Loominous Stash Sunday

When Anna Maria Horner named her new line of fabrics Loominous,

She wasn't kidding!!!

Each of the colorways has a stripe, a check, a solid and a pattern, 

Can you see how the Weave in the check just glows, and how the solid is like a luminous shot cotton?

The weight is perfect for clothing, about the same as a Peppered cotton by Pepper Cory. 

Soooo Soft, and Rich!!

I really want to get yardage in each and every one of them and make All of the clothing!!!

Not that I know how, but a girl's gotta dream!

I really feel that this line has so much potential to be used in everything. Have you seen the quilts made of triangles of striped fabrics? Yum!! Or, the shams of diamonds of different weaves? Phenomenal!

I hope that seeing these makes you want to search them out and feel them up for yourself! ;)

XX!

Lori

Linking up with the Scrumptious Molli Sparkles!!

WIP Wednesday: Super Simple Plus Quilt

I'm done with the quilting on the Being Charming is a Plus quilt...

Now to bury all of the threads... something I enjoy doing. Because it signals that I'm almost done? Because it's satisfying knowing they will never, ever, come out? Or because it means I'm almost to Binding, which I now LOVE!! Can you believe it??! 

Oh dear, please excuse the fuzz! I roll my quilts as I quilt them on my domestic machine (DSM, not a long arm), and the extra batting I leave on the edges, kinda gets all over everything and everyone. I tell ya, it doesn't pay to stand still too long in This sewing room!!! 

Do you like the neon-ish effect those Aurifil threads give to the black and grey backgrounds? I'm loving the glowy aspects of this quilt. 

The Rainbow Being Charming is a Plus quilt will go up for auction in about two weeks. Just after Labor Day weekend. 

Why not sooner, you ask?? 

Why, because I have a HUGE, FABULOUS, MARVELOUS, WONDEROUS GIVEAWAY from my newest sponsor, Sewing Moxie for you over Labor Day weekend, of course!!! 

You better stop back for that!!! However else will you crow over your spoils to your comrades???

But, until then, you will just have to console yourselves with this lovely project...

But I can't actually show that to you either!!! Psych! So you'll have to come back on 9/3 for the FabriQuilt New Block Blog Hop where you'll see my new block, and have many more lovely things to salivate over. 

I'll have a new free block pattern for you, and there will be YARDS of fabric prizes to be won! 

I am making a twin sized quilt from my block, using these fabrics... hmmm, or maybe some others, too!!! That's the problem with quilting, isn't it? Too many decisions to be made!!! Lol! Luckily, I'm always sleuthing out new fabrics, so my choices are Endless;0 

Happy Wednesday!!

XOXO!!

Lori

Linking up with,

Heather Ross and Cotton and Steel Double Gauze And a Free Charm Pack!

Oh Dear!!

I Fear,

I have gone,

Far, FAR Away

from my budget...

But that's ok :) 

When I saw this Heather Ross Far Far Away bundle, and saw a Cotton and Steel double gauze bundle on sale at the same time, I knew it 

HAD TO BE.

And, so it was ;)

My plan is to make a simple-ish grid quilt, fussy cutting the Heather Ross and having the backgrounds be the double gauze, for the softest, coziest, softest baby quilt, Ever. 

OR 

Maybe a quilt for me...
 Don't you tell any babies!!

Have you tried double gauze? How do you like sewing with it?

XX!

Lori

I also want to remind you that Calico Cat Fabrics has a Spend $50 or more on Kona Solids and you get a FREE charm pack ($10 or less value) sale this week (August 17-24)!! Just add the charm pack to your cart and use the code FREEKONA2

You know how I love Kona cottons!!! 

XX!
Lori

Linking up with the Fantabulous Molli Sparkles!!

Honey-liciousness

It's Finish It Up Friday, and today I bring you,

HONEY

Golden sweet and pure. Dripping from the edge of a hot buttered biscuit. A pool of solar delight. 

