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.

Simply Exhausted..

I dont know what it is

I feel like no matter how much

I finish or work on, nothing is ever

Accomplished.

Im not sure that even makes sense but

gowing up, people have always said,

"oh senior year is so much fun, and its such a joke!"

What the heck were they thinking?!

This is what I think when I hear people talk

of an easy senior year.

Seriously.

Senior year is anything but easy.. 

Dont get me wrong, there are fun times 

and there have been many memories made but 

this has literally been the most difficult year of school.

 I spend hours upon hours after school doing homework each night.

Its hard for me to stay motivated when people think

that I just slack off and do nothing.. 

Sometimes when they tell me that, I ask myself

 what the point of working so hard is.. 

Because if they think im doing nothing, 

then whats the point of working for five hours each night on homework

 if they never believe you?? Whats the point?

Its hard because I feel so distant from friends because

 they are also doing hours and hours of homework every night.

Its hard because Emily and Krista are hundreds of miles away.. 

Its hard because even though things should be winding down, 

things just keep piling up.. 

Nothing is ever enough. 

Its hard because I dont know how to say no to something or someone,

so I just say yes to every opportunity presented to me.

Its hard because im growing up.. 

In a few months im gonna leave home and start my life on my own..

Its hard because I dont wanna leave home fighting with my mom.

Sometimes I think thats all we ever do anymore.. I absolutely hate it.

Its hard. 

I dont want to send out the false message that senior year isnt a great time in your life.. 

Because it should be, and it is.

 Its fun and should be lived up to everything it can be. 

But I also dont want to put out the message that its a breeze.

 Because like I said earlier, it has literally been

 one of the hardest years of my life.. Emotionally, physically, and mentally.

As I lay in bed at night,

I am simply exhausted. 

With all this being said, I am extremely grateful that I am a senior and

that it is my last semester of high school.

I am grateful that in the stress of it all, I still have my older brother Jesus Christ 

and my Father in Heaven right by my side..

Crying, laughing, and stressing with me always no matter what.

I am grateful to know that, because if I didnt, im not sure I would be able to

do even a fourth of the things I do.

I know Him. I love Him. And I need Him.. In all things.

I am grateful that it is finally my turn to graduate,

and to start life in college.

I'm ready.. So bring it on.

[121 DAYS UNTIL GRADUATION]

Busy Busy Busy...

Its not too far from the truth to say that

this last two weeks have been some of the longest and challenging weeks

 I have had in a really long time...

As they have been beyond crazy weeks!

 The week started off bittersweet on Sunday,

 being the day after Emily left to get back to Arizona..

 But also a great day at church. I got a calling. 

I am the young womens music coordinator, 

which is the same thing i was in the gleneagle ward. 

Ive started off running as new beginnings is just around the corner

 in just a few short weeks (well now its only a few days away..)

 Caylee and Sisister Hubert came over for dinner, they come over a lot on Sundays.

 I love seeing them so much.

 Sunday night I woke up in the middle of night sicker than a dog!

 I havent been that sick since Carissa's wedding.

 I threw up four times! 

Luckily there was a snow day on the last day of school last semester,

 and thank goodness I took my last final early, because I 

would not have been able to go to school on Monday. 

Nauseous anytime i even sat up.

 Heat and cold flashes.

 Migraine.

 And my body completely exhausted.

 I lost 7 pounds in less than 24 hours.. I have never

 lost that much from being sick.

 Tuesday I had to go school because I have an entirely full schedule this semester.

 I am also in a quintet for the talent show and our audition was that was later that afternoon.

 Music doesnt usually come hard to me and that afternoon in rehearsal,

 everything was going wrong.

 I missed things in the dance, and my part was all over the place..

I was ready to just walk out then and there.

 Ha in fact I did, in tears.

 Ha but i am grateful that Joy Owen came after me to calm me down,

 and convinced me to still do it.

 It was a pretty rough audition... Although we still managed to get call backs

which are this upcoming Wednesday, lets hope this one goes better. 

Haha - I went home that night to hours of APES homework waiting for me.

It was my fault though because I had put off my project all break long.

Feeling overwhelmed from everything going on,

 I actually cried myself to sleep that night... 

That was when I actually got to bed at 2:58AM.

Wednesday morning came all too quickly! 

And so did the dreaded debate.

 Which to my surprise, was an absolute blast!!

As the representative of Brazil, we cannot meet the expectation of 10445

 by sustaining zero population by the year 2025. 

I think the debate went great. I still wasn't feelin so hot,

 so it was a pretty long day.. 

