Stitching & Reading

I got SO excited to share photos of my finished Mysterious Halloween Town & Autumn Harvest Festival today only to realize I left them with Ashleigh. Boo! But I did just stitch up a second turkey! I love making this pattern, it's not super traditional colors and his little hat kills me!

Do you have plans this Saturday? Ashleigh & I are going to be vending at Fiber-Fusion! We have a small booth and are going to be selling...printed patterns for the first time!!! YUP! Printed patterns are coming to the Pumpkins. Ridiculously excited! We are hoping to offer them in our shop soon too!

I got my October Project Life box yesterday in the mail and I looooove this months kit. I've kept up with PL since June but stopped once things got crazy this summer. I might do a single big page collage of my favorite things in June, July and August and then start the card a day for September. I think it's hard to motivate myself to be super creative during the summer but fall...that is when I want to create ALL THE THINGS. My favorite things in this months box are the washi tape, it has autumn-y sayings on it which are super cute. And I love the big card that says Sweater Weather is Better Weather!

This time I was actually home, had my computer on and remembered to check Studio Calico for this months add on kits! I haven't been able to snag one in the past because they sell out super fast. This time I got some of lifelovepaper's cozy card set! It's so cute right? I'm going to turn the cards into a mini book celebrating Big Life Event. Speaking of Big Life Event...I *might* be able to share some news next week. Hopefully. Dang you long weekend!!!!!!!!

I got a really neat gift from Chop that might be of interest to you guys! Moleskine makes a journal for tracking your reading! It has an alphabetical sections and then six tabbed sections. I'm using one of the tabbed sections to keep track of long running book series that I always forget which book I've read. It came with cute little stickers that you can use to personalize your entries. I definitely want to use some of my Project Life supplies to make the book super cute. I follow threadofhearts on instagram and she's always using ridiculously cute supplies to decorate her filofax and I find it really inspiring! So much kawaii! I do use GoodReads but I like this much better. Also, I saw MichellePatterns makes a pattern to sew a cover for it! Once I can decide on fabric, I'm going to get the pattern and sew one up. Everything is better with a cozy!

The library has been super good to me lately. I had either books on hold during the summer and this week SEVEN of them came in all at once. Usually I get them 1-2 per week, depending on when others finish up with them. I'm currently reading Ignite Me which I've been wanting to read since July. This series is written in this short, terse prose-ish quality that I really enjoy. Don't tell me but I REALLLLY hope Warner is great in this last book!

Ok! I hope if you are local you'll be able to swing by Fiber Fusion! :):):)

Verilux Lamp Review

I was *really* excited when Verilux contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in reviewing one of their lamps!

I typically do *not* knit or stitch at night because I find it really hard to see. I wear glasses with bifocals and while we have good overhead lighting in our home, I still struggle with evening crafting. I've stitched entire chunks of projects with the wrong color, accidentally thinking dark brown was black! Worst! I recently knit my mom a dark purple shawl and knitting lace with dark yarn at night?! Not so much fun.

My stitching space is in front of a small window so during the day I pull my chair up to my table and stitch, using natural light as much as possible. During the winter it's a little rough because the days are so short and gloomy.

I've been wanting a full spectrum lamp for a really long time. I've heard so many mixed reviews of Ott-Lite's. One of our sample stitchers bought one this December and has found the light to be really harsh. I always look when I visit JoAnn's & Michael's and I can never decide if I want to spend money on one! Even with coupons, they are expensive. Also, their marketing kind of kills me- if you can offer something to me for 50% off constantly, I want to know HOW & WHY. I also am picky and I don't want a craft lamp that looks chintzy or when you look at it you think "CRAFT LAMP"! I had NO idea there were other lamp options out there so I'm really glad they contacted me. They've been in business since 1956 and they also sell lamps for light therapy and sanitation!

I've had the Verilux Lamp for about a month now and I've used it every.single.night. since I got it. I wanted to really test it out before I said anything about it because I genuinely don't understand when bloggers have an item for 5 minutes and are praising or cursing it from the roof tops. Real life experiences here folks!

Initial thoughts:

• I picked the Nickle Heritage Natural Spectrum Desk Lamp. I chose this one because it doesn't look like a craft lamp and it's adjustable.
• It has three settings all with the same energy use.
• It was easy to put together.
• It was well made.

I'm sharing with you four photos taken two consecutive days in a row. They have all been taken with my iPhone with zero editing except to add text over lay.

You can see my first photo I took at 9 am in natural light in my usual stitching area. The colors are normal and true- this is my ideal crafting light. I let my stuff just hang out, I didn't touch anything (I had errands all day, lol) and at 9 pm I came back to take another photo and stitch for an hour before bed.

