Closing the Etsy Shop,

 This will be a quick post, just an announcement really. No, I am not going to stop selling and it might not be closed forever, it is just not doing anything but hurting me at this very moment so I am going to try some alternatives instead. I will still be selling and if you are interested in any of my items or custom orders you can go through the Knitches' Instagram or Facebook and I 'd be happy to get you set of with what ever your heart desires. 

Ready to Set Sail (and get to selling), 

                                   Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sundays - 11/20

Howdy There Fellows,

Thanksgiving is this week! which means we can eat slightly more than normal and get all kinds of awesome desserts this week! paying an amazing tribute to that, since food is, of course, my main man, our block is this beautiful piece of paper pieced pie!

 I love this block ( even though I am more of a chocolate pie fan myself) and I am also incredibly in love with the fabric used in it as well, so if any one knows where to get it PLEASE let me know. 

It is most likely to close to Thanksgiving to make a full sized quilt how ever this would make an adorable wall hanging to go right above all of your beautiful homemade and store bought pies. 

With that I am off, I have plenty of preparing and helping myself to do for these next few days, if you make any of the blocks shown ever I would love to see them so tag me in them on every social media ever and let me know how it goes as well! 

Plus total side note, I'm trying that plopping thing tonight that people have been doing with their hair to make it curly and I'd be happy to write a blog post about the results if you all are interested let me know down below!

I'm ready to set sail ( and stuff my face),

                         Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sundays - 11/13

Hey-o Friends! 

This weeks square may be a little bit bigger than so but it's the best none the less.

Since pumpkins are the staple of fall and this months coolest holiday, Thanksgiving, this table runner seemed like an almost perfect fit. How ever, it was a table runner and not a block, the only down side to our festive piece. All is well though, since the piece are  appliqué, you can use them for anything. Block, table runner, or otherwise! These appliqués are simple and sweet, plus you don't have to actually be good at cutting out to make them since pumpkins are always kind of awkward anyways. (Thank God!)

 So go on and appliqué pumpkin away! make all kinds of quirky decorations for your fun month of November and if you post them up, share them with me! Tag me in your photos on any social media platform all of the links are above in the right hand corner, and with that
I am ready to set sail (and get festive myself),
                                              Ms. Sinking Ship

I'm on Patreon?!

That is right guys, as of this week I am on Patreon! 

This is super exciting because it can open up a whole new world of opportunities for me and for the blog, with the pledges I get I can pay for more sewing projects. That comes with another surprise, I plan on posting more real-time(ish) updates and other fun posts about the projects I am doing. 

Plus, I can use the money to help support other parts of the blog as well, I plan on getting CherishNotes back on track and the blog has been in need of renovations I haven't been able to do myself. I would also like to do a lot more things with the blog (and the youtube that goes a long with it) that I haven't been able to, but now can with the funding I'll get.

 I am so excited to get this ball rolling, I can not wait to see all of the awesome things that will come out of this!

Now for the other important part, if you are unsure what exactly Patreon is, 

It is a fairly new site for people who are artists, freelancers, bloggers, etc. to get an income or money for their projects. The website is set up so fans can pledge a certain amount of money that goes towards the person every month so they can continue on there endeavors, and keep creating content for people to see. It is a really neat idea that I am very happy to now be a part of. There are so many great artists and other people that are doing such incredible things because of the money they receive on Patreon and I think that is so awesome!

If you're interested in my Patreon, there are plenty of different options for pledges or if you don't have any spare change/ you just aren't super interested in what I'm selling but you like my spunk you can just follow my page for other neat updates that will get put up there. You can do both of those through this link-

https://www.patreon.com/cherishhornbeck

With that, I am off, There is plenty of other awesome things coming up soon that I have got to get on top of because fro a short time I was falling behind,

Ready to Set Sail ( and be back oh so soon),

                                                            Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sundays - 10/22

We are a whopping eight days from Halloween but no worries theres still plenty of time to create adorable quilt blocks just in time to decorate or sleep under the coziest and scariest blocks ever.

This week our block isn't just more complicated but its actually connected to next weeks block as well and you can get it's pattern on Pinterest or Easy. While none of those things necessarily go hand in hand they are all interesting facts that are fun to throw out there when you are wanting to list 

neat-o things in your posts.

