Chipmunk Quilt

Last week we found this weird sweet chipmunk quilt in a local thrift shop. I passed it over at first, thinking it might be too expensive. But I ended up going back and it was $20 with 75% off!! Score! This quilt is weird and wonky and obviously homemade, and I love it!

I'm not sure how this quilt was made, but there are some darker colors showing through, so I think an old blanket was used as batting. It was machine pieced, quilted and bound. The maker used a fancy stitch for the quilting!

Has anyone found any cool quilt or textile treasures lately?

Mad Cat Capsule : Sock Sorting - The Worst Clothing Chore

I don't know about you but I have too many socks. Like all my clothing, before starting my Capsule Wardobe I had socks everywhere. I fear I still do. One of my most hated jobs is to gather all the socks in one place and try to match them. I always seem to end up with a pile just as large. 

Since starting my capsule wardrobe I haven't taken away any socks, to save for other seasons, as I have with clothing. But I have started just wearing the same pairs over and over. This makes it easier to keep track of those in the wash, but I secretly hope to wear some pair out!

One thing I know for sure is that I will not be buying socks anytime soon!

What's your most hated clothing chore? Has it changed since you've started a capsule wardrobe?

Something Nice

Cool stamps and friends who get it. 

Simple Swap: Shampoo Bar

My journey towards Zero Waste has been a series of simple swaps. This seems like the easiest and lowest impact way to move towards less waste and a new lifestyle. If you are thinking of moving to a more low impact life, I highly suggest starting small with easy simple swaps. 

One swap I knew I wanted to make was to stop getting shampoo and conditioner in plastic bottles. There are many ways one can do this but I opted for the simplest, a shampoo bar! 

Luckily I have a awesome local soap shop, Big Spoon Little Spoon Soaps, and they make a shampoo bar. I had never used one before, and it took a little getting used to. The first few times I washed my hair with the bar it was quite dry and stiff. But after a few washes, my hair got used to it and it was soft and supple after washing. The soap does lathers up nicely but I had to learn how much to put on my hair and how to work it in, which takes a little more work than regular shampoo. 

I only was my hair 2 - 3 times per week, partly to let the natural oils in my hair do their thing and partly bc that;s just how I roll. In between washes, I will sometimes use a dry shampoo which I make myself. Currently we still use conditioner that comes in plastic. After the bottles we have runs out I want to switch. I have not found a conditioner bar yet, but I'm always on the look out! 

This was the shampoo swap I settled on, but you can also get shampoo in metal refillable containers, use home made shampoo, or go no poo and natural. What shampoo method do you use?

The Hound of the Baskervilles

One of my goals in 2018 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.

I've read The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arther Conan Doyle before, but when my dad gave me The Complete Sherlock Holmes read by one of our favorite readers, Simon Vance, I was super excited. 

My excitement didn't get me too far when I realized that we no longer had a place to listen to CDs!! The only place we can listen to CDs is in the car but that means I have to actually bring the CDs into the car. That didn't happen for a while, so I ended up listening to this book thru one of my free subscriptions, read by Simon Prebble. 

Infamous detective Sherlock Holmes sends his friend and partner, Dr Watson, to the countryside to investigate the legend of a huge hell hound stalking the Baskervilles. After the last Baskerville to live at the manor dies under mysterious circumstance, Watson and Holmes must protect the new heir and discern if the hell hound is real or only a myth. 

If you know mysteries, you know Sherlock Holmes and in this, one of his most supernatural and disquieting cases, he does not disappoint. There's not much to be said of Conan Doyle's brilliant detective, fluid writing style, sardonic wit and gripping mysteries that has not been told. If you've never read any Holmes tales, this is a classic to start with. If you have, it's well deserves another reading. I highly recommend  this book for those who love mysteries, period pieces, books of the supernatural, and the list goes on and on. 

Who is your favorite fictional detective?

