I have started my t-shirt quilt! Yay! And now I have pictures!

The deconstruction of my t-shirts...

My cut up t-shirts, ready to have the interfacing ironed on...

My t-shirt blocks, interfacing ironed on and cut to size...

Stitching the front emblem to the block...

Daphne wanted to help... :)

This is my progress so far! I went out today and bought material for my sashing, so I'll be working on cutting all of that out. I will have pictures up for that soon. Until then.... wish me luck. Haha.

In the beginning...

...there was a pile of old t-shirts.

I have begun my first big sewing project--a t-shirt quilt. I have not done any sewing, literally at all, since I was in high school. I have done my research on this though, read blogs and websites and magazines. I'm going into this with the mindset that I CAN do it. I remember sewing basics, and what I don't know I can look up. Google has been my best friend the last few days.

I began the deconstruction of all my shirts tonite. I spent the afternoon deciding on measurements, drawing out a plan (because I am a very visual person, and had to draw out and totally plan out my quilt before I did ANYthing else), deciding what kind of fabric I wanted to use, etc. I've made so many lists and calculations and drawings today, I'm surprised my head hadn't exploded! This evening, I cut the sides I plan on using out of my t-shirts. I bought the interface and will break out the ironing board for that tomorrow. Wish me luck. :)

I recently decided that I needed some new hobbies. My creative juices have been screaming to be let out, so this is what I've decided to try...
*knitting--I learned how to knit, just basic stuff, in high school. I would like to try my hand at it again and see what happens.
*sewing--Again, I did some sewing in high school, but nothing to difficult. I'd like to get better at it, so I'm going to be doing a lot of this. Amarillo's Hobby Lobby may be seeing me a lot, for fabric, because the selection at my Wal-Mart... not that impressive.
*quilting--I have been telling my mom for years that I want to have a t-shirt quilt made. And then I thought, why not just do it myself? I mean, it can't be that hard right? I might be eating those words later, but, let's hope not.

I'm pretty excited about these new ventures I'm going to take on. Let's add these to... school, working out, grading papers, and, well, sleeping, and we'll see how much I actually follow through. Haha. I have high aspirations. Especially I'll have room to keep the sewing machine up at all times in our new house. I've done a lot of... soul searching, I guess you could say, this summer. Made some decisions about how my life is going to be now. Hm. We'll see.

So, I'm getting out of Guymon again and I absolutely can not wait! I'm leaving Saturday morning for 5 days at a camp on the OK/Arkansas border. This will be my third summer as a counselor there, and I can't express enough how much I love it. If I could turn this one week's experience into a paid, year-long job, I would be so stoked. I would love that job more than I love the one I already have! Aahh, New Life Ranch, how I love thee.

Too bad my to-do list between now and then is about a mile long. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a little pool time... or a lot. There's nothing like putting the earbuds in and laying out on a lounge chair in the warm sunshine to make my heart smile. I think I'm going stir crazy here anyways. I need to find something to do that does NOT involve covering my books from school. Because that's alllll I've been doing the last few days. I think I'll take a break for awhile and do something else productive. Like laying out. :) Or paying bills. :( Either way, I won't be doing school work. And that's all that matters.

High Expectations vs. Settling

Is it too much to ask to want a good guy?

Let me define good. I mean someone who isn't just trying to get in my pants, who will respect me, and who I can have an enjoyable time with. Apparently these qualities are hard to come by. I've been "in the dating scene" for... awhile now. So far, I have found a whole lot of Mr. Wrong's and not even a Mr. Almost. Maybe my standards are too high? I like to think that the man I'm looking for is achievable. Blame on the amazing male role models in my life, but I know there are good ones out there. I guess they just aren't where I am.

