T-28 Days

Well it's been a while, hasn't it? Certainly not the longest period I've gone without blogging, but I had a bit of a good run going there.
Reading week was good. I didn't have any work to do, so I could just relax. I managed to keep busy though, meeting up with friends, finishing my camp quilt, and playing lots of board games.
The main thing going on with me right now is the fact that there are 4 weeks of school left. Ever. It's kind of hard to believe. We've started our final group project of our university careers. We were allowed to choose our groups this time, but I ended up staying with the same group I was with earlier in the term because we worked well together. Our project is to encourage interactivity in a public space in Stratford. I think it will be good. The hardest part will be completing everything in the 4 weeks left (our first project got 7+ weeks).
After that, it looks like I'll be moving to Toronto after I graduate, so I should probably start looking for a place to live there. Whenever I've visited Toronto, I've always though I wouldn't want to live there. There's so much going on and I find it overwhelming. That changed a little bit last summer when I lived in Mississauga, but still wouldn't be my first choice. But now that I'm moving there, I'm excited. I don't want to stay there forever, but I think it will be a lot of fun. And I can finally go to all the cool things I see going on through various forms of social media. And I'll be living in the same city as Alison again, so it will be nice to be able to see her more often again.
Yesterday the campus hosted a day-long conference about blending business and design. It was really well done. Lots of interesting speakers, good food, and great networking opportunities. I got to meet a UX designer from Indigo, which was probably my favourite part. It was a long day with lots of sitting though. They had an 'after party' at the end of the day at the Parlour Inn just down the street. I was surprised, because the Parlour is a pretty nice place. We went, but not a lot of the mentors and speakers came, so there didn't seem to be much points for us to be there. We left early (after eating the food).
Not a lot else going on. The 3D printer is up and running again, so I've been getting a few things printed before it either breaks again or the term ends. I printed a settlers of catan piece, since one of my wooden pieces had chunk missing.

The Real Ending

To minimal surprise but some disappointment, there was no new Sherlock episode last night. On Saturday I was starting to have my doubts. But here we are a week later and there's nothing to show for all the hope we (the fandom) had. There are still some who are clinging to their last shreds of hope that it will actually air next week. Their reasoning for this is because the date will be 1/29, which is a time that Sherlock stopped a bomb going off in a previous episode. But that's too much of a stretch for me. Season 4 is over. The producer of the show even tweeted that there's no fourth episode. I'm going to watch TFP again to watch it with less expectations than I did the first time around. A number of people who originally didn't like it have come around to it. All I can hope is for them to make another season. But enough about Sherlock.
I went home this weekend and managed to finish the top of my t-shirt quilt. I won't be able to quilt it until reading week, but I'm very happy with how it's going so far. I'm really excited to show it to people, because I know camp means a lot to so many people. Tomorrow I get free lunch at Crabby Joe's because I'm helping with some UX testing. They're even providing transportation so I literally am losing nothing out of this.
I've decided to start eating based on Canada's food guide. I know that I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables and I also eat too much meat. I think I might have to increase my grain consumption though, which was not something I was expecting. It will take some adjusting, but hopefully in the long un will lead to healthier eating habits. The plan is to make a tracker that I can use to keep track. Im surprised that no apps exist for this type of thing. I'm also going to start going for walks every other day as a form of exercise. It would appear that if you're not just strolling along and are actually going at a quick pace, walking can be just as effective exercise as going to the gym. And I'm not a fan of the gym, so this is the compromise.

Fight to Entertain

good ol' pun to start us off

This is me eating my words and wishing I had brought my sewing stuff to Stratford. Only a week in and I'm rudely reminded of how boring it can get in Stratford. I have to make a real effort to entertain myself and not just waste my days away on social media. That being said, I did do lots of fun things this week. 
It was Marissa's birthday on Friday, so on Thursday we drove to Kitchener to go trampolining. Mara and I had been to this place before, where they have 6 olympic grade trampolines. It was great fun. I almost did a full front flip (I just can't quite stick the landing and end up on my butt). Michelle however did gymnastics when she was younger and so was doing front flips, back flips, you name it. Definitely got my exercise in that day and felt it for the following two days. I'd like to go back at some point and see if I can't finally land a front flip.
Later that day we had our first SSC event of the term at a local pub. Much to our enjoyment, Thursday is now 25cent wing night. I made a slight misjudgement in how hungry I was and ordered 5 wings and a burger. Way too much food. But the wings were great. And I couldn't get over that it cost $1.25 for 5 wings! I'm no wing fanatic but even I know that's got to be a great deal. I might start making regular trips to the pub for 5 wings every Thursday night.
Friday morning started off great listening to Ed Sheeran's two new singles. I've come to realize that I almost always don't like a song when I first hear it if it's a song I'm expecting to like (i.e. from an artist I'm familiar with). So I didn't form any opinions until later. And as expected, I really like both of them. I'm not sure which one I like better; it might have to be Castle On The Hill.