MCQBOM² / 10

Another super simple block for this weeks Mad Cat Quilts Block of the Month. My plan right now is to do two blocks per month. Sometimes I need fast and simple blocks to achieve this goal. 

This block was inspired by Pat Sloan. I love her free, simple tutorials and approach to quilting. I gain so much inspiration from her. 

Linking up around the web today. 

How are you BOMs going so far this year?

March Plant Update

March was another rollercoaster for plants and weather!! We were able to observe some local plants, some new areas, and even give a tour of some of the plants in our very own home. 

Croci have been popping up, then getting trampled all over the neighbor hood!

Before the big storms of March, my front garden was off to a good start!

Early morning snow. 

More of my favorite pine trees. 

I'm still working on learning YouTube. What better way than to give a tour of some of our house plants! 

Was March weather and plants as wild where you live as is was for us? What were some of your March plant observations?

On My Mind On Friday Morning

We are redecorating our kitchen and looking for a new sink. I like this one, but it's sooo pricy. I also like this and this. Hopefully we will find one second hand. Does anyone know any eco friendly or sustainable sink brands?
Last month we stayed in a hotel that allows cats and dogs, but I'd like to stay where they have a cat as a mascot!
I'm sure I'm not the only one that loves looking at abandoned theme parks. 
RIP Stephen Hawking. 
More advice, please!! Irving, our newest rescue, is really having a hard time adjusting. Do any readers have tricks for a new cat fitting in?

Morris Museum Hall of Rocks and Minerals

Last week we had some time to explore NJ and headed to the Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ. I had never been to Morristown before and it was not at all what I expected. The area has a lot of beautiful landmarks, including churches and Fort Nonsense (a revolutionary war historic site). But mostly the town has a lot of financial businesses, a million banks, and a lot of big name brand stores. 

The Morris Museum is located outside the main part of town and boasts a large collection of working automata. This was the main reason we went and worth the price of admission. They have daily shows at 2pm, which we unfortunately did not know before going and missed. 

The Morris Museum is also well known for it's large collection of gems, many of which were found in NJ. 

I always really love to see a big collection of gems together and this was a really great gallery. 

I was really glad to visit this museum, and I would definitely recommend it! We will be back soon to see an exhibit on kinetic art. Ans of course to revisit the gem room!

What are your favorite galleries to visit in museums?

MCQBOM² / 9

I needed a really easy and simple block for my BOM today. Can't get much easier than this. I plan to put some boarders around it later when I "square" up my blocks. But for now, this block was perfect. 

This block works perfectly for my Mad Cat Quilts Block Of The Month as well; Simple building blocks of quilting. It's just about time to do another group photo for this BOM, but I was loosing light on this day. 

How are everyone else's BOMs going so far in 2018?

Linking up with Move It Forward Monday, Monday Making, and other places around the web!

YOTS2018 / How I Bind

My Year Of The Stash is off to a slow start but I love using this space to identify and explore the ways that I quilt and what quilting means to me. Due to my quilting background being diverse and mostly self taught, I am constantly examining why and how I quilt. 

One technique that I find I do very differently than most quilters is how I bind my quilts. I bind my quilts by extending the backing and folding it over to the front. I have seen people do a folded binding before, but it is a rare sight. I love making my quilts this way and I'm not sure why more people don't use this method. 

I really enjoy that this method gives the quilt backs a clean, full to the borders, look and that the backing shows to the front. Recently I have been using mostly full cloth backings, but I also like to piece my backings sometimes. I love the way a pieced backing shows to the front of the quilt when creating a folded binding. 

Sometimes when binding, I make a straight corner, sometimes a mitered edge. it usually just depends what the quilt "wants" so to speak, and like all my quilting, is an improv decision made as I go. 

As I am working on a quilting a few quilts at the moment, I find my mind moves forward to the binding step as it is such a satisfying aspect of quilt making. I'll be happy to get to that step with my current quilts and see what happens! 

