Welcoming Baby Ian!

I was so so excited to go home to Texas this past weekend to throw a baby shower for my sweet friend Megan. She and her husband, Kyle, will be welcoming baby boy Ian Scott in November! I'm not-so-secretly hoping he will come a little early so we can share a birthday. :)

It was so much fun to host a shower with one of my other besties, Leisha. Megan's baby bedding has a cute little alligator, so we decided to make that the theme and go with the colors of her nursery. We found a little inspiration from Pinterest (of course) and Leisha got busy with her Silhouette machine, and I love the way everything turned out! Please excuse the quality of photos- one of these days I will learn to use photoshop and take some pictures on manual...maybe.

The spread (punch, sausage balls, spinach artichoke dip, and fruit pizzas)!

Candy coated popcorn favors

The mommy-to-be!

All of Ian's goodies! Isn't the banner so cute?

This is the quilt I made for baby Ian! I used this tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop and I love the way it turned out. I think it will go great with the nursery colors and I hope Megan loves it as much as I do!

All of us!

It was so good to see old friends and celebrate Megan. I can't wait to meet you, baby Ian Scott!!

The Wonderful Delights of Moda Bake Shop

Hello again! It's been a while, but if you follow this blog, you've probably come to expect my unannounced absences. But I'm back this week for a couple of link ups that I'm so excited about!

When I first started sewing, I started looking at as many blogs as I could to see what others were doing and learn more about the art of quilting! I was so happy when I stumbled upon the Moda Bake Shop. Moda is an amazing fabric company that's constantly introducing beautiful collections from some of the best designers in the biz! But what I love about the Bake Shop is that they show you what you can make using their special pre-cuts. All of the tutorials are free and take you step-by-step through the process of a quilt.

I was so excited when my dear friend Stefanie gave me a Moda jelly roll for my birthday! I knew I had to head over to the Moda Bake Shop and find the perfect tutorial. I decided to use this one and hopefully I can finish it by Christmas! You've seen this picture before, but this is the last one I took.

The fabric is Jovial by basicgrey for Moda

The Moda Bake shop is full of other tutorials that I can't wait to try. I can't wait to show you the one I'm working on right now...but it must remain a secret until I give it away!

I pinned this one a while back, but I think I'll need some more practice before I can master it.

The bake shop isn't limited to quilts though! I am in love with these little coin purses! And they have the cutest projects for babies and kids! 

Even if you don't quilt or sew, there is enough eye candy to keep you coming back for more. Have you ever checked out the goodies at Moda Bake Shop? I hope you'll stop by for a visit!

I'm Back.....for now!

I have been itching to finally start posting again in the past couple of weeks, but Marcus has been away on mission trips with the youth group, so I just now have the computer back!

Because of your sweet comments on my last post, I was reminded of why I started this blog in the first place. The whole point of Wish You Were Here is for our friends and family to stay in the loop on what's going on at the Womack house. So, this post is just a big ole recap of what's been happening for the past couple of months. I don't really remember as far back as April (except for Easter and finally getting to watch TV again!) so I'll just start with May and catch up to today. Get ready for lots of iPhone pictures ahead!

In May:

• I started working on a Christmas quilt! This is the one I kept promising to show you my progress. Here is the only picture I have. And I haven't worked on it again since then! :) But I'm excited to see it start coming together.

• I visited the Main Downtown branch of the Nashville Public Library! This was on my bucket list, so I was really excited to finally go and mark something off my list!
• I joined a book club! For May, we read Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. It was absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it! This month and next, we're reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It is one ginormous book!

• We spent Memorial Day weekend floating on the river in Knoxville! One of my best friends Laura, and her hubby Rob recently moved there, so we spent the weekend on the houseboat they were renting until they could move in to their house. Lots of fun!

• We came home to an escaped dog who had found some Tylenol (no bueno) and made our first visit to the emergency vet clinic. I don't wish this on anyone. Ever.

• We celebrated TWO wonderful years of wedding bliss. Marcus took me to a fancy restaurant and I made him watch our wedding video. :) For the second anniversary gift of cotton, I gave Marcus a monogrammed handkerchief and a Longhorn cap, and he gave me a beautiful canvas photograph that I want to hang above our piano (when we live in a house big enough to have the piano!).

Who forgot to ask someone to take our picture at the restaurant? Yep, us.

I can't believe how quickly the past two years have flown by. Marriage has been such a wonderful adventure and we love our life here in Nashville.

Stay tuned for some of our June adventures (I promise I won't wait a month to post about it).

Sewing Goodies

Not to brag, but I have some amazing friends and family.  Everyone has been so encouraging of my new quilting endeavor and I'm so excited to continue learning and practicing and making more and more quilts!

