The One with Individuality

Way back in April we had a mutual activity where we started making crib sheets for Melissa (YW counselor who works in a NICU) to take to work.  As we were sewing we started talking about girls' camp coming up and the girls said "let's make blankets!"  Which quickly escalated to "let's make blankets with our names on them!!"  I think all the leaders' jaws dropped at the same time.  They couldn't be serious!  What a project! Well, they're wish is our command and we made it happen.

Quick tangent- none of this could have been possible if it weren't for Grandma Sabol.  Justin and I were eating dinner at her house soon after the camp blanket idea was formed and I mentioned that I didn't think we would be able to do it because fabric for that many blankets was out of our budget.  Grandma then went to the back bedroom and came back with 2 bolts(!) of fabric.  I was able to cut just enough pieces for the front and back of 8 blankets!!  Perfect!!  Between Bonnie (my other counselor who is a quilter) and myself we had more than enough scrap fabric for the girls to create designs for their blankets.  I used my Cricut to cut all the letters and shapes out.  It probably took 7 mutual nights to finish these but the girls absolutely love them.  Me too.  I love how individual they all are!!

First up, the Mia-Maids: If you can't tell from their blankets...

...Danielle is always so classy.

She definitely has style.

...Anne Marie is our silly, girly-girl.

The girl can giggle!

 Gabby is her own person.  I kept thinking "this is not going to look good"

as she described what she wanted to do and picked fabrics.

I was wrong.  It looks amazing.  She's also my volleyball player :)

Beehives next:

...This Gabi is so random.  Seriously.  She's also persistent.

Hers is the only actually quilted blanket and it took for-e-ver!

*I called her Gabitas (the Latin form of Gabi) to differentiate from Gabby.  Otherwise we would have had to call her Big Gabby and no girl wants that.  Especially when you're only 15 and over 6 feet tall!

...Ryann is super spunky and all over the place.

Much like her blanket :)

Josilyn is super sweet.  She actually wasn't even 12 yet when we went
to camp and I am so sad I will never actually be her YW president :(

I saved the Laurels for last because Camilla is my only original YW still in the ward and Sophia is technically not in our ward.  They're just best friends and attend each other's mutual activities. Camilla works on Wed. nights and Sophia is actually not even in our stake but was coming to camp with Camilla.  They chose their fabrics and designs and I actually made their blankets.  After I finished Sophia's blanket I wished my name was on it.  I love how it turned out :)

These two started watching Friends on their own and then found out I have all 10 seasons which gave me like 1000 cool points.  So I still see them once every few weeks when they come to get the next set.

The One Inspired by Pinterest

Winter is my least favorite season (I know, you already know).  But I'm actually learning that I don't really like Spring either.  Don't tease me with temperatures in the 70's and then snow the next day!  That's almost worse than a snow day followed by a snow day!!

The one good thing about being inside is I get a lot of crafting done.  It helps me keep my sanity which I have very little of currently.  (Please let the next 6 weeks or so and my dissertation defense pass quickly!!)  Here are some examples of Winter and Spring crafting I finished during this miserable time of year, most (or maybe all) of which were inspired by Pinterest :)

First off, the wreaths.  I don't know why, but this past year I've really enjoyed decorating our front door and I really like making wreaths.  I fell in love with these felt rosettes last winter and finally made them.  It graced our door during the snowy months.  I've since moved it inside, above our bed to fill in the hole left behind when I moved the clock.  That thing ticks way too loudly to hang right above my head at night.  The wreath is much more quiet :)

Classy, no?

The wreath gets a little lost in the white-on-white.  This makes me wish I could paint so bad!!

I actually started this one last summer and got the green "grass" yarn on but couldn't settle on a flower.  I really wanted to use some of the flowers from our wedding decorations but they were too dark.  I saw a small bouquet of these pale pinkies on clearance at Michael's.  Perfect!!  I added the sign in a moment of needed expression :)

Speaking of last summer, did I ever post this patriotic wreath I made?  If I did, you get to see it again!

I found a place for this one inside as well.  In our "Americana" kitchen.

I totally copied this sign from the 36th Avenue blog and cannot wait to hang it next Christmas!  This was the first time I've used vinyl as a stencil and I'll definitely be doing it again!  It would never have looked this nice if I tried to free hand the lettering.  I love my Cricut!!

Just in case you can't read it, that last name is Rudolph!  With a big red "o"!!  Bwahahaha!!