Another thing I like to track in Year Of The Stash is my stash usage. Year of the Stash is all about using what you have and here is my fabric intake/output so far: 
Fabric Added Since Last Update: 0
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0
Fabric Used Since Last Update: Approximately 3.5 yds
Fabric Used Year to Date: Approximately 3.5 yds

How do you bind your quilts? Is it something you look forward to?

Youtube Video | Bullet Journal Flip Thru

Soooooo, I'm super new to YouTube. But I figure if I'm watching and enjoying YouTube, I should try it out, too. While I'm figuring it out, you can find me at Ana Mo Shoshin. I'd be super grateful for any tips, ideas, or comments!

Here is my second video in all it's bouncy glory. I had intended to put this at the end of yesterdays blog, but I could not get it to work for the life of me! Today, I figured it out!! Each time I upload, I learn things, see things that I want to change and ways to improve. Who else out there is starting their YouTube journey?

For those new to creating on YouTube, I highly recommend checking out all of channelnotes videos! She has a great way of being informative and inspiring and almost all her videos are less than 10 minutes!

Bullet Journal Check in: March Set Up

I've been Bullet Journalling for about 24 months now, but every month I'm excited to make a new set up! For March, I used a few of the new spreads I had been testing out in February. Testing spreads is a great way to see if they are useful, but there is something very satisfying about setting up a new month with all the spreads!

The march overview and monthly task pages are simple. Each month these remain pretty much the same since starting my Bullet Journal. 

Usually the next pages contains my logs, but I have omitted those this month and made a large sleep tracker to try instead. Here I will track nightly sleep and napping! I carried over my blog log set up bc this works well for me. This is where I log when and what I actually blog, when I post on insta, and my regular series. I leave a notes section at the bottom, but this month I have filled it up with all the drafts I have waiting on the blog, so I can finish some of them, and cross them off!!

Next are two new spreads: A content calendar, which I tried out last month, and a weekly/biweekly cleaning tracker. We will see how well these work for me in March. 

My habit tracker remains mostly the same for March, but I have added my daily routine items into it for this month. Previously I had been writing this in as a weekly overview but it was starting to feel chaotic and I was not filling it out regularly. These pages also contain a general shopping list and a lunch tracker for when and what my husband takes for lunch. 

I'm working on how I want my expense tracker to be going forward. This one has categories but still isn't quite right. This is also the first month that I am trying out a budget tracker. I'm not sure if budgeting is something I will really pursue, but for March, I thought I'd try it!

In March, I'm trying something new, but bunching all my daily spreads together. Usually I make them as they come, between other spreads or lists or idea pages. This month, I'm trying to only add small ideas among my daily spreads, like the bottom right box, which has some blog ideas.  Since I no long have a log page, I have added a sewing section to each day to track how much time I spend on sewing. I also have one for time spent at the beach. 

Overall, I'm happy with this monthly layout, but I 6 days in, I'm already spotting things I miss or may need to add. I enjoy that my Bullet Journal is always a work in progress!

Please share a link to your March set up in the comments!

March OMG

Still plugging away at getting this scrappy little quilt finished. March will be the month!!

I made a ton of progress on this one in February after not working on it as diligently as I should have in previous months. I really want to see this one get finished this month and early if possible. Catching up on some sewing goals are a priority for me in March!!

So far, in 2018, I still haven't completed any OMG Goals:
Jan - Finish one small quilt - Not Finished
Feb - Finish scrappy quilt - Not Finished
Mar - Finish scrappy quilt - 

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts and OMG. 

February in Review

It's always amazing that February is the shortest month but feels so long. This one was a particularly rough month for our family. But life goes on. 

1) Catsbury Park watcher. 2) A serious neighbor on 4th ave. 3) Curious, but cautious on Pine Street. 4) Keeping doors safe on Asbury Ave. 

1) Breakfast mates in Allenwood NJ. 2) My favorite pine tree, Asbury Park NJ. 3) Sky dragon, Philadelphia PA. 4) Mocking bird waiting for the morning train, Allenhurst, NJ.  

