I am a Graduate!

 I made it! I finally graduated from high school.

This is my proud moment was thankfully captured by Hannah Betts. Her photos always turn out amazing so I'm more than glad that she took some of me at graduation. My painting is even in the background. This over the shoulder photo is perfect, too. I can't thank her enough for these pictures.

Now I'm off to the next phase of my life : the college years. I can't wait to get going. Orientation is tomorrow, too. We'll see what the future holds.

Graduation Day!

These are our little chickens. I took this picture a few weeks ago but forgot to upload it until now so, here it is.

This year I designed the giant painting that hangs over us as we graduate! I painted all the hands, text, and world. A girl in my art classes helped me paint the background. We worked well together and even though it was a lot of work, I'm glad it was just us two. 

Here is a process photo, showing what a big mess we made painting it. One day when I was sitting there painting a huge spider crawled by me and I had a mini break down and was forced to take a break from painting. I'm terrified of spiders and being trapped with one in the dark room scared me. I killed it but, who knows where its family was. 

The final product! It is now hanging between the two trees in the front of our school. I'm so excited for everyone to see it today. 

One of my first posts were about my owl pillows. They are now sitting in these chairs at the store. I think they fit nicely there. 

This is a mid painting photo of this valley scene I painted on the old milking stool. 

Here is the final product; It is definitely not my best work. 

Meowzers seemed to like it, though. 

And to make up for his eaten muffins, I made Alec this batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! The big heart one has our initials on it. The bottoms turned out a little well done but, he still liked them.

Busy Bee

I've been continually busy so, here is a fairly organized yet unorganized portrayal of bits and pieces of the last few days. To start, this is what I saw when I came outside after I was done frosting the cupcakes I made one morning. Alec was sitting on his butt, in the yard, surrounded by my animals, finger feeding the chickens frosting from the spatula I gave him to lick off. I naturally started laughing and decided to document it.

Feeding the chickens looked like fun so I decided to join in. Apparently I didn't taste good or something because this was the closest a chicken got to me. 

I decided to go back inside and put sprinkles on the cupcakes. When they are done I came out with one for Alec and went to feed it to him. Then I put it all over his face and he looked so cute with it on his nose that I just had to take another picture. Anyway, this is a typical morning for us. 

A different day, I think, I realized that I wanted to sell my button rings in the store I work at but, had no way of sizing the rings without buying a ring sizer-stick. Alec seemed to be listening to this statement and said something along the lines of "No, Babe! You can just print one off line." Being the sweet boyfriend he is, he printed one right off and started helping me size them. I took over the crafting and added price tags while he looked at Craig's list. I love quality time together like that where we both get to do our own thing but still do them together.

This poor quality photo, due to my broken camera, shows basically what they looked like when I was done. This set up now sits on the counter at work. I brought them in today and already had customers trying them on and telling me how much they loved them! 

Here is another random tid-bit; another group I joined to keep me busy. I joined this 30 days of doodles challenge group. I technically joined yesterday so, I actually drew the first two days today...well doodled them.

Day one: A Self Portrait.

Day Two: My Favorite Flower.

Alec slept in late today to catch up on his sleep from alternating between watching movies all night with me and working all night on the other nights. I woke up early and baked him some blueberry muffins. I only ate one, and left the others displayed on the counter for him. Unfortunately, while I was  nestled in my sewing room my brother got home and ate three of them, leaving only one for Alec. I was going to bake him some peanut butter cookies to make up for it but, we had no eggs left. Its the thought that counts, at least. 

This is a picture from me at work. Needless to say, I love my job.

During that previously mentioned movie time with Alec, I managed to cut a bunch of mini-squares which turned into mini-hexagons. I tried hand stitching for the first time today at work and created this little pot holder, flower-like thing! I think its cute but, it took me about two and a half hours just to sew. I think I'll stick to machine sewing these little guys because I do love how it turned out.

Here is the final photo. I cut out more than twice the number of hexagons than I actually used. I used the little plastic holder that cupcake/muffin holders come in to hold the hexagons. Which makes this post kind of tie in a little bit, because I made cupcakes and then reused the container to hold sewing fabric. 

I got a new quilting magazine from my Aunt that I'm already addicted to. She also gave me some already cut quilt squares which I already can't wait to use! More sewing, tomorrow. Can't wait!

