And once again I only have pictures of the aftermath, Sarah, how does that always happen to us? Sarah and I had a day planned out to scrapbook on Saturday, just the two of us, and it was so much fun. It turns out when I pull the chair out of the craft room you can fit a long folding table in here and two messy scrapbookers really well. I need to get better at taking pictures of my layouts (super fail) but here they are:
All of them might look a little wonky. I asked Stephanie how she took pictures of hers and she posted this link. I am doing that, but I think I still have a few things to work out.
I know a whole sheet of patterned paper, what?
Two pager – yeah! I dug into Sarah’s thicker collection:
Speaking of scrappy hats, I finally got a picture of my quick moving daughter in her newest tri-peak (three months after I finished it):
(more photos on my ravelry page)
This layout and the next are not from Saturday but I never posted them. The other guy with Bj is Carmen’s husband, aren’t they cute?
And one about the Ribbon Jar. While I was at my mom’s a few weeks ago and the power was out I flipped through my three-up photo albums and put post-its with journaling on the photos I wanted to scrap. It made for quick, easy and fun scrapping this past week. Oh and I almost forgot this:
Sarah and I did some pre-scrapping based off of a Studio Calico idea. It was fun, and I can’t wait to use these, although I think some will be part of Emily’s prize for winning the guessing contest (the tree was 97), what do you think Emily?
The other thing I did this weekend was make a few changes on my blog. I am going to do pictures a little bigger (actual pictures, not scrapbooking layouts). I also added a fun link list on the sidebar that I plan to keep updated with little gems of the internet. I will change the title with the date updated so you can see if there are new links to check out (Amber Loves List). I added a copyright, which I have been meaning to do forever, but if you ever want to use an image just let me know. The last thing I did was add a link list called Lately on the Nightstand. It’s an Amazon Affiliate link list. To be honest I’m not really sure exactly how it works (if you have to buy the item shown, or just place an order after clicking, I can’t seem to figure it out). I’ve been linking to Amazon with my affiliate ID for over a year now and have made a whole $10.02, so you know, rolling in the big dough. 🙂 I don’t see the list affecting the site at all, I really wanted to put it up because I think we read some interesting things, and having the pictures is nice. Making enough money off of it to pay for the blog itself would be great, but I don’t see myself putting up adds or anything like that. Who knows though, for now this is enough and I hope it doesn’t bug anyone. Now should I change my five year old banner? Hmm kind of sounds like a lot of work 🙂 Pro blogger over here, can you tell? 🙂
Celebrating crafts, kids and the everyday through photographs.
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Yesterday Sciarrino and I drove up to the first meeting of the Portland chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. I didn’t really know what to expect, having never been in a guild of any kind before. I was hoping that I would meet some like minded fabric lovers, and guess what I did!Â
We did a show and tell, although I didn’t bring anything. This quilt in particular got me thinking. I don’t have any white on white fabric and very few light colored fabrics of any kind (hello Life In Color?). But I really loved this “low volume” idea. And the quilting was so so beautiful:
This picture just does not do it justice. The quilter is Rachel (aka 2ndAveStudio). I hope she brings this back in washed up because it looks like it is going to do some amazing things. If you have a guild in your area I would recommend going. Here is a link to the national blog that has a sidebar list of specific guilds – new ones are being started all the time!
In other sewing joining news I am going to join Sew Take a Hike‘s quilt as you go along (starts tomorrow). It sounds really interesting, and would be a good fit, I think, if you are a beginner or someone who doesn’t normally quilt your own tops because you are only quilting smallish squares at a time. Check it out here.
I’m hoping one of you will want to join in as well. I have tons of awesome (I think) scraps, but practically nothing in the light colored/white background section, which you need for these quilts. If anyone has a lot of that type of scraps and wants to trade for a bag of colorful stuff let me know!
Here is my big bin of scraps to hopefully entice you. And Penny has a few pictures up of what the less bright scraps should look like on her post explaining the quilt along. So, anyone in? -
I could also title this post My Friend and Next Door Neighbor Opened a YARN SHOP and I am The Luckiest Girl in The World, but I'm never really sure what letters to capitalize with a long title like that. So yes, my neighbor Tracy (who is also my friend but I have another friend named Tracy so I call her my neighbor Tracy) opened a yarn shop in town! Let's see I just googled it and it is 1.5 miles away by walking. Hello! Is this not awesome. Rhetorical, it is totally awesome. The only other yarn shop here (in Salem, Oregon in case you're wondering) closed last year. Yarn is one of the only things I hardly ever buy online (besides that Sundara craziness I hoarded while pregnant). I love feeling yarn, being inspired by the samples and books in a yarn shop, and talking with the shop workers and patrons. So ya, I'm psyched. I thought I blogged about it before but I can't seem to find any reference. I happened to check my stats the other day (which I never do) and it showed 40 people searching for yarn shops and getting to my blog in a week. I don't know how that happened or what they were searching for: shops in Salem, Oregon? Portland? The Willamette Valley? Online? Or just plain Awesome Yarn Shops (hehehe how's that for some keywords :), but they come here. Soon I'll have a little badge over there (if I knew how to make arrows one would be pointing to the right), but for now here is a link to her blog: Teaselwick Wools.
The first time I visited a month ago (see above – I was posing with a sling to show Ceara that they can be classy – Yes Emily I got the Sakura Bloom) I disgraced myself by having Tuesday wear this not handknit hat and you know what when I came back yesterday:
I freaking did it again! So that must mean I need more yarn. Plus St. Patrick's day all green yarn on sale. I am so there!
The shop is really filling up. Tracy has excellent taste, which is a good thing, but can have drawbacks, like me buying way too many books because she has tons of great ones that I haven't seen anywhere (I'm still loving this one that I made Ceara's hat from).
This is wool from Oregon – some kind of lovely unspun stuff that looks (and fills) so yummy! The shop is in an old Wool Mill (Mission Mill) so very fitting. Please check it out if you are in town and so inclined.
Of course I had to congratulate Tracy on her new venture and when I saw this fabric I knew I wanted to sew her up something. So I made her a bag to carry knitting and stuff to and from her shop.
and the inside:
We were trying to get more pictures outside, but someone wasn't a fan:
Imagine a better shot of the inside where I made a pocket with a contrasting lining and added one of my labels (my birthdate printed on this twill).
Up close of the fabric.
This was my first bag like this (I used this pattern – horrible cover art, I know, but the pattern is great) and I learned a lot. Like I should pre-read the whole pattern. I don't know how many times I have to be told this to get it into my head. It's a good idea with any project in any medium, and I still fail to do it. If I had I would have known to move this little patch further away from the edge of the outer panel so it wouldn't get caught in the corner. I gave Tracy a verbal lifetime repair coupon when I brought her the bag, so we'll see how soon I get it back. I think doing a few of these at once would be best, so you could press all at once, baste all at once, and sew all at once.
Now I just need to start knitting all of this yummines:
if I don't get distracted by this vintage barkcloth panel from Tracy's parent's house (she got it when her dad passed away – these were their curtains!!
):Like I've said before: project overload!!!
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