Hey Girl

This site has been making the rounds on blogs and the twitters and it's killing me. I sent the link to Curt last week to show him how considerate Ryan is about crafting. See, Curt usually says the EXACT OPPOSITE of Ryan is "saying." Curt admitted Ryan must be the better man, so I figured he wouldn't mind if I poked a little fun at him.

SO instead of all this, I'm getting this:

Curt's never actually refused to help, but he has put up a fight:

This instead of that.

This not that.

And NEVER this, ALWAYS this:

By now you have all realized that my husband is a total hunk and a half and despite the silly captions, he is an amazing guy.

Truthfully, a lot of the time he's more like this:

I couldn't have asked for a better guy to craft away my life with (except, I guess, Ryan Gosling). He always supports and encourages me, even if he doesn't always agree with my color choices :) 

Love you Curt!

(I am in so much trouble)

The Goose is Getting Fat

Slowly but surely, Christmas has arrived at our house. Our tree is up, but lacks any kind of decoration. That's alright though, because we usually keep it up well into February (.. March .. April .. I was in a standoff last year and it was up for a long time) so we'll have plenty of time left to enjoy the glow when we DO finally decorate it. 

I did manage to make a Christmas wreath to hang on the front door. Styrofoam wreath + wide ribbons + lightbulb ornaments = this pretty little thing on the cheap.

On Sunday we went on a double date to see The Rockettes at The Grand Ole Opry House. The girls were lovely, with their high kicks and sparkly costumes. It definitely put me a little more into the holiday spirit. 

After the show we drove by Opryland to view the lights. If you are ever around Nashville during the holidays, do be sure to drive through! There's a lot more inside the resort, but these lights are free and stunning.

I've been chugging away with my handmade holiday gifts. I finished a tshirt quilt tonight, which was the biggest undertaking I had left on my list. The remainder of my to-do's includes an infinity scarf, a ruffle towel, finishing up a knit hat that required more yarn, and maybe knitting a couple dishcloths, which will likely turn into a car activity. 

Then of course comes the wrapping. This year I'm aiming for brown paper packages, tied up with string... yup, you're all singing it now :)

What are your last minute Christmas plans? Is everyone on your nice list check off? 

Handmade Holidays

You guys, I have been so busy preparing for the holidays, you'll have to forgive my bloggy absence and just believe these photos are proof that I have been sewing and stitching my fingers to the bone lately. More details after all the Christmas/baby/friendly presents are finished, I swear!

Are you making any holiday gifts this year? 

Shop Sale!

In the spirit of holiday shopping and my own desire to spread handmade goodness this Christmas season, EVERYTHING in my shop has FREE shipping to the US, now through December 3. Get a head start on the holiday rush and order some goodies today!

brittneyanderson.etsy.com

Window Shopping

I had the opportunity to peruse Anthropologie yesterday while Curt was at work, and dang it - now I want one of everything. It was all so sparkly and colorful and warm and cozy looking. My shopping technique is usually "just look, don't buy." Here are some of my favorites:

{twinkle tweed change purse}

{celestial coasters in every color}

{bowls in every shape and color}

{knobs just begging to be turned}

I did snag some really great clearance kitchen linens and I may have started a new collection. Plus a little Christmas gift for my sissy :) 

Have you kicked off your holiday shopping? I plan to make just about everything this year, but I love to look at the Christmas displays in all the stores, it makes me excited to decorate our new house - maybe this weekend?! 

Weekend via Instagram

It's been a low-key weekend with lots of cleaning, recording, and knitting around here.

How is your weekend going?

Fall Sewing

This past week has been a cold one in Nashville - fall has definitely arrived! All the more reason to sew a new scarf, don't you think?

I had some new Loulouthi velveteen just begging to be turned into a loopy scarf. I plucked some Loulouthi voile from my stash that was just the right blue and got sewing.

I followed the tutorial from Anna's blog, but I altered my measurements slightly to better suit my short petite frame. My fabric was cut somewhere in the realm of 12" X 54".

I love the chartreuse color of the velveteen - perfect for a pop of color in the cold weather. The voile and velveteen together make a very cozy, warm scarf, and the infinity aspect means no ends flailing around or getting caught in zippers. It was quick and easy to sew. (AKA you can expect me to make a few as gifts this Christmas!)

