My Friend Keith

My best friend in High School was Keith Shumway. He was an amazing guy and so much fun to be around. He had this great smile that was so contagious and could make even the worst of days seem not so bad. I called him Fathead, and he called me Fathead. I can't remember why, but it was always something that we did.

He was such a great friend. He helped me through many hard times in my life, and I'm eternally grateful for his friendship. He was always supportive of me no matter what. We ran track together. We had every single class together our senior year. It was so much fun! When I came home from Ecuador, it was hard adjusting to life here. I remember calling him crying, and he walked me through all the great things I had to be grateful for. It helped me so much.

He would constantly practice Spanish with me. He served a two year mission in Mexico as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served with all his might. He truly loved the Lord and gave 100 percent in everything he did. His mother passed away while he was on his mission and I remember how strong he was. He didn't come home early but served out his two years with strength and optimism. I remember him telling me how much he felt his mother with him every step of the way. I have always admired him for this strength.

He was attending school at Southern Utah University in Cedar City and just recently graduated. He was going to be a Doctor! I was so proud of him. He kept going with school even though it was tough, he wanted more than anything to be able to help and serve people. He gave his all in everything he did.

He was a husband. He married his wife Lisa in 2005. Oh how he adored her! I remember him calling me to tell me he was going to ask her to marry him. He was so excited and so happy that he could barley contain himself. He loved her so much.

He was also a father. His son, Landon, was born in May of this year. He is adorable and looks just like him. I know he was a perfect father.

I'm telling you this because on August 22, 2008 my friend Keith died in a plane crash. I'm so sad and he will be greatly missed. He was my best friend and was always there for me. I will always remember him and all that he did for me. I know that he is with God and is watching out for his family. He will be missed.

*If any of you would like to leave a condolence for his family there is a website here.

http://cedarcondolences.blogspot.com/2008/08/shumway-family.html

You can donate to help pay for memorial services for Keith. The fund has been set up in his name, Keith Shumway memorial fund at any Wells Fargo branch or you can call 1-800-869-3557.

News Story

Vacation, Here I Come!

YAY! I made it through the week and I am on my way to a really long vacation in San Francisco! I'm so excited. I've never been there before so it should be a very exciting trip. We have been planning this for about four months and it is finally here. I'm a little sad because we are going to be missing many family activities (like a wedding, a family reunion, a BBQ at my dad's to celebrate a new baby in the family) but everyone was very understanding when we said we wouldn't be able to make it.

I'll be gone for just over a week, so this blog will be lacking in posts for a while. Hopefully when I get back there will be lots to show. Until I get back, here are some funny LOL cat pictures that just crack me up. (all pictures are taken from the lol cat website so don't blame me if you don't like them.) Have a great weekend and week!

Oh, Aunt Carolyn -

I don't have your email and yes, mom did forget to ask me where I buy my fabric. So, I'll just tell you here. I buy most of my flannel at Joann's but sometimes I get it at this fabric store on Main Street in American Fork called Nuttals. They have a lot to choose from and usually are pretty reasonably priced. The only thing I don't like about this store is that they make you cut your own fabric. I guess I just figure if I'm paying for it, they can at least cut it for me. Most of my cotton fabric and the modern prints I get at the Quilts Etc Shop in Sandy. It is just off 9000 and on (I think) the corner of Main Street and State Street. Aunt Ellen shops here a lot too, sometimes I even run into her there. They have so much stuff at this store that they had to extend to a second store across the street. It is fabric heaven! I also like to shop at this little store in Lehi called Broadbents. They are like a home decor store but also have a huge fabric section to choose from. They have a ton of cute stuff. Aunt Ellen also told me about this great store in South Jordan on Bangerter called the Material Girls. They have lots of cute stuff and they are really, really helpful. Last time I was in there, the lady spent a good half hour helping me do the math on how much fabric I'd need to buy for my next project. And last night I saw that they are opening up a new quilt store in September in Alpine. Yay! I'm especially excited about this store because I used to go to a quilt store that is really close to my home, you know just cause it was convenient, but I refuse to go there anymore. They have raised all of their prices, again. They are not helpful and more often than not, they are just rude. And I have tried several times to give them a second, third, and fourth chance to improve but it just gets worse every time I go. I've sorta banned myself from ever going there again. I don't recommend it.

