monogram an easy baby blanket

I've mentioned before that my mother is an accomplished seamstress (and my mother-in-law is too!). One of her favorite things to make are baby quilts. Someday I will learn how to do that, but in the meantime I went with this. 

I recently attended a baby shower and usually I get the practical stuff like baby soap and lotion that you know they will use. But this time I wanted to try something different and since I had Bobbie, I decided to try this tutorial:

reversible flannel receiving blankets with decorative stitching 

 By stayathomeartist.com

Seriously, the easiest baby blanket tutorial ever.

It's basically making a huge square flannel pillow case, but then you close it by using pretty stitching all the way around. 

Remember my first sewing project? Well in order to add a little something to the blanket, I decided to hand embroider a monogram using embroidery floss. I used a simple back stitch. I didn't do this until after I finished sewing the blanket, but I would suggest embroidering it first before sewing the two pieces of flannel together. I'm not the greatest at hand stitching, but I think it makes the gift that much more special. Well, in my opinion anything I receive that is made by the person is extra special and unique in my book. just sayin'.   

Also, I think this gift proves that you don't need to spend a lot of money either. You can easily find flannel on sale and I think total I spent a little under $7. I know it's only one blanket, but it was made with good quality flannel that will last longer than those store bought ones. And who doesn't want their own personalized gear? 

I love those robots! 

happy sewing,

Jessie

style me #1 know your strengths

Welcome to my first "style me." Once again, these posts are really more for myself to help me figure out exactly what kind of style I have developed over the years. This series is not meant to be numbered by importance, but I did feel that my very first style me should be somewhat overarching for everyone. So I went with something pretty general. Read the intro to my style series here.

KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS

I feel like this applies to everyone, men and women. This tip is not meant to start criticizing yourself and point out everything that is wrong and what you want to change. Please don't do that. This tip is meant to help you (and me) realize what we have going for us. And really, in my opinion, everyone has A LOT going for them. If you can't find any of your strengths, then you need to talk with someone with whom you are close with, and find out what those strengths are. I know they are there. We are all different, but we have all been blessed with many good attributes that can aid us in forming our unique style. 

Let me give you a couple of very simple examples:
All of my sister-in-laws are gorgeous, but for the sake of time (and lack of good photos) I wanted to highlight one of them:

Now among all the wonderful things about her style, I'm just going to point out one tiny thing. I envy those eyebrows of hers. They are dark and very nicely shaped, not to mention how much they stand out against her beautiful fair skin. They were probably not that nicely shaped growing up, but she has learned to shape them in the best way for her. Having dark eyebrows is a strength, and then shaping them to what they need to be is using that strength. 

look at that handsome man!

See this tall, handsome fellow? That's Caleb's brother, Ben. Ben's got great style. Ben's body type is tall and lean. His body shape I think has made him choose clothing that is more...streamlined. Because of his body shape, he wears more of the slim fit cuts and skinny jeans (but not too skinny). He looks great wearing skinny ties to church and his pointy-toed dress shoes make a tasteful style statement against the backdrop of his long legs. Anyway, I think he has good taste. He uses his body shape as a strength to create his own unique style.

Well I think that will be all for style tip #1. I challenge you to look in the mirror and realize your strengths. Then go and use them!

tootles,

Jessie  

Hem Dem Jeans

When I was a college student at Brigham Young University (oh so many years ago!) I vividly remember the day I found the perfect pair of jeans. They fit me so well that I felt I just had to get them. They weren't terribly expensive, and when it comes to jeans, finding that perfect pair is like finding a needle in a haystack. For me personally when it comes to shopping, I don't buy it unless I absolutely love it. This was one of those rare moments. I've had this pair of jeans for about five years now.

pillows!

My first real sewing project with Bobbie (my sewing machine) was to make decorative pillows to complement our couch. I am in LOVE with our couch. It's comfortable and the perfect size for napping, but it was missing pillows. Our couch is a nice neutral color, so I needed to find some fabric that would give it a nice pop of color. I found some while I was in Phoenix over the holidays. As I researched how to make pillow covers, I learned there were many options. I'm the kind of person that goes for quality over quantity. I am willing to spend more money on items that I know we will want to have around for a long time. I felt that if I were going to make pillow covers, I wanted them to be the best that I could make. Taking into account the style I was seeking, this is what I decided:

• four square pillow covers, two larger and two smaller.
• invisible zippers on all four (gives a more professional and finished look)
• piping on the two larger (you'll see what that is in a second)
• use feather pillow inserts, not the polyester fill

Caleb, Will You Be My Valentine?

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope your day is going well. Yesterday I made a simple gift for Caleb. Took me forever, but I'm pretty satisfied with it. I've started to pick up calligraphy, so I wrote the only font I know so far, italics. The ink was pretty light though so  I took a pilot pen afterwards to darken the letters. I hid them in his pillowcase last night, and he discovered them this morning. It was a fun morning. 

OLED Ole!

