Silver Leaf

I am so excited to share my latest project. It has been on my plate for a while and after clearing the decks and clearing out a lot of the judgement that I had going on in my head, I went for it!!

I am re-doing the bedroom, painting the walls a soft gray,making a new quilt for the bed and sewing window coverings. I also needed a new nightstand. I have been stalking all of the decorating blogs and found the most gorgeous silver leafed dresser.

So here is my take on the silver leaf night table.

One of the places that I got a lot of inspiration was this post at the Little Green Notebook. I love this blog, you should check it out!

I will post more pictures when I get the room pulled together.

Clearing the decks!

I'm clearing the decks and making way for new projects, new adventures, and new dreams. My mind has been whirling with new ideas and my list of things to do is growing and growing. Maybe it was the fact that we have been inside so much that I have been looking at the house and how many things need to be cleaned up, repainted, finished, you name it!

Look out spring....I'm coming.

So I have this list of projects that I would love to do and when I have the time to do them I've noticed that I keep putting up road blocks between me and the projects. I will decide that before I can sew I need to make sure that the whole house is vacuumed or that some other chore is accomplished. I know that I have to do my job (i.e., housework, shopping etc.) but why do I keep withholding the pleasure of creating something new or completing a project.

So I've decided in my clearing of the decks, to clear out some (hopefully all) of the judgement that tells me to wait and do (insert chore here) before doing something fun and exciting and creative.

Wish me luck!

Inside Out...and a quilt preview

I am participating in Free Spirit Knits e-course "Inside Out" (you can find info here). The e-course is amazing. I have really enjoyed the first week. I am not sitting in judgement of myself, which is nice for a change. There is a lot of creative play and I had forgotten how much I liked cutting words out of magazines. I know we all did it in junior high and high school. We would sit for hours, making posters for ourselves and for friends. It was fun then (with the rubber cement high) and is fun now (without the rubber cement). I will be continuing this weekend, moving into paints!!!!

I also wanted to preview a new project that am working on. I will be finishing this week, so completed project will make its debut sometime next week. Until then....

I know, really pretty. I love this fabric combination! The cool tones of the gray with the pop of pink and fuschia. Girly without being "my little pony". I love all of the fabric lines that are represented and will get you a list. I purchased from Poppy Seed Fabric and Fabric.com

Next post is the quilt I made for my husband, my own design and everything. The weather has been so terrible here that I couldn't get a decent picture. So today is a beautiful sunny (albeit snowy) day and My family will be outside holding that quilt up to the sun. (Have I mentioned that I really miss the other seasons of the year. I mean a mom can only make so much hot chocolate!!!!!)

There is another soul in this house who enjoys the sunshine.

Have a great day!!!

Snow

I live in Connecticut and we had (according to the news) 30" of snow. I love definitive snow. Snow that keeps you in the house for the day (or in this case two days) school is cancelled, there are no activities and we are alone, the four of us in the snow.

Here is what we woke up to yesterday. (A picture of the main road I live on.)

So with all of the extra time I had, I managed to download the pictures from my camera into the computer. Here are some of the things that I have completed in December.

A quilt for a family friend's first grandchild. I backed the quilt in flannel to give it some extra weight.

A Christmas gift for my sister. We said that we wouldn't buy anything for each other and I didn't. She had given me her stash of fabric (Kaffe Fasset Paisley) that she had picked up at a quilt show. Then she realized that quilting was not her thing and gave her fabric to me. I thought about what to do with it and decided to turn it into a semi-large throw for her to snuggle under. Find my inspiration here.

(You can see my crack team of helpers. Sorry for the bad picture, I finished the binding the day after Christmas an needed to take a picture so that I could deliver the finished gift!!!)

2011

Working away.....starting an e-course. I have made a lot of items and want to show them all.

I love the print. It is from a good friend and is called "Free as Me"!!!

More soon.

This just finished...

The first project that has been finished is that the new counter tops have been installed. Gorgeous granite countertops and the most beautiful, deep sink. I can't help smiling every time I look at them.

The second project that was finished is the quilt for my youngest.

I was unable to handle the mess that the counter top installation made of my kitchen and since I just finished my new sewing space. I decided to spend most of my time there finishing the quilting on this top. I am so thrilled with how the quilt turned out. Most of the fabric was selected by my son and the pattern was also something he had taken a liking to as I was surfing some of the quilting blogs that I read. There is a great tutorial here. He fell in love with the orange quilt and then decided to go his own way.

I love the backing. I had extra scraps so joined the pieces with a scrappy stripe.

My wonderful husband was kind enough to take the photos for me. So all in all this has been a family project!!

Transitions

Summer is almost over and I am conflicted. It has been a hard on all of us. But now we have to send the kids back to school and although they need to spend time learning and with their friends, I will miss them. August is vacation time, family time, time spent playing games and finding ways to beat the heat. Fast, delicious dinners from the grill and gorgeous fruits and vegetables. August is when we take our vacation and take the time to reconnect with each other. Long, lazy days.

But now we are on to school and September and what I consider to be the start of the new year. I know that it comes in January but to me the real start of the year is in September. New school supplies, new clothes, endless possibilities. So even though I am sad that summer is ending, I am uplifted by the newness of September.

So with September and the changes that have occurred in my life, I have spent much of these last two weeks, reorganizing almost every inch of my house. Cleaning out my kitchen to prepare for new counter tops and quilting. I will have finished pictures soon.

For now, here is an image of summer.