The second photo is of the same materials, same spot on my table but with NO other lights in my room on except the Verilux in the *low* setting. The lamp has three settings: low, medium and high. I've never used medium or high. I've found I just don't need it. Low provides ample light for me personally.

For stitching, this lamp is so awesome. I like that I've been able to stitch in the evenings on 32 ct linen and can see perfectly fine. I don't find the light bulb hums or buzzes. Quite simply: it's a lamp and it's doing it's job!

For knitting, the following day I laid down my sock in progress on my table, took a photo, again with my iPhone with zero editing except to add text over lay and left it there.

9 pm, my sock looks the same! You'll notice glare spot on my table, this is my tables typical behavior (can tables behave? idk!). It has a really glossy surface and I wax/polish it. You'll rarely see this table in photos that I take with my DSLR because the stabilizing light causes spots in the photos. I think what this photo best shows is I'm knitting with white based yarn and the lamp keeps it white! It's not cream. It's not yellow-y. It's still white! Cool huh?

I'm pretty pleased with this lamp. I told Chop that when we buy a home, I want one of the floor lamps in this style to keep next to the couch. I'm pretty curious about the light therapy lamps as well!

Verilux generously is offering 25% off with promo code PORKCHOP and is letting me giveaway a lamp! AWESOME! Just comment on this post and on Tuesday, I'll close the comments at 12 pm PST and use a random number generator to pick a winner!

:):)

Zombody Loves Ewe Socks

I finally finished a pair of socks!

I feel like these took me so long, my left hand gets super grouchy if I knit a ton so I have to take days off which is totally a bummer. Nothing makes me happier than a pair of plain socks on my needles, I like being able to work on them with friends or in the car and not have to do a whole lot of thinking!

The yarn is Zombody Loves Ewe by Desert Vista Dye Works it was a Valentine's Day present from Chop. I liked working with it because I'm such a sucker for a speckled yarn, the decayed bits cracked me up!

I truly love knitting the Fish Lips Kiss Heel, it fits so well and is really fun to knit. I know I sound like a broken record but if you haven't tried this heel yet, give it a try! It's super satisfying.

Naturally I'm already plotting a new pair of socks. I saw this braid of fiber a few months ago and pretty much died. I loved the colors so much but I'm absolutely not a spinner! I tried in college and just failed at it. I'll just live vicariously through you guys. I fell over when I saw that Mutant Flamingo was now available as sock yarn! I literally texted Ashleigh and did a little dance of excitement. Can you see the little speckles?! It's so cute, plus I'm a sucker for anything zombie/mutant themed. Also: cat label!!! <3

My knitting time is also slim because I've been cross stitching so much and to be honest, I'm addicted! I've been enjoying my afternoons just cross stitching and listening to music. I feel pretty lucky that people seem to enjoy stitching our patterns, it just makes us design more and work harder. When I go a few days without stitching I start to miss it! I've started becoming border line obnoxious to Ashleigh, I text her cross stitch work in progress photos about a million times per day. It just doesn't get old!

I took a few photos of a new project we dropped off to be framed, I'm going to share them later on this week. Cross stitch is surprisingly tricky to take photos of! One of the projects is on this hand dyed green fabric that is so hard to capture, it's really unique. I think I love indie dyed linen just as much as I love indie dyed yarn. We recently contacted two different thread manufacturers to hopefully work with later on this year. Both are really beautiful and smaller companies who I think if you like to stitch, you'll like to use their thread!

Are you guys familiar with Welcome to Night Vale? It's a very spooky pod cast that is presented like a community broadcast and it.is.weird. In the very best way! Chop & I have been listening in the evenings and sometimes we just look at each other and go "WHAT THE WHAT!!!!!" It's very dry and twin peaks like. I've also started reading The Coldest Girl in Coldtown which is also spooky and strange. I read The Darkest Minds this weekend and I was kind of let down. I loved Liam (darlin') but I couldn't muster any feelings towards Ruby.

:):)

Follow Your Arrow & Cross Stitching

Hi!

Happy Tuesday!

This weekend I finished my Follow Your Arrow Shawl.

And I have so many feelings!!! (I'm waving my hands around like a maniac- be thankful you can't see that.)

Ok, first off. What an incredibly enjoyable knit. I literally didn't want it to end. So, so, so much fun! I dragged this shawl with me everywhere. I'm currently wearing it as a lap blanket while I write this.

