Happy Leap Day

It does only come around once every 4 years!! Yes I had to con Aries into jumping up and down on her bed (apparently it's not as fun when mom tells you to do it) to get this shot. She was having fun - even though it doesn't really show it on her face. The kids had early release from school today because of this.....

Mother nature - I wish I could put you in a time out!!! Just when I was so looking forward to spring.

**Just a little FYI - Google Friend Connect (that little follow me button on the side over there ~~>) will stop working for any non-blogger blogs and followers tomorrow. While I don't love technical changes like these I understand change. I will not remove it because I still think some of you readers may use it. There are still ways to follow me Twitter, Bloglovin', RSS Feed Readers like Google Reader. If you're like me and you read your blogs through blogger you might not see some of your favorite blogs that don't use blogger - but use other sites like Typepad or Wordpress. So make sure to check up on them**

Jackie's Quilt

 Odyn will be starting preschool soon - and with the sweet comes the sour because we will no longer be seeing his speech therapist Jackie every week. We first met when Aries needed services and we knew she would be back if Odyn decided to wait awhile to talk. She has become a friend and we often chat about things unrelated to how Odyn is pronouncing things. This time it will be much harder to say thank you because there are no other little ones that may bring her back to our door.

Aries was very delayed in speaking. We joked that Damien did all the talking for her. When she turned 2, and only knew how to say momma and dadda, we knew she would need someone to help her. Then Jackie came into play. Everyday that she pulled into our drive way Aries would be there greeting her at the door. In just a few months Aries was able to tell me with words what she wanted.

While Aries had her lessons, Odyn was only a couple months old, sitting in his seat quietly watching. The day came where Aries started preschool and Jackie had to go help other children. When Odyn turned 2 we again knew Jackie would be paying our family a visit. He was much different than Aries. She was bit more stubborn , not wanting to try new things or say new words. Odyn on the other hand was willing to try everything.

Today was Jackie's last visit. Next week Odyn will be 3 and ride the bus to preschool. How do you give thanks to someone who gave you the ability to understand your children? Because of her Odyn was able to tell her that the present she gave him for his birthday was, in his exact words, Awesome! So to pay thanks I broke out the sewing machine and got to work. Taking ques from her clothes, love for Anthropologie, and cute blue polka dotted clipboard - I picked the perfect fabric (Heather Bailey's Freshcuts). 

What came about was a lovely quilt, just big enough to keep at the foot of the bed or on the back of the couch. My hope is every time Jackie feels the slightest chill she reaches for this blanket for warmth, thinking of us. She has warmed our hearts in more than one way.

Shabby Apple Dress Winner!!

Thank you everyone for entering and welcome new blog readers! After totaling up all the entries there was a total of 103. So I typed this wondering number into Random.org and out it spit....

Making the lucky lucky winner of the beautiful "Spanish Step" dress from Shabby Apple......

Congratulations!!

I'm planning another giveaway really soon....one that includes all my international readers as well :)

Enter here!!
NOW CLOSED

Watercolors

Last night I worked on some watercolors. 

Just finishing up some projects that have been left behind.

Think I may cut these up and use them in a collage for my art journal.

What I should have been doing is working on a quilt but I wasn't in the sewing mood.

Maybe tonight.

Bits of The Weekend

There are so many bits of things that happened this weekend I don't know where to start! This package of fabric happiness arrived on Friday. It's for a very special quilt that I am hoping to tell you more about shortly. Only seeing Freshcuts by Heather Bailey on the internet, it made me a little worried that colors would be a bit bright or maybe the patterns would be too much for the project. Thankfully it's just what I was looking for - amazingness.

Saturday was the day to prepare for Damien's 9th birthday party. He wanted a Sonic The Hedgehog cake for awhile but when he wanted chocolate frosting too ... well I had to get my thinking cap on. Sunday the day of the party, he gave me his approval (whew), now that he is 9 that is a little harder to get.

