This week has been both good and bad – sparing the details, but dealing with a home you own and are trying to rent out while you live overseas can be a big hassle. We have fired two property management companies so far, and I am now not interested in working with one. What a disappointment – but I have sewing to help with the stress, I finished a quilt top (until I realized I needed it to be a bit bigger) this week.

How many of us love making hexies! I have several that I have made out of scraps of fabric that I used for something else, but no plan of what to make. Enter another entry from the Sew Mama Sew slow slowing – how to make a hexie diamond pillow. I have several Christmas fabrics that I’ve made into hexies so I’m going to get my daughter to make this pillow.

We are in the middle of November – have you started Christmas shopping? It feels so different to shop when you live overseas. We can order from the US, we did last year, but the feeling is different. The town decorations have started to go up, the Christmas market houses are in the city square, and I can’t wait for the lights to be turned on! We need to put up our tree, but we have so few ornaments here. I decided to have the kids make ornaments to hang as well as the paper snowflakes that we made last year. I made my first purchase for the holidays, from photojojo, and here is a link for you to get $5 off your order at photojojo if you are interested!

Christmas market setup

And finally – are you using IFTTT? This is If This Then That – a site that allows you to create actions for all kinds of things. For example – If I post to Instagram, Then save those pictures to my Dropbox account. I love this one to save my Instagram pictures. A big thanks to Abby Glassenberg for the link for the IFTTT that allows pictures shared on instagram to look native to twitter! I love to be able to see actual pics on twitter if I am there so this is perfect.

What have you found this week?

This week it has been cold and rainy, which is normal for our area but it also makes us feel like every day is a lay on the couch under a quilt kind of day! I have a couple of tutorials to share and admit I am late to read a popular book in this week’s Found This Week.

Don’t miss out on Crafty’s Shop to Unlock Sale! Buy one class during the flash sale and you can unlock a second set of classes that are on sale. Once you purchase, you’ll get an email that gives you access to the second set of classes. This expires tomorrow, November 9, so check it out now. I’m in the middle of rewatching Elizabeth Hartman’s Dot to Dot class – I have a baby quilt to finish and I’m trying to decide how to quilt my latest finished quilt top, it has a white background which is also in the center of the blocks so I have some space to fill.

I am super excited to get the Cotton + Steel double gauze fabrics  (my favorites are the stripes so that’s where I’m sending you!), my plan is to make a quilt (of course!). But I love making scarves. Since I don’t sew clothes it’s the one thing I do make that I can wear around. I’ve made voile scarves for my daughter and I, and I have some knit fabric cut and ready to sew for scarves for us as well. Here’s a double gauze scarf tutorial over on Imagine Gnats if you already have some fabric to sew.

The Fault in Our Stars – I admit it, I haven’t read it yet. But I am trying to not buy new books since I am already thinking of our move next year, and I’ve been meaning to read this (amazing, best selling, made into a movie, super awesome) book, and so I am this weekend.

I never have overly decorated for Halloween, or for Thanksgiving, so living in Europe I admit I kind of like it that Christmas decorations are already out. Today we noticed the side streets have the hanging light decorations! Also today I cleaned out a huge scrap fabric bucket I had – the pieces that were strips or large enough to cut into strips I am giving to the parent group at school because they are making fabric wreathes to sell during the Holiday Market next month. I filled an entire large luggage with scraps! I’m glad to be able to pass these along because I haven’t touched the scrap bucket in over a year – not once since we got here! So it’s time. I haven’t seen the type of wreathes they are going to make, but check out this scrappy fabric garland over at Cluck Cluck Sew – I love this! Super easy! Since I sew all the time I will have more scraps soon, and I have no problem cutting up fabric to make this versus waiting for scraps.

We are planning a cookie decorating party for December, and I have to repair a stuffed animal today. What’s up with you?

This week has been awesome! I launched the Me Being Crafty podcast:

Check out episode zero An Introduction to the Me Being Crafty podcast and episode one Being Creative with Your Kids. I’d love to hear your thoughts, let me know how being creative has added to your life, and hey, I’d love to have you on the podcast! Email me tsoniki at gmail dot com and let me know you are interested in being a guest.

One thing that I really miss is sewing with others, in the same room as them. I don’t know anyone here that makes quilts, I’m actually not sure that I know someone that sews regularly. I would love to have someone to sew with! I know I am lucky to be able to sew every day, or at least several times a week. I was reminded of how much fun that can be when I saw pictures of the Fort Leavenworth Quilt Posse! I’m going to have to put more effort into finding a sewing buddy here.

