We have a winner!

And that winner is Christy!

Congrats Christy! I'll be shipping your book out as soon as I get your mailing address!

I'm thinking of listing the other books on Amazon.com. Or maybe we'll do another giveaway sometime in the future.

I'm settling in (sort of) to college life. I actually enjoy all the walking I'm doing. I walk everywhere! Dad brought my car to me on Friday which makes me very happy. I missed my little car. I still plan to walk as much as possible though and save the car for when I have a late class or am coming home late from Bible study or if I get a job or need to run to Walmart or go home for a weekend, etc. It is SO hilly up here. And the stairs...oh the stairs...lets just say who needs a stair climber with all the stairs I climb every day? :) I plan to lose the freshman 15, not gain it! I'm not a freshman anyway so I definitely don't want to gain a junior 15. :)

Not a whole lot of crafting going on here. It's kind of hard to find time in the middle of classes and homework and Bible studies. Plus I try not to pull out something that I can't put away easily. I think my roommate would be rather unhappy if I left fabric and patterns out all over our tiny floor while I ran to class. I do plan to do some sewing though. And in the meantime I have some knitting and card-making stuff here to keep me busy.

And how could I forget to mention that I'm taking non-major Ceramics this semester! Right now we're working on wheel-thrown pottery. I had my first real lesson last Wednesday when we practiced centering the clay on the wheel. It was amazing! I came home covered in clay and my hands felt wheel-burnt and my arms were sore (it's hard work!), but I loved it. I think it's going to be my silver lining while I'm here at college. I feel so incredibly blessed to have gotten into this class. I not only get 3 credits for taking it, I also have to practice outside of our class meeting time which means that anytime I want to I can go to our classroom (as long as there isn't another class meeting) and play with clay. And aside from the 4 assignments we have in the class our teacher told us we could make anything we want (aside from ashtrays which he said is like a desecration to the art of ceramics...I think my teacher is SO cool!). Yep, I think I lucked out on this class!

I'll post more about it as I learn more. I am so excited about this class! I already want to switch my major to ceramics, but I won't (don't worry Mom and Dad!). Maybe whenever I finish school I'll go back and get another major in ceramics. That would be so fun!

Happy weekend all~ I hope you have a lovely week. :)

Skyline Drive

We (Dad, Adam, Holly and I) took a little trip down to Skyline drive last weekend. It's so beautiful there. We brought a picnic lunch and spent part of the day driving around and stopping at various overlooks and taking pictures. At some of the places we stopped we were over 3000 feet in the air. It was absolutely gorgeous! It's about 109 miles long and we went through about 45 miles of it before turning around to go home. We got through some of the highest points and decided to call it a day after that.

(doesn't this make you want to sing, "the hills are alive with the sound of music!?")

If you have a chance to go it is very beautiful. We were hoping to see a bear but didn't end up getting to. I'd love to go back in the fall and drive through again.

Please check out my giveaway! You have a week before names are drawn!

Harpers Ferry on a summer evening

This past Sunday I went out my Matt, Jacqueline and Olive to visit some friends and to go down to Harper's Ferry. They let the baby stick her feet in the water. I don't think she liked it very much. Not nearly as much as she likes bathtime!

Anyway, these are a couple of photos I took of the town. The last time I'll be down there this summer. My how this summer has just flown by!

Goodbye lovely place. Maybe I'll get a chance to see you during the fall. I'm sure you will be gorgeous as ever!

Pretending I live in Denmark...

A little dessert I made for my former co-workers as a little goodbye. I can't believe I am moving in 2 days!

These are a two day project. But they are oh so yummy!
They are made by scratch and so are the fillings (except for the nutella). They have 5 cups of flour in them and two were whole wheat, the fillings were made with frozen blackberries and cream cheese and the nutella (yummy!). So they were not as unhealthy as they could have been.

These are the kind of food that can only be made once or twice a year. Any more than that and you're in trouble. The recipe came from a Baking With Julia cookbook. :)

GIVEAWAY!!!!

This is my 91st post! I've been blogging on this site for a little over a year now and I've had a lot of fun. Even though not all my posts are craft-related I've tried to keep that the theme of this blog. It's motivated me to do creative things and I've met some pretty talented crafters through it!

