Check it out! The trailer for the Hunger Games was released. Squee!
So excited to see the movies since the books were pretty much awesome.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Better Late than Never
The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2011 World Series!
I know I said I was sick of baseball, but once the playoffs really got started, it was pretty fun.
Then, out of the blue, my brother decided to come to town for Game 7, and my dad offered to buy tickets for A and me. Cool!
Here is a little photoessay of the night.
The stadium
Before the game. (I forget that I have a screen protector which makes the whole image grainy.)
Budweiser wagon and crowd.
Clydesdales and more crowd. This wasn't half as bad as it got. Through most of the game people were pressing up against the fences trying to catch a glimpse of anything they could. It was crazy.
More pre-game crowd
My brother and me. It was cold!
We win! Look at all the confetti.
Through the playoffs, I followed Alan Craig's tortoise's Twitter feed. Here is the accounts final profile pic.
It was a fun post season. Now, I get to really focus on football. Hook 'em horns!
I know I said I was sick of baseball, but once the playoffs really got started, it was pretty fun.
Then, out of the blue, my brother decided to come to town for Game 7, and my dad offered to buy tickets for A and me. Cool!
Here is a little photoessay of the night.
The stadium
Before the game. (I forget that I have a screen protector which makes the whole image grainy.)
Budweiser wagon and crowd.
Clydesdales and more crowd. This wasn't half as bad as it got. Through most of the game people were pressing up against the fences trying to catch a glimpse of anything they could. It was crazy.
More pre-game crowd
My brother and me. It was cold!
We win! Look at all the confetti.
Through the playoffs, I followed Alan Craig's tortoise's Twitter feed. Here is the accounts final profile pic.
It was a fun post season. Now, I get to really focus on football. Hook 'em horns!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Baste, Quilt, and Bind
I did it! I finished a real quilt. It's small (roughly 36x36) so I'll use it as a lap quilt while I'm watching TV and stuff. I guess I can also take it to outdoor activities. It isn't perfect, but I really am pretty proud of myself.
Here is a picture of the back.
And here is the front.
Clearly I should have ironed it, but there you have it. Go me. :)
Here is a picture of the back.
And here is the front.
Clearly I should have ironed it, but there you have it. Go me. :)
Monday, September 26, 2011
Who wants to be crafty?
It's been a while since I pulled out my sewing stuff, but this weekend I had some time and no desire to grade or write college recs. Therefore I spent a lovely fall weekend crafting.
I made some very cute Halloween napkins. I have no idea why as I have no particular love of the holiday, but it was fun to knock out a quick project. Here's the fabric I used.
I think the little skeleton animals are cute.
I also gave a new project a try. I decided to make potholders. This was prompted by two factors. First, our potholders were totally worn out and not pretty. Second, one of Mary's relatives had made some at her shower and I thought it would be a fun little skill to have in my repertoire.
Here's my first go at a tutorial.
You will be cutting 9 inch squares. Here you can see one square of white cotton (the color isn't important because you won't actually see this), one square of fleece, and one square of Insulbrite. The Insulbrite is what does most of the heat blocking, but make sure the rest of the interior fabrics are all natural fibers. Polyester is very bad at insulating heat seeing as it is a plastic and all that.
You also need four 9" squares that are pressed in to half squares.
Finally, you need one square that will be your main fabric for the top of the potholder.
Next, stack the squares with the white fabric face down, followed by the fleece, followed by the Insulbrite.
Place the main fabric square face up on top of the pile. Next, you'll need to basket weave your four half squares. Place them so that the raw edge is facing out and the folded, finished edge, is towards the middle. Like this.
Then you weave the four halves together making sure you like how they are ordered.
Notice though how the edges are sticking out a little funny? Well, to make the potholder as square and straight as possible, square up your sides using scissors or a rotary cutter so that it is perfectly square.
You also want to liberally pin the layers together as they will shift when you start sewing.
Next, you'll line the edge of your potholder up with the edge of your presser foot. This gives about a 1/4" seam allowance, but more than that, your presser foot won't change size, so you know your seam will be straight.
After you sew all the way around, trim the corners and any major excess. You also need to turn the whole thing inside out using the little hole that the four fabrics make on the back.
Finally, use a wooden dowl, pencil eraser, or some sort of not too sharp stick to poke out the insides of the corners. The reason it can't be too sharp is that you don't want to poke a hole in your fabric. I've done it and it makes you sad.
At the end, you have a cute, very sturdy potholder.
I love that you can put your hand through the back to hold on to the hot dishes better.
I ended up making 4 in coordinating fabrics.
After you get your squares cut, the whole process only takes about 15 minutes. So quick, easy and practical. Yay!
I made some very cute Halloween napkins. I have no idea why as I have no particular love of the holiday, but it was fun to knock out a quick project. Here's the fabric I used.
I think the little skeleton animals are cute.
I also gave a new project a try. I decided to make potholders. This was prompted by two factors. First, our potholders were totally worn out and not pretty. Second, one of Mary's relatives had made some at her shower and I thought it would be a fun little skill to have in my repertoire.
Here's my first go at a tutorial.