Comforting, sweet delectation,

Golden rapture from a summer's long forage,

I went to the hive today. It was time. The sun was shining, warm and bright. The bees were contentedly buzzing. The frames were bursting with the fruition of months of glorious effort. They didn't even mind when I removed the top super and reduced the size of the hive down to just their main base. Also full to the brim with enchantment. 

I'll have honey for teas, I thought!! Honey for gifts!!!! Honey for cakes, and cookies and... 

Oh MY!!!

Honey to my Heart's Delight!!!!!!

I didn't want to hurt any bees, or cause a ruckus, so I decided I would remove just this part of the hive, harvest the honey, and then come back again for the remainder. 

So, I took the top super, brimming with capped, light golden joyance, and placed it about 8 feet from the hive. I removed a few of the frames that hadn't been used, and put them away in a clean plastic tub. 

Then I had an idea. 

A Grand Idea. 

A Truly Remarkable Idea. 

Why not leave the frames there, and wait for the bees to go to bed for the night? I wouldn't have to shake them all off, breaking some of them in the process, and nobody would get hurt. 

Brilliant, I chortled. Pure Brilliance.

So I did.

I can hear my bees, from the sewing room. It's one of my favorite things, to sit there and sew and listen to the hum of the summer and feel a light breeze. Contentment!! Joy!! 

I heard them all day today, buzzing along. 

Just after supper, I went out to pick up the frames and revel in a harvest of Glee. I had stolen the honey from the bees, and they hadn't even noticed!! 

But to my surprise...................

THEY TOOK IT ALL BACK!!!

Every. 

Last. 

Drop.

HA HA HA!!!

XX!

Lori

psst,

Where do you think they've hidden it???

(For photographic credits, click to save the photo, all flower and bee photos are my own). 

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts :)

Bee-utiful Summer!

I just know that you've been dying to know what we've been up to here in the Landenburger household! 
Well, hold your hats, cause I'm gonna tell ya! 

We had a bumper crop of baby birds raised in the yard (or the back 40, as I call it). 8 species in total!!

True story: The violet green swallows nested in our nesting box for the first time, and they must have been youngsters themselves, because they only had one chick. Well, you can imagine that that chick was stuffed full of all of the amazing variety of mosquitoes and other flying goodies from the yard and across the street in the Chugach State Park... so much so that...

He GOT STUCK!!!

I kid you not! He spent an entire day wedged in the opening, trying to get out. Naturally, his parents continued to stuff him chock full of more insects, which I am certain didn't help the situation one bit. The next morning he was gone, flown the coop so to speak :) S/he and her parents are winging their way to southern California, where my son will see them arrive, soon.  If he sees an amazing pudge shaped missile flop by, we'll all know who it is!!! ;0

Speaking of The Kid, he is doing well as a production engineer and making chain mail in his spare time. It's fun to talk to him about patterns and making, especially as he is working in 'hard' materials and I mostly work in soft (sometimes in the head, admittedly!) Thanks for askin'! It's so nice when they get old enough that you can tone down on the worry and stand back and do more admiring :)

I'm still working away on the Being Charming is a Plus charity quilt... I want the quilting to be so good that the recipients will love it, and so that it will last forever. 

This is Anita's version. Don't you LOVE it?!! 

We have two varieties of bees in the garden. Native Bumble bees, and imported honey bees. The native bumble bees, come in three sizes... Very small and round and cute, Medium sized and red-rumped, and truly Ginormous!!! Bumble Bumble Bumble!! I admit to quoting from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, fairly frequently when I see them... Bumbles Bounce!! They never seem to mind:) 

The neighbors, however, think I'm crazy.

Have you tried licorice mint? It tastes just like licorice!! Fun!!

My lavendar is blooming, and they just love it! They also love the blooms on the licorice mint, I wonder what it is about the purple that attracts them so?

