Halloween!

I made this cute lil graveyard dirt cake for my school kiddos this week. They loved it! Needless to say, I became their favorite teacher of the week!

I also dressed up as my favorite Harry Potter character, Hermione Granger, with my colleagues. Fun times!

For Sunday school, I made these cute little cards for our 3-5 yr olds.

And, my lil nephew dressed up for his first Halloween!

My Current Project

I am working on this lap quilt for my grandmother. I hope I get it finished before Christmas!

Hannah's T-Shirt Quilt is Finally Finished!!

So, here it is!!!  This is the final product of my niece's old t-shirts and a little bit of batik fabric!  I am very please with the results. The colors within the quilt are very bright and girly, which fits my niece's personality very well.  She has such a bubbly, bright, and colorful disposition.

The only thing I did not like about this quilt is how heavy it turned out to be.  Knit fabrics (t-shirt material) is very heavy when sewn together like quilt.  It is definitely not a quilt for the summer months.  In Arkansas, it might not even be light enough for fall or spring.  It would however make an awesome football weather quilt!  The think I love about it most is that it captures memories for her to have in her home forever.  She can look at this quilt in the years to come and have a story for every square.  Isn't that amazing?!  Her children will be able to see a part of her life that they would never have been able to experience themselves!  I just hope she loves it as much as I do!

I'm Finally Finished!!

I finally finished my niece's quilt today!!  Woohoo!  It is in the washing machine at the moment, or I would take a picture of it and post it here.  I will definitely post one tomorrow!  Now, I will begin working on a new quilt for my own bed.  It will be easy because I am going to use a pre-printed fabric pattern!

Its been awhile....

Wow!  It has been awhile since I have posted on here!  Believe it or not, I have been working on a quilt.  It is almost finished.  It happens to be the t-shirt quilt I started for my niece Hannah way back around Christmas.  Hopefully, I can post pics of it next week!

My Baptism

Aelbert Cuyp
The Baptism of the Eunuch, c. 1642 - 1643
42 1/2 x 59 1/2 in.
The Menil Collection, Houston, NGA

Today I became a new person.  I met with my minister, studied over the scripture, and decided to be baptized for the remission of my sins.  I am so excited to enter this new life with my savior and Lord, Jesus Christ!  I have posted a painting depicting the baptism of the Eunuch from the Bible.  In some ways, this particular story helped me to come to the decision to approach the subject of baptism with my minister.  Just like the Eunuch, I felt there was truly nothing that should stop me from receiving redemption and salvation from my Lord Jesus Christ by obeying the gospel and being baptized.  I am proud to say that just like Eunuch, I immediately chose to be baptized and became a Christian today.

My Love Affair With All Things Quaint

a photo by Whole Shebang Photography on Flickr.

I love the old and unique! Yesterday, I had to travel to Bryant to pick up a new valve system for our water heater. On the way there I stumbled across this old farm house with barn, silo, cows, and everything!! I love the contrast of the sky with the house! I never tire of photographing old country settings!

No Quilting, No Posting

It has been a long time since I've been able to work on any quilts.  I am hoping to get back to it this weekend, or next week.  I'll definitely be able to over spring break.  I've been very lazy for the past four weeks.  I spend my small amount of free time vegging in front of the TV, or reading a book.  Sooo, hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things, soon!

Frosty the Snowman

Mo-hawk Smurf Snowman, Snow Storm 2011

When I came home from work today, I was greeted by this pleasant surprise.  I immediately wondered who the heck had been playing in my yard.  I don't have any children, nor are there any children in my neighborhood.  It never crossed my mind that my husband would have had anything to do with the creation of this odd little snowman.  As it turns out, he and a co-worker came home at lunch and created this little freak of nature.  Notice he has a mo-hawk and little curved smurf-like nose.   It is quite frankly, "so ugly its cute!"  It was definitely not the greeting I was expecting when I came home.

The snow is barely still on the ground here in most areas.  However, there is still about two inches in shaded areas.  I am amazed at how much snow we received and how long it has stayed on the ground.  We had rare 30 degree weather every day this week.  I am figuring that most of the snow will be gone by Sunday.  We are supposed to get some rain this weekend.  It should wash it all away.  That is if the rain doesn't turn to freezing rain!  You never know with our crazy weather!  I am definitely looking forward to Spring!!

Day 2-Hannah's T-shirt Quilt

DSC_0153
Originally uploaded by Whole Shebang Photography

On my last snow day, I added four more sections to my niece's t-shirt quilt. I think it is coming along nicely. I'm really enjoying the surprise aspect to putting it together. I think I will fill in the blank spaces that are too awkward for blocks with a black patterned fabric that goes well with the colors of the batiks. I am taking a break from everything tonight. Today was my first day back at school since last Friday. It ended with an hour long professional development workshop after school. So, I'm pretty fried right about now! I think I will curl up with a nice Beverly Lewis novel and some hot chocolate.

Day 1-Hannah's T-shirt Quilt Progress

DSC_0145
Originally uploaded by Whole Shebang Photography

I started piecing together my first T-shirt quilt yesterday. This one is for my niece who will be graduating from high school this May. The T-shirts represent different phases and aspects of her life as a young girl and adult. It will be a nice keepsake to carry off to college. I decided to use batiks for the framing of each shirt. I'm not quite sure how it is going to turn out, which I think is the beauty and fun of the process. I have several different colors of the same patterns. Maybe it will have rainbow feel to it when I am done. I love colors so much! The binding will be a pattern in black. I think multiple colors look best bound in black. Keep checking back to see more progress. I am hoping to post one picture for every day I am able to work on it. Oh...and the snow is still on the ground!!! It is too cold to melt, which is rare for Arkansas!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

DSC_0049
Originally uploaded by Whole Shebang Photography

Like I said in my earlier post, it snowed here! Woohoo!!!! A very exciting occurrence for us dear 'ol Arkansans! This is actually a picture of my neighbor's pond. My husband and I went walking around early this morning taking snow pictures. He actually took this one! :)

Corduroy Shirt

Corduroy Shirt
Originally uploaded by Whole Shebang Photography

It snowed here!!! Which, if you are from Arkansas, you know is a big deal! We got about six to eight inches of the glorious white stuff. Yesterday, I spent most of the day sewing on the corduroy shirt you see in the picture in this post. It didn't turn out quite like I expected, and I still have quite a bit of work left to do on it, but it was a fun learning experience!

Sawyer Grant's Sports Quilt

DSC_0902
Originally uploaded by Whole Shebang Photography

This is the baby quilt I pieced together and hand quilted about two days after I finally finished my mother-in-law's quilt. I was so please with the outcome of this particular quilt and so was Sawyer's mom, my good friend Christy. I really got into the geometric/tessellation aspect of piecing with this one. I look forward to creating many more in 2011.

To see more views of the quilt click on the title of this post.

Finally Finished

DSC_0894
Originally uploaded by Whole Shebang Photography

I finally finished the first quilt I ever made. After a year and 4 days of sporadic quilting, binding and snipping of stray threads, I finally finished this quilt that was intended for my mother-in-law's Christmas present last Christmas!! She was very excited to finally get her quilt. I was so glad to be done with it. It gave me a new sense of accomplishment once I was done. Since finishing this one, I have completely finished a baby quilt and cut out 3/4 of a full size top for my niece! I was very please with my quilting accomplishments this year. I look forward to learning about and completing many more in 2011! :)
To see more views of this quilt, click on the title of the post.