Also arriving in my mail box was this lovely book!! Gosh I am still in shock over this giveaway win. Tif was sweet enough to sign it for me. The pages have been turned, read, and stared at. Funny how it's been on my must have books and now that I have it I don't want to put it down. There are a million little details to this book that I adore. If you are a fan of granny chic, vintage, or handmade - it should be in you hands too. Thank you so much Dottie Angel ♥

Last but not least is a new journey we are starting to prepare for. So this weekend I started going room by room organizing and downsizing. Taking pictures of items you may have seen and inquired about that were in my house, for the shop and the bay. Only the absolute must have can't live without items will make the cut. Something that is much harder than you may think.
Hope your weekend was full of bits like mine :)
P.S. Can you spy what Aries' item snuck into my last photo?

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway!!

The lovely people over at Shabby Apple, an online boutique of women's dresses, asked if I would like to give all my wonderful readers a chance to win one of their dresses. Quickly I replied "YES!!"

All I have been doing this week is thinking about spring and how great it will be to wear dresses again. Shabby Apple style dresses are just what I was thinking about! They are classic styles and most with that vintage charm I love so much. The newest collection called Mad Hatter is beautiful.

I must warn you that their dresses are super comfy and you may become addicted to wearing dresses. I have their Lighthouse dress and it's one of the major reasons I want warm weather to arrive. Never did soft pale yellow ever look so good on me.

So my lucky lucky readers you have a chance to win one of their fabulous dresses!! Out of a long list of dresses to choose from I picked one I hope everyone will love. The detail on the skirt is what caught my eye ... my dear hubby even agreed on my choice...and us agreeing is something very rare, so it's gotta be amazing.
So here are the details:

One USA reader will win the Spanish Step dress featured right here:

The Nitty Gritty on how to enter :

*Mandatory Entry*

Must have USA shipping address to enter.

(Sorry all my international peeps - there will another giveaway soon open to all)

1. Please visit Shabby Apples Facebook page and "Like" them. Come back here and leave a comment telling me you did.

*Additional Entries*

2. Visit Shabby Apple, look around, and try not to fall in love with everything. Come back here and tell me what dress or item you would love to have in your spring wardrobe.

3. Be or Become a Google Friend Connect, RSS feed, or just a loyal follower of this blog! Leave a comment telling me so.

4. "Like" Itchin' Stitchin' (that's me) on FB and maybe show some love on my wall with a cute message - Comment about it below.

5. Follow me on THE Twitter :) leave your sweet twitter name in the comments for another entry.

6. Blog, Tweet, or FB about this giveaway. Make sure to leave a comment with a link back to it for another chance to win this oh so lovely dress!

♥ Please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you're the lucky winner.

♥ Please leave a separate comment for each entry - there are a total of 7 possible entries!

♥ Contest is open to anyone with a USA shipping address.

**Last day to enter will be Feb 25th by 11:59pm EST - After that comments will be closed and a winner be chosen randomly.***

Good Luck!!!!!

Strainer Bunny

Sometimes when I get ready to photograph something vintage for the shop - it transforms into something else. The little wire ears on the strainer kept reminding me of a bunny - So I just couldn't stop myself. Strainer bunny was born.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Lists

I ♥ all the blog lists that are going around. It makes me want to write lists all day long. Winter is over in my mind but not in the weather. There is talk that there is going to be snow tomorrow or on Sunday. I wouldn't mind if they were wrong. But even as I type this there is a wintery frozen mix happening outside.
Last night I organized all my tax stuff ... and created a giant headache in the process. My printer was screaming at me every couple of minutes for paper or more ink. Even though I was tempted several times to use cheerful colored paper or doodle on the sides of some of my receipts, I resisted. The IRS seems much to strict for those types of things.
Good thing I have some fun things I am working on as well, including some MOO cards I won from the wonderful Dottie Angel :) and a giveaway of my own for all of you.

XOXO

Wishing you lots of love this Valentine's day.

Time

Don't blink! It feels like just yesterday he was this small.Today he is 9!!! I made cupcakes last night for him to take to school. He's the best Valentine's present I ever got.

Hexagon Patch

Still addicted to hexagons over here! The small project is finished - I used some hexagon to make a flower patch for my painting pants. They have holes, paint splashes, glue spots, and other messy craftiness to them. Sometimes when I get busy at home I shamefully leave these pants on while we run to the post office or go to the store. One of the rips on the knees got too big, making them a little uncomfortable to wear. Now they are perfect. They are just a tad more fashionable to wear in public and it's okay if the hexagons get a little paint on them - after all they are my artist pants. Just wish I had an artist shirt I could add elbow patches to.

