ME?! Are You Sure?!!

That sweet girl over at Firefly Shop- My Thoughts gave me the Sisterhood Award!! I didn't know I was that cool but I am so glad someone thinks so, other than my husband! A big thank you goes out to the coffee addict at Firefly. This award is for having a fun blog and now I am supposed to name 10 other blogs to receive this award! Here goes, I'm not sure I know that many people in the blogging world.

1. Shamelessly Southern- Amanda (I have already blogged about her, read here)

2. Aunt Spicy- JJ (I don't know her personally but she is a talented seamstress and makes beautiful quilts)

3. Librarian or Teacher- She is such a sweet commenter and I hope she ends up doing exactly what she wants.

4. Sunday Baker- Tanya- This woman has such strength and a way with food. Her recipes are so yummy and she give step by step picture instructions!!

5. My Chihuahua Bites- Andrea Leigh- She is so funny!

6. The Sweet Spot- TL- She is so sweet and leaves the best comments! Her family is precious too.

Ok, I can only do 6 because I don't really have a commenting relationship with anybody else. And I would feel really weird about giving someone an award not knowing if they have even seen or heard of my blog. I can just see getting an award from someone you don't even know being a little awkward. I love all of these blogs though!!

I am so excited about the quilt I am working on. All the corners match up. I learned so many new tricks and gained great knowledge by quilting next to experienced quilters for a whole day.

I even got tips and tricks regarding machine quilting, which I didn't realize I had already dabbled in for my last quilt!

I just would like to encourage anyone in the metro Jackson, MS area to visit Quilt Arts on Lakeland Drive. They are so helpful and full of knowledge and information and great classes for every level. They also have absolutely beautiful fabrics.

This quilt is so easy and there is hardly any waste fabric. The pattern is called Turning Twenty. It is made from 20 fat quarters, which even accounts for the border, but not the backing. Once the cutting is done, this is the longest process, putting all the squares together is a snap! This is my backing:

Hope you like it!

Cue College Fight Song!

My sister reprimanded me the other day because I had not posted anything about my grad school choice yet. I have been waiting to do so because I have not heard from school #2. Well I heard from school #2 and.. I GOT IN!!!!! YAY! I am really excited because although I like school #1's program better, school #2 trumps due to the hubby's necessity to travel for his job. He and I will feel much better knowing that when he does need to leave, I will be in the same town as family as opposed to 3 hours away from them if we were to go to school#1. We will be able to be near family the entire program. It is also good that we will be in the same place for more than 3-6 months. A little predictability is good sometimes. I am so extremely excited about starting school, I know, I am a nerd! I feel like I am walking exactly where God wants me to be and that is such a great feeling.
I also finished my quilt top today! Another wonderful feeling, but I am making you wait to see it until tomorrow when I can get a good picture of it.

"Real Girls Wear Pearls"

I had to let everyone know about the giveaway going on at my flip flopz! She has the most adorable hand painted signs with very southern phrases. My personal favorite is "Sweet tea spoken here" I love it! She is giving away one of these precious signs and the winner gets to choose their colors and phrase!! I want to win this so bad! Also check out her etsy page too! You can purchase on of these signs also, but getting it in a giveaway is so much fun!

Good luck to all who enter!

Quick Post Before Bed

I wasn't going to write anything tonight because we got in late from visiting my sister at school, but, I feel so bad that I haven't posted anything since MONDAY!! I know, crazy! I just wanted to say that I miss my husband and I get to see him in 8 days (not counting today of course). I miss him so much and can't wait to give him a big hug and kiss! Ok that is all because I am tired and want to go to bed!! Oh yea!! Tomorrow I am having dinner with my best friend, yes the one I mentioned in an earlier post, at our favorite sushi place in town. Can't wait for that either!!

So, I'm a Snacker

I love me some snacks. Baked goods are by far my favorite. Over the weekend, I made a whole wheat pumpkin bread with pecans and chocolate chips!! YUM!!!! It was so good! I have to say that I come from a family absolutely obsessed with pumpkin and have been since before it was cool to love pumpkin. Muffins, bread, coffee, cheesecake, cookies, cake, trifles, ice cream, candles, coffee creamer, and granola all pumpkin are considered a real treat. Of these 11 items just mentioned, 6 are in my mom's pantry right now and it isn't even fall. We eat pumpkin all year round and must stock up on certain items that can only be found around Thanksgiving. This weekend I was craving some pumpkin bread and found a great recipe using whole wheat flour. We ran out tonight so I made another loaf! It is so good. What did I have to drink with it you ask?! Chocolate milk of course! I love this stuff, and definitely prefer to make it myself than the premade stuff. I love the homemade kind the best, but I appreciate all chocolate beverages : YooHoo (sorry to those West Coast citizens who have never had this), rich chocolate Ovaltine, Hershey's syrup, Nesquik, chocolate soy milk, and definitely hot chocolate. My husband will tell you that if you ever want to make me smile, bring chocolate milk!!! Here is my breakfast: pumpkin bread, strawberries and coffee!! YUM!

So what do you love to snack on!?! Leave comments and share you guilty pleasures that make you feel cozy!

A New Hobby (Money Pit)

I hope everyone's Valentine's Day celebration was full of love and laughs!

My sewing class that I took on V-Day was very fun. I told Trae that this could definitely be addicting. I was the youngest and least prepared there. All I brought with me was the fabric and thread I needed. No rotary cutter, no sewing machine, no pins, no scissors, etc. However, I was excused for my lack of preparation because all of my sewing paraphernalia is in California. They understood and graciously let me borrow all of the above. The instructor was the only person closest in age to me. She was in her 30's and has a few kids and the rest of the ladies were 50's +. They were all so sweet and truly enjoy learning different patterns and meeting others with the same hobby. I was probably the slowest one there! The slowest one to get all my fabric cut and my blocks sewn. There was one lady with whom I kept pace with. That made feel a little better.

The class was very relaxed and I learned a lot of new tips and tricks that the established quilters handed down to me. But the actual instruction was for things I already knew how to do. We cut our fabric, sewed the block together and began laying out our block to determine configuration. That was all I was able to get to in our 4 hours. What I really need instruction on is machine quilting, which I will need to learn to do before this quilt is complete. So... I may have to take another class to learn this skill.

Needless to say, I did not finish the quilt, not even done with the top yet. So on Friday I am meeting some of my classmates back at the quilt shop where our class was held to work on it more during Community Quilting Day. The shop opens their workstations to the public for free! I am excited about this too, because if I run into trouble and need help with a skill, I can ask one of my new friends for help.

My blocks all set out just waiting to be sewn together:
So what do you think?!
Leave a comment and tell me which print to do the lining in, I am having trouble deciding!