So...I was packing up for my move to college and I realized that I have a pretty large collection of craft books. Some of them I've used frequently, but then there have been others that I've never used. 8 of them in fact! And because I'm going to be moving on Friday to school and I know I won't be able to use these books anytime soon I thought it would be great to give one to someone who would enjoy using it. So in honor of moving away, and in honor of my 91st post, and in honor of blogging here for a year, and in honor of anyone who reads this blog...we're having a little giveaway!

Here's the plan: One person will any book of their choosing from this collection. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment saying what your favorite thing to sew/make is. Be sure to specify which book you would want if you won. If you post about my giveaway on your blog, comment here again for a second chance to win the giveaway!

Here are the books up for grabs!

Simple Sewing with a French Twist:

The Crafter's Companion.

Sew What! Fleece

Sew U: Built by Wendy.

All the patterns in this book are intact!

Saturday Night Hat. There are directions on how to make everything from berets to cloches to fedoras to sunhats.

In Stitches.

All the patterns in this book are intact.

Printing by Hand.

All the patterns in this book are intact.

Simple Sewing:

All the patterns in this book are intact.

So there you go. That's the giveaway. The winner will be randomly chosen on Sunday the 30th of August.

Locket

I LOVE our new Michaels craft store! They have the coolest pendants. I gave up my interest in jewelry making back when I was 10 years old and I lived in NC. I used those big chunky alphabet letter beads to create such masterpieces as necklaces made of shoelaces with MOM in big chunky letters strung on. My mom was a great sport and wore that necklace a lot (I love my mom). I enjoyed playing with beads but I never figured out how to make my jewelry strong (a lot of my stuff broke and the beads all got lost) enough to wear very much.

This is my more grown-up version of a necklace now. I used a very thin ribbon and strung on a locket pendant and then I tied the string to a toggle closure. I painted the ends of the ribbon with clear nail polish to keep them from unravelling. I'm thinking now that I could probably put a few stitches into the ends of the ribbon to secure it even more. And if something should happen to the ribbon I could always cut a new piece of ribbon or find a chain for it.

It took me about 5 minutes to make. Every once in awhile I need an instant gratification project. It makes me think I've actually accomplished something! Now I need to find something tiny enough to fit into it. Any ideas?

A gift

Last week was my last week at work for awhile. I decided to take 2 weeks off to get ready to leave for school. All summer my boss (a dentist) has been taking a pottery class. I have wanted to take pottery for forever. So naturally I kept asking her how it was going and if she liked it and when she was going to bring in her work so I could see it and she kept saying stuff like, "it's not very good, but I'll bring some in to show you."

Last week as a gift she gave me two pieces of her pottery and I was shocked at how gorgeous it was! I say she was totally being modest about her work because I think that her work is beautiful and I was so excited that I got to keep a couple of pieces of her pottery. And I am so in love with this color lately. How cool that I now have pottery in such a lovely color!?
I just love handmade. :) I love it when someone gives me something they worked on. I think it's cool when someone makes something for you because it gives you an idea of two things:

1. What their perceptions of you are. Did they design something because they think you would like it? If so then their work probably reflects some kind of characteristic or trait that they see in you.

2. What their own personal style of craft is like. Is it bold, colorful, earthy?

So in the end you usually get a unique blend of your tastes mixed with someone else's vision and talents. Awesome!

I am hoping this fall to work on developing my skills as a crafter. Maybe I'll finally sign up for a pottery class too. Either way I hope to make time to continue working on crafty things and I will definitely be posting those things on here. :)

Too much to do

So I haven't finished that quilt yet. It's #1 on my to-do list though. The other day I was getting a bit overwhelmed with everything I needed to do before I leave next Friday so my mom recommended that I make a list of everything I need to do.

The quilt is at a bit of a standstill. I'm machine quilting it because I know if I did it by hand I would never finish it. I messed up the back and had to rip out a whole bunch of stitches so now I'm pinning it and am going to try to finish it up this weekend. I love it.

