on creating and playing

This one is about our need to create from a message that one of the leaders of my church shared at a meeting for the women of the church. It has been making it's rounds so you may have seen it already. I love the message. (you can read the full text of his talk here.)


and don't miss the two giveaways I posted on my right sidebar! Fun creations by some fun women!

the land of misfit furniture

Do you remember in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas Special, the Land of Misfit Toys? I'm afraid I'm becoming the social worker for misfit furniture!

I decided to go to my local Goodwill again (I haven't had much luck there) and see if there was anything interesting. I've been looking for a table for my entryway. Preferably something with drawers to keep phones, chargers, pocket change, etc. You know, all the stuff that gets lost. And I found this:

Sure it's got some character and needs a little TLC and some sandpaper. And that lonely soccerball knob just looks so sad. But at this price, I think I may be able to splurge for some fancy new hardware.

The only question now is, do I buy new paint? or use a color I already have?


Stay tuned for, Extreme Makeover: Goodwill edition!

it's about time

I mentioned this little unfinished project a few posts back. Actually, it's been almost a month. I finally finished up the binding yesterday and got it nice and crinkly in the washer. There were a few frustrations in working on it, but, in the end, I'm pretty happy with it, considering it's the first quilt I've ever designed and pieced, quilted, and bound all by myself (with a few tutorials from my mom!). That being said, if I were to make a quilt for my friend for her birthday this year - it would look nothing like this. Even if her birthday is on the 4th of July.

Since this was the first thing I have quilted with a walking foot I wasn't ever really sure I was doing it right, because it just seemed like there was something off. That it should have been easier than it was. My stitches were uneven and the fabric wasn't feeding well. I was borrowing my mom's foot and remembered not having this much trouble working with it when she was here.

So I was on the phone with her working on those minky baby blankets, with the walking foot and expressing my frustration - being the day AFTER I finished this quilting. Our conversation went a little something like this:

my mom: Do you have the little black arm attached to the presser foot screw?

me: what??! what little black. . . . (looking closer). . . oh, you mean that one. (attaching the foot properly - and grumbling)
Well that's interesting - it works just fine, NOW.

my mom: I didn't know you didn't know how to attach it.

me: you mean the way I also didn't know that a fat quarter measured 18"x22" until last fall?

my mom: (chuckles)

me: The problem here is that you know so much you just assume I've learned it all through osmosis! I'm totally going to blog about this. A post entitled: Things my mom thought she taught me, that I wish I had known.

my mom: Oh no you're not!

me: we'll see.


I guess we know the outcome of that one. (Thanks, mom!)

I love how the binding turned out. I think the stripes really complete it and make it a little fancier. I used to think I hated sewing on binding, but I knocked this out during a viewing of this. And it's not as hard as I used to think. I reccomend running your thread through beeswax to keep it from tangling. I learned that from Bend the Rules Sewing (and yes, I think my mom knew about that trick too).

extreme makeover: craigslist edition - the reveal

One of my goals for the year has been to bring more color into my all-white rental. The Nester has inspired me to be more creative (like putting my dresser in the closet), to stop pouting about renting and make it beautiful anyway. So I'm trying.

My kitchen is a little challenging - while large square feet wise it is tiny on storage. So I had a baker's rack (read: boring and open-storage messy) and decided a cheap bedroom dresser painted up all fun would do just the trick.

(There is a reason there is not a paint color named craigslist brown.)

plus

and a little modge podge and fabric equals

After the first coat of paint I was really skeptical if I was going to like it. It's SO bright! It is exactly the color I picked out, but in reality brighter than I initially wanted. I moved it into the kitchen so I could give it a test drive, see if I needed to go darker, or calmer, or something-er.

I was thinking about glass knobs, but I was trying to keep this little project within a tight budget. So when I got these cute little fabric covered button magnets (Thanks Lolly!) made with the scraps from my quilting bee quilt, I realized that fabric covered knobs might be just the thing!

and I think they are.

budget: dresser 35$ + paint 12$ + primer 3$ + scraps (on hand) + modge podge (on hand) = 50$!!

