Are you watching Downton Abbey yet?

I've been up to my eyeballs in emails & Skype calls & spreadsheets this week .... I'm getting the class schedule & agenda & teaching staff ready for Sewing Summit 2012 and it's been stressful. Fun, but stressful. It's really hard to figure out how to balance a good mix of classes, panels, social time, meals, down time, etc, etc etc. Event planning is not for the faint of heart! I'm so glad to have Ali & Megan on my staff - I would really be going bonkers without them.

In between my computer & sewing time this week I've been watching Downton Abbey. Are you watching it yet? I admit, I put it off for weeks until finally so many of my friends were raving about it I knew I had to check it out.



It's a PBS show, currently airing the second season on Sunday nights in the US. The first season is all on Netflix streaming (how I watch it), free through Amazon Prime streaming, or on DVD. I watched the full first season in just a few days, although I'm starting over & rewatching it before I start on the 2nd season. The 2nd season is on Hulu or PBS.com.

I love everything about it - I love the relationship the sisters have with each other, I love Lady Grantham, I love the sassy Grandma ("What is a week end?"), I love the budding relationship between Anna and Bates. The costumes, the crazy cook, the gorgeous house & estate. It's just a good show. Are you a fan? If you're not watching it, you should be!

Sewing WIPs

I've always got a lot of balls in the air and this month is no different. I have some exciting things that I want to start working on - but I'm borrowing a hint from Darci & trying not to start any new projects until I get all my WIP's done! Here's a list of (most) of the things I'm working on right now.

Swoon Quilt:

I made a few Swoon blocks last fall & then my stack of fabric just sat. This is NOT an easy block to make, you have to be pretty precise in piecing & make sure you have a consistent 1/4" or else your blocks will just not line up right. Plus the blocks are huge! But then I saw Katy had started a Swoon-along on Flickr and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get this quilt done! I've already got all my white cut & just need to buckle down and do the remaining 7 blocks I have left to do. If you've been wanting to make a Swoon quilt, this is a great group of people to join in with & let motivate you!



Flannel Quilt:

I bought a ton of flannel when it was on sale a few months ago & want to make a nice & toasty warm quilt just for me. I'm always cold in our house (especially the basement) during winter & I need a snuggly quilt all my own. I've started cutting this pretty flannel up into big squares & am going to keep this quilt pretty simple so it can hopefully get done faster! ;]



Tangerine Tango:

I have an idea for what I want to do as my Tangerine Tango challenge quilt, I just need to sketch it out & see if I can figure out the math. If I can make it work right, I think I'm going to love the look of it! (Did you see that Ali posted about our prizes yesterday? We've got some great stuff up for grabs!)



Misc:

I recently finished a small project that's going to be included in the next edition of Fat Quarterly (you can see a little sneak peek of it in this picture) & I've got another project in the works for a book collaboration I was asked to be a part of. (the sketch in the picture)




Here's to getting some stuff done in January!

A robotic drawstring bag

For Christmas this year Mason got a LeapPad and I knew immediately that I'd need to make something to hold it. Small games that were going to get lost, scratch-able screen, USB cord to keep track of - yup, definitely needed to have something to contain it all to one place. Sure, they sell (ugly, expensive) cases for them, but this was the perfect reason to make one of the cute drawstring bags that I've been seeing all over the place in the sewing community.



Jeni's tutorial is great - just as I expected. Since doing the tutorial for the size I made, she's released a pattern with lots of different sizes. I definitely think I need to invest in that pattern now that I've made one of these little guys - they're quick and super easy to make!





I made a few modifications to her tutorial to make it work a little better for me. For one, I didn't box the corners as she instructed. When I had the corners boxed & had the LeapPad inside, the LeapPad just tipped the bag over. So I ripped out the boxed corners and like it much better (for my use) as just a flat bag.

I also lined the whole outer piece with fusible fleece. I knew that this bag was going to get a lot of use and wanted to make sure the LeapPad inside was somewhat cushioned. The fleece up at the top where the drawstring is made it a little hard to open/close at first, but it's gotten better after loosening up a little.