So with out further adú, 

This coffin flower block is cute and creepy, which is one of the best combinations ever. This block would take a decent amount of time to making when you take in to account all of the small parts that would go into it but it would be so adorable by the end that it would totally be worth it. You could use this in a quilt as one block or you could set the entire quilt up with many of these to keep things on the classic but updated quilt side. No matter what this block will be keeping up with the ages and could be used for a very long time.

With that I am off,
Ready to Set Sail (and I not sure this post was very cohesive at all),
                                                                                          Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sundays - 10/15

After a short break Squared Up is back! For the entire month of October we are going to be doing Halloween themed squares because of the beautiful holiday halloween truly is, to start us off we have a cute, sweet and simple pumpkin block.

The hardest part of this block would be lining the stem up correcting and cutting the fabric to go around it in the right manner, but over all this block would be quick easy and perfect for a little place mat at the table. Plus with all of the different colors pumpkins can be now, the color palettes you could use is endless.

I have been a bit obsessed with quilting lately and I can see this block being a perfect transition for more than just plain strip blocks which makes it very exciting and one that I might possibly try very soon.

With that in mind I am off to finish the quilt I am working on now and start on the next one,

I am ready to set sail (and hang the halloween decorations early),

                                       Ms. Sinking Ship

P.S. I have a few ideas for other segments I would like to start since this one is going so well, I put up a poll on the side, let me know you're guys favorite!

Squared Up Sunday - 9/11

I almost didn't post today because for some people this day is very saddening and important and I was just very unsure about it, however I decided to go ahead and post todays and I picked this block very specifically 

The Butterfly Block

This block was picked today for the purpose that when a caterpillar goes into it's cocoon its body falls completely apart and because mush pretty much and then from that it is remade, and it all comes together to be born into a beautiful butterfly, and in bad times (like 9/11) our country does the same, when we are torn down we come together and help one another and are reborn better than before by the end of it. This block is incredibly detailed and very difficult but would be gorgeous to those that could make it. I wish you the best on this day, and I can't wait to see what you all make out of this block. 

I'm Ready to Set Sail (and I hope my point came across correctly),

                                                                                                      Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sunday - 9/4

Today's block is one I've always been incredibly fascinated with because it seems like it would be very simple but as a large quilt it would look incredibly intricate and beautiful

The Braided Block

This block seems like it would be fairly simple to construct and is very nice looking after but also looks very incredible when all put together on the quilt, it's connected by a large amount of thin strips all connected to make a braid, I eventually think it would be cute to make a quilted table runner out of this block but it's a project for when I get a house of my own for sure and not any time soon.

If you guys try out this blog I would love to see what you do with it and how you incorporate it into your quilts or other designs you put it in as always!

I'm Ready to Set Sail (and braid that bad boy!),

                                                       Ms. Sinking Ship 

P.S. Have an amazing Labor Day!

Bow-Badly: Trying the Bow Square

It's not as easy as it seemed.

 I took an attempt at the seemingly easy bow square I posted about this Sunday, I had all of my supplies ready, I was going to use a basic white cotton for the underneath and four different fabrics that I had gotten in a fat-quarter packet I had bought.





 Everything seemed like it would go pretty smoothly and so I set it all up and got right to cutting not giving it any thought really, before I knew it everything was cut out and ready to be sewn together! Super Easy!



I had the squares of the basic cotton, the centers of the bows cut, and the squares that will make though and I was ready to get sewing. I sewed all of the pattern squares to the cotton squares and was ready to pull the center together and make the cutest bows you'd ever seen.

 HOWEVER, when I tried to make a bow it just wasn't budging no matter what it wouldn't come together it would pull everything together crumpling up all of the fabric rather than just the first layer like it was supposed too. It was then that I realized my simple and very very silly mistake. In order for theses bows to have worked and pulled together correctly the base square and the pattern square couldn't be the same size. It's easy to realize and understand that when you actually sit and think about it but me being me, got very excited and did not think. I just acted, and so I had a bunch of awkward squares lying around that could technically be fixed but in a time of frustration were useless. I did not take a picture of this stage sadly because I was over the project and I was ready to make something good out of my ridiculous mistake rather than fix it.