(This dresser is going to be re-purposed to my sewing studio when I have a sewing studio. And when it's not needed in the kitchen!)


*****In other magnet news*****

Have you ever made these? little flat glass rocks + modge podge + amy butler scrapbook paper =

I think modge podge is going to be my new best friend.

hooked on . . .

BLUE!!

I'm joining in on Hooked on Fridays blog party, hosted by Julia of Hooked on Houses. She has great decorating ideas and other fun home things to read about. Head on over to the party to see what everyone else is hooked on this week!

I love this color blue. I have for a long time. I didn't realize my love affair until one day about 8 years ago I looked in my closet and realized half the stuff in there was some shade of light blue/turquoise. Then I bought this car:

And my friend gave me this

as a "baby" gift. (Sad I had to sell the car once I started with the REAL babies.)

Now I've embraced my love of blue, so much so as to declare it my signature color! These are pictures I've taken of my blue things and a few blue places I've been.

1. made-over yard sale chair, 2. most of my fabric stash is blue, 3. my "betty rubble", 4. mini quilt, 5. turquoise and red coral necklace, (for sale at etsy) 6. baby quilt, 7. beach sky, 8. my duvet, 9. crocheted baby hat, 10. my favorite bag, 11. bear lake, 12. made over bistro chair, 13. new rug, 14. crater lake, 15. blue minky (also for sale)

so there you go. It's official. I'm hooked on blue and don't think I'll ever get over it.

PS - I just got these in the mail today from Melanie of Whimsical Creations!

a bee update

So I have all of my blocks for my Notion or Two quilt. Well, except do you see that spot that's blank? That's where my block goes! I decided to wait until I had all of them together to see what kind of block I needed to make, light or dark, busy or simple, red/pink/orange bird, etc...

I think I've got an idea of how I will place them, and I bought the sashing fabric. However, my artsy orthodontist brother made some interesting suggestions for me to think about doing. I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle what he suggested, but I may just go for it. I'm being vague on purpose, because if it doesn't turn out, I don't want to be held accountable!!

in other project news (pictures to follow in the next few posts):
*I'm working on the binding of that quilt - hope to have it in the mail by Monday.
*The dresser is painted and in my kitchen, but I'm trying to figure out what to do with the knobs.
*I started a diaper bag, changing pad project with Megan for a mutual friend.
*I started an online Photography course that I'm totally excited about. I think I may get the hang of the manual setting on my D40!
*I managed to time a fabric order (several yards of Daisy Chain by Amy Butler) to arrive the day DH left for a month. This is the 2nd or 3rd time I've done that without even planning it! It's a boost to get a pretty package like that on a day that bums me out. I'll have to figure out something REALLY good for the day he leaves for Afghanistan for 3 months.

another duvet to dream under

I said I'd probably never make another duvet again - but I don't think I knew you could get toddler sized ones at IKEA. You don't have to piece any fabric for this size! Unlike I had to do for this one. Here is the big view. Of course it had to be PINK!

The nice thing about this was that all I needed to do was buy enough length because the duvet is ~45" wide. I purchased Michael Miller's Eiffel Tower toile (which I adore and have been trying to find a reason to use a LOT of it) from Fabric.com along with the Dandy Damask and some Dumb Dots. Then I bought some of the coordinating pin dots while I was in Utah.

Initially I thought I would just do the whole thing out of the Eiffel Tower print and use the others for dust ruffle and extra pillows. But then I found that cute dust ruffle on clearance at Target for 5$! It matches pretty well - so we're keeping it. Plus, I realized that I didn't actually buy enough of the fabric.

And then I cut it in the wrong place and had to piece a strip of the dots on the top of the opposite side for everything to match up. But you didn't know I didn't mean for it to look like that, right? (really, I was just trying to keep some of the eiffel tower for myself - that's partly why I did the other side a little different - I L.O.V.E. this stuff).

Alison was excited to have cover just like mommy and daddy's and now she actually sleeps under something. I just like to go in there and look at that cute fabric every day.