Market Basket Monstrosity

I was all set to name this post "Marvelous Market Baskets" or "Market Basket Miracle"...but then disaster struck...as usual. Now I'm left with "Market Basket Monstrosity" because the word monstrosity can be defined as "an excessively bad or shocking example," and unfortunately, that's how one of my little treasures turned out. First, you should know that although they include these in the "market basket" category, they are really more of a hybrid between a picnic basket and a cooler. They're completely collapsible when not in use and are perfect for tailgating and summertime in the mountains. So here's your first look:

As you'll see later, the inside is completely insulated. This caused a small problem when trying to hoop the top, but I was able to troubleshoot (after about an hour, that is) by cutting slits in the insulation where the hoops needed to go. Although this one looks pretty and I am excited about it, after doing the embroidery, I went to gently iron out the hoop marks and my annoying iron put some small black marks on it. I was devastated! I had worked so hard to make it perfect...and then in a split second, tarnished. Oh well...it's still a success, and I feel good about making these in the future. The actual stitching came out beautifully.

And now for the monstrosity.

Doesn't look too bad from a distance. But up close...

Gross. The "Go Tigers" was stitched first, and at this point, my post was still going to be "Market Basket Miracle," because I was able to troubleshoot the insulation problem and all the letters were coming out so nicely. But the tiger paw...oh the tiger paw. What have I done to make you rebel against me??

I mean really, what the world kind of screwed up tiger paw is this??

This is a shot from the back. A giant wad of thread. I've never seen anything like it. *tear* A monstrosity.

Overall, I'm still very excited about my new ability to embroider these. I think they make great gifts and are pretty high quality little coolers. Here's a few more shots to give you an idea for sizing. The small basket could easily hold about 8 can drinks. I ran out of Cokes, so the picture shows 5 drink cans plus some green beans and soup, but you get the idea. They come in red, orange, hot pink, lime green, camo (for all those hunters out there we know and love), black and white houndstooth, zebra print, black and white damask, burgundy, navy, and plain black. Most colors come in both large and small, but not all. Holla if you're interested!

For all you Die-Hard Fans

If you or your loved one is a Die-Hard fan of a college football team, then I can call you friend. We speak the same language and share a common love for sport. No matter your team of choice, I respect your decision to follow your boys with reckless abandon...in good times and in bad (and if you're from the state of South Carolina, you have a lot of practice with the bad...perhaps it's how God has taught us patience, perseverance and loyalty). If you find that you love a University with the passion of a million burning suns, and you live and breathe their athletic programs...I have a recommendation for you. Although I received a lot of amazing Christmas gifts, this was one of the most unexpected...and I must admit, one of my favorites: a book entitled Daily Devotions for Die-Hard Fans: Clemson Tigers edition by Ed McMinn.

Each day has a Bible passage to read and then a story from the history of the athletics program that the author relates to the overall Biblical principal for the day. Although some days seem like a bit of a stretch, others are fabulous. Either way it gets you reading from the Word and also teaches you fun things you never knew about the athletics program. Stories of the great legends of the University and tidbits of knowledge that only strengthen your love of God and Clemson Tiger sports. A beautiful thing. I googled it, and there are also books for Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Duke, etc. I think he even managed to pull some good from The University of South Carolina, amazing, I know. Kidding...sort of.

If you know a Die-Hard fan like me that loves the Lord...or maybe someone who doesn't...but loves their sports, this is the perfect gift. It could definitely be used as a tool to minister to some sports fans who have yet to enter into a relationship with the One who paid it all for them! Think about it.

Busy Day of Applique

Today was a Saturday full of fun projects! The first is a birthday present for one of my former students. She was sweet enough to invite me to her upcoming birthday party, and I'm super excited. It's going to be at a giant trampoline park that looks incredibly awesome. Although there are sure to be other adults present, I may be the only one participating. But clearly, I can't let an opportunity like this pass me by! Here's a visual:

Umm, yeah. It's going to be awesome! Back to her present though. This little cutie happens to love baking with her parents. So after much brainstorming, I decided to make her a special apron and give her a complete baking themed gift. I found a red kid-sized apron, sewed some ribbon on the top and bottom, embroidered her name, and viola, I hope she'll love it!

