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links for the wkend.

15 Apr
Start here for a post that I wrote on armpits.  [You so want to click that link, don’t you?  I knew it.]
Then, let’s talk about this – homemade candy buttons!  I LOVE candy buttons!  
[Not so much the taste of them at all but they certainly are pretty.]

How simple and genius is this?

I think I love shutters.  Both for this use below and for this.

I want to make this wreath.  And these.  [Good thing there are pictures because that is a language I do not understand!]  Okay.  These too.

And what do you think of this?  Cake batter bark!  Nom nom nom.

Now I must nap in preparation of a happy dinner party this evening and a weekend of thesis-izing/textile garage sale-ing.  Happy weekending, friends!

It’s Monday.

28 Mar
My 8am class doesn’t exactly make me too thrilled about the start of a new week.  Still, there are things that  excite me.  Happy Monday; let’s find the joy in this jolted end to the weekend.
An embroidery foot for my sewing machine added to an online cart.  My next creative dream is a circle quilt, quilted in the meandering style.  [Two new feats to tackle.]  I kinda just want to copy this quilt exactly – I love the colors and the gray binding.

I went to a roller derby on Saturday night.  It was ca-ray-zee.  Girls on roller skates fighting, jammers, pivots, and people in costumes.  It’s like these people asked themselves, “Hmm.  Where can I wear that Chewbaca suit I have in my closet?  Oh, the roller derby.  Of course.”  Duh.

I put a quilt in the mail to a friend and with perfect timing – I heard this morning that baby came early and both mom and baby are healthy and well.  Unfortunate that this new family lives in Seattle; hopefully a visit will happen this summer.

It’s my pal, Adam’s, birthday today and I’ll be attending birthday dinner tonight at his aunt-in-law’s home.  Rumor has it there will be ice cream cake.  I bought him pretzel m&ms.  His favorite.  [Added as of 10:30pm : Adam’s birthday dinner was a success.  Rumors were true.  I also discovered that he reads this blog.  And thus knew of his gift before I arrived.  Note to self: Quit revealing secrets on blog, as I know not who all reads this nonsense … ]

M. and I

26 Mar
I spent a lot of time with M. this past week.  She was on spring break and her family is busy in the midst of move preparation.  I went over to her house for two days and the third she came over to my “grown-up apartment.”  We had a lot of fun crafting, baking, and watching Ariel.

M. arrived and walked into my apartment for the first time.  She sized up the room, paused in the middle of the living area, and said convincingly, “This is nice.”  Thanks, M.  She took off her boots and made herself at home.  We sewed and stuffed a pillow [It was her idea and she clung to that pillow for the rest of the afternoon!], and I sewed together a few book signatures for her to take home and continue to create.  We baked cookies, and she cuddled up on my bed to watch Ariel [The Little Mermaid].  
It was just a lot of fun.  It’s been really cool to babysit for her over these last years and watch her grow since I’ve been in St.Paul.  I’ll miss her bunches when I’m off somewhere abouts in the southern portion of the state next year.

self-care.

14 Mar
Tonight, in my Women in Ministry class, we had a guest panel of five female pastors, poised and ready to take our questions.  Conversation ranged from fashion to humorous stories to boundaries in relationships.  Much of the conversation was helpful; some was not.  [If not here, then certainly on Steeples and Stilettos, further address of their take on fashion in ministry will be had.  I don’t consider myself much of a fashionista by any means, but I disagreed.)
One topic that was helpful was that of self-care.  I’ve heard about it, talked about it, and practiced it in many different ways in the past, but a firm refresher was … refreshing.  Namely, self-care is not selfish.  [Say that aloud.  Do you believe yourself?  You should!]  Allowing myself Lindsay time, finding the people I need to remain sane, and saying no are not bad practices.  In ministry, there is always more to be done.  If one really wanted to, a work week could easily consist of sixty hours.  (I’m pretty sure some of mine on internship did …)  That’s unhealthy and completely not cool.  [Not cool … one would think I would have a better way to describe it.  You don’t want to be uncool, do you?  That’s what I thought.]
Reflecting on last year, I think quilting was my self-care, or at least a large part of it.  I need to be busy; I hate being bored.  To break away from work, to focus on a project I enjoyed was what quilting helped me to do.  In honor of that hobby and the reminder I was given tonight, I came home from class (which ends at 9pm), said no to further homework, and am taking care of myself.  I fully intend on putting in a disc of Gilmore Girls and working on the binding of this flannel blankie with my glorious Fossil sewing kit.  Amen and goodnight.  

