New Year, New Resolution to Read More?

Nah, I don't think so. But every once and a while I do love to pick up a great book. I say "great book" because I literally mean, a book I already know is going to be great. I tend to make all of my reading selections based on books I've heard people talking about or that I can figure out are guaranteed to please based on based on some recommendation. Wild card, random books from the local library or store almost always bore me, and I rarely make it through them. So with that in mind, I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you...in case you're looking for a new book and you, like me, need to know that you're spending your time in a valuable way. I've broken the titles into categories for more specific info, and because I love categories. Lastly, before you read the list, you must know that I don't claim to have any kind of refined taste in books. Just pure entertainment value is what I'm looking for. Now, without further ado...

Best "Blow Me Away Amazing" Books:
The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers. It's a 3 book series with the first two being some of the most amazing books I've ever read. They're entitled A Voice in the Wind and An Echo in the Darkness. The surprising thing about these books being so amazing is that they are Christian Fiction. Some Christian literature, like music, gets a bad rap because some think the authors or musicians might not be talented enough to make it mainstream. However, before becoming a Christian, Francine Rivers was a successful romance novelist in the secular world, so she has real skills. I'm telling you, read these books!! And don't worry, it has a lot more to it than a random lovey book. The beginning of the first book starts out with a rather intense war scene, and by the end of the second book, I was convinced I wanted to name my first born after the main character!

You know you love the cheesy Romance novel cover too, don't you. Just admit it, you like it!

Best Books to Read with your Students as a Teacher:
The Chronicles of Narnia Series. I know my parents probably read these to me as a child, and I definitely remember seeing the old Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe movie growing up. But I had never actually read all the books myself until I was student teaching in a 5th grade class. Several of my students were completely into the books, so I decided to pick them up and read them too. Everyday we would rush into class to talk about them...so fun! It wasn't an assignment, just reading for fun, and I was totally loving the books. The beauty, the symbolism, the adventure, and the Great Aslan. Ahhh, so good! The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was definitely my favorite. If you haven't read these, or haven't read them since childhood, do yourself a favor and pick them up again. You'll be glad you did!

Best Classic Mystery Novel:
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Whoa now, you didn't expect this one, did you? I'm going old school on you. I have no idea what got me to pick up this book back in high school, but I definitely remember loving it. I don't read many mystery books because I can be a pretty big scardy cat, but this one almost convinced me to dive into the genre. That's saying a lot! I'm pretty sure I also saw somewhere that it's the Best Selling Mystery Novel of All Time. So if that's not a must read, I don't know what is!

Best "Weight Loss Guaranteed" Books:

The Twilight Series. (Keep in mind I don't promise to have refined taste) When I read the Twilight books for the first time, I swear I lost weight. These books were the best diet I've ever been on because for an entire month, all I did was read! Instead of finding myself snacking after school or snacking when I was bored, all I did was read, read, READ. You truly can't put these books down. If you've held out and been too proud or stubborn to read these books, just give it up. They're worth it! And if the movies have turned you off (especially the first one), I assure you that the books are infinitely better!

Best Summer Reading Trash:
Any Nicholas Sparks novel. I used to be a much bigger fan of his than I am today, but his books are usually a safe bet for a fun read. Particularly his earlier work. Aside from the big names of The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, I really like The Rescue and A Bend in the Road.

And Finally:

The Book to Put All Other Books to Shame for the Ladies:
No surprise here...Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Words can not express. If you haven't read it, please do yourself a favor...read it immediately!! It may start out a little slow, but don't give up, it's tremendously good. And as mentioned before, Francine Rivers truly has a gift.

*Note: This was a solely fiction list, non-fiction has it's place...but these are for engaging storyline/entertainment value alone. Once you read this, please let me know if you have read or choose to read any of the books mentioned, because I LOVE talking about them with others. And please also share any must reads with me. Again, MUST reads...not "kind of good" books that I "might like." Hit me up with your best stuff! 

New Year, New Style of Embroidery

I've officially gotten my feet wet with Applique! It's not too terribly hard. Here's my first practice on scrap fabric. I'm so excited for the possibilities of making more things with this! It could totally take items from a homemade look to a boutique feel. Well, maybe that's a stretch. But we'll see!

My sister and I also had a surprising, fun side project to accomplish late last night before we rung in the new year. She had to play tooth fairy for the very first time! Here's what we threw together. The corner with the embroidery is a pocket for the tooth and tooth fairy money:

And no post would be complete without a few bloopers. Here's my "around the house" sweatshirt that I tried to applique after the initial scraps trial. I blame this mess up on the embroidery website. Apparently the "M" file I used was not sized correctly...and I didn't exactly trim it very well either. The "E" looks pretty good though...aside from being crooked! But let's be honest, if it was perfect...it wouldn't match ME!

The hoop marks are also a little unfortunate. Good thing they'll come out! 

Chromium 6 Tragedy

This morning as I was fixing *yankees see bottom for term dictionary* myself a nice, refreshing glass of water, I was reminded of the most personally devastating news story from the past few weeks. The Environmental Working Group released a study listing 31 major cities whose tap water is contaminated with high levels of Chromium 6...the same chemical element featured in the movie Erin Brockovich. You know, the movie about the water that gave everybody cancer! Apparently this colorless, odorless Chromium 6 increases the risk of lung cancer as well as kidney and intestine problems. And although you may be thinking, "I don't live in one of those big cities"...let's be real, if 31 out of the 35 cities tested had the problem...image how many more smaller towns and cities who were not tested also have issues. I'm guessing many, many do! This is a very personally upsetting issue for me because in the 9th grade I stopped drinking soft drinks cold turkey. You know what that leaves...water...tap water.