But now I am going to brag and show off the new goodies I got from some of my favorite people!

This adorable pincushion is from my brother-in-law, his wife, and my three favorite nieces:

Isn't it so so cute? In fact, it looks similar to this one I pinned a while back.  So needless to say, I love it! AND, Melissa made it! With the help of our oldest niece, Abby, of course. 

Next is another adorable little pincushion that Santa brought:

My mom picked up this little jewel on a stop in Amish country. I think every quilter needs one of these!

One of my best friends, Ashley, from Claudie Belle Designs, hooked me up with some essential sewing tools:

I was in desperate need of a seam ripper! But I also love the thread stand and pincushion mason jar. She sells these in her Etsy shop along with so many other cute things, so you should definitely check it out!

And last but not least, major props to my wonderful hubby who gave me this fancy new pair of Gingher fabric shears:

I also pinned these specific scissors and he got them all on his own without ever seeing my board. Is he the best or what?!

I am taking a short break from the sewing machine after all the Christmas craziness, but I can't wait to put all these things to good use.  I have two MUST-DO quilts that I am really really excited to start, so STAY TUNED!!! And thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of my new little hobby!!! :)

Review and Resolutions

As 2011 rolled in, it was hard to believe that it would be able to top 2010, the year Marcus and I got married.  To be honest, I'm not sure any day can top our wedding day (until we have kids) but I do know that every year with Marcus just keeps getting better and better!

Our year started off with my transition into full-time employment. What a blessing! I love where I work and I'm so privileged to be a part of the Blood:Water Mission family.

Then...

We returned to the scene of our engagement...

Alki Beach in Seattle

 And welcomed our beautiful niece, Clare Isabella!

We also welcomed a new addition to our little family!

Maximus Womack 

Look how much I've grown!

Marcus finished his second year of seminary and started his third, with a trip to England in between.

High Five, John Wesley!

 We celebrated lots of weddings...

The Pitcocks!

The Litzlers! 

The Rigdons!

The Robinsons!

The Zeisigs!

...and the first anniversary of our own wedding!

One year!

We went to Disney World...

...and marked U2 and Martina McBride off our concert bucket lists!

I made my first quilt...

...and my second!

All these things are just wonderful reminders of the blessings God has given us, and as I look ahead to 2012, I know it will bring many more blessings.  I can't wait to see how our story continues to unfold.  I'm usually pretty bad at coming up with resolutions, but I do have a few things I'd like to accomplish this year.

1. Get back into the routine of exercising at the Y. This was a resolution last year, and it lasted for a solid nine months. I was pretty proud of us! I want to do better this year, and that may mean I have to give up some things to be better disciplined about staying active!

2. Start a routine of cleaning and maintaining our house. I'm SO bad at this right now. I rarely have any motivation to clean the house, yet I constantly feel frustrated at the state it's usually in.  I really want to be better about this and if you have any suggestions, I'll gladly take them!

3. Spend more time in prayer. Starting this one now with Stormie O'Martian's "The Power of a Praying Wife" devotional.  I can't wait to go through this book and hopefully share it with you!

4. Create a bucket list for Nashville.  Knowing that there is a chance that we'll move back to Texas at some point after Marcus graduates, our time in Nashville is likely becoming more limited. There are several places to go and things to do here, as well as places to visit nearby. Time to write them all down and start checking them off!

I could probably go on, but I think this is a good start. Don't want to get overwhelmed before I even start!

Thanks for letting me share our life with you!

Wish you were here!

The Womacks

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe it is already 2012! I hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year.  The Womacks sent 2011 out in style...on the couch.  It was actually a nice NYE, just going out to eat and spending time together as a family.

I have enjoyed reading all of your posts about the holidays, and I finally have a chance to sit down and share mine.  We had a great time in Texas visiting with family and friends and celebrating the most wonderful time of the year.  It always goes by way too quickly, but it was also good to come back to Nashville and start settling into the new year.

Our break started with the wedding of our dear friends, Nicki and Alex. After dropping Max off in Longview with my parents, we headed down to Houston for the party! We had such a great time celebrating and catching up with close friends from college.

The Womacks and the Zeisigs!

We headed back to Longview on Sunday and spent some time with my family. It was really great having time to just relax, eat, and enjoy family time! I was really excited for our family gift exchange because I finished my grandmother's quilt! While it was fun to watch everyone open the gifts we gave, I was most looking forward to this one.  Here is the completed quilt!

Front

Back

My grandmother collects quilts, but has never had one made for her. I made this using some doilies that her grandmother and grandmother-in-law made! This was such a special project for me and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. Here she is opening it up!