Last night I had some friends over to play Catan (I won). I also made my new meal of the week: spinach salad with dried cranberries, chicken, avocado, and poppyseed dressing. To be honest I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It might just make it on to my rotation of meals. I haven't decided what this week's recipe is going to be; it will depend on when I get to a grocery store next.

I also made rice krispie squares but they didn't turn out great. I think the marshmallows were past their prime.
Didn't do much today. Watched a sermon from The Meeting House online. I've started doing a daily doodle where I practice my lettering/doodling. It's not much but I'm trying out the concept that doing something everyday will help you get better at it. I'm patiently waiting for 9pm to roll around to watch the next Sherlock episode. I've had to stay off social media since this afternoon to avoid any spoilers, since Britain has already seen it and there are already things being posted about what happens.

Am I a Baking Blogger?

Yes, but I don't have a baking blog (officially). I do talk about baking whenever I do it though. And I did lots of baking last month. It was great. I made mini churros, chai-spiced tea cakes, peppermint bark, sugar cookies with royal icing, and the capstone dessert: the gingerbread train. All of you who read this blog have already seen these, but, you have to do it for the blog so here we are.

I'm particularly pleased with how the gingerbread train turned out. I was skeptical about the support system and how the cars would stand on the wheels. It was a struggle to get the engine standing but I eventually got it with some extra hidden support (made of gingerbread of course). Unfortunately, the wheels started collapsing after two days, I imagine because of the humidity and heat in the house with all the people. I took it as a sign to start eating the gingerbread ;) The train had minimal candy on it compared to my previous gingerbread houses. This was because I was trying to go for a cleaner appearance overall. But I missed the candy, so I think next year's creation will feature more candy.

Christmas was great, if busy. We had 13 people at our house for Christmas dinner! Lots of good gifts, two of which are card games that I really like: Sushi Go and The Struggle for Catan.
The other thing I occupied my time with was a t-shirt quilt for a friend, which I got finished in time(!). She really likes it, which I'm glad of.
Having been inspired by finishing that t-shirt quilt, I decided I would start working on my own t-shirt quilt with my Forest Cliff Camp shirts (of which I have many). I started working on it just before New Years Eve, and almost completely finished the top of the quilt before I came back to Stratford yesterday. I've never moved through a quilt so quickly before. The main reason for that is because a lot of supplies I need to make quilts are at the church sewing group, so I was limited to 3hrs of sewing a week. But I recently received a cutting board and ruler which are the big things I needed. So now I can sew to my heart's desire at home! Now the only thing stopping me is not understanding a quilt pattern. Margaret often helps me a lot in guiding me through the steps of making a quilt.

I made up the pattern for the t-shirt quilts since you can't really fit the t-shirts to an existing pattern. I had been planning on bringing my sewing stuff to Stratford so that I could keep working on my quilt while at school but I ended up getting so much of it done that I didn't bother. I'll be able to finish the top within a couple hours the next time I go home. Then the first quilt of 2017 will be done!
The creativity continues in Stratford with a card for a friend's birthday later this week. We're hoping to go trampolining to celebrate :)
My new year's resolution is to make a new recipe each week. The hope is that I'll become more confident in trying new recipes, increase the number of go-to meals I can make, and learn how to pair foods better. This week is a chicken and spinach salad.

