It's been going around, and I just had to give it a go... 

Here's how it works:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

There's a group you can add it to, as well.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name? - brittney

2. What is your favorite food? - pasta

3. What high school did you go to? - forest hills northern

4. What is your favorite color? - purple

5. Who is your celebrity crush? - i don't know

6. Favorite drink? -slushie

7. Dream vacation? - peru, again

8. Favorite dessert? - cheesecake

9. What you want to be when you grow up? - a mom (but i will settle for librarian, that's what it looks like)

10. What do you love most in life? - curt

11. One Word to describe you. - crazy

12. Your flickr name. -inaudiblefal (that didn't show anything, so i just did inaudible)

1. a little rainbow, of sorts, for brittney, 2. You'll never find it, 3. 458SP CT0001 001, 4. Sea Monsters: Dying Lovers on the Beach, 5. The Chesil Beach at Portland - Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, 6. Radioactive Drink, 7. Machu Picchu, Peru, 8. 2) Making a wish!, 9. bookshelf spectrum, revisited, 10. Bokeh For Sale (2 for 1 special), 11. Rain, rain, go away, I want to do some Sunrise photos, 12. fairy lights

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great long weekend. It started with a youth group lock-in. First we went to the mall and had a scavenger hunt... which is apparently not allowed. Even after the security guard flagged us down, we had a good fun time. We went back to the church and played Guitar Hero, mafia, sardines, Phase 10, and dodge ball all night long. We put in National Treasure 2 and the kiddos fell asleep in the church pews. Their parents came to get them at an early 8am and we went home to relax in the sun. Curt took a nap in the hammock while I did some crocheting. I also watched the birds fly in and out of our roof building a nest.

It was a beautiful weekend. We played Bocce Ball outside and then when the sun went down we went indoors.

The extra time this weekend also allowed for some crafting.. I made a box of goodies for my mom including:

A key chain, I can't wait to make more of these, but I want to get some D rings.

A set of coasters. Not these ones, actually, I forgot to take a picture of them DARN. I'll be at their house this weekend, so I can get some shots of them in action. Hers are blue and green.

A case for her new camera. I love that fabric, same as the keychain.

That's all I have for now, it was a wonderful long weekend and we needed the extra day to catch up on sleep after the lock-in. Oh, and I changed my blog header to a red white and blue theme for Memorial Day. I don't really like it, but it's good enough for now :-)

Graduation and Presents

Sure, I graduated and got presents, but this post is more about the presents I made. Most of which I forgot to photograph.... dumb me. 

For my sister's birthday: two freezer paper stenciled t-shirts. I got the shirts super cheap, so hopefully they outlast the fabric paint. I did a giraffe and some simple flowers. The giraffe was fun to cut out and the stencil looked awesome. The flowers were super easy and relaxing to draw and cut out.

My sister's modeling debut: I think Tyra would say not fierce enough. 

The detail of the giraffe.. it took a few tries to get the face right, but Krista helped me judge what looked best - thanks!

The flowers are all different colors, I like how it turned out and the top is cute.

There's the bell.... I'll post more later!

Graduation

[edited]

Yesterday I finished and printed off my last school project ever. After school today I am going to hand it in and wipe my hands clean of all things academic. That is, assuming the registrar took care of all my things. I don't necessarily trust them, but I hope it happened or I'm in deep doodoo.

My family is coming down this weekend for my graduation. They are getting in Friday, which means I have a lot to do before than. As in, all day Thursday will be spent cleaning/finishing birthday and Mother's Day projects. I love giving homemade things, but only when I have the time to home make them. I don't have the time right now. 

On my list of things to finish:

1. Freezer paper stencil shirt(s?) for my sister's birthday [completed]

2. Paint bottoms of pots and plant herbs for my mother-in-law [completed]

3. Develop black and white photos to put on shadow boxes for my mom [2/3 completed]

4. Other random things I need to finish

That last one includes that darn baby quilt in my last post that just will not go through my sewing machine. I don't know why, it just won't work. I'm hoping that one of my graduation presents is a new sewing machine. I'm guessing the other one will be a tablet for my computer. Curt's been talking to our parents, and I just know at least one of those things was on his list for them. Other possibilities include books I have checked out from the library multiple times. I can't think of anything else I've been asking for, so I can't imagine what he told them I want.

