ch. ch. check it out

I'm a Craftster Best of 2012 Winner! that's right folks, you saw it here first. well, unless you are on craftster, then maybe you saw it there first. anyways, it was super exciting to see this popped up on one of my posts from last year, especially on a section of the boards i had little experience in ever posting in.  are you ready for the winner?
yup, the screen printed shirt i made for my dad last christmas was a winner.  guess it is a hint i should bust out that screen print kit i bought again and have a go at it.  i guess my brother can join in the hoorah for partial credit, since he did the original drawing.
original blog post: right hurr
original drawing: here
craftster boards: because you know you want to

pinwheel princess quilt

so since my glorious "2013: the year of..." post, i've made another decision.  within the room cleaning aspect comes the busting of the fabric stash.  so from that, along with my parent's church requesting quilt tops of varying whatever-ness comes this little project of stashbusting quilts.  my goal is for each month to assemble at least one quilt top from fabric within the great box of fabric pieces to create something to be donated to someone else in need.  cuts down my stash, completes a project, goes to someone in need, blog post.  i guess that makes four birds, one stone?  sawheeeet.
this quilt was somewhat already good to go.  i cut the pieces out over four years ago to be a baby shower gift for a friend from high school.  well, it got as far as two triangles being sewn together, and that was that.  in the mass room cleaning, it surfaced again and i decided now was the time.  i completed this in a few weekend hours, and like the result,  the pinwheels went together super easy, though i don't know what i was thinking when i put the pieces together four years ago and used a 1/8" seam allowance...  ugh!
the pink in between the blocks was also from the magic stash box.  i haven't ever gotten things to line up as well as i did on this quilt.  i think that was in part because i trimmed the blocks all down to exact same size before sewing on the pink fabric.  who woulda thunk?  both that fabric and the "princess" parts of the pinwheels have the same glittery star shapes to them.
all in all, i really like how this turned out. next time, i'll use a 1/4" seam allowance the whole time... not 1/8"  and maybe 2 colors of pinwheels instead of 3.  hm.  i don't know.  maybe it all depends on the fabric choices.  but yes, i would repeat a pinwheel quilt.  super easy, totally fun looking, all that jazz.
bragging point: saturday afternoon the boy told me he was on his way home and would be there in 30 minutes.  i told him "ok. i have two more rows to sew, and then i'll head over" and that was it.  no other details to what i did with my day at all.  later on that evening, he asked me if i was talking about "that quilt with the pinwheels" that i showed him a picture of a week before, and followed it up by asking about sewing the layers together so they didn't shift.  ladies, believe it or not, they do listen!  well, at least mine does :)

aileen's avenger purse

my sister wanted a purse for christmas... well, i found that out after planning this, but at least i can say it was something on her list.  her likes have gone in phases.  it was star trek, then it went to avengers, and now it seems like it is on to the hobbit and les mis, but let's focus on the avengers portion.  joanns had a whole bunch of different fabrics, and since i used to make this style purse for craft fairs with lisa, i decided that was what she would get for christmas this year.  a few secret powering through sewing times while she wasn't home, and this bag was DONE.  here it is, in all it's avenging purse glory.
oh i love how simply easy this zipper is to put in. yes i do.
now, if i could only get her to take it out in the world and make all her friends jealous enough to want one of their own. doesn't she know she's supposed to be my walking advertisement? sheesh. what good is she?

2013: the year of...

oh 2013. you began just a week ago, but it feels like its been forever. where to begin with what i plan to do with you.  such potential, you could be a lot of things, like...
the year i try new things.
the boy gives me a hard time about my dislike of sushi.  well i'm not a fan of fish... and raw fish creeps me out.  maybe this year, i'll let him help me find something i like... or at least that i'm bare enough to try.
maybe i want to try to learn a new skill.  i still have the "teach yourself to knit" kit i bought way back when.  have i taught myself to knit?  no way, jose.  i guess i will just need to give in and say to someone "teach me your ways" and call it a day.  or maybe erika and i will finally take that second cake decorating class...  five years later.
the year i get back in to shape
i know at least one of you are thinking "oh but emily, you are so skinny!!"
yeah, but just because i'm 5'11" and proportionate doesn't mean that i don't get winded after climbing a flight of stairs.  i've been debating year in and year out (basically since i quit my gym membership in 2011)  about starting at a cheaper place.  well, the cheaper gym has been found, but now i just need to man up and sign up.
the year i save more spend less
yeah, so far so good.  i've been a lot better at my spending habits than i have in years past.  like, WAY better.  on top of that, the boy and i have set a "we want to go to disneyland together" goal of putting $20 a month aside for said disneyland trip in the future.  that has helped already with a mindset of remembering to set that aside, well... because i love disneyland.  'nuff said.  plus, there are bigger (and pricier) things that i know my future holds, which fall under the "more important than a new shirt" category.
the year i make a clean sweep
yep.  clean sweep as in out with the old for plenty of room for the new. (this is where the blog photo makes a little more sense)  this past week i have thrown out 3 dozen old roses, a vase of balloon shards, 7 wrist corsages, countless numbers of test prints from photography classes, a bazillion cd cases, and so much more.  i think this might just be the biggest room cleaning over haul i have done in my entire life.  throwing things away & donating stuff without remaining emotionally attached to them has been rough, but i'm already amazed with how much more space i have in my closet.  if i keep this up, i will have so much less stuff to deal with down the line when moving forward to the next steps in life. besides, random things i find that amuse me but don't get to stay have already been documented forever on instagram.
the year i blog more
no seriously, its a goal.  which in turn, will hopefully help me craft more this year, do more memorable things, and just straight up want to document more.  i was recently going through old writings from a few years back, and really wish i had done a better job at documenting things here and there.  maybe 2013 will bring day trips, adventures around this area, and all that jazz.  and when i say maybe, i really mean please and thank you.
the year i do all that and more
no seriously.  i'm hoping to make a lot of this year.  2012 was pretty excellent, so hopefully 2013 will be super duper.  with ice cream and oreo cookies on top.