Creative Central

As expected, the Christmas break is flying by. I can't believe it's just a week till Christmas. I, however, am not as stressed about that fact as my parents are. I imagine this weekend will be spent writing cards and delivering presents. I designed and wrote a few Christmas cards myself this year. I've been working on a faux calligraphy, which is featured heavily throughout the cards. The cards are just done with some fine tip markers, as apposed to with crafting supplies, but I really like how they turned out. But since I've been home and have access to my scrapbooking supplies, I've made some other cards that are a little more intricate. I think making cards is going to be my new hobby. Ever since I had my new years resolution to write a letter and deliver it through snail mail every week, I've been a fan of sending snail mail (not every week though). Now I'm just adding making the cards to that. Although stationary areas in stores are still my weak spot.
The other thing I've been occupying my time with is wrapping Christmas gifts. I try and up my game each year. This year every gift has ribbon and a bow. I also try and wrap parts of gifts individually, because why open one gift when you can open 3? I made a gift basket of which I'm very pleased with. 
The 2016 gingerbread creation has been designed (here's a sneak peak: it's not a house). I'm going to make it next week, show it off for a couple days to the relatives, and then it can be consumed. I may have designed a bigger creation that I thought, but we'll see how it turns out. It's never exactly the size it's meant to be.
I went through my photos from when I was abroad and have selected a highlight reel to print off and hopefully scrapbook. It still ended up being over 70 photos. But I guess considering I took over 2000, that's not bad.
And in case you hadn't noticed the trend of crafty and creative things, the other project occupying my time is a t-shirt quilt I'm doing for a friend. It's coming along nicely, although there was a bit of a pause while I waited for the last two shirts to arrive. I'm hoping that I can have it finished within the next week. The deadline is unofficially when I go back to Stratford, so that I can give my friend the quilt the next time I see her. If I happen to have time during the craze of the week surrounding Christmas, I'll start working on another quilt that I said I would do for a family friend. Its been about 5 years, so I figured I should probably get going on that. I just wish that I had room to sew at my apartment. I can't wait till I retire and have unlimited time to do crafty things.

Another Weekend Gone

This weekend was incredibly lazy, interspersed with moments of activity. I baked some cupcakes, which I had intended to send some home with my family when they came up on Saturday, but found out that they had made cupcakes themselves as well. So I have all the cupcakes now. I'll probably take them into school tomorrow. I've been doing a lot of baking and giving it away recently. Not necessarily because I set out to be generous, but because I'm bored, so I bake. And then I have tons of baked goods that I can't consume on my own, so I give them away. Rice Krispies have been made multiple times already this year.
As I mentioned before, my family (minus my dad) came up to Stratford on Saturday to see a showing of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It was well done; I especially liked how they did Aslan. The legs had a very realistic movement, which I appreciated.

While at the theatre, I ran into the Dyck family, which is the family I lived with over the summer. Boy was I surprised to see them. I ended up hanging out with them after the show and getting dinner with them. We went to about 6 restaurants before giving up and getting Wendy's. A rookie mistake: if you want to eat a meal immediately before or after a show in Stratford, you need to have a reservation. Even Swiss Chalet didn't have room for us. 

This morning a group of us when to an arts and crafts show at the Rotary Complex. It took us about 40mins to walk there because it's way out on the edge of Stratford. It was fun to go though. There was over 100 vendors. There was a raffle to win this massive gingerbread house. It was like the ones you see on TV in the competitions. My favourite part was that they had left the back corner open so you could see inside the house, where they had done the entire interior as well, complete with mini gingerbread people. I was freaking out over it, and somebody from the Stratford Gazette asked if they could use my picture. I said yes, obviously, so now I'll have to keep an eye out for my picture in the paper. I managed to get some things, including a butter alternative that is primarily composed of garlic. It's basically garlic butter but healthier. I'm going to start making myself garlic bread all the time. And might even put it on my sandwiches. We decided to get a cab back, since we didn't fancy walking all the way back. 

I had trouble falling asleep last night, so spent the afternoon in bed lounging around. I watched an episode of The Crown on Netflix. It's about Queen Elizabeth II, starting with her marriage to Prince Philip. I'm loving this series. And it's also surprisingly accurate in terms of what actually happened. I've been doing lots of research into the Royal Family because of it. I'm also starting to manage wrapping my head around the Royal Family tree. I've tried to do that before, and struggled. It's basically a history lesson that's also entertaining. 

This evening I went out skating again, and set a new record with my Misfit (and officially this time, since there was no time change nonsense). 2030 points :D The skate costs $5, which is a bit much to go skating for an hour and a half, but I'm calling it an investment in my health, since the Wii Fit, while motivating, I'm not exactly sure can be called a 'workout'. 

In other news, I'm counting down the days till the term is done. Not even particularly because I'm desperate for school to be over, but because I have so many ideas planned for what I can do during my break. I'm especially excited to be able to sew again. I'm going to try and pump out two quilts in one month, which I've never done before. Heck, I haven't done one quilt in a month before. And of course, Christmas baking. Big plans :)

QOTD

371. Have you ever looked down on someone because you thought your religious views were superior?

Not knowingly, although I'm sure I've done it subconsciously. I know that when people mention that they don't believe in God that I make note of it and generally try and steer conversation away from religion, but I don't look down on them. 