Alright, I have to make a stencil for that shirt for my sister. Wish me luck!

Pre-Vacation Quilting

From inspiration.... 

Loved these colors. Pink + Red + Yellow with White to balance all the colors.

So I started cutting and sewing together these wonky log cabin squares according to these directions.. So much fun to do without having to worry about a pattern while still getting delightfully wonky blocks. 

I laid out the pieces as I went along to see what I needed... it went together pretty darn well, unlike my last quilt (NIGHTMARE!)

After all the blocks were finished, I added the cream colored border to bring it all together. And of course Finnegan had to make himself at home -- but blinked when I took the picture, darn it! I don't know what it is about my quilting process, but he always has to put himself right in the middle of it!

Here's the quilt layered and pinned together, ready for quilting. I should have taken better pictures of the fabrics-- I will still go ahead and do that. The back is really cool too. A batik print I've been eyeing in the clearance section for some time now. I'm glad I could finally put it to good use. 

When finished it will be a good baby sized quilt. I like it a lot, so does my husband. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do about quilting it... I started on Saturday and for some reason, my thread tension was WAY off and I couldn't get it to stitch well. That will put a dent in my quilting for now, until I can get it to work. 

I also quilted up some little coasters on Saturday with scraps left over from my last quilt. They are way too cute. I will be making more in the near future.

I've set a goal to stop wasting so much time at home watching TV and just surfing the internet. If I took all the time I spend doing that and put it to good use, I would get a lot of stuff done and my house would probably be a lot more organized! So that's the goal for the week... here I go!

Shiny Sinks Bring Shiny Skies

I've been trying to stay on track of our life with Fly Lady and all of her helpful tips. The first step, as you may or may not be aware, is to shine the sink. So a little bit ago I took that first baby step and shined my sink. I'm embarrassed to be posting the before pictures, but I think the transformation is incredible. And in my defense, we live in a rental home, so it's not like I let my house get that grimy. Then again, it's kind of grosser that it's not even our grime, necessarily. Enough jabber, I'm probably over-exaggerating anyway. 

BEFORE:

and AFTER:

WOW!!

And as if to reward me for my hard scrubbing, the sunshine peaked through the window above the sink and made it gleam even brighter.

These bleak days of winter have slowly been giving way to these bursts of sunshine, and it finally seems like the the sun will be here to stay shortly. After days and days of nothing but rain, the weekly forecast is pointing us to 71* by Thursday. Then Friday, maybe Thursday night, I will be in Nashville for the Gospel Music Association Week, all leading up to the Dove Awards Wednesday night. I can't wait! Oh man, I have a lot of packing and planning to do for that trip. I'll be gone for more than a few days, and I need to make sure I have a cute outfit and everything for the awards ceremony. It's live this year, which means I won't be able to watch it back and see what kind of camera time I got, but oh well. It's always a fun time. We still need to figure out what we are going to do with Finnegan... oh man, I better get to bed. I have a busy week of planning ahead of me. It's way too late, I hope I don't get called in the morning to sub.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is here in Anderson... although the weatherman dared to say that F word in his forecast the other night. That's right... 60's all week, and flurries this weekend?! How could that be. 

I finished my quilt, so we thought we would break it in with a Saturday picnic... but it looks like yucky weather will prevent our outing. Maybe an indoor picnic? M

y sister and I used to love throwing out a blanket on the floor and munch our lunch picnic style. Finn had the same idea to munch his bone on my almost-finished (at the time) quilt. 

 

It still needed the binding at this point in the process...

But I get ahead of myself. I don't think I ever actually posted pictures of my fabric or any inspiration for the quilt, so I will backtrack and do that....

I found a few quilts I liked that were the Bento Box pattern. I liked the simple pattern, and thought I could figure it out on my own. I got the fabric... 

which looked like my laundry ....

And started cutting. I didn't actually have the pattern in hand, so I was just winging it. I was cutting it all correctly, but for some reason my math skills failed me and I didn't cut enough strips, so after cutting and sewing a bunch together, I had to go back and cut and sew a bunch together. A minor setback considering I was just making it up based on a couple pictures I had seen.

It took me forever to figure out a layout I liked, and I'm still not 100% happy with it, but I know it will grow on me. It's all done and quilted now, I will have to post some finished pictures as soon as I take them.