Happy Thanksgiving!!

I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving in a few days and getting to spend time with my family. Me and Jesse actually spend Thanksgiving separately. He heads down to Springfield, Missouri to spend the day with his grandma (she’s 100!) and his parents, and I go up to Iowa and get to spend time with my grandparents. It works well for us:)

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is watching the Macy’s parade! There’s something so nostalgic about it. Nobody else in my family shares my love for the parade, so I only catch a few minutes here and there. I love seeing the different balloons, watching the marching bands perform and seeing the different formations they do, and lastly, watching the performers fall forward when the float starts moving again:) Am I the only one that thinks that's funny?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kansas City: Thomas Hart Benton Home & Studio

A couple of weekends ago me and Jesse took a bike ride to enjoy the beautiful fall day. We decided to venture to an undiscovered (to us) area not far from where we live, and landed in the gorgeous Roanoke neighborhood. I love neighborhoods in the city. The beautiful old homes with big trees on quite streets, with the benefits of living in the city and enjoying all it has to offer (and walking/biking distance to those things)!

As we were biking along we ended up at the home of Thomas Hart Benton. We didn’t know who he was, but it was a State Historic Site, and a beautiful house and I wanted to go inside. We got there right as a tour was beginning, learned who this guy was (a painter, born in Missouri and who spent the last 30 some years of his life in KC) and toured his studio and the inside of his home. And oh my goodness, it was a gorgeous house! The master bedroom was the best room of the house. A little area off the main part of the master had the cutest window seat and was his wife’s sewing room. Yes, that would be the perfect crafting shell for me – I could spend all day there! It even had doors that opened to a little covered porch – so perfect:)

We have talked about visiting the Missouri state capital in Jefferson City, and now we have more of a reason to go - one of Mr. Benton’s largest murals is in the capital building. Another one not too far away is in Independence, at the Harry S. Truman Library. Definitely have to check this man’s artwork out!

Fractal Quilt Phone Wallpaper

In honor of the Fractal Radiance pattern coming out, I thought I’d provide a little freebie! Not only does fractal make a fun quilt pattern, but it works great as phone wallpaper too. The colors and pattern add just enough interest as a backdrop without being too distracting. And the little bit of texture from the quilting softens it up a bit.

I’ve provided two sizes, one for iPhone 5's, and the other for Android (I’m not sure if this works on all Android phones. The one shown is a Google Nexus). For iPhones, click and hold on the image, and select ‘Save Image’. Go to your settings, under ‘Wallpapers and Brightness’ and select ‘Choose Wallpaper’. The saved image should show up in your ‘Camera Roll’. For Android, click and hold on image, and choose ‘Set as Wallpaper’.

ABOVE: iPhone 5/5c/5s

BELOW: Android

A Change of Perspective

I have a tendency to get “stuck in my head”. In those moments I start to over-think things, worry too much and become anxious. Sometimes I just need a little change of perspective to help me snap back to reality. My favorite go-to videos: Steve Jobs’ wise words and Leslie Hall’s body rolls and high kicks.

Outer Space & Sewing!

Me and Jesse went to see the movie Gravity this weekend. I was somewhat skeptical about seeing this film (I mean, how long can you watch someone stranded in space?) but it was the only movie that looked interesting, and it has a really high rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Jesse suggested going with the 3D version, and I’m so glad we did. It seems everything is going 3D, but it worked great for this film. I loved this movie despite the fact I was hyperventilating right along with Sandra Bullock the entire movie. I think space is absolutely amazing/beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and the plot of this movie totally freaked me out. There are several key plot points that are completely unrealistic, but I didn’t mind. The emotions of the characters and the zero gravity movements all seemed believable to me.

I can’t stop thinking about this movie and outer space. So, here are some photos of space from the NASA website. They have an image gallery where they put up a new image each day along with information about the photo. Also, check out this amazing print I purchased a few weeks ago. It shows all the layers of Earth and the atmosphere – it’s fun and cute (the layers have happy faces!!) AND educational.

After I wrote this post, I continued my space and astronaut research, and came across this amazing woman, Karen Nyberg (photo above in her “sewing space”) who is currently in space on the International Space Station. Not only is she an astronaut, but a quilter as well! And she has been doing some zero gravity sewing while on board (check out her Twitter page – which has lots of fun space photos too). Watch the video below! She is hosting a quilting bee from space – which I think is one of the coolest things ever!! To participate, create a 9.5 inch squared star-themed quilt block. She will sew them together to enter at the International Quilt Festival in Houston next October (2014). You can find more information here.