The second thing on my to-do list: Finish packing. And in a smaller print I should just write "throw everything away!" Seriously! When did I accumulate SO MUCH junk? And why haven't I throw away clothes that haven't fit me for 2 years? I keep saying I'll fit into them again (and I plan to) but by that time I'll just buy new clothes.

Oh, and how many craft materials does a girl need? I decided to get rid of a LOT of craft supplies. I sent some to my boss's mom who is a teacher and I gave some away to a few friends and I feel like my supply is a little more under control now.

Speaking of getting rid of craft supplies I'm planning to have a little giveaway. I'm not sure when I'll post about it, but soon!

So there. That's what I'm up to lately. That and my laptop arrived today! :) Now I should add to my to-do list: Figure out how to work the laptop. And install Microsoft Office.

But for now I think I'll get out of here and get ready for Bible study. :)

One more thank you

I made one more card for a co-worker this past week. It's hard to believe that I'm actually finished working at the dentist office for awhile. I've been working with this doctor for 2 years and I will miss her and my co-workers. I'm excited about leaving for school though and I know there's a lot to do in preparation.

I'm baby-sitting my niece tonight. My sister and her husband went to a concert at a Messianic Jewish church with a friend from Bible study. I told them I'd watch Olive for them at least once before I left for school so they could have a night out. I completely adore this baby, but boy has she got a powerful pair of lungs (which I am grateful for). She was so sleepy and couldn't fall asleep so much crying ensued until she finally cried herself to sleep. Then she unswaddled herself, woke up and cried some more until I fixed the swaddler and put her back to bed. She cried some more and finally fell asleep again at which point she started hiccuping and waking herself up so then she'd cry some more. Now she is sleeping and I keep tiptoeing in every so often to make sure she's doing okay.

So far so good. I started quilting my quilt and messed up the back and had to rip out about a thousand stitches. I am a complete novice at quilting and have a somewhat haphazard way of crafting anyway so I'm learning a lot and having fun even though I've had to go back and correct a few errors. It's all good. :) Now I just need to finish that quilt up before I leave in 2 weeks. And I still need to post pictures of the skirt I made.

Lots to do and so little time.

Until later~

My day

Today I dragged myself out of bed (I need to stop staying up till 1 am reading books!) and went to work for a few hours. My boss is out of town this weekend meeting her newborn niece for the first time (yay for Aunthood!) and I needed to let the computer guy in to update some computer stuff. I wasn't there for too long and after I finished I went over to my sister's home to visit her and Olive. Olive was just waking up from a nap and was all smiles. She seems to be discovering that she has a voice and that smiling at other people causes great joy and squeals and kisses and snuggles so she has been cooing and smiling quite a bit lately which I just love.

We have a new Target! Okay, actually I guess it would be more accurate to say: We FINALLY have a Target! And a Michael's craft store!!! Why am I saying this? Because today Jacqueline and I braved the torrential rains and took Olive to Target (and Starbucks! It was an "I-need-caffiene kind of day) to pick up a few things. I bought some towels for my dorm. I've been looking at other stuff that I'll probably need but I'm hesitant to actually get it yet because I haven't even seen my room and I don't know what will fit and what won't. Anyway, mid-way through the store Olive decided she didn't want to be in her carseat anymore and started fussing. We tried to console her by giving her Jacqueline's sunglasses.

Somewhat pacified for the moment...

This girl has attitude! Doesn't she look like a baby rapper or something? It makes me laugh. The sunglasses didn't keep her happy long and in the end I got to hold her while shopping around. She is so snuggly!

Our town has decided to dress the streets up by putting out artwork. During the summer this takes the form of these easels and different shops downtown decorate them and put them out. This fabric and I guess yarn shop (I've never actually been into this store surprisingly) put up an easel with knitting needles and yarn as a decoration. I appreciated this enough to take a picture of it while we were at the stoplight. Check out my sister's blog to see another sample of the easels. She wants to go back and photograph a few more so keep an eye out if you'd like to see what our town considers 'artsy.' :)

I'm hoping to get the binding and all for my quilt tomorrow! This will be the first adult-sized quilt I've ever made!

Happy weekend~

Thank yous!

