Growth :: WIP

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I was blessed to share the day with my family.  

Today I got back to work on the quilt for my queen size bed.  This will be the 2nd largest quilt I've made.  I'm using mostly my FMF fabric stash and a few other favorites I thought coordinated well.  

One of my inspirations came from one of my favorite fashion designers Orla Kiely.  I'd die to own one of her handbags.  I had an Orla Kiely table cloth from Target once, but have recently parted with it.  BTW, Target sells the limited edition Orla Kiely for Method cleaning products right now.  I've purchased my fare share already.  I just adore this stem print wall paper below.  Don't know if you've seen it already, but her bedding is at Bed Bath & Beyond too.

Orla Kiely Home Decor (wall paper)

Although there are plenty of petal templates out there and lots of tips on sewing curves, I'm not up to doing that many petals for this size quilt at this time.  So I kept looking for other options that would give a similar vibe.  Then I saw the quilt below a few weeks ago from Cluck Cluck Sew:

 

Herringbone Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew

I've admired so many herringbone quilts lately, but hadn't seen one done in multi color before this one.  And so a plan began, a sketch was drawn, and the quilt was calculated using 5" charms.  

300 HSTs (half square triangles) all squared up and ready to go:

Today I threw up the batting on my bedroom wall and Ta Da... My first design wall!  I love it because I can see the layout so much better this way.  Especially for such a large quilt!  My bedroom wall is perfect too.  1) because its the brightest room in the house and 2) its the room the quilt will live in.  Here is just a snapshot of the beginning sprouts.

I'm still rearranging and swaping out fabrics, but I'm loving how its coming together. 

Lindsay

Flea Market Fancy - The Beginning

Today I cut into my FMF (Flea Market Fancy) fabric bundle.   I've finally come up with a modern quilt plan for my bedroom using my favorite vintage inspired line from Denyse Schmidt.   More to follow in the weeks to come!  I'm so excited!

 

m&m's are my favorite sewing indulgence.  After each step I reward myself.  I found this cute little tin in the dollar section at Target.  Isn't it cute!  Oh yah, and I'm trying these new-to-me Raspberry flavored m&m's.  So far very yummy.  Try them, and thank me later ;D 

Fabric Friday

Yesterday I hit my local quilt shop, a rarity without my kid in tow.  Surprisingly it happened to be their anniversary sale!  Lucky me;D

I couldn't resist a few new stash builders.  Some low-volume prints.  Those specticals are the cutest!

Some OOP (out of print) favorites 

...and the 6"square panel strips of 16 in three color-ways of Anna Maria Horners' Little Folks voiles.  I can't believe how soft they are!

Oh and they had yardage of this Summer Soireé print by Paula Prass that is just darling so I bought a yard for who knows what?...hoarding I guess.

Today I worked on a couple custom orders for my Sandwich Wrap/Mats. Aren't they cute?

Hope to finish the rest of the orders this weekend.

Settling In

Oh how I've missed you guys.  Man a month has flown by with business.  Thankfully I can now say, life is back to normal.  Well at least a new normal!  Sadly the only boxes left to unpack and organize are my fabrics.  Selfishly I would have unpacked them first, but if you know me, I'd never sleep until my house, especially the kitchen is in order.  Two hungry boys depend on me for food.  Soon I hope to share with you pictures of our new home, but I haven't picked up our new couch yet, and my walls are naked.  So stay tuned...

I did manage to meet one of my 'before I move' goals.  A finished a quilt.  Not just any quilt, but one for my mother. 

 Freedom Quilt

She received it at her birthday dinner at the end of March and has mentioned more than a few times how much she loves it.  I still can't believe it took me this long to make her a quilt.  She has been high on my priority list, but I had to collect the perfect fabrics over time.  She was worth the wait and I'm so happy with the combination that unfolded.

Please pardon the picture quality.  It really doesn't do the quilt justice.  The FREE pattern/tutorial I used was Starry Eyed by Angela of Fussy Cut.  Its was an easy tutorial and I thought the star theme went really well with my Red, White and Blue selection of fabrics.  

This here is my favorite block because I managed to add a piece of Anna Maria Horner into the center.  This small piece of fabric was a swatch thrown in with an fabric bundle I received a while back.  I kept it on top of my growing fat quarter stash for my mother's quilt for inspiration.  In this quilt, it adds a fireworks kind of effect. 

You may have noticed I used a bit of Bliss by Bonnie & Camille, as well as a very large variety of DS Quilt fabrics and a few reproduction prints from Darlene Zimmerman and P&B Textiles.  But my ultimate favorite was that I was able to use the Holly Hobbie-ish fabric as my white background.  It was the perfect low volume print.  This print I picked up at JoAnne Fabrics, oh gosh, I don't know.  Maybe 8 years ago.  I had 3 yards on hand so I had just enough for this large throw quilt.  I think it was the perfect touch, don't you?

For the back I scored on the clearance rack both DS Quilt prints for only $6/yard...and then I did a center scrap strip to join the two together.  It was really fun to design the pieced quilt back.  

For the quilting I don't have a detailed shot, but in case you are interested I used my walking foot to quilt in the ditch.  I quilted in the ditch between every print and the white background, including every star.  It was a serious trying of my patience, kind of test.  But the end result was just what I was hoping for.  

