Becca's mittens and a tatooed belly

I'm a huge fan of the Twilight books and not remotely ashamed of it!  So when I saw on Ravelry that someone had written up a pattern to make Bella's mittens a la the movie--I knew that my 10 year old niece Becca HAD TO HAVE THEM!!

I knit them out of Cascade Pastaza and they turned out great!!  We did a photo shoot with some felt apples--Tade wanted to hold an orange--and you get to see how I was able to finish these mittens!  He has learned to count to 30 by himself due to his penchant for tattoos.  I think they should be right side up and on his biceps, but he doesn't get a very good view that way!  I think I'll have him start counting to 50, so it continues to be a learning experience!

We also have some exciting news on the chicken front!  Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since our 5 hens began laying.  If we get three more today, then we'll have gotten 100 eggs in that short time frame.  They don't taste all that different( I expected them to taste "more" somehow!), but they're still very special!  On Valentine's I got to have our first double yolked egg for breakfast!  Made my day, I tell you!

One of my recent quilting projects has been to put together these log cabin blocks.  When I was helping Wilma's family with the estate sale, I went through lots of boxes of  fabric.  Some treasures, a lot of polyester, and some very funky prints later, I found this bag full of envelopes and inside were all of the pieces cut and ready to go!  Along with 4 blocks already sewn together, 2 by hand and 2 by machine.  They went together so fast!  The combination of fabrics is one I would never have chosen, but it really works!  I sewed them into columns using an old sheet for sashing,  It's now in my to be quilted pile, but I have to bring it down to work where I have enough space to make my sandwich--maybe next month!

Giveaway winner and February's block!!

Congratulations to HaveFaith!  She is the winner of the Wonderland honey bun and she'll be making a quilt out of it for a May baby, if her comment is to be believed!!  Please e-mail me your address as you have a no-reply e-mail and I have no way of contacting you!  I'll draw another name if I haven't heard from her in a week!  Between the comments and followers I had 54 entries!  Very cool...

I finished this block for Lizzie whose month is February in our Bee Balm online quilting bee.  She sent the brown background fabric with the only instructions being to make a 16 1/2 inch block of our choice.  She wanted it to "represent" us.  After much deliberation, I decided to do a little "thread sketching."  I've been playing around with this for a couple of months--a couple of pillows and a sketch of my in-laws house for Christmas, so thought this appropriate.  Very pleased with the results!  Here's hoping that she likes it!

100th post giveaway!!!

So, technically it's not my 100th post, but it turns out that I blog in my head quite a lot!  I take pictures and plan on what to write, but it never seems to get typed in.  So I figure if I had posted all of the times that I planned on, it would be right about 100 posts!

I'll be giving away a Wonderland by Momo Honey Bun!  Plus some extra surprises!  I found a great sale and bought 5(!) of these and have a bit of a surplus.  I made this baby quilt for a friend expecting her first baby in April, delivered it to her this morning and she loved it!  Actually, so do I!  This was made using less than one honey bun, the scraps from this will go into another quilt!

And I've not blogged about this quilt either!!  When Amanda came in November for the quilting retreat at the inn, she brought lots of samples to show us.  This quilt was made out of the leftovers from her film strip quilt that was made to giveaway at the retreat.  Mama urchin is now the proud owner of the film strip quilt, but lucky me was given this one as a thank you for setting up the retreat!  I feel so special. Especially since Amanda isn't blogging anymore--I really feel the void in blogland!

So---to enter this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post.  All of my followers are automatically entered, if you become a follower, you will get an extra entry, and if you blog about this giveaway and leave me a separate comment, you will be entered again!  So, three chances to win!

And check back often because the info about our 2nd annual quilting retreat with Amanda will be posted soon!

Quick--easy--awesome--scarves as gifts!

SO, I've been a bad blogger of late and had so much to tell you, but then I figured no actually cared about our Halloween costumes any more, so I'll spare you the details.

Moving on!! I saw this tutorial on One Flew Over, and thought it looked like a quick and easy project and I was right! I made 7 scarves yesterday! I love them! I've already got plans to get some more linen, since I've used all I bought yesterday!! Great way to use up those scraps! Most are Kaffe Fasset, but a couple are Amy Butler scraps--don't know which I like better, but these seem the perfect pay-it-forward prize that I need to be getting in the mail!!

