How should I quilt it?

I finished my quilt top this weekend. Yes, it pretty much looks like the last picture I posted. I have a small dilemma though. I bought a darning foot, which allows me to move the quilt in any direction when I quilt it. This is a popular thing to do among quilters. I thought (to go with the non-traditional colors and fabrics) that it would be fun to quilt words - funny sayings or comments I've heard among my 25 years of life - and I will do this with neon pink thread. My issue is this: will it take away from the boldness of the colors and patterns if I write words over the seams, through the black, white, and black again? The back will look AMAZING, but I'm not so sure if this is the right idea for the front. Another option I have is to quilt these words/sayings on the longer strips in the log cabin squares. I'm not so hot for that one, but it's another option. What are your thoughts?

Here is a snapshot of my practicing with my new darning foot. I used a random scrap of red thread I had laying around to get some contrast.

Relaxing can get so tiring

We took a fun day yesterday afternoon at work. We left work around 11am, and drove up to Lake Travis to go out on a boat. The bad thing about volunteering to be the photographer is that I'm not in very many pictures. The good point is that I can delete all pictures that I look bad in! No, I didn't drive the boat, but I did borrow a sailor hat from a friend.

We went swimming (I used my new suit!), relaxed, played some games. As you can see, it was a bit cloudy, and the weather was a cooler temp, probably in the mid-high 90's. That's much better than the 107 weather we've been known to have. I somehow got sunburned despite the fact that I used sunscreen and I sat in the shade for 1/3 of the trip. Any fair-skinned redhead could tell you it's our curse to have a good burn once a year. It took a lot out of me - I was very tired last night @ sign language class.

Pink Elvis!

Here is an update on my table runner quilt. Saturday, I sewed together all of the pink triangles, and most of the black rectangles that are attached to them are 2 strips sewn together. I had to cut a bunch of strips for this quilt, and I ended up cutting the wrong amounts - which was good because I was able to lay out patterns so it looked more random. I started sewing things together diagonally, starting in the bottom right corner. Hopefully I'll have the whole top done by next Saturday! I bought a new foot for my machine last week - I'm going to try to free-motion the quilting part of it. Since this uses such modern fabrics (compared to the quilts at my parent's house), I thought I'd do a non-traditional quilting pattern too. I want to (with a lot of practice!) quilt words: maybe words to a song, a poem, random thoughts... we'll see.

When I was in Walmart last weekend, I looked through their small sewing section. I found a skirt patter & PJ pants/shorts pattern. I don't know about you, but I like wearing skirts when it's super-hot out, but I can't find anything (cheap) that I like. My solution is to make them myself. I'm definitely going to make PJ shorts for Lauren out of the pink fabric in this picture. If you look closely at it, you might notice that it's Elvis. Can't tell? Here's a close-up. (I don't know if this will be a bigger gift to Lauren or to Henrick!)

Bands, Tea, and New Shoes!

Friday, I went to see the Lost & Nameless Orchestra. They're a blue grass band, and get their hands on as many instruments as possible. How did I find out about them? The guy with the full beard (Win) and the guy playing the accordion (Nathan - also a Hokie) go to my church. The group played at an outdoor venue at Central Market, a grocery store. Yes I took pictures, but I don't have my camera with me, so I'm stealing pictures from other people.

My car started making clicking noises a week ago. The body shop said it has to do with the motor of a door of the A/C and heat vent. The door won't close all the way, so it is taking longer for my a/c to get cold. It'll cost $700 in labor to fix plus the cost of an expensive motor. To relax, I went to Walmart. I got a pair of sneakers (desperately needed) and $9 football/soccer/kickball cleats (also needed - the pair I've been using are at least 10 years old). Darn, I didn't luck out on nice shoes for work. Am I too picky when looking for work shoes? I can't find anything! Guys have it a lot easier. (I somehow solved my car's issue by turning on the "circulate air around the car" button - no more clicking! I should pay myself $700 labor for that!)

Sunday, one of the women of the young adult group of my church hosted a women's tea party. I'm not too girly (let me play football any day), and I didn't grow up drinking tea like some of these southern belles. I did surprisingly have a hat (in the group picture above), and I wore the wool hat for all of 5 minutes. I don't think anyone believed me when I said modeling runs in my blood, so I might have to share pictures of Mimi (my grandmother) modeling. This morning I noted that two out of four of my pictures she was wearing gloves and a hat. After the tea, I went home thinking I should do something manly like belch or watch football. Instead, I sewed (but hey, at least it wasn't all pink fabric!) I'll talk more about that tomorrow, if I remember my camera.

Sometimes we all need a laugh

One, I want to say that I somehow started following my own blog, and don't know how to un-follow. Two, I wanted to mention that I opened it up so ANYONE can comment on my posts online, and not just those that have accounts.

Three, no matter where I go, it seems I'm around some strange people.

Exhibit A: The giant Beer Bottle Night Bright. I've been a little disappointed with my parents' neighbors when I visit them. "Congrats JR BOO" or "Congrats JR 800" has been up for quite some time. The sign used to change for the season. I believe there was once a smiley face and a Christmas theme. They have failed to turn it on at night too. If it's not in use, it shouldn't be out on the lawn - put it inside the barn!

Exhibit B: Bumper Stickers. Now, the motto of Austin is "Keep Austin Weird," so I have seen some crazy cars driving around here. Clearly, I don't usually drive with my camera in my lap, so unless I'm in a parking lot, I don't take pictures of the car with a full Styrofoam model of the solar system attached to the roof, or the one that was covered in bottle caps - do you think they used hot glue?

EVERYTHING tastes better with Ketchup, right Liz?

