Archives for June 2014

How to Make a T-shirt Quilt

June 25, 2014 by Amy 2 Comments

T-shirt quilts are certainly nothing new. I think my mom still has all my T-shirts where she planned to make me one in high school *cough* over 18 years ago *cough*.

So I was cleaning out the kids clothes when we switched over the season recently and I nearly donated all of their T-shirts. I remembered T-shirt quilts, though, and since I actually finished my first sewing project a few months ago, I felt like maybe I could tackle it.

And for those that follow my Facebook page (and the post title didn’t already spoil it for you J), you saw that I did indeed finish it!

And listen, this was WAYYYY easier than that apron. I wish I would have started with this. If you can sew a straight line, then you’ll have no problem.

The first thing you have to do is buy your supplies. You’ll need:

T-shirts cut into 12” squares. I used 15 squares, but used some backs of T-shirts so it was really only about 13 actual shirts. You can also use “filler” pieces of other plain cotton if you’d like.
2 yards of fleece fabric for the back. Ideally you want to pick one that pulls out the colors in your shirts, but of course Emma just went with one she liked.
Fusible interfacing. It depends how many squares you’re going to use to how much you need, but we planned for 2 squares per yard, but ended up not needing the full 8 yards. If you were careful you could get away with 3 per yard and only need 5 yards. This is exactly what we used, although I think we could have used something heavier.
Since I’m just a beginner, I also bought a kit with a cutting board and a rotary knife. Here is a similar one.
Ball point needle for your machine. I found mine at Target, but here is a similar pack.
And finally, Scott cut a 12” square out of plastic for me to use as a template for all the squares. I felt like the clear was necessary so I could align the image within the square better. You can see it on the left side of this picture below.

I followed this video for the sewing instructions.

The basic steps are to:

Cut the T-shirts in squares using the template and the rotary scissors
Fuse the lining to the back with an iron
Cut the lining around the fabric using the template again. Now that I think of it, you could probably cut the T-shirt and lining together.
Arrange the T-shirt in the rows and columns you want.
Sew the squares front to front in a row
Sew the rows of fabric front to front to each other
Pin and cut the back fabric the size of the front
Sew the front and back front to front, leaving a gap to turn the blanket inside out
Turn the blanket inside out
Stitch up the opening
Sew the edging
Optionally, sew a top stitch between the squares or use yarn at each intersection and tie it. Emma didn’t want me to do either of those

Whew, so that is a lot of steps, but none of it is hard. As I’m learning with sewing, it’s a lot of prep work and a lot of patience and just a little bit of sewing.

But, as I’m also learning, the satisfaction you get from sewing your own project is priceless!

I loved seeing Emma wake up using the blanket. It’s fun to see her “wearing” all of her old T-shirts.

Although, she did say she needed one more row and column of squares for it to really fit her. This size is more like a toddler quilt than a tween quilt.

If you’ve made lots of quilts, I’d love to hear your tips!

Do you have a T-shirt quilt? What would your quilt have on it? Racing shirts? Pageant shirts? Baseball shirts? Cheer shirts? Tell me!

I’m not sure which T-shirts my mom kept but it probably includes volleyball, Show Choir and youth group!

The Sunflower

June 24, 2014 by Amy 2 Comments

Caramaria

Last year we planted sunflowers from one of those garden kits for kids. Never did I imagine that they would actually grow. Neither did I know they are annuals and they would come back. So, we have 4 sunflower plants this year in a sort of random place near our deck. Given another chance, it’s not the location I’d choose.

I’ve been astounded, though, how the tops of the stalks follow the sun during the day. It’s very odd to see a plant move, as if it had a mind to do so.

In the morning, the top of the plant is bent at a 45 degree angle towards the east. Our house sits facing north, so the plant is facing the left side of the yard in the morning. Around noon, you can see that the plant is erect, reaching toward the sun at the top of the sky. By the evening, the top of the plant is bent over at a 45 degree angle, but facing west, where the sun is setting.

At this point, we’re probably not surprised the name is the sunflower.

I couldn’t help but draw a few spiritual conclusions from this little plant. I’m not the first to do so. Indigenous Americans actually used the sunflower as the symbol of their solar deity. There is something about that little plant who follows the light.

I decided to do some more reading on our littler sunflower.

Beyond any spiritual implications, simply the pattern of the sunflower seeds is astounding.