I am the only contributor to this blog. Caleb is a "contributor," but he really doesn't have time to contribute anymore, so I thought I would contribute for him. I know this blog is heavy on posts that are probably more for the female demographic (sorry Cheston), so I will do my best to share a little bit of the abysmal chaos (on earth we call it a Physics PhD) Caleb is currently experiencing here at the University of Michigan. Now you're wondering, "is it really as bad as it sounds?" I think it depends on who you ask. If you asked Caleb several months ago, he would tell you things are going okay...but in his mind I think he felt like he was drowning and slowly running out of air. It's okay, you don't need to feel bad for him; I did enough of that last semester. It was rough, but we got through it together. 

BUT if you were to ask him now how he thinks he's doing, I think his response would be a lot more positive. He is getting used to the workload and not getting stressed as often. And ironically, he is more busy this semester than last. So in his program, the first two semesters are basically taking classes and teaching. By the end of the second semester, you're supposed to have joined a research group so that you can start research in the summer. Well, Caleb joined a group this semester and he's pretty excited about it. The research group is led by a professor who has published tons of papers and is very well known in his niche of research. This group focuses on OLED and solar cell technology research. I'm sure there are other things, but that's what I gathered from Caleb. OLED stands for organic light emitting diode. This type of technology is becoming more common in television screens and cell phones. Big companies like Samsung and Sony have been using this technology for years now. Click here to read more about OLED on wikipedia. His professor wants to put him in OLED research, so he was given his first project, to grow a green OLED. A week ago, he spent an entire Saturday at the lab with his mentor, learning how to make one of these babies.

Each larger circle is an OLED. In this picture he is using metal tools to run a current through the OLED so that it can light up. Pretty cool huh? The picture below just shows all of the samples he made. Getting it made though is really only half the battle. He needed to take data and analyze it. I'm not really sure what that means, but I guess to make sure the performance is consistent and that he made it properly? Anyway, so he's pretty excited about it. Looks like things are finally starting to pick up for him. Yay!

    

Bobbie

So...funny story. Well, not really a story, just funny. So...funny. I would consider my mother an accomplished seamstress (not like I would know since I don't know a lick about sewing), but she made our clothes growing up and pillows and blankets and such. Give her a project and she could probably figure it out pretty quickly. Sometime last year I was trying to think of a name for my sewing pinterest board (because I didn't want to be uncreative and call it "sewing") so I asked her what that little metal spool of thread she puts inside her machine is called. I remembered it having a funny name. She may have said it wrong, or she said it right and I just didn't hear correctly. All I know is that I heard the word "bobbie."

Just this last Christmas I heard it was called a "bobbin." ahahahaha! I didn't really take the time to actually look up the word. How embarrassing. I think I'll just call it a bobbie from now on for kicks and giggles. You giggling with me? Yeah, I thought so. 

I've done some sewing with my mother in the past, but really nothing too extensive. Maybe a pillowcase and that was it. So my seamstress knowledge was really...zilch. That's a real word by the way. Didn't know that until I just looked it up 10 seconds ago. 

This past Christmas Caleb's parents gave me a beautiful sewing machine.

Isn't she beautiful? I haven't thought of a name yet...how about Bobbie? I think I like it. Ever since Christmas break started, I've been itching to learn how to use her. I even took the manual with me to Phoenix. I'm such a nerd. So when I returned to Michigan, the sewing shenanigans commenced. 

After buying myself some essential tools, like scissors and thread, I went straight to work with my first project:

I wanted to make my own pin cushion since I already had scrap fabric and polyester filling. I can take credit for my handiwork, but not for the instructions on how to make it. The internet is AMAZING and people are so kind to share their knowledge. Unfortunately I can't find the original blog where I got these instructions, but she also had the great idea of embroidering your initials so that it gives a nice personal touch. I like that little detail a lot.  

Yay! Finished my first sewing project on my own. This was back in January, I've finished some other projects since then, so there are more posts to come. Sorry I'm posting so much this month. I've been stuck inside because if I went outside, I could potentially get frostbite in under 30 minutes. Better to stay inside. Hope you all are staying warm this winter!

Hugs, 

Jessie 

Iron Chef

So our home is very unique in the sense that it has been converted into a duplex. This means we can potentially rent out half our house, and that's exactly what we do. Our "neighbors" are some good friends of ours that we met back in Utah, and we were surprised when we discovered they were moving to Michigan as well. One thing led to another and BAM! we have awesome neighbors. Back in January we decided to have an Iron Chef competition. Having a home with two kitchens definitely has its perks. 

We didn't choose a secret ingredient, but instead we chose a theme. Basically we had to prepare two or three dishes that can complement white rice (we have a never-ending supply of white rice). Of course we did guys vs girls. So Caleb and Jon were a team, and Karissa and I were a team. We didn't have any restrictions on what foods could be used, and you could borrow from the other kitchen if you needed to. Our time limit was an hour and a half. 

