It’s been more than 6 months since I posted to this blog, but I haven’t given up on blogging, I’ve just been incredibly overwhelmed and busy!

Quick overview of my life since last June:

• Chuck and I did our usual summer vacationing:
  • We went to Virginia Beach for a week with the dogs and visited our dear friend Mary, and met her friend Debbie.  We can always count on a fun and relaxing week when we visit Mary.
  • We went to Rehoboth Beach with Chuck’s friends and enjoyed the boardwalk and having fun with all of our friends’ dogs, bunnies, and children (I let a 12-year-old convince me I wanted to sling-shot myself into the air with nothing but bungee cords strapping me in…but, as they often are, the 12-year-old was right…it was fun)
  • I went to Ocean City for the first time ever.  It was like being on the longest boardwalk I’ve ever seen, with tons of eateries, shops, and arcades…that repeat every block…for blocks and blocks and blocks.
  • We traveled with my family to Edisto Island and enjoyed a week of sun, sand, and toddlers.  We rented bikes and a golf cart and enjoyed a nice, slow Southern vacation with family.
  • We visited with my mom in South Carolina and now I realize that will be my last trip to see her there because she’s moving back up here!!!!  (well, to Tennessee, which is closer than SC…so YAY!!!)
• I got a full-time teaching job in a school I love, teaching students I love, alongside colleagues whom I both respect and enjoy.
  • Finally teaching.  Is. Awesome.
  • AND. INSANELY. TIRING.
  • Along with the teaching job came the added responsibility of being a class sponsor.  I am sponsoring a spunky class of 375 Sophomores.  I love being a class sponsor, but it definitely adds more to my already full plate…however, we kicked ass at Powder Puff, we won the Spirit Cup during our Fall Spirit Week, we had a fun and successful Breakfast with Santa fundraiser, and we’re preparing to host two more big events this Spring…we’ll see if I make it out alive!
• We adopted a puppy for Chuck’s parents (but I not-so-secretly wish he was mine).  His mama was a black-and-tan coon hound and we think his papa was a Vizsla, or something like it.  He’s a farm dog, and he’s awesome.  He’s handsome and smart and very sweet.  Having a puppy around has been fun and has definitely kept us entertained.  I think Chuck’s parents are as in love with him as I am…
• Chuck and I celebrated our 30th Birthdays by taking a trip to Orlando over Halloween weekend.
  • Hard Rock Hotel = AWESOME (this was new for both of us and it was totally worth the $$$)
  • Disney World = AWESOME (as usual…this is a place Chuck and I never tire of)
  • Universal Studios = AWESOME (this was new for me, but not Chuck…it was really fun!)
  • Universal Islands of Adventures = AWESOME (we’ve done this together before and loved it)
  • Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios = CRAZY AWESOME!  (SOOOOOOOO much fun!!!  For Halloween lovers like us, this was the ultimate Halloween celebration)
  • Wizarding World of Harry Potter = O.M.F.G.  This was seriously the best place I’ve ever been in my whole entire life.  We drank butterbeer.  We went to Zonk’s.  We bought wands.  We dorked it up like we’ve never done before and I think when I die and go to heaven, I will wake up at WWoHP.  For reals.
• We lost Gus, our 17-year-old Pomeranian, right before Christmas.  I don’t want to talk about that.  But we love him and miss him terribly.
• After a long pregnancy (well, it was actually the normal duration, but seemed long) with gestational diabetes, my best friend had the most beautiful baby girl right before Christmas…  I made her a quilt which I will share with you later…
• I’ve only read a very few books since I last posted…
  • The first two in the Millennium Trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Girl Who Played with Fire)…I have the third on my Kindle App, but have been sidetracked by other books.
  • The Thirteenth Tale (LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!  So fun to read!!!)
  • Sarah’s Key (I’m reading this one now and I really like it so far…)
• I’ve made a few crafty things…As I already said, I made my friend a baby quilt, I also made some scarflettes as Christmas presents and I’m finishing up some burp cloths for Chuck’s cousin (who is due in a couple of weeks) and my best friend.
• OH!!!  And I bought a NEW SEWING MACHINE!!!!  I managed to royally jam mine, and although it could have been taken to the shop and fixed, I thought it was the universe telling me “Go buy that super cool, super affordable Singer at Costco!!!”  So, I did!  I love it.  It has 79 stitches and a digital readout.  I’m so fancy!
• I’m still attending Weight Watchers meetings at work and still not actually following the program, so I’m still not actually losing weight.  I made no resolutions because I never keep those anyway, but I do think I’m ready to start making better decisions regarding my health.  We’ll see.  Continuing to attend WW is part of the plan.  They just started the new Points Plus program, so I think it’s a good time for me to “rededicate” myself.  Again…we’ll see.  I make no promises, so nobody can shake their finger at me later.
• Another part of the “making better decisions” plan is playing with Chuck’s Kinect more.  That thing is crazy fun and I actually enjoy it…I just need to do it regularly.  Again…no promises, because promises mean accountability and who really likes being accountable, anyway?