Second off. I can't figure out how to wear it! Ha! Typically I wear triangular shawls with the point forward, like a kerchief. This is a different shape and when I wear it that way, it looks as if I'm wearing a bib. Not the best look.  I tried to wear it traditionally, with the narrow ends around my shoulders and I look as if I'm pretended to be a super hero. Oh dear! I also ADORED knitting with these colors but wearing them...oh boy. I don't know if I can wear that much hot pink near my face without looking like a clown! ;)

It honestly doesn't matter though because I adored knitting it. And it matches my compound bow. Once I figure out how to comfortably wear it, I'll take more photos & do a big blog post with details.

I started working on cross stitching a new pattern that we are planning to release this spring and it's cuuuuute! For some reason it reminds me of a cross between The Great Gatsby & Downton Abbey. I made a new little Hoop Travel Bag to carry it around in. Porkchop bought me a fat quarter bundle of Catnap for Christmas, I keep trying to sew stuff with it but it's very rare for me to own an entire line of fabric at once so I sort of want to use it all in one quilt but finally I decided CAT BAG!!!!

Last week Ashleigh & I received the sweetest surprise from Rachelle of The Cottage Needle! She had Sugarloaf, The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's official mascot, turning into a knitting needle gauge and a thread minder! EEK!!! Adorable right?! I am so into cute notions and this is like a little dream come true! I asked her if she could order more and she can if you like him too!

On Friday Porkchop is taking me to Stitches West, I'm pretty excited, I've never been before. I'm hoping to find a skein or two of some yarn to turn into special socks. Is anyone else going?!

See you later January!

I definitely didn't mean to leave everyone for practically the whole month of January.

I was working through some health stuff last fall, it's something that has been bothering me for years and I finally decided to get a second opinion. Which turned into twice a week dr's appointments (lots of knitting time!) and all was going ok-ish until the past few weeks when everything sort of imploded. I'm always trying to look on the bright side of things because there is always someone out there who has it a lot worse than you, but I'll admit I'm feeling not myself lately! Major GrumpChop Status!

On the bright side, hanging out on the couch has given me a LOT of knitting and stitching time!

I decided to make my own personal yarn club this year, I filled up a Buffy bag with yarns I reallllly want to knit with in 2014. So far I've made one pair of socks and cast on for a second. I'm making toe up Monkey socks with Miss Babs Northumbria Deep Sea Jelly Fish! I've been keeping this project in my purse and haven't really been knitting on it during the evenings becauseeeee....

My 2014 big knitting goal was to knit another shawl! I picked two colors: Madelinetosh Sock in Pop Rocks & Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock in Winter Woods. A few days later Ysolda started sign ups for Follow Your Arrow and I was totally in. I absolutely LOVE where this shawl is going. It's funny because I don't ever wear bright colors but knitting this is pure joy. I find it really comforting and relaxing. Each clue has been very achievable, it takes me about two afternoons of knitting. I'd consider myself an advanced beginner in terms of knitting skill level. I'll admit that every Monday morning I look at the spoilers before I pick my clue, lol. The European folks usually have a few photos up by the time I have lunch. It is really hard to pick though but I keep leaning towards the girl-y lace-y options. Again, not very like me but it's totally a blast!

In the afternoons I've been cross stitching too. I'm working on my Once Upon a Time Sampler. I'm excited for you guys to see February. I think my favorite month is November, I've been debating turning that one into a zip pouch or something. I stitched up a little  owl Valentine's Day pattern too. I'll have more details on it once we release it :):)

I saw a few people had questions about framing. We have our projects professionally framed. I'm still working on the best way to take photos of finished projects for the pattern covers and how to pick mats that look nice with frames! Sometimes we go to a local framing shop, other times we go to Michaels. Both times (in Chico, CA) we've had good experiences. The only thing I recommend is be patient. Maybe have a snack before you go in. ;) Lately I tend to get incredibly overwhelmed very fast and just pick ANYTHING to get out of the store and had my most favorite project, 12 Days of Christmas, framed with a horrid red mat! What on earth was I thinking?! I need to go back and get it switched out. That being said, framing is expensive.

I framed myself above little owl project myself this afternoon because it fit in this frame nicely, it came with the double mats already. I got it at Michaels-abuy one, get one free deal and since I stitched it on perforated paper, I just popped it into the frame and held it to the backing with acid free archival tape. I think it was around $34.00 for two frames, both with double mats. One is wood, one is white. There are all sorts of ways to frame projects yourself, some people use framing fabric adhesive and tape their projects around mat board, there are also mat pins and lacing as options. I'm waiting for a few books from amazon and the library about finishing your cross stitch, once I have more details I'll report back.