I also made a scarf out of vintage hankies that I'm giving away! Six of the vintage hankies that I won in Rosamund's giveaway last month went in to this delicate, lightweight beauty! Just leave me a comment to win! I'll draw a name on Wednesday, December 2nd and get it shipped to you in time for you to re-gift it for the holidays!!!(Of, course you could keep it all to yourself!)

My awesome husband just made me a custom sewing table that I'll be showing off as soon as I get it painted! I am so thankful to have a husband who not only loves and cares for us, but who gets excited at the prospect of making ME a sewing table! Coolest feeling in the world--and no amount of money could have gotten me a more perfect sewing table!

Pay it Forward!

Happy Wednesday to you all! I signed up for a pay it forward on Sherri's blog--so excited as she is so very talented and an incredibly prolific quilter! What this means for you is that the first three people that leave me a comment saying that they want to play will receive something handmade by me and in turn, have to offer a pay it forward on their blogs making handmade things for three people and on and on, etc!

You have 365 days to get their handmade item to them, but I highly recommend just getting it done--much more fun for everyone that way--so if you don't have time right now, consider waiting to sign up for another one later on so no one has to wait a long time!

I did one of these in the spring and gave away soaps, but this time, I'd like to sew something--mainly because I'm out of soap! Maybe a bag or something Christmassy!

I made these little wire pumpkins this week using the instructions here. So simple and I just love them!

I also made this(rather difficult) chicken wire basket--which seems to entertain me as much as burlap right now! Elaine(I'm pretty sure!) sent a copy of the magazine Mary Jane's Farm to me with my block from September and the baskets were featured in there. Pretty hard on my fingers, but I will be making at least one more of them! Maybe you would like one as a pay it forward?

I filled it with yarn to take a picture and Tade said, "When are you going to make my socks?" The kid doesn't miss anything! The green on top was picked out by him MONTHS ago for socks and I've STILL never made more than one sock for a pair. I've knit 4 socks, but I need 8. Need to get on that!

Edited to add:  Sorry all but the pay it forward is full!  Stop on over at Kerrie, Mountain Mama, San-Dee, or Suzanne's blogs to try to get in on theirs! (Do give them a chance to post about it first!)  And yeah--I know that's four not three, but I'm a sucker!

What happened to fall?

We've had such a strange year of weather. First lots of rain this summer and then an early cold front that gave us 14 degree weather and 4 inches of snow! I'm not prepared for this yet! We're burning through the wood pile at an alarming rate!



Last weekend I had three events that I needed to make cakes for--it got a little busy around here! 120 cupcakes and a mini-tiered cake for a Saturday wedding, a three tiered wedding cake for 80 of Saturday, and 48 cupcakes and 36 iced sugar cookies for a baby shower on Sunday. I had 49 pounds of sugar in my kitchen and I only have about 12 left. Makes my teeth hurt! And yes--that is 12 pounds of butter!



Here are some of the blocks I've received in my quilting bee--this is turning out to be so much fun! I still need 5 more quilters for the second bee if anyone is interested. E-mail me your address if you want to. I really need to get on this!


I finished this bag that I've had the fabric for for quite some time. I was still using the lime green and pink, so was glad to get something more appropriate for fall done! I've had a love affair with burlap for a while and was glad to use it in this project. There are some great colors of burlap out there--I think I need to incorporate some into my living room curtains!

Hope you all have a great week!

Quilting with Amanda Jean!

Over on Amanda Jean's blog you can see more pictures of the amazing quilt that she has made as the grand door prize for those attending our quilting retreat November 6-8 at The Inn at City Park in Fort Collins, CO.

Several of her commenters have asked questions, so I'm going to try to answer them here.

Do we still have room?

Yes, we have room for about 5 more quilters.

Do you have to stay at the inn?

Absolutely not--if you are local or know someone in the area, we have a discounted rate that still includes the meals and workshops, but no bed!

What is the nearest airport?

Denver International Airport is about a 50 minute drive. Sweet talk me and I will arrange for transportation!!!

The prices are really reasonable for what you get--not to mention the chance to win this AMAZING quilt or a one night's stay at the inn plus lots of other fun things that I'm currently working on! I am a trained chef, so the food will be incredible(not to toot my own horn or anything!); it should just be an amazing weekend with lots of quilting, laughing and making new friends!

Feel free to ask me more questions in the comment section and I will answer them ASAP--Like AJ said--Only 6 more weeks!!!

I, for one, cannot wait to quilt with Amanda Jean!