winners! and a little more about amy

I realize I should have done a little Q&A with Amy with the giveaway post, but I'm not always on top of things like that. I think we would all like to know Amy a bit better and find out more about these lovely photographs! So without further ado.... (yes, I'll get to the winners!)
photo by Justin Hackworth

Tell us about your family.
My husband, Justin, and I have two darling boys, ages 5 and 3. Being married to Justin is truly joyful—we laugh and laugh together and he’s a great friend and companion. Our boys are shake-your-head-in-disbelief adorable, bright and beautiful kids at whom I just marvel.

How long have you been doing photography?
I’ve been taking pictures since I was 14 or 15, with various levels of commitment and skill. I’m married to my best teacher, which is great fortune.

What kind of camera do you use?
I shot the thread with a Canon 10D, a hand-me-down from Justin. I used close up rings on a 50 mm lens.

How did you come up with the concept for these particular photos? ie: where did you get those great spools?!
These spools are a little inheritance from my Granny. I just love them. The process of photographing them revealed more than I had seen before, which was really fun. I mention this in the Etsy shop but, for example, I hadn’t realized how many spools of the same colors she had. She must have had an orange dress (and a teal one, and a blue one) that kept losing buttons, and she must have bought matching thread only to come home and find two spools of orange already in her hall closet. I imagine that’s how it must have gone because that’s something I would do. How else would you collect so many of the same colors? I also loved seeing these really beautiful contemporary colors in thread that was 30 or 40 years old.

Can we expect to see more?
I’d love to do more. I scored some beautiful vintage Christmas ornaments at a garage sale last year and I’d love to make great photographs of them . . . we’ll see if I can pull it off.

You like to sew and quilt too - what's your favorite thing about sewing? Your favorite project that you've completed?
Mmmmm, my favorite thing about sewing is the act of creation. I realized this when I was a teenager, working on a plaid skirt or something, that what I loved about this process was the element of creation. I believe our desire to create comes from our connection to God, our divinity, and acting on those divine desires is powerful and important.

A favorite project that I’ve semi-recently completed is a Kaffe Fassett quilt called Patchwork Gridlock. It went through a few revisions over the course of a few years, but I’m very proud of it. I haven’t posted it on my blog yet, but this is some good motivation. I’ll get right on that! Check back, ok? I’m planning to hand quilt it, inspired by a project in Joelle Hoverson’s Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, a beautiful book.

What are some of your other creative hobbies?
Writing, reading and music. The creative endeavor I spend most time on right now is parenting.

What inspires you creatively?
Being outside is really calming and creatively nurturing for me. I find little moments of creative inspiration weeding in the yard, working in our garden, hanging out with my kids at the park. Maybe it’s fresh air . . . I don’t know, but it definitely works. I’m also really inspired by pattern and shape; I love textiles, of course, and great art. Anyone doing really great work inspires me because it reflects a commitment to consistently, deliberately engage in a craft.

Books like Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit are also great inspiration and motivation.

How long have you been blogging? I love your insightful posts.
Thank you, ma’am. I finally started blogging last summer, motivated by my friend Molly’s blog (jacksonparkcity.blogspot.com). Her little girl passed away just a few weeks before her second birthday, and Molly’s blog was such a beautiful record of her daughter’s life and the joy she brought them. I wanted to create that sort of record for my family.

I had also long been inspired by great craft bloggers and great writers . . . so my blog is a little of everything--very little, I’d like to post more. I’m working on it . . .

Thank you so much, Amy! It's great to get to know you better! This was really fun, I think I need to do it again - anyone want me to interview them???


Now, on to the winners! I always feel a little dread choosing the winners. I think it's just that I don't have enough to give to everyone and then I feel sad for the people who didn't win. But, hey, two of you did win!



#40

Stephanie said... 40

oops, forgot to add that i'm a subscriber! great blog!

4:20 PM, July 22, 2009

good thing you remembered or someone else might have won!