I skipped young womens that night because of the hours

 of homework that I somehow already managed to be assigned.

Thorsday was another long day at school,

followed by an hour and a half long voice lesson.

Although the time seems to go by fast, 

my voice is exhausted by the time were done.

On Friday, I had a test in economics over the class syllabus..

The test was 7 pages long. But the syllabus was only 2..

Confused how that one worked out?? I was too. Haha

On Saturday, I spent the entire day at Panera Bread with Sarah Nelson,

and worked on math the entire time. 

 Of course we laughed all afternoon about everything. 

I love spending time with her, even if we have to do homework at the same time.

Its kind of hard to tell, but the two outlets that are in the wall by tables were taken, 

so the manager let use one that was in the ceiling. 

It was so funny.

This last Sunday was another bittersweet day.

Anna Lee turned 18 years old! WOO! 

I am so grateful that she came into my life.

Im not sure where I would be without her. 

She is always so kind, and thinking of others.

And she is always to patient with me, 

and for that I am so grateful.

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY ANNA!!! :)

Also on Sunday,

Michael Baker gave his farewell talk. 

Ashley Rogers and I met there and sat together.

He went into the MTC on Wednesday.. 

I am so proud of him!

He is going to be an excellent missionary and

do incredible things. 

Good Luck Elder Baker. 

See you in two years!

(Kind of a funny story, he has always teased me about getting married really young,

and one of the last things he said to me was, "Hey Stace, dont forget to me a wedding announcement!" 

Haha sometimes that kid.. but seriously. Im not gonna get married in less than two years.

Ive got places to be and things to do and people to meet! Ha)

This last week has been just as stressful.

Monday, was a busy day at school, followed by about four hours at

Panera working on math. Then I had to write a paper for

 APES (AP Environmental Science).

[The bittersweet thing about APES is that, you can turn anything in at any point

during the semester for full credit... thus resulting me continuing to push it lower and lower

on the list of prioties,, simply because I can turn in whenever and still get the same grade.]

So truth be told, my paper still is not finished.. thank goodness its a three day weekend.

Tuesday, was just as busy, between voice and homework.

Wednesday, I went to school but got checked out for physical therapy.

It turns out that my back has actually gotten worse,

so instead of just follow up appointments

my physical therapist has me coming in 2-3 times a week.

He has started me on tens unit.

This is similar to the one that I use at home.

But basically what it does, 

is after I put the sticky things on my back,

and turn it on, it sends electric shocks through my nerves.

Its such a weird feeling!

I like using the one that they have at physical

therapy because I lay down on this extremely hot

pad.. a wet heating pad.

And that helps to calm and relax my back as

the tens unit sends the shocks through my nerves.

I like the one that they have at PT better than the one

that I have at home. The one at home

just doesnt seem to be as strong. 

But I still have to do it everyday that I dont

have physical therapy for 15 minutes.

It does help my back feel looser for a period of time

which is nice.

I told my mom after the first time of using it that I felt like

a pool noodle. Ya know when you can bend a pool noodle but it always

returns to it's straight form?

That's what I felt like after about a half hour of being done with the tens unit.

Although, right after being done, my back feels like a pasta noodle that has just been cooked.

Haha I cant stand up or even sit up straight or anything

because my back feels so loose.

After physical therapy, 

my mom and ran to kind soopers so I could get a flu shot. 

We had to run a few other errands as well,

and I convinced my mom to let me skip the rest of the day.

As crazy as it sounds, after using the tens unit, my body

is exhausted. And its weird because all I have to do is lay there.

Anyways, I worked on homework for a while before I would have to go

back to the school for our talent show callbacks.

But the music (CD) that we ordered was supposed to be here by

Wednesday at 2:00pm.

And it wasnt here! It was still in Utah.

We paid $20 extra dollars to have it here by wednesday and it didnt come.

Thankfully, Mrs.Keating and the Emcee's had sympathy for us and we were able to work it out

so we are doing our callbacks on tuesday right after school.

AND the company that we ordered from gave us our money back for the shipping because they messed it up, which was nice of them. 

After figuring the whole thing out, I headed back to panera to continue doing homework.

That nice was young womens and I honestly havent had that much fun at

young womens in a really long time.

We laughed so hard I was crying. I love my laurel class and my laurel leaders.

They are so great. :)

Thorsday was just like any other day,

except I was up until 2:30 working on this huge theatre project that was due on Friday.

A proposal for the project, a creative way of presenting it and a research paper to go with it.

