And I'm done!!

If you check your calendars I think you'll notice that today is November 30th, which means that November and NaBloPoMo is over! This month rushed by, but each day I did manage to post something.

The first seven days I did Pomegranate Week, the next set of seven I did Font Week, then I raved about my favorite reads for Book Week, and finally I posted random crap for the rest of the month.

Now I'll go back to the regular posting amount, but with the addition of "Filler Friday" which will be on any topic (not craft related for the most part). That way I'll be posting 3 times a week and not clogging up your RSS feed with my yammering.

An Hour at Unviersal

Today I went down to Orlando for a decorations committee meeting for Infinitus (an upcoming Harry Potter symposium), and since Heather and I didn't have to be there until 2pm we decided to go to Universal Studios for an hour or two. We both have annual passes but don't go to Universal or Islands of Adventure as much as we should, so we hadn't even been on Universal's new ride: The Hollywood Rip Ride Rock It. This morning was as good as any so, despite the estimated 75 minute wait time, we got in the line.

The ride was really great, but the music selection was a bit crappy. When I got home though, I found something really exciting! Apparently there is an entire catalog of "bonus/hidden tracks" for the coaster. I'm really looking forward to my next ride on it so I can try it out! Below is a video for how the hidden tracks work and if you click through to the video page you can see a full list of identified tracks.




While waiting in line for the Hollywood Rip Ride Rock It there was a short Kanye West segment (one of his songs is selectable for the ride) and I couldn't help but think of the Kanye Interrupts meme and the fact that the week before I went to Sea World and got to ride their new coaster Manta (which was amazing). I pretty much had to make this -

Tetris Song!

My sister Laci forced me to watch this video because she thought I would like it. I liked it very much and it is so true. Right after watching it I went and played tetris on my DS for a while. :P

Fantastical Find Friday!

I love Urban Threads! Their embroidery patterns are some of the best and I am constantly wishing for more time so I could stitch them. Actually, I have done a couple of their patterns and liked them a bunch.

These ones are amazing though! I LOVE these so very much. There are all sorts of cute skulls for every occupation and interest. Click through the image to visit the site!

Happy Turkey Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy slapsgiving! Hope all of the slaps you gave landed hard!

Millipedes, Spiders, and SCORPIONS!

I hate bugs. I hate spiders. I hate all things that are creepy and crawly. If it is skittering across the floor you can bet that I am either screaming or attempting to kill it. I live in Florida, so you can bet that I do a lot of screaming (not in a good way, in an OMFG KILL IT way). I grew up in Idaho: land of zero bugs. I remember mosquitoes, lady bugs, potato bugs, and the occasional teeny spider (which I made a big deal of). I didn't even realize how horrifying skittering insects could be. In 2003, shortly after we moved to Florida, I was putting on a pair of tennis shoes and they didn't fit just right. I was thinking that there was something in them, like a piece of paper or some sock lint, but I was so horribly wrong. As I was reaching in to grab it, it grabbed me back! I pulled my hand out very fast and saw there was a millipede holding onto my finger for dear life.

Another notable bug experience was early 2008 while using the sewing table. I looked down and saw a spider that had to be near the size of my hand (see the blurry picture above, I didn't dare get close to it). That is the biggest spider I have ever seen in Florida.

The picture to my left is of a spider that was right outside the front door of the house. I was literally frozen in place because I was so scared. That spider was probably about the size of my palm.

But none of these stories even come close to the horror I experienced tonight while trying to put some laundry in the washer. There I am just pulling out a pair of pants from the bottom of my hamper and I see something. That something was a 3" long scorpion. This scorpion has been in my laundry hamper for at least 1 week and a half under all of my clothes. It has been there, which means that at some point in time it was crawling on my wall, crawling all over tall surfaces, or even CRAWLING ON ME!!



I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack. I cannot believe there was a scorpion in my laundry!As soon as I screamed about it, the entire family rushed in with cameras and we had a mini photoshoot with a scorpion that was skittering across the garage floor.

Talk to me Tuesday: Merlin's Most Baggy Y-Fronts

Things Mentioned:

• http://www.getonmyhorse.com/
  
• Horse Embroidery
  
• Y-front Quilt
  
• Rock Creek Quilts
  
• Batiks on Black

Crafty Monday / Music Monday

I thought I would combine both Crafty Monday and Music Monday because this week I want to show off a craft that is inspired by one of the most amazing songs ever.