december flicks & reads

i slacked on all levels this month.  nothing i watched was from my netflix account (which i intend to cancel next month) and no more than one book was read.  oops.  i finished "something blue" with plenty of time to read "something borrowed" in the month... but then the holidays happen.  yeah, i always find an excuse.  i even slacked at instagram-ing movie stubs and such to use..
most of the movies this month were selected by the boy.  4 our of the 7 to be exact. on our trip to chico we watched goldeneye, and he also acquired all the other james bond movies in digital (aka not vhs) format... so now you can see what exactly my future holds.  yep.  probably quite a bit of james bond education.  as far as the rest of his selections went, they were pretty good.  minus eight crazy nights.  i could have lived my whole life without seeing that gem of a cartoon.
as far as les miserables goes, i thought it was pretty well done.  i went in to it not knowing what the story line was, and found myself only confused a little bit here and there.  oh, and i expected a lot more of anne hathaway's charater, since that's basically all you see in the trailer.  so yeah.  i didn't cry like a ton of other people said they did, but i enjoyed it.
basic (2003)
the saint (1997)
goldeneye (1995)
10 things i hate about you (1999)
elf (2003)
les miserables (2012)
eight crazy nights (2002)
so apparently this was the follow up book to "something borrowed"... but i didn't know that and read this one first.  oops.  i still enjoyed the book anyways, despite that fact, and i'm sure i'll enjoy the first one.  i'm finding i really enjoy this author's writing style, so you'll probably see more of her books on my "reads" posts in the coming year.
something blue - emily giffin
in other news, here are some links to follow me on various social-ish sites
instagram
twitter
goodreads
have a fun, fantastic & safe new years eve, and i'll be back in 2013!

2012 - a look back

wow.  so hard to believe that 2012 has already come and gone in such a short feeling amount of time.  i swear this year went by faster than years before.  of course, i'm sure i will be saying the same thing at the end of 2013.  and i guess it is a good thing that the mayans were wrong about the world ending.  at least i would have gone out with a bang!  here is a brief look back at little things here and there in 2012!
january
new logo for freeze frame
bridesmaid dress shopping
february
disney on ice
wppi
march
benny & the jets formation
flash mobbed it up in SF
kasey's visit from germany
april
lunch time meet up with mrs blake
erika's first bridal shower
march of dimes
baby shower for jessi & adam
may
erika's second bridal shower
met wayne brady
jenny turned 24
erika's first dress fitting
june
erika's bachelorette party
watched my best friend get married <3
dance recital
sushi & fro yo for chris's birthday
kicked off the benny & the jet's chevy's birthday celebration with andrea turning 20
july
headed to reno
floated the river, resulting in a ferocious sunburn
state fair shows
lisa left for colorado... boooooo
august
stephanie's "benny & the jets" chevy's birthday
first date: august 10th.
country in the park
napa trip with jenny to see colin mochrie & brad sherwood
granddad's early 90th birthday celebration
september
kelcey's a little bit late birthday celebration
gold county fair
jelly belly factory
half moon bay
super hero bowling night
farewell to stephanie as she leaves for college
the end of late night driving back and forth to grass valley
october
10 years since stephi & kristiana passed away
the boy turned 27
band spectacular
november
first date, revisited
folsom band competition
birthday celebrations
the me turned 24, and had a job interview on my birthday
the boy also took me to chevy's for my birthday
got the job, and proceeded to work from 3am-noon on black friday... yay.
december
erika joined me in the ranks of being 24
had my first chico experience
four varieties of christmases this year.  yep. mom's side, our family, dad's side, and the boy's family
saw snow for the first time in years.  and was promptly hit with a snowball
old fashioned photos with the wilhelm clan
leatherbys, before josh was sent off to the circus

november flicks & reads

my internet has been pretty wonky the past week or so, which makes quite a few things more difficult than the really should be.  surprisingly, this is only a few days late versus the few weeks the past couple months have been.  november was a pretty productive movie going month for me, being at the theaters three times. not too shabby.  especially that they were two matinees and a bargain price tuesday ticket.
i think the weirdest of all the movies i saw this month was numb.  i don't even know where to begin on that one, besides that it's not the normal matthew perry that i'm so used to seeing on tv week after week.  don't knock it till you see it though!
little miss sunshine (2006)
crazy/beautiful (2001)
julie & julia (2009)
wreck-it ralph (2012)
the five-year engagement (2012)
skyfall (2012)
numb (2007)
silver linings playbook (2012)
honestly, i forgot i even read a book this month since i finished it way back at the beginning of the month.  then followed that up by checking out two books from the library and not opening a single one of them.  well, this lovely read was very typical of the jodi picoult books i have read in the past.  random, unexpected things happening at every given moment.  though this one wasn't the easiest read.  i feel like it jumped around quite a bit and was a little confusing at times.  if you decide to pick it up and give it a read, i wish you the best and would love to hear your thoughts on it!
perfect match - jodi picoult