm going with it.

Fact: Our Amish Paste tomatoes look like fat chili peppers and my favorite snack is a weird little all natural chocolate pudding cup with a tablespoon of maple almond butter mixed in. Weird but true!

Let's get to the winner!

Chop & I put everyone's name in a hat and he picked Kait!

Kait said:

"This sounds like some great software and I am so glad you can get it for Macs!  I currently just try to keep all the pertinent info in Flickr and my blog.  My boyfriend is a web programmer and we talked for a while about building me a website to take care of all this stuff but I ultimately wanted too much from it for the time he had to give.  That's all I'd say about this software (though I completely agree with your one complaint), that I'd like to be able to put the info online so I could access it from anywhere, like my smart phone while at the fabric shop.  Thanks for the review Amanda!"

I'm so thankful for everyone who came by and read my review! I was excited to review something that hasn't been reviewed a zillion times and I wanted to be completely honest with you guys. I'm not really a "super blogger" but maybe my review helped you? I know I liked reading all your comments about how you organize your WIPs. Wouldn't it be great if quilters had a ravelry?!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall asleep at my laptop, I've started doing TRX training at the gym & it's kicking my BUTT.  Chop & I are going to see Toby Keith & Eric Church tomorrow night as an early birthday gift!!!! I'm REALLY excited but I have a ton of work to do still. : / Eek! Not to mention 9 lbs of peaches hanging out ripening and begging to be canned! I'd be completely lying if I said I wasn't stressed out right now. I totally am. I'm trying to embrace busy is good. Thankfully yesterday I had a few hours of fun time with Tracey!

I'll be back soon with this weeks Farmer's Wife block! In the meantime, say hi to Ang and tell her how awesome her blocks are! They look so graphic and bold this week! And that shot of all her blocks together? AWESOME! And be sure to see Grumpkin the Pumpkin, a little embroidery pattern I designed for the super cute blog, We Love French Knots! Thanks for inviting me Bari!

xo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading my review & see you on Wednesday!

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

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

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

{*~Farmer's Wife Quilt A Long Week 9~*}

Hi friends!

Week 9! Exciting!!!!!! This week I truly felt like a farmers wife, spent my very early mornings in the kitchen canning and gardening! Yesterday I scored peaches and peppers for peach bbq sauce!

I had SO much fun with these blocks. You'll notice I have three instead of two. It's my goal to embroider one of the months blocks with the month and year and all my blocks this month had no room for embroidery! So I took next weeks block, Churn Dash and did it this morning. Next week I'll just show you one block, checkerboard.

Last week Pam suggested I name my Farmer's Wife Quilt "Dear Porkchop" and I'm feeling pretty dang good about that. Or maybe The Farmer Porkchop's Quilt. Lots of people ask if we call Porkchop, Porkchop in real life and the answer is YES. Although it's shortened to Chop. His real name is Eric. I don't change his name in the "blog world" to protect his privacy, it's literally what we call him! When he calls my phone his caller ID is "Mr. McPorkchop"..although I'm thinking about changing it to his newest nickname, GrumpChop. We tease him that he's constantly Grumpy (not really) so GrumpChop is his new name.

Anyways! Blocks!

Block # 17: Cats & Mice

Cats & Mice had to be made with cat and mouse fabric. So I fussy cut up some Munki Munki pj pieces that I bought from Kerri a while ago. My favorite is the little fat yellow cat, he looks exactly like my moms grumpy (actually grumpy) cat, Simon. This was one of those blocks where the flickr group came in SO handy, I am foundation piecing my blocks and for this one, its set up with a Y seam. I couldn't tell if it was right or not, posted it to the group and everyone helped! I ended up learning how to do Y seams! So that was exciting!

Fabrics:

• Munki Munki
• Lecien Minny Mui Mice

#18: Century of Progress

This block has been in my mind since starting the QAL. I kept wondering if it was a ferris wheel for the World's Fair and again, flickr to the rescue! Laurie answered me and I knew I had to make a night time ferris wheel. So in my mind, it's evening, there are fireworks and your sitting on a bright shiny ferris wheel watching everything and eating a corn dog k?