Well I'll be back hopefully soon to share some pictures of my sewing corner all set up.

xo,

Lindsay

Moving Forward

This is just a shop update.  For the next 3 weeks my Etsy shop will be closed during our move.  I'll let you know when its back open!

lindsay

Make Lemonade

Since we found out we have to move I haven't been motivated to garden... like, at all.  I'm so sad about the possibility of letting go of my garden box.  It is time to harvest though.  So, I called my sweet neighbor/friend over to take what she wanted and offered her the box if I can't take it with me to our new place.  She said she'd love to have my garden box.  So, hopefully it will fit in her yard.

The other day we dug out our crop and clipped lots of lemons from our little tree. Don't worry I've left plenty for the new residence. It is so rewarding to pull carrots and beets from my own soil. I just love digging and watering and watching things grow. Jack was such a good helper this season. He takes credit for the sewing of seeds, most of the watering, and of coarse the harvesting. Thats the fun part, right? God gets the glory for the growing though. It is so amazing how much can come from one little seed.   Here is my little farmer Jack Jack:

And here is the Lemonade we made together:

I used this tutorial I found on Pinterest.  Its super easy and yummy if you ever want to try making your own.

Next I think I'll try Lemon Curd, its one of my favorites on my chocolate chip scones.  

xo,

Lindsay

 

Lane Acclaim Tables

I've done it!  All by myself too...,  I've successfully refinished my two Lane Acclaim end tables and extra long coffee table.  

After 2.5 years of sanding, I made a run for it and devoted the last three weeks to sanding like a tweaker (wink wink - Jill).  I've read a ba-gillion blogs and how to-s on refinishing these same exact tables.  These Mid-Century Lane Acclaim tables are known for their two-tone colors, the intricate dovetail detail of the white oak and the lovely grain of the dark walnut.  Beautiful!

If you care to know the technique I used please read on, or just enjoy the pics!  

First a I stripped the tables using Jasco.  Wish I'd watched a few tutorials on this ahead of time.  The legs were a so frustrating to remove the Jasco/stain goo off.  I recommend using a stotch pad soaked in Mineral Spirits on rounded surfaces.  I scraped the flat surfaces with a plastic scraper.  Then I sanded using a hand sander with 150 grit sandpaper most of the time.  I also used a few sanding sponges for the hard to reach grooves.  This didn't work all that well.  They have a little too much give and get chewed up easily, not to mention cost too much.  I needed something with more pressure, but didn't know anything out there existed.  This is what took forever.  I hated the legs and wished I had not stripped them and just focused on the table tops.  Oh well.  After all is said and done I found a sanding block at Lowes the other day and wished I'd known it existed before.  It has a rounded side and angled side to it.  You can attach any grit paper.  Its GENIUS!  I bought it and plan to use it in the future.  Lord help me if I'm ever gonna do this again?!

After multiple trips to Lowes, I selected the Minwax Gel Stain in Cherrywood.  The hub online I found was to leave them either natural or go with a walnut stain.  I knew right away that I didn't love the high contrast of the two woods.  I like the original contrast where the white oak is brought down into the browns a little.  So I tried a walnut stain first, but found it looked a little dirty old brown.  Not at all what I was hoping for.  I wanted something with a hint of red.  So Cherrywood it was. 

Then I chose a Minwax Waterbased (Oil-Modified) Polyurathane in Satin finish.  I used several cheap sponge brushes, suggested by my father-in-law and I recommend it too.  The bristle brushes leave streaks and cost a pretty penny.  The satin finish is perfect, which I also love.  It doesn't have too much of a glare.  I hate glares/sheens on woodgrain.  It distracts away from the grain.  I know I sound like a man, ha!  Wooood  Graaaain!!!  But, I do, I love the wood grain.  Crisp white paired with wood grain... its a lovely combination.

As for this baby:  the coffee table, well, lets just say it has lots of personality.  I knew diving into this project that this table would never be what it once was.

My husband discovered that these lovely black stains in the wood grain were not surface level just hours after we purchased them.  There is also a large water ring on the other end, probably form a house plant.  He abandoned the refinish project, but still brought them home for me.  I guess the furniture designer in him, just couldn't bare to have such a blemished project.  Sadly I had already fallen for the whole set and wasn't willing to part with them.

I saved the coffee table for last.  Actually I should give the table a little more credit.  It did turn out a lot better than I thought it would.  I stained and re-stained the walnut several times till I was somewhat happy with the evenness of the color.  It was a lot blotchier before.  For whatever reason it just didn't stain evenly like the end tables.  Honestly the coffee table is gonna get a lot more blemishes in this house.  I need a coffee table I can put my feet on, if you know what I mean.  And I've got a 4 yr old boy who will most likely be landing airplanes on it and racing matchbox cars across it.  Can't you just see it now?  Its the perfect run way, right?

Onto other news...we found out we need to move this month.  Our landowner recently sold this house to his daughter, but before I get deep into packing.  I'll be back with a quilt to share with you as soon as I finish binding it and photographing it.  

Thats two more things off my NEW list for 2013.  Yeah me!

xo

Lindsay