Rethinking Redecorating

When my husband and I bought our house four and a half years ago, we knew we'd live here for at least four years because my husband was in graduate school, but I always thought of this house and Philadelphia as a temporary resting ground before the next big something came along. Idealized visions of the romantic life abroad started tickling my fancy. Though my house is my home and has been for many years, it never felt like the place where I wanted to sink my roots.

But on Thursday a conversation with my husband started changing my thinking. I don't remember quite how it came up, but we were talking about refinishing our kitchen (which should not surprise you if you've seen our kitchen) and I was pulling my usual, "Well, who knows how long we'll be here...", but he surprised me by saying, "At this point, this is where we're going to be, maybe for the rest of our lives. It doesn't seem like we're going to leave anytime soon." And it hit me. He's right. We love our friends here and are settled into a great church, we have jobs that we like and coworkers we enjoy working with, my family lives close by, and we own a house. Whether I like it or not, I've sunk my roots without thinking about it. But his saying it really struck me. I, all the sudden, was not just a passer-through. I was responsible for the life of my home, my neighbors and my neighborhood. The parts that I love and the parts that I hate, I have to own them.

Things I love about my house:

This gorgeous mantel (though the fireplace itself is, sadly, a fake).

The wainscoting and wood floors.

Things I hate about my house:

That there's no room in our kitchen for a fridge(?!)
So it resides in this little shed/shack off the back of our kitchen.

Our dusky pink laminate countertops. Mmm, pretty...

I looked around my house, which is decorated with a haphazard collection of Craigslist finds, things friends were throwing out, or other frugal collections of stuff, and realized that my house is piecemeal, it's not very pretty, and I wonder if it's even very welcoming. I struggle here because I also don't want to become obsessed with the cleanliness or togetherness of my house. I don't want that to become my worth. But I do want to honor my house as a gift and to make it as beautiful as I can on the resources that we have.

So I got on Pinterest, which I know many of you already make good use of, and started making some boards with decorating ideas that I find lovely and inviting. As long as we live here, whether one month or 60 years, I want to sink my roots. I want to be more present. I want to flourish were I am and work towards the flourishing of others, and that includes my little old house.

Over the next few months, be expecting a few decorating posts! I always appreciate the input of those more gifted in decorating than I.

Little Apples-Baby Quilt

Forgive me for my quietness through August. I have been working hard on a baby quilt for my dear friends who are due with their first baby in mid-September, but my friend also happens to be a dear reader (thank you!). Therefore, secrecy was a necessity. But we gave them the quilt last night, so it's with great relief that I can finally share with you all this sweet baby quilt made with Aneela Hoey's most adorable Little Apples collection.

I was so thankful when my small group at church agreed to let me make a quilt for our friends for part of their group gift. I was dying to get my hands on Little Apples and this was the perfect opportunity. Our friends have decided to not find out the gender of their little one beforehand which I admit made things a bit more difficult, but I think this fabric collection, with its aqua, olive, gray, and red, keeps things pretty gender neutral.

The best part about Aneela Hoey's prints are these little drawings which make fussy cutting such a pleasure. There are kids playing Ring-around-the-Rosie, cute back-to-school outfits, turtles, snails, squirrels, apple trees, and hula hoops. All the things that remind us of the fall when we buy new pencils, pull on our sweaters, and look forward to jumping in piles of raked leaves.

It seemed that when our friends received this quilt last night that this little white block was the most special part. Everyone from our group signed it for them. This was such a fun way to remind these new parents of our love for them and their new baby and to let them know how excited we are to help raise this newest member of our family.

About this Quilt:

Fabric: Little Apples & Medium Gray Kona Cotton

Binding: Michael Miller's Dumb Dots in red

Size: approx. 36" x 36"

Pattern: Windmills and Pastures (designed by me)

Quilting: Hand-stitched with Perle 8 in red

Now, I just can't wait to meet the little baby who will get wrapped up in this quilt! I know I'm not the only one :)

Just for me!

Sometimes when I tell my mom I'm working on a quilt for a friend or to sell, she'll say, "You should keep some things for yourself. Are you ever going to make anything for you?"

Well, since my first quilt (which I wouldn't try to sell or give away), I've given away/sold/tried to sell every quilt that I've made. So, no, I guess I'm not keeping anything for myself.

But then...

Totes and photography by Angela of Fussy Cut

I came across these gorgeous tote bags on Angela's equally gorgeous blog, Fussy Cut. The 241 tote bag pattern is from the brilliant Anna over at Noodlehead. She has such an amazing gift for construction and function. Her creations are always perfection!

