As you can probably tell from the sudden influx of blog posts, it is summertime.

And I am at home in Iowa

waiting for my background check to clear so that I can start my job. I figure that I need to write down some goals for this summer-- you know, things I can pass off.

1. Learn to play the ukulele well. A friend of mine and I went to a "learn to play ukulele in your elementary school classroom" class at BYU a few weeks ago. UKULELE IS THE FUNNEST THING TO DO IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!! GAH!!! Anyway.
2. Go to Springfield, IL to the Abraham Lincoln Museum. HISTORY!
3. Learn how to whittle.
4. Get buff arm muscles from splitting wood.

That's all I can think of right now, but there is sure to be some more things added to the list. Until then!

Nightgown,

Floral, quaint
Gown for Nighttime
Wonderful, Jane Austen-esque, prettiness
But not for Around town

That, my dear readers, is a cinquain poem (kind of-- the last line is not following true cinquain style...) Sometimes ya just gotta write a little poem- you know? Is there a better thing to write a poem about than a nightgown? I submit that there is not!

Well, school got out a week ago, and I came home and went immediately to a quilt retreat (or quilt camp as one of my friends called it!) Generally at such events, one sews quilt tops and tries to absorb the incredible quilting talent that is percolating throughout the room. But, see, I have been making quilts since I was a young tyke, and, though none of them are truly spectacular, I really like sewing clothes more. SO. I worked on my seamstressness at this quilt retreat- and boy, howdy! It was FUN!

The below picture is the nightgown that I made. I LOVE IT! It is very Jane Austen-esque, don't you think?
"How long could that have taken you? The delicate pleat! The gathered cuffs! The seamless armholes!" you might ask. "Not long, I dare say, not long," I would reply. "What a fine seamstress you must be! But what could you have possibly done for the other 2 days you were there?" You say incredulously. And I'll tell you! I made a double-breasted crazy floral, collared jacket! COOL!

"I do not profess to be an expert in the field of fashion (though my friends say I have quite the eye) but I can tell you, there is a shocking lack of satin!"
-- Jane Austen's Emma

But it still needs buttons, so you'll just have to hide and watch for those pictures.

Sew Easy! Sew Fun! Sew fast!

(There have got to be a MILLION other little play-on-words for this)

I have had this Buttercup bag saved in my bookmarks for a couple of years now. It has been taunting me! Cute little purse out of 2 FAT QUARTERS?! Is such a thing possible?! Could it be true?! NO WAY!

BUT YES! YES! IT IS TRUE!! I did not have any black semi-fancy purses (in fact, I did not have any purses really...) SO. Being the professional seamstress that I am (*cough*) I figured, why not make one? So I did. The above is the result. SO easy! SO fun! SO fast!

But of course, black is boring. And I am DEFINITELY not a boring person. And because I made it, I can do anything I want with the creative license that comes with seamstressing, so I made the lining rainbow fish scales fabric. Ahhhh. Perfect.

Opening the purse is like a party for your eyes!

Thhhhhhhhis is the night.... it's a beauuuuutiful night! And they call it bella notte (ooooooooo!)

Mamma Mia! Id-a like-a some ravioli! My mom has been tormenting me since the beginning of the year because while I have been SLAVING away getting an education in afar off Provo-land, she has been sitting on the couch, watching soap operas and eating bon-bons ALL THE WHILE trying a new recipe every week. AND she has been taking cooking classes!

For Rude.

But the bright side of it all is, that since I am home, I get to reap the benefits of her labors! RAVIOLI HERE I COME!

























There they are a-cookin'. mmm...mmm... good. Luckily, since I am home and all, I get to go to cooking classes too! And guess what the next class is? DUTCH LETTERS! FROM SCRATCH!

(updates will follow shortly)

Nice new background, eh? Might I say how especially nice the header is? Might I? Oh, please, might I?

It may not seem like much, but that little header at the top of the page took me FOR-EV-ER to figure out!!!!!!! GAH!!!

See, the actual downloading of the header was easy, and the adding text was easy, but grouping the two together was UBER difficult!

DID YOU KNOW THAT...?

Did you know that you can't group a text box and a picture in Microsoft Word? Did you know that Paint is very finicky about their text and pictures too? Did you know that you can't select all and paste into Paint and have it work? Did you know that if you try that, the lot comes out super pixelated? Did you know that WordArt did not count as a picture and therefore had troubles being grouped to a picture? Did you know that you can't copy a select all into the picture gallery?

WELL, NOW YOU KNOW!

Finally, I used the screen clipping technique in Microsoft OneNote and voila! C'est magnifique! Blinging up the blog was the next thing on my to do- and, not to toot my own horn (toot! toot!), doesn't it look wonderful?