Whitniffic Whatnots

It's been a while since I've made an update on the progress of the homebrewing stuff I'm working on. That's probably because I haven't made a ton of progress. Ha ha. About a week after I dropped of the old wood desk at my Grandpa's house, he decided that it was probably best if I kept it elsewhere since he hasn't been feeling the best. "Elsewhere" ended up being in my backyard, covered with a tarp to hide it from Homebrew Hubby. And then it snowed a bunch. Joy! Fortunately, Neil had a rare burst of ambition (no doubt inspired by my slightly dramatic meltdown about not being able to give any gifts this year at all) and cleaned out one of the little rooms in our basement for me to work on "secret" projects in. So that's where that sits for the time being. I did get the pieces cut to add the shelves and patch up the sides, although I did forget to trim the top piece to length... darn. I'll just have to bring it to work with me.

I FINALLY made the time to take a longarm quilting class! So excited!!! Our local tech school has an Artisan Center branch downtown, and they have a textiles studio with three Nolting longarm machines on 12-foot tables. I signed up months ago for the intro session which consisted of two Wednesday night classes, each about 3 hours long. I paid $75 to register, and all materials and thread were included. I did notice that going forward, the class price has dropped to $60, but oh well! I ended up being the only one in class, so I got one-on-one instruction (which isn't normal- the other lady who was signed up forgot all about it). I absolutely LOVED it. Lynn, the instructor, was really nice and walked me through the process, but didn't do too much for me so I had the opportunity to do it myself and retain the information. It is quite a bit to remember! I've got a pretty solid background in sewing machine use, since I started sewing at age 4; it was really just th

My good friend who owns the wedding/event venue recently opened a second location, and she's doing something really cool with it. She has a small staff helping her out with everyday business, and she's encouraging them all to host events as fundraisers for organizations or causes they're passionate about for no cost, which is super generous and awesome! This concept is a win-win all around. It helps the venue get their name out, plus they have a liquor license and a full bar for beverage sales. It helps the charity or cause with awareness and monetary support. And best of all, it gives people in a small town some fun things to do for a night out! I don't work for Gina (although I helped translate her vision for the new venue space!), but she asked me if I'd be interested in teaching "Paint Your Pet" nights to raise money for the Humane Society. Of course I said I would be honored- but I hadn't painted in years! I would need to get some practice and