{Sew} Modern Monday

Thanks to everyone who entered my first For the Love Of... linky party. The winner of my birthday giveaway will be announced tomorrow.

In the meantime I wanted to share some fun things for {Sew} Modern Monday with Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations. I was lucky enough to meet Megan at the Sewing Summit last month. And although I didn't get to talk with her long she is very sweet & I look forward to seeing her again next year. Yesterday was her birthday so get over there and wish her a happy birthday. Plus, she might just be having a giveaway right now. ;)

Friday I came home to a couple goodies in the mailbox...

What could they be???

The first package I opened was from Bree. I was expecting this one because I knew she was sending a bee block, but I didn't know there'd be more in there. A frame pouch made from the same fabric she used to make my very first swap purse.

I "met" Bree last fall (2010) when we both signed up for a bag swap at Sew Mama Sew. We have kept in touch with email and texting since. And we even spoke on the phone the other day, which is a big deal for me because I'm NOT a phone person! Someday we'll actually meet in person. :)

String Me Along bee block & frame pouch.

Isn't it great???

The next package I opened was from Liz. She decided to set up a Post Sewing Summit swap to keep the excitement going. Personally, I hope there's another one after this. There is some amazing talent out there, you really should check out the photo pool. Anyway, this is what was in the package...Oh my gosh!!!

Neptune amazing-ness!!!

Our options were to make either a mini quilt or zippy pouch for our partner. Liz made both! Plus she sent some leftover Neptune FQs. Thank you so much Liz!!!

I made a mini quilt for my partner too. I can't tell you too much about why I chose to make this design because my partner hasn't received her package yet, but I did want to show off some pictures.

I used this Spiderweb block tutorial. I had a hard time deciding which color thread to use to quilt this, and then I remembered I had recently picked up some glow-in-the-dark thread. Bingo! I used an overall stipple because that's all I really know how to free motion right now.

OK, I'm really proud of this mini so I had to share another shot of it. :)

I was having a heck of a time finding backing fabric. Until I found this! Isn't it beautiful?? And I decided to piece together a rainbow-y binding.

I added a couple other goodies in the package too.

Handmade graph paper sketchbook & gift card made by my mom.

There is also a drawstring bag in the package for my partner, but I think the fabric will give it away so I'll share once my partner receives her goodies.

Thanks for visiting!

Linking up to amylouwho's mini quilt linky party. Go check out the other gorgeous minis!

New Linky Party & Birthday Celebration!!

You may (or may not) have noticed that I haven't done a Fave 5 Friday in several weeks now. I've discovered that I often forget what day it is & don't realize it's Friday until mid-day. You'd think that would mess with my work schedule, but it really doesn't.

Because of this "problem" of mine I've decided to change things up slightly. You will now have all weekend to link up and there will be a theme. I went back and forth about adding a theme many times, but I finally decided that it would be fun. I hope you're with me on that!

So here are the new rules:

(1) Grab a button from the right sidebar there.

(2) Carry your camera everywhere. Take photos of everything! I often forget to pull my camera out, but we'll try to remember together.

(3) Post 3-5 pictures, current ones are preferred, but sometimes you'll have to use archived photos for certain themes. Please mention this linky party and link back to my blog in your post.

(4) Link back up here before midnight Sunday (Mountain Time).

(5) I will post the next week's theme in advance so you'll know what to get pictures of.

Being that this is the first linky party of For The Love Of... I thought I'd make it an easy one.

HOME!

Interpret that however you want; pictures of where you live, family celebrations, anything that means home to you.

Here's mine:

This guy is my home. Wherever he goes, whatever adventures he takes me on, I'm home!

I love living on the prairie. Mother Nature provides amazing scenes!

Yesterday, after Tuesday's snow storm.

And for more fun... my birthday is Saturday! I'm pretty excited about it so I thought I'd share some goodies with one of my awesome readers. One person will receive a drawstring bag similar to the one below filled with other handmade treasures. All you have to do is link up for the first For The Love Of... linky party. A random number generator will do the rest.

The linky & giveaway are open until Sunday, November 6th at midnight.

If you have any questions or problems linking up just leave a comment & I'll do my best to help you out.

Next week's theme: Animals!

For the Love of Autumn

Two posts in one day?! Crazy, I know. But I remembered a cowl that I crocheted last week that I wanted to enter into Rachel's Celebrate Color party.

But more on that in a minute. I wanted to share some non-stitchy fall color celebration first.

I love the way the autumn sun lights up the prairie.

We made a jack-o-lantern the other day, but I only bought one pumpkin. So we decided to make a 2-faced one!

Doesn't he make a great jack-o-lantern??

Cutting up my side.

Jake's side.

My side.

We cut these guys a couple weeks ago so they've already gotten soggy and got thrown into the burn barrel the other day. I still have some mini pumpkins on the table & we'll probably carve another one this weekend for Halloween. :D

The other day we went out into the back pasture to get the horses because Jake needed to take them down to the boss' house for shipping time. The horses like to hang out in the back corner of the pasture so it was about a mile & a half out and back. That's not that bad of a distance on the road, but when you're following cow trails it's a little rougher. Luckily the horses came right up to us & trailed back to the house no problem. The dogs had a great time too!

Our pups playing in the grass.

My tailgater, Fancy.

And now for my first cowl...

This was my first experience with working in rounds. The first time I started it I got it twisted. It took me about 4 rows to figure that out. So I ripped it all out. Next I couldn't figure out how to join each round without increasing the number of stitches. I ripped about twice as much as I stitched, but after 2/3 finished I still had increased by 10+ stitches and the joins looked TERRIBLE! At the Sewing Summit Rachel had a do. Good Stitches bee meet-up with a crochet lesson/session. I really wanted to learn about the bee so this was the perfect opportunity to do that and also get some help with my cowl. The fabulous Suzy helped me figure out where my mistakes were and I ripped the entire thing out and started again. After zillions of stitches I think I finally figured it out.

