Super Easy T-Shirt Quilt!

A few months ago our laurel class was talking about 

ideas that we would wanna do for our weekly activities,

and one of our ideas was to make t-shirt quilts.

Little did we know at the time,

just how awesome our leaders were.

Before we knew it, 

we were getting all of the materials that we needed to start 

our quilts.

It is so much easier than it looks!

The only materials you need are:

- t-shirts

- low loft quilters batting

- basting spray

-masking tape

and a sewing machine!

So here's how to do it:

1. Cut your tshirts into

12x12 inch sqaures.

2. Arrange them in the order you want them in.

(mine was 6x6 feet)

3. Measure your backing and batting.

(I just ran to target and got a full sized flannel sheet for my backing,

making it easy and avoids having to sew pieces together. 

It was plenty big enough, and nice and warm!)

Leave 2 extra inches of backing on every side of the quilt.

4. Spray the basting spray on the backing in sections and place your batting on smooth.

5. Sew each row (except the middle) together.

The middle has to be sewn directly on the quilt.

To sew each row together, take one square facing up, then the neighboring 

square on top of it but facing down. Tape the two squares together along the edge of the tape.

Take the tape off, and open the two squares. Repeat for each square in the row.

6. One by one, sew the rows directly onto the quilt.

Do the same thing you did when sewing each individual square together,

but do it for the entire row horizontally instead of vertically. Take the tape off.

Spray the basting spray on the batting, and pull your t-shirts flat, avoiding awkward bumps

in your quilt.

7.  Now all the rows should be sewn on horizontally,

so now each column (sewing veritcally between each column).

8. Cut all the excess batting around the edges of the quilt.

But dont cut the excess backing!

9. Fold the backing over evenly twice and sew the whole edging down.  

10. Sew knots every four inches in each square to help keep the batting in place.

Here is my finished quilt!

It covers my queen sized bed!
I love it, I love it, I love it!!

So, when explaining how to make it,

it seems like a lot of work. 

But my entire 6x6 foot quilt took me maybe 8 to 9 hours total.

I'm also not very good at explaining things without being able give you visuals as examples.

I wish I took more pictures..

But I am helping Ashley make one right now, so I will

have to take pictures and put together a video to put up for ya.

This was such a fun project and super easy!
So easy, that I did it all by myself!
Sure, the shirts dont line up perfectly, and the sewing may not be perfectly straight,
but I think thats what gives it character.
Wouldn't you agree??

So overall, I feel really good about it.

Even though cutting up some of my t-shirts was difficult,
this way I can have them forever!

This was an awesome project to do, as im finishing up the last couple months
of school before graduation.

It's a pretty cool thing to see all of the things I have done all smashed onto a quilt.
And to see how putting small and simple things like t-shirts together,
can make great things like a quilt be made!
I am grateful that I have been so blessed to have so many amazing opportunities
the past couple of years and to take so many great memories away from those experiences.

PROOF.

You know its pretty cool how

 doin a whole lot of nothing can actually bring you a whole lot of happiness.

Tonight Ashley Miller and I were gonna go bowling,

 so we headed to Brunswick zone and it was a

 forever long wait!

 Like an hour and a half long wait! For bowling!

 Crazy right?!

 So we decided that,

aint nobody got time for that and headed back to to the car.

 Once we got in the car, we didnt have any idea of what to do.

 But earlier she had told me of some things that had happened

 earlier in the weekend and how our friend Meghan was really upset about it,

 so we decided to go kidnap her for an adventure!

 The funny part is that neither one of us knew where she lived.

 But luckily, I remembered that our friend Alex takes her to school everyday,

so we asked him for directions. (Which by the way, were awful directions! Haha)

Anyways, we werent sure if Meghans parents were gonna

mad if two girls showed up at their house,

at 10:00 at night to kidnap their daughter.

So we tried to get a hold of her and we couldnt so

we just decided to 

follow Alex's directions to the best of our ability.

Haha eventually, 

Meghan had called us back and we got much better directions

and successfully kidnapped her.

Our next problem being that we had no idea what to do.

So we decided to just drive.

We ended up at walmart, 

still not knowing what to do.

So after walking through practically the entire store,

we ended up in the scrapbooking area,

and we sat there for over an hour looking at all of the 

Smash Books and all the cool supplies and stuff to make them.

I already had one, because I got one for Christmas from 

Carissa and Kyle,

and I absolutely loovee it!

Ashley and Meghan ended up getting books and other supplies for them.

So even though we just sat there, we had tons of fun 

just laughing and talking.

Saturday night is PROOF of how you dont need 

drugs and alcohol to have fun.

Just clean fun. 

[Well, the walmart floor wasn't that clean.]

But the fun was.

So even though we didnt do anything besides just sit on 

the floor of the walmart floor,

it was a great night and 

im so grateful we did it because

the three of us became closer. 

