In Brendan’s most recent post he mentioned sewing some sand bags closed for use at the gun range. I, of course, just had to snap a few pictures of my rugged man stitching at the dining room table.
Mr. Sullivan sews
He used my clothespins to temporarily seal the bags. Don’t they look cute?
love the polka-dots
I think Brendan looks pretty cute, too.
Mom Sullivan raised a wonderfully tolerant and talented boy.
I love him so!
Love,
Tiff
Saturday was the second time I met with my sewing girlfriends from work. We had a blast sewing adorable aprons!
It matches perfectly with my Sunday outfit!
I went with my friend, Lelia, after school to Hobby Lobby to pick out the fabric. I can’t decide which print is my favorite.
The apron has darts, a lined waistband, and an adorable pocket.
pocket and pearls
The ties are pleated and have a pointed edge.
Brendan tied a pretty bow, didn't he?
Look at how well these beautiful fabrics coordinate!
eye candy!
The little polka-dot band fills me with glee! See my dart?
I just love the ruffle and this rickrack (purchased ages ago on clearance with no plans) matched perfectly!
gotta have my rickrack fix
Can you tell I’m reading for Spring?
We are eagerly planning Sewing Circle III and discussing making potholders so that we can practice our quiting skills on a small (and manageable) scale.
Love,
Tiff
P.S. I finally began quilting Mom’s Mother’s Day quilt. Hopefully, I will finish soon and be able to post. 
I will not be posting about every trip to the range in time It really isn’t that exciting for most people, but aside from working, that’s about all I do anymore; I shoot lead in one form or another out the end of a gun of one type or another. With the variety of shooting disciplines available at ORSA, it is very easy to spend many hours on a Saturday there as I did this week.
Tiff and I woke up Saturday morning to the expectation of a full day of fun for both of us. Tiff had her sewing day with her friends from school, and I planned to go to ORSA and shoot as many rounds of clays as I could take, then do some benchrest with my Savage 340, and I had Emmett’s Marlin 60 22LR to play with on the plinking range. Read more
I am beginning to hate my first quilt. I made it with clearance fabric since I was a novice and didn’t want to spend much money on it. Thus the colors and patterns aren’t ones that I normally would have chosen and it really does not match the beautiful, soothing green walls of our bedroom either. Sewing my mom’s quilt has made me realize how important the fabric choices are. I loved working on it because I loved seeing the beautiful fabric coming together and coordinating so nicely. Therefore, I decided that I needed to buy fabric that I love (and would match our green bedroom walls) and make a new quilt for our bed.
Brendan and I spent a portion of Wednesday evening at Jo-Ann Fabrics looking for material for our new quilt. Here are the fabrics that we ended up choosing:
*My apologies for the poor quality of the photos; I did not have the patience to wait for good lighting. Please know that the colors are much more rich and worthy of our love. Just visit us some time and you can see for yourself! 
pretty fabrics!
We started with the green pattern as it matches our beloved wall color:
green! (my favorite color)
We then chose a paisley that has the same green in it:
pretty paisley
Brendan picked out the black fabric and this gorgeous “crackle” design:
"crackle"
Brendan has a good eye. This fabric has gray, the same green in my first selection, and the most complicated-to-match color present in the anchor pattern (the paisley).
I love this gray fabric. It looks so full of texture and reminds me of a stone:
gray "stone"
Finally, I found this “complicated-color” pattern to match the last color in the paisley:
final piece of the puzzle
I know it doesn’t look like much in this photo, but it really was a devilish color to match. I really like the little leaves!
Well, there you have it. I am in love with this fabric, Brendan likes the fabric, and it matches our bedroom!
Doesn't it coordinate with the wall quite nicely?
I’m excited to get started and will be keeping you posted!
Love,
Tiff
Well, as of February 25th, I am FINALLY a member of the Oak Ridge Sportsman’s Association. Tiff and I went to the orientation meeting @ 6:30pm and that wonderfully entertaining presentation lasted about 2 hours. Honestly it wasn’t that bad for me, but I’m sorry I dragged Tiff with me. It was mostly technical stuff, don’t do this, range is open these hours, don’t be a retard with a gun, blah blah, etc etc.