The disk flowers are arranged spirally. Generally, each floret is oriented toward the next by approximately the golden angle, 137.5°, producing a pattern of interconnecting spirals, where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. Typically, there are 34 spirals in one direction and 55 in the other; on a very large sunflower there could be 89 in one direction and 144 in the other.^[2]^[3]^[4] This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head.^[5]^[6]^[7]

I mean. Beyond the beauty of the pattern, the seeds are arranged just so so that the most amount of seeds are packed in. Does that astound you like it does me?

Zoelavie

Let’s not even get into all the uses for the seeds once the growth is complete.

Extracted sunflower oil is used in cooking, as a carrier oil, to produce biodiesel, as a food for both humans and animals. It can even be used to extract toxins from the soil.

I was disappointed, though, to find out that the following of the sun actually stops once the flower head is formed.

Once the flower heads are formed, they point in a fixed direction throughout the day, typically eastern.

I truly believe God’s glory is displayed throughout creation. If I’m drawing spiritual conclusions from this, it didn’t make sense to me. Why, when the flower appeared and it finally matured and was useful would it stop following the sun? It seems to me that the more mature a plant got, the MORE it should follow the sun.

In an article describing heliotropism (the condition that makes plants turn towards the sun), it says this:

The buds are heliotropic until the end of the bud stage, and finally face east, allowing the flowers of the sunflower to be used as inexact living compasses.^[10]

Oh gosh, are you getting it?

Gfadel

These flowers are stationary towards the East and therefore are LIVING COMPASSES. They are mature, steady, and literally helping others in their journey. If a lost traveler comes upon a sunflower field, he can quite literally know what direction to go based on the knowledge that the sunflower points East.

When a plant is still growing and moves to follow the sun, at high noon, you can’t use that plant for direction because it’s pointing straight up at the sky. It’s no use to anyone.

When the plant is fixed and firm towards the east, lost travelers can use that as a living compass.

I believe it is a picture of a mature Christian. Once Christians have matured and have developed their skills, talents and abilities-the things they were made for—they naturally help others in their journey.

As Christians, I believe we can always help someone else on their journey, but as one matures, I think she does that more and more. A maturing Christian learns the talents and gifts the Lord has given them and not only can people enjoy that, they are naturally pointing others toward Christ.

Have you ever met someone like that? Where they are mature, steady and strong—they know and you know what their gift is from God and simply seeing it on display draws you closer to God? It’s the most beautiful thing to watch.

So, while I still love watching our sunflowers bend toward the sun all day, I am looking forward to watching the beautiful flower head firmly point toward the East, knowing that its purpose could lay beyond itself. And pray the same for myself.

*If you want to read more, here are the two WIKI pages I used: Sunflower and Heliotropism

A Weekend in Charleston

June 23, 2014 by Amy 2 Comments

It’s Sunday night as I write. The girls have their cousin sleeping over and they’re hidden away in their rooms, probably in my clothes and putting on makeup. Scott is away at a men’s evening at the church. The dogs, including my parent’s who are out of town, are laid in their preferred spots across the living room. My sewing machine is waiting on me in the dining room. I finally pulled out the pieces to finish Emma’s T-shirt quilt this afternoon and if my machine would actually cooperate, I’m determined to finish.

We spent the weekend with our friends in Charleston. You might remember them from this post On Community. I’m feeling that same, filled-up, rested satisfaction and peace after taking a few days away from the regular routine and spending time with generous friends.

I read this book while we were there by Joyce Meyer called Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes: Giving Yourself Permission to Lighten Up. It’s a book for people that have forgotten to enjoy the little things in life. The people who live to check items off the checklist, to get things done. The people who may be taking life a little too seriously and have a tendency to lose their joy. They’re do-ers not be-ers. People like me.

She encouraged readers to celebrate you, your progress and your hard work and kick the guilt to the curb.

And so, as I read this in Charleston, I practiced the discipline of celebration. I said yes when Emma wanted to go get pedicures (our first together and my first in years). I said yes when dessert was suggested for dinner and I said yes when the girls wanted to play dominos and when they wanted to build sand castles and I said yes when he asked if I wanted ice cream on that dessert. I clapped when we drove over our county line on the way home because we’d successfully navigated the weekend. It was a weekend of celebrating months of hard work both professionally and personally.

One of my favorite stories from the weekend is driving back, sandy and dirty from the beach, and deciding we needed to go to King of Pops. No one was really sure where the place was and so, after looking on their Facebook page, we drove to the address in North Charleston.