Okay, so that’s it for the catching up.  When I’m more awake (maybe tomorrow) I will post some photos of the trips and crafty things so that everyone can see.  For now, I feel good about actually coming back to the blog and I’m excited about posting more crafty stuff for you to see!  (you = my mom, sister, and best friend…because nobody else actually reads this blog…a fact with which I am totally cool).

Over a year ago, I purchased an adorable apron pattern from Sew Liberated, in hopes of making one for my one-day, some-day, in-my-dreams, kitchen of my very own.  Here’s the Emmeline Apron pattern: an adorable, reversible apron that is anything but matronly.

Very cute, indeed!  I like the gathered bodice (which gives the allusion of boobs to those of us who weren’t gifted with them naturally) and it looks more like a summer dress rather than a groddy old apron.

I decided to use the same JoAnn print for both sides, in two color-ways, blue and lavender (our cousin’s favorite color is purple).   I paired it with black for a simple, chic look.  Here’s what I came up with:

Complimentary colors:

Blue Side:

Purple Side:

I like how you can tie the apron in the back, on the side, or in the front.  The ties are extra long so you have some choice in where you wear your bow.   I took some pictures of Chuck’s mom wearing it, but they all turned out blurry, so you’ll have to imagine how adorable it is on.  It’s very flattering.

I think this is an adorable project – it wasn’t very difficult to make and I really like the way it turned out.     Hopefully, our cousin will whip up some  yummy meals in her dorm or apartment while wearing this cute apron.

Unfortunately, I’m still nursing a wicked cold, so I’m unable to take this gift to the graduate, myself.  I sent it along with Chuck, so I won’t get to see her reaction when she opens it, but she’ll receive it tonight at her graduation celebration dinner.

Congratulations, Amanda!!!  We’re proud of you!

(Totally unrelated:  Gus and Francy’s cousin, Riley, is here with us for the weekend.  He’s keeping me company while I lie in bed, coughing and sneezing…he’s a little cutie-patootie!)

I had no pattern, but I drew one out on paper and this is what I came up with…

Looks kinda like a chenille pillow with legs and ears, but it’s very soft and snuggly, which is what all stuffed animals should be.

I struggled with the embroidery on the face…  Embroidering on a fuzzy surface proved difficult, so it turned out a little less neat and symmetrical than I had hoped, but again, as long as the stuffed animal is cuddle-worthy, all’s well!

So, happy first birthday, Lydia!!!  We love you! (even though you don’t remember us well because we’ve been rather absent from your life)  :o)

I scouted out an adorable line of fabric by Riley Blake called “All Stars” (I purchased a 10 yard bundle here).  I am IN LOVE with this fabric.  So is Chuck.  I’ve saved the scraps in hopes that I can use them in a quilt for a little boy of our own some day.