You should come up and we could go shopping to all these great stores. I'll drive!

If you want to buy stuff online, I've bought from the Fat Quarter Shop before and really liked it (click here for their website) or I like the fabric that sew mama sew has (here). Both great online stores. More of the modern type of fabric. These are the only two online stores that I have purchased from, and both were good with really fast shipping. I like to buy stuff in the stores more just because I can spend hours touching and holding the bolts of fabric. And trust me, I do spend hours! Plus I can get a better feel for how everything will come together.

I LOVE FABRIC! Let me know if you want to go shopping sometime, it would be lots of fun! Loves,

Cami

New Homeowners!

Not me, silly! ... but my sister and her hubby! Isn't it adorable? It is really nice on the inside but I didn't take any pictures of it. Maybe after they move in. (Geeze, I still haven't even taken pictures of the inside of our new apartment. Oops!) The best part...it is like 5 minutes from my house! Yay! They have a basketball hoop and a really nice yard. And it is perfect for both of them since it is right across the street from a baseball park and they are both huge baseball fans.

Congrats Chardell, Marc, and Anna! I can't wait to spend all my time crashing at your house. Yay for being neighbors!

I'm In Love!!!

I'm am proud to say that I have tossed out the cheap-o $5 iron that I bought when I first went to college (yes, it really has been that long ago) and now I am the proud owner of this beauty!

Rowenta, where have you been all my life?! I promise to never, ever, ever, go back.

I'm so happy!

Baby Bibs & Burp Cloths

I've been busy making more baby shower presents. I love the pattern from ChickPea Sewing Studio. It is super easy pattern to make. I found that a fat quarter can make one bib and one burp cloth and I will still have enough left over for my scrap fabric stash.

I used a cotton print for the front and white flannel on the back. I did a decorative stitch around the edging of the burp cloths and bibs. If my machine does these fancy stitches, I figure I might as well put them to good use. My machine also sews the button holes and sews the buttons on for me. Yes, you read that correctly, it sews on the buttons! LOVE that feature.

I didn't have a pattern for the burp cloths but I have seen quite a few on flicker (here, here, here and here)and figured it was easy enough that I could just wing it. So I did. I made these 18 long by 8 wide (rectangular in size). Since I don't have children or the need for burp cloths, I am hoping that these will work out okay. I started with the girly fabrics so I'm hoping this weekend to get some boy ones made. Although, I'm not quite sure about the orange flower one in the picture above. I guess I figure it should be for a girl since it is flowers, but it is orange, brown and green. Those are more boyish colors to me. What do you think? Could it go either way?

Baby Kittens Are Here... (and other crafty stuff that is not as cool as baby kittens)

And they are as cute as I knew they would be. Roxy had three ... yep, three.. baby kittens last night. We are not quite sure what time (This would be another great excuse for quitting my job so I could stay home and wait for the stray cat to have her kittens... alas, I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon). When I went home for lunch she was still packing them around in her little oven, but when Dustin went home at 5:00 she had already had them and cleaned them up nicely. Did I mention how adorable they are? So tiny! There are two that are going to be tabby like she is and one that is jet black.

If this was any test as to what kind of a father Dustin will be, I'd say he passed with flying colors. He went out to check on Roxy and the kittens every hour (he would have done it more if I would have let him). He kept her food and water dish full to the brim and even treated her with whole milk that he bought special for her. He made sure to give plenty of loves to Roxy and tell her what a good mama she is. Trust me, it was adorable. Plus, he had spent so much time and energy getting the perfect spot ready for her to have the babies in. You already saw the box he made. But the neighborhood kids wouldn't stay out of it so he devised a new plan. We have an outside storage closet that we don't use. So he screwed in two screws with loops on the heads, one in the frame and the other in the door, and locked them together. It makes it so the door stays open and can't be accidentally closed and it is open just enough that Roxy can go in and out as she pleases but neighborhood kids can't. It worked perfect and Roxy loves her little house where it is safe from kids and other cats.

We tried to switch out the bloody towel with a clean one, but that caused great panic with Roxy. She wasn't having it since it didn't smell like her kittens. We just left it the way it was and figured we swap it out later. I just love the cute little kitty cries the babies make! Oh, they are so cute!