Years ago I sold items at craft fairs, and I remember always being so nervous! I only sold at a few shows and I only sold cards that I was reselling – meaning I was a sales rep for the company, kind of like Jamberry or Pampered Chef, but this company sold cards and stationary. My tables were small and I always felt like I had to accommodate the customer. The cards I sold were in sets of four or eight, but I remember one woman wanted to buy just one from several of the sets. I ultimately let her and afterward I mixed up the cards. A lot of people have said I would do great in sales because I am so passionate about the things that I like. And you know, I can talk about the things that I love and how whatever that thing is would be great for you, but for some reason I just didn’t feel comfortable standing at a craft show. Maybe I just needed a different venue, more practice, more shows. If you are in the beginning of the craft and art fair season, check out 5 Things I Learned from My First Craft Fair for some good tips.

How about ending with a tutorial for a cross stitch quilt block! This is over at Pile O’Fabric and Alyssa’s tutorial has several sizes for you to pick from. This is a great quilt for scraps, and I have a lot. It’s time to put my kids to work organizing and cutting fabric.

How was your week?

 

I am a list maker. I’m sure I was born that way because I’ve watched my kids be list makers as well. And because of that, when I find a new way to make notes I’m willing to try it out. The scraps of paper around my desk and sewing room need to be better organized! I’m going to try the Bullet Journal out, I love moleskine notebooks and this looks like it could be very effective. I jumped right in with October even though there is only a week left and I threw away a lot of scraps of paper already. I’m using this white moleskine for my bullet journal and the bigger notebook for my podcast planning and the Stretch Yourself Challenge over at SoloSmarts.

I have an old WIP that is all about curves – and I’ve been avoiding it for ages. I have been wanting to try glue basting for quite a while now and for some reason I didn’t think I could because I don’t have one of the attachments that is out there available for this purpose. And then I saw this showing how to do so using a glue stick. Ding, ding, ding! Of course I don’t have to wait for something special to try this technique and I’m going to raid the office supply drawer we have and get to work.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T33EfJxJLio[/youtube]

I mentioned this last week, but Sharon has started her City Living Guide podcast so go check out the first episode!

I really want to make a donut quilt! I haven’t found a pattern or a picked out fabric, but the ones I’ve been seeing are so pretty. Maybe a Christmas one? Yikes, that’s fairly close actually, maybe not that particular fabric combination. I need to get a pattern so I know how much fabric to pull together.

How has your week been? We are going to a basketball game tonight with a friend, he sponsors the team so we are happy to see his banner, and enjoy some pizza and bonbon.

The past few weeks have had a few online quilt shops announce that they are closing down – from selling fabric – and moving in new directions. One of my very favorite shops – Pink Chalk Fabrics – is one of those that will no longer sell fabric. I love this shop, I was a member of a few of the fabric clubs they offered over the years and loved getting that package each month. I think it’s exciting to hear what others are moving toward in their business, and Abby Glassenberg’s While She Naps podcast episode 32 has a talk with Kathy, the owner of Pink Chalk, and Kristi, the owner of Sew Mama Sew, which also stopped selling fabric online.

We are living in the city for the first time ever. I remember when I was in college (go Pokes!) I wondered who lived above the bars and stores on the main street. I was never interested in living above one, I lived close to campus, well close enough that I could walk once in a while but I wondered who would pick to live above what seemed like a noisy place. I do miss an outside space, but we go to the park, and I miss grilling (which I’ll just have to keep missing for a bit longer). I like the experience of living in the city and I’m glad to have at least the older kids be able to experience this so they will remember it. Check out my friend Sharon’s City Living Guide, she has a podcast coming soon too, if you would like more on just what it’s like to live in the city.

This is an epic tutorial about how to make a scrappy star quilt – I mean lone star quilt. She uses scraps and figured out what size the resulting block would be and was able to piece together strips before cutting her strips. She has a lot of math in the tutorial too, so that is a big help if you want to make this same kind of quilt.

Free Halloween Quilt pattern over at the Fab Shop Hop website.

I am a big fan of block of the month programs. I also love getting mail, so the lack of access to our mail here is sometimes not the most fun. The Intrepid Thread (another of my favorite online shops!) is having a BOM for Patchwork City, a new book by Elizabeth Hartman.