In May 2014, my younger sister Amanda graduated from the University of Kansas (KU). We all flew out to KS to be there for her graduation and to celebrate together. Can you guess what my gift to her was? A t-shirt quilt of course!
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Hey guys! How's your New Year's Resolutions going? Still going strong? I hope so because we're only 2 weeks in, with 50 left to go, lol. I wanted to post an update on how we're doing with our Less Junk, Less Waste Phase 1. We agreed that for now we would try to work on three things: No plastic bags, no single serving foods and start checking out local farms and farmer's market. Read on to see how it's going so far!
It's kind of funny how the change of the year leads us all to look back on what we did and make new plans for the coming year. I mean, we could look back and review what we've been doing at anytime. But somehow we've become trained to treat this holiday like the start of a new chapter in our lives. This year was busier in some ways and less in others, let's take a look at what happened in 2014...
I hope everyone had a fun, happy and safe New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. We had about 10 friends come over to spend the evening with us where we ate (too much), drank (too much) and laughed (never too much, lol)! We played some games and watched the ball drop. It was a perfect sized gathering because it was small enough to really get to chat and catch up with friends we hadn't seen in a while. I'm so grateful to have such great friends! I just finished a t-shirt quilt for my friend Michelle and it took me a long time. And I mean a REALLY long time. It wasn't complex - it didn't take more physical hours of labor than other quilts. But for some reason, I had a hard time making progress and completing this one. Fortunately for me, Michelle was incredibly patient and understanding. I'm not sure why we get stuck on things sometimes but it feels good to finally finish it and allow time for new projects. Here are some pics of her quilt. I was one lucky lady this Christmas. Not only did we get to spend time with ALL of our parents and siblings over the past month, I also ended up getting some pretty neat toys :) One of the cool new toys I got is a Cricut Explore! Basically it's an electronic cutting machine. You can connect it to your computer and use the Cricut Design Space on their website to make a design. Then the Explore can cut the design out of paper, vinyl, fabric and more!
I don't know about you but if I'm going to wear an apron, I want it to be half size so that I can take it on and off easily without having to go over my head. I also want it to be somewhat absorbent so that I can wipe my hands on it. Lastly, my husband always teases me that I carry things around and set them down random places - so having some pockets would be a huge plus. I saw a couple of cute patterns for half length aprons online but then I had a great idea...why not make the apron from a kitchen towel? So I bought a pack of kitchen towels on Amazon and started figuring it out.
A few years ago, Ryan and I were discussing some cool new toys out on the market - he wanted a 3D printer and I wanted a laser cutter. Well, I got him a 3D printer as a wedding present but I have still been wanting a laser cutter ever since. This year, he completely surprised me and got me one as an anniversary/Christmas gift!
In our house, we're always trying to improve our health, quality of life and impact on the environment. It's kind of funny but we've both gravitated towards trying to eat better and waste less. Not too long ago, we came across a couple of interesting websites that have inspired us: Zero Waste Home & 100 Days of Real Food. I want to share a little bit about these two sites and how we're going to incorporate some of what these people do into our daily lives.
I just realized that I never posted about one of the last baby clothes quilts I did. I finished it a couple months ago so you guys must think I quit sewing entirely, LOL. I assure you I'm still sewing - just at a bit of a slower rate than before. Anyways, below are some pics from Karen's baby clothes quilt (I can't seem to find the finished pics but I just changed laptops so I'll look on the other computer and update the pics below if/when I find them) |