Ten things I’ve learned this semester:

13 Mar
[I hope you’re not expecting academic or theological revelations.  You probably should read a different blog if that’s something you crave …]

1.  Margarita salt is essential on rim of said drink’s glass.  [I’ve thought otherwise until recently.  But this also isn’t to say that I drink these daily.  Or weekly.  Simply occasionally.]

2.  Reading for class really is optional, even if the professor says otherwise.  [Ask nearly any of my senior classmates about the amount of reading they do.  Seriously.]
3.  One box cake mix will yield 35-38 cakepops with the large Pampered Chef cookie scoop.  Recent experiments look promising with use of small Pampered Chef cookie scoop.  Yield average pending.
4.  Happy hours on Thursday evenings highlight one’s week.
5.  I’d rather clean than do schoolwork.
6.  Dogs are expensive.  [Learned in research of labradoodle and goldendoodle puppies.  I want one when I get my first call.]
7.  Professors are people too.  [I’ve gotten to know many professors this year beyond the typical student/professor interaction.  It’s been enjoyable.]
8.  An occasional Saturday night of quilting and watching Lord of the Rings is not at all overrated but rather necessary and lovely.
9.  An iPhone is a regular treat, especially using the Carcassonne app to play the really nerdy game with my friend, James, while he’s on internship in SD.
10.  Watering an indoor plant using an ice cube will prevent that sudden rush of water from the bottom of the pot, as the ice cube will melt and gradually soak in, a trick I use with this guy to the left.  [I haven’t killed it off [yet], Karen!]  

links for the wkend.

11 Mar
… I’m not sure you really understand.

I rambled on and on about Pinterest a few nights ago.  But did you get it?  Do you grasp how this site can change your life?
Because I can’t get over how flipping awesome this site is.  It’s all things gorgeous, amazing, and delicious. Clothing, recipes, and home decor – oh my.  The home decor.  I’m so very excited to have a home to decorate in [hopefully] a few short months.
On that note of homes of my own, these links for the weekend are all about home decor.

pinterest: my new interest.

9 Mar
Pins, boards, repinning and following.

Those are my pinterest words.
Pinterest? you wonder.
Pinterest is a site on the interweb [just ipod it] that – if I dare say myself – is a heavy contender to replace my google reader.  It’s like google reader for pretty things.
I don’t even know how to explain and don’t care to admit how much time I’ve wasted on it in the last few days.  I read about this site initially many months ago, requested an invite to the Pinterest community [I feel like that comes with a nose snub of sorts.], and, once I received said exclusive [not really] invite, it was lost in the waves of endless emails that is the constant moving sea of my inbox.  Basically, I forgot about it.
Until yesterday when I got lost in the beauty of this new site and online community.  You create boards of different subjects/items/themes.  For example, I have a ‘recipes’ board on which I pin recipes I find on the web.  When I pin a website to my board, a picture from said website shows upon the board.  There’s little text initially on my board – just pretty, pretty pictures.
You can follow other people’s boards.  See something you like on their board?  You can repin it to yours.  [And this is how it becomes the pretty google reader.]
Confused?  I was at first too.  If anything, take away from this conversation that Pinterest is pretty.  You can visit my boards [I tried to upload a screen capture of what it looks like but failed.] and, if you’re even further intrigued, message/comment and I can send you an invite [raise nose in air] and you can join the Pinterest community too [if you promise to follow me].
Until you visit [or not] my Pinterest site in its beginning stages, see here three of the favorite things I’ve found so far via my latest pinning:

I fell in love.