Hope everyone has a good week! 

Weekend Wedding

Curt and I had the privilege of attending our dear friend Matt's wedding this weekend in Indiana. It was a beautiful weekend for a wedding and I snapped a few Instagrams to share with you.

The drive up was gorgeous - the trees were all kinds of colors through Kentucky and Indiana. We don't get that autumnal changing of seasons here in Nashville - it's just kind of hot and then it's cold, so the trees don't go through "the change."

The wedding ceremony was at this sweet little covered bridge in Zionsville. They had Ball jars lining the aisle with candles and the sun was shining just right to cast a perfect afternoon glow over everything.

The men wore plaid shirts with skinny black ties and suspenders; the girls wore grey dresses with sweet bows in the back, and the bride wore a beautiful strapless dress with plenty of ruffly layers.

Keeping with the fall theme, the reception tables were decked out with pumpkins, twigs, and a dusting of glitter. The groom is a musician - aptly represented by the hymnals and antiqued sheet music. The reception was in the town Curt and I (and Matt) went to college, so it was fun to visit for the night.

The reception was of the dessert variety, with plenty of pies and sweets arranged on two glowing tables. The second table had grab bags to fill with all kinds of treats like M&Ms, nuts, pumpkin seeds, chocolate covered espresso beans, peanut butter cups, etc.

I opted for the raspberry cake, which tasted as delicious and pink as it looks. Curt had apple pie with a flaky crust - yum!

Matt & Charissa were very civilized in their cake cutting, aside from a tiny dollop of frosting which somehow got from Matt's finger to Charissa's forehead :)

The wedding was beautiful, the desserts were delicious, and the bride & groom were grinning all night long, so I'd consider it a pretty successful wedding weekend. 

Have you been experiencing autumn where you are? We are going to carve pumpkins this week and roast the seeds. I can't wait! 

Crappy Scrappy Quilt

(Let me preface this post: I don't want to offend anyone. I'm going to call some fabric ugly. If you happen to find the fabric beautiful, or you designed the fabric, please do not take it personally. Personal opinions for the win!)

It all started innocently enough .. Before unpacking all my fabric, I wanted to clear out my stash of a lot of fabric I have deemed ugly (there, see, I said it). It's fabric from various projects in which said fabric worked well with other fabrics, but I was left with scraps of fabric that no longer match other fabrics in my stash. And/or I love the fabric, but didn't have anything else to match it. Also, I once bought a jelly roll that looked way cooler online, but turns out the fabrics were all pretty lame calico prints. And leftover blocks from strange projects. You following? 

So everyone knows the transitive property of quilting states if you throw enough ugly fabrics together, they will merge into one glorious quilt that is so ugly it is cool. You know, like that old painting in your grandma's house.  

I started sewing together random blocks, using all that fabric I didn't see myself using in other projects. And yes, a  little bit of fabric I actually love to offset the ugly. There are log cabins, nine patches, flying geese, half square triangles, and lots of improvised blocks. 

I laid them all out into a size I liked, adding blocks here and there where necessary. 

After getting most of the spaces filled, I started sewing the blocks together into larger sections, adding sashing and extra pieces to bridge the gaps. My goal was to make the chunks random sizes so there is not an obvious block layout in the finished quilt.

When all was said and done, I had most of the quilt sewn into large chunks with the exception of two little holes (see arrows above). At that point I had to face what I'd been avoiding and sew a few Y-seams. It went surprisingly well and the finished top has the random feeling I was aiming for. 

This quilt will be a picnic/concert/grassy knoll quilt because I won't feel bad about getting all those weird fabrics a little dirty. 

The back is comprised of large pieces of fabric I did not purchase, but they landed in my stash anyway. A pinky calico print, a dark green calico print, a golden dyed-looking fabric, and that awful green striped fabric which is more of a seersucker with glitter stripes. Yes, glitter. 

Finally, I rounded up all my 2.5" strips of less-desirable fabric and sewed them into binding. This ugly sucker is really to be quilted as soon as I can get my hands on some batting. 

How about a winner for the My Memories Suite giveaway?? Congratulations to Kim! Kim, I will email you shortly with more information.