The World Surrounding Me

You’ve got about 3 months until Christmas! If you (like me) are considering some hand-made Christmas gifts this year, here’s a list of free projects / tutorials you might consider, sorted by type. If I’ve made something from the tutorial, it is marked with * Any pictures included here are my finished projects. Purses, Bags [...]

This is a work in progress. I am searching for quilt blocks that go with different states (for my sampler project). As I find blocks, I will link them here. GENERAL: General Indexes: Clip art of blocks for each state (no directions) Nifty Fifty Quilters (not all states have blocks, and many of the blocks [...]

Matt got me a sweet birthday gift: a Kindle! He got one for his birthday, so I knew what to expect. It’s so lightweight! It’s amazing! I haven’t added many books yet, but I’m definitely looking at what I might get. I shopped around for a suitable cover for it, but most covers weighed more [...]

I was shown two really cool map web sites today. If I could go back and choose another career (and if bridge building wasn’t available) maybe I’d be a cartographer. I like maps with good data. Both of these maps certainly fall in that realm: The Take 10 Challenge Map You can look up not [...]

Matt just sent this to me — got it from some of his coworkers, I think. It is a color IQ test. Really interesting — try it out! http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_toolframe.aspx?action=coloriq I got a 12. Perfect score is 0. Not great, but not bad either. I do wonder, though, if I tried it some time other than [...]

I have several friends who are pregnant, so I think I can blog about this without giving away who it is for. At least I hope that the mom-to-be will act appropriately surprised when she opens it. I was too excited not to blog about it! I whipped up a matching set of various items [...]

So, I live in Austin. We don’t exactly get a whole lot of “winter.” Up until a few days ago (and maybe now, I didn’t check), there were still a few vaguely green plants growing in my flower beds. I think I caught a handful of sleet one night this week. Other than that, I [...]

My favorite quilt designer (unless I count myself – ha!) is having a fantastic give-away on her blog this week, to celebrate her blog’s 1st anniversary. Prizes include finished quilts & some great fabric. Check out Anka’s Treasures blog here for more info. Designer Heather Mulder Peterson designs simple-to-make yet visually interesting quilts. I’ve been [...]

I had a hard time being productive a few days last week, so I made myself a few goals for today: I’d post something thoughtful on my sabbatical blog. DONE! I’d finish a sewing project. DONE! I’d make a big batch of some kind of food to put into the freezer. SIMMERING! I’d make some [...]

Do any of you use TripAdvisor? Just curious. Every once in a while, I get a bug to write reviews of places we’ve visited while traveling. Here’s my travel map from TripAdvisor, showing places I’ve marked. Bora Bora, French Polynesia Oahu, HI, USA Hana, HI, USA Honolulu, HI, USA New York City, NY, USA Paris, [...]