Playing Catch-Up

Due to the massive number of Christmas presents I had to sew, I kind of unofficially took a break from blogging back in December, so there are a ton of things I never posted on here.

For starters, I received an adorable mug rug and an awesome bundle of scraps from Ulrike! She has the best fabric, and I love the charming little details she puts into everything she makes. I won a pillow in one of her blog giveaways a few years ago, and it's one of my favorite holiday items (the hubby loves it too).

And my favorite part? The hilariously accurate portrayal of me reaching for cookies, and Whiskers making off with a stocking. Both of those things happened numerous times over the holidays ;)

I honestly made out like a bandit this year, because my friend Kristy made me a lovely holiday item as well! She wanted to get her husband a special Kindle for Christmas that was only available in the U.S., so she had her purchase mailed to me and I forwarded it to Aussieland. As a thank you gift, she sent me this pillowcase and some chocolate treats. I was dumbfounded when I opened it because of all the intricate piecing and quilting - it must have taken her forever to do all that circular quilting!

And she even included one of my favorite holiday prints - the snowflake print from Happy Zombie's Holiday Happy line! I've been debating buying those prints for a while, but hadn't taken the plunge because I need more Christmas fabric like a hole in the head. But after seeing how cute they were sewn up in a project, I found some on clearance (for $5/yard) and bought 1/2 yards of the snowflake and triangle santa prints. Yay!

Since her package didn't arrive until after Christmas, I'm thinking about sneaking it onto the sofa because it's too lovely to put in storage for a whole year. I think I can get away with people not realizing it's a Christmas pillow, so long as they don't turn it over and expose the trees on the back!

Oh. And I have one more thing to show you. It's more of a confession, really. I went on a bit of a bender during the pre/post holiday sales...

But I'd like to officially blame Angela for the Safety Pin prints, because she posted about a shop that had them on clearance for $3.99/yard. I can't be held responsible for my decisions when informed about fabric that cheap.

My other splurge was in my friend Ayumi's shop. I bought those adorable laundry and baking fat quarters on the left, and because she's a sweetheart, she added all those cute scraps you see on the right! She is so, so nice and I love having email chats with her :) Isn't it wonderful when you get the chance to "meet" one of your crafting heros, and they're even nicer than you imagined?

That being said, you guys probably know what's coming next. The great post-Christmas fabric purge of 2012. I just put up a bunch of new listings in my Etsy shop including some cheap fat quarter bundles, an It's a Hoot Layer cake, and various cuts of fabric. I also put together about 5 scrap bundles because my bins are overflowing from all my recent sewing. They're organized by color, and what you see is what you get - I'm pretty generous with my scrap packs, and everything shown in the photo will be included in the bundle.

As always, you can use the code PLAIDSCOTTIE10 for 10% off anything in my shop :)

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PSA

Hey everyone - just a little public service announcement for you today. I've noticed in the past month or two that I've been getting a lot of comments from people that are "no reply bloggers", and I wanted to post this in case some of you weren't aware of it (I was a "no reply blogger" at one point, and didn't realize it until my friend Cherie posted about it a year or so ago).

I love reading and replying to your comments, and I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you, because it may well be that I can't reply to your comments. 

So, what is a "no reply blogger"? Basically it's when you don't have an email associated with your Google account, so when you leave a comment on someone's blog, they can't reply to it because there isn't an email on file for the response to be directed to.  If you don't like having an email on display for others to see, you can always set up an email specifically for blogger and/or junk email (I have an email address dedicated to promo and junk emails - any time physical or online stores ask for a email where they can send coupons, order receipts, and announcements, I always give them that address).

Jodi at Pleasant Home has instructions in this post, detailing how to make sure you aren't a no reply blogger (and fix it if you are). She also did a much better job describing what a no reply blogger is, in case you still have no idea what I'm talking about, lol!

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Lots of sleep later...

I'm fully refreshed and ready to get back on the sewing/quilting/blogging bandwagon! When I came home I found a lovely surprise from verykerryberry in my inbox. Kerry had received the "Versatile Blogger" award from someone else and was supposed to post 7 facts about herself and then pass the award on to 5 other bloggers...and I was very honored to be chosen as one of them! :)

So without further ado...

My five bloggers are...Aneela @ comfortstitching, Nicole @ Making It Lovely, Suzonne @ Urban Comfort, Tong @ tingtongandthings, and Amy @ The Nifty Foodie

My seven facts are...