I don't know if this next one is a "craft" per se but it's making my life more enjoyable.  I absolutely hate cooking.  Again, I'm learning maybe not so much the cooking part (or maybe not just the cooking part) but planning and grocery shopping.  Ugh!!  So this has been a God-send.

I'm pretty sure the inspiration for this came from iheartorganizing.  I already had the magnetic calendar that I used all the time to remember dates and appointments so adding a meal planning aspect to it was really easy.  Most importantly, I actually use it!!  Amazing how actually planning out meals can save so much time and energy (and money) later on!

I also currently have a new sewing project in the works (since February).  I'm taking my time and really loving how it's coming out.  Hopefully I'll share some pictures of that soon :)

The One with the Bernina

Check out my new sewing machine!  I bought this computer table from DI when I moved up to SLC for $20 and had plans to use it as a craft table.  Mostly I store crafts on top of and underneath it.  The big black bag underneath is full of scrapbooking tools, paper, etc.  I have now found the perfect crafty use for it- my sewing table!

I have a lot of craft crap!  Those pink totes on the right are full of miscellaneous supplies including flower decorations from our wedding.  The white drawers are full of paper and my box of stamps is on top.  It's a craft stack!

Love my new machine!!

And I've already made my first project at home!  For some reason Justin's ski goggles have a storage bag and mine did not.  To keep them nice and unscratched I kept the box.  That was a pain and the box was starting to fall apart after three years.  So I came up with an idea to use up one of the fabric remnants that I randomly pick up at Joann's.  This fabric is sooo cute but was a really small piece.  So small my original plan for it was just for a baby headband.  It was long though so I cut it in half and sewed the two pieces together to make one tall piece of fabric.  I sewed a tube at the top for a drawsting.  Then I just folded it in half and hemmed two of the open edges like a pillowcase.  And voila!!  Adorable and fuzzy goggle bag!

 

They fit!!

 And guess what?  This bag works for other things too.  Like my yoga mat :)

I used another remnant piece I had (I knew those would come in handy some day!).  This time I made the drawstring out of a long piece of the fabric folded in half and sewn together.  It makes a sturdier handle than ribbon.  I also sewed one end of it into the tube at the top.  So one end of the drawstring tube is closed and the handle is attached to it.  Isn't this fabric fun and yoga-y :)

The other end of the handle is attached at the bottom of the bag so there is enough room to put my mat inside but when it's pulled tight it's the perfect length handle!  I love it!!

Now I just need to learn how to follow a pattern.

The One with the Presents

This year (like every other when I've made the gifts) I had a whirlwind final two days before Christmas crafting up a storm.  Here are the presents from this year:

Justin and I "bought" for James and Wendy and I had a lot of fun making this family subway.

I can't remember where I got the idea for this, probably Pinterest :)  I made it for Guissela.  I love the fact that my Cricut cuts vinyl!

 
Finally, the big time consumer.  I made family birthday calendars for everyone.  These took for-e-ver!  We have 32 birthdays on this calendar!  And I made six.  I'm crazy.  I actually finished these in my parents' garage on Christmas Eve.

Final product and a good reference for family members on chronological order :)

The One that's Spooky

I was so excited to decorate for Halloween this year!  I saw this idea on a craft blog and loved it.

http://www.the36thavenue.com/2012/09/diy-dollar-store-halloween-village.html

This project has taken me a few weeks now.  I'm a little busy to get it all done in one day but as of Saturday this is what you see when you walk down the staircase to our front door.

Spooky!!

 The camera flash makes things a little shiny but I absolutely love how it turned out!

I've had this little hanging for a while and she graces our door every October.  Although we've never actually handed candy out to trick-or-treaters.  Sad, but true.

Funny story about the door hanging and these candy dishes.  Just a few Halloweens ago (and by a few I mean 8, this happened my junior year of college) my friends (Misha, Selica, Amy) and I decided to be 80's prom queens for Halloween.  We found some really dated formal dresses at Savers.  I honestly don't remember what mine looked like but Amy's was bright pink with this huge, fluffy peplum.  They were pretty ugly.  Throw in some bright pink lipstick, crimped hair and wave bangs and we were good to go.  We wanted to return the dresses after Halloween but Savers only gives store credit.  So I used mine on a bunch of holiday decorations.  I think of that Halloween and my friends every year when I pull these out.

I did a little decorating inside as well.  I found the bouncing spider and candy corn at Joann's last year and couldn't resist.  They are so stinkin' cute!!