I thought that there was no way it was gonna be worth spending so long on it and staying up so late,

but it was because my group decided to do my proposal!

We will be doing the Japanese story of "The Stonecutter".

I missed English again on Friday because I had another Physical therapy appointment.

 And it was like an hour and a half appointment!

And let me tell ya. 

It was no fun.. and pretty painful.

Friday night, I worked early for the Lameroux's and

they got home around 7:00ish,

so I called Sarah Lyman and

her and her little sister Rebecca came over and we played the train game

and watched The Help.

They had never seen it before but Sarah had read the book before. 

They really liked the movie.

It was so fun to have them over and to catch up with them.

Im so grateful to have such great friends.

This morning I was able to sleep in, and it felt so good to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Well, I should get back to doing math.. I usually do about 4 hours a day.

I am almost done! So close and yet still so far away!

I have the goal to be completely done with all of the units by a week from today!

So then all I will have to do is take the final!

Wish me luck!

Done?? Never.

These days time is just flying faster than I can keep up.

But I have absolutely loved having the entire week off from school.

It truly is a blessing to have that much time off of work.

This week, being Thanksgiving, I have been extremely grateful for the things in my life.

I am extremely blessed to have an amazing family. 

And that we were all able to be together for Thanksgiving. Without them I would be lost.

They are my rock.

Through the tears, the laughs,

the teasing, the fighting, the hard times, happy times,

all times, all things, all places.

They are there.

I am grateful for the technology that we have

so that even when we are far away from each other,

we are just a call, text, or a call on skype away.

Im so grateful I can do that with my good friends like Emily too.

I am grateful that when I get on facebook,

I have so many friends recieving their

mission calls.

I am so excited for them,

and cannot wait until its my turn

to open that big envelope

requesting my effort to serve wherever 

the Lord wants me to go.

I am grateful for the gospel.

[I never finished this post, but I still wanted to post it... And thinking about it, there are so many things that I am grateful for that I dont think this post could ever really be "done". So here it is.]

Just Far Enough..

In the last couple of months

I have been feeling really overwhelmed.

The idea of college and now a mission just around the corner

are really scary to me.

Growing up, I have always wanted to serve a mission.

With no doubt.

But the mission was always

"One day, im gonna go a mission",

and now its

"I can go on a mission in less than a year!"

Crazy..

For a really long time,

I knew what I was gonna do after high school.

I had a plan.

I would graduate from high school,

go to cosmetology school, and then

work in a salon somewhere until I turned 21,

go on my mission,

come home and go to BYU - Idaho
to get my degree in Music Education
and eventually open up my own private voice studio
and teach private lessons..

That was the plan.
For a really long time.
But let me tell ya.
If you if you wanna see how Heavenly Father's
sense of humor works,
tell Him your plans
because He will mix them all up!

So like I said the last couple of months have been crazy overwhelming.
I knew that I wanted to serve a mission, go to cosmetology school, and get a degree in Music Ed.
But in what order do I do them??
I had a really hard time with the whole thing.
When I would pray about it, the answer I would get was
that they were all good choices.
When talking to the Bishop and my parents and other leaders they told me that I should just
pick one and if it wasnt the right thing for me, then He would let me know.

The number of friends that knew their plan for fall
continued to multiply..
I felt like everyone knew what they were doing except for me.
I felt like I could see graduation,
and everyone going to school in the fall.
But what I was going to do was just far enough out of my reach and sight
that I could get to it, or even know what it was.

After many talks with my parents, the bishop and other leaders, friends,
and lots of time on my knees talking my Heavenly Father,
I have decided to go to Cosmetology school in the fall.
I would love to go to a school called Evans.

I really want to go to the one in Rexbrug Idaho.

I still want to be in the church atmosphere as well as the

college atmosphere.

Hopefully I will have my application in by the end of the week

with my fingers crossed that I get in! :)

Evan's is a year long program.

Once im done,

I would love to serve a mission.

And after completing that,

I would love to go get my degree

in Music Ed..

But I guess we will just have to wait and see what 

my Heavenly Father has in store for me!

This video is called "Good Things To Come"

I love this video. 

Especially when he says,

"Don't you quit... You keep walking."

So even though the past few months have been so difficult,

I know that my Heavenly Father is aware of me

and has a specific plan for me.

He has humbly reminded me that He can see the bigger picture

and that even though I am scared and nervous for the future,

He will be there every step of the way.

and that I need to continue forward,

even if im walking blind.

He will lead and guide me.

And that, my dear friends, as I keep walking, is extremely comforting.