Tagged: sewing

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July 15th, 2010

{*~Inspiring~*}

I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. I’m trying to find an allergist locally, preparing for a craft show, trying to finish up a custom quilt, get caught up on bee blocks, work on swaps, work at the quilt shop, plus earn an income to pay my bills, get my medicine ($1,000 a month…barf) and stick a tiny bit in my savings. I need an extra ten hours in a day!

I know I can do it…or at least most of it. But it’s really testing my patience right now!!!! I hate feeling behind and when I start to fall behind…the vicious cycle of catch up begins. I know I should start saying “no” more often, but I really want to please people! Super bad right?! I need to bow out of a few projects I think. Maybe do some seam ripping this weekend and add some fabrics back to my stash, I take these kinda weeks to weed out quilts and whatnot that I’m feeling “meh!” about…it’s good to do some fabric gardening every now and again!

I keep finding myself SO inspired and LOVING IT but HATING lack of time! Crazy right?! I have my sewing space completely clean, my fabric collection is pretty much epic…I can’t ask for more, when I sew I like the stuff I’m making, I’ve discovered a few palettes and techniques I’ve loved exploring…it’s like everything is aligned…except time!

Here are a few things I’m *so* inspired by lately!

I hope your having a good week so far! <3!

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June 23rd, 2010

{*~Moving On~*}

Wow. I can’t believe how many kind comments & emails I got after my last post. I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like the internet community of quilters is kinda surreal.

I’ve made some summertime rules/goals for myself and sticking to them has felt a lot better. I’m becoming really good at saying no. At turning off my phone. No emails or anything on the weekends. At being more “present” when spending time with Porkchop. Taking time for me & being more kind to myself. I’m going to of course keep blogging & flickring, but only when I want too, I’m not a blogger who makes money off of it so it makes sense to just do it when it’s fun!

We’ve spent the weekends getting into all sorts of trouble….day trips, laying in the sun, bike rides, visits to the mountains (there was still snow!), going to the movies….our thing is going to the movies first thing on Friday morning…it’s only $5 to get in and we sneak in diet cherry limeaids! So far we’ve seen Toy Story 3 (I cried nonstop), MacGruber (dreadful), A-Team (Bradley Cooper? Wowzers!!! ;)) We are trying something new & going to a midnight viewing on Thursday for Knight & Day.

HEY, did you guys know Klean Kanteens are made in Chico?! I had no idea! I stopped by their warehouse the other morning before work and picked up a bottle for myself, Porkchop & Porkchops dad. I also got a bike rack! I have a little project I’ve been working on with these bottles in mind that I’m excited to show you once I get caught up on swaps & orders. Plus I have a little shop update coming up soon!

Also: This bike…ohhh how I love it. I bought it on a whim in Eureka but never really rode it much…lately all I want to do is ride!!! It’s kinda like a beach cruiser but with gears and front brakes. I’m not going to lie, part of me is wondering if I can paint it. I don’t like the stickers and whatnot on it.

I’ve been insanely inspired by Castle Peeps! It’s really a fun line to play with. If you know me, you’ll be surprised by this: I bought ONE!!! and a HALF YARDS of my favorites from the line. I’m strictly a fat quarter girl and this line…wowzers. So much cute potential!!! I’m debating buying this cute pdf and making some boxers for Porkchop & I…can you imagine how many cute shorts can be made from Castle Peeps?!!!! Eeep!

I hope your summer is starting on a kind note…I’m all about the sunshine…and I have the tan to prove it ;)

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May 12th, 2010

{~*Circa50*~}

With everything safely in the mail, I’d love to share with you guys my Circa50 quilt for Birch Fabrics Quilt Market Booth!

I love love love this quilt! It was definitely a labor of love.

I received the whole line in February and slowly worked on it but nothing I was making really *caught* me, I felt like I wasn’t doing the fabric justice. I’d been commissioned to make a quilt similar to this one and for some reason, I just couldn’t get it to look right! Then I realized I was going about it the complete wrong way…that quilt is very winter-y, whereas Circa50 is very summer-y & Southern California.

So I kept at it, sketching, sewing, sketching, sewing. I looked a lot of websites, bought a few copies of Atomic Ranch, went to the library, etc. I made a *lot* of houses before I got it right. I’m really thankful for my friends Brenda Lou & Liz because at first, I was making the houses slowly and carefully measuring and sewing them together according to my sketches…they gave me the idea to foundation piece them instead. SO much better! You can see my first round of adobe illustrator sketches above, with Liz & my notes.

Once I figured out illustrator and how I wanted things to look, it was a lot of getting up, sitting down and sewing, tweaking something on the computer, reprinting it, resewing, back and forth. Foundation piecing is really precise and while I *love* that, it’s not completely my style, I like a bit of organic feeling to my quilts, so in some spots I let the lines be a little bigger and a little “off”. You can see the fabric I based the houses on here!

