For more of my photography, check out my photography blog… (If you are looking for a portrait or wedding photographer in Seattle, I am runnning some July specials right now so be sure to check out my website.)

Some lovely mail & a few finished pillows in my next posts! :)

There is something about bringing nature inside the home & decorating with it… It just appeals to me & since plants do not work well in our home (you would swear we had two kittens in our house – not 5 yr old adult cats! – the cats try to eat everything green) I am often looking for other ways to bring nature in. So when I stumbled across crocheted stones I fell in love :)

Last summer I bought one from the fabulous Resurrection Fern, her crocheted stones are beautiful works of art. Every time she makes them though they all sell out very quickly & I had to have a few more. So I actually bought a crochet magazine that she had a couple patterns published in, even though I have no idea how to crochet! Well learning to crochet just isn’t going to happen, so instead I bought a couple crocheted looking table runners & doilies at garage sales. Along with some pretty stones I have collected on trips with my husband (who is sweet enough to carry rocks in his pockets when I find a pretty one I just have to bring home :) I figured I could make my own version of crocheted stones.

My version of crocheted stones cut from a table runner…

These were very simple to put together, all you really need is an old doily, a stone, some thick embroidery thread, and a needle… An in progress shot…

They are not as pretty on the bottom as the one I bought last summer, but since no one sees the bottom I think that is okay :) I love them & that is what counts :) I am definitely going to make a couple more!

I did a bit of a redesign on my blog, I have been using this template over on my photography blog & thought it might be a nice change over here. So if you normally read this in a feed reader, stop over & see how it all looks. There is a new banner, because oh my was that one old & much larger images :)

Also I am now on twitter if anyone wants to follow me :) I put a twitter widget above too so you can follow along on the blog…

Life has been so busy which I know I mention every time I blog… Summertime brings with it photo sessions for my photography business, spending time with friends, garage sales (and good friends to go with) and lots of time spent outdoors. Plus in the Sew Click Create household we have been trying to get a few things done to our new home. Slowly but surely I am working on decorating & making it more beautiful, while my sweet hubby tackles all the home maintenance projects & any decorating whims I cannot handle on my own :)

Of course I have fit in a little bit of time here & there for sewing. This wallet was finished one evening when I decided I just had to have a new wallet for my new purse right that instant. I love this fabric, so perfect for Seattle since our summer started with so much rain!

The pattern is my own and I find it is the perfect size for all my cards & even fits a little bit of cash and extras. Perfect for those times when I just want to grab my wallet & not my whole purse. Here it is next to my new favorite purse (from target) where it has been living the last couple weeks… (*I love that it even matches my purse*)

Leave a comment & tell me what you have been sewing or creating lately :)

Saturday I headed over to the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild sewing meeting. I got a little bit of work done on the quilt I have been working on lately & almost have the top finished – I just have to add a border and the top will be complete. I have no idea how I want to quilt this one, so that process might take me awhile to decide on :)

We also each worked on making a block or two for a quilt for one of the girls in the group. She just had a baby & we are going to give her a quilt in honor of her newest little one :) This was my block…

Katie was sweet enough to take a photo of me holding it. Carrying my sewing machine is enough to haul around, so I didn’t take my camera to the meeting :) For more photos though go take a look at Katie’s blog :)

One of the projects I finished last week was this little baby blanket for a friend’s baby shower on Saturday…

The Dick & Jane fabric is cotton and the dots are flannel. I topstitched around the outside of it and quilted 2 lines down the middle so it won’t shift in washing. Simple, but oh so cute :)

And I didn’t forget about the scraps giveaway (things just got a little crazier than I expected this week :) I drew 2 names at random & the winners are Samantha & AmyW. Thanks to everyone else for commenting! It made me wish I had enough scraps for all of you :)

After my post on my fabric addiction I though I would do a little fabric scraps giveaway :)  To be honest, I keep my fabric scraps but I hardly ever actually use my scraps. Since I know I am not going to use all of them, I thought it might be fun to give away two small packs of scraps to two people who might actually use them :) All of these scraps are definitely big enough to use for piecing/patchwork. (I only included ones that were big enough to really use, so there are some fairly decent sized pieces in these.)

Each pack has slightly different fabrics/sizes, but both have a fair amount of moda & freespirit fabrics in them. A few of the fabrics I included in each were some Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt, Urban Chicks, Anna Maria Horner, a little bit of Modern Folklore, and a bunch of other good quality cottons.

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment telling me what you would use these scraps for :) I will draw 2 winners on Monday (the 24th) in the later afternoon… Tuesday the 25th in the morning… (Monday just got too busy).

From my latest moments of weakness…

Confession – While the first pile was a complete splurge (fabrics from Pink Chalk Fabrics & The Quilting Loft – local Seattle shop), the second pile was $1 a yard from a lady selling off part of her stash. Thanks to Evelyn who found that sale :) I have been doing a fair amount of thrifting with her & Ahava lately, thrifting is fun just in itself but it’s even better when you have friends to go with & laugh with when you find crazy stuff :)

I really may need to go on a fabric diet soon though, since this latest binge barely fit into (my fairly large) fabric cupboard…

Good thing my mother is visiting me this week! She usually inspires & helps me to get a few of my works in progress finished so that I can actually start new projects with some of this gorgeous new fabric. Hopefully I will have a few finished projects to show after this week! :)

I love peaceful, quiet, sunny mornings… When the world feels calm & there is so much potential left in the day.

Not being a morning person & having my own business means I usually tend to have a schedule where I wake up later and stay up later, but there is definitely something to be said for getting an early start to the day. I love mornings when that actually happens and I am actually able to get up and get going. Both these photos were from the other morning, one of those such mornings and I just had to get outside while the world was still quiet & peaceful just before the craziness of the day…

This lovely little lady actually scared me when I came around the corner of the house. Living in the city, deer were about the last thing I expected to ever see when we moved into our new house. We have a nice, big yard though with lots of trees so they visit quite often. They are totally not scared of humans which is amazing (I guess we don’t pose much of a threat in the city other than when we are in our cars). It is definitely different to see, but they are such beautiful creatures. It is a great reminder that even though we humans have built up this area quite a bit, there is still a lot of nature around us.

The funny thing is that as I typed this post a raccoon sauntered across our front yard! This is the first time I have seen that, although I have heard that they are not that infrequent of visitors. Although I thought they were nocturnal usually? It is amazing to have so much nature surrounding us, I feel very lucky!

I thought I was going to border the block in the orange & then my grandma’s feedsack, but I have a slightly different plan at this point. Now I just need time to actually work on it :)

This is a couple days late, but if you have not yet seen Katie’s pillow tutorial over on Sew Mama Sew, you really must go check it out! I had an absolute blast taking the photos for her & I now have one of her beautiful pillows sitting on the couch in my living room. So I can say with confidence that you will love her tutorial :) I have plans to make a pillow of my own following her tutorial, the fabrics are picked out I just have to get it started :)

(The above photos are ones I took for Katie for her tutorial.)

Onto a different topic… Between photography, settling into our new home, decorating, and trying to occasionally get some sewing in I have totally neglected this space and to be completely honest at times even considered giving it up. I have been thinking about it lately though & blogging has brought a lot into my life, including great friends and so much beautiful inspiration. So I decided I really did not want to give it up, even though it feels like sometimes it would be the easier choice. This might be kind of crazy considering all the things going on in life, but I am actually going to challenge myself to post at least once a week in May (and hopefully more like twice a week when possible). That might not seem like a lot when other bloggers post every day, but for me right now that feels just right. And while I hope there might be a few people still reading after my long blogging breaks, I am really just doing this for myself. :)