The Duvet- For Lesley's room

For those of you that have been following along- I am helping my friend Lesley redo their guest room/office. She wanted a light and breezy relaxing retreat with a beach inspired undertone- which is appropriate given our proximity to the water here in Portland!

So here is the Duvet fabric I am sewing today. It's a nice stripe that is the perfect balance to the bold curtain fabric (see the post of the little envelope pillow I made for the fabric).

I should be able to post pictures of the finished project in two weeks or so- so stay tuned!

carving out a studio space

SO- everyone I talk to seems to have a room, an activity or a personal goal that they really WANT to accomplish, but something keeps them from actually getting started. I talked with a friend about this recently and she shared with me how a couple who wanted to take dance classes from her- decided to quit smoking in order to afford the classes! I think that's a pretty big example of determination. This couple wanted something so much that they gave up a very addictive habit in order to pay for their classes!

So here's my goal: The above photo is my room that houses the potential for the activity I wish to have in my life- painting, working on my children's book, etc etc...

In previous posts- I mentioned how this room housed my dresser and in general was a large 8x7 ft walk in closet with shelves etc. Well NO MORE!

1st) like with those organization shows- I emptied out the entire room and started from scratch. This was a great starting point because it really forced me to only put things back in there that fit with the goal of my room- a studio!!

I kept the large shelf, but moved it to the other side of the room. I then organized its contents and consolidated the necessary sewing materials etc. I ended up clearing off 2 additional shelves that now house all of my art supplies-paper, brushes, paints, canvases, etc!

Most importantly I moved my dresser out into our bedroom which allowed for more room in the space and ultimately allowed me to consolidate all of the storage stuff to one side of the room.

So far I have spent 6 hours on this project! It's rewarding and best of all it will allow me to paint and eventually sell my artwork, etc and thus provide additional income- and add to the bigger goal of saving up for a house!

I will post the after pictures on Monday. (by then everything will be done and most importantly I will have my camera back from it's 1 month trip to Alaska with Cameron! Note the above picture was taken with the camera on my computer and thus everything is backwards... )

my ETSY favs!

I always love to share my etsy favorites with you all! And here is a recent batch!

The first one is a fantastic shop- that offers prints and other great vintage finds. A delight to work with. I recently purchased a few lobster prints for a project I am going to work on shortly. Here's the link to their shop!

Spin swim- love, love, love this yarn! I have bought three skeins in the past, one was worked into a hat, the other two are so beautiful I am waiting for the right project! Here's her shop.

LOVE these necklaces! Waiting and saving until I can buy one someday! The shop!

Every picture is a fantastic whimsical treat! Here's the shop!

Beautiful gold earrings! So lovely and here's her shop!

progress part 2- the pillow

Here's the progress I have been making on the coral pillow! It's slow going.. So i think next time I will work with fabric paint and see how that treats me...

progress

Progress on the pillow I am embroidering for Lesley's room redo. It's a piece of coral on a striped fabric, with a green zipper and backed with a piece of canvas for the back of the pillow.

The tomato from 4th of July weekend. I put it in a brown bag to ripen- check out it's progress.

a meal for one from two cans

okay so I've been making this "dish" lately and it's really good. cheap, a quick fix and makes a few meals- making it easy to take to work etc...

The top can is this great beans and rice combo. You can't get any easier than that!

1st I fry onions in oil in my cooking pot. Then I add the beans and rice and the diced tomatoes. You really only have to cook it for 5-7 mins. tops.

Finish it off with avocado and sour cream- and you have a tasty meal!

baby hat #2

After the last baby hat I knit- My sister requested that I knit a hat for her friend who is having a boy in August.  She requested the blue and orange and I added the green in because it just looked so great all together.

Again I made the hat on size 6 rounds. I cast on about 64, made a ribbed border and then did the blue in st st and the orange and green in garter stitch.  It's a fun and quick hat- which was good since I had a baby shower deadline to think about!
And like with the other one- when you put it on the little guy the corners will pop up and look like little ears!  I think it's large enough that he could wear it in the fall, and possibly in the spring- since it's so stretchy... although, I don't know, some babies can have big heads!!

I think I will make more hats with the left over yarn and put them on etsy!

Another sneak peak

Here is another pillow I made for Les. I used the leftover fabric from her curtains. (Cool Fabric, huh?) I folded the fabric like an envelope, sewed it all together in a loose manner and attached this wooden toggle button, a left over from those extra buttons you get with sweaters but never, ever use!