I am not sure why my blog hates firefox, it's the browser I use! I'll have Chop look at it this weekend and see if we can get the comments fixed. When in doubt, you can always email me at: thefrostedpumpkinstitchery at gmail dot com :):):)

<3

Coastal Cranberry

Do you have someone in your life who is just incredibly full of life, absolutely hilarious and just a privilege to know just because you know that just having them in the world makes it *that* much better? Last Wednesday I said goodbye to my friend Judy and I sort of feel like the world is a little dimmer without her in it. My friend Brenda Lou blogged about her and it sums her up perfectly, the pictures she posted are so amazingly Judy. She also spoke at her service and I'm so glad she did. <3<3<3<3

Chop & I don't visit Eureka very often, it's a really emotional place for me. It's where I learned how to quilt and met amazing friends. It's where Chop & I decided to get married. It's where I went to college and then dropped out. It's where I learned I need the sunshine more than I ever realized. It's where I learned that there are some things I just can't see on a daily basis. Going there always sort of stirs up all these emotions in me.

Seeing my friends was absolutely fantastic, Judy *loved* tea parties so after her service the quilting ladies threw a tea party in her honor. They all wore pearls, long gloves, fancy dresses and prepared little sandwiches, it was incredible. I wore a cat dress. And a sweater. Because I forgot how dang cold it is on the coast!

After the tea party we walked around Old Town, my friend Katie suggested two shops: Yarn & North Coast Knittery. If there was ever a time for retail therapy, this was it. I got a skein of Madelinetosh Sock in Black Velvet and a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Cranberry Ice. As I was looking at them I realized I must have had cranberry sauce on the brain because both skeins are different, yet the same! Isn't it funny how our minds gravitate towards a color but in different variations?!

We had a great dinner out with my friends Liz & Larissa, followed by ice cream in Arcata. This trip was so much food! SO MUCH! But one place, omg. Larissa mentioned a new ice cream shop in Eureka called Living the Dream and holy smokes! The flavors! THE FLAVORS!!!!! Avocado gelato! Siracha! Miso!Tomato Basil Sorbet (I had this one! amazing!) Humboldt Smokehouse Bacon (Chop had that one!).

It was so, so, so nice to see my friends, I can't say that enough. Even though I "see" them daily on facebook, it's so different than when I'd sew with them twice a week. I miss having that sense of belonging for sure. They welcomed me into their group, taught me literally EVERYTHING about quilting, encouraged me and just are great people.

On our way home we took something Chop & I refer to as "the owl drive". Ironically here in Gridley we also have an "owl drive", the one here we see barn owls & great horned owls. The coastal version we'd see short eared owls. We used to drive out there and sit up high on this cliff over looking the ocean and just talk. I'd mostly cry (it was truly a rough time in my life) and he'd hold onto me. I tend to do my best thinking in the car, surrounded by nature. I think it makes me feel small and helps put things into perspective, does that make sense? This time the drive was quiet, I thought about how drastically my life had changed in four years, about my friend Judy, about my husband. It was a good drive. We went down on the beach and walked in the sand.

I worked a little bit on my Cameo, it's the perfect car knitting, very relaxing. I haven't worked on it since then because we are gearing up to launch our two new clubs: The 12 Days of Christmas & Christmas on Gingerbread Lane! It feels so good to just sit on the couch and stitch away. Also! New albums came out on Tuesday that I've been looking forward too! I can't stop listening to The Magpie and the Dandelion and Let's Be Still, I think I love Let's Be Still more right now but that could change. Also, last winter one of my friends burned me a mixed cd and it had a few Bon Iver songs on it, so I also got For Emma, Forever Ago. I think of the bunch, that's the best for cross stitching too. But it's been out for a million years ago clearly, I'm the last to know. ;) (also, these are amazon affiliate links! But remember, I only link to things I actually buy and like.)

I'm going to go back to stitching now, I'm in the process of finishing this project by Friday. I haven't decided what I'll do with it yet, I thought about having it framed but people in our Stitch-a-Long Group have been posting the cutest wall hangings and pillows from their projects so I might do that. :)

Sock Sack pattern winner and a little review of Doodle Stitching- Embroidery & Beyond!

(bottom photo from Beth Sweet)

I can't believe it's already May! When did that happen? I feel like this year is FLYING by!

Lately I've been doing a bunch of cross stitching. Like, more than normal. I think right now I'm averaging 5-8 hrs per day because we have a ton of new patterns coming out (don't forget that I co-own a cross stitch pattern company with my bff!). And then I sneak in a few hours of embroidery on the weekends.