So after some time of these pieces just sitting there, I finally figured out what to do with them and put them to use. 

I've been turning them into little envelope bags (or another word I can't seem to remember right now), they're the perfect sizes for pencils or as a cash keeper, so even though they weren't what they were supposed to be, all hope was not lost and at least they are still cute. 

I'm ready to set sail (and possibly lay off the 'easy' blocks for a while),

                                                                                                     Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sunday - 8/28

Do you know what todays is? 

National Bow Tie Day! I didn't know this until today but I'm very excited for two reasons

1. I love bows and bow ties they're adorable and show be on everything. 

2. I don't have one BUT TWO blocks to show you guys today because I got really excited and couldn't decide because these both are so cute and totally need to be shown. 

The first is very simple and sweet and would most likely just be used as a small decoration block on a quilt 

The Big Bow Block

It is one of the easiest blocks I have ever seen and I am very tempted to make an entire quilt of these blocks, even though I just said it would just be said it would just be used as decoration, tonight because it's so cute and I want it and I would take it every where with me. 

The second block is just as simple but is more on the sassier side and could be done in more manly colors for and more masculine look.

Fat Quarter Bow Tie Block 

This block is equally adorable but could be changed of in very simple ways to give it very different feels and I really like that about this quilt. It is very gender-neutral and could also be used in several different scenarios and I like that a lot as well.

Both blocks could be incredibly personalized as a lot of blocks can be now (but that doesn't matter), and would be very fun to try out, I definitely plan to try out the first block because I am overly excited about how cute it is and can not wait! I'll make sure to document the process and let you guys know how it goes,

I'm Ready To Set Sail (and bow it up),

                                                        Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sundays - 8/21

 This week I found this adorable block that reminds me of summer and all of the fun that was had!

Bee Hexagon Block

This block is incredibly intriguing and adorable, the hexagon is made out of six bees with there wings spread, this block isn't for the weak, as it is incredible complicating but the outcome of after dealing with all of the tiny pieces that go into it makes it totally worth the hardship. Every time I look at this block I want to be snuggled up in a big quilt with them all over it and eventually I will be because I just have to attempt to make this block. It's adorable and sew cute in every way (see what I did there). I may die in the process because I am not the best at handling the little pieces at all but by golly I am going to try!

I'm Ready To Set Sail (and quilt until I can't quilt anymore!)

                                                                                            Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sundays - 8/14

Did you guys know that today is National Coloring Book Day? 

Me either until I looked up holidays and events that happen on today in hopes something really cool would come up and I could use it with one of my blocks sadly though, nothing to exciting came up, other than the fun fact that China has declared war on an August 14th Multiple times, strange right? 

Anyways, so since nothing over the top interesting is happening today I decided it wouldn't hurt to do another school supply since I'm sure people are still just now starting school and getting settled in, This block was really neat and posses a bit more of a challenge than the last one

The Scissor Block

This one you may need to hold off on until you have a decent amount of time to cut and piece because  there e are a lot of pieces and some of them are oddly shaped. The block over all is really cool though and would look pretty neat next to a large variety of other types of blocks so it would fit well on a big quilt of some type. I don't really see myself making this block (at least any time soon) because I would get frustrated very quickly but I love looking at it because of all of the shapes and the over all look of the block. It is very intriguing and inspiring and maybe one day I'll have the patience to concur it but not any time soon. If any of you do though I would love to see it as always!

I'm Ready to Set Sail (and scout out more cool blocks to look at and never have the courage to try),

                                                                                                                                       Ms. Sinking Ship

   

Squared Up Sunday - 8/7

With school starting up again for every one very soon I saw the perfect opportunity to use this block

The Pencil Block

Since all will be busy getting back into the groove of school and their normal not summer schedules and everything this block seemed fitting all around. It's simple and sweet and a adorable necessity. It's easy enough that it won't take to long to cut out and piece together so you'll still be able to fit it in to your schedule while things are hectic but it's still cute and something that would be adorable and can be used in multiple functions! 