I also bought a few smaller aprons for kids 2-6ish. I wanted to practice my applique skills and create a little boys grilling/cooking/art apron. A sweet friend from Walhalla has ordered a few tutus from me, so I decided to throw an extra little surprise into her order:

Like most of my things, it's not perfect, but hopefully Max will enjoy it!

A few weeks ago I bought two size 18 months shirts from Target, but I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to do with them. Tonight I put out a open call for inspiration on facebook and the first two responses (with size 18 months babies right now) were cuties named Ziva and Savannah. So here's what I made:

I'm really enjoying getting my feet wet with applique! It's so fun and allows for so much creativity. I hope those of you who've been considering getting machines will do it. You won't regret it!

Random Research Adventure

Boston is known as one of the research capitals of the world. Between the 52 colleges and universities located in the immediate Boston area and the famous teaching hospitals here, research is abundant. Not a day goes by that I don't see advertisements searching for participants for research studies. So naturally, while in Boston, it's been on my list of must-do adventures. The studies all pay well, and what a cool experience to be a part of the research process! However, most of the advertisements are extremely specific and rarely do I fit the criteria. Thankfully I don't have any weird disease, I don't smoke nor do I have any extreme or random sleeping behaviors. But one day, riding on the T, I finally found the perfect one for me...well, really for Jarred, but I was hoping to be in by association. Right handed, unmedicated and 20-25 years old. YES!

Although we're both pushing the age requirement, Jarred was a shoo in for this one being that he is a complete freak of nature and has never even had an antibiotic. I on the other hand do take birth control, but I crossed my fingers that I could sneak in...and I did! Birth Control doesn't count. Whoo Hoo! The study is an official look into our memories of childhood and how they have affected us as adults. After our initial acceptance, the doctors conducting the research informed us there are three steps to the process, and we could be weeded out at any point. Step one is a 30 minute survey we complete online and each receive $25. Cha-ching! Done. Step two, if selected, is to come in and answer questions about our childhood for a few hours and receive $100 each. Score!! Then the final step, for the super special...or super messed up, I don't know...is to get a MRI of our brain and receive another $100. Whoop Whoop! I mean, who out there hasn't thought from time to time that it would be kind of awesome to get an MRI, just to make sure everything is okay up there!? Right?

Anywho, Jarred and I both completed step one in early December and were accepted into the next phase. Tomorrow we head to one of the local hospitals for a few hours of questioning and $100 each. All I have to say is...Bring it childhood memories study, bring it!! Wanna know about my birthday parties, about family vacations, about how my sister locked me in the bathroom when she was supposed to be babysitting? Uh oh, is that too much? We're in the tree of trust, right? It's true, sweet Terri, who did basically nothing wrong as a child, pulled a few big sister stunts on me from time to time. But overall I'm pretty well adjusted. Let's cross our fingers the questions don't bring up any crazy forgotten (or blocked) memories that will scar me. Eeek! I'm not too worried, just excited for this random research adventure. Wish us luck!

$25 check for answering the research survey

It's a Tutu-rific Day!

This morning before church I decided it was a Tutu-rific day for some craft time! I have a few items waiting in the wings to be embroidered, but unfortunately they need to be washed first to avoided shrinking post-embroidery. And being that Jarred and I don't have a washing machine...they'll have to wait. So I dug through my supplies and found a bunch of fabulous tulle and ribbon. As I'm sure you've seen, tutus are all the rage right now so I decided to give them a shot! Here's my result:

Tutu #1: Go Tigers!

The waist size for this one ended up being a little smaller than I had hoped because I ran out of orange tulle. As it stands, it would fit about a waist about 16 to 17 inches..or about a 12/18 month old. Although there's enough ribbon to allow for some extra growth.

Here's Tutu #2...and I'm pretty much obsessed with it:

I used shimmering pink and green tulle. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but it person, the sparkles really add to the cuteness factor. It's for a 20ish inch waist which is about a 3T. That or a 25 year old....if it's tied loosely.

If anybody wants one for their favorite little cutie, let me know. I could make them in pretty much any color. Visions of little girl birthday parties are dancing in my head. Wouldn't tutus be the cutest party favors?!

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!