i have to say...

putting food by

It's canning week!  We started yesterday with corn (my very first time!) and today is salsa day, and Wednesday is all about the green beans.  Since my garden is a bust, I bought a load of goodies from the farmer's market.  Maybe next year I will be canning home-grown, but this works for now.

I am getting a chance to use my new power-tool:

This thing is awesome!

Once I went through the instructions and got it going, I wasn't afraid of it anymore.  In the booklet there are recipes for making soup for 30 people in under one hour.  Is it only me that gets kind of excited about things like that?  Mass-production is a little hobby of mine.

Anyone want to come over for lunch?  I will be serving soup, of course!

my mini-ornitholigist

This past week Aubry's science topic was birds and she has really taken to this one.  She built a birdfeeder with dad's help and spends time each day sitting in a chair with a mini pair of binoculars, just waiting for her subjects to show up.  The cool thing is that I have not asked her to do this, she is just dying to see some action at her feeder.

The problem is that nothing is coming to feed.  Not one bird.  And she is feeling a bit disappointed.

Any tips for attracting birds to a feeder?  We could use some advice.

Hopefully I can post some pics of the birds at her feeder soon.  :)

and the winner is.....

Heather @ Quilt or Stitch!

From the look of Heather's blog, she will really enjoy this quilt kit.  Check out her blog for tons of beautiful and inspiring quilts.

***Heather, you can email me (see the link in the sidebar) or convo me through Etsy with your address and a list of the 10 fat quarters you want for the quilt top so I can get that out to you ASAP.   Congratulations!  :)

For those of you who LOVE a giveaway, check out Feather and Cloth's blog.  She is giving away a full fat quarter set of Love by Amy Butler.  Simply fun!

Thank you so much for making my sale a huge success!  I will be back on Monday as soon as I dig myself out from under the pile of fabric that was sold!

Have a lovely weekend!

a giveaway!

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED AND COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED.  THANK YOU FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY!  THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED TOMORROW MORNING.

I am having a giveaway!

A really cool giveaway!  Allison at Cluck, Cluck, Sew has just released a line of wonderful new quilt patterns and I am giving one away with the fat quarters needed to make it.  The pattern is called Skipping Squares and it takes 10 FQ's to make the colorful parts of the blocks.  You will receive the pattern (shown in the left photo above) and the fat quarters of your choice, if you win.  There are six ways to enter:

entry #1--leave a comment on this post with your email address in case I need to contact you

entry #2--post about my sale on your blog (leave an extra comment here if you do this)

entry #3--follow me on facebook (leave an extra comment here if you do this)

entry #4--follow me on twitter (leave an extra comment here if you do this)

entry #5--post about the sale on facebook or twitter (leave an extra comment here if you do this)

entry #6--sign up for my newsletter on the left sidebar (leave an extra comment if you do this)

Well, that's about it for now. I will announce the winner on Friday.

Have a happy day!

i am gonna tell why i love this kid

She is funny, that's why!

We were at church yesterday and we got to doodling on the bulletin. 

There are spots where you can write down specific questions or needs and someone will get back to you.  Here is what we wrote on two of the spots:

I'd like information about: Where to buy cute shoes. (written by me and then shown to Aubry)

I'd like to talk with an Elder of Staff Member about: How funny and kinda weird my mom is. (written by Aubry)

I just about fell over when I saw what she wrote.  What a funny little chiquita my girl is!

We made a decision not to hand in our bulletin. 

Next time we will pay more attention in church.  :)

shop notes: origins by basic grey for moda

Origins is in my shop and it is beautiful!  The colors are perfect for fall sewing with it's browns, yellows and aquas.  I have them listed in yard cuts and bundles.  If you need more than a yard, just let me know and I can set up a custom listing for you.

Have a great weekend!

to market, to market...

...to replace all of the non-growing veggies in my garden!

OK, it's not as catchy as the nursery rhyme, but it works for this post.

I have to admit that I have a lot of totebags that I make but don't use that often.  Is that a reason not to make another one?  Not really.

This one is for the farmer's market since there is so much good stuff to choose from there lately.  I need a bag to carry it all.

On the inside of the bag I used burlap (thanks, Jessica, for the idea!) so that I don't have to worry about veggies staining a lovely print.  The burlap can take it and still look just fine.

I plan to bring much more home than fits in this bag this weekend, but I like that the fun extras will have a spot of their own.

Even fruits and veggies like to have a place to call "home", you know.

***The fabric is from Robert Kaufman's Metro Market collection.

i am sorry to say...

...that this year's garden is a bust!

This is about it as far as the tomatoes we will be harvesting.  We have 12 plants and most of them--except for the cherry and grape tomatoes--have a disease that is causing them to ripen early with wrinkly, thick skin.  That means that the little bowl of tomatoes in the picture cost us a whole bunch of money and effort to produce.

Aaargh!

Apparently the farmer's market will be our vegetable source for canning and freezing.  That's OK since there is a lot of quality veggies there these days.  I was just hoping to get the produce from our own yard.

Maybe next year...

How does your garden grow?

a sea of triangles

My Fresh Cottons squares are all sewn together and I am loving how they came out.  This quilt is being sewn together in short bursts of time since I can't find time to sit down and just get it done in a long sitting.  That's OK and it seems to be the norm in my life these days.

Here is the quilt top all laid out.  My goal is to have it sewn together by the weekend:

Emily and I completely forgot to post pictures of the drawstring knapsack in action!  Sorry for the delay!  Here it is on Emily:
Aubry can wear it too as long as the strings are shortened a bit (you can either cut them shorter, or make a knot in them):

***tutorial for the knapsack is here.

Happy crafting!

i dare you to tell me...

...that these aren't the cutest shoes ever!

These babies jumped off the shelves, into my arms, only to be whisked away into the sunset by me. 

Gosh, I love them!

I like to compare myself to their knight in shining armor.  With me, they will live a happy, useful and love-filled life.

When I bought them I didn't even notice how similar the colors are to my shop logo.  I guess I have purchased my first pair of fresh-squeezed shoes.

Perfect!