And I've drunk a whole lot of it in the last 11 years!! (Oh goodness, was 9th grade really that long ago??) I've always thought of it as my one redeeming health quality. I may eat a few more sweets than I should...but at least I just drink water, right?!! Well, throw that one out the window. I always thought bottled water and filters were just for the fancy folks, and I'm a good 'ol girl who isn't too "elitist" for tap water. Well no more my friends. I'm about to drop the big bucks on a water filtration system, and maybe you should too! I'm not trying to get all crazy and jump to conclusions...in my heart I still want to turn on that tap and get my free water fix...but perhaps I need to heed the warnings this time. I mean, we are all a little too fabulous to be taken out by bad water! At least if I go down by sweets, I go down with a smile on my face!

*For those of my Yankee friends, the word "fixing" is a multi-purpose southern word that means you are or are going to do something. For example: I'm fixin' to go see my grandfather. Or I need to fix my hair before I go out. Or I fixed myself some chicken and dumplins' for lunch. Get it? 

Next Step: Applique

In my quest to conquer all things embroidery, the next step is Applique. This is the really cute stuff you see little kids wearing with pretty fabrics inside the lines of embroidery...here's a visual from two shirts my cousin has made:

This is going to be a challenge for many reasons.

#1: It takes a lot of slow, tedious work with patience. Now, if you know me very well at all, you know I am all about speed and efficiency. I tend to beat speed records for most anything I do. Things that don't have or don't need to have a speed record...I create a race for. So having to work slowly and carefully will be painful but quite refining for me! It is likely that I'll mess up more than a few garments before I learn the hard way that I really must take my time. 

#2: I've never actually seen the applique process done. For most tasks, I'm a very visual learner. If I see you do something, I can replicate it pretty quickly. I watch...then I do. It's a pretty easy set up for me...really helped in math growing up. But in this case, I've only heard what to do. Big difference. My sweet cousin,who made the shirts featured above, gave me a tutorial and quick pep talk on the steps to applique at our family Christmas. But now I must put the steps into action. This could be my next great masterpiece or my next colossal disaster. I'm guessing it'll probably be a little bit of both. 

Here's to a new embroidery adventure! Hancock fabrics, here I come!!

Hodgepodge of Embroidery Goodness

Today I got to each lunch with some of my favorite teacher friends from Walhalla. How I love them so! They were so good to me during my first two years of teaching, and I'll forever remember my time there with fondness. They always made me feel like I belonged and was one of them...even though I was a total teaching newbie who was brand new to their community. They spoiled me and now every other school I ever work for has a high standard to live up to! Anywho...one of my friends brought her two precious twin daughters wearing the dresses I embroidered for them a while back.

(Refresher pic)

It totally warmed my heart! It also relieved some of my embroidery fears to see something I've made has actually held up and been done right! Hallelujah!

In other news, here are some promised pics of other items I've made in the past few weeks, enjoy...and let me know if you want anything!

A Duke inspired Santa hat for my sweetie...aka Uncle Jarred. Pardon the creepy Puerto Rican stache, I promise he shaves! 

I'm now dabbling in baby bibs. Turns out they're pretty fun!

A swaddling baby sleeping bag thingy (I'll learn the real name before I have a kid, but I know they are all the rage these days for safety!)

A few decorate serving towels for a dear friend who runs her own catering company called salivate. If you have an event in the Charlotte area, I can hook you up! She's fabulous!

Make up bag

A few hand towels for my aunt who works with deaf children. I was super excited to find this embroidery design since sign language has a special place in my heart! (Sorry for the hoop marks in the picture, they come out)

All of this is only a fraction of the embroidery that's been taking place in the past week. I may or may not have accused my mom and sister of forcing me to work in my "embroidery sweatshop" as I made Christmas gifts.  Haha But each item has been made with love! I absolutely know that the way I show love to others is through gifts, so I'm thankful for the way embroidery is helping me love others!

Happy New Year!

Hope you've had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family! I know I have! Embroidery gift photos to come soon, but for now, enjoy a special video from Jarred and I...and Happy New Year a few days early!

Have I mentioned one of the reasons I love Jarred is that he is willing to be silly with me?! We have so much fun! I can only imagine when we have kids!!

Adding to My Embroidery Repertoire!

 Jarred and I are finally home for Christmas, hooray! I don't know about any other teachers out there, but the last week of school almost killed me! Between concerts and holiday parties, I think I limped to the finished line with visions of SC dancing in my head to keep me moving. But now we are home sweet home, and I finally have time for some fun new embroidery projects! Here are a few new things I've done lately, expanding my repertoire and honing my skills: 

A make-up/accessories bag for Jarred's sister, filled with lots of nail polish, chap stick and other fun treats for Christmas.

Personalized pillowcases for my favorite little boys! They are just to the age where they recognize and love seeing their names on things, so hopefully they'll like these! (Don't worry, I also bought age appropriate toys, dvds, etc. for Christmas gifts as well...I don't want to become known as Lame Aunt Shug!)

My friend Sarah Nell, famous for helping me scale "My Everest," bought several pashminas to have embroidered with "Auburn" for the National Championship game in a few weeks. She's going to add a stick-on AU symbol to compliment the embroidery as well. I'm inspired to make Clemson and Carolina ones now!

Sarah Nell is also a lovely model!

 I'll close with a screw up...they're pretty common! I mentioned once before that I made stocking caps for my students' Christmas gifts. I have 7 kids, but I made at least 10 hats! Here's one example of why: 

Oh well, now I have more stocking caps to sleep in since Jarred and I are anti-heating bill!