The quilting was insanely fun! I knew I wanted to really do something fresh and unique. So leading up to the homes are cobblestone walk ways, the palm trees have coconuts, there are little conversation bubbles with musical notes coming out of the birds mouths, some atomic starbursts, etc…it was just REALLY fun. By using white thread, the quilting is there, but not really “in your face”, I think if I’d done a color thread it would have just been tacky, but with the white, it’s faint and charming.

Because I normally quilt things to death, I had to really stop myself and walk away a few times. It’s easy to get carried away & I kept telling myself simple was best! A huge thanks for Yahaira who provided me with much needed support via text message. I swear I was feeling VERY insecure at this point. I kept worrying & worrying! But once it was bound, I was glad I followed through with all my ideas.

I also made this 1950′s style dress out of one of the prints for Cynthia’s Blythe who will be attending Quilt Market. So cute! I’ve been making dresses for custom orders a lot the past few months and this one was SO fun! I loved finding the little belt buckle online & then making a little tote from the fabric, she’s gotta have a tote to carry around all the fun stuff she finds at the booths! Please ignore Paprika’s hair, she’s very uncomfortable without her wig on ;)

I had purchased some handmade Blythe dress hangers from my friend Rebecca so the dress is shipped on a little hanger on a piece of cardstock with some vintage teeny tiny ric rac. The quilt & the Blythe goodies were then packed in organic cotton produce bags that are basted shut with bits of the scraps I had from the line! Super cute & reusable! I like shipping stuff in these bags because it stops stuff from getting dirty but it also is ecofriendly, plus it’s fitting for a 100% organic fabric company!!! I make all my thank you cards from scraps as well :)

I hope you liked this little peek into the process of a commissioned quilt! If you are going to Quilt Market, check out Birch Fabrics! I’m really excited to see how their booth looks, they are number #3725!

They have some *fantastic* upcoming lines, Circa60 which I know is going to be fantastic, those campers! those polka dots! And the under the sea themed Marine is so great, those colors are phenom!

A huge thank you to Birch for this great opportunity and the chance to follow my ideas! You guys are the greatest! :)

Have a great Wednesday friends! My next post will be from Gridley, CA; we are leaving tomorrow morning! I can’t wait to unpack! ;)

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April 16th, 2010

{*~My Take~*}

Rachel posted this fun little meme today & I thought I’d answer some questions this afternoon!


1. When do you feel happiest? I’m happiest when I’m spending time with Mr. McPorkchop. Car rides are especially my favorite. If I’m stressed or sad, he always suggests a car ride and I feel a lot better afterwards.

2. How do you take care of yourself? I sadly am not one to take very good care of myself. Today being a perfect example, I’ve been sewing allllll morning & afternoon and completely forgot to eat, even though I was with friends who were eating. As a result, I have a migraine from hell blooming. I have been painting my nails often…does that count? And I take my medicines every morning at the exact same time, I should get a bonus point for that!

3. Are you internally (by yourself) or externally (by others) motivated? I think I’m a little bit of both. Sometimes I have to turn off the computer & focus on what I’m working on because I find myself being overwhelmed by other peoples work, but other times I get so focused on what I’m working on that I burn myself out & love to look at other peoples work as inspiration and motivation! It goes both ways!

4. What do you do for fun? Lately I’ve been painting an hour a day! That’s a big thing for me because I hate wasting any sort of time & I genuinely feel bad taking time for myself when there are a zillion things I need to do in a day, but I’ve started to realize I need a balance and painting calms me down and forces me to concentrate.

5. What intimidates you? Can I answer what *doesn’t* intimidate me?! Haha. I’m very easily intimidated. Girls with perfect hair & bodies, I’m chubby & my hair is straight & a little boring! At the moment I’m intimidated by anyone who can stipple well, I’ve got a long way to go. Anyone who can sew a perfectly straight line too, no matter how hard I try, straight lines aren’t my thing! Also anyone who can balance a zillion things at once. Oh! And 98% of the people I went to high school with, they all have fancy careers or are finishing up grad school, it intimidates me in the sense that I dropped out of college because I hated it & I don’t have the sort of stability that a 9-5 offers, I think a lot of them think less of me & what I do. That’s a very strange feeling, like I’m insecure and at the same time, defensive!