My Carnolian bees have filled the entire bottom of the hive with honey, and have filled and capped half of each of four smaller frames... in two weeks I am going to steal their honey away... don't tell them! 
For now, they are going crazy over my cilantro, which is blooming, and the going to seed arugula. I wonder if the honey will taste faintly of herbs?? The cilantro flowers taste just like cilantro, and are so pretty on a plate, and the arugula is very peppery!! I'll let you know how it tastes this Fall, when it starts to rain, and I have a yen for some honey on scones or popovers. I wish you could come and try it with me!!! You just stop on by, anytime!

It's the time of year to be canning and putting away. I've been a tad bit jealous of all of the raspberry delights I've seen folks making over on IG... next year I am Definitely putting in raspberry bushes!!! How did that get away from me? You keep me to it, you hear?

Crow berries in Arctic Valley. They throng the earth in the Quintillions. They taste of Spring; high and light and sweet.

I've filled one section of the freezer with kale from our containers, and I'll keep cutting and freezing it until I can't stand it anymore. Then a moose will wander by and eat it, and save me from the Kale Reign of Terror. Honestly!! EVERY YEAR!! What was I thinking??? It never ENDS. KALE KALE KALE!!!

But later this winter, when I am making kale and chorizo bean soup, I'll be mightily glad of the bounty. I'll smile, and yum, while I eat my steaming bowl of hearty goodness and gaze out upon the white winter vistas. Complacent that I am warm inside, while it is blustering and cold, out there.

It's only once in a Blue Moon that you get a summer like this!! Testing out my
camera skillz...

I hope you are having a lovely summer!!! What has been your most cherished moment? Ours has been spending Slow time together. Such a treat!!

The Blue Moon over Flat Top, behind the house. It was One in the 
morning, and that moon had it bright as day, outside :)

XX!

Lori

Linking up with:

And

And

Sweetness!! Sunday Stash and Sale

Oh MY!!!

Check out this sweetness that I recently received

from an Instagram destash by

SewDeerlyLoved.

Do I know what I am going to make from these lovely fabrics, you say????

Of course not!! 

But who could resist such delicate sweetness?? 

When I think of the perfect cottage-y, summery, birds singin' quilt, I think of these sorts of fabrics. And someday, when the breeze is blowin the cherry embroidered curtains in at the windows, and the pie's a coolin' on the sill, I WILL make this quilt.

Until then, I will pet, and admire, and pet these lovely fabrics. And I won't feel badly about that at all!!

Do you know about Instagram destash sales??? Well, let me tell you! You know I'm all about the acquisition! ;)
If you go on to Instagram and search the hashtag #greatfabricdestash or #greatfabricdestashuk you will find gazillions of posts by folks looking to sell off some of their stash. This last week I scored some awesome Heather Ross, which I'll show you in another post. You never know what you will find there. Out of print fabrics, notions, fabrics for dressmaking, bag making bits, it's all there!!
Like a huge fleamarket... 

You know I can't resist!

If you would like to see more fabrics like these, check out the sale this week over at Calico Cat Fabrics:

Spend $35 or more on Riley Blake Penny Rose fabrics and get $5 off!! 
Honestly, she just gives it away!

XX!

Lori

Linking up with the Wunderbar Molli Sparkles!!

www.etsy.com/shop/TheCalicoCatFabrics

WIP Wednesday: Michael Miller Challenge!

So...

There I was...

4 am...

Alone in the Dark, just the flickering light of my computer screen to guide my way...

Waiting for the link to the Michael Miller Glitz Challenge by the Modern Quilt Guild to show up in my email...

Two slow months passed... Did I enter in time??

Would I be able to rise to the challenge??

Was it worth it freezing my bum off, hunkered over the computer in the Darkness??

The World Needed to Know!!!!

Yes!!

YESSS!

YESSSSSSSSSS!!

Stay tuned for work in progress shots... and funny stories of my progress :)

And wish me luck that mine will be chosen to be shown at Quilt Con. 

