The Quilt

I love t-shirt quilts! I had a couple made before I moved to Belgium from shirts I had been saving for a while! Packing up to move to Europe gave me the push I needed to get them done! I had no idea who made t-shirt quilts in Memphis so I did a Google search and viola, there she was! Ha! I met with the most awesome Jesus-loving seamstress (amazing how that happens) and I had 2 beautiful quilts made that I absolutely love (and use daily). One was from college with all my sorority shirts and one was of my travels (before moving to Europe).

Then, I thought what a great thing it would be to collect shirts while I lived and traveled throughout Europe and abroad so once I moved back I could get them made into a quilt as sort of a momento! I finally did! Back in February I met with the awesome seamstress and picked out the fabric for this new one. I had a lot of t-shirts but not one from every single place I visited. So, we decided to go with a border around the quilt and just list the places where I visited but did not have a shirt. She did it out of printable fabric and I love how it turned out!

And, 5 months later....I picked it up yesterday! Check it out!!!
She is one talented lady!
The top says....
This is an example of how she did the border of places I visited but did not have a shirt...
I am in love!!!! That a great way to showcase your memories and keep yourself warm!

P.S.----Yes, I have not blogged since February and my friend, Amy, checked in recently to see if the snow had melted in Memphis since my last post was of the snow! Ha! Thanks, Amy!!! I will try to get better! I am going on vacation soon, so I will be back to tell you all about it!

Snow!!!

Memphis got over 7 inches of snow last week! It was so pretty and took my breath away, really! It was totally unpredicted, or I need to watch the news more, and a complete surprise when I saw it on Monday morning! I love snow, I really do. I hate driving in it, but I love being snowed in! Here are a few pics from the day!

It started around 4am...my mom called and woke me up to tell me to look outside! She needed to tell someone since my dad was out of town! Ha! ;-) We love snow around here!
It was like a little blizzard! You know, Memphis-style!

The news kept saying it was almost "a white-out situation"! I laughed!

The view outside my door once our blizzard was all over! So pretty!

Maxie tried to hold her business as long as she could, but eventually she had to give in and put those paws in the snow!

She didn't like it too much!

Well, she did not like it at all!
Told ya!

Snow drift - Memphis-style.....(Gitzen Girl....don't laugh at our blizzard!)
My snow covered neighborhood!

My little snowed covered house!
It was s fun day!! How much snow did you get?!?!

It's all about....

Maxie! Shocked? I doubt it! She is my furry baby and I would not have it any other way!

I received an email from Shutterfly a couple of weeks ago that said I qualified for a free 8x8 photobook! Yippie! I wanted to do something with Maxie's European Adventures and this was the perfect opportunity! I started working on the book! The email said I got the book and 20 pages free. Of course, I could not stop with 20 pages! The book ended up with 46 pages of pure cuteness! I wish everyone could see it! It is perfect! It is really the cutest thing I have ever seen! The book is written from Maxie's point of view!


If you are really interested in what it says, let me know and I will send a link!

Also, I heard about an offer for a free photo canvas and wanted to give it a try! It was totally free, well except for the $14.99 shipping! I was very impressed with the quality and loved how it turned out. You, too, can get a free canvas at the following link!

A Year in Review!

What a life changing, busy, complicated, scary, emotional, crazy, expensive year 2009 has been. As I sit and think about what all I have been through, done, experienced, etc. I begin to realize why I am so tired!

This year started off by making decisions, picking out the stuff, planning for, and building this:
We lost a member of our family, Max. We miss you everyday, sweet boy!
As I went back and browsed through old posts from this year, I would say about 99.9% of my time over 2009 was spent focusing on the move back to the good ole US of A.

I left this.....
And repatriated back to this...

God Bless America!

It sounds so simple....I moved. People do it all the time. It is not an unheard of thing, you know. Moving from another country, building a house, starting a new type of job, spending more money that I have ever spent at one time in my life times 3....I think that was a full year. I survived and that is saying something.

My travels sort of halted (for obvious reasons), but I did manage to get one last (and very awesome) adventure in a couple of weeks before the big move....South Africa and.....

Egypt!

That was such an incredible experience!!! I still cannot believe I saw the pyramids! Wow!

I arrived home, moved in, unpacked, and did some of this...
Should have done that more often!

But then, I suppose I got bored and started tip-toeing in a new little hobby and shot my first wedding! More of that to come in 2010!
This blog world has blessed me so tremendously. I had the opportunity to meet some of my bloggy friends! Oh how I love them!
I even tried another little something I had never done before....painting!

To wrap up this transition year....a friend of mine said it best: I am thankful for God's continued love and faithfulness in 2009 and excited about His purpose and assignment for 2010. It is a new year, peeps! Do it big and do it with God! Happy New Year! Be blessed!

It was one heck of a year and we made it! I am so looking forward to 2010 and the new chapters opening up for me. I am not going to take this year sitting down....

I hope you will come along for the ride!

Christmas Decorating

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We sure did! It was a very relaxing and calm day, so you just cannot ask much more than that!

I am not very timely with my blogging. However, I do keep my promises! And I promised more decorating pics of my house...so here you go! I hosted a couple of Christmas parties at my house this year, so that was a lot of fun!

This is the outside! I never got a picture at night with all the lights on, so just use your imagination! It really did look pretty! Notice the wreaths on the dormers...I hung outside the windows to get those things to stay! I still cannot believe they stayed up!

Living room and main tree!



Mantel (sorry for the blur, I was in a hurry!)



Dining room. I did not go crazy in here, just some greenery on the light fixture with ornament balls hanging and a centerpiece.

The dining room table centerpiece.

I got this little house in Frankfurt, Germany at the Christmas Markets! I love it!


Breakfast area in kitchen with my travel tree. I really love my travel tree!



Getting ready for a little party....

The start of the Christmas cards coming in! My friends have the cutest kids (and dogs!)!

It was really fun decorating this year. Since this was my first Christmas in my new house, I had to start from scratch decorating! That was a bit of a challenge, but I already have ideas for next Christmas!

Can you believe that it is almost 2010?

Painting

My major in college was accounting. I really have no creative juices running through my blood...I am not kidding!! But when I see something I like, I can do my best at copying!

My friend, Amanda, has found a new passion and she is really good at it! There is a lady in town who does "the original girl's night out" and offers paint classes! You show up with appetizers and wine and a blank canvas in front of you! I walked in with the idea that I would support Amanda in her new passion but took note of the trash can sitting by the door where I would place by sad little non-creative snowman when the class was over! I also showed up for the wine (I won't lie)!

So, when the class started, I thought, what the heck..."Tippa, leave your anal tendencies outside and just give it a shot and don't worry that it is not perfect...remember there is a trash can beside the door!" That exact thought went through my head!

So, that is what I did...

We started out with a blank canvas. The instructor drew in the border to help us.We were told to draw out our snowman's body using grey paint and start filling it in with white paint. Then, start on the background.
Then the border...
That's me with no analness!
Looking good!
Even better! (Ok, the instructor did the flower, I have to be honest...but the rest is mine!!)
Amanda and I and our little creations!
The artist!!!!
I think she turned out really cute! I should learn to throw out my analness more often!