MOMENTS || I'M ON THE WOOLFUL PODCAST!!!

You guys, I'm beyond excited to announce that I'm today's guest on the WOOLFUL Podcast! Weeeeee!

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Seriously, this is one of my favorite podcasts and it's truly a "pinch me now" kind of moment to be a guest! Ashely is such a beautiful talent and it's been so wonderful to watch how fast this awesome podcast of hers has bloomed!

It's such an honor to have been asked to be a guest and to be included among so many amazing and talented people! Seriously, I'm freaking out big time here...lol! I listen and re-listen to some of Ashley's podcasts because there is always such a wealth of wonderful information that I don't want to miss a thing. I love to sit at my computer with a cup of hot coffee and sit back and soak it in. So yah, I'm still happy dancing around my house like a dork - but hey, dorks rule;

Aside from being an awesome podcaster, Ashley has a great blog, a lovely mercantile (drool!) and is also one of the designers behind Little Woolens along with the lovely Annie Claire. If you don't follow her instagram feed it's a must. It's filled with inspiration, her families journey starting a fiber mill, and lots of other fun pics!

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I hope you will all enjoy my chat with Ashley. I could have talked with her for hours. So grab yourself a hot cuppa, pull up a comfy seat and pop on over to WOOLFUL and give it a listen. You can also enter to win 5 PATTERNS of mine! Winner's choice! Comment on the Woolful blog to win!

A HUUUUGE thank you to Ashley for asking me to be a guest and for having such an inspiring and wonderful podcast! I hope we can chat again soon! I had so much fun!

You can find the WOOLFUL podcast HERE and also don't miss out on Ashely's gorgeous blog, and her rockin' shop below.

PODCAST  \\  WEBSITE  \\  MERCANTILE 

Are you a fan of WOOLFUL? What was your fave episode? Do you love listening to podcasts too?

MOMENTS || FAMILY TIME & BALANCE

Cadence yarn in colorway Laguna from Hazel Knits

I've been doing a lot of reflecting on things the last few days. It's been one of those weeks when my work/life balance is totally haywire and I know I need to just step back and make some changes.

It's been such a busy and crazy time for us here the last few months with the teacher strike since june, moving to our first home, family health issues, and me trying to balance full time work with both kids home. Saying I'm tired is an understatement...lol. I wanted to quickly pop in to say hello and let you know why it's been a quiet week on the blog. I'm flying home today see my Omi, whom I'm very close with, but who is unfortunately not doing so well health wise. Not a fun reason to fly home but it will be good to see my family. I'll be enjoying the gorgeous new worsted weight yarn called Cadence from the amazing yarn company Hazel Knits you see above, on all my flights as I work on a new pattern! I'll be back on Monday with a fun new sewing post!

What do you guys do when you know you're out of balance? Are you close with your grandmothers? Have you recently dealt with one of them getting very ill? I'd love to chat, come say hi and share your thoughts below.

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MOMENTS || RECHARGE THOSE CREATIVE BATTERIES

This is what we've been up to lately.

Now that we are in the new house it's time to explore! We're so lucky to live in an area now that is accessible to tons of amenities, the city and also gorgeous farm land and ocean beaches with mountain views! Both the hubs and I grew up in very small towns and we love the more relaxed feel of our neighborhood. We also love that we have all new surroundings to explore and tons of accessible outdoor landscapes! So many lovely off the beaten path views.

It's been hard to get the rest of the unpacking/chores done when all we want to do is enjoy the house and the new sights! Beaches, lakes and more are calling our names! So even though I know I "should" be unpacking this time I'm telling myself "it can wait". There's more important things to do. Like skipping rocks at the ocean, laying on the rocky shore with my best friend and love of my life, watching our girls laugh and play in the ocean, soaking up the summer sun, smelling the coastal breeze and breathing in the fresh air. Those darn pesky boxes can wait.

So that means the sewing time has been non-existent at the moment. Until this momma gets her office fully unpacked and her shelves set up the sewing is on hold. But I do promise it will be soon. I've got some new shelves being delivered this week and then I hope to get back into full work mode and say a big hello to my babies! I swear I can feel my serger/sewing machine staring at me with judgement. They don't like to be ignored. I'll make it up to them soon.

Until then, put aside your chores (and any unpacked boxes you may have), and get outside and explore! Bring a notebook, your camera and your loved ones and go be free. If even for 10 minutes. I swear it will come back tenfold in creativity. You'll feel even more inspired and much more happier to get those pesky chores and unpacking done when your soul is full.

What's your favorite way to inspire yourself outdoors? How do you balance your "chores" with your fun time? Do you have a favorite place to go unwind and recharge your creative batteries? I've got a coffee cup with your name on it! Come chat with me! I always love to hear from you. And heck.....chatting with all you lovelies is a heckuva lot more fun than unpacking. So come help me procrastinate ;)

MOMENTS || THE MOVE & A WINNER

We're in the new house now and life has been crazy but so amazing at the same time! I keep pinching myself to make sure it's all real!

