interesting idea? yay or nay...

hum...check this out.  a random idea.

what a little ole stripe can do!

Iwanted to give a boost to a couple of curtains I have in the house.  It's amazing what just a difference sewing on a stripe of black ribbon can do to change the look of something plain and boring, jazzing it up a bit to look more chic and updated. 

I was pleasantly pleased.  :)

a fun little idea...

Here's a link to a fun little twist on your outdoor summer blankets.  Loved the idea, and might add some pockets to the blankets I already have for this.

For the girls who are making quilts with me now:  this is a great visual link to hold on to in case you want to whip out another quilt anytime soon!  :)

more "sweat shop" photos...

Well, one quilt was finished last night, and sooo creatively I would add.  :)  K decided to add a couple of birds after she had already pieced her quilt together, so the idea came to add a black bird with a little of iron on tape, and ta-da!  It is SO cute, and I'm so proud of her accomplishment (she totally planned to match her quilt in the photo!).  First quilt down!  I really believe that she had fun and would do it again one day (sewing in general, that is).  

A is almost done with her quilt.  She is very meticulous and it shows in how perfect and lovely it is turning out.  It was funny to watch her take so much time to pin the layers together only to find out that she had also pinned her quilt to the carpet.  :)  Good times.  

J wasn't able to make it last night, but she has quilted just about her entire quilt and only has the bias to do after that.  Speaking of bias...I stumbled across the most amazing bias-life-saving-tip ever.  For a future post, a near future post.  :)

a baby blanket

Friends of ours are having a baby in a couple of weeks.  I wanted to do something thoughtful, yet really inexpensive (we are saving money to plant grass and paint our fence...priorities, priorities...).

We have known this guy for a long time, and have actually only met his wife once, so I probably could have easily gotten away with not giving them anything.  

Then I went shopping for curtain material at Joann's and got suckered into the rolls of left-over cheap material they have in those bins.  Those bins always suck me in!!  So this blanket took me under an hour to make and costed probably about 2.50.  Not to shabby!  I'll be pumping out more baby stuff in the next couple of weeks for my sister's shower coming up.  I'm excited for that!  Baby stuff is so fun and easy to make (it's all so small!).  

I like the How About Orange blog.  

I found on her site today a link that takes you to a little photo preview of what their house looks like.  I do not care much for the "modern" look, but I think she pulls it off nicely.  

I love looking at people's houses and getting ideas, and really just looking at what shines through (personality, temperaments, likes/dislikes, etc) their choices and interests in how they design their spaces.

 

Enjoy the little show of her house.  It's cute.

a little taste...

Here's a little taste of what we accomplished today!  We booked it out for about eight hours and the girls are so close to finishing! Which is great because sadly they head back to school here pretty soon.  I'm very proud of them for their perseverance in this project! 

             

Thankfully too, my lovely friend came to help and she was so needed and sooo appreciated.  The girls love her and it was nice to not have to bounce around too much all on my own.  That most likely would have created some sort of disaster.  :)  We are going to sew again on Monday, and I think that after that the quilts should be done, or at least very close!!

                       

What a fun day we had!  We made yummy pizzas and had some yummy iced tea...seemed fitting for this lovely day.  Even took a small break to sit outside in the sun.  Can't wait to post final photos!

the other window

So here's a photo (don't know what happened to the flash on this one!) of the other kitchen window curtains I finally finished today.  

In the end I was glad to mix up the patterns.  It keeps the kitchen looking fun and colorful.  I am all about the accessories right now.  I love sewing on rick-rack, those black ball thingies, ribbons, and whatever I can get through my machine without irritating its super sensitivity to all things new or challenging.  :)  

Today was a great day for projects.  It has been a super crazy month and I cannot believe how fast it's gone by and how much we've done during these summer days.  So it was nice to have a day to bounce around on projects.  I'll post more photos later on of what else I completed on this oh so productive day.

Tomorrow the "sweat shop" girls come over for a long day of grueling out the quilts.  With the help of my friend J (hopefully!) I am crossing my fingers that they will all get the quilts' parts pieced together and started in on quilting them.  I'm so excited to post photos of their work.  Such a fun variety in fabrics and styles.  It's been a fun time together chatting over cup after cup of iced tea, talking about books, cursing the heavens, fighting over scissors, eating way to many cookies, lots and lots of seam ripping...and so much more.  Great memories in the making!!

summer outdoor table cloth

My husband built us a great outdoor table (i still have to finish the paint job!) that has this great material for the top that is completely weather resistant and should last longer than we will (apparently).  

