Happy New Year! Before we get too far into 2015, I wanted to at least do a quick reflection on last year. 2014 was full of opportunities, lots of hard work, and some fun. That's not to say it didn't have it's ups and downs.

First and foremost, we survived the polar vortex that hit in January and February. It even inspired a quilt tutorial!


I also released seven patterns this year! Working on patterns was my big focus this year, and I am glad that I was able to get so many in-progress patterns finished and out into the world.


I released two fabric collections this year, Dreamin' Vintage and Geometric Bliss! Every time a collection is released it becomes my new favorite. Keep your eyes peeled for a super duper giveaway coming soon!


I had a hard time choosing my favorite project from 2014, but I think I have to choose this Sew Together Bag made in Nordika. I use it all the time, and it was fun to make!


Lebron James came back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, which was pretty darn awesome for this Cavs fan! We were even able to attend some games!


I kept up my knitting this year, not as much as I would have liked, but that's okay. I tried to challenge myself, and I am ready to start my first sweater this year.


George also sat on this giant ball of yarn. So ridiculous of him!


I had the opportunity to travel quite a bit this year, including just an hour away to New Glarus for another summer sewing retreat!


George was a bee for Halloween! The cutest bumble bun ever.


The end of 2014 was quite busy! We traveled home to Ohio to spend Christmas with my family. After the holiday we met some of Michael's family in the Caribbean for a week-long cruise. It was such a nice break for us.



Last but most certainly not least, Michael took me to the Cleveland Zoo before Christmas and proposed! Of course I said yes! It's a thrill to call him my fiancé and wear my great-grandmother's ring :)

Here's to a wonderful and exciting 2015!

Weekly Snapshot

Happy Wednesday! Thank you for all the love here on the blog and on Instagram on my Sunset Tiles quilt. I really love how it turned out, and I'm glad you do too! There is still time to save on the book, check the bottom of that post for the code!

Two weekends ago now, we were able to go home to Cleveland for a quick visit!


It was nice to be able to travel for fun, and spend some time relaxing and unwinding at home. Behind the scenes work has been keeping me busy and stressed, and a little weekend away was just what I needed. We were able to squeeze quite a bit in to our trip, including a bit of thrifting. My Mom found me this awesome Christmas pyramid for $10 and I found the reindeer for $3! Score!


I finished my Daybreak shawl while I was there and have been wearing it constantly. Just need to snap some good photos! More on Ravelry.


We were able to go to a Cavs game! We were all ready to go with our Cavs gear! And they won, big time! Woo!


When we got home, the winter issue of Modern Patchwork was on my doorstep. I'll be sharing more about my quilt, made from Geometric Bliss, next week!


I got some quilting done this past weekend. Moved the machine while I quilted to get a little more space. We got about 5 inches of snow early in the week, so it's been feeling nice and cozy in my sewing room!


George bun! He went to the vet yesterday for a check-up, and was given a clean bill of health! Extra carrots are in his future for being so good! :)

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Weekly Snapshot

Happy Thursday! It's time for another round of Weekly Snapshot. Which, I suppose I should rename "Bi-Weekly Snapshot". Or "Every Once in a While Snapshot", but that's just too complicated!

This fun little stack of fat quarters from all of my collections is hanging out in my sewing room. It's cool to see them all together!


I have a quilt in the new Scraps, Inc book from Lucky Spool, out this month. I'll be sharing the full quilt and more details soon! It's one of my favorites!


I am a big Adventure Time fan, and I recently started reading the Adventure Time comic. It's really good, and so much like the show! This is vol 3, but I'm on vol 5 right now!


This probably comes as no surprise, but I am always on the lookout for black rabbit things. I have had very little luck over the years, but last week I hit the jackpot! A STUFFED ANIMAL! I love stuffed animals, so needless to say, I was really excited! We named him Theodore, Theo for short. He is made by Jellycat and is so soft.


I am a huge Orla Kiely fan, and was excited to find her new cosmetic bags for Target. I was well behaved and only brought things pink one home. And I am actually going to use it for cosmetics when I travel, fancy!


The Cavs started their season last week, and we are a little excited about it over here! It's going to be fun following along this year!


I had to give you one more George Halloween shot! He really does make a cute bee :)

Have a great day!

Weekly Snapshot

Happy Tuesday! It's good to be back in this space this week. I had plans to post some finished projects last week and then the weather was all rainy and dark so I couldn't get the photos I needed! Then I was going to post one of those projects here today, but I managed to delete the photos before I transferred them to my computer, whoops! So, it's a snapshot post today instead.


I sent some quilt tops that had been hanging around to Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting last month, one is bound (hopefully I'll be sharing it later this week!), and the other has binding waiting! I am totally addicted to having things quilted, I'm not going to lie. It relieves a lot of stress for me, and I feel like I can focus more on the parts I truly love. Win-win!


Two weekends ago I sat down to experiment with sewing knits on my serger. My Geomteric Bliss knits arrived, but I wanted to practice before cutting into them. I was able to make a successful knit Scout Tee! I still can't believe I made it honestly! I will take photos of it on at some point! I used Jen's tips for making the pattern from knits here.