I'm 37 and I've been dreaming of my first house since...well...forever. It feels surreal to be in the house now and it's finally starting to sink in that it's ours. The hubs and I have worked so hard to save all our pennies and budget to buy our first home and it's so rewarding to finally be out of our condo and have room to breathe and grow.

Even though we are surrounded by boxes, home repairs, lots of chores/cleaning, the moments shown in the picture above are the ones I will treasure forever. Seeing my two girls run through the sprinkler for the first time almost brought me to tears. We got our first little pool for our little yard and we've been loving it. I can't wait to start planning the yard. We've got a blank slate back there and a deck and fence that I can't wait to stain and a veggie garden to plant & more! I'll be asking you all soon enough to share all your secrets on veggies/plants. I'm super excited to grow the ingredients for my green smoothies right in my own yard!

One thing you may all not know about me is I love home improvement and diy. I repaired our torn screen door on the weekend and had a blast! What a rush to fix something. I know it sounds corny but after renting for so long it's liberating to say "this is broken, I'm going to fix it" and do it to my standards. I love going to home depot and other stores and now I can actually buy tools and reno things! And don't even get me started on furniture! I can't wait to be able to thrift more and find some awesome vintage finds to fix up! There are so many projects we've already taken on and started and I'm so proud of my hubby and I for going from condo dwellers to home owners and taking all the bumps so far with strides. It's not been a smooth ride moving in (we've had some unforeseen home repairs that need to be done - not fun!) and so far we've been staying relatively sane...haha. Relatively..lol.

It's been hectic around here so it's been hard to get on the blog but my office is slowly taking shape! And don't worry - I promise to share pics this time :) I have to pick a ton of paint colors and need help big time. I hope to get my fabric/yarn put away this week and finally get my sewing machine going. It's been too long since I've been able to sew. I've been missing it so and swear I can hear my sewing machine and serger crying for me at night...haha.  It's great to actually have a room to have my office in now instead of our condo being my office. I can't even explain how awesome it is to relax at night or spend time with my family without staring at all the work I need to be doing and a big mess. It's so freeing.

Before I get back to the unpacking though I haven't forgotten that I need to announce the winner of our "Fat Quarter Shop Fabric Giveaway"!!! Thanks again for the great prize Fat Quarter Shop!

The winner of the $50 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop is......

Commenter #169 - Quilting Momma

Congratulations - we will be in touch soon in regards to your prize!

Thank you for all of your well wishes throughout the last few weeks and for all your support. I'm so beyond grateful that I get to share this new journey in my life with all of you. I hope you all had an amazing weekend!

Do any of you like to do home improvements/diy too when you're not sewing/knitting? I'd love to hear about it! Pour some coffee...I've got a stool here with your name on it. Come chat!

MOMENTS || ON THE DESK & ON MY MIND

This is what's on my desk right now. I'd show you the rest but then I'd be ruining some upcoming surprises...hehe.

I've been working so hard on getting FRANKIE ready for testing and out for release. I love this little dress so much and there are so many options/variations I think you guys will all dig it too. I'm sewing up the last draft this weekend and will hopefully have a call for testers out soon...very soon (fingers crossed). FRANKIE will be available in sizes 2T - 10. I've been staying up late and working so hard to get this fun dress ready for you all!

For those of you who live in BC in Canada who have kiddos I'm sure you are all struggling to find balance at an unexpected time. We've had a teacher strike ongoing here throughout most of June and it cut our kids school year short with no final report cards either. I'm so thankful that I work full time from home so I could switch my schedule to work more evenings right now since I've got both kids home from school way earlier than expected. Needless to say it's delayed some of my time lines but that's life right?

We've been trying to keep busy with fun activities, sunshine, and lots of playing! I think this has been my fave summer with them so far if you minus the packing...lol. I think it's the age. The kids are 7 and 4 now and going to the playground allows mom a bit more time to sit and knit while they play. I picked up a funky new picnic blanket and have been happily lounging while watching the kiddos play. And if you've been reading this blog for a long time you know how much I hate the playground. (Don't judge me...lol.) It's a huge statement coming from me that I've actually enjoyed the last few outings I've had with the kids at the park.

Our budget doesn't allow for me to put the kids in summer camps so we have to be creative and come up with ideas to keep busy on our own. We decided to do the same activity we did last summer that we enjoyed so much! You can find the link HERE for our Summer Fun Calendar Craft. We plan on making ours today for July. I can't wait to hear what ideas the kids have for each days activities. It's hilarious the things their little minds come up with and the drawings they do to accompany them. It's definitely a hit in our house!

What are some of your favorite things to do with the kids in the summer? What have you been busy making and creating this week? I hope you all have a wonderful and sunshine filled weekend!