For the first time ever I won't be in school this year around this time but I'm still tempted to try to do something with it and give it to my sisters or others around me that are attending!

If any of you do try the block I would love to see how it turns out as always! 

Im ready to set sail (and skip the whole school thing),

                                                                           Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sunday - 7/31

 Today I am spending my time at one of my favorite festivals, Warped Tour, and since I am going to spend most of my day shining bright like a diamond here (just kidding, it's not that type of concert festival and the only shining I'll be doing is sweating) the most perfect block seemed to be this 

Simple and sweet Diamond Block, 

the block has a few pieces so there would be a little bit of difficulty when cutting and piecing everything together how ever, the personalization you could do when it came to colors and patterns would be awesome and there would be very few ways these blocks could turn out poorly.

They would be very neat to try and I think I have just the fabric to do it when I get back to my humble abode. 

I'm ready to set sail (and sweat it up),

                                              Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sunday - 7/24

 For the next week I am going to be at my Aunt's house visiting the great country side of Missouri,

and do you know what they have plenty of on the country side?

Animals. Horses, cows, chickens, donkeys, wild scary animals that live in the forestry really close to here. We saw a panther looking thing once and that was intense. The point I am getting at, is since I am going to be enjoying all of the animals around me this week, it would be fitting to use that for the other things that I am doing this week as well, so this week's Quilt Block is 

The Donkey Block

It's Interesting and definitely a force to be reckoned with, ironically almost the opposite to the Donkey in animal stero-type cases. The neat perspective of the Donkey makes the block intriguing and I really want to try it out once I get better at cutting pieces out, I should probably master the straight line before trying something like this. 

If any of you try it I would love to see it!

I'm ready to set sail (and breathe in the country side),

                                                                       Ms. Sinking Ship

Squared Up Sunday - 7/17

Though I'm not the best at quilting (it's a work in progress), I have to say a guilty pleasure of mine is going through Pinterest and staring in awe at all of the quirky, adorable and amazing quilt blocks. 

All of the blocks are just so creative and incredibly done, it's so hard not to enjoy them and imagine making them myself. 

With that being said, I want to share the enjoyment I from looking at all of the blocks (and poorly attempting to make them) with all of you so, I created Squared up Sunday! I day dedicated to showing the cutest and most interesting blocks I've found for all to try and enjoy! 

To start things off  and being in the summer-y spirit, this week's block is:

The PineApple Block

This block is perfect for a little coaster or for a large quilt you can take to sit on for picnics during these last few summer days, it's vibrant and refreshing and with the way this block is put together, there is plenty of room for variety and creativity when it comes to colors and patterns to use!

I hope you guys enjoy this little segment as much as I am going to! I may even end up trying out a few of the blocks and doing posts on the attempts as well, though I'm not sure yet there's so may ideas I have to go along with these and who knows what will actually come out of it all. I would love to hear your opinion on it, see quilt blocks you love and your attempts as well from all of this! 

I'm ready to set sail (and see where this goes!), 

                                                                   Ms. Sinking Ship

Fabric Haul and Plans for the KNITche,

I recently came across a $2 per yard sale at my local store and took it upon myself to buy everything I possibly could. After all that excitement I thought it would be fun to do a little haul video, it's not the best but it is definitely a good start.

All of the Fabrics were full cotton and I got a yard of all of the fabrics except for the mermaid scale fabric which I got 3.5 yards of instead. 

A large amount of these fabrics are going to go toward new projects I have going for the KNITche and it's reopening in early August so if you enjoyed any of the fabrics you saw make sure to keep an eye on that,

I'm ready to set sail (and start sewing),

                                                                  Ms Sinking Ship 

Best Book(ish) Apps Right Now,

Other than the obvious nook, kindle, dc comics, apps as such, there are few apps that are actually decent when it comes to trying to find good stories, mangas, comics, the whole shebang to read. So here are apps for each category that are ensured to feed your book hunger.

1. WattPad 

I have talked about WattPad before, but it is an incredible sources to read story from thousands of authors, plus you can comment and be apart of group discussion on the books as they are being written. The book selection is very wide as well from well known classic to ridiculous fan-fictions they have it all in all genres so really can't ever go wrong. 