I used a few of the lanterns Mom gave us sisters after Steve and Heather's wedding.  They work amazingly well for Halloween decor!!

The One with the Summer Update

I'm trying to put some other posts in along with all these "Things" that are mostly text.  The best thing about blogs are the pictures!  So here are some random shots of our summer.

This is how Justin and I compromise.  I hate cooking!  I mean, really hate it.  So we eat bean burros a lot.  Or Justin helps me in the kitchen.  I do the prep work and he stands at the stove.  Here we are making arroz chaufa for dinner.  If you haven't tried it yet, it's in the family cookbook!!  And it's delicious :)

He cooks!  He cleans!  Well he tries to clean.  I'm super picky.  He's still perfect :)

Earlier this summer Justin wasn't feeling very well.  For like a month.  I was surprised he never felt up to biking so I went out by myself.  Apparently this is a bad idea.  I fell.  Twice.  These took a long time to heal.

When Justin felt up to it we went on a super long bike ride with his dad.  Unfortunately the first half of the trail was washed out or super soft, meaning you couldn't get traction.  This is the dirtiest I've ever been on a bike ride.  Check out the scar on my left leg and you can see just how dusty we got.

Oh yeah, and this is my white trash helmet.  Last summer I endoed (flipped over my handlebars, you know- end over end) on the Wasatch Crest and broke the little snap that holds the visor on your helmet.  My initial jimmy-rigging didn't last very long but thankfully I crochet in the car on the way to the bike trails.  Yarn fixes everything!!

The first week I was in charge of a mutual activity all by myself I did what I know best (well, maybe second best.  I actually have a degree in chemistry but not crafting).  We tied a baby blanket for the former YW pres who was expecting her first baby.  We dropped it off one Sunday after church.  Poor Melissa; she looks like she's about to pop in the picture but she went another month before Ivy came out weighing just 2 ounces shy of 10 pounds!!  That's her first baby- ouch!!

Me, Melissa, Camilla and Sophia

Two members of my research group successfully defended their theses at the beginning of summer (What?  There's a light at the end of this tunnel?).  We celebrated with a group hike and potluck.  Hoping we have one of these for me soon :)

Annie (Aixiang), Jennifer, her daughter (wait for it) Josephine, Cara, Becca, Patrick and Justin

Josie, Jennifer (advisor), Mariella, Justin (grad), Cindy (grad), Annie (grad), Jong-Won (PhD), Cara (grad), Becca (undergrad), Patrick (PhD)

The One with All the Blankets

**I started this post months ago, probably before Christmas and was waiting to finish one final project.  It is nearing completion but I figured I could just post that one by itself.  And Mom reminded me that I haven't posted in a while so for now this is what you get :)

Justin recently told me that I have been crocheting for six months straight.  And I'm definitely not showing signs of slowing down.  I love being crafty and making blankets gives me something to do while we're driving to the next trail/campsite/Arizona.  Of course this recent spurt of craftiness was inspired by all the babies born this (last) year, but I've actually made quite a few blankets in my lifetime.  I always forgot to take pictures but thankfully everyone still seems to have their homemade afghans and were nice enough to send me some.

Anistyn's blankie

 Seth's blankie.  I've wanted to make this Wee Irish Chain for a while now.  Love how it turned out :)\

Hunter's blankie.  This is the second time I've used this pattern because I love it.

 Skye's blankie (my friend Erin's daughter)

Back in college I made matching blankets for my friends Tyler and Dallin.  They shared a bunk bed so Tyler's blanket was blue and Dallin's was green.  They fully cover a twin bed which means they took for-e-ver.

I usually make blankets but when I moved to Utah I was inspired to branch out and make some cold weather gear.  This is a scarf and beanie I made for Makayla for Christmas.  Trevy has a matching beanie.  Yay for cousins!

What a cute girl!!

 I also made this headband for Makayla although Callie is modeling it for me :)

 

This set was my first attempt at making my own pattern.  I made it for some friends in the ward who had a baby girl almost 6 months ago.  I think it turned out pretty well :)  And I loved this yarn!

Now I've picked up knitting (which I'm sure I will never do to make a full blanket).  I'm so glad I started with just this simple headwrap (also for Makayla- I'm seeing a trend here.  Apologies to all other girl cousins.).  Knitting definitely looks better if you're making clothing.

Models Callie and Ahne.

This is just a select few.  Now that I've seen all the pictures I feel like a crafting machine!