Summers

Summers are good for:

1.  Reading.  I'm currently into the book Wicked.  Mom and Dad bought me the book when I was in high school and I never got past the first chapter because I didn't understand what was going on or some of the adult concepts/themes.  Little older, little wiser, I can read it just fine now.

2.  Baking.  We're having a cheesy spinach bake for dinner tonight.  Making me hungry just thinking about it.

3.  Grilled cheese.  That's probably what I'll be having for lunch.  We just don't keep lunch foods in our home since we normally have leftovers.  We don't today.  Whoops.

4.  Crafting.  Yeah, I'm not done with my quilt and my predictions of the quilting taking a month or so are pretty spot on.  It may be much longer depending on mine and Jarred's situation.  <----- More on that at a later time.  It's nothing bad!  Promise!

5.  Catching up on cleaning?  I'm trying.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Today is Louie's birthday.  He turns 9 years old.  :sniff:

He's spent the day relaxing and left Mommy a little present while I was out shopping.  He's so selfless, even on his birthday!

We got him new food/water bowls that sit on a platform so he doesn't have to bend over so much to eat.  He also got a new bouncy ball and will be treated to some bacon later tonight.

 With his bright red lei.

 Loves exploring outside

 Silly.

 Playing the Staring game with Daddy.

 So sweet!

The sound of the camera scared him and he came running for Mom.

This is the second birthday you've spent with us.  I was a little worried about adopting a dog, but I don't think we've ever made a better decision.  You were most deserving of a home where you would be showered with hugs, kisses, and goodies.  You weren't too sure about us for the first few months, but you finally got settled in and it seems like you're not even the same dog. 

No matter what, you will always be considered our first born.  You are my constant companion; always by my side.  Happy birthday LouieBoo!  You are one loved pup!

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog." --George Graham Vest

Stitches II

Yes, I am being patient and taking my time with the quilt. 

But I kinda finished sewing the four squares and the border together. 

I worked basically from 10 in the morning until rightnow.  Just had a break for lunch and Jarred and I went out to dinner.  Then it was back to sewing. 

I dunno.  I just kept working.  Listened to music.  I was in a zone.

I can't wait to get the batting and get the back sewn.  And then I'll have fun with the actual quilting.  I'm still thinking the quilt will take me a few weeks to do because I certainly won't be working on it everyday like I did today.

So wanna see some pictures?  Good!

These photos were taken in less-than-favorable lighting, but I still think they're good.  Jarred took them after all!

 Gotta be comfy while I craft!  Jammie pants are a must.  

 Getting ready to take it to the sewing machine!

 Some of my favorite squares

 First part down!  Pleased with my border.  And can you spot a Louie?

Jarred told me to model the quilt top.

Quite pleased with myself at the moment.  Some of the squares aren't perfectly aligned, but for the most part, I did a good job.  I didn't think some of the oops! were that noticeable, and I was tired to using a seam ripper.  So I let it be.

I highly doubt I will be doing anything else with the quilt this weekend.  I would maybe go to the craft store for batting tomorrow, but eh.  I'll probably need to have my mom help me pick out batting and the basting will most definitely be done at their house because we don't have anywhere larger enough to put the quilt to baste at the apartment.

All in a day's work.

Stitches

It seems like forever ago that I wrote my last post, when it was only a week ago in reality.

On Sunday, Jarred and I made the drive to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.  Neither of us had ever been.  Jarred did his usual research and knew all about the rides and the rest of the park before we got there.

It was cute.  And the roller coasters were wooden, so they were really rough.  We were mostly looking forward to the water park though.  We had fun.  We got burnt.

I think I'll let Jarred write a post reviewing the park.  He wanted to do a write-up about Holiday World on M&J, but it didn't go through since Blogger's servers were down.

 

Park attendants walk around with cameras and take pictures free of charge.  We got our photo taken twice, and by the same girl.  The pictures were ready and waiting for us to download for free online when we got home.  Awesome, because we thought it best not to take a camera to the park.

By the way, isn't Sweets just so cute in that picture?  Yeah. 

Aside from going to the theme park Sunday, the rest of the week has been pretty crappy.  I hadn't been out of the apartment until last night.  I've been lazy.  And my stomach has been acting up so badly, I thought earlier in the week that I might have to take a little journey to the emergency room.  Needless to say, I could have done without this week.

