Vacation

William and I are off on an adventure in Louisiana so I won't be posting anymore this week. But I'll be back Sunday with an amazing recap of our trip :)

If you follow me on instagram, you'll get to see a sneak peek at all the fun we're having!

Have a great week everyone!

Hooray It's Done!

I am very excited that I finally got this quilt finished up! Not only was it my July goal for the A Lovely Year of Finishes, but it was also one of the longest members of my WIP pile.

I started the 2012 Craftsy Block of the Month around the beginning of the year, and I got really excited about it and made several blocks right away. Then I started something else and the blocks ended up in a box, so the project sat for a while.

I finally pulled it out after a couple moths of sitting, and I worked really hard to get it finished. I omitted a couple blocks from the course (the Dresdens, the drunkards paths, and one English Paper pieced block) and I added a Scrappy Trip Around block. Did I mention I love the finished result :)

This is the largest quilt that I actually quilted on my own, and I was terrified through most of the process. At first I was tempted just to send it off to be long-armed like the last quilt I made. But I decided if I keep putting off tackling free motion quilting then I would never learn how to do it. So I took the beautiful Aurifil thread I got from my HMQG meeting and dove in head first.

I decided to do an all over stippling pattern because I felt it would be the easiest. My squiggles are far from perfect and the stitch length is so scattered, but I love it! I know stippling can make your quilt a bit denser, but since it's going to be used by William, it needs to withstand a toddler :)

It only took me about 3 hours to run out of my first spool of thread. Since it was 3am I had to wait until morning to go and get more :( but I did and got back to work the following evening!

The quilt god must have been looking over me too because literally as soon as I finished quilting my machine warned me that my bobbin was running out! Halleluiah!

Last but not least was the binding. The usual place I like to get fabric from is almost an hour drive from my house, so I was pretty stumped while walking around Joann's looking for binding. Then I stumbled upon the Kona Solids and William picked out the vibrant Kona Sour Apple. :) I love it, and I love it even more that he picked it out.

This Batman block is one of my favorites. Most of the fabric I used for this came from my scraps and stash. I did go out and buy a couple of fat quarters here and there though.

Quilt Stats: 

Size: 50.5" x 51"

Fabrics: Assorted novelty fabrics from stash & Kona bleached white.

Binding: Kona Sour Apple

Pattern:  Craftsy Block of the Month 2012 + Quiltville's Scrappy Trip Around Tutorial
Quilting: by me, stippling/meandering 

Started : January 2013

Completed: July 2013 

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one of our busier ones. My parents come into town Friday afternoon and brought us some more furniture that had been at their house. We now have a sleeper sofa (well technically it's a loveseat) and an amazing antique cabinet.

They left Saturday morning after we went to breakfast and an estate sale (I love estate sales), and Saturday afternoon we headed out to visit Jeff's parents because they were watching William that night.

 

Saturday night we headed out to the Flying Saucer to have date night with some close friends of ours, and we had an amazing time. The Flying Saucer is an amazing bar here in Houston that has 200+ different types of beer. I love that Jeff's parents live so close and we get the chance to have date night.

After sleeping in until way later than we should have, we headed out to get William from his Gran and Grandad's. 

This is how we found him :) passed out on the couch after and exciting day. I love my sleeping baby.

 

Finally, we finished up the weekend with dinner at Blue Water Seafood with some friends of ours. I found the restaurant on Yelp and it was pretty darn tasty.

Our Day at the Park

Yesterday William and I went to the park, and I actually remembered to bring my camera!! Hooray! We were the only people there (who else would be crazy enough to be outside in the heat) and we had a great time!

 William loved going up and down the playground and going on the slide. I even went down with him a couple of times :) He loved it and giggled the whole time.

 I just love that sweet smiling face.

He did a great job climbing up these bars. He didn't even want my help at all. I guess our classes at the Little Gym are helping.

This boy loves to play outside so much, we really need to find a place with a yard. Is it bad I'm already looking for where we are going to move next? I am so ready to live in a house, even if it means we rent.

Disney Wordless Wednesday

Better late than never! Our internet has been out all day so this is the first moment I have had to sit down at my computer.

Disney is all about the details. There is so much to see when you walk around the park and enter rides. One of my favorite queues is the waiting area for the Muppet's 4D show. It's one of the older rides, but it is still one of my favorites :)

Weekend Recap

We had a pretty lazy weekend. Friday night we stayed in and had a home-cooked meal and watched TV. I got these pre-made hamburger patties that had bacon and cheddar cheese mixed in from HEB, and they were delicious. 

Then Saturday night we went over to our friend Chris's house for a really low key party(i.e. ordered pizza, drank beer, and watched TV). We didn't have a sitter so we took William with us and he had so much fun!

