Besides preparing for the move there isn’t much else going on… my sewing machine actually decided to completely die on Tuesday night while I was in the middle of working on a project. So that meant I couldn’t give it to my sister as planned or finish the projects I had planned on working on this past week… Instead I did take it in to the sewing repair shop & should find out if it is fixable either today or tomorrow. I am still planning on a new machine after we move, but I had really hoped to finish some of the projects I had been working on before we moved. If it isn’t able to be fixed, I guess I will just have to wait though… Oh well! (Side note: I will never, ever buy anything brother brand again after the experience I had with this machine…. their customer support was terrible & I have had so many problems with this thing. End rant – sorry just had to express my frustration. :)

Project 365 is still going strong though & I made a new mosaic for the month of February. I did actually forget to take a photo one day (for the first time since I started the project), but I had taken several the day before so I used one from that day instead. So go ahead & take a look at some of my project 365 photos from February (links to each photo below the mosaic)…

1. :Rainboots in the snow: Day 18 of 365, 2. :Afternoon Tea: Day 19 of 365, 3. :Inside looking out: Day 20 of 365, 4. :Favorites: Day 21 of 365, 5. :Axel: Day 22 of 365, 6. :Reading: Day 23 of 365, 7. :Work in Progress: Day 24 of 365, 8. :Winter: Day 25 of 365, 9. :Prairie: Day 26 of 365, 10. :Inspiration: Day 27 of 365, 11. :Axel: Day 28 of 365, 12. :Lost: Day 29 of 365, 13. :Sunbeam: Day 30 of 365, 14. :Pounce & Me: Day 31 of 365, 15. :Mr Owl: Day 32 of 365, 16. :new shoes: Day 33 of 365, 17. :Whiskers: Day 34 of 365, 18. :Lazy day: Day 35 of 365, 19. :Linen Samples: Day 36 of 365, 20. :Blue Pleated Purse: Day 37 of 365, 21. :Night: Day 38 of 365, 22. :Owl Tote: Day 39 of 365, 23. :Self Portrait of a Mother & Daughter: Day 40 of 365, 24. :Nature in the Winter: Day 41 of 365, 25. :Shadows: Day 42 of 365, 26. :Broken: Day 43 of 365, 27. :Axel helping: Day 44 of 365, 28. :Climbing: Day 45a of 365, 29. :Tired Out: Day 45b of 365, 30. :Sitting at the computer: Day 46 of 365

I can’t honestly say I will miss Illinois (no offense to anyone who lives here & loves it, it just isn’t the right place for me)… although I will admit that I am glad we lived here for this period in our lives as we now have Axel and I wouldn’t trade him for anything! :) It just never felt like we were meant to live in Illinois long term, and there is a lot that I have missed since moving here (like water & trees – and a few trees scattered on the flat land around us doesn’t count:).

Cute owl tote from my sister in law, who said she thought of me when she saw it:) It has nothing to do with this entry, I just thought the entry looked weird without a photo & the tote is so cute I wanted to share it.

Anyways there is a ton to get done in the next couple of weeks… it feels a bit stressful at times, but being excited about the move does help the stress of trying to figure it all out so quickly. Although I think a lot of the stress will go away once we find a place to live out there… Today though I think I might escape the to-do lists & sew for awhile, since I want to get some sewing in before I have to pack everything up! Unfortunately I am going to be sewing machine free at the end of this week… I am actually giving my sister my sewing machine before we move, because I am going to be buying a new one finally :) I am excited about getting a new one, but it is going to be strange to be without a sewing machine for a couple weeks. I do plan on finishing a few projects before I pack it all up though, so I will have those to share while I am without a sewing machine & of course I am sure I will be posting lots of photos since I am sure I will find lots to photograph in our new city:)

I mentioned in my last blog post that I had run out of linen in the middle of a project & so had the fabric store… Luckily I was finally able to get some of the same linen through the stores website so I could match it for the project I was working on & actually finish the project. Although I did decide that I need to find a different source for linen, so I ordered some fabric samples (above photo) and am really quite happy with it although I still need to run it through the wash to see how it washes… Oh and I learned my lesson to not start a project without making sure you have enough fabric:)

After finding the linen I needed, I have been working on a bit of sewing lately although I seem to only pick it up for a few minutes each day which means the projects I have been working on have been slow going. I finally finished up a project yesterday though, this purse for my mom…

It is the same design as this purse that I made for my 2nd blogiversary giveaway (oh and Angela if you are reading this could you email me since I still need your address, thanks!). My mom loved it so much, she asked if I would make her a similar one and since I am a good daughter I did:) (Actually I tend to forget about projects that I tell her I will make, so it is amazing I remembered this one!)