News in the crafting department is consisting of cards. Lots of them. Talk about mass production! If you are in my family, you will be receiving one of these shortly so I didn't want to show all of the card. I tried to leave a little bit to the imagination. Hope everyone enjoys them. I still have 3 more to make and then I will be sending these out in the mail. This is the card that I made Dustin for our anniversary. He said that it was "my best card yet!" but I think he was only saying that because it was very manly and not pink! He is really good at telling me everything I make is fantastic!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 3rd Year Anniversary! Can you believe I have been married for three years already? Time goes by so quickly. I truly am blessed with a great husband and I love him so much! Married life just gets better and better as time goes by. Life has changed so much for us since we were first married and it just keeps getting better. Happy Anniversary to my better half! Loves

Zig Zag Quilt is Finally Finished!

Remember this quilt? Remember when I got it basted? Well, it has been long enough... I've finally finished it. Yay! I totally love it! Dustin asked who this one was for, and I'm definitely going to have to keep it. I know I have a lot already but I just love it, and maybe one day I will be able to part with it. Until then, I'm hanging on to this one.
Most of the fabrics in this quilt are from the Katie Jump Rope line. I think there were only two that were not, and well, the plain orange of course is not from that line either. I think I spent a total of 20$ on this quilt, which I think is quite a steal. Thanks to Chardell for donating the orange fabric (inspiration for this quilt). I think the finished size is about 35x45.
I didn't have enough of the orange to do the backing so I used some left over squares that were already cut out and made a small boarder. It worked perfect. I really like how it turned out. I just need to add a label to this one and then I will be completely done.
I also didn't want to have to buy more fabric for the binding, you know I already spent 20$ I didn't want to spend more. So I used the scraps of yellow that I had. (Just barley had enough by like 1 inch, phew!) It kinda gives it a scrappy feel since the binding is done in all yellows but they are all different.
One more project down....a million more to go!

Winner! & Finally A Tutorial

Okay, We have a winner! Yes this really is Dustin's hand. I made him pick a name out of a bowl of everyones names. Thanks to all who commented.

Yippee for Christina. Congrats! I hope you enjoy this blanket and will be able to find something to do with it. Send me and email with your address so I can get it in the mail to you!
Also, many of you have asked how it is that I make these receiving blankets. They are so super simple. If fact it was actually harder to make a video of me actually doing it, than it is to make one. Hopefully I will be able to describe to you how to make these. If you have any questions, just ask because this is my first time and I'm a little nervous about how it will go.

First, I buy two yards of fabric (one yard of each) of flannel. I usually do two different prints that match but you could easily just do one print for both the front and the back. What ever you like best. Iron them out flat so there are not wrinkles. The I lay them out on a hard surface with the wrong sides together (right sides facing out). Smooth out the fabric from the center working out towards the edges until it is all even. Then square up the fabric using a rotary cutter and mat. Then take a kitchen plate (yes, I know this is very precise), and place it on one corner of your now square pieces of flannel. Place it just so that it makes a nice rounded edge and mark along the outside of the plate with a pen. Do this on all four corners. Then take your sewing scissors and cut along the mark you just made so as to make rounded edges. Does this make sense? You can easily just leave them so they are square corners if you want, I just find that it goes a lot smoother when crocheting around the edges if they are round. I hope this is all making sense because it is actually harder to explain that I thought it would be.

Then, with a wing tip needle (you can get these in most craft stores or in any quilting store) in your sewing machine, sew a 1/4 seam around the edges. I usually use a larger stitch length (on my machine it is set at 3.5, but I don't know if all machines are the same) but do what ever looks good to you. Just know that you will be crocheting in the holes that the wing tip needle makes so space out the stitches so that it will look nice and covered when you crochet around the edges.

Note- You can buy receiving blankets with hem stitching that are ready to go. If you do this, then you don't have to worry about the first few steps, just move right on to the crochet part. I usually like to buy my own flannel and make them this way, but that is only because I can do it for less. The pre-made ones are usually around $25 per set and I can make one for around $10. Plus you get to choose the fabrics you want. Both look good.