The other thing I did was add a little zip pocket to the outside! I love how it looks with the contrasting pocket - and it's the perfect size to hold all the tiny games that go to the LeapPad.






I made the pocket independently of the bag & then just top stitched it to the outside fabric before folding the fabric in half & stitching around the sides as Jeni has you do in the tutorial.

Even though I knew Mason would never care, I was a little crazy & even lined the pocket by fusing 2 pieces of fabric wrong-sides-together (to make a 2-sided piece of fabric, basically) because I didn't want to be able to see the wrong side of the fabric inside of the pocket.



I love how it turned out & more importantly so does Mason! Most of all he loves the robot fabric - how PERFECT is this fabric for an electronic item for a 5 year old boy? I was so lucky to have Mo as my partner in the Secret Santa Twitter swap - and she sent me some of her awesome brand new fabric in my package with the specific instructions to use it to make something for my boys.

It was so fun picking out which fabrics to use where - they're all so cute. I can definitely see a fun quilt made out of this line. Thanks again, Mo! The fabric is Mechanical Genius by Mo Bedell for Timeless Treasures.

Tangerine Tango Quilt Challenge

A few weeks ago I blogged about the Tangerine Tango Quilt Challenge that Ali and I came up with. I'm super excited to create something because orange/tangerine is not something I use very often. Marc has always loved orange so maybe I'll come up with some sort of manly quilt for him.



Today the challenge officially kicks off & we've got a few rules and guidelines:

Rules:

1. There will be 2 categories:

- Minis: Longest side under 30". Pillows, table runners, place mats, mug rugs, etc. will count as minis.
- Quilts: any size from baby to bed

2. Oranges should be as "tango-y" as possible, but all shades of orange are welcome.

3. Focus should be on Tangerine, but one other color and one neutral can be included in the quilts. For our purposes, neutrals include shades of white, cream, beige, brown, gray, and black.

4. The contest will run from January 2nd through March 2nd, 2012. The top 10 finalists in each category will be announced on March 5th and winners will be announced on March 12th.

5. You can submit one entry per category. Entries should be completed projects, including quilting & binding.

You can see the rest of the guidelines & how to enter at this Flickr thread.



I was searching through my stash and wasn't surprised to find it really lacking in the oranges/tangerines. I knew that it was a color I used a lot but I had almost NOTHING. The more I have had it on the brain I've been noticing some great fabrics that are tangerine & I think I'm going to have to add some to my stash!

We've had a few great shops put together some special bundles for us just for Tangerine Tango!

From Del Ray Fabrics: 11 FQs for $34.99



From Fat Quarter Shop: 12 FQs for $39.00



I'm excited to add some of these pretty fabrics to my stash and use them to create something cool for this challenge! I hope a lot of people will join in. If you want to sew something with orange but don't want to officially enter the challenge that's OK too. Or if you're too busy the next 2 months & just want to complete a quilt top or something - still put your pictures in our Flickr group. The main thing we want to see is how people are using Tangerine Tango in their sewing - so feel free to join in at any level!

Hello 2012.

Another year is in the books & as sad as I am to see 2011 go ... I'm SO excited to see what 2012 is going to bring. With so much already in the works I can't wait to see where I am a year from now.




I've followed along with the Ali Edwards "One Little Word" project for a few years now but have never made my "word" public before. This year I decided to so I would be more accountable for focusing myself & making my word meaningful in my life.

So I'm going to BELIEVE in myself this year and BELIEVE I have the skills & knowledge to make my goals a reality and BELIEVE in my kids and BELIEVE in my husband and BELIEVE in my friends and do what I can to help their dreams come true too.


[Etsy link]

I love this definition:

be.lieve: to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.

Even though I have lots of moments of self-doubt, I KNOW I can do a lot of things, just as I know my kids can & my husband can & my friends can. I think that having this word to focus me & giving me reason to stand still and make a conscious effort to believe will ground me & make me more thankful for the things I'm able to do in my life.

