Ivy Green

     The life of Helen Keller is such an inspiration to me. Especially now that I am a speech-language pathologist! It is truly amazing how she was able to learn to communicate at the age of seven after losing her sight and hearing as a toddler. I'm sure it wasn't easy for her teacher Annie Sullivan. But she kept working and she truly made a difference in her life and ultimately the world! The birthplace of Helen Keller is not far from where I live and once I discovered that I knew I wanted to tour it! 
     Located in Tuscumbia, AL, the birthplace of Helen Keller is called Ivy Green. It is over 200 years old and many of the original features are still in the home. There is a museum room with many photographs and memorabilia. The tour guide gives detailed information on each of the rooms in the home as well as stories from Helen's life. They have the famous well where Helen first learned that things have words and learned language. It was an amazing experience and I truly enjoyed it!

The grounds were so pretty!

A letter she wrote!

This bed has a crazy quilt!

The dining room where Annie Sullivan taught Helen to eat properly.

Signing "water" into her hand. :)

My cute parents!

Butterfly!

This is the house where Annie worked with Helen away from her family.

The Seemingly Never-Ending Quilt Project

     It all started with this picture in a DIY magazine.  

     The article is not even about that beautiful circle quilt, but rather how to create the canopy. But it didn't matter. I was inspired! I wanted my own beautiful circle quilt on my bed. Actually, the idea to make my own quilt probably began with the fact that my grandmother made numerous quilts in her lifetime. I kinda put it on my mental bucket list. So, in the summer of 2011, I started my 1st quilt. Did I really just say 1st? My fabulous mom helped me cut the fabric. I even found this tutorial online. {Thank you!!!} I decided to make mine queen size to fit my bed. I seriously took my time with this project. There were months that I didn't even pick it up. Plus, I did the actual quilting part by hand and that was very time consuming. I didn't think I would ever finish it! Slowly but surely though I made my way through the 100 circles and 100 squares and the border. 3 years and thousands of stitches later, I finally finished it this summer!!!!!!!! I worked so hard on it!! I am super excited and I absolutely love it!!!! As you will see Effie loves it too! 

Figuring out the placement

Quilt top completed!

Quilting by hand

Effie loves this quilt!

Bless her little heart!

Surprise! She really made it hard to work on at times.

On this day, she decided to chew on the batting, lol. 

Tornado knocked out the electricity, but I improvised! :)

Finally finished hand-quilting!!!

Cutting off the extra batting. 

Are you almost finished??

Machine sewing the binding!

It was really late and I was tired but determined to finish.

Whoo hoo!!!!! Completed at 2:00 am!

Beautiful and perfectly imperfect circle quilt! I LOVE it!!!

My Country 'Tis of Thee

     Ok, so I realize this is a really late 4th of July post, but better late than never, right?! This year's Independence Day was absolutely AMAZING!!! My parents cooked out and my brother and sister-in-law came over. It was a very unusual cool day for this time of year in the deep south and we took advantage of it. We seriously spent ALL day outside! It was so relaxing and fun. We had watermelon and homemade ice cream and even had a little target practice with the bb gun! That night we went to a local fireworks show and got to see some really big and pretty fireworks! Great day with the family!!! 

Orange Beach and Tangerines

     A couple of weeks ago I was able to take a vacation to Orange Beach, AL with some friends. I hadn't been to the beach in about 4 years, so I was excited to walk in the sand and put my feet in the Gulf of Mexico! The first day I was there, my friend Rachel and I headed out to the beach to soak in the rays. We passed a line of rocks that we thought would be fun to take pictures on. So, later in the day, we went rock climbing for a cool photo op! It wasn't hard really, but for some reason the third rock I stepped onto completely shifted underneath me and set off a panic attack. I felt like I couldn't breathe. So, I stood there for a minute and regained my composure. Took a couple of pictures of Rachel and she of me. Then, I went over two rocks. Panic set in again! I leaned against a rock and tried to catch my breath. The next thing I know Rachel is screaming, "Candace! Candace!!!" I opened my eyes and realized that I apparently blacked out and fell forward on the rocks. Thank the Lord I did not fall backward and hit my head!! I was completely embarrassed and upset about the whole thing, but thankfully I was not injured! The next day, Cynthia, Rachel, and I decided to go parasailing! Now, this was kinda scary for me just because I was afraid of having a panic attack 800 feet in the air. But, I prayed and once we were up there, it was smooth sailing! It was relaxing and fun! Definitely something I'm glad I can check off my bucket list. Other fun events from the week include putt-putt golf, roller coaster terror(seriously- it was so rough and frightening I kept saying "never again, never again" only to go for round 2 as soon as it stopped!), pool time, and eating out. And just laughing and having a good time getting to know a few people better! 

     Before my mini-vacay, my sister-in-law, Megan, and I went to a local place to paint watercolor! It was called Tangerine, but it was a picture of poppies. I've painted with acrylics several times but this was my first experience with watercolor. It was easier than I thought it would be and I always have fun painting! I think I may like my acrylic paintings more, but I would probably try watercolor again one day!