The Holiday Crunch

I'm alive! Really, I am! I know it's been ages since I've posted and I miss it. I mean to sit down and write a blog post every day, really I do, and then, well, I just don't.

It's nearing the end of the year and I'm sort of falling into my normal introspective, reflective mode. This has been a very busy and exciting year for me, full of so many life changes, and crafting has really had to take a backseat. I most definitely underestimated how much more time another little one would take away from my creative pursuits (well worth it, of course). I've gone through periods of frustration when I can't dive into my sewing room as much as I'd like, but I think now I've come to peace with it and I'm just trying to enjoy my little girls as much as I can. Just popping in to work on a project for 15 minutes or pet some fabric helps. Of course the big move also took every minute of spare time for the last few months to pack, deal with the house closing and then unpack, but we're really getting all settled in now, loving our new house and I'm looking forward to a nice, calm period after the holidays.

And can you believe Christmas is almost here? I need more time! I have managed to finish a few holiday gift knits. This one is my favorite - the Avery Cowl for my mom. I knit this from quite possibly the world's perfect yarn, 100% Aran cashmere from the Plucky Knitter. Luckily it's a fun and easy pattern because I have at least two more of these to knit, one for my mother in law (she will be getting a beautiful green half-knit cowl wrapped up with an IOU note!) and I won't be able to resist one for myself too of course :)

I also knit this hat for my little brother. I think it's a perfect 'guy hat'. The pattern is Windschief by Stephen West, and the yarn is madelinetosh Vintage in Mare. 

I've got another hat almost finished up for my dad, a quilt to bind for another brother and some place mats and napkins to finish up for Mark and I think I'm done with gift crafting. As much as I enjoy giving hand made, I think next year I'm swearing it off! Too much pressure and I'm just too slow. I always like to pretend I can knit five times faster than I can. If only.

I did make this pretty cowl for myself last month-

This pattern is called Millwater - a great pattern if you're new to cables, and very wearable. I hardly take it off. The yarn is another favorite base, Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted in the color Vogue.

I wish I had a cute holiday photo of the girls to share with you, but it was all I could do to even get them dressed up to see Santa the other day. A trip that, by the way, was a complete disaster. No Santa photos for us this year! 

I'm so happy I was able to pop in and say hello. I'll be off now to try to cram about a month's worth of holiday preparations into these next three days and try to relax while doing it. I hope you are all well and eating lots of baked goodies - that's the top of my agenda today!

The October Post

I realize it's been a really looooong time since I've posted, but I have a lot to share, so I apologize in advance for the lengthy post.

It's one of those pretty perfect autumn days. Sure, it's pouring down rain, but that just gives me even more of an excuse to stay inside and bake, knit and sew.  October has always been one of my favorite months here in the Northwest, the days starting long and warm and then turning dark but cozy at the end of the month. This October has gone by more quickly than I could believe, but a lot has been going on around here! We finally bought a house! It's set to close next month, and while it's been extremely stressful dealing with all the red tape (which I'm sure you know all about if you've ever bought a home) it's so exciting! And yes, there will even be a sewing room for me:)  

So in between all the boxes and packing I've even managed to finish a quilt top. It feels good to work on something so simple and satisfying. It's just a tumbler pattern, but made with lots of my favorite prints from the cream-beige-brown-black-blue-red color palette I'm currently obsessed with.

I'm hoping to mop the floor of this house one final time tomorrow before we move so I can baste the top, and hopefully have a finished quilt to show off soon.

I did actually finish a new sweater for me this week too! My brother took a few goofy shots of me outside yesterday before the torrential rains set in.

The cardigan is called Golden Wheat by the fabulous Veera Valimaki. It was an absolute pleasure to knit in this madelinetosh merino/cashmere/nylon blend and I see it becoming a real wardrobe staple. I'm really pleased with how this came out, which is not always the case with everything I knit. The color is called Cousteau, in case you were wondering.

And it's not really fall to me until I've baked some Harvest Squash Bread. These loaves turned out perfectly today, and one of them will be off to our winery for the crush crew tomorrow.

Mark has been crazy busy with wine harvest right now. Making wine is a ton of dirty grunt work so it's awesome to see him getting such great recognition, like in the latest issue of Wine & Spirits magazine. Mark Ryan Winery was named one of the Top 100 Wines in the World in 2011!

And of course I have to show off the little people. It's amazing I'm getting anything done with these two around. Between potty training and chasing one very busy two year old, and nursing this baby the crafting hours are few and far between (and if anyone has tips for getting a baby to take a bottle please bring it on!). My saving grace is that Olivia still likes to nap quite a bit, so if I can time the two naps together some sewing gets done - housework can wait, right?

Olivia is almost 18 weeks old and I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone by.

So that's what's going on around here. I promise I'll have more quilty/crafty stuff to show you again someday, but thanks for hanging in there with me in the meantime:)

Goodbye September!

Lack of sleep has left me feeling a bit unintelligent lately, so instead of a wordy post, I'll leave you with a  few pictures of some things that have been occupying my time.

My Maple Leaf Rag - halfway there!

Vanadium Cardigan - actually finished back in July, but I've forgotten to show it off here. So soft!

My Wispy Cardigan. This little sweater took FOREVER!

My Coastal Hoodie in progress - my first stripes!

And this sweet little girl. I can hardly believe she's already 13 weeks old!