And just to clarify a bit (since I don’t think I was super clear in my first post about this design), for these 2 purses I did end up making my own pattern but was definitely inspired by some of the lovely bags made with the bend the rules sewing pattern & also a few other pleated bags including this one (which is also very similar to the bend the rules bag but was made before that book) & this one.

A few more details… the outside is linen with “Katie Jump Rope” fabric by Denyse Schmidt for the pleats & inside of the purse. I also added a pocket to this purse so that it has 3 pockets (the first one I made had 2), my mom wanted a way to keep her glasses case from falling to the bottom so hopefully the 3rd pocket will work for that. The one detail nobody probably cares about but me… those ties for closing the purse are annoyingly hard to sew up on my current sewing machine!

Now if I can just finish up a few more projects that I am in the middle of working on that would be wonderful! :)

The last couple of weeks have been really cold, well really cold for around here. Even though I grew up further north & should be use to these temps, I am so ready for winter to end already… Around here winter just seems drab & grey to me. We might get snow for a day or two, but then it melts. So I have a hard time finding the beauty in winter, although I am trying. Saturday though was a tiny bit warmer so Ben suggested that we get outside for a bit & take some photos. We headed to a local park that really is more prairie than anything else and walked around, stopping to take photos…

We were both wishing we had actually seen some wildlife on this walk when I glanced towards a field and realized there were deer out there, a herd (?) of 6 deer to be exact! As quickly as possible I switched to the telephoto lens (that is actually technically Ben’s, but he lets me use it:) & traipsed through the mud that minutes earlier I had contemplated walking through for another photo & decided it wasn’t worth it. It was worth it for these shots though as I have never seen so many deer in my life, and it was the first time I have ever seen a buck or a fawn (there were actually a couple of fawns)…

Of course, this city girl had to ask her husband if the buck was dangerous & if he would come after me if I got too close :) (Apparently I am also afraid of chickens, see below for this story.)

Such a wonderful sight & so worth braving the cold for a little bit to get to see this and have a chance to photograph it…

Now the chicken story… On our way home from the park, we took a drive to the fabric store to see if I could find some linen (I am all out & so is the fabric store!). Driving through a neighborhood we spotted in the middle of the city 3 chickens! I guess they must have gotten out of someone’s yard or something? (Is it even legal to keep chickens in the city?) Anyways they seemed perfectly happy to just wander around the sidewalk and I had to jump out of the car to get a couple of photos because it isn’t everyday you see chickens wandering down a sidewalk. The funny part is that when one of them headed towards me, I went running for the car & jumped back inside very quickly! :)

Of course the slightly warmer temps only lasted about a day and now it is back to really cold again:) I am definitely looking forward to summer – warmer temps and longer daylight hours sound lovely right now!

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Here is to a good week! :)

Well first, my goodness I can hardly believe how many lovely comments there were on my 2nd blogiversary post! I was totally shocked & very pleasantly surprised at how many of you came out of hiding to say hi. Seriously Ben & I joked about how many comments we thought I would get & we were both totally off, I got way more than either of us expected. Thank you all for your sweet words & if you de-lurked feel free to stay de-lurked, it would make my February! (And with how cold it is, I could use a happy February!)

Anyways, since there were so many comments I decided to pick 4 winners. 1 person will get the pleated bag, 1 person will get the lap blanket, & 2 people will get something small that will remain a surprise for now (in fact it is such a surprise that I haven’t even made anything yet & am not totally sure what I will send. :)

Via Random.org, the winners…

“Here are your random numbers:

51	97	34	75

Timestamp: 2008-02-01 23:35:14 UTC”

So Angela won the purse, Mariah won the lap blanket, and Capello & Amanda were the surprise winners :) Congrats ladies! If you could each send me an email with your address, I will try to get those out to you soon. Thanks again to everyone else who commented, it was really hard to limit the drawing to only 4 people believe me…

The 3 photos in this post are from the snowstorm we had last night… I wandered out this morning to take a few photos in my rainboots (since I don’t own any winter boots) of the freshly fallen snow. All 3 photos were post-processed in Photoshop Lightroom, I just was having too much fun messing around with making & using presets:) (Does anyone else have Lightroom? I am sort of thinking that maybe eventually I will post some of my presets that I use frequently on my website if there is any interest?)

Oh and since it is the beginning of February, I thought I would post a mosaic of my January Project 365 shots… (I am planning on doing this at the end of each month, since I am not sharing every 365 photo on my blog. Although if you want to follow along with the photos I am taking you can visit my 365 flickr set.)