We ended up in a part of town they are trying to revive, on a tiny main street of sorts. We circled the block but didn’t see a storefront. We did see a building in the back with some monster graffiti on the wall and our friends felt like that must be their warehouse or office as it was similar to their Charlotte location, but we could never find a storefront.

We called the number on their page and happened to get someone. He said their retail store wasn’t opened yet and they only had carts out on locations, but he happened to be in the warehouse where we were and we could just come right there and buy them directly from him. So, that’s what we did! We went in a big room full of freezers of popsicles. Scott even had the perfect amount of cash to buy our popsicles. We got chocolate sea salt, blueberry lemongrass, key lime pie, and Oreo cheesecake. All homemade—even the Oreos! They were DEE-LISH.

We were driving away with our melting popsicles and it was just one of those moments that felt God-ordained. I don’t know if God ordains popsicle moments, but I know I was looking for moments to celebrate over the weekend and as we were driving home, all smiling and sharing the happiness over stumbling upon the warehouse and the yumminess of the popsicles, it truly felt like a moment that was supposed to happen.

And so, here I am back on Sunday night and I’m trying to continue to celebrate in little ways—to let go of the weight of the to-do list a little. My sewing machine is waiting on me and I plan to enjoy the rest of what is left of this weekend. Monday morning will be here before I know it and who knows, maybe I’ll celebrate finishing this post!

How To Have Someone Clean Your Floors Every Single Night

June 18, 2014 by Amy 8 Comments

We have a problem in our house. We have beautiful, dark hardwoods and a yellow lab that sheds like he’s allergic to his hair. It is an absolute nightmare trying to keep the floors clean.

Even our cleaning lady will vacuum, sweep and mop and then need to go over it again by the time she’s made it to the end of the house and back. Dust bunnies congregate under chairs and tables and the couch. Forget trying to sit on the floor for any activity.

I could vacuum with my beloved Dyson twice a day and still not feel like I was keeping up. And the sad part is, I am lucky to drag the vacuum out three times a week.

But, I think we have finally, finally found our solution.

Roomba.

Roombas are nothing new, of course, but I would never pay the price for them and really, I wondered how well they really worked.

After switching from hardwoods to carpet, my friend sold her beloved Roomba at a fraction of the full price and I was happy to take it off her hands. It was finally my chance to figure out if it was really worth it. Could Roomba really help with all the Tucker hair?

Yes. Yes, it can.

With a push of a button every night, Roomba goes on some sort of nonsensical path to vacuum our kitchen, dining, room, office and hallway, even traveling over all our rugs. I haven’t yet figured out how it knows what to do. We didn’t program and as far as I can tell it isn’t learning our layout. But, every single time, it seems to cover the majority of the floors in all the rooms.

The battery lasts for over an hour and it even cleans under the couch and all the chairs and tables!

I’ve been starting it in the evenings after the day is done and everyone moves to the bedrooms. After it does its job, it somehow finds its way back to its base and docks itself to recharge. When I come out in the mornings, my floors are clean and Roomba is charged and ready for the next day.

It is nothing short of fabulous.

Now, it doesn’t do as good of a job as my Dyson. It doesn’t seem to pick up fine dirt like sand and it misses dirt in some places. But overall, it’s totally managing Tucker’s hair problem.

Now, I was very hesitant to post about this because of the cost of a Roomba. It’s not cheap and I don’t think it’s worth the full price. But, if you can find one on Craigslist or from a friend or have some gift cards you just can’t figure out what to do with or find one on a Black Friday sale or…you get what I’m saying. Just pocket this little review and if you ever find one at a good deal, snatch it up and welcome back your sanity.

It works for me!

Check out other WFMW posts at WeAreThatFamily.com

I was not compensated in any way for this post, just wanted to share!

My Self-Help Plan

June 16, 2014 by Amy 8 Comments

If there’s a thread that has been weaving through all of my readings lately, and therefore what I think God is trying to tell me is this: I have no idea what I’m doing, my thoughts are all messed up and I have no control over anything. Thanks, God. I get it. You’re God and I’m not.

Our culture, of which I am a product, is obsessed with self-help. How to get skinnier, how to have a better marriage, how to succeed at work, how to get along with your kids, how to make better friendships, how to keep your friends. The list goes on. The magazine titles and self-help book section will confirm. We want all the steps to all the things to improve our lives.

