How to make an activity quilt for Operation Christmas Child!

These blankets are pretty simple to make. I’m a fan of simple tutorials that don’t go into too much detail and just tell you what you need to know, so I’m going to try to keep this short and simple.

What you’ll need:

1 yard of grassy looking cotton quilting fabric
1 yard of antipill fleece
½ yard of tan cotton quilting fabric (for the path)
½ yard of light blue fabric for the lake (I had sparkly formalwear dress fabric in my stash that I used)
½ yard cotton quilting fabric print with large whimsical animals
½ yard cotton quilting fabric print with large trees

If you end up with extra animals and trees, simply save them for next year’s blankets. :)

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to wash and iron all of the fabric first. ;)

Lay the green fabric flat. Map out your path. Use pieces of scrap paper to create a pattern before you cut a single thing. The orange in this picture is scrap paper I used for the lake pattern. There is no right or wrong way to make your path, so just figure out where you want it to be. I found it to be pretty easy to use three basic pieces – a straight piece and a couple of curves. I cut six total pieces for my path.

Once you’ve got your layout, go ahead and cut your path pieces as well as the animal and tree appliqués. Lay everything out before stitching – take a photo so you remember what it looks like!

Make sure you remove weener dogs before cutting ;)

Take your path pieces and place them with the right sides together, then stitch them first.

If you are cutting little flower appliqués, it is easier to stick them under the path, and appliqué over them. Pin them in place and stitch over them as you sew along the path. Note that you are using a zigzag stitch (it makes for cleaner edges). You will come back later and sew the loose part of the flowers.

When your path is completely sewn, go back and sew around the flowers! When that’s done, you are ready to sew your lake. Use the same technique and zigzag stitch, but be sure to change your thread so it matches the lake fabric.

Once your path and lake are done, you can take out that photo you took of the layout. Get your animals and trees ready!

Put your animals and trees where they belong. I found it easier to pin them all at the same time. My mom made a blanket too (some of these photos are of hers) and she pinned a couple at a time. You decide what works best for you. In the photo below we were sewing little frogs onto the lake!

Next you are ready to put the blanket top with the fleece backing. To make these thin enough to fit in the shoeboxes along with other items, you will NOT use batting! Use a wide, flat surface to do this, such as a clean kitchen table. It may take you a few minutes and lots of pins to get everything to be in place. Keep in mind that fleece is stretchy while the cotton is not, so it can be a little tricky.

Lay the fleece flat, and then the cotton top over it. Smooth it out as best you can, then pin it in place. You are now ready to do a basting stitch all around the edges! This will ensure the pieces don’t move around when you add the edging.

When this is done, you are ready to put on your binding. We used 1” double-fold bias tape. Another good option is satin blanket binding. There are two ways to sew the binding.

Option 1:

Sew the binding with the right side facing the fleece. Then fold it over and top stitch on the other side.  This is Mom’s blanket:

Option 2:

I call this the lazy jerk way ;) I pin the binding on all at one time, and then stitch it.

Your blanket is done! Be sure to take a photo of you or your kids playing with the doll and pony on the blanket and include it with your shoebox. This way the little girl who gets your box will know exactly how to start playing! :) Here is a shot of Mom with her blanket!

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial – please feel free to email me photos of your finished product, I would LOVE to see! Bless you for blessing the children through Operation Christmas Child! You are welcome to share this tutorial with others. The more people who make these, the better!

For more information on how to pack a shoebox, visit SamaritansPurse.org/occ

PS: Here are the toys we used, just for reference. 

So many changes!

I got a job! After months and months of grueling searches, disappointing interviews, and black holes devouring my resume, I got a job. It's a very similar job and pay to when I left BB Charleston back in 2008. It will absolutely get me through to graduation, and I couldn't be more grateful. There's a bit of a commute, but it gives me time to be more diligent in my pursuit of the Hebrew language (i.e. Pimsleur in the car), and it's not far from my old BB office, so I get to have lunch with friends who used to be my colleagues. My new boss is from New Jersey - each executive I've worked for has been from New Jersey, and they've all been my favorite bosses. How funny. He's even kind enough to let me take my cruise trip that's been planned for around a year.

I've also decided to postpone my Israel trip by one year. Not only can I not ask for two months off less than a year into a new job, but I found a new program. I was originally planning to study Arabic in Haifa. My dear friend in Israel convinced me to look at programs in and around Jerusalem where she lives, so I was just poking around when I discovered that Tel Aviv University offers courses through advanced Arabic! Their classes are more intense and provide more class hours than Haifa's program, which also happens to only teach beginning and early intermediate. The cost is comparable, and Tel Aviv is super accessible so it'll be easier for her to visit me often, and vice-versa (I cannot wait for my first Shabbat dinner in Jerusalem).

To make that happen, I have to learn beginner Arabic in a stateside University. I've narrowed my search down to a couple of schools, and I will probably begin in the fall of 2014 and finish up in the spring of 2015. Everything will be fresh in my mind and I'll be ready to learn intermediate and advanced Arabic in the bustling metropolis of Tel Aviv! I'll come home after a long summer and finish up two terms of classes, and then I'll graduate.

I'm so grateful for these opportunities. I've really been enjoying being at home with my family, taking my leisurely time with my studies, sewing when I want, cooking each night, and hanging out with my weener dogs, but I'm ready for the next challenge. Full time work + full time school is never easy, but I thrive under that kind of pressure. (Feel free to remind me of this if I start complaining!)

Now we get to wrap up our Operation Christmas Child boxes and gear up for the holiday season. Mom and I have been making play quilts to go in the boxes, and I'll be posting a tutorial on how to make them as soon as we're finished!