Again, I can't wait to see where I am a year from now. Hope you had a Happy New Year!

Treating friends to dinner thanks to Serve

This post is sponsored by Serve from American Express. Sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use. Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account!

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I can't believe it's only 5 days until Christmas. I say this every December but this month has just flown by and I've been trying to do little things here and there to celebrate the season and have some fun. A few weekends ago I had the chance to go shopping with a few of my good friends and then take them out to dinner afterwards thanks to American Express Serve. We braved the mall and I exchanged some shoes and then bought a few gifts and then we went over to one of my favorite restaurants in Salt Lake City, Red Rock Brewing Company.

Serve is a new service from American Express that's a digital payment system - a way to settle up with friends/buddies instantly via email or mobile device. It's super easy to use, both online and on their mobile app. It literally took me just a few minutes to sign up for Serve on their website & hook it up to my bank account.

But back to dinner first. Serve had generously given me some fun money to treat my friends to a great dinner and so we kind of went nuts. After a round of drinks & the biggest appetizer sampler thingy on the menu, all of us ordered the biggest, juciest, steak and potato meal on the menu while just one chose a more sensible cheeseburger. Just kidding - I just REALLY like the cheeseburger at Red Rock! And I was a little jealous when I saw the delicious looking steaks come out.



Dinner with just my girlfriends is something that doesn't happen near often enough and we really took advantage of the kid-free time that night. We talked and talked and talked and then finally thought we should order our food, and then talked and talked some more. We stuffed ourselves silly and then someone thought that it would be a good idea to order cheesecake, too. So yummy.

Splitting the bill is usually the part of the evening that I don't look forward to, I do a little groan in my mind thinking of the hassle and calculations and math that's going to be involved to figure out exactly what everyone owes on the check and who has cash and who doesn't and who owes whom what. Nothing like spoiling a great night of girl talk with math and money discussions. With Serve, it was so easy I barely had to think about it.



We had the waitress just split the bill evenly between us all, everyone paid with their own credit/debit/cash whatever, and then I asked my friends what their Serve account email addresses were, and I just zapped them the money I owed them to pay them back. It was SO easy. We got a little excited at how quick the money showed up in their accounts and debited out of mine. Now that their money was in their Serve accounts, they could use it through their Serve debit card, or transfer the money to their linked bank accounts.



Serve is available as an app for both iPhone and Androids (we had some of each represented at our table!) and is so user-friendly. I'm a sucker for well-designed and pretty looking apps, and Serve's app definitely is both of those things. It even has a "split the bill" section that lets you input the # of people in your party, your bill amount and what you want to tip and it figures out exactly what you owe - AND it lets you input their Serve emails right then and there so you can request money from them. It's such a good idea for a service.



I was really excited to get to try out Serve and I completely recommend it. I love that it's by American Express because I know they stand by their products and have great customer service. If you're looking to try out a new digital payment system, I definitely think you should learn more about Serve and then sign up. If you do sign up, leave a comment on this post saying you did and you'll be entered to win A HUNDRED BUCKS from Serve. Isn't that awesome?

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Remember to sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use. Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account! Official sweepstakes rules and regulations may be found by clicking here. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Do you Tangerine Tango?

I've always been interested in the colors that Pantone chooses for their colors of the year. Remember in late 2009 when they announced the shade for 2010 was the same turquoise that we had just painted Grahm's room? Last week Pantone announced the color of the year for 2012 was Tangerine Tango.



I admit I wasn't super excited because I am not a huge fan of orange. A few people on Twitter were talking about if they did or didn't like orange & I made mention that I'd be interested to see how it would be brought into sewing & quilting, if at all. There's some beautiful tangerine fabric out there but it's just not a color that you see a LOT of in quilting.



Ali saw me wondering out loud how tangerine would be used in the quilting world and she proposed an idea ... so we're excited to announce the Tangerine Tango Quilt Challenge!