2. Manga Bird

I've used plenty of Manga sites and Apps but this one is so far the best, hands down. They have an incredible selection and an ridiculous amount of chapters for each manga you find, they even have some pretty rare ones that I haven't been able to find any where else. If you are looking for manga, download this app before any of the others it will save a ridiculous amount of time.

3. Tapas

I found Tapas recently and they are absolutely adorable, they are very similar to Wattpad, but they have a much stricter policy on who they choose as authors, but they have a very wide variety and all of the stories I have read so far are amazing, and the comics are beautiful and adorable every time. If you love the goofy comics you see all over the internet you will love the comics on Tapas.

These are the three so far I have found to always save the day when I'm in need but never fear I'm always on the look out for apps that help me read on the go.

Ready to Set Sail (and keep reading),

                                                 Ms. Sinking Ship

A Terrible Book Club and an Even Worse Attempt at being SparkNotes,

{ Aka CherishNotes }

I'm not quite sure how to completely express what Cherish Notes is, it's kind of like me goofing off with books and recording it. This isn't a project / series I plan to post on here very often but if you enjoy them then you can follow along on the Youtube or the Tumblr both also called - Cherishnotes. 

The first book we're reading is a love story told from 14 different perspectives called Something a Little Different, it's cute a quirky but the beginning kind of drags, the man male character has some secrets up his sleeve but I don't think that will keep the two love birds apart. 

You guys can read a long with me or just take my word for it but either way I'd love to hear what you guys think,

I'm ready to set sail (and read October ),

                                               Mrs. Sinking Ship

Unboxing the April BirchBox,

Last month I started receiving Birch Boxes Subscription box and I have to say I absolutely love them so far, below is the first one I received and I had so much fun just opening it. The packaging was adorable and everything I've tried so far inside has been amazing by far as well.

I would love to do reviews on any of the products you see that you are interested in and I loved doing this video, so if you liked it as well I would love to keep doing these for you all (hopefully a little bit better next time though because this video is kind of rocky, but nothing is perfect the first time around), I can't wait to hear from you guys and now that I'm out of school officially I can't wait to actually get some of the projects i've been working on actually out there for you guys to see!

Ready to set sail (plus keep things short and sweet),

                                                                   Ms. Sinking Ship

Exploration and Experimentation

{It's kind of odd because when I am thinking about what I want to say for this post I always have all of these ideas and I have this great article all planned out in my head but every time I actually sit down to write it I can no longer remember any of the things I was originally going to say. So with that being said, hopefully if I just starting winging it, at least most of it will come back to me, also fun fact about all of the posts on this blog, after I write them the first time I search for little errors like spelling or missing words but I don't actually re-read through it before I post it. }

I've come to a point in my life where there's a lot of things I want to do and try and write about but I always feel like, maybe they don't match with one another or maybe that is different from what I have been doing and it's kept me from doing a lot of things, I've also noticed that I can't necessarily decide on what I want to do anyway so putting those things off are kind of dumb, the point being, I've decided that I am going to try all of it, for a lack of better words at the moment, because why not, nothing is holding me back. For the next few forevers, (I don't know exactly how this journey if you will, will last) I am going to try new things, reestablish and just enjoy my life, and I am going to record it all, on all of my various connected platforms, while doing so, finding my voice in all of the things I do because right now it's a confused jumbled mess. 

With all of that being said, I want to hear from you on all of it, things you do like, things you definitely don't, I want to know what is working and what isn't so I can keep making the content you guys are enjoying and start cutting out the stuff you don't. The posts are most likely going to be all over the place and a mess, they will also not have any other explanation other than this heads up, so you know now what is going on when you see all of them. I'm very excited to start this sort of project and I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I already am. To kick things off - here is a poorly done, out of focus, speed-painting, water color video I did earlier this week. 

Ready to set sail (and hopefully make sense in all of this),

                                                      Ms. Sinking Ship

Pinned Up - Most Pinned of the Week

I think we can all agree how great Pinterest is, so I thought it would be fun to do a simple sweet post about something Pinterest related on Sunday's, this week it is the most pinned photo I've had this week.

