Alpha, Beta, Glasses

As I was in Barnes & Noble, waiting for the guy I tutor to show up, I noticed the Math aisle. If anyone is going to get me a mathematical book for Christmas (as Santa has done for 2 years now - I think) this is THE book that I want. It's huge & each page describes a mathematical theorem/law/idea. It's a page description & there are photos involved for the mathematical-illiterate. I drooled a little bit while I flipped through this book -- but maybe it was because I went to the dentist and was used to them using the little spit-suction device.

Call me cheap or call me a nerd, but I found glasses for $1 at Target. I thought I'd share this news with you, (family member who I will not embarrass on the World Wide Web by not mentioning your name). I noticed they magnified up to 2. I got 2's, but I'd prefer 1.5 or 1.75. I might go back and get more. I prefer to have an extra pair in my desk at work and one at my sewing machine. I sometimes forget my glasses, and no glasses + computer = Shelley with a migraine. I think I like the brown/red/white on the right the best!

Dewie-sitting

Mike's in Dallas this weekend, visiting his brother and attending a head-banging rock concert. I believe Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth. Shucks, I'm sad I wasn't invited. (And if I was, I would have skipped the concert, and taken the boys to see the Lost & Nameless Sat night!) Instead, I get to stay in Austin & have the run of two houses with this lovely dog!

Dewie gets a little stir-crazy at Mike's house, but he is behaving himself like an angel today at mine. He even likes my backyard! (He hates Mike's since he gets baths back there.)

Quilted Koozies

A few months ago, shortly after I moved into my house, my neighbor had a birthday. What do you give someone who you've talked to for only a few minutes, has a bunch of tattoos, and you know nothing else about her? Why, a quilted koozie, of course!

With Allie's (my neighbor, not my sister) love of sculls and cross bones, Ali's (my sister not my neighbor) black & white Christmas quilt popped into my head. With the extra fabric, I used bubble gum pink thread and the hot pink fabric as binding to give it a little pop.

This is the inside of the koozie. If I made another one, I might change a little bit to avoid the extra hand sewing.

38 Years Ago...

...my parents got married! Though I shouldn't speak on behalf of my siblings, I'm pretty sure we're all grateful and happy they made that commitment to each other. (And even more grateful that they wanted to have children.)

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad! May it be celebrated with non-leftovers, the possibility of something more than dinner at the DER, and flowers prettier than those from the side of the road. (For all you outsiders, it'd be good to note that leftovers and flowers from the side of the road are staples in the Kasiske household. The DER is the Diner at the End of the Road - not it's real name, but I don't think we've ever called it North Chili Family Restaurant.)

A Sea of Blue, and a Fall of Water

It has been a while since I went on the Maid of the Mist. In our classy blue ponchos, we loaded on the boat and the Falls soaked the bottom of our jeans.
We saw a permanent double-rainbow due to the angle of the Falls. All we could do was think of the online video of the stoned guy filming the double rainbow. "Woah, a double rainbow. What does it mean? Woah, WOAH. It's almost a triple rainbow!" (note, the double part is off to the left. We couldn't get a good pic of it.

What a nice date - chaperoned by my aunt and mother.

I've been trying to go to Niagara Falls just about every time I head to Rochester. I think it's been about 2 years.

A Wedding Ring Pillow

Well, the wedding quilt took up too much of my time in Austin before the wedding. Even though I told Lauren I'd make a ring pillow, I didn't start on it until I was in NY 3 days before the wedding. An overall idea of what the bride wanted: a lot of folds, preferably round, with a button in the middle, piping around the edges, and the top & bottom to be the same. The requested size was small (which meant a different size depending on who and when you asked), with the color of off-white and satin. Not too hard, right?

Wrong. Working with satin is far different than what I'm used to, my ideas kept changing, and it took 2 days to get this thing made. I kept wanting to change the design and material. Would Lauren notice if I bought a ring pillow from Michaels or JoAnn's?

Try after try, we ("we" describes my mom & I because I really would have ventured to Michael's) ended up buying more fabric. In the middle of it, we gathered a few inches of fabric, sewed it up tight, and stitched it down. this is how the bunching came into play. By then, we excluded the piping, it wouldn't have worked. We ended up wrapping the fabric around to the backside, and I lightly stitched it together. Goodness, what do you do with a giant chunk of fabric that's gathered on the back of a pillow? Make a big button to cover it, of course! This button faintly had the bride & groom's initials on it (another request).

Overall, I'm a bit surprised I didn't chunk the pillow down the aisle as I walked in with it after all of my frustration on all of those attempts. From now on, I'm going to sew things my way, with my fabrics. And I think I'll stick with cotton. I'm comfortable with that.

And yes, I was the ring bearer. I was informed of that the day I started making the pillow. I guess I'm not the only last-minute-to-share-plans one in my family.

Lauren & Henrick's Wedding Quilt

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was making a "rainbow quilt." Well, that's the most I could say without letting on to my sister that I was making a quilt for her. As you can see, each building is a different color (I didn't use purple though). Look at their engagement photo - do you recognize the buildings now?

This is probably the best quilting job I've done. I put swirls in the sky, stitched in the ditch around the windows, and made waves in the canal water. The binding was the best I've done too. I ended up tucking it under itself as I whip-stitched it down. (Thanks for the suggestion, Lane.) This made the border sturdier and more uniform. Lauren's favorite part was seeing "The Hollesen Family." If I had known that, I would have just written it on a piece of paper and given it to her, saving me hours and hours and HOURS of work.

Lastly, I backed the fabric with a "Coffee" pattern. It's fitting for Lauren, and made sense since Henrick got a boat AND a reminder of Denmark on the front.

Viva Las Vegas!

Here are a few pics from our Vegas trip. Mike preferred gambling, and I preferred walking around. I'm now thinking the walks (that I made Mike go on daily) are hereditary after hearing about "Dodie walks" that my mom enjoys. A walk to the Vegas sign was 3 miles round-trip. Oops, I should have worn sneakers.

Half-way through the trip, these were my winnings. Don't get your hopes up, this includes cash I started with too. I'm not going to mention how rich/poor I ended up.

Aloha, August!

My neighborhood's monthly potluck was Hawaiian-themed for August. Mike was gutsy and said he'd dress up for it. After (me) finding some deals at Big Lots, we were suited with our costumes. (Note, the hairy chest is not part of the costume. It was an added bonus which rewarded Mike 'best dressed'.) Despite the fact that Mike actually won the best costumeaward, I am claiming the victory - our costumes were the same, and the only contribution Mike made was to agree to wear the pink straw skirt over the green one.