ANNOUNCEMENT || WE'RE MOVING!

I have been bursting at the seams to tell you guys some exciting news!!! We've bought our first home! Wahoooo!

Over the last few months we've been going through all the steps in finalizing the purchase of our very first house!!! I wasn't able to mention anything online to you all until everything was done but now we're living in the middle of packing chaos and getting very excited for the big move! I keep pinching myself to make sure it's all real!

We take possession at the end of July and we cannot wait for all the space! We've been living with both girls in our 2 bedroom condo for almost 7 years! We love the place we've been renting but we can't wait to have some more personal space, a small yard and for momma to have her own office!!! We spent a loooooong time looking and seeing way more houses/townhouses than I think I ever needed to. Boy do I not miss that stage of real estate..lol. We knew when we walked in the house we bought that it was meant to be ours.

The hubs and I have worked so hard and saved so much to be able to buy our first home. It's been such a dream of ours for us and our kidlets and it feels amazing to have our dream come true!!! I can't wait for all the little things....planting our garden, painting the walls, decorating, fun diy projects and more! I mean just getting to buy a welcome mat is going to put me into a happy jig! So many "house" things that I just can't wait to do! If you see a woman in Target dancing in the home aisles you know it's me ;)

Needless to say July is going to be a tad different on the blog. We've got a family vacation planned (our first in many years) and of course, the big move! I will still be blogging and trying to keep things as normal as possible around here but there may be a few moments when things are a tad quieter. Don't worry though, there are lots of fun things in the works that are coming your way soon! The Summer Sweater Knit Along is in the works, our Frankie Dress Pattern is so close to going into testing and there are some knitterly goodies coming your way as well! I've also got a few finished sewing projects that I need to blog about too! So stay tuned!

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading all these years, and for supporting this blog and my pattern designs! It means so much that I get to share this next journey in my life with all of you!

MOMENTS || CHECKING IN & A WINNER

Just popping in today to quickly say a hello and draw a winner!!!

My folks just left this morning and after having them here for 2 weeks I'm already missing them. I'm a blubbering baby who spent last night crying. I only get to see them once or twice a year and we are very close so it's hard to say our goodbyes or "see you soon's" as I like to say. I got to take a much needed mini-break from work and spend some time with them and my family with some amazing weather these past 2 weeks knitting and drinking coffee in the sunshine. The sun has been out and it's been soooooo warm!!! It's been wonderful.

I hope you all have had a great week as well! I'm excited to hear what you have all been up to. I also have some fun new posts to share with you in the upcoming weeks as well!

And now I know you're all waiting to find out who won the awesome Tanis Fiber Arts Giveaway we hosted last week! The yarn, the patterns....ohhhhh...such a lovely prize!

The lucky winner is.....

Commenter #157 - Brittani!!!! 

Congratulations Brittani! We'll be in touch soon about your prize!

A big thank you to all who entered and to Tanis for the generous prize!

What have you been up to this past week or so? Any new projects on the needles? What have you been working on? Making? Fill me in! I've missed ya!

p.s. yes, that yarn in the pic above is Tanis Fiber Arts yarn...isn't it gorgeous? It's Orange Label and I am so smitten with it!

MOMENTS || TURNING THE HEEL

I've been trying really  hard to stay on top of my goals for the blog and for myself this year and January sure gave me a run for my money.

It's been quite the test as I've been really busy behind the scenes of the blog and it could have been so easy to slip back into old ways. I have a post coming up this week that I'll explain this a bit more but I'm happy to stay I saw my old habits coming back and managed to pull myself back onto course again and stick it out. Have you been sticking to your new year's resolutions?

In the meantime I've also been enjoying some quiet moments to feed my soul and sole...hehe...sorry, couldn't resist. I've been working on some new patterns but also enjoying some great purse knitting for a new pair of socks. I'm madly in love with my self striping yarn from Caterpillar Green Yarns! This is colorway concrete and tulips and it is gorgeous!!! I highly recommend her yarns. Her stripes are amazing and she's local!

I turned my heel on the weekend (after some cray crazy math and a few oospies) and am now on the ankle portion! Yay! Can't wait to show you all the other colors I have in there now! There's a red/pink heel!!! Weeee! Fun! I also didn't miss the fact that I turned my heel on the same day I managed to work through a very stressful sewing situation (aka the dress from hell).  It felt good to make it through something bad and then end my day turning the heel on a fun new pair of socks! Silly as that sounds I slept great that night..lol.

In the craziness of my last week or so I realized that I haven't announced the winner of the Fat Quarter Shop Fabric Giveaway! Our winner is....commenter #53 - Michala.  Congratulations Michala! We'll be in contact with you soon! Happy fabric shopping!

What have you been working on this past month? Are you a sock addict? Have you been taking time for just "you"?