Pantone has this to say about Tangerine Tango: “Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”



Ali and I will announce more details after the holidays but in the mean time you can join our Flickr group to start chatting about if you're up for a the challenge or scope out our all-tangerine-all-the-time inspiration board on Pinterest. Who thinks they want to Tangerine Tango with us? I've already started dreaming up possible color schemes!

A caramel apple cake with homemade caramel sauce

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

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I've been baking and cooking and making candy like crazy lately. I always like to bake but something about the holidays just makes me want to do it more & make stuff for neighbor gifts & for people that come over to my house. I'm planning a girls' night in in January for a bunch of my friends from the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild, since a few of us weren't able to make it to our December meeting but still wanted to see each other & hang out. I think a dessert party would be fun, have everyone bring different baked goods & candy & cookies to eat. Like a cookie exchange but with all desserts.



One thing I'll make for sure for our girls' night is this apple caramel cake from Duncan Hines. It's just from a box but instead of using the just-add-water powdered caramel sauce that came with it, I substituted my own homemade caramel sauce and just added it in like the recipe called for. It is to. die. for.



Making homemade caramel is easy as long as you have a good candy thermometer and some uninterrupted time to stand by your stove to monitor the heat and everything. Or even if you have to leave the stove for a minute or five to go rescue your walls from being scribbled on by a crazy marker-wielding two year old I promise it will be ok. Just bring him back and sit him on the counter where he can't get down and give him the spoon to lick, and go back to stirring your caramel sauce & monitoring the heat.



I just ate another slice of the cake heated up a little in the microwave and it's so good! I don't want to share it - and if I make it again for our get-together I might not want to share it either. I can't wait for the girls' night!

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Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

It's Giveaway Day!

Thanks for stopping by my website as a part of Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day! One of the best days of the year, right? ;]



Just a quick intro if you've never been here before: I'm Erin, I blog about stuff like my two cute boys, the fun things we do, the pretty photographs I take, the things I sew, the pop culture I like, and the general craziness that is my wonderful life. I'm the founder of Sewing Summit, a conference for the modern sewist and blogger. We have a Giveaway Day prize over there too, if you want to enter! You can learn more about me here.



If you want to keep up with me you can like Two More Seconds on Facebook or follow my incessant ramblings on Twitter.



I'm offering 5 Robert Kaufman Kona charm packs for Giveaway Day this year! Kona is my favorite solid to sew with & this is your chance to win a charm of EVERY shade they offer. You'll win one of each of the 5 charm pack pallets: dusty, classic, pastel, dark & bright.



To enter just leave a comment telling me something happy you saw, experienced or did yesterday! Let's put some happiness out into the universe today & create a thread filled with tons of positivity & cheerfulness.

The giveaway will be open until Friday, December 16th at 6pm MST. Winner will be notified by email so make sure I can get in touch with you - leave your email address in the comment if you don't have it attached to your profile! International entries welcome.

Have a happy day!

Easiest Christmas wrapping ever

My friend Amy put together a Christmas swap on Twitter a few weeks ago as a quick and easy way for some of us in the online sewing community to exchange some little thoughtful gifts with each other. I had a good time scoping out my partner & figuring out a few things I could buy for her - it was hard to stay under the $15 spending limit!




I'll show what I got for her once she's received her package - don't want to spoil the surprise! Instead I can show how I wrapped up these little things - my favorite way to wrap things - with regular brown Kraft paper & my sewing machine! I've been wrapping like this for years, it's especially helpful when you're running out the door to a party last minute & don't have any appropriate wrapping paper.




Now I don't even buy regular wrapping paper, just a big roll of the brown stuff every once in awhile. In a pinch you can even use a paper grocery bag. Who cares about the writing on the inside?




It's super easy to do - I first cut a rectangle out of the paper that when folded in half will make a little bag that's big enough to hold the gift. Sew up the 2 sides of the paper to make a bag, stuff the present inside, then sew a bunch of criss-crossing lines to seal it up. In this instance I had red thread on top & green in the bobbin, and flipped the present over for a few lines to get some green showing on the top too. So easy.




Easy, economical & it looks pretty cute, too. My favorite way to wrap presents! I can't wait to get my package from my secret partner!