In the meantime, I’ve seen only one thing have a long-lasting impact in my life: the power of change through Jesus’s healing of my mind, body and soul.

I am a better mother, sister, daughter, worker, servant, person when Jesus comes in and changes me from the inside out. My heart changes and then my words, actions, habits and outlook changes.

Yeah, that’s a Sunday School answer, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Because it means that we really can’t step our way into any change. We simply have to believe that the answer lies with him and then make ourselves available to that power.

It’s sounds sort of mystical. But really, I think it is. I experienced more healing and life change lying on my daughter’s bed crying in prayer and release in 20 minutes than I ever have on any self-help plan.

And so, I’ve come to believe this: the best self-help plan is to help myself to Jesus.

And I don’t mean in the same way of helping myself to another plate of dinner.

I mean, helping myself get to those moments with Jesus. For this, I need to ask myself two questions.

First, what is distracting me from Jesus?

What are the things that are keeping me from Jesus? Is it TV, is it too many commitments, is it simple preoccupation of my mind? Of course, we have to live life and we can’t be in prayer 100% of the time, but as I talked about last week and grocery shopping, all of life can be centered around him while we do life. It’s a matter of our mind being focused. But sometimes, yes, our DVRs are too full and we’ve stretched ourselves too thin and we blame busyness for why we can’t get to Jesus.

So, find your distractions and get rid of them as much as possible.

For me, it was TV. I was spending hours and hours every night watching it. Now, I don’t. It’s pretty fabulous.

The second question we have to ask is how do I experience Jesus?

It’s fine to rid yourself of distractions, but if you only replace it with other distractions you’re not helping yourself to Jesus at all. We have to find out how we experience Jesus best. Do you hike? Do you paint? Do you serve? Do you sing? Do you write? What are the moments where you experience him? Find those and do those more in place of your distractions.

I’ve found I experience more of him when I’m reading and writing. So, I do more of that in the place of TV.

When I do this, he teaches me all the things I need to have a better marriage, be a better worker, how to parent, how to have a better body image, how to keep my friends.

The best self-help is helping myself to Jesus.

It is simply this: what distractions do you have keeping you from Jesus and how do you need to replace them?

Armed with Truth

June 12, 2014 by Amy 2 Comments

I’m in love with these Armed with Truth temporary tattoos and I can’t even come up with another eloquent way to introduce them. I LOVE THEM and I want you to love them too!

After seeing them over at ohAmanda.com, I bought them for both me and the girls last month and I’ve had one on nearly every day since.

They last about a week, plenty of time to memorize each one. From their site, their mission is to “make a way to get scripture into your memory bank by allowing you to take advantage of all the micro moments in life.”

I love knowing the girls are walking around with a Scripture literally on them at all times and I truly have used it to memorize them. Plus, tattoo without all the commitment and needles!

“Bind my wandering heart to thee”

I loved wearing that one from their designer pack. Every time I saw it, I was reminded to keep my mind and heart centered around Christ.

And it’s not just girls wearing them. I mean, how awesome does this look on @alexsparks?

The whole entire concept is just rad, ya’ll. RAD. And I don’t even say rad.

And I have some great news just for you!

They have a Father’s Day special going on right now for 20% off! Use coupon code FATHERSDAY2014.

And, and!!

To celebrate the World Cup, they have a missions pack special right now. For every one purchased, they’ll donate the Spanish version to Global Soccer Ministries who use soccer as a way to share the gospel. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

It’s like TOMS for temporary tattoos!

I think I just sold myself on another pack! Whaddya waitin’ for?

This post is not sponsored, but images were used with permission.

Lessons from the Grocery Store

June 11, 2014 by Amy 4 Comments

One of the best homemaking decisions I ever made was to start grocery shopping the same day every week. I wrote a post last year for Money Saving Mom detailing how I do this. I still do it and I still love it. But, for days like Saturday when I was completely overwhelmed, I didn’t go. And yes, it’s meant more eating out this week, especially since it’s the kids’ first week of summer.

Lexi finally looked in the pantry last night and said, “You’ve got to go shopping or we’re going to DIE!”

Ok, y’all, it wasn’t that bad. I mean, I still had edible strawberries in the fridge. But still, it was time to go. But I hate grocery shopping. I remembered, though, how much the girls love doing it—especially the self-checkout line.

So far, I’ve let them go in the store while I waited at the front once or twice for one or two things. I decided since they had a friend over, to make the list a little longer and see if they wanted to tackle it together. They did. Enthusiastically, they did.