I got my inspiration from a quilt featured on the Moda Bake Shop website.

Their quilt looks like this:

Here’s what I came up with:

(Sorry for the blurry picture…it looked clear on the camera screen)

I used Heat-n-Bond to hold the appliquéd letters in place, then hand-sewed them on with a  a tight whip stitch using matching embroidery floss.  I can’t sew with a thimble on, so I actually ended up creating a deep hole in the tip of my middle finger from all of the hand stitching.  I’m SO GLAD I machine-quilt and don’t hand-quilt.  I love the look of hand quilting, and truly appreciate the hard work real quilters put into their work,  but man-oh-man, I don’t believe I will ever hand-quilt anything in my life.

I really love the All Star prints – my favorite is the small dots with stars, which I used for the backing.  My second favorite is the star print.  I love the colors and the design.  It’s simple and very “boyish”, I think.

Here’s a look at all of the prints together:

I’m so proud of my mitered corners.  I think if it weren’t for easy tutorials online, I might have never mastered this, but thanks to the internet, I got the hang of these early on.  I always love the  finished look of a nicely mitered corner.

And again, a look at the final product.   It’s larger than a crib-sized quilt, but smaller than a twin.  Here Chuck is holding it up, so I’m guessing it’s roughly 6 feet by 3.5 or 4 feet.    I think what makes me like this quilt so much are both the fabrics I used and knowing that I put a lot of work into this one – although it’s a simple design, I spent a little time on it every night for a couple weeks, hand sewing the letters on and then spent two nights perfecting my blind-stitch to finish the binding by hand.  I was super proud of my blind stitch – it was the first time I’d used it and it looked professional!   I was really annoyed that I didn’t put a label on this one – I didn’t want to embroider one (because my fingers were already so sore) and my printer is broken, so I couldn’t even crank out an iron-on label.  I think I’m going to actually order some printed twill tape with my name on it to use as labels in the future.

Ta-Da!!!

Several months ago I made some fleecy Hokie blankets – I guess I can’t say I made them, but I cut the fabric and sewed on satin trim and then added a little embroidered label.  I made identical blankies for two little girls, so I put their nick-names on each so they wouldn’t get mixed up.

A few weeks ago I got a notion to put something on our bare bathroom walls.  I used some scrapbook paper and my handy-dandy X-acto knife and made some really simple papercut “art” to fill those empty spaces.  Turned out alright…  I like paper cutting, but I need practice and better ideas…I have to keep it simple for now, since my skills are pretty limited.

I accidentally cracked the glass when I was putting it back in the frame, but otherwise, they turned out pretty cute…

As you recall, I’m participating in iHanna’s 2010 postcard swap.  This is my first ever craft swap and I was super excited!

My original idea for the postcards went bust (I had a great plan and idea, but when I gave it a go, it didn’t pan out), so I opted to use materials I had on hand, so I didn’t spend any money other than postage.

Once upon a time, I made a few scrapbooks…this was before digital scrapbooking came about (which I haven’t gotten involved in) and before I discovered MyPublisher and Photoworks.  I still have all of my nifty scissors and punches and some leftover scrapbooking paper, so I decided to utilize those tools and materials.

I wanted the postcards to say something about me, without really saying anything about me.  I love the power of words…I adore reading…I’m an English teacher…  So, naturally, I incorporated quotes from some of my favorite books, thinking maybe the quote on the postcard will inspire the recipient to read the book!

I also love to sew and I knew I wanted some stitching on the cards.  As all of the recent snow shoveling has really irritated my carpal tunnel syndrome (which also makes blogging and typing a bit of a pain…literally) I opted against handstitching and used my sewing machine to stitch the cards together.  I really liked how this finished off the postcards…I think its my favorite element.  Along with the stitching, I pulled some ribbon from my stash and added that for a more mixed-media effect – I even used the some of the silver ribbon left over from my wedding invitations which I handmade back in the day.