Also our elf, Reginald, has returned for the season. We had him last year & Mason loved it, so of course he had to come back this year. Now Grahm gets all excited & wakes up in the morning running off to see where Reggie has landed for the day. This morning he was feeling a little snacky & was hiding in the box of donuts.

What We Do : Thanksgiving Weekend

A long holiday weekend filled with great food, no one sick and/or puking, and the boys going to the movies leaving me some alone time to sew & veg out was just what I needed. I've been thinking a lot lately about this space - this weird & amazing little (and sometimes huge) online blogging community that I've been involved in for more than 13 years. (Yes, I've been blogging since 1998).


A Thanksgiving Day 5k. Jogged nice and slow and finished in 36:36. Ran past lots of turkeys & pilgrims & indians.

There's been lots of changes for me lately that are paving the way & opening the doors to some great opportunities that have been presenting themselves to me. Some things that are bigger then anything I've ever been involved in and I'm REALLY excited. And some small things too, that are super, super important. Because sometimes it's the smaller things that end up making the biggest impact.


The perfect bite. Costco is deserted on Black Friday at 7pm.

But it's forced me to really sit and think about why I blog, what I want to get out of all this, what my priorities are. One of my biggest priorities is fostering the communities I believe in. Another priority is bettering & challenging myself. Yet another huge priority is my family - supporting my amazing husband & 2 amazing boys.


A little pin assistant. Someone really likes his new coat.

I have a lot on my plate - but I feel like I'm in a really great place right now - kind of on the edge of something amazing in my life. So while this was just a weekend filled with turkey & tromping through a forest to find the perfectly un-perfect Christmas tree to chop down, I have a feeling it's also a weekend that I'm going to look back on and think, "that, that was the start of something special".  I'm posed on the edge of a cliff, a vast, crystal clear ocean below me, just ready to cannon-ball in.  And I can't wait to hear the splash!

Saving myself from Christmas card making

I can't believe how fast this year is going. First I was spending all my time looking forward to running my first 1/2 marathon in September (which I still need to blog!). Then I was spending all my time looking forward to Sewing Summit in October. Now next week is Thanksgiving and then just a few short weeks after that it's Christmas already!

The past few years I've made our Christmas cards myself - used some fun photo or photos from the previous year and prettied it up in Photoshop, then made it into a 5x7 card to be printed. Sidenote - why are mall Santa pictures always so horrendous? The kids always look weird & uncomfortable & the picture quality is just horrible. At this point it's just something we HAVE to do because they're so funny to look back on.

Here's 2009, when Grahm was just 4 months old and Mason was 3:



And the Christmas card I made that year, with Grahm still looking bald but at least Mason's smiling better:



And then last year in 2010, when Grahm was 16 months old and Mason was 4:



And the Christmas card I made last year, I loved all the mini (mostly Hipstamatic) iPhone pictures I had taken that year, so I did this mosaic style of card so I could fit a ton of them on it:



This year, with lots of handmade gifts I'd like to sew & being the Room Mom for Mason's Kindergarten class & Sewing Summit 2012 preparations in full swing, I'm really having to prioritize what I can realistically do. Designing my own Christmas card is something that I decided I can hand off to the professionals - and Tiny Prints are definitely professionals. Their 2011 Christmas card lineup is amazing. It's going to be so hard to choose just one design to go with.

It changes every time I look at the page, but if I had to choose one favorite right now it would be this cute bubbly one:



But then I like this little Christmas tree one and this chevron one and this tri-fold one too. I think it's really going to depend on which picture(s) I decide to use.

Maybe I'll just wait and see what 2011's Mall Santa picture is going to look like & use that one. Because I know it's going to be terribly horrendous & tacky. I wouldn't want it any other way.

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Disclosure: I am a Clever Girl and we believe in full blogging disclosure! Tiny Prints is giving me some Christmas cards for free, but I've ordered from them before & would have ordered from them again just based on cuteness & quality alone. My opinions are my own & they always will be.