Entrance to ORSA
Sunday afternoon Tiffany and I went to the benchrest range and shot the rifles a bit. I borrowed a 22LR from Emmett so Tiff could shoot with me. I shot my “new” Savage 223Rem. The scope on that gun is horrible….the gun hits about 8 inches high at 50 yards and I can’t get the scope to adjust out. It’s just a cheapo Blaser 4×32, so it’s no huge loss.
Me Shooting the Savage 223
Tiff shot the 22LR (an older Marlin 60) that Emmett let me borrow so she’d have something to shoot. When we stopped at Gander Mountain to buy targets, they had packs of squirrel paper targets (for legitimate target practice for squirrel seasons) and bought those for her to shoot at. I got a pack of the fluorescent yellow targets so I could try to sight in the gun (which was sadly not too successful as you read above). Tiff was hampered by only having open sites on the 22, but she still did pretty well shooting her squirrels at 50 yards. 
Tiff's squirrels
No shotgunning today as there is a league that reserves all the clay fields for use on Sundays. I normally shoot on Saturday though, so that shouldn’t normally be a problem. I have a lot of guys telling me to reload the 223 so I’m saving my brass. Metallic reloading is significantly easier to get into than shotshell…less equipment and I usually only end up shooting about 20 rounds per trip, so it’s not nearly as high volume as what I’ll need to do for the shotguns.
Anyhow, I’m excited to finally have my membership active and can shoot just about any shooting discipline there. I’m looking at getting some small rimfire rifle for Tiffany next. I really want a 17HMR, but the ammo is a little pricey for the gun’s intended purpose of higher volume target practice and plinking. 17HM2 is an option, but it hasn’t caught on and all ammo/guns would have to be mail ordered. Sooo, all that said, I’ll likely end up getting a Savage MKII in 22LR with a heavy barrel and put a decent 4x or 6x scope on it. I think I’ve decided on a Bushnell 2-7×50 for my 223. We’ll see.
More next weekend I’m sure, though I’m about out of target ammo for the shotguns. I need to build up my stock of ammo again.
Well after almost 2 years of working from home, we at Hawkins Computer Services finally have a real office space! About two weeks ago, Emmett went on a hardcore search for a good office space in the area that would suffice for the 3 of us. In the span of a week he signed the lease, got internet and phone installed, bought desks, computer equipment, etc, and generally got the place setup.
Entrance to Office
The couple of days before we officially moved in we brought equipment over and Jennifer, Ray, Emmett, and I got the new desks built, painted the walls, put up decor, ran networking, etc. Thursday was our first official day over there and we’re getting settled in. I can’t wait for our first full week over there… should help us all be more productive and improve our communication with each other and clients.
Left: My desk ~ Right: Ray's Desk
Ray and I occupy the front room of the office. We’ve got our desks facing each other and have all the power/networking stuff between them. Not that pretty, but a reasonable solution for now. I think we’re going to put a printer against the wall under the “square” on the wall.
My desk, desktop, laptop, etc
I have created my little corner. Emmett bought chairs and desks and monitors. I brought one of my spare desktops over to use for the time being and I’ve been bringing my laptop for…. well I don’t really know what… I just find it’s useful to have two computers sometimes
Kermit's Office
Emmett got the back office…there are a couple of chairs for clients on the opposite wall.
Contents of my top drawer
This is Tiffany’s favorite part. The contents of my desk drawer. CDs, network tester, tools, and a stash of taco sauce in case I get lunch one day and want some taco sauce. Not sure why that’s so hilarious, but she insisted on taking a picture.
My family came down from Ohio for a quick weekend visit. Brendan and I took them to Springbrook Park where we like to take walks.
fountain!
The park has a lovely fountain, made even lovelier by the presence of my family.
Mom and Dad Knapp
The beauty of the park made us all contemplative, especially Jeanette, who channeled The Thinker.
Jeanette
There are several little creeks like this crisscrossing the park, as well as a little waterfall:
waterfall
One of the most interesting things about our corner of the park is the random bamboo copse:
bamboo
close up
I think the bamboo made us all think of Jeremy and Kristin. The whole family was together in spirit!
Mom and Dad again:
the Knapps
My handsome husband:
Brendan
After our walk, Mom and Jeanette had some fun on the seesaw:
playground fun!
Brendan and I had a great time with my family, but it was too short!