#50

Taya said... 50

I would love the spools # 4 so fun my sewing area is my girls play room too and I have it decorated in bright colors this would be perfect in there. I am a follower too.

11:52 AM, July 23, 2009

I feel your pain - my sewing corner is also in the playroom!

Ladies, expect an email from me! And everyone else, next time, there will be a next time! Besides (at the risk of sounding cheesy) if you are creating beautiful things and enjoying life you are already a winner!

And, you can always go and buy some of your own at Amy's shop. :)

a bridal shower

Here for the giveaway? Click here.

I mentioned in a previous post that I am going to a wedding in South Carolina next week. Over the last weekend I got to play a small part in throwing a shower for the bride-to-be. It was so much fun! And thanks to the hard work of my friend Jen, the house looked gorgeous and the food was awesome! Not that I would have expected anything less.

I threw some simple invitations together with the ink I had left in my printer and paper I had on hand. They inspired the colors for the decorations. I love the way it looked! (luckily Jen had some ribbon and white cardstock to dress one up for a keepsake.) I made some cake balls a la Bakerella for favors. They were lemon cake dipped in white chocolate. You can sort of see them in their cellophane bags under the invite.

Tissue pom poms, by Martha, adorned the windows.

An assortment of little sandwiches: curried chicken, waldorf chicken, and the quintessential crustless cucumber. (thanks to Jen for the recipes, found below)

Why yes, this salad did taste as good as it looks! Blueberries, strawberries, candied almonds, feta and mixed greens. She used Brianna's blush wine vinaigrette. That's my kind of salad. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sit down with that bowl all to myself.

Really, who doesn't love a fruit kabob? (Even if the picture is blurry!)

I loved that she reused these lemonade bottles instead of pitchers. I thought they looked so cute!

And I've not jumped on the cupcake-love wagon, preferring more traditional pastry type desserts, but I have to say, these. were. AMAZING. I had blueberry-lemon and I can barely talk about it with bursting into tears of joy. They were from local bakery Baked and Wired.

We had so much fun celebrating our dear friend! Can't wait for the wedding. Did I mention that I'm going sans kids? I think I will be sleeping a lot. Not DURING the wedding of course. Just in the car.


The Recipes

Minty Cucumber Sandwiches

1 8oz. Cream Cheese1 Stick Butter
3-4 T. Fresh Mint (minced)
1 tsp. Fresh Tarragon (minced)
1-2 tsp. lime juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 cucumbers, sliced
Sliced bread

Blend ingredients until creamy. Spread over bread of your choice, followed by one layer of sliced cucumbers, cut off crust. You can make these as open faced or close faced sandwiches.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Waldorf

1 lb. cooked chicken (minced)
½- ¾ C Mayonnaise
½ Celery (minced)
3-4 Green Onions (minced)
¼ C Dried Currants or Craisins
¼ C Slivered Almonds
2 tsp. cider vinegar
1 T. Sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste

Curry Chicken

1 lb. cooked chicken (minced)
½- ¾ C Mayonnaise
½ Celery (minced)
3-4 Green Onions (minced)
¼ C Raisins
¼ C Slivered Almonds (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tsp. Curry Powder

Mix and adjust to taste.

it's a good sign giveaway

I met Amy, who blogs at It's A Good Sign, about 5 years ago when her husband, Justin Hackworth, photographed my wedding. (you may have seen his work here. And check out pics from his latest trip to Haiti and the D.R.)

Amy and I have since become better friends through our blogs and email. She's a sewer and creative person who also happens to be one of the NICEST people I've had the pleasure of knowing. I was really impressed when I saw this image on Design Mom last spring! I didn't know Amy was a photographer too - it only made sense though. (By the by, that's a great post on teaching your kids to sew.)

So I snatched one up from her Etsy shop. And put it in a frame and hung it on the wall in my cramped little sewing corner, er, um, I mean studio. I ♥ it so much!