You will be cutting 9 inch squares. Here you can see one square of white cotton (the color isn't important because you won't actually see this), one square of fleece, and one square of Insulbrite. The Insulbrite is what does most of the heat blocking, but make sure the rest of the interior fabrics are all natural fibers. Polyester is very bad at insulating heat seeing as it is a plastic and all that.
You also need four 9" squares that are pressed in to half squares.
Finally, you need one square that will be your main fabric for the top of the potholder.
Next, stack the squares with the white fabric face down, followed by the fleece, followed by the Insulbrite.
Place the main fabric square face up on top of the pile. Next, you'll need to basket weave your four half squares. Place them so that the raw edge is facing out and the folded, finished edge, is towards the middle. Like this.
Then you weave the four halves together making sure you like how they are ordered.
Notice though how the edges are sticking out a little funny? Well, to make the potholder as square and straight as possible, square up your sides using scissors or a rotary cutter so that it is perfectly square.
You also want to liberally pin the layers together as they will shift when you start sewing.
Next, you'll line the edge of your potholder up with the edge of your presser foot. This gives about a 1/4" seam allowance, but more than that, your presser foot won't change size, so you know your seam will be straight.
After you sew all the way around, trim the corners and any major excess. You also need to turn the whole thing inside out using the little hole that the four fabrics make on the back.
Finally, use a wooden dowl, pencil eraser, or some sort of not too sharp stick to poke out the insides of the corners. The reason it can't be too sharp is that you don't want to poke a hole in your fabric. I've done it and it makes you sad.
At the end, you have a cute, very sturdy potholder.
I love that you can put your hand through the back to hold on to the hot dishes better.
I ended up making 4 in coordinating fabrics.
After you get your squares cut, the whole process only takes about 15 minutes. So quick, easy and practical. Yay!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Fall
I have a complex relationship with fall. I love the colors, foods made with pumpkin, the return of winter squashes. I'm even excited to be back in the classroom. However, my love of all these things is often overshadowed by the knowledge that winter will soon be here.
For now though, let's appreciate some lovely fall things that I've been enjoying in the past week.
Need I say more?
Pretty house stuff
Football of course
How about you? What are your feelings about fall?
For now though, let's appreciate some lovely fall things that I've been enjoying in the past week.
Need I say more?
Pretty house stuff
Football of course
How about you? What are your feelings about fall?
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Catching Up
Clearly school is back in session. After a week of meetings and a week of classes, I'm beat. Things are going well though, and I'm feeling very positive about the year. I have one section of AP and three sections of freshmen. We're trying lots of new teaching ideas in both classes including flipping classrooms. It's a pretty cool idea where you do activities in class and send kids home with videos to watch as replacements to lectures. So far, the response from the kids has been great.
On the home front, I didn't see my husband at all this week. I forget what was going on Monday, but he worked late on Tuesday, Wednesday he didn't make it home until midnight after working an auction, Thursday I stayed home with our crazy dogs while he went to an art opening, and Friday I went to a dinner with my mom who is in town while he was at the baseball game. We did go to dinner last night finally, so it was great to hang with him. :)
Speaking of last night's dinner, we tried Sancutaria for the first time. It is located in The Grove. Our table was on the patio, and I'm so glad it was! The space is beautiful and last night's weather was perfect. I have to say that the food was amazing. We had plantains two ways, eggplant, these amazing cheese cigars, and some lovely desserts. It was a little pricey, but not totally insane. We also clearly splurged. It would have been easy to eat for less. All that being said, I don't know that we'd go back unless we knew the weather was good for sitting outside. The service was really pretty bad. It got better as the night went on, but the beginning made us all wonder if we had made a big mistake. Like I said though, if the weather was nice, the food was good enough for me to give them another try.
Our plan for today is to have brunch at Salt and then go to the closing of Urban Wanderers at the SLU Art Museum. I hope I can find time to blog about brunch. I love their dinner menu and have been eagerly waiting to try their brunch.
On the home front, I didn't see my husband at all this week. I forget what was going on Monday, but he worked late on Tuesday, Wednesday he didn't make it home until midnight after working an auction, Thursday I stayed home with our crazy dogs while he went to an art opening, and Friday I went to a dinner with my mom who is in town while he was at the baseball game. We did go to dinner last night finally, so it was great to hang with him. :)
Speaking of last night's dinner, we tried Sancutaria for the first time. It is located in The Grove. Our table was on the patio, and I'm so glad it was! The space is beautiful and last night's weather was perfect. I have to say that the food was amazing. We had plantains two ways, eggplant, these amazing cheese cigars, and some lovely desserts. It was a little pricey, but not totally insane. We also clearly splurged. It would have been easy to eat for less. All that being said, I don't know that we'd go back unless we knew the weather was good for sitting outside. The service was really pretty bad. It got better as the night went on, but the beginning made us all wonder if we had made a big mistake. Like I said though, if the weather was nice, the food was good enough for me to give them another try.
Our plan for today is to have brunch at Salt and then go to the closing of Urban Wanderers at the SLU Art Museum. I hope I can find time to blog about brunch. I love their dinner menu and have been eagerly waiting to try their brunch.
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