So, last night, I sat at the front where Starbucks is to monitor the door, of course, and kept an eye on them as they walked down the aisles while they picked up the essentials. They even ordered meat and cheese from the deli on their own.

As I was sitting at the front, another mom pushed her daughter in a dinosaur-shaped cart into checkout. The little girl started wailing when her mom told her she couldn’t have one of the helium balloons hanging above the gum. The mom stayed cool, kept checking out and eventually the girl stopped crying.

My heart went out for her because how many times did my girls have a fit in the grocery store? Or, my favorite story where Lexi needed a diaper change at checkout and the smell nearly made the young male cashier pass out and he was sure to let me know. Shoot me dead right now, please.

I was sitting there watching this and thinking of all those times I saw grocery shopping with the kids as a distraction to parenting. If I could just never have to do these silly errands and get down to real parenting. I need to teach them values and we need to memorize Scripture!

But, it hit me afresh while I watched my girls scoot around the store with a list, while those serious times are important too, teaching them life skills like grocery shopping is a big part of my job.

Grocery shopping, while painful with little ones, teaches them how to drive the cart on the right side of the aisle, and how to say excuse me, and how not run, and where the coffee is located, and how to budget your money, and how to make good food choices, and how to look for sales. It’s all vital to raising kids. And unfortunately, it happens one un-bought balloon at a time.

I was more committed than ever to not see these chores as a distraction from parenting, but to include the girls in my chores so I can parent them better.

And of course, God wouldn’t let this moment go without parenting me a bit.

He said that’s what I want you to get too—your spiritual life isn’t built just at devotional times or corporate worship. I’m trying to teach you as you grocery shop and wash dishes and do the laundry and go to work.

He wants us to learn to seek him out no matter what we’re doing. He wants to teach us to look for the lonely and lost as we go down aisle 6. He wants us to talk to him while we fold that 3rd load of sheets. He wants us to work as unto him. He wants us to teach us how to speak in love to our spouses.

All of life, not just the dedicated times, is part of the sanctification process.

I was reminded of Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

and Deuteronomy 6:6-7

These commandments I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

All of life, should be interweaved with our faith, not just the set aside times.

And so, all these mundane tasks that I loathed this weekend, now look like opportunities. Not just to teach my kids life skills, but as spiritual acts of worship and opportunities to work out my salvation.

I don’t know that I’ll ever like grocery shopping, but I’m thankful that God can use even that to show me more of him.

Polka Dots and Coronata Stars

June 10, 2014 by Amy 3 Comments

A year and a half ago, I saw this polka dot wall at The Nester’s place. A year ago, I saw the coronata stars in her laundry room and fell in love. Clearly, I move fast when I think I might like something *ahem* because I finally bought some polka dots and coronata star of my own last month from WallsNeedLove.

The Nester put the coronata stars in the smallest room of her house. I chose the ceiling of our toilet room in the master bedroom first, because it’s the smallest of our home and second, because it’s one of the few ceilings without popcorn.

Maybe it isn’t very master bedroom-ish, I don’t know. What I can tell you is they make me happy every morning.

They’re gold and shimmery. I like that they’re hidden in a small part of our house that rarely anyone else sees. It’s like a hidden star display just for us.

As for the polka dots, even though our house isn’t very polka-dot-ish, I couldn’t say no.

I chose the entry way to display them in a starburst pattern.

Again, they make me happy. They shimmer when the light hits them. It’s especially pretty when it’s mostly dark in the house and a lone ray of light hits them just right. I love walking down the hall and seeing the burst. I told Lexi it’s like someone had a handful of glitter and threw it down our wall.

I tried them in a symmetrical pattern, similar to The Nester’s, and also the raining pattern featured on their site, but that table is centered with the hallway and not the wall so it made them both look off.

The starburst pattern certainly is different, but it’s unique and fits the off-centered table and mirror nicely.

Applying them was as easy as peeling and sticking. I did cut them from the sheet first before peeling and taped them up with painter’s tape so I could arrange them first. You have to be careful peeling the backing off the stars so you don’t tear the points but overall, it really couldn’t have been easier. Scott didn’t even help on this one.

Each room was only $12 and the stickers are completely removable. What’s not to love?

Maybe your Walls Need Love? Pin one of the pictures for later?

This post is not sponsored. It just makes me happy. I did mention that, right?