1. :Yawning: Day 1 of 365, 2. :Morning Tea: Day 2 of 365, 3. :Self Portrait: Day 3 of 365, 4. :White: Day 4 of 365, 5. :A nice spot for a nap: Day 5 of 365, 6. :Winter Linen Scarf: Day 6 of 365, 7. :Red: Day 7 of 365, 8. :Library Books: Day 8 of 365, 9. :Pounce: Day 9 of 365, 10. :Self Portrait: Day 10 of 365, 11. :Color: Day 11 of 365, 12. :Color 2: Day 12 of 365, 13. :Pleated Purse Tie: Day 13 of 365, 14. :together: Day 14 of 365, 15. :blanket: Day 15 of 365, 16. :photography books: Day 16 of 365, 17. :Axel: Day 17 of 365

Another reason to leave a comment on that post… I am going to draw 2 winners! :) On Tuesday I whipped up this little lap blanket & thought I would include it in the drawing so that I could pick 2 winners, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to pick only 1 when so many of you came out to say hi:)

It is a really simply blanket & it only took about 1 hour to cut & sew it all together (and that is an hour with 2 cats trying to get my attention). It is just four strips of alternating fabric on the front with a beautiful flannel that I found the other week on the back. I couldn’t resist buying the flannel since it was on sale & I think I have a weakness for flannel now. Flannel & linen, okay who am I kidding… any fabric really! :) No binding – just topstitching, since I am not brave & figured I shouldn’t practice on a blanket that I am going to give away:)

I mentioned this a few blog posts ago, but I had looked at my local library for photography books & found that they just didn’t have much… So with a couple of Barnes & Noble gift cards in hand, Ben & I went to the bookstore the other day & I was able to pick up a couple of photography books…

See a trend there:) (If only it was actually warm enough to take portraits!) There were a few more general photography books that looked interesting, but I figured I would order those off amazon (hopefully used that way they will be a bit less expensive…).

Speaking of photography I have to share this photo…

I could hardly believe it when I saw them cuddling like this on top of the couch the other day. Both of them love to lay up there, so sometimes they will fight over who gets that spot but you hardly ever see them sharing like that:) So cute!

Friday was my 2nd blogiversary! It is hard to believe that I have been blogging for 2 years now. I am so happy to be part of the wonderful community of craft bloggers & it amazes me to think of the wonderful friends I have made all across the world. So thanks to all of you who visit here & read my ramblings! :)

I meant to blog all of this on Friday, but I didn’t have anything to giveaway & I really wanted to do a giveaway:) So yesterday I made this Pleated Bag…

It was quite fun to design, make up a pattern, and put together this bag. There is definitely going to be at least one more using this design in my future, since I was quite tempted not to give this away but keep it for myself. Luckily for whoever wins, the idea of not being able to give something away for my 2nd blogiversary won out over keeping the bag for myself:)

Inside pockets (2 of them)…

So to enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this entry before Friday evening (February 1st). Now would be the perfect time for all of you to delurk:) I would love to get a comment from each person subscribed to my blog – there are over 100 of you, so that would sure make my week! :)

edited to include: For Laurie who delurked & anyone else who is curious – yes the outside of the bag is 100% linen & the lining is fabric from the “Katie Jump Rope” line…

While she was here visiting at the beginning of January, I told her to pick out any fabric from my stash so I could make her a scarf. (Well I should be honest here any fabric with the exception of one Japanese print that I am hoarding for myself :) I I love the fabric combination she picked out & hopefully she will like the squirrel flannel that I picked for the back.

Last night Ben & I went out to the library to get a few books I had on reserve & to see about finding some other stuff to read… This is the pile I came home with, an odd mix of photography books, an art book, one knitting book (I like looking at knitting books but never use the projects since I am still very much a scarf only sort of knitter), and a couple fiction books…

Unfortunately our library has a very limited collection of photography books. I was really hoping to find some more, but I guess I will have to start looking online (which is a slight disappointment because I much prefer checking out a book from the library first to see if it is any good before I buy it). Any good suggestions for photography books or really any books in general? (I am also quickly running out of good fiction authors that I enjoy.)

This post is mostly going to be photos, since I really wanted to share these. I had a lot of fun taking these on Friday, when I braved the cold and ventured out to the flower shop where I bought these 2 gerber daisies. I thought everyone might enjoy some flower photos to cheer them up from the cold temps (if you are in the northern hemisphere – I suppose if you are in the southern hemisphere you have plenty of flowers around you & warm temps & I am so jealous of that! :)

I think that this last photo might be my favorite of this series…. (Oh calling it a series of photos makes me think that I need a name for this series – and have you ever said series over & over, it starts to sound weird if you do:)

I am really enjoying Project 365, but I can tell that it is going to be a bit more difficult this week to think up subjects than last week. That is probably due in part to the freezing cold temperatures outside and my reluctance to step foot outdoors for fear of freezing (and there is only so much I can find indoors to photograph that is interesting:)