My quilts make me happy. I love my quilts and I miss sewing.

I never blog when I'm at home...

wooohooo! Home again, this time for good. Well, for three weeks at least. Then I'm off to camp (which I am so excited for!!!) I honestly did not think I had so much stuff, but the entire back of the van was stuffed full with all the stuff I had in my dorm room. It's a good thing only my mom came to pick me up, because otherwise somebody would've had to sit on the roof on the way home. But it's good to be back, even if it's only for a little while. We watched Monsters University this evening, which I hadn't seen before, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty funny. And I loved the short film, The Blue Umbrella. I'm going to sewing tomorrow morning (9AM *sigh*) to hopefully get some more work done on a quilt I'm doing for someone. I haven't done any sewing in almost a year.

142. Favourite makeup brand?
I don't really have a lot of experience in this area, but I guess I'll say Mac?

143. Favourite store?
Well this is a very broad question and I don't like it. I like unique stores. Stores that sell unique things. There's this toy store in a mall in Ottawa that I really like. They have typical toys, but then they also have all the weird toys you always hear about but never see in person. So that's cool. I really like online stores too :3

144. Favourite blog?
obbsessionsareme.blogspot.ca, obviously.

145. Favourite colour?
Green.

146. Favourite food?
Lasagna.

Sewing

As a sewer, you would think I would know how this works, and I did have a vague idea, but this was very helpful in my understanding of how a sewing machine works.

Hopefully I'll get some sewing done in the short time span between the end of school and the start of camp (only 25 more days!!!)

That's It. I'm Offically Done.

High school, that is. Well, I was done yesterday. But same thing. It all seems so surreal. I am going up to camp tomorrow and staying up there until the end of week one, which isn't until July 5th! SO long.  But it is going to be so much fun! Just got back from having sushi with some friends, some of which I will probably not see in a very long time. It's hard not to think of this time as the end of everything
It is the end of
1. High School
2. Seeing most of my friends every day at school
3. Youth Group
4 Sewing (kind of...at least regularly)
5. Scrapbooking (I'm taking a SMASH journal with me to university, so that's kind of scrapbooking....)
6. Living at Home
7. I suppose #6 also means no more allowance...
8. Seeing my family everyday
9. Having my laundry done for me (that's a big one... Shout out to my mom for all the years she has been doing my laundry and hardly ever complaining)
10. Parents paying for sushi
It's going to be a tough life.
And I know, "I should be thinking of all the beginnings!" Yeah well here's what I think:
It's the beginning of
1. Living with a stranger
2. Going to a brand new school knowing nobody
3. Living away from home for good
4. Eating cafeteria food every stinking meal
5. Realizing how much everything actually costs
6. Not having a vehicle to drive (or be driven around in)
7. Having a room half the size of what I'm used to
8. Did I mention living with a stranger?
9. Having to share a bathroom with the entire dorm floor
10. Having to pay for textbooks
This doesn't seem all too bright. I don't know what you guys are thinking with all this "new beginnings" crap.
Nah, I'm just joking (kind of). I know that it's a big change but change is good. And I'm so blessed to have my parents supporting me along the way. But you also have to see how there are some down sides to all this.

Sewing

This is the latest thing I've completed in sewing (which is surprising because I haven't been to sewing in about a month because I've had other things going on. Hopefully I can make it at least once more. I've been debating going during the summer. I didn't do that last year because I wanted to sleep in, but I might decide to show up late to sewing some Saturdays.  I don't know, we'll see how that goes.  I've given this quilt to my sister. I have too many quilts myself, and I think the colours match her personality (and her room).

And this is a picture of the sunset on Saturday up at camp. I was having difficulties with the flash/exposure time. I really need to look into how to use settings other than full-auto on my camera. 

I've cropped out the parts I didn't like. (Like the over-exposed tree trunks).

 And as always with sunsets, by the time you get your camera, the sky has changed and never seems to have the colours you were intending to take a picture of in the first place.

And I know it's kind of blurry, but I really like this one with the clouds:

My Quilt

I also forgot to mention that I finished my quilt on Saturday. My sewing teacher is making me a label for the back, so I'll show you a picture of that later, but this is basically the finished project.