6. What is something you’re proud of? I’m proud of how my sewing skills have grown! I’m proud of my design sense in quilting!  I’m proud that instead of wasting $$$ on my last semester of college for a degree that I didn’t really want anymore, I walked away to pursue my dreams, it took a lot of balls! I’m proud that I’ve been a vegetarian since late December & it’s inspired me to cook in a completely different way! I’m proud of the fact that I can mend my husbands clothes, cook him an incredible homemade meal & keep him warm with quilts, sometimes all in one day ;)! I’m proud of my cooking skills in general! I’m proud that I can sew, knit, crochet & make cheese from scratch! I’m proud of my fabric knowledge! I’m proud of my small windowsill herb garden! I’m proud of my best friends & I’m excited when they achieve things! I’m proud of how much I read!

7. Finish this sentence. I never _____________. am content! Ever! Each day I want to do more more MORE!!!!! I want to grow more as a person each day, both emotionally and physically. But not physically in the sense that I want to get chubbier…haha! ;)

8. Favorite vacation spot. Mmm so many options! Probably San Francisco, it’s my favorite city! Although I’m pretty keen on

9. Today is a (rate from 1 – 10). 8.5! I got to sew with my friends, accomplish a lot of sewing, eat the first strawberries of the season, give a birthday gift to the cutest little 5 year old but I nicked myself with my rotary cutter & have a bit of a headache…so 8.5 it is! It’ll go up to 9.5 once Mr. Porkchop is home for the night!

10. Finish this sentence. If you knew me really well you’d know _____________. that I sneeze verrrry quietly, I can’t handle my alcohol at all & I hate having my photo taken with a fierce passion (see both in the photo below!)

Happy Thursday friends!!!! I hope your week has been going *great!*

xo

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April 14th, 2010

{*~complications~*}

If I could sum up the past few days, I’d use the following phrases:

“bloody nose”,”this is why we can’t have nice things” and “does this taste like metal/fish/spoiled/off/gross to you?”.

Mmmm yes. Excitement around this place! Broken electronics, total klutziness, strange side affects from medicines and a whole lot of cussing & laughing. Typical McPorkchop behavior!

I’m doing a little bit of sewing today…in between projects I made Mr. McPorkchop this doodle jump inspired mini quilt. It’s all free motion quilted & applique. Wayyyy too much fun. It’s a blast mostly because it’s scribble-y! I’m sure if you aren’t familiar with the opening screen, this mini just looks like a hot mess, but accurate to the game, haha.

I’ll be updating etsy later on this week with slots for custom mini quilts (provided I have finished the 3 orders I already have!), some patchwork camera straps that are cuuute, four mini quilts, kindle pouches, some mug rugs & some patchwork zippered pouches! woohoo! I hope that if I type this out, I’ll actually update it, someone should hold me accountable, haha. I have no self confidence with these sort of things, I talk myself out of selling stuff because I’m convinced everything has some tragic flaw which is my excuse if things aren’t 100% factory perfectly made, for example, one of the custom mini quilts I’m finishing for the FOURTH time because I’m not satisfied with it. Yeah. I’m a bit hard on myself.

A few things I like today:

This bread which is free of all my allergens and still tastes great! However, it’s extremely expensive ($7 a loaf!!!). But doesn’t upset my stomach…so I’ll buy it as a special treat every once in a while.

This set of paper, I got it as a gift! I’ll be using it for this class!

This dress that I can’t stop lusting after. It appeals to my New England roots & my inner smothered yuppie who’s tired of wearing jeans, teeshirts, flannels & reefs.

This fabric which is begging to be beignet.

Speaking of patterns, I adore this but the largest bust size is too small for me!

I’m off to iron some fabric & work on a custom mini. I just finished season 3 of Buffy last night…watching her graduate high school & say goodbye to Angel was so bittersweet. How the heck did I get sucked in so completely?! Not to mention the first episode of season 4 is her at college…oh how I could relate to her first day college experience…minus the whole vampire slaying ;)

Have a great Tuesday!

xo

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April 6th, 2010

{*~Colorful~*}

I’ve been taking fresh colorful photos because the world outside my windows lately is bleak. Gray! Dim! Not in some large philosophical sense. But as in the weather conditions!!!

The weekend was spent oversleeping, reading (I’ve just finished up with the entire series of “Bones” books!), spending time cooking some fantastic meals, trying to stay warm, wearing rainboots to get the mail, sewing & hating the things I was making & daydreaming of sunshine & flipflops.

Today I almost went indoor tanning, the feeling of drab oppression from the constant rain was getting to me! But my wallet, skin & tattoos would be mad at me. So I drove away. But now I’m kinda wishing I’d gone!  Brrrr!!!

Also, a very huge thank you to everyone who commented on my quilt over at sewmamasew! Everyone has been so kind! Thank you thank you thank you!

Have a great Monday friends!

xo

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March 10th, 2010

{*~be back soon!~*}

Mr. McPorkchop & I have decided to go away for ten days (his spring break!)…heading to the valley so I can dry out my lungs. A few days in the drier climate will hopefully make me feel better. Unfortunately the specialist I wanted to see has a 4-5 month long wait list for an appointment…unacceptable!