I admit, unlike most women in the world, I'm not really a bag girl. I have two purses, one I use every day and one that almost always sits in my closet. I am just too lazy to move everything over to a new purse every time I change my clothes. So I just stick with my black leather purse and it works great almost all the time. But Anna's 241 tote looks like so much fun that I started dreaming of fun fabric arrangements. I hopped right on Hawthorne Threads and got to work. I've desperately wanted to use the Tip Top Canvas Elephants for something, and this bag gave me that opportunity. I think I might even avoid the interfacing by using a heavy weight fabric for the lining.

I love how the youthful elephant print pairs so well with these sassy floral prints from Lourdes Sanchez.

I'm hoping to find some time very soon to get started on my new fall tote!

Baby Boom

Did it happen to anyone else? One week in January, I commented to my coworker, somewhat disappointedly, that no one I know is having a baby. I don't have any kids myself yet, but the blogosphere is so full of adorable baby things and I wanted a piece of it (without the sleepless nights). Of course the responsibility then falls to my friends. Come on, guys!

Well, just a week later I found out that one of my good friends was pregnant and after her it seemed like every fourth woman at church, at the grocery store, and walking in the park was starting to show signs of growing bellies and glowing faces. What a lovely time of year!

Admittedly, I haven't been a baby-gift producing factory as hoped this summer, but after making my 2-D Zoo quilt for my sister's friend, I had some adorable scraps to use up. While browsing blogs one day, I stumbling upon Maked's tutorial for reversible fabric baby booties, I got right to work on a gift for my friend's baby. I found the tutorial to be quite clear, but I struggled a bit with the final step of sewing everything together. It sure was hard to keep everything flat and lined up, but the booties still turned out to be pretty adorable and are certainly worth a try by new and experienced sewers alike.

To match the little booties, I also appliquéd some onesies using the elephant and hippo from the Alexander Henry's 2-D Zoo print.

This was my first time doing applique on clothing. I used Steam-a-Seam Lite and it was very easy to work with and lightweight so it was just perfect for the thin cotton material. These onesies (0-3 months) were practically doll-sized and I am still not convinced that a real baby will ever fit in them!

Given together, these are a sweet simple gift for any new baby.

Cross Quilt: Ready for the Show!

As hoped, I breezed through my second Modern Cross Quilt (especially once all the cross piecing was done). On Saturday afternoon I had a borderless quilt top and by bedtime I had bordered, basted, quilted (in multi-colored thread), embroidered, and attached my binding! Yay for tiny quilts! That left just the hand-finishing of the binding to be done in bed on Sunday morning. Once again, I feel that the quilting has redeemed the quilt. Something about all the quilting lines, the colored thread, and the texture really pulls the randomness of the quilt together and leaves you with a very modern, artsy quilt. I’ll be honest in saying that it’s still not my cup of tea (I’m more of a shabby chic/French country type of girl) but I can imagine this fitting in very nicely in a house with bold, colorful splashes (like my mom’s house, wink, wink).

About this Quilt:

Fabric: Robert Kaufman's Kona Cotton in various colors, 

border and back in Kona Slate, and "pops" of Heather Bailey's Pop Garden

Binding: Kona Cotton Slate

Size: approx. 18" x 20"

Pattern: Modern Cross

Quilting: Machine quilted in multiple colors

Tonight, I’ll be figuring out how to attach a quilt sleeve to this baby so it can be hung up for the show on Friday. Phew, I made it!

P.S. Thanks to Mr. Side Stitches, who worked very hard to give my little blog a facelift! I love it!

Work in Progress Wednesday

Last Saturday, my sister called asking if I want to put a quilt in an art show that raises money for her church's community center. I decided that I could probably put something together since my Picket Fence quilt is finally done, so I said yes. The art show is a week from Friday.

So I got cracking on this small modern cross wall hanging (I know, another one!)

This time I used a few scraps from the Pop Garden collection along with a variety of Kaufman's Kona Cottons. I feel the same way about this quilt top as I did about my other cross quilt at this stage, which is, I'm not in love with it. However, after I quilted and finished my previous quilt, I loved it (which is always good when you're gifting it to a father-in-law)! Quilting really does change the look of the quilt top. I'm hoping the same thing will happen with this one. I'm not quite sure what I don't love about this one, but I think that its the randomness of the blocks and the mix of colors. I'm much more used to very organized and coordinated quilts (I'm so glad designers make collections of prints!) I need more practice matching fabrics from different collections, but I may wait until my scrap collection is a bit bigger before I take up that challenge.

My background (and maybe border) fabric should arrive tomorrow so I'll get to quilting this weekend if all goes according to plan. I'm looking forward to quilting this one. Everything is so much easier when your quilt is only 20" squared!