I have this dream that when we buy a house next fall (yes! next fall is our goal! o m g!) my kitchen is going to be filled with hand embroidered linens. I want a ton of feed sack towels and then a bunch of indie silk screened ones too. It's kind of become an obsession. I feel like I'm squirreling away all these handmade treasures for the future in little boxes.

A few months ago Beth from Lark contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in a copy of Aimee Ray's new book, Doodle Stitching- Embroidery & Beyond. I said YES! Full disclosure: normally I don't say yes because I'm not really the advertising sort but I said yes because I really enjoyed Aimee's first book- Doodle Stitching! 

This book takes off where that one stops- it shows you different sorts of stitches from cross stitch to crewel, sashiko & cut work. It's pretty neat! My favorite project in the book is called Canvas Cuckoo Clock- it's literally a clock that you embroider! It's super cute, I already traced the design onto a tea towel.

I think it's a pretty cute book, I don't really love the look of cut work & stump work but she presents them in an easy to understand and fun way! This book is definitely geared towards someone who wants to broaden their handwork repertoire and I like that! But there are also clear and concise directions with illustrations on how to do basic stitches as well.

If you'd like to win a copy of the book and embroidery floss, just leave me a comment! This is the last giveaway for a while, I have some books I read in March/April, plus a quilt to share with you! I'll pick a winner on Sunday!!!

PS: The winner of the sock sack pattern is EMMA L! Emma, can you email me so I can forward your info along to Ramona?! thank you! I loved reading all your comments- I added so much stuff to my ravelry favorites which is great because I had to frog a pair of Hermoine socks...noooo! :( :)

Weekend Plans

Hey!

TGIF! TGIF! TGIF!!!!

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I don't have anything giant planned but there is something about a Friday that makes me super excited. My only plan so far is to visit Kittle's & look at shot guns. I heard a rumor of an early birthday gift. Not something that I normally do on a weekends but it'll be fun. My dream right now is to own this. ;)

I got something fun in the mail, new sock yarn and new knitting needles. I saw this review of carbon needles, I wanted to give them a try in the future. I ordered the needles and the yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool on Wednesday with my JBWBucks and I was super excited that they came this morning. That's speedy! The yarn is called Colinette Jitterbug in Paintbox, doesn't it remind you of one of those sprinkle birthday cakes with all the bits of colored sugar inside? I sort of want to make one now! (ps: this cookbook has my favorite sprinkle cake recipe: Milk)

Isn't that donkey knitting bag incredible? I received the most amazing pink themed package from the sweetest blog reader (Beth) who sent me things so perfect that I almost died. It was like she was in my brain. I only got a cell phone photo of the treats but I think I need to do a blog post of all the presents I've received lately because I have incredibly kind and generous friends. I need to figure out some things I can sew as thank you gifts. Any ideas?!

I've been cross stitching non stop but I'm still not any neater or faster, haha! I've been listening to The Discovery of Witches for the zillionth time and working on Woodland Sampler! That's a pretty big sneak peek for April. I've also been working on Springtime Sampler for a few hours each morning. I'm thankful for the library's selection of audiobooks for sure!

Actually, has anyone read Iced? I've recently been re-reading the Faefever series from start to finish and I'd purchased Iced when it first came out but I forgot how annoying I found Dani and only got a chapter in. Now I'm not sure if I should give it a second chance?! What did you think of it?

I found a new little storage bin at Target for my cross stitch supplies. Every Wednesday Ashleigh & I take a small business class, then afterwards sit at a local coffee shop & cross stitch. I'd been using a little gingerbread man tin I got from JoAnns but it kept exploding open in my bag. This plastic one has a lid that clamps in place. Not too shabby for $2.99! I right now carry floss for Springtime Sampler and Woodland Sampler, plus needles, scissors, highlighter tape, yada yada yada. It's thinner than my gingerbread man tin too! If you cross stitch or craft on the go, check out Target for these. They came in gray, aqua and green. But they aren't on Target.com :( I'd love to finish stitching week 2 of Springtime Sampler this weekend and April's Woodland sampler this weekend!

I sadly lost my Smashbook this fall. I have no idea where it went. In February I got a new one, I went with hot pink this time. I'm hoping to add some things I've been collecting to it soon. Agnes sent me some Studio Calico wood veneer stars that are quite possibly the cutest things ever. Also: I love glue.