I sure do love those girls

and I am so grateful that we share the same standards.

A Little Pep Talk

"A Pep Talk from Kid President to You"

I absolutely love this video..

It is so funny!

Given my last post,

I think this is the perfect way to come back from

that last one because it was pretty 

depressing..

But its what I was going through..

A hard time.

But sometimes, 

we all just need a little pep talk.

To have people tell us that "your gooder than that."

And that's exactly what I got these last couple of weeks.

I am so grateful for the pep talk that my Heavenly Father has given to me.

My pep talk started out with

New Beginnings.

What a stress it was, trying to pull a few musical numbers together

with such a short time of being called as 

the young womens music coordinator.

But we did it!

As a special musical number we had about 12 girls sing

"Stand In A Holy Place" by Jenny Phillips

which had beautiful solos and gradually built to everyone in the group singing,

and the song ended by having one beehive sing the last line

"When your standing in a Holy Place"

It was seriously so beautiful.

For the closing song all the young women came up and sang our

2013 theme song

"Standing In Holy Places"

That song truly has so much power.

The lyrics are really strong to me.

We were then asked to sing the theme song,
"Standing In Holy Places"
for the Skate Priesthood meeting.
its not very common that women get asked to do that.
So it was a really cool experience for me.

I was also presented with the opportunity to give away a Book of Mormon!
I gave it to Sarah.
The prompting to give it to her was so strong.
I hope that one day she will decide to read something from it
and allow it to bless her life like I know it can. :)

For our mutral activity during the week,
the laurels are making tshirt quilts.
I am so excited to get all my tshirts from high school on there.
As I have cut my shirts,
it has been really cool for me to reflect back on
not only the things that I have done,
but also who I am, and how I became that over the past four years.
(I will have to post a picture as soon as I finish it. I have got the hard part out of the way.)
I am grateful for all of the opportunities I have had during high school.
What an incredible time in our lives that
we, myself included, take for granted when we are truly
blessed with so much.
So the tshirt quilts have definitely been a really cool thing for me to do.
Speaking of young womens,
I love my laurel class!
Im not sure what the best way to describe it would be,
but in the Gleneagle Ward I never felt like I fit in.
Almost like I was the odd ball out.
It may seem crazy,
but I really did struggle in that ward.
So the new ward has been a really great move for me.
I absolutely love the young women, especially the laurels.
I am so grateful for my awesome leaders,
Sister Johnson and Sister Rogers.
Gosh, they are amazing women. And always happy.
Shoot. Sometimes Sister Rogers and I just laugh and laugh.
I love having her as my leader.
Girls Camp would be so much fun with her!

This last weekend I finally finished math!!
Seriously, there were times when I really struggled and did not think it was worth it.
But it definitely was!
I am so grateful for the technology so easily available for me
to take that class online and to be done with it before
rehearsal for the musical started..
I love not even having to stress about it.
It seemed like even if I got so much other homework
done, it was never enough because I had so much math to finish.
So with less than 24 hours left to spare,
I finished math.
One day before rehearsal!
[Mom, I told you I could do it!]

Rehearsal started yesterday,
and boy do I have a whole lot of work to do!
I am excited that we have finally started!
I can definitely see some very long days ahead of me.
But lets get this show on the road!
Im so excited, its gonna be a great show.
And I am especially grateful to be leaving with a bang,
ya know?
Its finally my turn to shine as a lead.
I still cannot even tell you how grateful I am
play Ida. Such a blessing.
I am grateful for my talents that God has given me
so that I could participate so heavily in choir and theatre.

And last but most certainly not least.
I got accepted to BYU- Idaho!
WOO WOO!!
You are probably thinking,
"What the?! I thought you were gonna go to Cosmetology school?!"
And if you are,
then you are right.
That has been my plan.
It may sound awful but part of me was hoping that
I didnt get into BYUI because if I didnt,
I would know that Cosmetology was the right thing for me..
But now I have to choose!
I cant help but wonder..
what if I got into BYUI because I need to be there for some reason.
Gosh. Can you tell that I have absolutely no idea
what the heck im doing??
Cause I dont.
My plan has once again been mixed up
like croutons in a tossed salad.
[Sorry, that was a really awful analogy.. but I thought it was hilarious..Hahaha]
Anyways,
I am grateful to have been accepted.
It is a great opportunity and option to keep open.

I am so excited to see where my life goes in the next couple of months.
I know that Heavenly Father knows what he's doing.
Even if sometimes were thinking

I dont know about you but that happens to me alot.
But I am grateful that my Heavenly Father knows me and
so freely gives me the blessings that I need,
even if that blessing is a trial.
So I may have another couple of really awful days or weeks,
but my Father in Heaven would never give me anything that I cant
handle. And He is there for me always, and the blessings soon will come.
In patience, and His time they will come.