2 Mar
With straight line quilting.
I’ve loved the look of it for many months, seeing straight-lined quilted items on blogs many-a-time.
I’d always wanted to try it but call me chicken.  The actual quilting of quilts is the part that still trips me up. Ask me and I can easily point out the errors I’ve made while quilting my previous quilts.  I’m not quite sure how my machine works in this step or how to really go about it.  
I’m in the process of putting together two simple flannel kid-sized blankets to send to my friends, Jenni and Joe.  Jenni is a high school bestie of mine; Joe her flannel-wearing husband.  A very exciting thing happened for Jenni and Joe a few weeks ago.  After months of waiting and paperwork, they welcomed their first foster child – nay – foster children into their home.  Imagine going from zero children to an instant two children, ages one and two.  I can only guess that sleep is at a minimum but hope that blessings are overflowing.  You can read more about Jenni and Joe’s story here, on Jenni’s blog.
I wanted to make a little something to send their way and am of firm belief that one can never have too many blankets.  They are solid panels of flannel with a little more flannel in between for warmth, but I wanted to quilt and bind them to give them that look and feel.  
So there I was tonight, straight line quilting.  
It’s going super well so far (fingers crossed), except that I chose my own death as I spaced the lines so close together.  Lots of lines.  Lots of thread.  It’s a learning experience (as all my quilts are) and I know better how to do this next time around.  (But I still maintain this one will look awesome!)  I found myself tonight saying, “I’ll sew one more line and then do my homework.”  “Just one more and then I’ll do the dishes.”  “Just one more …”  I finally sewed just one more and now I’m here, not doing homework or dishes, but updating ‘da blog.  (And after this, pretty sure I’m going to bed!)  I can’t wait to finish them, put the blankets (along with a few other goodies) in a box, and send them off to Jenni, Joe, and their two little munchkins.  I hope they get used and dirty, washed and loved on lots by the children.

new towels.

28 Feb
As I mentioned before, I went home this past weekend.  Much of my weekend was spent visiting with relatives, telling them about my assignment to region three and explaining what exactly that means.  I pulled up a map of the regions, the divisions of synods, and hoped to shed some light on what more will happen as I approach first call.  Along with this, I talked about new towels.
I’m excited for first call.  I’m so excited I could – I’m not sure.
(Sidenote: I saw Despicable Me for the first time with my sister and cousin Molly.  I love it when the little girl sees the stuffed unicorn at the theme park and she yells, “It’s so fluffy I could die!”)
I’m excited to be a pastor.
And to buy new towels.  I’m absolutely thrilled to think about having a house or apartment to decorate and, based on my bathroom color scheme, to buy new towels.  Along with that?  A craft room with a large working table, a design board of sorts, and organized storage for my craft collections. I figure I have moved once – if not twice – every year for the last nine years.  It’s time to stop being so nomadic.  Not moving every year will be glorious.
Oh yes.
So excited.

crepe paper.

16 Feb
After such a downer of a blog post a few nights ago, I feel motivated to feed you those lollipops and rainbows at an alarming rate.  So much color and happiness and group hugs that you’ll want to want to sit alone in a room with white walls, rocking back and forth while murmuring things like, “No more unicorns,” just to get away from it all.  Then, just when you’ve had too much, I’ll hit you with another downer post and – no.  Totally kidding.  Not part of my evil plan.  (My evil plan remains a secret at this point in time.)
Truth be really told, this is a bit more engaging than beginning that two page paper that’s due tomorrow morning at 10. (… which I promise to start as soon as I tell you about crepe paper, okay?)  Have I told you how I’m ready to be done with school?  Right.  Check.  But in all seriousness, I say thank you again for the support.   I received a ‘for cute’ email tonight from a woman in Dawson that I didn’t know read my blog – a note of encouragement and one that reminded me that my Grace family is behind me all the way.  The cutest and so encouraging.  (Thank you to Sharon!)  I can and will do this, faithful blog friends!
Ready to hear about crepe paper?!
Crepe paper is a standard party decoration that – quite honestly – can make me cringe.  I think it can be used in fun ways but you’ll typically see me stay away from it.  Quite far away from it.  Maybe I just can’t twist it properly.  or something.  But in general, not a fan.
However, this I could get on board with … you know what’s coming next, right?
You can sew crepe paper!  [Credit for the photo and the idea is given to this blog.  Coolest thing about it?  It suddenly becomes sturdier with a seam and two layers so you can roll it up and use it again.]
How lovely.
I also found this to make crepe paper all fancy-like.  It calls for sheets of crepe paper (which I never knew existed) but I think you could use a roll of crepe paper and take an xacto knife to it.  The whole roll.  I mean – be careful when you do it but I think it could work on some level.  [I take no responsibility when you slice your hand or lose a finger.  Simply an idea.  I will, however, write a really long and depressing blog post when I probably stick my thumb with a blade while attempting.  I’m good at posts like that.  After the blood dries, of course.]
[you know that’s a joke, mom.  right?  ps mom.  engage me on either of these decorating ideas and emma will have the classiest high school graduation party ever come june.  plus graduation cap cakepops.]
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