Fabrics used:

• Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy
• Jay McCarroll Habitat
• Tula Pink Prince Charming

#20: Churn Dash

I cleaned up my scraps again this morning and came across all these little bits of favorite fabrics, I think this might be my favorite block so far because it's very much my favorite colors (autumn-y!). This is my embroidered block of the month with July 2011 on it! The only tricky thing about using the tiniest of scraps is sometimes I have to finagle things to make them work so sometimes my blocks aren't perfect! (OMG BAD QUILTER!!!! ;))

Fabrics Used:

• Erin Michaels Lush
• Heather Ross: Rabbits and Racecars, Far Far Away & West Hill
• Cosmo Embroidery Floss in #702

Phew! Three blocks! It's starting to take over my design wall and I love it!

Here are some things you should check out:

• Angela's Blocks OBVIOUSLY because she is the BEST and my partner in Farmer Wifedom!
• The flickr group (758 members!) Remember, THERE IS NO SUCH THING IS LATE! It's go at YOUR own pace!
• Chris's post on foundation piecing! Perfect for FW blocks if you are struggling with templates!
• Pat asked me if I'd review QuilterAlbum software, so on Monday I'll be blogging about it.
• If your into ecofriendly goods for ladies, modernacorn has some new stuff!
• I can't decide if I want to cross stitch this cat or this witch-y mummy!
• Lizzy has new embroidery patterns that are SLAYING me. I feel like this fall I'm going to huddle on the couch working on hand projects!

okok! I'll be back again with some tales from the kitchen and garden! See you then!

xo

{*~Summer Canning Update~*}

 

I wish last summer I'd kept track of exactly what I canned. So my goal this summer is to blog a little bit more about what I'm canning. I entered 8 jars of goodies into the Butte County Fair for the last weekend in August and I'm SO excited! I could win $4 and a ribbon! I'd seriously die of happiness. Not joking at ALL.

Last summer I canned a lot. I made everything; mustard, BBQ sauce, giant jars of marinara, cranberry relish, jams, compotes and butters. I used primarily the Ball Complete Book of Canning and I found it was great! Tons of info, recipes, troubleshooting, etc. A few months ago I got a copy of Better Homes & Gardens Canning Magazine at Raley's and I LOVE IT. So far everything I've canned this summer has been from recipes there.

Here's what I've made so far:

• 11 jars of Strawberry Lemon Marmalade
• 8.5 jars of Blackberry Lime Freezer Jam (love this but learned I HATE the Ball Plastic Freezer Jars. The lids pop off too easy and they feel flimsy. I'll stick with glass)
• 8 jars of Vanilla Peach Honey Butter
• 10 jars of Peach Bellini Jam

Here is what I have left of the stuff from this summer so far, not pictured is the freezer jam because it's in our deep freezer and I'm lazy ;)

We have incredibly hard water. I leave the jars like this in our pantry because I don't really care what they look like but if I'm giving them as a gift or for the fair I take the tiniest bit of olive oil on a paper towel and rub the jars and lids. Voila! No more stains!

Cool right? Last summer I was incredibly generous with my canned goods, I was giving jars to EVERYONE and leaving very little for us. This year I'm still being generous but making sure we have enough. And I'm only giving stuff to people who pinkie swear to give me the jars back. I know that sounds silly but since we live in a tiny town, running up to the hardware store for jars & bands can get annoying.

So from last summer, here's what I have left in our pantry:

• 2 jars of carrot cake compote
• 4 giant jars of marinara
• 2 small jars of pizza sauce
• 2 jars of salsa
• 1 big jar of BBQ sauce...I'm going to cry when I use this up because it is like HEAVEN
• 1 jar lemon prune butter
• 2 jars vanilla plum sauce. This was my third batch of the summer. It basically is like the greatest thing on earth
• 11 jars of cranberry relish
• 1 jar sweet mustard

That's AWESOME! My favorite part was in January opening a jar of sauce to make pizza and it smelled INCREDIBLE and tasted GREAT! In January! No hothouse grossness! I planned our entire garden around things I could can. Did I tell you guys we have two artichokes on our plant? So awesome but it is currently being ransacked by aphids, I'm on a mission to destroy them. I was hoping my basil would do better, it's half dead, I'm hoping my mom has a good basil plant this year so I can steal some to make freezer pesto.