I think she liked it!

Unfortunately, I was really bad with the camera this year, and didn't get many pictures of the rest of our family. Maybe I should add that to my list of new years resolutions?

Christmas at Nunna's!

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Rockwall for Christmas with the Womacks. We had so much fun visiting with family, especially our nieces.  They NEVER run out of energy so there was lots of play time while we were there.

Love these crazy girls!

We are always sad to leave Texas, especially when we don't know how long it will be until we're back. But we returned to Nashville hopeful for the new year and all that it has to offer. Come back tomorrow for a review of 2011 and my resolutions! I know most people have already done this, but better late than never, right?

Doneski!

Remember that quilt I started blogging about last September? Well, after a little over a year (including a nine month break), I am so so so happy to announce that my quilt is officially complete! I still can't believe I actually made a real live quilt, from start to finish, all by myself! :) I definitely had some help along the way (thanks, Pam!), and it's definitely not perfect, but I love it. Hopefully it is just the first of many quilts to follow, and this one will always hold a special place in my heart.

In my last post about the quilt, I showed you the mini-quilt I made.  Since then, I did all the same steps, just times about 30! After pinning all three layers together (the front, back and batting in between), it was time to quilt! I decided just to stitch around the perimeter of each square.  Then I added the binding- and it's amazing how that really made it look finished (I know, imagine that. The last step made it look finished!).  The REAL test, though, was washing and drying the finished product. I was terrified that the whole thing would just fall apart.  But it stayed all in one piece and it's beautiful. :)

So do you want to see it?

Ok, here it is...

What do you think?

This is the front! 

The backing is green and white (KD colors, of course!)

Love my quilt!

I can't wait to share my next quilting endeavor with all of you! I'm also going to be joining my friend Megan for her new weekly post, Thankful Thursdays. Sneak peak: I'm thankful for FALL! 

Mini Quilt!

Ladies and gentleman, I think I'm officially hooked on quilting! My lessons with Pam have continued and I'm now ready to put my quilt together. Last night we practiced by making a miniature quilt in the form of a pot holder! Ta-da!

We used some of Pam's leftover fabric scraps and some special batting that is actually heat resistant, specially for hot pads. I started by pinning all three pieces together (top, batting, and bottom). Then I stitched around the perimeter using a special "walking" foot on the sewing machine.  It's used for quilting because you typically have multiple layers of thicker fabrics.  Then I proceeded to quilt across the pad.  I used a simple vertical line, but you can really go crazy here and stitch however you want. Finally, I put the binding around the edge.  

Repeating this for the entire quilt will be a more time consuming task, but it's a great feeling knowing that these are the last steps and I will have a completed quilt! I've already been searching out my next project on Pinterest.  Better not get ahead of myself! Stay tuned for a final post featuring my finished t-shirt quilt!

Dusting Off the Sewing Machine

Remember that time last September when I took a quilting class (if not, read about it here.)? It's only been about nine months, but this past week, I finally made progress!

If you've been keeping up with the Womacks, you know that Marcus has been doing a lot of traveling the past two months.  Last week, he was in northern Alabama on a mission trip with his Jr. High youth, and when I found out my friend and co-worker, Pam, was an experienced quilter, I recruited her to help me move forward with my little old t-shirt quilt.  Pam is our Africa Field Manager and, therefore, spends about a third of her time on the field in Africa (imagine that!).  You can read about her many adventures on her blog, Pam the Nomad.  So, my goal is to finish the quilt by the time she jets off to the other side of the world again!

The first thing I did was lay out all my squares on the bed to decide how I would place them:

Next, Pam reminded me how to work the sewing machine! Even though I've had the machine since I was about nine years old (it was a Christmas present from my uncle one year), I clearly haven't put it to good use in quite some time. Needless to say, my sewing skills were pretty rusty, but with a little help, I picked it right back up (it's like riding a bike!). 

After a refresher lesson, it was time to start putting the squares together!

I made two rows of five squares, then ironed the seams before putting the two rows together.  And here's how it turned out!

I am so pleased with my work! I ran out of the backing material, so I have a few more squares that need that ironed on, then I can put the rest of the rows together and finish it!  

While I was busy sewing away on the machine, Pam was also hard at work crocheting this beauty:

(As you can see, Max was a fan.)

I am so thankful for new hobbies, the fun times I'm reminded of when I see all the different t-shirts I'm putting together, and good friends who teach me new things (and keep me occupied when the hubby's away!). This was our first, but surely not the last of summer nights filled with frozen pizzas, yummy cocktails, good friends, and lots and lots of crafting!