Happy First of October everyone!

Blog Break

I just wanted to pop in and let you know all is well! I realize it's been a long time since I've been around, but sewing has come to a screeching halt (don't worry, I'm not pregnant again!) so I haven't really had a lot to show and tell.

Instead, I've been goofing around with these guys (please excuse our disheveled, 'I-don't-care-I'm-on-vacation' appearance). We took a much-needed, first family of four vacation to a beachfront rental house near Cannon Beach, Oregon last week. Despite some serious fog we enjoyed perfect end of summer 70 degree weather and spent lots of time trying to keep Lucia from running head-long into the ocean. Other than that we ate ourselves silly - I think I ate fish and chips on four different occasions and consumed half a pound of salt water taffy! - and I actually went to bed before nine o'clock a few of the nights. I did get some good knitting time in, especially on the road. I finished a fingering weight cardigan I'll be able to show you as soon as I get some photos taken.

Harvest time for wine grapes is right around the corner, so it was great for Mark to get to spend a little time with the girls before his schedule gets crazy for a few weeks. If you want to check out a bit about our winery, we finally just got our new Mark Ryan Winery website up and running, which is very exciting considering the one we had up before was such an embarrassment. Now we're looking sort of pro! And we also just got named one of the Top 100 Wineries for 2011 by Wine & Spirits magazine!! That's one of the top 100 in the whole world!

So between all of this and trying to manage a quickly growing infant (she's getting so cute and starting to do all that sweet cooing! Pictures soon!) and this girl who is smack in the middle of the terrible twos (but so much fun to watch learn about her world at lightning speed!) I have had very little time in my sewing room. I'm hoping to carve out a few hours this week, though. I can feel the lure of my Maple Leaf Rag scrap quilt calling. 

I hope you all have a lovely, relaxing weekend with a little crafty time carved out for yourself, too.

DE-STASH!

I've just listed everything I'm letting go of in my effort to make some space and sanity in my sewing studio! There are some great gems in these bundles, perfect for stash enhancement. Don't forget, 10% off with code CRAFTFRIEND at check out.

This way to the goodies - http://www.etsy.com/shop/meggied23?ref=seller_info

The Farmer's Lady Friend and a Destash!

Wow, I've been a lazy blogger! Well, I have had my hands a bit full with little people, but I started these blocks even before Olivia was born and never even photographed them. I wanted to join the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along from the beginning when my friends Amanda and Angela announced they were starting the group. But they are already in week 14 and I haven't exactly progressed much with my mere six blocks. So that's why I'm the Farmer's Lady Friend for now. No strings, just fun, and we'll see if I feel like making a bigger commitment in the future.

The blocks are a ball to make - at least the simple ones I've started with have been. I pulled all these fabrics from my stash to work with, all in shades of red, blue, brown, tan, cream and black. I'm loving this palette and I'm thinking of using Quilter's linen in charcoal as my sashing.

And here's a heads up that I'll be listing a big de-stash this week if time allows. I've been feeling the weight of my ginormous stash lately, especially with my limited available sewing hours and our tight household quarters, so I'm having to say a bittersweet goodbye to some loved fabrics who need a home where they will be used. These will be mostly all bundles, a few really big assorted ones full of treasures and maybe a few more designer bundles (my Freshcut stash is already listed here).

I'll post here, on Twitter and Flickr as soon as they're ready to be listed. You can all use the code CRAFTFRIEND for an additional 10% off:) 

WIP Wednesday *ahem* Friday

ETA- Please excuse me for not knowing what day of the week it is! It's been a little crazy around here. Olivia is growing like a cute little weed but experiencing a bit of tummy problems, resulting in hours of trying to soothe her. Lucy, being two, is behaving as such - and maybe finally exhibiting a bit of jealousy toward her new sister. Top that off with all kinds of potty training fun and you have one tired mama. Mark has been a big help but I think it's taking a little toll on both of us - so much so that we both forgot our wedding anniversary until the evening before! Oh, well, I guess this is all to be expected and at least we are managing to have some fun in between temper tantrums, colicky bouts and diaper changes.

Crafting is the main thing keeping me sane right now, even if it's just a half an hour squeezed in here or there. Here's a progress shot of my latest quilting obsession - my Maple Leaf Rag WIP. I just absolutely adore working on this in the little snippets of time my girls are allowing me, and it's incredibly satisfying to use up so many scraps from all my left over projects. Sorry for the crappy dark photo, but the lighting in my studio is really harsh. But at the rate this is going I'll have a quilt top to show you within a month or two. The pattern is one from the lovely Sarah Fielke in the book Material Obsession 2, and if you are like me and drowning in scraps I highly recommend it. It even uses all those odd-shaped teeny tiny ones. I think it's seriously the most fun I've ever had piecing a quilt top, and I'm quite sure it's going to end up being my most favorite quilt I've made yet.

I'm getting in as much knitting time as I possibly can also and the sweater kick is still going strong. I'm going to need a bigger closet to hold all the sweaters I have planned! My latest is a pattern called

Vanadium, which is a pleasure to knit and I think will get tons of wear. I'm using a delicious madelinetosh alpaca merino sport weight yarn in a color way called Black Velvet. I took this photo last week and I should finish it up hopefully by tomorrow.

I hope you all have a good weekend with lots of crafting and sunshine. Please wish me happy babies and long naps:)