The black and white floral design is the back.  There's white on both sides of each coloured strip, in case my attempt at cool photography skills doesn't depict that very well.  And the binding (the edge, for all you non-sewers out there) is orange for a bright pop of colour.  I really like how the quilting in lines made the back of the quilt look.  I think this is one of my favourite quilts I've made yet.
All photos Copyright Heather W.

Slow Saturdays

I am waiting. Not sure what for, something to do, I guess.  Went to Kiwi Kraze today with my BFFLAAT. My mom and brother tagged along though so I don't think it went quite like she (and myself) envisioned.  Then she came over afterwords and we watched Iron Man 2. Good movie. She fell asleep though. When she woke up a few minutes later I had to fill her in. I think only in movie theatres have I seen her make it through a movie and not fall asleep. :)  I went to sewing thins morning, made a little baby quilt to be given to the London Pregnancy Center (I think its called).  Then I looked through some magazines for some ideas for my next quilt.  My sister has been at the Western Fair all day so it's been very quiet. (Not that my sister often engages with the family but annoys my brother).  I have a bit of a headache. I'm in one of those I'm-not-sure-what-to-do-with-myself kind of moods/states.  I have been doing some things in my sketchbook recently. Not really sketches, more of writing quotes out in different styles. Maybe this evening I'll take pictures of them and show you. Not much going on. Time to go eat dinner.

Hunger Games

So like I said yesterday, The Huger Games movie was AMAZING!!!  The casting was perfect.  One of my favourite characters is Cinna.  Also Rue, those were both cast perfectly.  Well worth going to see at midnight.  It's cool to think that nobody has seen it before you.  Although, that's not what I was thinking Friday during school. Before every class I got a wave of energy (when I say energy, not as in hyper, but as in enough to make it to my next class) but by half way through the class I would crash.  I had a headache (not surprisingly).  The hardest part though was in T and T, we were watching a (boring, uneventful, droning on) movie about Europe, and I so badly wanted to fall asleep.  I almost did, at one point. My BFFLAAT (who has T and T with me) was complaining about being tired, and I was like, don't even go there, because she didn't show up at school for the morning, she got to sleep in whereas I had 4 hours of sleep.  We were kind of loud so our T and T teacher asked why we were so tired, so we told him we went to the Hunger Games midnight showing.  Before I left T and T, my teacher looked at me very seriously (which means he's really serious, because he is a funny, easy-going guy) and Said, "Heather, get some sleep." Clearly I looked just as tired as I felt.  But, again, totally worth it! I went to sewing this morning, all ready to finish my quilt only to realize once I got there that I had forgotten my quilt at home :( I was a little pissed off at myself.  So I made donuts instead.  Not real donuts, I sewed them.  They're pretty cool.

These aren't the ones I made, but it's the same thing basically.  I didn't sew the little beads on, instead I used fabric paint to accessorize my donuts.  Wow, you don't hear that every day, accessorize my donuts. :)

Baking

So close. SO CLOSE!!!!!! I really thought that I would be able to get my quilt finished this morning, but alas, that didn't happen.  I just have to put the binding on now.  I'll put a picture up once I'm done.  Which won't be for a while now cause I won't be at sewing for the next couple of weeks.  So in reality it might be another month before its done :(  Oh well.  Just made a Chocolate Zucchini Loaf for my friend's birthday.  (You can't tell that there's zucchini in it, but the zucchini keeps it really moist, it's really good.) I hope she likes it, she said she wanted me to bake her something healthy (she's a bit of a health nut), so this is my attempt at healthy.  It's from a cookbook that's supposed to be all low-fat, etc so it should be good.  I have to admit, its smelling pretty good.  I have to make her a card too.  Not want, need.  It was specially requested from the birthday girl herself that I make her a pretty card.  And it has to be pretty.  (I don't know if I should be insulted by the fact that she emphasized pretty, is she trying to say some of my cards are not pretty?!)  Anyways, not much else going on this weekend for me.

The Weekend!

I am so glad that it is the weekend.  Every Saturday morning I go to my church to a sewing group.  I love creating quilts and lots of other stuff.  Right now I am working on a quilt with circles, lot of them!  It means I don't get to sleep in, but I feel like I've had a more productive day.  Last night at youth group, it was cake boss night and my team won (no surprise) but there was no prize (also no surprise).  It was a pretty awesome cake, we did pacman (see picture).  We are planning to go out for dinner to Union Burger, I've never been before but all my friends have said it's really good.  I got a belated birthday gift today, a gift card to mac.  I don't wear makeup, but maybe since I have a gift card I'll give it a try.