A giveaway for two

EDIT: Winner has been chosen. Thanks for playing!

It's officially been two years since I started this little blog. I've never felt more inspired or creative in my life since I became part of this wonderful community. On a daily basis, there are always new ideas, projects, and even more inspiring blogs. I've met some great people here, and even had the chance to meet a few in "real life." I am always amazed at the support and encouragement that you all provide, and for that I am very thankful. I promised a giveaway, so here it is. Since this is primarily a sewing blog, although you wouldn't know it these past few days, I've decided to giveaway fabric. Big surprise, right?
Well, not just any fabric, but some of my favorite prints from people like Amy Butler, Sandi Henderson, and Erin McMorris. I will fill a flat rate box with as much fabric will fit. There might even be some vintage fabric in there too. These are just a few samplings of what is already making it into the box. So how do you win? Well first by leaving a comment mentioning a new blog that you think I might like. If you'd like to "earn" more entries into the contest, post about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to it in your comment, and you'll receive 5 extra entries. Plus, you'll receive an extra entry for every person that you refer that mentions that they came here through your blog. I'll pick a winner on Wed Nov 5. Good luck!

Tomorrow is my craft fair, so wish me luck with that. If you are in the D.C. area, it is at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad from 12-6. Also, a big thank you to everyone who posted they could read this blog through google reader. It really helped me out!

a favor

This is just a test to see if my feed is working. If you are using bloglines or google reader to subscribe to my blog, please let me know if you can read this or not. I'm trying to fix an error that seems to be occurring. Thanks in advance!

Turn a Square

So, officially I'm obsessed with knitting hats. Now I've only knit two so far, but I can tell there are many, many more on the way. Since John is now sporting the bald look, I thought I'd knit him a hat to keep him nice and cozy. He has several hats floating around here, but they all seem to have been misplaced. A perfect excuse for a hat to be knit. I, again, found this pattern through Ravelry. It seems to be very popular and I can see why. It's called "Turn a Square" by brooklyntweed. I am really pleased with how this came out, especially for my first more than one color knit. I think I used the wrong size needle by accident, because the corners are a little bigger than they're supposed to be. Oh well, lesson learned. At least John's head will be nice and warm.
Make sure you come back tomorrow for my blog birthday giveaway. Here's a hint: It involves a flat rate box filled with things most of us like to hoard!

Capitan!

In my quest to find a cute hat for Isaiah, I came across several that I wanted to knit for myself. Ravelry is a dangerous place, let me tell you. When I saw the Capitan Hat, I just had to knit it. It was really quick and easy, especially for a first time hat knitter like me. I think my technique on the brim could be a little better, but maybe after a little blocking it will cooperate more. Did you know that's it's really hard to take a picture of yourself wearing a hat? Well, it is. These are the best I could get, and there were some funny looking pictures in there. Hope I'm not scaring anyone away! Now I am really loving knitting hats. They are such a satisfying project because they go so quickly. I'm sure this will be the first of many.

I also wanted to mention that my 2-year blog birthday is coming up and I'm going to have a big giveaway. I'm planning on Friday, so make sure to check back!

EtsyCREST Sale

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade katiejean.etsy.com

Hello. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I'm popping in quickly to let you know that the Captial Region Etsy Street Team is hosting a sale all week long on etsy. As of a few minutes ago, there are over 500 items on sale. If you search "etsycrestsale" you will find a list of shops that are participating. In my shop, I'm offering 15% off any item. They have not been discounted, so you will have to wait for a new invoice. Just add "crest sale" in the note to seller at checkout. Hopefully I'll be offering more items this coming week and after this weekend's craft fair.

what to knit?

Today it is officially cold and not just chilly, although I'm still resisting turning the heat up higher. Isaiah has also coincidentally decided that he no longer likes hooded jackets. So, my friends, I need a pattern suggestion for a hat for this little guy. I'd like to use one of these two yarns (one is chunky the other bulky) that I picked up thrifting a few months back, and preferably something quick and easy. Something that I could get a good head start on tonight during t.v. watching and maybe finish this weekend. I thought maybe this cute hat would work, but I'm not sure he'd like the bill on it. Anyway, hope one of you will have a great suggestion. I'm really in the knitting mood today. I just want to curl up in a comfy blanket, something warm to drink in hand, and knit something.

Mini Wallet

Wow, has it really been a week since I last blogged? My week/weekend was pretty busy. It was my sister's birthday and my parents came down to visit. It was good fun and I also got to catch up on season 4 of Weeds at my sister's apartment. Very exciting.