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

Now that all major holidays are over, a baby shower has passed, and one child has become a year older I have more time. We are still planning things like 2 more birthdays only weeks apart, the little man entering preschool, and other excitement. This for us is slowing down.
So last night I was thrilled to start some fabric hexagons, after all they have been haunting me this past week. There is this lovely little quilt by Amy here, Alicia's amazing calicos, and then there are these this & that. I did take warning from all the other lovely hexagon makers that they would be addicting and they so are!

Being the cheap thrifty lady I am, I didn't buy my paper hexagon but rather used a 1" hexagon template here and printed them out. Got a fun little project planned for them and then maybe a more time consuming one...we will see.

I also did another page in my Finish This Book. Can't say enough good things about this book!! It's one of those happy purchases that I don't regret spending a little money on myself.
While my crafting list is growing longer and I keep adding to it - What are you working on...new recipe? a quilt? yarn goodness?

Denise's Quilt

Denise's Quilt 

Fabric: Joanne's, Fabric Depot, Osgoods

Embroidery Pattern: Here

Block Pattern: Modern Blocks

Pink polka dots, purple flowers, a sweet bird print, and metallic stripes. The fabric for this quilt just sang little girl while I was looking through my cabinet. It's not the perfect quilt, there are uneven seems, one or two blocks isn't correct, there is bunching, and the sweet note on the back is a bit crooked. While many of us try to be perfect, make everything even, and just right - it's not always necessary. 

The quilt is not any less beautiful with it's imperfections. It's made with love, the most important thing. While I must admit that when I started quilting and saw that the message was getting pulled up, making it look uneven,   my heart sank. Taking a break and stepping back to think what could be done to solve the problem, I realized I didn't want to solve it. 

Remembering those class trips about colonial times and the ladies that use to sit down and embroider by the light of candle or fireplace, and how they use to make mistakes in their work on purpose. They use to embroider an "e" backwards or spell a word wrong because some thought that it being perfect would bring out evil jealousy. 

While this to me sounded like those girls had a lot of self esteem, and thought very highly of themselves, this is not the reason I left the mistakes in my work. Instead I thought of a sweet little girl cuddling with her quilt on the couch when she's not feeling well, it laying on top of her while she dreams the most precious dreams, or hanging on her nursery wall for her to admire. 

Just like everyone at the shower, Denise isn't going to care that the seams aren't perfect, that it's not lines up even everywhere, or that the message of love is crooked. The thing that will be perfect is the sweet baby that will be welcomed into the family. We are so looking forward to meeting her.

Superbowl Sunday

Hope everyday has a good time cheering on their favorite team. As you can tell by the cookies we made, which team we will be rooting for.
Today is also my sister in-laws baby shower. The quilt is done and I also made a wonderful cake - can't wait to show you all - but until then get your war paint on and your favorite football jersey, cause it's football time!

Hand Embroidery

Thank you all for the well wishes. I still have this sinus head congestion but what better to do than hand embroidery. Last night I stitched away while watching a movie and tonight I plan on doing the same thing. This square will be the middle of the quilt top for the baby quilt. Crossing my fingers - after this it will go faster. Somewhere in the mix I lost my rotary cutter which has been making cutting the fabric take a little longer. We searched the entire house... still can't find the rotary cutter but I know that once this quilt is done it will magically appear. The funny thing is I know I put it somewhere where little hands couldn't reach it, somewhere safe. Somewhere I can't remember. Do you ever do that?
Just a friendly reminder about my font swap ... last day to sign up is Feb 4th. If you did sign up, don't forget to fill out your profile with a little bit about what you like and don't like.

A Walk in the Woods

Yesterday we took a walk into the woods. We made muddy footprints, heard the woodpecker, collected nature for display, and walked on mossy stones. All this spring weather has made me feel a bit yucky today. 

I'm finishing up the quilt I started for my sister in-law and resting on the couch. With the little ones taking a nap and the house quiet,  you can heard the birds chirping outside enjoying the sunshine. Has the season started to change where you are?