William and Chris were trying to get the cat to come out from under the bed. Simba was scared of William and barely showed his face because when he did, William would chase him and yell "CAT!"

William watched Toy Story for the very first time. It's one of the few Disney Movies I don't currently own. "I'm Mrs. Nesbit!" lol favorite part.

Chris has pretty much every game system ever made, and we played Mario Party on the N64. I would have won the game but someone bumped into the system and the game froze :(

The next morning William was pooped. He had woken up at around 4:30-5:00am and couldn't go back to sleep.

He finally passed out again around 1pm when we watched Toy Story again. I love when he falls asleep on me. He doesn't do it very often anymore so when he does I savor it, even if it means my legs fall asleep.

I even got some sewing in when we got home yesterday evening. One block is better than no blocks :)

Linking up with:

Ugh

I haven't gotten my haircut since February, and it is really starting to frustrate me :( I've got really long (like down to my boobs) thick hair. I was growing it out for the longest time but ow I am thinking I want to chop it off. 90% of the time I pull it back in a ponytail, so I don't think I will miss it being long.

I feel like this most of the time. Especially with the horrible humidity in Houston.

I'm toying with doing something like this. It would be the shortest my hair has been in a while, but I think I am ready for a change that drastic.

This picture of Tina Fey is hilarious, but I really love how her hair is done here and I think I might like something like this. I love her color too. I've had grey hair since I was in high school and have been dying my hair ever since. I normally go for something more out there (I dyed it blond one time, and burgundy red another time) but I'm thinking I rather have something closer to my natural color.

I have an interview next week, and I feel like I should get it done before then. :/ any suggestions? I'm kinda stumped.

I Have a Problem

Hi, My name is Hilary and I love the Jonas Brothers. Seriously I have a problem lol I'm a 24 year old woman and I adore the Jonas Brothers. My sister and I are going to their concert next month, and we have been to 4 of their other concerts. I know all the words to their songs, and I even watch Married to Jonas on E!

I have to say I am beyond excited about the concert next month. My mom is amazing and splurged to get us VIP sound check tickets. It's going to be amazing!

These pictures are from when we saw them at the Houston Rodeo in 2010.

Yep we're those fans that cry during the concert :)

These pictures are from when we saw them at the Houston Rodeo in 2009.

We've seen them 2 other times. Once at the San Antonio rodeo and we had floor seats at that show, and once in Dallas.

The Dallas show was epic because we had floor seats and we pushed our way up to the stage. I totally pushed a girl out of the way so we could be next to the stage :) It was amazing.

Jeff picks on me because he says I'm a grown woman lusting over little boys lol The way I see it, they're all my age so it's not weird right? Hey at least I'm not in love with One Direction or those other teeny bop bands that are cool right now. Not yet at least.

Do you have any embarrassing loves? 

I'll leave you with this :)

Disney Wordless Wednesday

It's been a couple of weeks, but I'm linking up with Focused on the Magic for Disney Wordless Wednesday again. This weeks theme is social media Disney memories, so my mosaic is all my instagram pictures from our last 2 trips :)

Oh I can't to go back in October!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday, and I wish that I could be in Austin to celebrate with him. My Dad is my rock, and I wouldn't be the woman I am today without his influence.

William and my Dad this past weekend.

One of my favorite pictures of all time :)

My dad holding his two grandsons. William and Jack are so adorable. I miss William's curls lol

so sweet :)

Happy Birthday Dad! You are my hero, and I will always be your little girl. I love you!

Weekend Recap

This past weekend we went to Austin to visit my parents. We were going to go float the river on Saturday, but we were both so exhausted from our busy week that we just slept in and had family time. I'm very much a homebody, so getting to go home to Austin and spend time with my parents was amazing.

We visited our neighbors who have a small farm, ate way too much food, drank with my parents (which is always hilarious), and played Mexican Train. If you've never played Mexican Train you should because it is a lot of fun! It's a domino game similar to chicken foot, so more people can play at once. We had 8 people playing and it was awesome!

Plus I did better this weekend and remembered my camera!

William loved seeing the goats at our neighbors house.

They just got a bunch of new baby goats. They were so adorable.

I even got to hold one :) He was so soft, but his cuteness ended when he tried to eat my hair.

They have a beautiful rooster. I said that it looks like the type of rooster that would be on a cookie jar lol

William loved all of the animals.

Later that night we had punch and played Mexican Train. The punch was delicious and so was the rum soaked fruit in the bottom.

Playing Mexican Train.

My sister chowed down on the fruit too.

I love this man :)

Jeffrey and William the next day at breakfast.

Sharing some orange juice. Love them :)

My cute little boy.

William and his grandpa.

Heading home. He was pooped.