I've also been busy sewing for my upcoming craft fair. Although there is a lot of sewing going on, there are also a lot of unfinished projects. This is the most likely to blame for the lack of blogging, as I thought it would be rather boring to post a pile of unfinished things. I finally have something finished to show and I am really excited about this. I've been dreaming up this mini-wallet since I had a plain leather one in college.
This one is slightly different, since there are places to hold a credit card and a change pouch on the inside. The outside has a place to put an ID and there is a key ring for keys.

Originally, I had wanted to use leather for the outside and closure tab, but it ended up being kind of sloppy. I really like the look, so I may have to play around with it. I have about 10 more of these cut out, so don't be surprised if this is all I blog about this week!

Block #2

Hello, all. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I'm feeling slightly off due to the day off yesterday. I kept thinking it was Saturday yesterday and today feels like Monday to me. Very weird. Anyone else feel like this? This morning I finished (and sent off) Dana's block for the Busy Little Quilting Bee. I had started this weeks ago but decided I didn't like the direction it was going. Dana sent two of the AB prints along with the solid yellow fabric. She requested wonky squares, squares in squares, or log cabins. I started making smaller squares and then I just couldn't stop. So there are a lot of squares and a lot of little seams. I hope you like it Dana ;)

Thrifting and perhaps a button swap?

Although I have been thrifting almost once a week, I don't think I've shown off any of my recent finds. All these came on one lucky day. I loved this teacup and saucer, and debated about buying it. I think it actually went in and out of my cart a few times, before I finally decided that $1.81 was worth it. Then I spotted these matching creamer and sugar bowls.
I'm not sure if they were actually part of the set, or if it was just a coincident that they were the same color. I actually think they had a whole set of plates as the teacup, but I just couldn't bring myself to buying a new set of plates. Besides, I'm holding out for a whole set of the Marcrest Swiss Alpine.

I also found this HUGE bag of buttons. It was a little pricey, but it was worth its weight in mother of pearl buttons. I am always a sucker for those ones. These are my favorite among the bunch and I just love digging through them.


Which brings me to a thought I had. Anyone interesting in doing a vintage button swap? I know one had been hosted in the past by Shim & Sons, and I missed out on it. So, if you're interested, leave a comment letting me know. It would just be a quick, one on one swap, where you send your partner a pre-determined amount of vintage buttons and vice versa. If there's enough interest, I'll have signs up this week.

Oh, and one last thing. I've put two lunch bags in my shop this morning if anyone is interested.

Another last thing. Chelsea is hosting a "Messiest Craft Room" contest. If you have a messy room, go on over and enter yourself. I sure did with my disaster area!

Oh Amy!

Between cleaning up my sewing area and having a sick child, there has been no sewing going on. I definitely have the urge to sew, but just haven't gotten around to it. Of course, that didn't stop me from buying some new fabrics. I remembered that I had some RME money left, so I went on etsy, searched "RME fabric" and found a seller that accepted it. I was so excited to get my hands on some of Amy Butler's new Daisy Chain line. It's probably one of my favorite AB lines yet. Cassie, of MyHeartandSew, is a great etsy seller. She set up a custom listing of 1/2 yd cuts for me and shipped super fast. I highly recommend shopping with her and she has some gorgeous fabrics in her shop right now.

Thanks for all the apple suggestions. I've been baking like crazy, but I don't think the apple supply is dwindling all that fast. I did try out the bread recipe I mentioned in the previous post and it is so good. If you like baking your own bread, you should try it out. I was also browsing around that blog (Baking and Books), and there are not one, but two recipes for Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I'm definitely going to have to try those! I can't afford to get a $4 Starbucks one everyday.

That's a lot of apples

On Saturday, my sister, cousin and I took Isaiah out to a gorgeous farm to do some apple picking. We assumed that since everyone was picking 2 "buckets" and using wheelbarrows, we should be doing the same. It was a lot of fun. Many "I almost peed my pants" moments. Then I saw a sign that said "1 bushel=22lbs". Nice. Between the three of us, we had picked 54lbs of apples. Perhaps that was a little excessive.
I ended up with most of the apples, so now I need some recipes people! I've already made crockpot applesauce and two apple pies. The applesauce was so freaking good. Here's how I did it: Roughly peel and chop up enough apples to fill crockpot about half-3/4 full. I left some skins in there for color. I don't mind the texture. Add 2 teas cinnamon, 1 pinch of nutmeg, 2 allspice berries, 1/2 teas fresh ginger, and 2 T of lemon. I also added a sprinkle of cane sugar because I like it more tart. If you want it sweeter, just add more. Add 2 cups of water, then put the cover on and put on high for 6 hrs or until your desired consistency. I think I'm going to try this bread recipe next. If I finish cleaning up my sewing room first, of course. Hope your Monday are starting well!