All the dishes turned out delicious! We sent photos out to a few people to vote which dish had the best presentation. The Chicken Katsu and Bacon-wrapped Green Beans got the best reviews. I thought they all were restaurant-menu worthy. 

chicken katsu (Chef Jessica and Chef Karissa)

some sort of asian omelet, has shrimp, onions, green onions, soy sauce (Chef Jessica and Chef Karissa)

Mango Meatball stir fry (Chef Caleb and Chef Jon)

Bacon-wrapped green beans (Chef Caleb and Chef Jon)

Baked Potatoes and Onions with Smoked Paprika (Chef Caleb and Chef Jon)

So moral of the story is....if you have a home with two kitchens, have an iron chef competition. 

  

Happy Year of the Horse!

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!
恭喜發財！新年快樂！

Since being married in 2012, I've unfortunately been away from my parents during Chinese New Year. Celebrating Chinese New Year was an enormous part of my childhood. I mainly have memories of being in Chinese dance performances, going to our local Chinese New Year festival, eating scrumptious Chinese traditional dishes, and of course receiving red envelopes of money from our relatives.

   

My parents immigrated to this country many years ago. I don't know if they envisioned the rest of their lives in a foreign country, but I can tell you that they embraced it with very brave faces. My parents went on to adopt many American traditions. I feel very fortunate in that I was given the best of both worlds. I am most decidedly going to do all I can to teach my future family about our Chinese heritage in addition to their American roots.

So for this year I sent red envelopes of money to my two nephews, Deacon and Phoenix. It is tradition that once you are married, it is your turn to give red envelopes to family members who are of a younger generation, or if they are not married yet. I still have some red envelopes to send, so I'll get to that this week.

red envelopes I bought this year

Last year I decided that I was going to carry on these traditions and so I began learning how to make some of my favorite Chinese dishes. It doesn't taste quite like my mom's yet, but someday I'll get there. We invited our friends and the missionaries from our church to have dinner with us. When I signed up to feed the missionaries dinner, I didn't realize that exact date was Chinese New Year, so they were in for a surprise. 

  

west lake soup

chinese green vegetables

cha siu, chinese-style bbq pork

cha siu baau, buns with a bbq pork filling

potstickers

Everything turned out really well. I was relieved that everyone liked something on the table. It took a lot of work, but mainly because there was so much to make. However, it was completely worth all the effort because it helps me to improve my cooking skills. That is one of my goals this year. 

May the year of the Horse be a great one for you!

christmas travels

I thought it was time for me to catch up here. I hope you all had a great holiday. We spent our Christmas break actually in several places. 

First, we drove to Ohio to visit Caleb's parents. It was a very short stay, but we were able to exchange gifts. Caleb and I gave his parents a very...clever gift. I asked Caleb to write a poem to go with it, and this is what he wrote:

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad! What an exciting year we’ve had!

There have been ups and downs, loop-the-loops, and turn-arounds.

We’ve laughed and we’ve cried, we’ve helloed and we’ve good-byed

Now once again it’s that time of year, when we share with you a cup of cheer

Even though you live down “there”, with evil people lurking everywhere

And we mourn for your sorry State, we still hope your holiday is great

Christmas should be fun for everyone, even those Buckeye sons of guns

And so we send you this, our love: view it as a white peace Dove

For while lost, you stumble and grope, we know always there is hope

While your allegiance makes us sad it’s true, we’re always holding out for you!

Merry Christmas!

Caleb and Jessica

Here is a picture of our special gift:

So when we first moved to Michigan, I was pretty determined to find some Michigan t-shirts for ourselves. Everywhere you look there is always someone wearing the prideful maize and azure. I decided to walk around the shops near campus and lo and behold I found a store that had a humongous selection of all the Michigan apparel you can imagine. And not only was there a huge selection, but they were also for reasonable prices. I saw these t-shirts and thought it would be a great Christmas gift for Caleb's parents. (It was only September, but my brain was already on it) I got one for Caleb that says "Michigan Physics" and of course I got one for myself that says "Michigan Wife." I just couldn't resist.

Needless to say, Caleb's parents loved the shirts. Even though they still bleed red (Ohio State color), they still plan on wearing them with pride come spring and summer. 

After our visit with them, we flew to Phoenix to be with my family. I was stoked. Here's why:

  Isn't he so adorable?! Well, you all know how adorable Caleb is, but in addition to my wonderful husband I'm talking about the little guy he is holding. Deacon is my nephew, my oldest brother's child. I had blogged about him in another post here. Caleb and I had a great time playing with him.

So basically I can't get enough of this kid. Caleb is really good at playing with him. We also did some other fun things. We went to San Diego to visit some of my relatives and also to do some sightseeing. We also went to Universal Studios, which was awesome. I had been there when I was younger, but they've completely redone a lot of the park so it was all new to me. 

Caleb and I had a really great time. We ate lots of good homemade food and it was just so nice being all together again. My mother was just so glad we could all be home. I don't think she really cared what we did as long as we were together. I think I probably felt the same way. We hope you all had a great holiday season with friends and family as well. It's during these times where I am reminded of how grateful I am for my family and the true happiness they give me. I am grateful for the Christmas season where we can celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, and remember His life and what He has done for all mankind. It through following His example that really helps us to feel the true spirit of Christmas, of charity, faith, and love.