I wanted to incorporate a little whimsy, so I cut up some plastic sheet protectors (ah yes…another love of mine…school supplies!) and created a little “window”, sandwiching some tiny punched-out flowers between the plastic and the quote.  This forces the recipient of the postcard to manhandle the postcard, shaking and tapping it to move the flowers around so they can read the quote behind (clever idea? yes…  did it work?  not exactly…  you really have to shake and tap some of the postcards hard to get the flowers to move about, whereas some of them move more freely… this will need some R&D to perfect, I believe).

I decided to make the cards fairly simple – y’know, less is more, and all that.

When I finished them it was nighttime and there just isn’t good lighting in the basement…even with my handy dandy directional flash, my photos are a little grainy, but anyway, here they are:  (can you guess which books the quotes are from?)

Post Card 1

Post Card 2

Post Card 3

Post Card 4

Post Card 5

Post Card 6

Post Card 7

Post Card 8

Post Card 9

Post Card 10

For the back of the cards I created a simple template.  You can see at the bottom right, the credit for the book and author from which I took the quote…  I actually wrote messages on each of my postcards – I even had Chuck help me translate a message into Lithuanian (no, he can’t speak Lithuanian, but he can Google with the best of them).

So far, I’ve received four postcards in the mail, two from the UK, one from Pennsylvania, and one from New York.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting snail mail.  It’s the best!  I can’t wait to receive the other 6 postcards!

Where did mine go?  I sent postcards to Tennessee, Wisconsin, New York (x2), Minnesota, South Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom.   Cool huh?  I can’t believe that something I made is going to be in someone’s hands as far away as Lithuania!

I really had fun with this, so I think I will be participating in more craft swaps.  I’d really love to be part of a fabric swap, but I have such a limited fabric stash, I dunno if I’d have anything worth swapping – but I’d like to give it a try anyway!

Stealing ideas again…  You’d think I have none of my own.

According to the weather-man, Valentine’s weekend is slated to be bogged down with epic amounts of snow.  The sad news is that Chuck and I probably won’t be able to celebrate with our traditional dinner (Chuck proposed on Valentine’s Day and then he took me to a romantic dinner…every V-day since then we’ve gone back to that same restaurant to drink in the nostalgia of that special day).  The good news is that I know Chuck and I will spend our snowed-in weekend snuggling, with each other and with this guy…

Besides catching up on DVR’d TV shows, I’ll be sure to spend some time reading while snowed in.  I’ve literally stockpiled over a dozen books since my birthday which I have not had the time to read (student teaching has a way of sucking up time like a black hole).   Here are the ones cluttering my nightstand at the moment:

I’ve started all of them save Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.  I know…quality literature, right?  I really thought that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was fun, so I want to see if this one meets my standards for adulterated classics.  I received The Art of Racing in the Rain from a coworker for Christmas and started it but then never completely finished it, so it’s still waiting on me to return my attention to those last couple chapters.  And yes…I know I’m not a parent, but I think Scream-Free Parenting can help me become a better teacher…same reason for reading How to Talk So Kids Can Learn.  And The Host?  Well that’s just a random one I picked up at the library by Stephanie Meyer…I certainly won’t pretend that the Twilight series was well-crafted literature, but it was captivating in a strange way… I like to keep abreast of what secondary students are reading and I knew all of the Twi-hards would be picking this one up, so I thought I’d see if it’s as fun as Meyer’s vampy reads were.

<————————————————————————————————————->

Oh!!!  In other news – I am participating in my very first craft swap.  I’ve signed up to be a part of the Postcard Swap organized by iHanna (a cool crafter, author, and blogger I’ve been following on Google Reader).  I’ll update you when I finish my postcards.  I’ve not decided if I should scan them and post them on the blog or not…I don’t know if I should keep them a secret from the recipients, or just go ahead and share.  I’m excited to see who I get to “meet” in the swap and can’t wait to see what kinds of artsy, crafty postcards I receive in return.  I’m trying to think of something cool to do with the postcards sent to me…if you have any ideas, let me know!

