Random Acts of Kindness...

Today my boss and I went to visit a site for a project and when I got back there was a big box with a pretty brown bow sitting on my desk. I ran over to it and peeked inside and this is what I saw:

(Okay, okay, I took this picture 2 cupcakes later....)

My good friend Kelsey left them for me! What a sweet surprise! :) She was coming over to visit me and had just missed me, but thankfully she came back and I gave her a little tour of the office.

There were fourteen pumpkin spice latte cupcakes (link to recipe) and two pink lemonade cupcakes! I had just told Kelsey a few days ago how much I loved the pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks, and then she found this recipe on Pinterest last night! I jokingly asked her to make them for me and then saw how massive the ingredients list was and said to her "omg those pumpkin spice cupcakes have so many ingredients. :(" to which she replied "yeah they do haha." Little did I know she was actually making them for me at that very moment!! They were a (very yummy) belated birthday present. She is such a sweetheart and it really made my day!

Thanks Kelsey! <3

Flower Pillow

I made a pillow yesterday! I started at about 4:30 pm and finished around 8:30 pm. There was a lot of cutting and sewing involved so it took a little longer. PLUS sometime in there I was on the phone with Verizon Support for ohh 30 minutes, no big deal. >:(


I followed this tutorial http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2010/05/guest-blogger-tutorial-allison-of-cluck.html which is by http://www.cluckclucksew.com/. The directions were very simple, the process was simple, but tedious. After sewing on a few of my petals, my sewing machine started going wacky and bunching up the thread underneath the fabric. Whats up with that?! I Googled it, fiddled with the tension (which did nothing) then called my grandma and she said to re-thread the machine. So I did that and switched the stitch style and it worked, for a while, then messed up again.. So I did that process again! So annoying!!! I really need to learn more about the machine itself and NOT just how to use it! 


Here are a few photos of my process, and the final! I am extremely happy with the way it turned out! :) I love it!

I used felt bought by the yard instead of the small sheets. This stuff is stronger.

Cut in half to make the "petals".

I used the lid of a pot to make my circle.

Working my way in. I started puckering the petals on the third row.

 Overall I had 5 rows of big petals and probably 3ish of the small ones. Instead of making complete circles when I put on the small, I spiraled them in.

 You can see the petals and their depth better in this photo!

 I'm in love! <3

 The back was very simple to sew and I love that it is overlapping instead of having to deal with zippers or velcro.

What I've Been Up To.....

Lately I have not given myself a lot of time for blogging... There is always something more important, or more fun, to do. Will gave me a Kindle for my birthday, so I have been reading on that. I also have been sewing a lot.


First: The first book I read on my Kindle was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm sure you've heard of it, the movie version has been number one in the box office for three weeks straight. I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie because I heard that they were both excellent. I finished the book in a few days as I read leisurely between classes and at night. I had a hard time getting into it because of the thick Southern dialect used, but soon got used to it and really enjoyed the book. I was really excited for the movie because I thought it would be just as good, if not better! Sadly, I was disappointed. Although I really enjoyed the acting, and they got quite a lot right, I felt like there was just too much missing. It was still a good movie, and Will liked it, which is saying something considering he had no idea what it was going to be about. Its so difficult to make a movie as good as the book, there is almost always so much that is left out. Throughout the movie I kept thinking: "When is _____ going to happen?", "It didn't happen like that in the book!", and "That character would never do/say that!!" It was still good though! If you're interested in seeing the movie and reading the book, I think I would say see the movie first! Then if you feel like there are missing gaps, the book will fill them in. :)


Second: I've been sewing up a storm over here!! I have been making small pouches, pencil/cosmetic bags, etc. I have sewn around 15 things in the last ten days or so. I have pictures of some of them that I will share. :) I mostly have not been going by any patterns (besides the case shown below) and have been being relatively careless, so they are definitely NOT perfect. But I have really enjoyed making them!

First bag I ever made!

Made this one into a clutch.

My new pencil bag!

Changed this one up a bit!

Really proud of this one.....

Can you guess what it is?!

A new case for my Kindle!!!!!!!

First fold-over pouch.

My sister asked me to make her a bunch of small pouches so this is what I came up with...

I included a large pouch for them all to fit inside.

Made this bag for my grandma for her 75th birthday! <3

I did not upload pictures of all of them because I didn't want to overwhelm you with photos! There are just a couple others that I did not include. I really am loving sewing though! It is really fun and I always feel so accomplished after I have created something new. :) Plus it feels good to give hand-made gifts, so I hope the people I have given some to have liked them despite their beginner's flaws. <3