                

This is a picture Mollie makes posted a few months ago, I loved the sequined detail and the sleeves and have been planning on trying it some time soon, apparently so is every one else because it was pinned 22 times and liked 7 times.

 

I think this segment will be cute and I'm excited to play around with the idea, and try this picture out for my self as well,

Ready to set sail (and get pinning),

                                Ms. Sinking Ship

 

DIY Color Block Clipboard

                    

I have loved color blocking and I have for a while now, I've been wanting to do a tutorial on it for almost a year now and I finally found something to do it with finally! 

This clip board has been through all kinds of disastrous remodeling (you should have seen the 80's stickers from my mom that I had to scrape off of the back) and it is once again time for a change, and this time one for better not worse. 

To do this I used:

• My clipboard (obliviously)
• Something to put my paint on
• Paint
• A paint brush (the bigger the better because it covers more space and makes more evenly distributed)
• I didn't use anything for this but if you need help making a straight line or are using another color on the other side, some type of tape to tape off the edge.

          

This is what the clipboard looks like before I did anything to it, it was covered in duct tape from that put duct tape absolutely everything you own then from a few years ago.

If you have anything on the clip board (or surface if you are just using this as a basic color blocking tutorial)  you are redoing make sure to remove it.

       

Then take your paint and put it on your plate/palette/or anything you decided to use to put paint on and then get plenty of the paint on your brush

                              

This is the part where if you need to tape down to keep your line straight you do so, then make a line half way across the tape half way on your clipboard. 

If you aren't using tape to make a straight line draw a line straight across where you want the line of color to be everything below that line will be filled in. Then you fill it in. You may have to do multiple layers of the paint to get the color you want, if you o say make sure to wait until the paint is completely dry before you paint another layer or you will just end up rubbing paint around and making the overall painting very spotty. 

                                                       

I ended up doing multiple coats but this is the first finished layer I did, I did the back as well where the checkered ductile was as well however it is not on here because I had to scrub Hannah Montana and other varies sticker collages off the back before I could paint it, but I follow the same process on the back if you plan to do so as well. I hopes this helps in any of your color blocking endeavors, again I;'m exciting to be back writing again!

Ready to Set Sail (and do stuff that is soon to be revealed!),

                                                                                 Ms. Sinking Ship

 

Update - 031616

Hey Guys! I am once again sorry for the delay in blog posts, there were a few setbacks and then just poor motivation, but excuses are lame so in all honesty I'm just a poor person sometimes and this is one of those times. I have some posts coming soon that I just haven't posted yet, as well as, I do plan on doing better with the blog, as I said at the beginning of the year that is still a goal of mine and it is never to late to actually do that so I'm going to be working on posting more and making the blog more awesome! I can't wait to actually feel like I'm not failing you guys anymore!

Ready to Set Sail (and be somewhat consistent), 

                                                                            Ms. Sinking Ship

A Woman to Watch in 2016,

{ Possibly a new series of sorts, but it needs a better name }

You've probably seen these posts floating around Pinterest and Tumblr recently and have just sat in awe while you stared at them, well these dresses as well as tons and tons of other stunning dresses have all been created by 18-year-old Angela Clayton. She's brilliant, talented, and working non-stop to create all of her incredible master pieces that have been displayed all over the internet lately. Now, before you get discouraged (or seriously inspired) by these works of art and spend the rest of your day analyzing every detail of them to try and see how they work, know that not only does she have an awesome Tumblr and Wordpress blog that you can follow to keep up with her many projects, but you can also find her on youtube where she has tutorials and vlogs, along with incredible fabric and other crafting utensil hauls for you to follow and drool over as well (all of those links will be below the post).

I have had quite and obsession with dresses lately, and her works are absolutely inspiring to watch and read about being put together, I can't wait to work on some of my own ideas and projects for dresses this next year and her creations are just what I needed to keep me going even when I don't have the least bit of motivation, I am in love with everything she has done so far and can't wait to see what she'll come up with in 2016 and once you see her in work I'm sure you will too. She is someone to definitely keep an eye on this year,

    Ready to set sail (and sew), 

                                Mrs. Sinking Ship