And here it is! Please excuse the terrible self-portraits. :)

Convertible Cowl from The Crimson Owl

Wide enough to be worn as a hood.

This is definitely my favorite way to wear this. Now I just need to find a cute pin that coordinates.

And just for the fun of it...

Sunrise the other morning. I love the jagged rays in the clouds.

Celebration of Color - Embroidery

Warning to my fellow Misfits: These are pictures of my hoop for the swap. If you want it to be a surprise until my partner receives it do not read further. :)

The flowers here have all gone dormant & the world has gone gold. Spring is just a memory now, but I wanted to showcase the variety of the prairie in this fun little embroidery.

Prairie Grass

Prairie Flower

I love this horse print & I thought it could use a little stitch-y enhancement.

All done! I think....

...you never know, more may be added before this hoop goes in the mail.

This quote is from one of my favorite songs, "May the Trail Rise Up to Greet You" by Dave Stamey. I love this song! It is so uplifting and I've been known to play it over & over on my drive home from work. :) You can get a taste of the song on iTunes; just look up Dave Stamey, it's near the bottom of the songs list.

I hope my partner likes this hoop & appreciates how much this line means to me. I think she will. ;)

The prairie isn't just a place to live, it's a way of life.

Stitches used: stem stitch & french knot- writing, blanket stitch- applique edge, lazy daisy- grass, straight (fill) stitch- flower/grass stem, horse hair, ears, & eye

Embroidery floss used: Weeks Dye Works in Rum Raisin (love this thread!), Cosmo 6-strand variegated, DMC 6-strand

I'm linking up to Celebrate Color. If you haven't heard of it get over there now! There are some amazing creations & inspiration in all stitching forms.

The Sewing Summit

Well, I made it to The Sewing Summit! I got a little worried when I hit snow outside of Rock Springs & it didn't let up until I came down out of the mountains into Salt Lake City, but I made it! The snow put me a little behind schedule for picking up my awesome roommate, Rachel, from the airport, but she didn't have to wait long.

View from our room. Most of the weekend the mountains were covered by the storm.

I had an amazing time & look forward to more Sewing Summits in the future. It's already becoming a dream in my memory especially since I didn't take nearly enough pictures. But I did get a few. Enjoy!!

Some of the first people I met in the lobby were Bari J & Suzy. They are the sweetest ladies & I had a great time hanging out with them throughout the weekend, especially Saturday night in the BabyLock sewing room. Sadly I didn't get a picture with Suzy, they had to leave before the goodbyes on Sunday, but hopefully I'll get to see her again soon. :)

With Bari

Friday was early check-in and then the shop hop. 50 of us climbed onto a chartered bus and visited 3 different quilt shops. I found some great stuff (more on that later)! After the shop hop we climbed into my Jeep & a few of us went to Blazing Needles yarn shop. My new friend, Jacey, taught Rachel & I about the different weights of yarn and helped me pick out a beautiful rose colored skein of malabrigo. That night at the open sewing session she taught me the knit & purl stitches.

Saturday was class day. I learned a lot of fun techniques from each of the classes. We also had 2 classes before goodbyes on Sunday.

Tailoring by Hand with Gertie

Marvelous Minis with Amanda

And I met some amazing women!!

Me & Chris. Such a sweetheart.

With Amanda.

I was super nervous to meet her, but she is just as sweet in person as she is on Twitter. Everyone was! It was so wonderful to be a part of this amazing experience.

Busty Larue. She's awesome!

With Jana. I think she was trying not to laugh.

She & Jen were a couple more who were at our crazy Saturday night sewing party.

Some of my favorite gals & more from the Saturday night crew. Jill, Rachel, Jacey, & Me

Amy & Erin, the fabulous TSS founders

All I can say is that there was lots of stitching, cracking jokes to the point of tears, & maybe a little rum involved in a wonderful weekend!!

And between swag & purchases I came home with a lot more than what I arrived with!

Beautiful weather Sunday for the drive home.

* Sorry about all the pictures of me. I had to prove to Jake that I actually met and befriended these women, not just snapped a random picture of them as they walked past. :)

{Sew} Modern Monday

It's October! Yay! That means I can start decorating for Halloween. :)

(1) My 10 minute table runner that took several weeks. Only because it sat half finished on my shelf while I worked on other projects.

A close-up of the fun fabrics.

I also put up a giant spider web in the window & I have a wall hanging that's ready to be quilted. When I'm at The Sewing Summit this weekend I will be on the lookout for glow-in-the-dark thread.

(2) Remember my Jelly Roll Race quilt top? Well, it too sat on my shelf for weeks (months really). I thought it was going to be a tablecloth, but when I rearranged the dining area & tried it out on the table it was just too busy for my taste. So I changed direction slightly & decided to cut it up and make placemats & oven mitts.

But now I need your help. I don't know how I want to quilt it. I know I don't want to stitch in the ditch. Besides that I have no idea. For an extra incentive to get lots of quilting suggestions I will send a little thank you gift to the person who's suggestion I choose to use. So post those ideas!!

Here are the placemat tops. Fun, huh?

I'm still debating on the backing because I'm not really a fan of yellow, but it goes so well with the top AND I already had it in my stash. 2 will be bound with strips from the black jelly roll & 2 with the off-white.

(3) I made a new camera bag for my point & shoot. It's such an awesome camera and needed a truly awesome pouch to live in. I used some of my Terrain charm pack for the fun and colorful bag.

Be sure to stop by Canoe Ridge Creations if you haven't already to see what everyone else has been up to.