Do you notice anything pretty in these photos? A new quilt! Now I have my finished Farmer's Wife, a scrap quilt (who's name I can't decide. Shoofly? Churn Dash? IDK) and now this quilt to show you! It's not bound yet and I probably won't bind it for a little bit, I managed to make the fun of binding a scrap quilt last over a week so I'm hoping to do the same with this one. Lindsay quilted for it and omggg. I took it out of the box and seriously almost died. I posted a photo on instagram but it doesn't do her quilting job justice. She basically took a boring quilt and made it SING. It has this shiny pink thread that I can't stop looking at. The wool batting is making it look extra sweet. I know, I know, all my quilts are starting to look the same. Lots of pink and neutrals. I don't even care. As soon as I pulled it out of the box my second thought was...I WANT ANOTHER PINK QUILT FOR HER TO QUILT FOR ME. It's an obsession.

Soooo what are you doing this weekend? Hanging out at home? Wearing leggings as pants? Eating candy? Cross stitching a new Ireland pattern? Drinking green beer? Reading a book? Gardening?!

Long Weekend Projects

I started a little embroidery yesterday for a friend who's having a baby. I'm super slow at embroidering so I figured I'd get a head start! I'm using this pattern, because mama-to-be is a Kurt Hasley fan. I don't know if it's going to be a boy or girl yet so I picked some constellation scraps for the background. Stars are gender neutral right?! ;) I super love iron on patterns, I'm the absolute worst at tracing and for some reason the whole "iron it and it's magically on your fabric" is really magical to me. I'm a nerd. ;)

Porkchop made me a little scrap thread holder! It's a piece of 4" x 6" wood that he wrapped fabric around and stapled down. Then he hammered a few nails in it and we sprayed it with a bit of glitter spray. I love it so much, I tend to just leave little piles of floss everywhere and now I have them all together with me!

I finished my Donut Quilt on Sunday night, it was the best weekend of sewing, relaxing and watching t.v. Those are the best kinds of weekends to me.

Also! Voting ended in our poll for the next patterns! We'll be doing Japan, Australia and Ireland! Ashleigh is already designing and I've ordered new linen/evenweave for us this morning. I can't wait to start stitching them and sharing sneak peeks! I was begging everyone I knew to vote for Japan, Ireland and Russia, but sadly Russia didn't win! But once these patterns are done, we'll have another round of voting! :):)

I hope you had a nice long weekend :)

DIY Glitter Linen

Raise your hand if you love glitter!

Meee!!! I loooove glitter. Fierce. And I also love cross stitch. Combine the two and you get pure radness!

You can buy commercial glitter linen from sources like dovestitch.com but if you are like me and want the most glitter for your buck, try this!

Here's what you'll need:

• Krylon Glitter Spray or Krylon Glitter Blast. I can only vouch for these two sprays, different brands may vary. I picked Glitter Blast in Diamond Dust & Glitter Spray in a Multicolor. The multicolor has bits of red, blue, silver, gold and green. I went with Krylon because these are acid free. I purchased these at Michael's with a coupon. The small can is $5.99 and the large is $7.99 without a coupon. You could get a LOT of glitter linen out of each can. And they had a ton of colors, gold, silver, pink, green, etc.
• Linen Scraps. Please try this project on scraps first, I'd hate for you to buy expensive linen and have it not work out!.
• Either newspaper or paper bags. Or your front steps. Just a place to spray your fabric outside.

You really want to work on this project outside, it's spray paint and it stinks.

I simply laid down my fabric and using even strokes, covered the fabric with the spray paint. Easy right?

Here are a few tips:

• Let the fabric sit 24-48 hrs before you try to stitch on it. Not because it's wet but because the fumes are crazy.
• The fabric will be SUPER stiff. I found I liked it, but if you don't want super stiff fabric, you probably don't want to try this project.
• I completed an entire project with minimal glitter shedding. Occasionally I'd look down and see a piece of glitter or two on my hands but it didn't fall everywhere.
• The fibers of the linen can be stuck together, meaning it's a little easy to miscount but a few stitches in I figured it out.
•  It WILL darken your fabric considerably. In the photo of the spray paint cans, the linen on the left has been glittered, the right hasn't.

Here in this photo shows the original linen rolled up and then the glittered linens below it! Exact same one, Charles Craft Irish Linen Tea Dyed! See how light it is compared to the glittered ones?! Neat!

Look how awesome glitter floss looks with glitter linen?! This is Cosmo's White (silver!) and it's super dreamy looking. I'm working on a project today with this sparkle floss and I can't wait!

See how nice the stitches pop?! This has been ironed on low with a dish towel between the iron and the linen. It is FLAT. Crisp even! Imagine the cutest bookmark ever and this could be it. Sometimes my regular projects I have to starch in order to get the crinkles out but this fabric is so stiff that the crinkles just fell out. Amazing!

