Addicted

Maybe one day, when I've come off this high, I won't bore you to death with my constant ramblings about my quilting. It's still a whole new world to me and there's tons yet to be learned but the things I've learned so far are seriously cool! In a way I am kind of glad my Quilting 101 class got canceled. The money I would have spent on that class went toward other 1-day quilting classes and I have loved every minute of them. Here's my latest creation:






It's called a crazy 9-patch. After the star quilt, this was cake. It would be easy for anyone anyway, but I started and finished (cutting, sewing, pressing) in a little less than 3 hours. So fun! Again, I had the ladies at the Cotton Shop oogling over my color choices. They said they should hire me. I would love that, but I doubt I would be helpful at all!! :) The picture with the green square that has the flowers--that was my inspiration fabric and I found other pieces using that one as a guide. I was proud of myself for choosing fabric with no help (I had help with the star quilt).

**Until I figure out why my pictures show up in HTML in my drafts, you just get bundles of pictures with no commentary. Can anyone help with this?**

Yeah, I'm addicted. I knew I was addicted when after finishing each quilt, I wanted to do it again. We'll see if I can control myself.

"My Three Stars"

Every time I work on a sewing project, I realize how badly we need more space. Here's our kitchen, being taken over by my quilt.



I am a firm believer in eating dinner at the dinner table and not sitting in front of the TV to eat. BUT because of our very limited space in our small apartment, the kitchen is the only place where I have enough room to sew. In the past 2 weeks since taking the class for my quilt, we've eaten at the dinner table maybe 5 times...maybe.

I'm so happy to be able to have my dinner table back (at least until it comes time to sew on the binding)!

Here it is--my very first official quilt. None of this rag quilt stuff, though those are fun as well.







I just can't stop looking at this quilt. It is so beautiful and I love it because I made it and because of it's little imperfections and quirks. I went to bed last night and said to Kory: "I am so proud of myself." Kory likes the quilt also. YAY!

Can you tell why the quilt is called "My Three Stars?" I couldn't tell by looking at the sample in the store. When I started working on it, I realized why it has that name.

If you're getting a headache...

it's because of my blog background. With the updates and new design features, the backgrounds I was using from "cutest blog on the block" weren't working anymore. Bear with me as I learn the new stuff for designing my blog. Thanks. :)

You know it was a good party when...

...3 years later, people are still commenting to others how great it was!! Yup! Apparently, we threw the party of the decade back in 2007 when Kory and I had our "reception" here in Orem. It was at a park and incorporated all of Kory's culture. Here's just a little preview, in honor of the ongoing comments 3 years later.Here's where the Polynesian culture came into play. This is one of the table centerpieces.

In all the hustle and bustle, I didn't have time to do my make-up. So I kind of blend in with the background.

More centerpieces

This is the Native American part of our reception--a hoop dancer. He was really awesome!

So pretty!

It's not just one person that's made a comment about our party. Several people in the past three years have reminisced about the party--mostly the food which was completely Polynesian themed: pulled pork, guava cake, all the goodies! Friday was the most recent comment we received. We were at the Temple and saw a wonderful friend, the wife of a member of the bishopric from our single's ward. She was telling her granddaughter how nice our party was. :) I tell ya, Polynesians TRULY know how to party, especially with good food and good fun.

Belated Birthday Post

On the day of my birthday, my parents and Kory and I went to my in-laws to have dinner with them. I hadn't made mention to them that it was my birthday so I wasn't expecting them to remember or even get me anything. While both families were in the living room chatting, Jase and Kali brought me a big bag. It was a birthday present. Here's what was inside:
If you look up at the top right, that's a little bottle of perfume and some chapstick. All of this came from GAP. Kali said Jase picked out the perfume and chapstick and helped in the choosing of the bag. He's such a girl! :)
After I opened this gift Jase remembered a picture he had drawn for me.
Up top is says: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". I'm sure he had help spelling all the words, but he wrote all the letters by himself. Oh, and the picture next to his name, "that's a heart, " says Jase. :)This is the other side of the paper. That's me and Jase. He told me that he had drawn four presents for me because he's four and the other presents are for him. :) This picture proudly hangs on my refrigerator! It's the only one he's ever drawn for me and he was SO proud to give it to me. Basically, I have the cutest nephew on the planet.

short sale...NOT!

School's out now. Hooray! All of the 1st grade teachers were glad to see this year go. When the principal comments on more than one occasion about how crazy our 1st graders are, you know it's gonna be a legendary group. It was! We had everything ailing our students from Bipolar disease to a father killed in the Haiti earthquake to students pulling major attitude with the principal. Oh yes, we had it all in first grade and now....

SUMMER VACATION!!

The adventures in at the Sekaquaptewa's have begun. House hunting is our biggest adventure at the moment. We've found a house we like (that's an understatement!), but it's a short sale (in other words, the waiting game begins. don't ask why it's called "short sale" cuz I really don't know)! Our offer is in and now we wait...and wait...and wait...yeah, still waiting. *sigh*

Along with house hunting comes grad school for Kory which gives me 4 hours every Tuesday night to pretty much hang out. He still expresses how good it feels to be back in school and that he's excited about it. That makes me happy as well; now I don't have to feel like the nagging wife anymore.

Soon I'll post pictures of the bag, chapstick, and perfume that Jase picked out for my birthday present. Oh, but the picture he drew me is the absolute best. I'll try to post again soon.

Cuteness alert!

So, I decided that I need to blog at least once about the cuteness that is my 1st grade class. I never expect gifts from my students, but when they do bring me something, it's greatly loved and appreciated. Today started out like any ordinary day. Then Penny walked in......

She handed me a gift wrapped in this:
Inside was a little recipe book made by her mom of some of her favorite recipes! All of the pages were 3x5 on absolutely adorable scrapbook paper. I am soooooo excited to use some of the recipes like Chicken Curry, Banana Bread, and Taco Soup. Penny has previously brought me cute gifts. On "Meet Your Teacher" night (which is our equivalent of Back-To-School night), she hadn't even officially met me but brought me a bag full of teacher goodies: markers, post-its, crayons, glue sticks, ANNNNND hand sanitizer; I'm sure there was something for Christmas, I just can't remember what at the moment; St. Patrick's Day included a little flower pot painted black with green paper Easter grass inside, Rolos (to represent the gold) and 5 different colors of pipe cleaners, bent to look like a rainbow, stuck inside. What a doll. I wish I could post a picture of her. All this cuteness fit's her to a T. Yeah, pretty much, I'm the COOLEST TEACHER EVER!! The most humble, too. *wink* I just love this because it gives me fun, simple, and cheap ideas for when my children have totally awesome teachers.

Now, changing students (but not lacking in cuteness): I just had to blog this.

About 2 months ago, we had an art show. Each class had to do a self-portrait, a piece of art from another country, and a free choice piece. Here is my Hyrum's too-cute-for-words self-portrait:


This was by far mine and Silvia's favorite. I have no idea why. That's not really what Hyrum looks like. He's much, much cuter in person. ;) Silvia and I wanted to keep it, but his parents purchased it so I guess a picture will have to do. *sigh* No one can stop this cuteness. NO ONE!