Hope Valley and More

Before I get into even more new fabric, I thought I'd share a couple things I made with that cool Hope Valley fabric from my last post. I haven't been sharing a lot of sewing projects lately...

Of course, I made a coupon organizer. That goes without saying these days.

(Shameless Plug: Don't forget you can make your own coupon organizer with my sewing pattern.)

And while I was cutting out the organizer, I decided to go ahead and make a bag too.

 I've got a little bit of this fabric left, what do you think I should make next?

And just so I don't leave you wondering. Trisha and I (and her awesome kids!) went to Keepsake Cottage Fabrics the other day and she made me get these:

A few prints from Moda's Whimsy collection. I've been anxiously awaiting these (and hoping I'd manage to get pregnant while they're around, hehe) for ages. They're every bit as gorgeous in person. I'm very impressed with myself, only getting these little bits...for now. I've already got a couple projects in the works with my little bit of Whimsy.

A little tribute to Seattle landed in my bag as well.  Rainy Days and Mondays by Melimba & Beccabury. Isn't this adorable!?!

I can't really blame Trisha for my fabric weaknesses, she was just encouraging me really.

Works in Progress

This post is just to prove that I haven't been sitting around eating bon bons while not blogging, ahem.

Month 2 of Sock Club at Yarn Stash in Burien. I couldn't actually go to the meeting this month because it was on Nick's birthday, but Trisha and I got together and started our socks. They knit up pretty quickly though I still probably won't ever make the second one. I'm the poster child for second sock syndrome.

I pulled some fabric off the dusty old shelf and put this quilt top together. This is one I've had bagged & planned for about 3 years - no foolin'.

You see how I'm trying to make something other than coupon organizers? I got the adorable bumble bee fabric you see here and didn't know what to do with it. I think it'll make a very sweet little zipper pouch. Maybe a long skinny one? More stash busting too. My 30's prints were meant for sewing!

Last but not least, more Hope Valley added to my collection. If you sell fabric crafts, you know that Denyse Schmidt not only designs great fabric (quilts, patterns, etc., etc.), but she sells too (I hope I don't sound shallow saying that, but it's true. A girl's gotta run a business)! You can't go wrong with these fabrics. I admit, I get a lot more pleasure from putting them together than I do sewing them together.

So now you know, I may be quiet, but I'm still working away.

Sweet Things

Just wanted to share some baking projects from this past week. I like to use any holiday as an excuse to make cupcakes, St. Patrick's Day was no exception.

I started, actually ended, with some Thin Mints from the Girl Scouts.

Chocolate cupcakes and a little green frosting.

I frosted the first dozen the old-fashioned way, with a knife. It took too long and looked a little too "bake sale" for my taste.

So, I switched to piping and then sacrificed 3 Thin Mint cookies to crumble on top. These cupcakes were a hit and the mint on top turned out to be just the right amount. Nick thought I'd actually flavored the frosting too!

That's not all the baking for this week. Yesterday was Nick's birthday!! We went to a party for our friends' daughter and 2 other adults. I was chosen to make the adult cake, so I went with this design since all 3 adults are British.

It was a little wonky, in my opinion, but very tasty. I made a marble cake with chocolate frosting in between layers & vanilla buttercream on the outside. Yummmm!

Next week might seem like a sweet letdown after that cake. Hmmm, maybe some lemon scones?

Spring has Sprung

Nick and I went for a drive up to La Conner this weekend to see if any of the flowers are blooming yet.

Next month we'll go back to see the tulips!

My First Cables

You know I've been getting into knitting lately, right? Well this weekend I finally tried my first cables! Trisha and I went to a pattern release party at Yarn Stash in Burien and started making these great fingerless gloves. 

 

The pattern is by Jennifer Hagen of Figheadh Yarnworks. Jennifer was there to help us through the pattern and to show us the new patterns she's releasing. I must say, her knitted samples were gorgeous! The Off Kilter Mitts pattern is available as a free download here.

 

This is the yarn I chose to make my mitts. It's a wool from Cascade Yarns called Quattro, the color is Fiji. I like a solid with a little something going on, so this one's perfect for me (and affordable).

I got enough done at the shop to get a little help with the cables. It wasn't too hard and the pattern is really well written & easy to follow. All you have to do is pay attention!

Unbelievably, I finished my first mitt that night!! (I'm sure Trisha will be amazed.) What's great about these is that you just knit two of the same mitt. No left and right. Pretty cool, eh?

I think I did pretty well for my first time cabling. Some of the stitches are a little loose at the edges of the cables, but I don't mind. I used DPN's, and I think that was the wrong choice. I definitely learned a lot from this project and I look forward to making the other mitt.