Love,
Tiff
I spent the majority of Saturday cleaning the apartment and doing laundry in anticipation of the arrival of my family this coming weekend. However, after the cleaning drudgery, I felt the urge to do something creative. I’ve finished Mom’s quilt top, but don’t have the needed supplies to complete it (batting, backing, binding) just yet.
quilt top
I love the patterns.
While I’m anxious to finish Mom’s quilt, I decided to stick around the house and do something fun with things I had on hand.
I ended up with this:
clothespins
In our house, we use clothespins to keep our cracker/chips/whatever bags closed. I decided to give them some pizazz with the help of my trusty hot glue-gun.
I bought the little bucket at Target for $1, along with the ribbon, and had no idea what I would do with them, but they had cupcakes and thus HAD to leave the store with me.
So now this little bucket sits on our kitchen counter filled with these adorable clips to keep our Goldfish crackers fresh and crisp.
cheddar, yum!
How could I resist this ribbon?!
This super-simple craft fed my creative craving. I highly recommend this quick and simple project for near-instant gratification. Look at all the options! It makes me want to open up every package of foodstuffs in my cupboards!
too cute
Love,
Tiff
I’ve actually made some progress on Mom’s lap quilt. I bought the fabric over a month ago and cut out the squares a few weeks after that. The little square stacks were sitting on my desk looking sad and neglected and today, I finally started sewing them together.
My desk as the work began unfolding:
messy desk
My progress thus far:
8 of 12 rows done!
Why did I stop, you ask? I had to take another hiatus for a legitimate reason:
Gutermann 22 is empty!
This is going to be a small quilt for Rich’s chair and will be Mom’s Mother’s Day present. The finished dimensions should be 48″ X 60″. I just measured a blanket that I have in my living room for my dimensions.
I’m really enjoying this quilt top so far. I’ve even discussed with Brendan how it matches our house better than my mom’s . . .
No, the cupcake madness has NOT ended. It is in fact spreading to our dining nook!
bench cushions!
Brendan and I have a bench flanked by two bookshelves for seating on one side of our dining room table. This bench is never used (except for the three baskets underneath that make for great dining/kitchen linen storage). Thus, making a cushion for it has never been high on my priority list. However, I was thinking that I would host the next sewing circle with my friends from school and figured that they would appreciate a nice seat cushion.
I bought two foam rectangles at Jo-Ann’s (buying it by the yard for one long cushion would have cost an outrageous sum) and lovely purple fabric as well as the pretty print with sprinkles and cherries. The foam covers were simple and quickly completed.
The real fun came with making the pillows.
The purple pillow was appliquéd with brown fabric from my cupcake kitchen towel embellishment and the new sprinkles print. I bought cherry-sized red pompoms from Hobby Lobby (perhaps I should exchange them with hot pink) and the rickrack I had on hand from one of my Baby Bowman projects.
purple pillow
My sprinkles (or “jimmies” as Grandpa Leibbrand would say) pillow has more embellishment. A cherry pompom, felt whipped cream, blue beads (from a bracelet that Brendan bought for me in Florida the Christmas before we were married), and some rickrack leftover from the kitchen towels.
sprinkles pillow
Both pillows are backed with a lighter shade of purple that matches the light shade of purple sprinkles.
side view
Doesn’t it look like a cozy corner? I can’t decide which pillow I prefer.
I have added some more towels and little ceramic cupcakes to my collection, but I do have two more additions that are too ridiculous not to share. At the last Jo-Ann’s sale, I bought a pattern for felt food and made a little cupcake with stuff on hand:
mini cupcake
I have no idea what to do with it. But you must admit it’s super cute. (Notice my detailed cupcake liner lines on my appliquéd pillow in the background?)
My favorite addition, however, is this bit of silliness that Brendan surprised me with one day after a shooting trip:
puppy with a cupcake house!
He stopped at Target and brought this plush cupcake puppy house complete with puppy as well as a ceramic cupcake. I added the ribbon, whipped topping and cherry to my puppy’s house. It’s so silly and perfect. I love it.
ceramic cupcakes
I still haven’t hung up that picture :}
cupcakes!
I don’t think that the madness will spread throughout the house…except there is this awesome pdf pattern for a cupcake quilt…
www.hearttohandonline.com/pdf/Cupcakes.pdf
Love,
Tiff
P.S. So far it’s been slow progress with Mom’s quilt. At least I have all the fabric cut: thirty0-six 4.5″ squares in each print.
baby steps