These are the thank-you cards I made for my co-workers after the little ''goodbye'' party they threw for me. I sewed ribbon and lace onto the cards and I also used the stamps that Vicki gave me.

Even though some of the ribbon was a little crooked I still liked the overall outcome of these. Well, except for the one card that was stamped with black ink and got smudgy when I put it in the envelope. The other inks I used didn't smudge but for whatever reason that one did. I guess now I know that I'll need to use a fixative for that one.

I have a few more of these that I'd like to do. I already plan to be corresponding with friends and family back home through snail-mail so I'll probably be making quite a few cards and having fun with that. Don't be too surprised if one ends up in your mailbox!

Weekends :)

It's FRIDAY!!! One of my favorite days of the week. There's just something about the day...it makes me breathe a sigh of relief! No having to get up at 6:15 am, no rushing out the door to work or school, time to actually do the things you want or need to do...it's beautiful! Almost like a holiday.

Since we're talking about Fridays, check out my sister's blog: Always Freyday. This is my sister, Jacqueline, and she is my niece's mother. Check out her blog for lovely photos, short stories and anecdotes from her life as a wife and new mom.

So here is what's going on lately:

• I finished piecing the top for my quilt! This makes me very happy! I now need to get some binding and padding for it before I can put it all together. While it's not a fancy-shmancy quilt I am really pleased with the way it turned out. Very colorful and it contains fabric scraps that I've had for years and never quite knew what to do with. It makes me happy to see all the colors and patterns together. I can't wait to finish it and post pictures of it!
• I made the circle skirt from Chic and Simple Sewing. I adjusted the pattern to suit me better. This skirt calls for an elastic waist and I not only did not have elastic, I also was using a heavier, stiffer fabric that I was sure wouldn't gather very well. So I flipped the skirt inside out and put it on and pinched up the fabric to where I wanted it to sit and just sewed it there and put in a zipper. Unfortunately, my zipper is a little funny but I probably won't let that stop me from wearing it. I'm not sure if I just am using zippers that are too stiff or what but all my zippers (and I've tried 2 different ways of putting them in) come out a bit wonky. So I'm working on that. Anyway, I like the way the skirt came out and I think that in the future if I make this skirt again I will use the zipper again because I don't think elastic waist skirts are a very good look on me.
• The ladies at work threw a little going-away party for me on Monday. It was very sweet of them. I leave in 3 weeks!!! 3! Weeks! I made some cards for them as a thankyou and I'll be posting those soon.
• Because I'm leaving in 3 weeks for college and I'm trying not to spend any more $$$ than I have to I am hoping to sew a few things for school. Like a laptop case and a bedside buddy (for glasses and ipod and books and all those good things) and whatever else I find time to make. Finding time is the real problem here. I feel like all summer I have just worked full-time and I have hardly seen my family and friends. It is good that I was able to put in so many hours, but my nostalgic and soon-to-be-homesick part of me really wishes I had been able to spend a lot more time with my family.
• I made yet another trip out to the library this week. I've finished another book and I'm going to be starting on a new one so expect some updates to my Summer Reading List.

I think that's about all for now. I'll be back with photos later! Enjoy your weekend!

Summer Movies:

Because it was the weirdest day in office history (at my workplace); because I am tired and need to shower and go straight to bed and face a new, possibly weirder day at work tomorrow; because I have a ton of other things to do right now; because even though I've done some crafty stuff and am excited to show you what I made but forgot to take pictures and now it's too dark; because I need to be downstairs going through my stuff figuring out what I'm taking with me to school; because I can...

Here is a measly list of the movies I've watched this summer. Most of them are kids' movies which I just noticed and found kinda interesting. Check'em out if you are so inclined.

The Pink Panther 1 and 2: starring Steve Martin. Hilarious! Especially the first one. The second one, eh...not my favorite.

Disney's UP: I posted about this one before, but I must say it again. It was

really cute, really sweet, and really almost made me cry. But it was very good and I'd recommend it. One of the best kids' movies/shows I've seen in a long time!