I never worry about this too much, but being in the middle of the wedding season (my refrigerator and Facebook page are covered with wedding invitations, engagement announcements, etc.) has got me thinking. I like to think I'm ready for marriage. I've got my college degree. I'm in a profession I love, but is not limited to certain locations. I'm independent. I'm 23. Those are all pretty good qualifications for being ready to get married, right? I'm through with silly hook-ups and "just having fun." I think I'm ready to find someone that I can spend forever with. I want to date men with marriage potential. I'm ready for Mr. Right to step in and save me from all the awkwardness of dating around. So, to get to my original point... Do I stick to my high expectations for what I desire in a future husband or do I settle for something not quite as perfect? I realize there won't be one "perfect" guy out there for me. Nobody is perfect. But I do have high expectations on non-negotiable qualities. I suppose I can slide a little on some of the "fluffy" qualities. By this, I mean, the qualities that don't affect who I am and what I believe, the important stuff.

Maybe I'm just getting restless where I am. I'd like to think that my future spouse is not here in the panhandle. But maybe he is? I sure haven't seen any inklings of him, if he is. I guess I'll put on my optimistic face a while longer and see how it works out for me.


Two posts in two days. Look at me go.

Well, we all see how well the workout log worked for me, now didn't we? Haha. In reality, I did semi-ok with the working out. I just never blogged about it. I always have so much to think about and write about at the end of the day, I just never remember that I have an actual place to put it all. There needs to be a reminder email I can have sent to me that will keep me on top of this writing thing. Maybe I'll work on it now. It's summer, so I have a lot of free time. I finally started on my school to-do list today. I started tackling the biggest thing on the list, which is covering all of my paperback books with contact paper so they will keep in better condition longer. I worked on this for two or three hours today, and I'm a little proud of my progress. As for the rest of my free time this summer so far, once we got my brother's wedding out of the way, the roomie and I have been enjoying a lot of time poolside. I had forgotten how much I enjoy just being outside and soaking up the sun. It's nice. And, cancer risks aside, I'm enjoying the nice tan I have acquired.

Ah, my brother's wedding. It started with this fiancee's bachelorette party the weekend before the wedding. I was on my way to Dallas for the dinner party when I was rear-ended in OKC. Not a good start to my weekend, I must say. But thankfully, that was the only bad part to the weekend. I enjoyed spending time with my soon-to-be sister-in-law and her family and other friends. I also got to spend a little (and when I say little, I sadly do mean a very small amount) of QT with the brother. But I'll forgive it, because he was super busy with getting his new house ready to move in and other wedding priorities. I also got to enjoy several days at the parents' house. Although I did get quite bored with not much to do during the day, I enjoyed being around my parents for more than just a day or two and being back in my hometown for a short while. The wedding went fabulously and I am so glad to include my new sister-in-law in my family now.

So my plan for the rest of my summer includes finishing my school to-do list, getting caught up on my scrapbooking, more pool time, a couple camps, and well, just doing what I do.

Here's to hoping I can keep up with this better. Even though I say that every time. Haha.

The Plan

All right, so, this is the new direction my blog is going to take. I've decided that I'm going to keep my work out log on here. Maybe this will keep me more accountable. Haha. We'll see. Now, don't get me wrong. I'll keep going with the normal updates on my life. But I'm also going to be updating you on how my fitness plan is going. Tonight, I'm going to create my fitness plan and post it on my bathroom wall next to the mirror so I see it every day. Then, I'll let you know how well I'm keeping up with it on here! Sound good? Good.

Well, with that out of the way, here's an update on my life. School has been going well. I had my last observation with my university supervisor (yay!) and he said he's definitely going to recommend me for my certificate (bigger YAY!). So, I'm finally done with all of that! I think, anyway. Haha. HOPEFULLY. :)

I did meet a boy a couple weeks ago. He's cute and very cowboy. And I like hanging out with him. I'm just not sure how much boyfriend-potential I see in him. To be quite honest, I'm not sure how much boyfriend-potential I see in anybody right now. Still healing the heart a little from the last one, I guess.

In other news, the weather has been B-E-A-UTIFUL here this week! It makes me want to sit outside allllllll afternoon long! Which is bad, because I usually have a lot of stuff to do. Haha. I'm pretty sure that I will cry if it gets cold again. Mother Nature, you can NOT tease me with this lovely weather, and then send snow again! It's not funny! So I'm hoping that spring is here and winter has finally left.

I don't really have much else to say. Better go cook me some (healthy) dinner and get my school stuff finished for tomorrow!