Halloween Sampler Week Two

Yay, I finished week two last night!  I really loved the little owls in this week's patterns.  They've been my favorite block so far.

Miscounted the blocks for the little sparkly white designs...whoops.

The last week of the sampler starts tomorrow, and I think I'll be sad to see it go!  It's so fun getting these each week! 

This morning I also finished up a couple drawstring bags.  I used Jeni B.'s tutorial to make a couple bags for me and my mom.  I was going to buy the pattern for the "project" bag size, but I think these will work for now!  I started knitting again after a two year break, and found that I had nowhere to stash my yarn and needles in between projects.  Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but with two cats and a Schnoz, you have to avoid leaving such temptations laying about.  Currently, my in-progress cowl and needles are hidden in a small Priority Mail box that some yarn was delivered in!  No longer will that have to suffice, though!

I ordered Far Far Away III when it was first released over two years ago, and these two prints have been stashed ever since!  Finally, I decided I'd had enough and cut into it for a project bag.  It'll be so fun to see this waiting for me after work or on the weekends!

I lined it with Kona Yarrow and used Zen Chic Comma for the drawstrings.

It's super roomy--this shot shows my 32" circulars, three rows of ribbing, and the ball of yarn, with space to spare.  (Well, this shot sorta shows that.  You get it.)  (Also, the yarn is Lark in Cypress from Quince and Co.  Amazing!)

For my mom, I used three Briar Rose prints and Moda Bella in Daffodil for the ties.  I thought about using Lush Uptown for hers, but this little gal changed my mind:

Love a knitting bee!

I followed the directions but the lining still ended up upside-down?  I don't know.  There always has to be a mistake somewhere.

Yay bags! 

Hope you're having a great weekend!  What are you stitching?

Halloween Sampler Week One

I've had a lot of time this weekend to just craft and do my own thing, which has been such a nice change!  We've had so much going on lately that I really missed my alone time.  I honestly need a lot of alone time as it is, so I feel off my game if I don't have time to recharge on the weekends.

This morning I was able to finish week one of my Halloween Spooky Sampler!  Sunday mornings are perfect for drinking chocolate chai lattes and stitching.  While I'm still out of gray floss, I didn't want to go into week two tomorrow knowing I hadn't finished week one.  Deadlines are important!

I love the detail in these patterns.  Also, how cute are the ghosts?!  You may notice my stitches are a bit off in that frame.  Somehow, everything shifted one row down and one column to the right.  I tried to fix what I could, but I didn't want to take the whole thing apart, so I think it looks okay.  If not, oh well, it's just cross-stitching!

I also worked on some Lucky blocks last night!  I sewed all my HSTs Friday night and pressed them yesterday, with enough time to sew a few together.  I'm really loving the contrast.  Tule has a pretty high contrast of bright and low-volume, so I think bringing them all together in a quilt will provide a great balance.  I'm hoping, anyway!  I'm using all Art Gallery Pure Elements as solids.  They're dreamy!  I can't remember if I've mentioned them, but you should really give them a whirl if you haven't.

I'd like to mention that we've also had a beautiful weekend here in Charlotte--we've had breezy days in the 70s, perfect for opening windows and eating outside!  I love fall so much.

What have you been stitching this weekend?

WIP...Thursday?

I really did think about posting this WIP Wednesday on Wednesday...you know, when it's supposed to be...but I have a giveaway winner to announce!  What's one more day?  My WIPs certainly weren't going anywhere.

So, without further ado...Amy is our winner!  BUT, Sara at Knotty Gnome was the only other person to enter, so I'm going to send you both something!  If you two awesome ladies could email me your addresses, I'll get everything sent out to you!  (My email address is in my About page.)

So what unfinished projects do I have laying around?

First is my Spooky Halloween Sampler from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery!  You'll notice I ran out of gray floss before finishing the frame, so that's cool.  It didn't stop me from working on week one!  I'm working on it one color at a time.  That just seems to make more sense to me than doing it frame by frame, plus it's a little bit more organized that way.

Tule quilt, I promise I'll be there soon!  These have sadly sat on my sewing table for a week, just waiting for more love.  I have everything cut out except my white 5" squares.  It's been a busy week!  In addition to cross-stitching, turning 26, and having guests, we also went to see the National for the third time since we started dating.

We saw them at the Fillmore uptown, and it was an awesome and terrible show.  Awesome--it's the National; Matt walked right next to us during Mr. November; they always kill it; it was a different setlist than the other two shows we've seen.  Terrible--standing room only; I'm old and can't stand that long; after the opener about fifteen people pushed themselves in front of me, obviously not realizing I'm 5'4"; the guy next to me smelled so gross and had no problem dancing out his problems.

I'm not a fun concertgoer as it is, even when conditions are perfect, so if I sound cranky, that's why.  Oh well!  It was a great show though, and I hope to see them again soon.  We've gone every year except 2012, when they didn't tour anywhere near us.  They're a Nick and Emily tradition!