Last week I decided on a whim to create a crafty banner for my blog.  I’ve been following Feeling Stitchy for over a year now and have admired her embroidered blog banner since she added it.  I decided to embroider one of my own, just for fun (needed a little crafty something to do while killing time on Thursday night…).

Alas, today I noticed that another of the blogs I follow, Crafterhours,  recently updated their banner to something embroidered and crafty, so now I look like even more of a copy cat.  On my defense, I read all of my blogs on Google Reader, and I usually don’t see the actual blog design/layout, so I had no idea they had updated their banner… *Sigh*  Good thing I don’t aim to be unique and trend-setting, right?

Anyway, I dug up one of my mom’s old embroidery hoops, some canvas, and some colorful embroidery floss, and got to work.

A few years ago, when my mom was moving from one house to another, I inherited a bunch of goodies, including a Bernina serger, a shoe box full of embroidery floss, several embroidery hoops, and a huge bin of fabric scraps.   If you know me, you know I like things (crayons, clothes in my closet, etc) to be in ROYGBIV order, or something that closely resembles it…  I LOVE organization…I waste many hours a week organizing things, only to mess them up later.  So, anyway, after taking my inheritance home, I quickly set to taking all of the floss and wrapping it around cards (also inherited) and organizing by color.  I really do love to just look at my little box of floss…

If I hadn’t spent so much time wrapping and wrapping and wrapping floss around the cards I inherited, I would totally buy some of these fancy cards, found at this Etsy shop.

I also selected a cute little flower button, from my equally organized button box.  And, yes, I also love to look at my little button box, organized by color…  (You can tell I’m a Hokie, because I’m running low on orange buttons)

When Chuck walked in the living room and caught me embroidering, he said, “I didn’t know you knew how to do that”.  I explained to him that I don’t, really – but that I was gonna do it anyway.  I just kinda winged it for this little ditty, but I do have a really cute book on embroidery that I used when drawing my little birdie…you can see the inspiration on the bottom left corner of the cover.

And I feel special, because it’s an autographed edition, since I bought it straight from the author!  :o)

So, anyway, I just drew out the design straight on the canvas, using a pencil.  Then straight-stitched all of the lines (no fancy embroidery here)… I tried to get the colors to blend from brown to green, and in person, you can really tell that they do, but no matter how I photographed or scanned the little patch of embroidery, the colors look off on the computer.  I got frustrated trying to scan/photograph this, because it either looked too grainy, too fuzzy, too overexposed, underexposed…just yucky.   So, although I really like the bit of embroidery, I’m not completely happy with how the final banner looks on the computer screen, but that’s alright…

I used a lavender colored pencil and colored the canvas within the border…I wanted to add a little more color…but again,  when I scan/photograph the swatch, the color is all washed out.  It looks much cuter in person.

So, anyway…  That’s my update for today.   I promise to have more fun stuff to add to the blog soon!  :o)

Okay, quick recap of the past 6 months of my life:

• annual trip to VA Beach to visit Mary (Got to catch up with some of my VT UK friends, and got to meet the newest little Goodman!)

• D.C. staycation with Moma, Betsy, and “the kids”

• Our first experience participating in the traditional summer trip to Rehoboth Beach with the Dhavales, Parishes, Sean, Laura, and Julie (and two darn-cute kiddies)

• Opera in the Outfield (Barber of Seville)

• Birth of the newest Kemp (who Chuck claimed was the first infant he’d seen who was cute straight from the womb) and this little baby blanket.

• Student teaching!!! (and temporary end of income)
• Melvin got a new heart!!!  (recovery was a breeze for this guy!)