Anyways, I hope you give it a try! Ashleigh & I will be releasing a line of brand new Valentine's Day patterns on Friday, if you haven't had a chance get, come visit us on facebook! We aren't spammy (that's just not our nature!), we share tips & tricks and post photos of things other folks have made from our patterns :)

Satisfaction in Mending

I love to mend.

I sometimes wish I had a time turner like Hermoine so I could occasionally  constantly punch my 18-24 year old self in the face.

Oh that torn garment? No biggie, I'll just throw it out and buy charge a new one. Embarrassing behavior that when I mull over it becomes horrifying.

I was grabbing my winter sweaters and saw a favorite old  wool J.Crew number had some holes in it. I almost started to cry. It's the perfect thinness that is great for layering, it has 3/4 length sleeves and is WARM. After realizing that I definitely can't afford a new one, I sat down with myself and thought "self, you are a dummy. fix it." It wasn't just the finances of it, I really didn't WANT a new one because this one is just perfectly cozy!

20 minutes later: glitter mending. cute sweater that isn't falling apart. 20 minutes of day dreaming, relaxing and watching thread sparkle.

I'm not pro at mending by any stretch, I recently repaired my favorite set of sheets that became snagged in the dryer by embroidering a teeny peach over a hole. I guess I feel like mending can either be a chore or something cute. I'm going with cute. Always cute. And when in doubt: add glitter.

I used Cosmo embroidery floss and their sparkle floss. It's SO smooth to stitch with, little to no snags and it's more puffy than standard metallic floss. Also, not itchy!

Here are some inspiring mending links:

• Not technically mending but breathing new life into an existing garment.
• How to mend FOR REAL!
• Quite possibly the most inspiring and beautiful mending. Her whole blog is filled with absolutely beautiful and inspiring textiles, mending, etc.

I secretly want a darning egg. And more glitter floss. I'd love to put patchwork elbow pads on a worn out sweater, how cute would that be?!

August Aurifil BOM

August's Aurifil Block of the Month is BARI'S!!! Bari's pretty rad, I got to meet her at Sewing Summit last year and she's pretty hilarious!

She has a really neat blog called We Love French Knots that is all about hand stitching, full of tutorials and neat links. Her main blog is here & she just finished all these really neat projects from her new line of fabric, LillyBelle! I'm totally out of the fabric loop and somehow missed this line (maybe I'm living under a rock?!), it's BEAUTIFUL! I have my eye on some of these prints, especially the navy and mustard ones, just really pretty! And I really love Art Gallery's base cloth, it's quite nice!

She's designed a cute block with a lily on it! Awesome!

If you stitch up Bari's or any of the other Aurifil Designer's Blocks, be sure to add them to the flickr group (which is BURSTING with cute stuff!) and if they pick your block, you can win thread! best!!!

I recently used the 12 wt cotton in my sewing machine for some free motion quilting, you can read about it here, so even if you don't do a lot of hand work, it's really versitile for both!

:):)

Patchwork Smash Book Cover

Yesterday I got a Smash Book! They seem to have been popular for a while now but I only learned about them yesterday when I saw them in a cute craft store in Grass Valley. I decided to get one because I *love* gluing and pasting and sticking things in books.

In college we had to keep sketchbooks, I remember seeing classmates frantically scribbling in a brand new book the morning of finals so they'd have something to turn in. Not me! I had multiple filled moleskines. I just love starting with a flat book and cramming so much stuff in it that it barely closes anymore.

I've kept up pretty well with Project Life, I stopped in Mid-May, I couldn't seem to find a binder solution that worked for me and I realized...I'm kind of dull. My days are pretty similar and my cards started to get boring. Big time.

SO! I decided to get this Smash Book and give it a try. I tend to hang onto things, my purse is usually filled with little scraps of paper and torn magazine pages. I think this will be a really fun way to collect memories from this year. For some reason turning 30 is *really* exciting to me!

I used only scraps to make this, my scrap bin is out of control so I thought I'd better use what I have. I did one of my favorite blocks for the center, it's called Friendship! I have bits of fabric that friends have given me in here, Lindsay, Karyn & Lizzy all contributed to this. I love sewing with bits from friends. The inside has a little pocket and I boxed the bottom corners so the bag will stand up on it's own on my bedside table when filled with stuff. It closes with a fold over snap.

I decided to try something new to me, free motion quilting using Aurifil 12 wt cotton. The weight that folks usually use when sewing is 50 wt, it's standard sewing thread. I'd say 12 wt cotton is similar to 2 strands of embroidery floss. Embroidery floss has 6 strands and most folks ply them down (pull them apart) to two for cross stitch or embroidery.