It seems an impossible dream...

But you know I'm gonna dream it!! 

And, I hope you do, too!

Update

I spoke with Heather who is coordinating the Michael Miller Challenge for Quilt Con, and she says that a "Coordinating Solid" is ANY Michael Miller solid, not just black and white. 

XX!

Lori

Ethics and Sponsorship

Here at SewPsyched! I take you seriously. I treasure every moment that you spend here. I am delighted and enthralled by your comments and stories. I am endlessly thankful for the fact that you take precious time out of your day to read what is written here, and to comment so beautifully on what I write and on what others share. It warms my heart. It truly makes every day brighter and more fulfilling. 

Thank you!!

And so, I want to share my Sponsor Ethics with you. It is important to me that you know that everything you find here is from the heart. You deserve it!

Sponsorship on this blog is a privilege. I work my butt off to find good deals for folks around the World. My goal is to search out and find lovely things for you, at the best price possible. So I want you to know that any Sponsor you ever find here is offering quality items at the most reasonable rate that I can find. 

I promise you that if I have chosen someone to highlight on this blog, or over on IG, that that person has met the highest possible standards, and has sworn to continue to do so, or I will remove their sponsorship. 

I love a sale! 

My purpose for stash posts is to share great fabrics and notions, and to tell you where I purchased them, sponsored or not, so that you can get in on the Goodness. 

So here, I solemnly swear:

I will NEVER tout an item I do not believe in. 

I will NEVER gush about something that I do not have/want/need/lust over. This includes pie. I just want you to know how serious I am. I know how annoying it is to read a post that is all gushy about something, and it is clear that the writer is just saying it to fulfill their sponsor requirement. Not here!!! 

I will NEVER support someone I do not personally use and believe in. 

I will attempt to be more grammatically correct.

I am being honest here. Having sponsors allows me to spend more time bringing you quilts and patterns that I otherwise would not have the time to make/share. It gives me time to learn more about our Craft. About photography. About movements in Art. And most importantly, About You. And that makes me happy. I am really all about the connections that I make here with you. That's what matters to me. And those connections are so important to me, that I would rather starve than lead you wrong. 

Advice to new bloggers:

It is a terrible temptation for those new to blogging, to tout any opportunity that comes their way. The pressure to make money from their blogs and their new endeavors is incredibly intense. Family and Friends constantly ask new Crafters if they are making money from their 'play' yet, and if so, How Much??! 

Don't do it!! Put ethics first. Does your sponsor meet your ethical requirements? Do they fulfill their responsibilities to their customers? 

Do not become an affiliate of a program that you do not use or believe in, yourself. I am a Craftsy affiliate. I adore their classes, have taken several and loved them all, use their site frequently, am not a seller there, and constantly shop their sales for the best deals. Look around. Do you see other affiliations here? No. The reason that you do not, is that I have not yet found another company that meets my standards. And just an FYI, I have never received a check from Craftsy. So being an affiliate doesn't mean I am making any money by having their banner on my blog. 

Customer service is your best ticket to financial freedom. Take care of your readers and customers, and they'll take care of you! 

Be caring. Giving back to the community is a vital part of being a blogger. Don't you hate folks who are all take take take? Set an example and give of yourself. 

A dear, lovely, fabulous blogger friend of mine just stopped accepting sponsorship on her blog because the sponsors were not giving good customer service. They were also trying to use her blog as their voice. No way!! I have my OWN voice, thank you! And if Sponsors agree to support me, you had better believe they know that! And, anyhoo, why the heck would they be coming here if they didn't like what they were reading?? 

So, I hope you understand why you may find sponsors here. I hope you understand how seriously I take you and your time. I hope you know that I would not let you down. 

But I need to know! How do you feel about sponsorship on blogs? Banners? Sidebars?? What do you like? Hate? What makes you turn away from a blog at first site? What makes you stay? 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

XX!

Lori