Really Very Last Minute

 The last few days have been hectic to say the least. I started lifeguard training this weekend and that required about 16 hours of memorizing techniques, trying to prove my leadership qualities and practicing saving lives. It all paid off, though, because I got the job at the water park that I wanted. So, of course I missed my block swapping deadline on Saturday. I made cute blocks but trimmed them too small so, had nothing to hand in. The owner of the quilt shop called me and called my aunt about my missing blocks. After an apologetic phone call to the owner and a few rushed hours in my sewing room I had these blocks ready to hand in...four days late. I don't mind making these quilt squares besides the fact that being in my sewing room with all my fabric makes me wish I could be creating what I want to create, not what was due a few days ago. Anyway, soon the swap will be over and I will have a whole other quilt! The light pink fabric I used came from the abiding place and used to be a part of what looked like a little girl's doll blanket. I knew I could reuse the fabric and I did! 

This week is also hectic because I GRADUATE THIS WEEKEND. After years and years of slaving over homework, writing research papers, studying until I get a headache, taking zeros over lying about not doing projects and busting my a**, I get a diploma! I'm graduating 6Th in my class and that is an amazing feat to me. I really really hope it doesn't rain; I never once pictured my own graduation being forced inside because of rain. This exciting event inspired this weeks list which, mind you, is also being posted a few days late. Like i said : a hectic week.

I really want to try hand stitching some hexagons so I can do it while I work at the trading post. I'm also interested in making little (I'm not sure yet what) something or others out of mini scraps of fabric. We'll see how much I get done in between working two jobs. 

Another Gift for My Mother

This was the beginning sketch for the gift I made my mom for Mothers Day. We took Belly Dancing together over the Winter and had taken Yoga before and she became really into this particular Hindu God. This elephant is "Ganesh" the remover of obstacles. 

I traced my sketch onto this balsa wood/foam. Then i used clay tools to carve a relief into the block in the shape of the elephant. I carved the background back about half an inch. 

After carving for what seemed like forever, I finally got to start painting it! My moms favorite color is purple so I decided to make Ganesh's body purple. I used metallic paint for his jewelry. I love the contrast that the gold and the purple provide. 

The piece was then finished with a gloss coat; It now hangs on the wall of my house and my mom just loves it.  I'm glad.

Lists, Lap Robes & My Sewing Room

I found this cool "52 weeks of lists" when I was blog browsing and decided to join. I found it here and then read up on the details here! I love making lists and make to-do lists almost daily. I even have a typed up to-do list just for cleaning. I used a little sketch book to start my lists in. So here is the cover! I sewed the numbers on and a border on.

My first list is pretty basic but, I figured it was a good place to start. I can't wait to start scrap-booking these little lists. I've been so inspired to craft lately. Its so nice to have some free time to actually get some sewing and what not done.

I went up to my Aunts to drop off my graduation party invitation and found out about this quick and easy quilt to make. It is called a "Cathedral Window Quilt" and is made up of a bunch of circles. We needed this big, see through, circle tool with a square on the inside so, we made our own out of cardboard and some measurements I found here. It only took us about 5 hours from the making the template to sewing the last stitch.  This quilt is made by sewing together a bunch of circles and drawing squares on them. Then you sew them together on the lines of the squares, and iron down the flaps. The background is made up of the dark green that shows on the front as the extra flaps. Then, you sew down the flaps. 

Here is the final product. It is kind of small because I ran out of fabric. I gave it to my mom for her birthday since she loves grapes. She loved it. I told her that it was a lap robe for her for when she is old and in her wheelchair..or that she could just use it when she is relaxing outside in her porch swing. Anyway, this started my creative kick. Then i felt like cleaning my sewing room and organizing it. I've been waiting to show it off but I didn't want to take pictures of it until it was clean. I finally put away everything on my sewing desk from when I got my new sewing machine from my Aunt. All except for my pin cushion! Now I need a sewing machine cover.

Then I hung up my rotary cutter and my new transparent ruler that she gave me, too! She came over one day with the new sewing machine and all this thread, new scissors, wall hangers and this organizer! I just love it so much; it might even be my favorite part of my sewing room.

I also organized all of my fabric today. The bottom shelf looks a little messy but they are mostly recycled sweaters and wool for my owl pillows, so they don't exactly fold that neatly. Its so refreshing to have everything sorted by color again. I can't wait to keep sewing. Next I'm making a corset shirt from an old t-shirt template.