Kung Fu Panda: It stars Jack Black as the panda. As irritating as I find Jack Black, I can't help but laugh my way through his movies. I think it's his expressions. Just too funny! This one wasn't my favorite but it still had a few cute parts. I liked the quote from the movie:

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day: I liked the music. It was pretty cute. I kind of appreciated the whole point of it in the end, but I was disappointed with how much sex was in the movie. It seems that lately, even though movies are not rated badly they are still full of innuendo or sexual references. This also had back nudity. This is one I would not watch with kids or guys.

Just as with the books, I will possibly be updating this list as the summer goes on. If I watch anymore movies. We aren't huge movie watchers here. :)

Well. There you go. My summer movies post. Maybe sometime when I have nothing better to do I'll do a "favorite movies'' post. I'll save it for a time when I have nothing better to write about. :) Hopefully next time I'll have something crafty to show you!

GIVEAWAY!!!

Chara Michelle is doing a fabric giveaway on her blog, Sew, Click, Create! Go check it out for a chance to win! She always uses such lovely fabrics to make such wonderful things. Check out the beautiful quilt she is working on while you're over there!

Birthday flowers

My sister (well, one of them) turned 15 last week! I can hardly believe the youngest sibling in the family is now 15. Somehow, I always think of Holly as she was when she was 6 years old. So cute and sweet and sensitive. Not that she isn't all of those things now too and more. She is a very special girl and I'm glad she is my sister.So I got her these flowers.

Almost 4 months old!

Here are new pictures of my niece. She was getting ready for her nap. She gets swaddled before she goes to sleep so my sister was changing her and getting her ready to be swaddled and I insisted on taking her pictures.


I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this girl. She makes life so much more interesting and beautiful. Oh, and I made her laugh like 4 times! It's one of the few times her parents have ever heard her laugh and the very first time I ever heard it. I love being her aunt.

My buddy, Jude.

I love this dog. He's so cute and funny...he's a fearsome sock and shoe hunter and a notorious beggar! He is very sweet too. He likes to sit with me while I'm on the computer. Sometimes he sits in my lap and puts his front paws on the keyboard like he is actually looking at whatever it is I'm doing. Other times he sits beside or behind me and takes a nap. He is a little guy. Only about 5 lbs. If he doesn't have his walk every day he gets very hyper and acts like a little maniac.I mean really, how can you not love that face?

Beaded Bobbies

I've made more beaded bobby pins! Yellow seems to be quickly becoming one of my favorite colors! I never really cared for it before but lately it just seems so cheerful and summery. I think the color washes me out though so I think that just using it in small doses is going to be the best way for me to wear this color. These are really easy to make. I did these while watching a movie this afternoon.

Patches

I'm making progress on my scrap patchwork quilt. My sister said, "it's very...bright," when she saw it. It is a little brighter than most things I make. I like it though. I think I should make more of my projects in bright colors. These photos don't really do the colors justice.
Here is a little close-up of some of the fabrics I am using...I really just took bits from almost all the fabrics I own (besides any linen, dress fabric, and heavyweight materials). I have enough squares cut out to make it twice this big. I'm not sure I will need that many though. I like how it is almost a little bit haphazardly put together. There is no rhyme or reason in how the colors are put together. I never intended for it to match, just for it to go together. I think it will look very cheery when it's finished. :)

Me

I liked this picture so I thought I'd post it.Becca snapped it with my camera so photo credit goes to her.

Antietam trip

Last Friday Holly and I went out to Sharpsburg to walk around Antietam Battlefield. We have only been there twice and we didn't get to walk around a whole lot. This time we were able to go down a few trails that we'd never been down before and we were also able to enjoy the same places we had visited the last couple of times we'd been there.Now I understand why they're called the Blue Ridge mountains.

Artwork engraved or etched (I can't remember which is which) and hung on one of the monuments.

Burnside Bridge

Flowers by the visitor center.

A sign we saw while passing through Shepherdstown. This is SO typical of Shepherdstown.

The weather has been SO beautiful lately! I'm sad that I have to go back to work because I can't spend my afternoons outside. Luckily for me I have tomorrow afternoon off! I have an orthodontist appointment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my dentist will tell me I can get my braces off in the next month! I've worn braces for almost 2 years now. I'm so excited to get them off!