t-shirt pillows

Jay was getting rid of some clothes a while back and as he was going through making piles I was also making my own piles.  He would throw a t-shirt, polo or dress shirt one way and I would snatch the ones that I just couldn't let go.  If you are like me then you really get attached to certain things.  Some of the clothes that he was getting rid of I have certain memories of; a shirt he wore to an after prom (yes, he has some old clothes still around), the shirt we got engaged in, a shirt that I remember him preaching in and so on.  Even though he was complaining that I was a pack rat and that I should be on the show hoarders, I stilled scored some shirts that I wanted to keep around for a little longer. He made me state the purpose of each item I was hoarding and I knew as soon as I saw these three shirts they would make cute summer pillows.  So, here are the shirts and pillows.

After a bit of cutting, sewing, pleating and fluffing this is what I came up with.  I had one of the pillows and bought the other two from Walmart for six dollars a piece.  Twelve dollars for three pillows is not bad in my opinion!

This is my personal favorite.  Jay wore this shirt a whole bunch.  I never really liked it as a shirt, but I think it makes a really cute pillow!

As for the other shirts that I put back I have plans for them to become one fabulous quilt.  I have still never made a quilt for myself, so I am taking a bunch of Jay's old dress shirts and making them into a chevron quilt for myself.  It is going to be one of my major summer projects and my next quilt along!

-melissa

we have been busy...

Life has been real crazy around these parts this week.  School is winding down, Charlotte is winding up and Jay has been winding his way all over the country. What Jay has been up to-

What I have been up to (not finished, don't judge)-

What C has been up to (she is still training in the fine arts of dance, again don't judge)-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLlBpfNGvNQ

Have a good weekend!

how to destroy a quilt

Last year I was over the moon about getting to visit a quilt shop in Seattle where one of my blogging "friends" teaches.  Jay was a super good sport about going out of our way as I slowly paroozed the store until I found something that I was happy with.  My biggest mistake was when we put the house on the market a couple months ago I wanted something to fill the wall space above my sewing machine.  So, very quickly I threw together this quilt.  I had in my mind what I wanted, it just did not turn out right.  Combine that with some bad accent color choices, a poor quilting job and hanging it up the cheapest way I could.  It was bad, real bad.

I was embarrassed anytime someone came into the office and looked at it.  I was also sick of Jay bugging me about the embroidery I did on it.  I call the vacations our Mr. and Mrs. trips and he says that it seems that we won some beauty pageant or something.  Anyways, the quilt had to go!  I didn't want people thinking this is my usual work...

So, I decided to trash it.  I started cutting and playing with the fabric a bit.  I got two blank canvases from Michaals for cheap and decided to do some decoupaging.  It has been since Christmas, I think the decoupage missed me!  First, I laid out the pieces.

And then started gluing.

I like this better than the quilt.

All of the fabric is from the quilt, except for the space needle.  I left the batting in the petals of the flower to make them have some depth. The flower is suppose to be the state flower of Washington, the rhododendron.  I am calling it artistic perspective, also known as I have no clue how to make a rhododendron from fabric!

It fills up the space in the office just as well and I am glad that ugly quilt is not glaring down at me anymore!  It was a mean quilt.

-melissa

new lens to look through

Last year we bought a new camera. Well actually, my Southwest Airlines Chase credit card bought us a new camera. Traveling a good bit for work equates to a bunch of points that can be converted to just about anything from cash to gift cards to just about anywhere you can imagine. A good portion of those points have been converted to amazon.com gift cards which in turn have fueled what I believe is my new hobby. Melissa always jokes on me because I don't really have a hobby, but recently she looked at me after I had been researching about camera stuff and talking on and on about camera stuff and said, "I think this is your hobby" and after I thought about it for a bit I gladly said, "well....yes it is." We've got a few trips coming up this summer, one of which includes San Francisco, so I decided we needed a lens that could get us a little bit more reach than the two lenses we currently own. After researching and reading all sorts of reviews I landed on the lovely lady you see below. It's a 70-300mm and I've included some of the first shots we've taken since it arrived on Wednesday. Enjoy and be nice. We're still getting used to it.

A lens like this can get you closer to objects that are far away, like a chimney for instance. I like the simplicity of this shot.

One of the first accessories we got for the camera was a good tri-pod, which is essential for slower shutter speeds and/or when you're shooting something that's 100 yards away. The moon is a little further than 100 yards away, but I'm excited to get some more shots like this of the moon and stars this summer.

Not a super in focus shot, but birds that are easily scared when people get close are no longer an issue with a longer reach lens like this.

I just like this shot and the one below once it was inhabited.

The lens is a lot quicker than I thought it would be. This was taken using auto-focus. I got Charlotte on the upswing and again, not super sharp, but I was happy with the auto-focus speed.

This lens is going to be great as Charlotte grows up and moves even faster and as more kids are added to the Hess house. You can be a ways away and still catch things even though you're not up close.

I bet Charlotte is thinking "I didn't know there would be paparazzi at the park today."

And just a fun shot of myself taken in the front storm door. We're loving the lens so far and can't wait to get some shots this summer as we travel. Get out there!

-jay