To my surprise, Amy had included several sets of notecards.

featuring each of these images. I just love the old wooden spools.

A company that distributes to quilt stores just placed a large order for them! (That's a good sign!)

and she sent me enough to share.

Her cards and prints are printed on nice heavy paper and will certainly look great in your studio too! And for just this week, Amy has put everything on sale 20% off! Thanks, Amy! What an affordable way to have some original art!

I have two sets of notecards (4 cards each) up for grabs!

To enter:
1. Go visit Amy's shop and come back here and leave a comment about what you like about her shop. 1 entry
2. Leave me another comment letting me know you are a follower/subscriber. 1 entry
3. Blog about the giveaway linking back to this post and yes, leave one more comment. 1 entry

I'll leave the giveaway open until Sunday 4:00 PM EDT, 26 July. 2 winners will be chosen via Random.org. I'll post the winners Monday morning, 27 July.

good luck!

tired.

That's how I've been feeling lately. The reality of a deployed husband has been wearing on me so much lately. It's hard playing mom and dad and still trying to find time for myself. I've managed to do it, but sacrificing sleep in the process. It's finally caught up to me. And I have a whole new appreciation for the women who go at it alone every day.

Were you wondering what their offices look like over there? Pretty dusty.

I won't tell him I posted this picture of him here if you won't, okay? I'm so proud of him!

We are in the final stretch here, he's coming home in just a few short weeks! I'm trying to stay busy until then and have a long to-do list.

• I finally got the rest of the backing fabric needed for my quilt along quilt, so I can quilt it.
• Recovering some of my pillows for my couch.
• Going to the beach!
• Going to South Carolina for a dear friend's wedding.
• A Notion or Two quilt block for July.
• Organizing my sewing area.
• DECLUTTERING.
• Cleaning my house.
• Putting together my new IKEA chairs.
• Wedding quilt (for aforementioned wedding)
• Sewing for my daughter, summer quilt (better get on that before summer is over)
• Spending time at the pool.
• Posting an awesome giveaway (hopefully on Tuesday).
• Hosting painting week here.
• Finish up my bird quilt - I got some awesome backing fabric for that too.
  

So, I've got a lot to do. Anyone else feeling this way?

le 14 juillet

otherwise known as Bastille Day! It's not really a secret that I love France. French things, french style, FRENCH FOOD. Okay, maybe really it's just the things they do with butter, sugar and flour that entice me. But one of my favorite memories of my time in France and Belgium was the crepes. Especially the ones eaten across the river from the Eiffel Tower filled with bananas and nutella, by far my all time favorite filling.

image via cafe triskell

Because today is the French national holiday I dedicate this post to all my dear friends and a dear country that I love! And, I wanted to share with you my recipe for crepes. Pretty simple really, just takes a little practice in the cooking...

Crepes!
3 eggs
Vanilla (to taste)
1 Cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar (optional - I actually rarely use it.)
1 1/3 Cup milk
1 Tbsp oil


Blend eggs and milk together in a blender. Slowly add flour while mixing (this will make the batter smooth – not lumpy). Add vanilla, sugar and oil.

Heat crepe pan or 10" skillet over med-high heat (on the lower end). Lightly spray pan with cooking spray. Pour (about) ¼ C. batter in the center of the pan and swirl it until it covers the bottom. Let cook until a shake of the pan releases the crepe and it slides easily over the surface. Flip using a spatula or a flick of the wrist!

As you cook the crepes stack them on a plate or foil. To keep warm until serving wrap tightly in foil and let sit in a warm oven. They can also be frozen and reheated.

image via cafe triskell

Fill with yummy stuff! Such as:
Nutella (with bananas!) Lemon juice and sugar
Jam Fresh fruit
Ice cream and chocolate sauce Applesauce
Smashed bananas cooked with brown s ugar
AND the whipped cream!!