I finally started feeling better late yesterday and was excited to begin on my Super Start of Summer project.

I'm making a quilt.

........

No, really.  I am.

I've gotten pretty burned out on thinking about buntings.  I still haven't cut out all my triangles for the one I had going back at Easter.  It's tedious work, cutting hundreds of those.  

And why yes, I have been living under a rock.  I'd hadn't thought of using rotary cutters.  Lame.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the fabric I featured last week.  Then I got the brilliant idea to make a quilt.  I've never made one before, but I thought I could figure out a simple four square pattern no problem.  

That would be all well and good if I could ever learn to cut a straight line.  I can draw and paint one like nobody's business.  But put scissors in my hand and you'll end up with a gnarled edge that looks like a four-year-old cut it.  Actually, that's offensive to all four-year-olds out there.  They're better with scissors than I am.

So all the fabric I showed you instantly became unmanageable for me.

So I got online and ordered pre-cut squares. 

Mmmhmmm.  I did.

I ordered squares from Amy Butler's LOVE line.  These squares are going to be made into a quilt for our bedroom.  I wanted some more color for our bed and I didn't want to spend millions on a rainbow-colored blanket from Anthropologie.  I also take occasional naps on our bed and hate to get under the covers when the bed has been made for the day.  But I get really cold without a blanket.  

Voila.

Make a quilt.

Crafty, pretty, and functional.  Right up my alley.

I've just begun sewing the pieces together but am thrilled to bits when I sew a straight line.  Because that's hard for me too.

Yeah!

I've taken a break from sewing to write this post, but so far I am enjoying.  I normally rush projects because I want to get the project finished as soon as I can.  I don't like the process of creating nearly as much as I like a completed product I can admire.

And I'm going into the university weaving program why???

Yeah, to learn patience.

I estimate this project taking a couple of weeks.  Once I get to the batting stage, I will slow down tremendously.  And I'd like to jump right into a quilting stencil because I've read that the more 'quilitng' that is done, the better the finished product will hold up against time.

I'll be updating frequently!

If I don't post again this weekend, I hope all readers and bloggy friends have a great and WARM Memorial Day!

Fabrics

Today Mom and I went to a little out-of-the-way shop that sells fabric and quilting supplies.

I'm so glad we did.  Hobby Lobby, you can suck it with your $9/yard fabrics.  I think I'll stick with my new store that sells better fabrics for a little as $2.50/yard.  Please and thank you.

I really have no idea what I'm going to do with this stuff.  But all the patterns were too pretty to pass up.  I overheard a woman who bought almost $200 worth of fabric.  Go her!

Here are some pictures of the purchase:

I threw in my Amy Butlers too.  Any ideas on what to do with this lovely fabric?  I bought a yard of everything but the green in the middle.  I've got 3 yards of that one because it was so great.

Naturally, I'll be updating about what I've decided to do.  I think tonight I may be scouring the Internet for fun ideas!

Haters Gonna Hate; Plankers Gonna Plank

Jarred found this video through Sports Illustated.  It's about this craze called planking.  Just watch the video.  It is LOL funny!




I'm showing that first because otherwise, you'd just think we were crazy.  But maybe we still are.  Anyway, we couldn't not take our own planking photos.

Note:  Please excuse the poor lighting in the photos.  These were quickly snapped pictures.  Expect more.  Sometime.

 And my favorite...

Babies

of the fuzzy variety.

We have one that we see all the time on this blog:

What a cutie.  Totally takes after his daddy:

See the resemblence, no?  nyuck nyuck!

I'm so glad Louie's getting used to the click of my camera.  He doesn't run away now and will look straight into the camera.  Maybe it's because I don't use the flash.  He does not like flash. at. all.


There's another fuzzy baby, but she doesn't get that much attention on here because we only see her on weekends.  But she's still as sugary sweet.  And yes.  This is the same dog that was made to wear a pig costume for Halloween:

This one here is our diva:

 

She enjoys sleeping, eating, being with her boy (Jarred) and eating.  Did I mention eating?  She reminds me all the time why our family is so in love with Westies.