#1: I was an avid golfer growing up. I played competitively in summer golf tours from age 12 to 18. Everything is amateur at that stage, but I won a couple tournaments and have a pretty sweet collection of trophies. I was never at this level (didn't have the nerves or determination), but many of the people I played with are now on the pro tour and a few of my friends are doing really well...one of my guy friends was actually chosen for the 2008 Ryder Cup team at Valhalla in Louisville. My dad was a Marshall for that tournament and was asked to do it again for the Ryder Cup that's taking place in Wales this week. He and my mom flew out last Thursday...and were totally freaking out about it. As much as they talk about wanting to travel the world, they're pretty set in their ways and paranoid about the "dangers" of going to a foreign country...because as we all know, the U.K. is such a scary, uncivilized place...haha! I'm really happy they finally went to Europe though, because they're the kind of people that save and save and save but never actually use or enjoy their savings. I'm glad they're using their hard-earned money to take a nice vacay and I hope they have a good time, because I'd love to see them travel more! :)

This is me 8 years and 50 pounds ago (look at those flat abs...*deep sigh*)

And this is me with my 2nd place trophy (same tournament...I got 2 photos in the local paper, which was a big deal to me back then...until I moved to my first city and realized I was a microscopic fish in the big world pond...hehe)

#2: I've lived in 5 states in 7 years.

1. I grew up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky (Appalachia)
2. Went to a private college in Indiana for 4 years
3. Lived in downtown Philadelphia for a semester (6 months) my Junior year of college for an internship with the Weight & Eating Disorders Dept. at the University of Pennsylvania
4. Got married 2 weeks after my college graduation and moved to downtown Chicago for graduate school. We both went to Moody Bible Institute where my husband started his Masters in Divinity and I worked on my Masters in Intercultural Studies (Missiology/World Religions)
5. Ray's parents went down to New Orleans with the Red Cross during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They fell in love with the people of this city and ended up moving down months later. We followed them here in June 2008 and have loved every minute of it :)

#3: This is kind of related to Fact #2...my husband and I plan on leaving the country for long-term mission work in Asia sometime in the next 5 years or so. That’s our timeline, but it may change because first we have to finish our Masters programs via long-distance learning. I know I’m delving into a sensitive topic here, but I’d like to take a moment to say that although my husband and I are very committed Christians, we try very hard to be extremely loving people. I’m appalled and disgusted by the way in which some hatemongering Christians behave, and I’d like to say on behalf of our faith that I am deeply sorry if you have ever experienced any kind of gross unkindness at the hands of a Christian. Unfortunately, the behavior of some often ruins the image of all.


#4: I LOVE LOVE LOVE to cook and bake. I secretly wish I had the time, money and energy to cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking like Julie Powell. I looked into going to culinary school for several years, but ultimately decided my life was heading in another direction. I own just about every spice known to man and love trying new foods...especially ones that are difficult but worth the effort...like Swiss Meringue Buttercream...mmmm. Since I don’t have kids yet, I have the luxury of time and really enjoy baking fancy treats for people...especially when they’re going through a rough patch. I kind of have the same outlook on baking/cooking as I do with quilting...I feel they’re both ways in which you can show people you care by spending time on them. I enjoy making things from scratch (be it quilting or cooking) because I want the recipient to know I care enough about them to deliberately set aside a large block of my time to make something for them. I’m not saying it’s the only or the best way to express love, it’s just how I'm wired :)

#5: Even though I’m Chubbs McGee right now, I really enjoy running and pace about 10min/mile. I’ve done a 5K and 10K and eventually hope to do a Half or Full Marathon with my hubby. Once I saw someone walking around before a race wearing a tshirt that said on the back “I may be fat and slow but I’m still ahead of you”...I laughed out loud…because that’s totally something I’d wear!


#6: I’m an avid reader. It all started with Nancy Drew...my parents used to have to come in and yell at me, or else I’d stay up reading all night during the school week. My parents rarely had discipline problems with my sister and I, because all they had to do to placate us was hand us a book. We’d sit and quietly read for hours and hours. In the car. On a plane. While they were doing boring adult things. During church (hehe!). One of my favorite memories from childhood was my mom taking us to a huge, independent book shop in Lexington, Ky on the weekends and alotting each of us $10 for books. Which, at the time, meant we could buy two paperback or one hardback Nancy Drew. I still read at least 15-20 books a year and my husband and I have shelves upon shelves of books.


#7: My favorite movie of all time is Chocolat. If you haven’t seen it, click away from this blog immediately and go watch it. If my husband and I ever have a little girl, I'm gonna fight to name her Vianne (because he's already told me he doesn't like the other name I picked out :( ). And I love that Leslie Caron has a bit part in the film.

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