I hope you don't get this too late in the day to join in celebrating with me and having them for dessert! If you do - let me know how you like them!

the nursery reveal!

I've been busy getting this bedding set together for Maggie. Who in fact is probably having that baby as I type this! I finally finished the binding on the blanket.

I was really kind of
VERY sad to see this go. I ♥ it so much! I really am going to make another one of those pillows. I also think I need pom pom fringe in every color!

I got to her house and set to work on tying 6 bumpers on the crib. The ribbon worked out well, although it was a bit short to tie bows. But I think I like this better anyway.

I'm definitely not a baby bedding stylist, but I tried to get some pictures to show how cute it all looked in it's new home.

I love the rocking chair corner. We couldn't decide which side of the pillow we liked better, I'm sure it will be flip-flopping a lot. I covet that pink damask lamp - I eyed it at Target every time I went and didn't pick it up. Silly me.

And what a fun cute little elephant nightlight!

The bed decided it liked this side of the pillow.

I love the wainscotting with the pale yellow walls. And HELLO gorgeous chandelier!

Is it weird that I'm so attached to this bedding? The room is very sweet and calm. I told her I'm coming over to hold the baby and sit in there when I need a break! And Maggie, good luck today!

This is by far the biggest custom order I've taken on. Well, besides the bags I've done, it's the only one. But I'm so glad I did it. I learned to use my serger better as well as how to sew with minky (pin it A LOT!). I discovered how much I like collaborating with someone to create something beautiful which will be well-loved . And it was a huge confidence builder for me. Perhaps I have it in me to take on more challenging projects.

What challenging projects have you been working on lately?

and the pillow

Another sneak -

I decided this little number needed a little pizazz. Enter the pompom fringe!

I'm delivering all of the bedding today! Can't wait to take some pictures of the whole nursery. Will post soon!

Stay tuned for my first ever theme-week: Painting Makeovers! (mr. linky will be making an appearance!)

crochet anyone?

Are you tired of taking mismatched store bought reusable totes to the store? Do you want to make your own that could look as cute as this?

Penny at sewtakeahike has come out with her first pattern!

She is giving away 5 pdf files of the pattern and the tote you see up top! Just go to her site to see the 3 ways you can enter! Really it's so easy!

and if I may quote her:
But really, everyone is a winner. Because during the giveaway, I'm offering the pattern up for only $3.50. Just through the giveaway time. It will go to it's normal price of $5 next Sunday June 12th at 8pm MST. (If you purchase the pattern during the giveaway and win a copy, I will reimburse you.)

what have you got to lose? Even if you don't win the bag or pattern, you will have met one of the nicest crafty bloggers on the planet.

If you will excuse me now, I need to go buy some yarn.

i really do ♥ pink

and I really do ♥ my new-to-me serger. Remember how I got it?

I finally got it out while my mom was here and figured out the tension and have had fun finishing up seams! It's especially helpful in taming the fuzz minky creates!

I was asked by a friend if I would be interested in making her baby bedding so we met up and she picked out a couple of my FAVORITE prints! Amy Butler Belle Acanthus in Olive for the blanket and Sandi Henderson's Medallion Bloom from the Farmer's Market collection. And the piece de resistance - hot pink minky to back both.

Now I just need to hand-stitch the binding down on this blanket. Look at that nice serged edge!

The instructions on the bumper pads say to cut 24 20x2" strips of fabric then press them all, then topstitch them all and 5 hours later you can have fabric ties. And some burned finger tips. How do I know this? I've made them before. I decided it would be just as lovely to use a coordinating grosgrain ribbon in Lemongrass.

I just love the moment in a project where you get to see it all come together! It's so satisfying! I really want to keep these for myself (no, I'm not announcing anything) - they are just so CUTE! And the blanket is deliciously cuddly. That's the real minky there folks - it really is softer than the imposters! (and now I sound like a commercial.)

So this is a little sneak peak for you Maggie! I hope you are as excited as I am!