Now you are ready to begin crocheting. Yeah for crochet! This is the thread that I use to do the edges on my blankets. You can use any crochet thread that you like. Personally I like this brand best because the weight of the thread is a little heavier and I think it is just easier to work with then the really thin stuff. Again, it is whatever you prefer.

On my receiving blankets, I usually do two rounds. You can do more, but I find that usually one skein of thread is enough to go around twice (unless of course you use my favorite puff stitch, shown later, then you will need two skeins). The first round is simple. Just a single crochet. The second round it the fun part where you add the fancy stitches to make great designs. Note, you can do more than two rounds if you want. It is all up to you. On this red blanket that I am currently working on, I am actually doing three rounds because I wanted it to be a bit more fancy than usual. For the first round I use a size 1.90 mm crochet hook (sorry, I don't know if it has a letter associated with it). I like the Susan Bates brand of hook because I think they glide more smoothly, but any brand will work just fine. It is a smaller hook which I find is easier to punch through the fabric. The second hook that i use is a 2.75 mm hook, Susan Bates brand. I use this for the fancy edging because it is bigger and makes my stitches look more even and it is faster for me to work with. So, on to the first round. Super easy. Make a slip knot in your thread and loop over your hook. With the front of the receiving blanket (what ever print you want to be the front side, it doesn't really matter but sometimes I do a print with a plain fabric for the backside. In this case, the print is my front side) facing you, do a single crochet stitch in each hole that was made by the wing tip needle (one single crochet on each stitch). Here is a little video. Apologies for the crumminess of this. I had to have Dustin help, and he was not too excited. So it really isn't the best, and it is kind of hard to see, but this was the best that I could get. Just try to make your stitches as even as possible. I kind of rock the fabric back and forth to help punch through the holes a little easier.

Now for the really fun part. The fancy edging! There are many different edges that you can do. Some of my favorites are the shell stitch, v-stitch, and the puff stitch over a half double crochet. I find most of my edgings in books or online. But since the puff stitch over a half double is my favorite and the one I use the most, I'll try my best to show you how to do it.

Once you have finished the first round of single crochet, join the last stitch to the very first stitch you made with a slip stitch. Chain two to get to the second row. These first chain two's will act like the first half double crochet. Then do a puff stitch in the stitch before the two chain just made (if you are a righty then this is the stitch to the right of the first chain twos. If you are a lefty, then.....I'll have to ask my mom on this one but I think it will be the stitch to the left. Mom is that right?) A puff stitch is done like this.

Yarn over, go into the stitch and yarn over again, pull up a loop, yarn over, go into the same stitch again, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, go into the same stitch again, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, and pull through all the loops on your hook. (Now do you see why this pattern takes two skeins of thread? That's a lot of yarning over. If you want to you can do it twice instead of three times, it just makes the puff stitch a little less, well.... puffy!)

Next, skip two stitches, and do a half double crochet in the third stitch. Note I skip two stitches from the half dc that I made. Does that make sense? A half double crochet is made by doing this. Yarn over, go into the stitch, yarn over, pull through all three loops.

Then do a puff stitch to the right of the hdc just made. Technically it is doing a puff stitch in the second skipped stitch. Here is another crummy video to try and show you what I mean. I'm really sorry I am not better at describing this. Keep repeating this pattern until you have gone all the way around the blanket. End by joining the stitches with a slip stitch. Make a knot to end and then weave in the ends. I usually iron my blankets again once I am all done to help make the edges lay flat (I crochet really tight) and then wrap them up and send them off to the new owners.

This is what it should look like.

I really hope this tutorial helps. I am definitely not the best at describing stuff. I hope that it wasn't too confusing. If you do make any receiving blanket, please send pictures. I'd love to see them. If you have any questions, just let me know. I'll try my best to answer them.

*Answers to a few Questions*

I've had a few questions on this tutorial. So I'll just clarify a few things.

After I put the flannel together and square it up, I sew around the edges with the wing tip needle. You can serge around the edges if you prefer, it works either way. I just prefer to sew around the edges because I don't have a serger and then I don't have to borrow my moms just to do it. I have done it both ways, and they both look great.

When I do the sewing with the wing tip needle to punch the holes, I do have the machine threaded when I sew. I've never tried it without the thread, but I'm sure that it would work if you serged the edges first and then sewed around it with a wing tip needle and no thread.