I've been knitting a pair of oak leaf socks and thought my book needed an oak leaf. I used a leather needle in my machine simply because it had the largest eye out of any of the needles I had on hand and then 50 wt cotton in the bobbin. You really want a large eye for the thread to go through, otherwise the thread will rub and break.

With the thicker thread, you really want to stitch SLOW. For some reason people free motion quilt with the idea that FASTER IS BETTER, I'm not sure why. This has never worked for me (I'm not an expert though ;)) Slow is much better with this thread, really let the machine take the time to place the stitches and the needle pull up the bobbin thread. I didn't draw the leaf on the fabric before quilting, I'm rubbish at following lines.

I love that the 12 wt looks like hand embroidery, it's has really neat stitch definition and the cotton has a really beautiful shine.

Did you guys know they make gray sharpies?! I died when I saw this yesterday!

:):)

Aurifil July BOM

I'm totally bummed out that my blog didn't post this right away because I super love Sarah! And I love this summer-y block. I started stitching it onto a tote bag for my library books, all summer long I've been obsessed with mysteries and visiting the library 3x a week! I guess summer is just a time for sitting outside and reading (and stitching!)

I've had a crush on this quilt for the past year or so, it's seriously dreamy. My grandparents used to take me to a lot of antique stores in New England and I saw these very traditional & primitive eagles on things and I love them. But this! Wowzers. It's so fresh & fantastic. I'm not sure it's something I could ever sew, I *love* hand applique, but mostly because I don't have very much of these colors in my stash. I think it's one that I'd want to just drive to Sarah's and steal. It just appeals to my traditional Yankee soul and my California boldness. Does that make sense?! I think this quilt is in her book Quilting from Little Things?! But I'm not 100% sure. Maybe I can ask for the book as an early birthday gift? *wink wink*

Don't forget, you can post any of your completed blocks to the flickr group and you can win thread! Woo woo!

Kitschy Digitals & The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Eek!

We are so excited!

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

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

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

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

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

April Aurifil Designer BOM

Isn't this pretty much the cutest block?

It's for April's Aurifil Designer Block of the Month! I had this post pending to post on April 7th but apparently it didn't work. I'm so not blog savvy.

This block was designed and created by Gail, her blog is new to me & it's super cute! She's been traveling in Europe and it's been fun reading about her adventures!

Don't forget that if you stitch up ANY of the designer BOMs and put it in the flickr pool you can win thread! I honestly wish I could enter, I only have one spool of white left & I have a feeling once I finish this quilt that I'll be threadless! Oi! I wish I had a thread fairy! ;)

Happy Stitching!

February 2012 Aurifil Designer: Sherri Falls

Sherri recently blogged her February Block for the Aurifil 2012 Designers! It's pretty dang cute right? I'm dying over the little snowmen! Wouldn't they be super cute on a tea towel too??? Check out the tutorial for this block and the full blog post here.

If you make this block (or January's!) and put it in the flickr group, you can win a TON of free thread. Which is exciting, who doesn't LOVE free thread!

Happy Sunday!!!!

Truffle Party!

EEK!

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

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

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

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

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

Ok! off to run errands! See you soon!

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

Wild Olive Pattern of the Month Club!

It's Monday! Monday needs to have an infusion of cute. We have to start the week off right! Do you guys know about Mollie? I'm sure you do! She's pretty much the cutest blogger ever. I love her kawaii aesthetic and her blogs positive & fresh feel. She's always blogging adorable things, like laundry, printable calendars, and she has a ton of patterns.

You know how the Pumpkins have Dessert of the Month? Well Mollie has a Pattern of the Month Club. MMMHMM! That's pretty rad right? If you've ever purchased any of her patterns you know that they are professional and you get a lot of adorable things to stitch. I have Hearts Day & Happy Campers! My goal for January is to embroider some hearts and camp fires on a pillow case for Chop for Valentine's Day!

^ that right there? ^ Adorable right? It's a peek of one of Mollie's projects for her Pattern of the Month Club! You'll get 13 patterns for $38! That is so awesome! That's 12 months of patterns (plus you get a bonus!) for less than $3 a month. In Amanda Language- that's one Starbucks trip! And she even has a Project of the Month Club! how inspiring can one girl be?! eek! So cute!

Pop on over to Mollie's blog and say hi! I'm going to make one of her fabric flag key rings today to stick in my project life. Eep!

PS: if you don't know how to embroider, she has an entire section on embroidery! woo woo!

I'm getting ready to have some breakfast & get to work! :) See you soon!

Dessert of the Month & Project Life

Happy Sunday!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a good Sunday pals!