First off, the song - http://getonmyhorse.com/

After listening to this for many, many hours I decided that I must craft the awesome horse. I figured embroidery would be a quick and fun craft, so I got to working on it. I printed the horse design directly onto the fabric (super easy tutorial here if you want to try it) and started stitching. It was my first time using the split stitch and I think I'll be using that stitch much more often. it turned out very nice.

I think I had this project banged out in a matter of hours and it turned out very nice. I will definitely be doing more embroidery in the future!

My Y-Front Quilt!!

So it isn't Crafty Monday, but who cares? I have my quilt back!

Over a year ago Jennifer Ofenstein posted a pattern for Merlin's Y-fronts on Sewhooked.org. I immediately fell in love with the pattern and thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if..."

And over a year later my thought is finally a reality! I made all 35 10"x10" blocks before 2008 ended and then left them in a box until October of this year when I decided that I had to get this quilt made. I got some fabric and started sewing the blocks together. I did not have the equipment or skill to quilt it myself, so Shannon S of Rock Creek Quilts was recommended to me to contact for quilting services. You can see her progress pictures here. As soon as I was done I sent it to her and I got it back in the mail yesterday!

I am absolutely proud of this quilt, you can't even believe. I am amazed that I was able to do so many blocks and that they actually turned into something!!





on my parents bed because their king size was the only one it would fit on








And I made a pillow to go with it. The main color on the pillow is the fabric I used for the sashing and the back panel is the back of my quilt. All of the scraps on the pillow are scraps from the y-fronts!



I also scanned all of the individual blocks and they can be viewed here

Book Week: Young Adult

Today I'll be going to Seaworld and I'm taking my current self to drive, my inner child to frolic around and squee about animals, my immature 12-year-old sense of humor (to snicker at bulgy divers in the dolphin show), but I'm leaving behind my teenage self. She can stay behind because I know she was kind of a snot and would pretend like she wasn't having the time of her life. While I've left her at home, she can enjoy some of the greatest young adult books. There are a lot in this post, so brace yourself (and grab a pen to write these down!).

The first is one that not many people I know have read. It is the Sweep series by Cate Teirnan. There are 15 books, but I only suggest reading the first 14. If I could unread book 15 I would. The series is about a young girl finding the Wiccan religion and going through all sorts of crazy things. Each book is really short and can be read in just a few hours. I haven't read these since I started my book blog (but as soon as my TBR pile is down I think I'll read them), so the link goes to the book description on the author's site.






The next series I want to talk about is a fairly new one and one that is generating a fair amount of buzz. It is the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. So far there are only two books but they are just phenomenal. I cannot wait for the next one in this series. The author is absolutely brilliant. The link on these images (and the rest of the links in the post) go to my book review lj.




The next series is one that I have loved for many years, and was lucky enough to have met the author at Dragon*Con a few years ago (and don't worry, I stayed true to form and made an idiot of myself in front of her). The books are from the Modern Tale of Faerie line (I won't go as far to call them a series because the 2nd book published isn't a part of it, but is kind of intertwined with the other two) by Holly Black. I absolutely adore these books and they are a nice, short read. I think every teen should read them (or maybe just the first two).




The Wake series by Lisa McMann is another series that everyone should read. I love the books and cannot wait until the 3rd is released (only 3 more months!). Wake is about a girl who gets sucked into the dreams of others. If that isn't enough to make you want to read it, I don't know what else I can say. Well...other than the series is mostly made up of awesomesauce.




You didn't think I was going to have this entire week be full of female authors? Oh you did? Yeah, me too, but I decided to talk about a series that I absolutely loved for silly reasons. It is the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. Because I'm lazy I'm just going to paste this here as temptation: "Uglies is set in a world in which everyone has an operation when they turn sixteen, making them supermodel beautiful. Big eyes, full lips, no one fat or skinny. You might think this is a good thing, but it’s not. Especially if you’re one of the Smokies, a bunch of radical teens who’ve decided they want to keep their own faces. (How anti-social of them.)"



So that is all for Book Week. I really hope you have enjoyed it. I know I have! Now I'm going to go to bed because I need to be awake in less than 3 hours.

Book Week: Psy/Changlings

As exhibited by my vampire post earlier this week, I'm a sucker for paranormal romance. This one is a bit futuristic and a whole lot of awesome. The Psy/Changling series by Nalini Singh is one of my most favorites. The Psy race have extrodinary powers but are trained to be emotionless while the Changling race can transform into animals and are warm and loving. I absolutely love reading about confused Psy trying to get a handle on emotions and about the crazy and wild Changling packs dealing with being around the colder race.

If you are looking for a series that will make you grin and laugh and get caught up in the action, I suggest you read this one!