I can only do about 15 minutes of gentle yoga before I’m winded, I can get in about an hour or so of good sewing time before my body hurts. I’m not used to this at all, I used to be able to piece together a quilt in a day or two, I’m normally a ball of energy. Turns out you really do need oxygen! ;)

I’ve been slowly working on a very fun custom order and working more and more on hand piecing & sewing. I finished up this weeks pinwheel blocks, made myself a camera strap early yesterday morning, working on a mothers day/birthday gift for my mom. I get angry at myself because I can’t work as hard as I *need* too! It’s one of those things thats beyond my control but drives me insane regardless! Me + Patience = Not HAPPENING! But I’ve been cooking slow meals, I’m currently obsessed with barley, we eat a lot of brown, wild & exotic rices so barley is a fun change, the texture is incredible, esp. w/garlic, shallots, eggs, salsa & spinach! I got some amazing oranges this morning so I’ve been sprinkling them with pineapple mint from my windowsill and devouring them.

Since I moved my sewing machine, I can watch hulu while I sew/draw! That’s pretty fun! I got caught up last night on Psych, I love that Shawn Spencer! I like having noise in the background when I sew…it’s either been pandora or Buffy these days so it’s nice to switch it up a bit!

I’ll be leaving either Thursday or Friday & won’t be blogging while I’m gone unless I sit at starbucks, but I’ll be continuing my 365 in a completely fun way…FILM! That’s why I made a camera strap! I’m hoping to unplug my macbook, iphone, digital camera & relax….low tech wise! I’m bringing my little featherweight sewing machine, my manual Nikon EM, some magazines, a sketchbook I made and Paprika! I won’t kid myself and go completely tech free, I need my kindle ;) I’m hoping for some fishing, long drives, evenings by the fire, quiet sewing on Bee & maybe starting my garden!

Until then, sewing, cleaning, taking it semi-easy & packing! I lost my house keys so I gotta find them too!!! >:(

xo

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March 2nd, 2010

{*~Scenes~*}

I think I slept a grand total of 2 hours last night.

5 Things I’m thankful for this Tuesday afternoon:

  • Roku.
  • Smartwool leggings.
  • My fantastic husband who will get up out of bed to sit with me on the couch when I can’t sleep.
  • My new teal & white dishtowels from Target. Spring-y, cute & cheap.
  • Hot coffee from the french press: current fav is illy dark roast.

xo

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February 28th, 2010

{~*Spinning*~}

It’s early Sunday morning & we are packing up a bunch of our stuff to bring to Mr.McPorkchop’s dads house to make more room around here. We’ve decided to start “moving”. We will be gone all summer and will only live here August til December of next year. Anything we can do now to make moving easier & our life here better, we are doing. Yudu is going with him :( The emulsion doesn’t set up & harden properly here because of the humidity, so in it’s place I’ll set up my serger & work on some modernacorn business finally!

I’m obsessed with complicated blocks. Complicated for me at least. The top block was made with this tutorial, and the two simple pinwheels are for Rachel’s quiltalong! I’m hoping to visit some used bookstores this afternoon to scoop up some traditional block books, I’m curious about blocks that can be made modern…if I can find enough that are fantastic I’ll be hosting a quiltalong…or at least tutorials on how to freshen up some traditional blocks. Or I’ll become frustrated with things not lining up right & give up…haha ;)

I’m needing to take a sewing machine break, I’ve been having problems with the machine eating fabric & learned that Bernina sells a straight stitch plate! The plate it came with loves to chomp fabric, especially when I’ve been making Blythe clothes & chain piecing, sometimes even with a leader. The neat thing about the new plate is the machine will recognize it & not allow you to do anything BUT a straight stitch, so you don’t run the risk of forgetting its on & jamming the machine. It’ll ship tomorrow morning from Sacramento, so it’ll be here in no time!

I’m still doing a ton of hand sewing, this weekends mail has brought me a bunch of charms to play with! Exciting! Be prepared for a shop update this week, I have some super pretty things that I hope you like!

I hope your having a great weekend! See you tomorrow!

xo

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February 26th, 2010

{~*Pinwheel Love*~}

The past few days have been hectic & a tad bit loony. I’ll be spending the day running a tiny bit of errands & then hunkered down on the couch handsewing, researching mcm homes for a custom quilt, playing doctor & repairing poor Sunshine Bears missing armpit. Hopefully today will be a fantastic mail day!

What are you doing this Friday? It sure is stormy out, one thing that cracks me up about facebook is about 65% of my page is people from MA (I grew up & graduated HS in Peabody) and it’s like I get a weather report when I log in…everyone is complaining about lost power…and here in Eureka, CA, it’s stormy & rain-y as well!

xo

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