1) Plant light. 2) Bee haven. 3) All the lime zest. 4) New growth. 

1) Night view. 2) Beach murals. 3) Morning walk. 3) Clock tower.

February always has ups and downs. What direction will March take?

MCQBOM² / 8

As usual, I can't remember where I found the block inspiration for the 8th block in my Mad Cat Quilts Block Of Month. I really like this block! 

I have been finding it challenging to find easy building block type quilt blocks for this BOM, but that's part of the fun! I snag them when I see them, which is why I often can't remember where I find them. Even though these are simple blocks, sometimes I have a hard time finding a minute to sew them. But so far, all these blocks have come together quickly and easily, when I finally sit down to make them. 

What BOMs is everyone working on now?

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and around the web.

February Plant Update

February has been pretty up and down. With snow, 70˚ weather, rain, sun, etc... it's been an interesting month for plant observations. 

Crow crowns one of my favorite pines. 

Heavy snow and white pine. 

New flowers from work. 

This weird geranium (??) was given to me by a friend. It was doing really well until Irving knocked it down off it's perch. 

Starting to see signs of spring. 

What has February been like where you live?

YOTS2018 / Basting Party

Basting quilts is one of those things that I find myself putting off. But when I do baste, I try to do a few quilts at a time, Usually it's a party for me and the cats! We all get on the floor and wrestle with quilt backs, quilt tops, batting and each other. 

This time no cats joined me. Irving briefly put in an appearance to scuffle with one of the quilts, but it was half hearted and short lived. You'd think it would make my basting task easier, but I still struggled with these two little quilts. 

My basting method is pretty easy and perhaps too rudimentary. Like all my quilting methods, it's simple, not fussy, what some would call wonky. I usually place the backing on the batting, smooth it out, flip it over on the floor, place the quilt top on top and pin. The backing tends to be a little loose, but I smooth it out while hand quilting and there usually aren't too many gathers when it's finished. Once washed, my quilts tend to be looser and more puffy than some, but you hardly notice. Occasionally I tape the backing to the floor, then tape the batting in place before smoothing the quilt top as the last layer and pin. But that seems like a lot of work. 

The two baby quilts I basted on this party day came out even looser than normal. I'm not sure if it was bc they are so small and I'm used to dealing with larger heavier quilts. Or perhaps it was bc I didn't have my helpers!

Time will tell how these two small quilts come out. Any other non traditional basters out there?

Simple Swap: Cloth Coffee Filters

One easy simple swap I've made on my Zero Waste Journey is to get reusable, cloth coffee filters. This hasn't changed my coffee routine at all, except to eliminate paper filters.

I used to buy recycled, compostable disposable filters to use in my pour over coffee maker. I still don't think this is a terrible choice, as every part is recyclable or compostable. But the cloth filters cut down waste even further. The particular ones I bought (Coffee Sock) did come packaged in a plastic bag with a cardboard card. I recycled both.

I use the filters 4-6 times before washing them, first in the sink with warm water to get most of the coffee out, then in the washer (careful to put them in with dark colors as coffee does stain). Between uses, I dust out the grounds into the compost or a jar to save for soups, face washes, or cleaning scrubs.

Water runs thru the cloth filters faster than the paper ones, so I adjusted my Burr grinder to be a little finer. I buy my beans locally, usually from Asbury Park Roastery. They have many organic roasts, are so nice, and only 3 blocks from my house!

These cloth filters are made from cotton, and seem very easy to make. But I think that these ones will last me a long time. I've been using them for a few months now, and besides staining from the coffee, they're holding up very well. I wouldn't want to wash these filters between every brew, but that's just me. It certainly wouldn't be difficult. 

What method do you all use to make your daily coffee or tea?

WIP 2/20/18

Finally got to quilting this one!! 

Feeling hopelessly out of practice and behind. All the more reason to carry on.