Ok, so on August 20th, if you are in the Redding, California area, I'll be teaching a canning class at That Kitchen Place ! I'd love it if some blog friends came by!!!

Today I'm labeling all those jars with these new spiffy labels I got yesterday at Target:

Cool right?

Have a great weekend!!!!

xo

{*~Peeptastic Patchwork Pouch~*}

Yay!!!

Happy Summer Camp Day!!!!

I'm going to show you how to make a Peeptastic Patchwork Pouch! It's a simple drawstring bag to hold all of your summer treasures. 1001 Peeps has the best narrative quality, so perfect for summer day dreams of far off lands and fussy cutting!

peeptastic pouch pdf <~~~ Click that little link to start downloading the tutorial!

Don't forget to swing by these great folks too!

June 24: Alexia Abegg.

July 1: Lemon Cadet

July 8: The Fat Quarterly!

July 15: Quilt Asylum.

July 22:  MrsMcPorkchop (That’s me!!!)

July 29: Flax and Twine

August 5: Heather alamode

August 12:  Make Something

August 19: Whipstitch

August 26: Happy Zombie

Thanks Lizzy for inviting me!!!!

Have a great Friday!!!

xo

{~*Farmer's Wife Quilt A Long Week 8*~}

(sorry, the color is a little dodgy, the sun wasn't quite up this morning when I took this) I just typed week 8 and my heart skipped a beat! 8 weeks! This is AWESOME! I've done 16 blocks, they hang on my design wall and I have to admit, I am so freaking excited!!!!

After week 3, I started foundation piecing the blocks. I love foundation piecing. It's incredible. You can do amazing things with it. Ringo Pie anyone? Those girls are rocking the foundation piecing! It's a skill I think every quilter should have in their arsenal. There are a lot of different ways to foundation piece, I use Carol Doak foundation paper in my printer, print the EQ patterns (available in the Farmers Wife Yahoo Group. Provided by Laurie herself. Go by and say hi & thank you!) with NO scaling, chop the patterns apart, the seam allowance is included for joining the pieces, sew on the lines and VOILA! Cute blocks. For me it's a lot painless than the templates. Mostly because I'm incredibly OCD and like my blocks to look as nice as possible. And I am an incredibly un-accurate sew-er. So I suggest if your struggling, give foundation piecing a try. It's VERY easy but looks FANCY!

Ok. so blocks!

#16: Calico Puzzle

This was really easy and fun. I love blocks with squares because I can fussy cut stuff and that's my favorite thing ever. I made the previous blocks dark so I figured I'd toss in another light. I was sorting through folded green fat quarters and this Lizzy House duck fabric was static clung to another print. So I had to use it. Then I found the Heather Ross Rabbits & Race cars  in my scrap bin and the little bit of Sandi Hendersen in there too. So there you go! Calico Puzzle!

#15: Buzzard's Roost

Here in Northern California there is a road called Buzzard's Roost that is in the middle of no where and my friend Judy lives off of it in an amazing straw-bale house that she and her husband built. And Ryan, the incredibly nice guy that he is, sent me some Appleville as an early birthday gift. So I thought I'd combine the two and hey! Buzzard's Roost! Neat right?

Fabrics used:

• Kei Dots (My favorite dot!)
• Suzy Ultman Appleville (Does this line remind anyone else of Animal Crossing? BEST!)
• Lecien Minny Miu Mice!

I'm dying for a little more scraps. I was tired of mine so I sold them but I love that my internet pals send me bits and pieces. I get excited knowing that my blocks are all so different and have friend fabric in them. Yup. Friend fabric. Not fabric made of friends because that would be creepy, but fabric from friends!

Ok make sure you stop by Angela and say hi, she just finished up a super cute little apple quilt and the sneak peeks are killing me! And check out our flickr group, we have new rules but are VERY friendly and love new people! Don't forget it's NEVER to late to join! You don't have to sew a zillion blocks to catch up, just start where ever you feel inspired and post your blocks! Easy Peasy!

I'm going to leave you with this photo from the California State Fair:

Completed Dear Jane! If that doesn't inspire you to work on your FW blocks and get excited about the next year...I don't know what will! Sampler Quilts = BEST!