Shelley-day Saturday

These are all of my fabrics. I think I ended up buying 4 or 5 more - 2 I realized had an equal amount of black & white. BUT the book called for black on white or white on black - no fabric should be 50/50! I'll blame my high school days where I thought zebra print was cool (I wanted to avoid the leopard print crowd).

Yes, Mom, I do use my ironing board! But it's probably not in the way that Dad uses it to iron. This is everything cut out, in my pre-sewing stage. Do you want to know what it feels like to cut over one hundred 1-1/4" squares? I'll give you a call next time I decide to make this quilt. Most of the fabric that I used this weekend are on the bottom of the picture, wrapped in paper and labelled A-G.

After spending a lot of time with family for the 4th, I decided that it would only be appropriate to have a Shelley-day on Saturday. As an introvert, I was more than happy to stay in my apartment and not see another human being for a day... aside from some of my favorite television stars. I popped in some Veronica Mars (luckily I'm not done with Season 1 - I only have 2 seasons, so I'm hoping they last for the whole quilt!) and I sewed away. Now, before you gasp at how little that is done, remember I'm a beginner. I'm quite proud of where I am right now, and I have to admit that I not only took bathroom breaks, but also movie breaks if there was a juicy first kiss or gunfight scene.

Here are steps one and two completed:

Quilt Number 3!

This is the next quilt I'm working on. It's a table runner quilt, and I think my next few will be that size so that I can get practice with a variety of patterns before I have to do another real one. I was told black & white are the new black. After looking for fabrics for this quilt, whenever I see a black & white shirt or dress, I think to myself, "Hmm, maybe I could buy it, cut it up, and use it in the quilt!" Luckily, I haven't been to JoAnn's in a few weeks, so I'm not as crazy about it as I used to. I spent all day Saturday working on it, with the first season of Veronica Mars playing as background noise. I'll post how far I've gotten (and show you the fabrics I'm using) tomorrow. For now, I'll leave you with this picture. It's my backing - I'm SO EXCITED for when I quilt it. And yes, even looking at it in person makes your eyes play tricks on you!

Adventuring outside of Texas

It's always nice to head north, to the village of Churchville, NY which has one stoplight in the entire town. I spent several days with family for the 4th of July, and we had out usual celebrations. Here is the oldest of my siblings - what a grown-up! (Can someone show this picture, and this link, to Lauren? Her email address thought this was spam every time I tried to tell her about my blog!)

All weekend, I was called a pied piper - is that what did Grandma called me? Apparently, I'm still a kid at heart because some of them were attached at my hip. (Hi Jules!) Given some of the adult conversations (that's all I'm going to mention about that!), I'm happier than ever to still be stuck at the kid's table.

It was nice that Lombardi's in Fairport, NY (I'd say this is a free advertisement, but I'm pretty sure the only people that are following my blog that aren't family live in CA or TX - a total of 3 friends!) I'd have to say they were lacking in chairs, and some of the workers, aka my two Lombardi cousins, were sitting down on the job (which meant my lap).

When it comes to family gatherings, the Hoflers (my mom's family) mean business about desserts. Not pictured here is a funfetti cake, a giant box of chocolates, a basket of candy, two 9" round brownies with frosting, and a three layered super-chocolate cake that my mom served Tuesday night (as if eating more leftover brownie would be too much...) Please ignore the fruit at the other end of the table - that was part of dinner.

Triple Star Kickers deserve 5 stars

I was invited to join the "*** Kickers" kickball team because I'm "sporty" - meaning I play football and I like to think of myself as an intimidating person. Before last night, the Triple Star Kickers were ranked 5th, and the top 4 teams go to the playoffs (which are still several weeks away). My team consists of a bunch of girls that are some way or another related to Girl Scouts and their significant others.

Not only did we win last night, we kicked some triple-stars! In past games, my 10 years of elementary school soccer didn't pay off. I ALWAYS popped the ball into the air (that's what a soccer defense is supposed to do!) but they would ALWAYS catch it. I made it to 2nd base in one game once. Last night, we played with a red, not yellow ball and that made all the difference. My first time up to bat, and there was a man on 3rd. Due to my usually "they always catch the ball and get me out" streak, I aimed the ball low to the ground and towards 1st base. I knew they'd still get me out, but at least we'd get a run too. My next time up to kick, I made it all the way to 3rd before we got 3 outs. My third at-bat was the charm - I ENDED UP SCORING A RUN! I did a little crazy scream when I made it 'round to home plate, but I'm pretty sure my teammates just think I'm odd.

And a shout-out to Lisa (lady to the left of me in the photo - I'm in the back behind a girl in glasses). Lisa stayed in the game fairly long, and had 3 family fans to cheer us on. Happy 4th birthday next week, Lisa! (Or so her nephew thinks...)

Going green: and I'm not talking about the grass

This is a "green" bag I made. It took me some time getting started (after cutting everything out), but I finished it! I have yet to find the perfect piece of cardboard to cover & use as a bottom of the bag. I'm thinking of sewing that into the bottom so the bottom is even sturdier. That might counter the idea of having a bag I can throw in the washer, but we'll have to see. Maybe just sewing a fake hem around the base will help. I have a family reunion blog and a blog about my next quilt soon to come!

Two Hokies in Texas

Josh visited this week! Unlike my other houseguests, he gave me the whole weekend to clean - what a nice thing to do, but then again, I took 2 days off work for this visit too. We ran around town: I bought a new pair of cowboy boots, we visited Barton Springs, ate like there was no tomorrow (and somehow I was still able to control my portions), we walked 6th street, heard some live music, etc. We avoided the boring museums and the capitol building. Although I love it, Josh has no ties to Texas (until he moves here), so he didn't want to see the Senate meeting room. We ended the visit with a viewing of Austin's bats on Tuesday night. Who wouldn't want to see these?