Congrats again ladies!  I hope everyone's week is going well!

Fall Decorating and a Giveaway

This is my 200th post!  Can you believe it?  If yo've been here since the beginning, you probably can.

I whipped up something for fall today: the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery All in a Row table runner.  I don't see it on their website anymore, but it looks like Pink Chalk Fabrics still carries the pattern!

That moving shadow would be my dog.

This pattern does involve paper piecing, which is why I've sat on it for a year before using it.  But now that I have some paper piecing experience, it wasn't an issue at all!  It was actually really fun.

I used Essex Linen in Flax for the background and a whole bunch of fabrics for the pumpkins and stems!  I tried to stick with oranges and browns for the pumpkins, but a couple yellows did sneak in.

Most of the fabrics have shown up in other quilts--either my fall Modern Maples or my fall Donuts quilt.

I used the same Aurifil I used to quilt my Donuts quilt--variegated 50 wt., because it blended so well with the linen in my Donuts quilt.  I didn't want an allover quilting design because I don't plan on washing this.  Just something to hold it all together would work!

I bound it with a print from Zen Chic's Moda line Comma.  Because I don't plan on using the backside, I didn't think it mattered if the binding was different or not.

I picked up those canisters and that bowl at Target this morning!  I'm eagerly awaiting their entire line of fall decor, but this will tide me over.

Okay, now for a giveaway!  I've been cross-stitch crazy lately, and thought I'd give away a cross-stitch book.  Storyland Cross Stitch came out last month, and features tons of fantastical projects revolving around a magical forest.

The book features cross-stitch and sewing patterns for tons of projects, such as samplers, framed pieces, and little cuties like a lavender sachet and a pincushion.

This is my favorite pattern in the book!

It also comes with a cross-stitch kit so you can get started right away!

To enter, just leave me a comment, telling me what you're working on right now.  That's it!  I'll pull a comment at random on Thursday, September 12.  This is my first giveaway, and I don't typically enjoy them, but I thought it'd be fun to celebrate my 200th post!

Good luck!  And happy (almost) fall!

Weekend Crafting

I know it's only Labor Day afternoon, but I think my major craft projects for the weekend are done.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot done, because Nick's dad was visiting for a few days, limiting my time in the sewing room; fortunately, I still had time to sew!  And I picked up a new hobby along the way!

Yesterday I bought this purse from Target.  I've talked about this before, how I'm not really a bag lady, and I tend to use the same purses and bags until they literally fall apart.  My parents bought me the purse I use now two years ago for my birthday, and it is still in really good shape, despite being my go-to bag.  But something about this little guy called my name--maybe it was the fox?  Or the color?--and I stuck it in the cart.  Of course, this meant that my red wallet, which matches my current purse, would have to be replaced.

I bought the Straight Stitch Society Have it All wallet pattern last spring but never used it.  I don't know why not--it's so easy!  I cut it out and sewed it in about two hours, minus a break to run to Joann for fasteners (where are my fasteners?!).

I used two prints from Koi by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cloud9.  I also bought the It's a Plus print in voile, intending to make this scarf.  I'm wondering if it might be too much?  I love infinity scarves, and I love voile, but is it appropriate for fall?  What do you guys think?

Two things I screwed up: I banged on the spool of thread (following Dritz's directions!) too hard when securing the fastener, so the pearl side is shatterd; and my accordion pocket isn't centered.  It doesn't really affect anything, it just bothers my OCD...but not enough to fix it.

The new hobby I picked up is cross-stitching!  And dare I say it, I like it more than embroidery!  My sewing buddy Elizabeth cross-stitches and has mentioned her Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery samplers a few times (I'm familiar with the Pumpkins and love their designs.  I'm a slave to cute).  I finally decided to cave and subscribe to a sampler!  I signed up for the Halloween sampler, which starts next week on the 9th.  However, it wasn't until this weekend that I picked up supplies, as floss was $.25 at Joann and I had crazy coupons.  (Side note: did you know you can't combine coupons at Joann anymore?  This is madness.)

Before diving into the sampler border, which I need to start on!, I stitched up a cute lil' guy to frame and hang for the season:

I have one other fall-related pattern to stitch as well!  But I should probably get going on that sampler...

Finally, Elizabeth again had a great idea and suggested I make a quilt for our guest room using the new line by Leah Duncan, Tule.  I love Leah's work and bought her first line, Maya, last year.  I am also in love with her prints and asked for a couple from my brother for my birthday.  I wanted to originally buy the prints for the guest room, but wasn't sure how to tie it all in, until Elizabeth suggested the quilt!  I have it all planned out, and purchased seven coordinating solids to accompany the 20 prints in the line:

The solids should be here tomorrow, so I'll need to slice those up as well.  I'm really excited about it!  There's something about a new project, using materials you love.  It's hard to concentrate on anything else!

How was your labor day?  What'd you sew?