I started my Q4 challenge project for the Eat Sleep Knit Yarnathon at the beginning of the month! I am making the Daybreak shawl by Stephen West. I am really loving it, and was so excited to try knitting stripes for the first time, they're really fun. I'm using Madelinetosh Pashmina in Moonstone and Cephalopod Bugga in Bold Jumping Spider. I now have seven stripes of each color knit, woo! See more on my Ravelry.


This past weekend, Michael and I headed down to Fitchburg to pick apples and pumpkins! It was a little chilly, so we had to break into the emergency bag for hats when we got there, but we warmed up pretty quick. I had never picked apples before, so I had been wanting to go for a few years now. I'm glad we finally got around to it, it was so cool! We had a great time.


The only natural thing to do with a bunch of apples it bake a pie, right? I had never baked an apple pie before, so it was fun to try out something other than pumpkin pie. I used this crust and filling recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It turned out really good! We didn't have the right apples, but you couldn't really tell. The crust was perfect, I will definitely use that recipe again.


George baby!

Have a great day!

Weekly Snapshot

Happy Wednesday! I'm going to attempt to bring back weekly snapshot, again! This time though, I know weekly is a bit unrealistic, so I'm trying for every other week. We'll see how it goes!


I took some time to make some quilt backs yesterday. I've let the quilt tops pile up again, so it's time to get that pile down again!


Played with this pretty palette of solids last week! All Pure Elements by Art Gallery Fabrics.


I did manage to get new (and old) artwork framed, but unfortunately it's still not hung up. That's this weekend's goal! I swear!


I found this tin over the summer, but it's too good not to share. It's tiny and I love it. It matches this one I found a few years ago. It's still one of my favorites.


I finally, after years and years of wanting one, bought a label maker! WOO! Seriously, I was very excited. I went with this one and already bought a double pack of extra tape. Now I can label all the things.


George bunny! I was trying to get him to pose next to this absolutely giant skein of yarn (it's literally called Yowza Whatta Skein by Miss Babs), but then he jumped right on top of it. Silly rabbit. Made for a better photo anyways!

Have a great week!

Weekly Snapshot

Happy Monday! I thought it was high time for a snapshot post. Mostly because it has been too long since the last George photo! He is one photogenic rabbit!


It is wild black raspberry season! I have been eating them as soon as I pick them. I did break down and make a couple batches of freezer jam.  I had made it before but was so-so about it. This time I took the time to strain out the seeds and it's 1000x better! I am looking forward to enjoying it all year!


I started a new knitting project! It's for the third quarter challenge over at Eat Sleep Knit. I'm knitting the Pogona Shawl by Stephen West. More info over on Ravelry.


I put up some simple skinny shelves last week for some of my mini collections. Some of my favorite Hello Kitty trinkets took over! I might shorten the loops and add another row, there are quite a few more HK tins!


I have been putting some new knitting goodies to use lately! These are from my sweet friend Holly! You can find the knitting gauge and thread organizer in her shop, here!


I love having matching things, so I didn't hesitate to add these things to my purse! (Both are from Target, purse is from Amazon)


Michael and I managed to get out the big camera on the 4th! We're making an effort to take more photos!


Ever hear of the Prince and the Pea? :)

Weekly Snapshot

Happy Tuesday! It's time for another weekly snapshot! I've been doing lots of fun things since last month's update, because I get too busy preparing for Quilt Market again! I love traveling with my Singer Featherweight, so my travel bag has been getting a lot of use.  I am hoping to have a pattern ready for the set this Spring! I need to make one for my white Featherweight anyways!


Two weekends back, I headed out to Iowa for a crafty weekend with Deedee and Anna! We took a screen printing class at Home Ec Workshop in Iowa City.  It was a BLAST! Seriously, we had so much fun! It's such a cute shop too, if you're ever in the area! I decided to do a little print to use for knitting bags! I can't wait to stitch some up!


I have a Spring Day birthday, and it was wonderful to celebrate with a fun weekend! Deedee is an amazing baker, check out this crazy awesome cake she made for me! Seriously, she's the best. And, the inside of the cake is purple, my favorite color!


This past weekend, I went up north to visit Holly! It had been almost two years since I had last made the drive up, so it was really nice to visit again! We did all kinds of things, including two rounds of yarn dyeing! We are both totally hooked! My two yarns are on the left, and Holly's are on the right.  I want to use them right away! Or just look at them. I can't decide!

We used the book Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece as a guide, it was really helpful. They were dyed with Jacquard Acid Dyes and MCN High Twist Fingering Yarn from Wool2dye4.com.


Holly has a crazy cute Morkie named Jackson! We caught him dreaming on my Dreamin' Vintage fabric.  So sweet!


A few weeks ago, I also had the pleasure of making the short trip up to Mill House Quilts for a lecture and trunk show! I loved this Nordika quilt they have hanging in the shop.  It's available as a kit on their website, here.


I treated myself earlier last month to a new t-shirt from Patchwork Threads! They've got all kinds of awesome quilty t-shirts, make sure to check them out!


"HI!" says George!