!שלומ

Why it's perfectly reasonable that I'm losing my mind over a TV character's exit.

I've never tried to hide my Ziva obsession. I love all things NCIS, even though I was a latecomer to the show. I made the discovery halfway through Season 8, and I watched all 8 seasons from March until mid-May when they had the Season 8 finale. It consumed approximately 30 hours of my time each week, putting it on as soon as I came home from work, and watching into the wee hours. My coworkers can tell you I was very zombie-like in the mornings.

That was in 2011, so really, not terribly long ago. When Season 8 was finished, it left me with a spinning head and 30 spare hours each week. My close friends know that I filled them with more NCIS, starting over from Season 3 and watching over and over again. Eventually I stopped going in strict chronological order, and watched whichever ones I felt like, when I felt like it. I continue that pattern today, though I eventually stopped spending quite so much time on it. Some of my favorite episodes, though, I can recite from start to finish. I probably shouldn't share that.

2009-2012 were some rough years. I was struggling in my social life, my love life, and my career life. I did a lot of work on various things to improve situations, and it was exhausting. My home became my sanctuary, and there was nothing I loved more than spending an evening by myself, sewing, NCIS on on my desk, and a warm weener dog or two on my lap. It had become an escape. I drooled over Mark Harmon, squealed when I'd see an outfit Abby and I had in common, and  grinned like a derp during every Tiva moment. I loved Tony and I loved Ziva, separately, but they just seemed to belong together. This became a pseudo reality, an escape. Was it the healthiest obsession? Probably not, but there are surely worse ones to have.

I admired Cote de Pablo's character. I found her ninja assassin skills fascinating, and her multiple languages amazing. I listened to countless interviews by Cote and the others, and I could never make the connection between Cote the person and Ziva the character. I couldn't wrap my head around the character I loved being someone else, someone who didn't shoot, didn't know how to fight, and didn't even speak Hebrew. One thing that there was no denying was the real, honest chemistry between Cote and Michael.

While I've always loved and supported Israel, this show pressed me to research more, learn more, absorb more. I'd found someone I wanted to be like, and that prompted me to finally get my proverbial shit together and organize my dream so that I could attempt to make it happen. I started studying Krav Maga. I started learning Hebrew. When my company of 7 years laid me off, I went back to school to get a Justice degree in Terrorism & Homeland Security. It all seems pretty extreme when I think about it, but it is what it is. When I announced my dream to my friends, one of the first responses I got was "You know Mark Harmon won't be your boss, right?"

I'm loathe to talk about this subject because I feel silly. I feel ridiculous. Today Twitter has been going crazy with people who are just as upset as I am, and just as nuts. Their reactions are outrageous, but so are mine. Everyone is signing petitions to pressure CBS into paying Cote a fair salary like her costars. Will they offer? I don't know. If they do, will she return? I don't know. It seems unlikely, considering production starts next week. I'm trying to accept what is happening, but I believe I will continue living in my little NCIS world where Tiva is still a possibility and they are a happy little family that I feel absorbed into.

I realize that I sound nuts here. It's okay. My dreams and plans have not changed, but I will always be grateful to an amazing actress who started out as a tiny fish in a massive ocean and really made a name for herself. She inspired me to realize my dreams, and for that I will always be grateful.

Of mice and weener dogs.

Hi everyone! :)

I know it's been awhile since I've posted an update, so I thought I was about due. I'm almost exactly halfway into my spring semester. I'm on spring break, to be precise, and next week are midterms. I am still debating on whether to continue taking summer classes at MCC, and start my Justice program at SNHU in September, or if I'd rather move along to SNHU in June. The crazy thing is that one way or another I'll be moving at the very end of August. Either way I'll be in the midst of classes, so maybe it doesn't matter a whole lot. I was dreading saving up for moving costs (again), and I was putting off doing my taxes because I knew that despite my best efforts, there was a good chance I would have to pay in this year, if only just a little. It turns out that I was unaware of the options to get tax credits for tuition. I just thought I would be able to write it off as a deduction. Imagine my surprise when I entered it and my number changed from a small payment to a pretty impressive refund! So now my moving costs are more than covered, and I'll have another small chunk of savings. I'm so relieved. God is good and he keeps those blessings around the corner, just when we think we might be out of options.

I've mostly decided that as much as I really want to move to Philly, it makes the most sense to move back to SC in the fall. I can't move to Philly without a job in place, for one, and experience tells me it is very, very difficult (at best) to land a job in a place where you do not yet live. Also, my mom is really close to having her house paid off, so if I could live at home and give her the money I would otherwise spend on rent, she would be paid off in about 2 years, which will be how long I have until graduation, once I move home. Then I'll be off to the DC area, God willing. I picked my program for the summer of 2014: University of Haifa's International School, Ulpan (Hebrew) and Intensive Arabic. It's gonna be crazy!

The weener dogs and I are doing okay for the most part. I work from home a lot, which is nice, I'm just more productive here. The weener dogs love having their mom around, and they instinctively seem to know to leave me alone during my working hours. When I sit down to study though, all bets are off, haha! They have calmed down significantly now that we are almost a week mouse-free! We went to visit my Auntie Carla and the family last weekend (what fun!), and the exterminator set out traps the morning that I left. There have been no mice caught (praise the Lord) and no droppings in sight. So grateful for that. I'd credit the nice weather, but we are still getting snow days here and there, and the nights are usually pretty cold.

I suppose that's all for now. Heading back to Charleston in a couple of weeks for Easter (hooray!)