• My 29th birthday!  (tick-tock)
• Thanksgiving! (yum)
• Finished my graduate program – I’m official!! (thank GOD)
• 2 feet of snow
• Christmas! (Got a directional flash for my SLR – thanks, honey!!)
• New Years!

Aaaaand, here we are.  Up to date!

Whew!

One of his classmates, Jim,  manages an estate for a (rather rich) gentleman in Central Virginia… Jim and his (amazingly sweet and beautiful) wife, Vaughan, invited us all down to spend the weekend on the lovely farm where they live…for two and a half days we all felt like we were at a private resort.  We ate copious amounts of yummy food, spent lots of time playing games, swimming, laughing, talking, catching up, and relaxing.  It was wonderful!

Because we were having so much fun, I didn’t drag my camera out until midway through the weekend, so I don’t get as many pictures as I wished I had, but here is a pictorial of our weekend:

Standing, left to right:  Chuck, Me, Don, Clint, Lauren, Vaughan, Casey, Jim, Missy, Craig, Whitney, and Ryan.

Crouching, left to right: John, Ginny, Kevin, and Stephanie.  (Oh, and the adorable pup in the front who didn’t realize she was supposed to smile for the camera: Angie).

Almost everyone from the graduating class was there…we were missing three fellas and one gal, who couldn’t make it for one reason or another.

This is the view from the house where we stayed…gorgeous!!!

I need to learn how to shoot sunsets…either the landscape is black and the blazing sky is bright and visible, or the grassy landscape is visible and the sky looks washed out…something for me to practice this summer with my trusty Nikon…

A little ways up the road on the estate is the “Big House” where the estate owner and his family live.  They have a beautiful, rustic house, overlooking a man-made pond (complete with lit fountains and lily pads) and a gorgeous full-sized swimming pool and hot tub.  We were allowed to go up to swim and sunbathe at the pool and spent every day of the weekend up at the “Big House” enjoying the luxurious, rural “resort”.  I think since I haven’t given away who the owner of the property is, I’m allowed to post these pictures of the house and surrounding area…

Here is the view, looking out across the pond and out onto the Piedmont region of my beautiful home state:

And here you can see the view from the pool…

In this next shot, you can see a little bit of the house, to the side of the pool area:

More pool fun:

(Vaughan loaned Kayla, Stephanie’s Sheltie, her sunglasses while relaxing in the pool)

Lovely ladies, sportin’ their shades…

Craig gives us a lesson in relaxation…(he’s got it down to a science).

John and Ginny brought their dog, Shelly, who had a blast enjoying the pool, river, and pond.  This girl LOVES to swim!

Chuck and I tend to shy away from the camera (for fear of breaking it, or worse…)  But we allowed a couple pictures to sneak through.

Vaughan saw me taking photos of some flowers and she led me around to the other side of the house to the “secret garden”…  I’m going to have one of these when I’m a grown up.

I didn’t get any photos of the pond with the fountains lit up at night because I left my camera at the house when everyone headed up to the pool at midnight, but believe me…it was breathtaking and so romantic.   I did take some shots of the pond and the fountains during the day, though:

Beyond the pond was a riding ring (but no horses to be seen) and a large, expansive lawn (meticulously cared for…so lush and green!).  Around the pond were benches, which gave such an impression of relaxation and luxury.

I especially loved all of the lily pads on the pond…

And below is a view of the house and pool from the other side of the pond…(I wish you could see this photo full-size…the complete view of this place is beautiful and just so perfect…the family who lives here is so truly blessed to be able to live in such a rustic, yet luxurious estate).

We really enjoyed the beauty of the place, but what made the weekend so enjoyable was the company…  It’s so good to have friends that you can see once in a blue moon and still be comfortable just picking up where you left off.  That’s the test of true friendship, I think.

This weekend was the perfect start to what I hope will be a wonderful summer…

___________________________________________________________

(Next week Chuck and I take the pups to the beach for some sand and surf and even more poolside relaxation!)

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