However, despite its indestructibility it is not stain proof (go figure!).  Hence the outdoor table cloth!  He has always appreciated my sewing/decorating/what have you, but it's extra fun when he request specific projects (like the apron!).  I love to be able to provide fun things for the house at minimal cost/time and lots of enjoyment on my part.  So at his request we now have a reversible table cloth.  

I used leftover fabric that I had impulsively bought last fall (rarely ever happens!) and then bought some dollar fabric from good old WallyWorld.  The trim is just fun polka-dot material I had on hand, and I did machine quilt the pieces together by tracing and sewing cd and plate size circles I drew over the surface.  A quick and fun project.  :)  

I have this great friend that randomly gets me really fun little sewing tools and what-nots.  She had bought me a bias tape runner (not sure of the actual "offical" name) that I couldn't remember the instructions for (the size of the material to run through it).  I saw recently somewhere to look in a store to find the measurements, then write them on the actual tool with a permanent marker.  Ingenious.  :)  I never mind doing things the old fashioned way.  It is how I learned how to quilt.  I take the picture out of my head, cross my fingers, do it the long/hard way till it comes out how I want.  Then the next time around is MUCH quicker!  :)  

where it all started...

The quilt we are all hanging out on was where all the "sewing" projects began...orrrr the obsession I guess one could call it.  :)

My grandmother loved to sew and had boughten the four of us girls an old White to share. Thankfully I was/am the only one who fell in love with it.  Although, I am drooling over new (and way to advanced and expensive!) machines...one day...

I had always tinkered with it for random pairs of pajama pants, hair ties (remember scrunchies?), clothes sometimes...until the year I married I decided it was time to break into the quilting world.  And I have been caught up in it ever since.  Thankfully I improve with time and projects!!  But I still keep this quilt around and remember hashing it out with H's cousin trying to get on the same page with her technical methods and my fly by the seat of your pants method. 

 I have an idea for another quilt (i have several under my belt now) and have been searching for some great material.  If anyone sees something really fun, bright, somewhat vintagey--send me a link!!  I am actually teaching a quilting class (kind of) to a group of great and oh so fun girls.  My dining room has been converted into something resembling a minor-scale sweat shop, but it is so much fun!!  And so much chaos...  :)  Good times good times.

all about the red!

Finally my dining room is finished!  Well mostly finished that is...still have to finish one curtain panel (just painting it), maybe some shelves above the bar...and new seat covers for the chairs. That should do it!  :)

The main wall in the room will be fun to change over the seasons.  I'm excited for the ongoing potential of it.  The chalkboard quote will change with the books from one of my book clubs (every two weeks).  

This room was almost painted orange, but the H was a little hesitant.  I'm glad we went with the red.  It is a classic color that will look good for a long long time.  We've had red in every house (and there have been many!) that we've lived in...so it seemed fitting to place it in one of the busiest rooms of the house.  It really cozied things up a bit, and made the huge space feel warm and vibrant.  

vintage meets the 50's??

Curtains!! 

I LOVE making curtains.  

My kitchen has needed some color for a long time, but I have put off making curtains for over a year because I really wanted to get a feel for what I wanted to go with color wise and what I wouldn't change to quickly down the road.  I have been going black crazy for a long time now (i would paint all the trim in our house black if my husband would let me!!).  Favorite color is red...so black, meet red.  

Tada!

And there's the beginnings of the next kitchen window.  Note to self: Purchase fabric all at once.  You can never count on Joann's restocking soon, or restocking the pattern in general once it's gone.  Final picture to come soon.

catching up to do...

i'm always on some project kick or another.

a little of this...a little of that...

so randomly (and hopefully frequently) i'll post photos, instructions, recipes, projects of all sorts, and whatever else i can create on this blog for people to see and comment on if they so choose. since this is really the first time i've ventured into something along this line, i'm going to post some past projects (all from this year) to give myself a little time to finish up a couple of things i have going on now.  

introducing the apron...

my husband ask specifically for each element you see here.  a puffy sheep (a dead one at that, with x'ed out eyes, and a tongue sticking out!), muerte (death in spanish) in old english lettering, the sheep dying in flames, a skull and cross bones...a little crazy!!

but i jumped at the chance.  when would i ever be able to sew things like this again?! it was so fun. i whipped it out in a day, and he LOVES it. was so fun to randomly throw it all together. it is reversible. the back side is just a solid hot chili pepper pattern.  happy birthday! (may 22)   

:)