Here's the back of the pillow. Very nice and relaxing colors. Perfect for the ocean inspired beachy feel we are going for.

And this fabric with it's rope or shell abstracted shapes will cover the seat of this little rocking chair that Les got for free a few years back. She is going to take it from brown wood to a nice warm white, and this fabric will be a fun addition to the room and to spruce up the chair.  In order to make the fabric wide enough to cover the seat, I simply cut off a long strip from either end and sewed it to the sides. Les will simply staple it to the back of the seat.  This is an example of how to add something modern to a room while also adding a neutral. There is nothing wrong with too much color, as my rooms attest, but it's nice to have a balance.

This fabric also provides a different size print. This is important to remember when decorating- incorporate a variety of sizes when choosing fabric. It helps make the room flow and not make it too visually overwhelming.

More to come, so stay tuned!

a pillow for Lesley

Lesley and I are redoing their second bedroom/office/ guest room! It's been a lot of fun. So far we painted the room, I have made curtains, a new pillow case for a long throw pillow... yadda yadda. I don't want to give it all away so stay tuned- more pictures to come!

Tonight I am working on my own little idea for her room. This pillow is a guinea pig for possible ETSY products to sell in my shop.

This picture above is the inspiration for the pillow. The large graphic coral print to be precise. 

1st I went out and bought a pre-made pillow- 18x18". Then I bought canvas and this matching stripe fabric. I made a pillow case complete with a recycled, green zipper at the bottom for added pop and function for washing.  I am going to embroider a yet to be determined coral shape on the striped side with this pastel pinky color- in keeping with the subdued yet fun color pallet of the room.  Since the room is primarily in all blues it needed a warm punch- hence this pillow!

Stay tuned as I will post pictures of the room and other sewing projects in the next week!

summer dessert

I am making a crumble for tomorrow night's knit night potluck at our place. My mom has been making this dessert for years and it is incredibly easy!!!

Here's a how to:

preheat oven for 350

crack 1 egg in a bowl

add 1 cup of sugar

1 cup of flour and MIX - sometime I had a touch of milk or vegetable oil if it doesn't seem to be binding and is too dry. But ultimately by drizzling the butter on top your doughy topping will become more dough-like and wet.

melt a stick of butter on the stove or microwave if you have one.

put the fruit in a bake safe dish

evenly sprinkle the crumble mix over top then drizzle the butter, or butter like substitute over the whole thing. Bake at 350 for 30+ minutes until golden brown! (will take longer if using frozen fruit, sometimes I kick on broil for a few minutes to finish cooking the top.)

Serve with ice cream or pouring cream and Enjoy!

Summertime shearing

Time for a change.
chop, chop, chop. It's suppose to look messy, like I am 6 yrs old and took scissors to my hair.

It's finally 80 degrees and sunny here, so time for a change!

my first baby Hat!

One of our friends from knit night is having a baby boy in the next month and on Tuesday night's knit night- we are giving her our knit baby gifts!  Since I'm new to the scene I didn't have a ton of time... So I found this darling hat idea on Ravelry and went for it.

It's basically a square. with alternating stripes of knit and purl.

This is an idea of what it will look like when a little head is inhabiting the hat. It will make the ends of the square look like little funky ears!  I made it with a pair of 6 round needles, and I used this super soft navy yarn leftover from a hat I knit my father last year for Christmas.  I cast on about 56 stitches. Made a ribbed border, purled 5 rows, knit 5, purled 4 knit 6 or so and progressively knit more and purled less as I worked my way up to the top!  Then I finished by sewing the top of the square together along the outside to ensure it's squareness!  One could also add two small pom-poms to the tips or tassels! Options, options!

I'm thinking I might have to get a baby knitting book if this becomes a trend! lol

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Nothing quite says summer like Tomatoes!  And we need every evidence of summer around these parts! Thankfully the never ending rain that has been June and now all of July- has let up this morning  and we actually have some sunshine and shadows for a time. (I just hope it will last!)

So after dumping the tarp free of water, I tipped over each pot to drain even more water away from their soggy, soggy roots.  And after some discussion and contemplation I picked this big tomato that has been holding in there since May! I've learned with tomatoes that you have to pick off the big ones, and chop the tops of the plants in order to promote more growth.

And after all the rain we have been getting, my plants need every bit of encouragement and support!   So I am going to try the brown paper bag method- and stuff this guy in one to ripen off of the vine!  And maybe, just maybe I will have my first summer tomato sometime this Holiday weekend!

Recipe blogs and such

The other weekend we went to NH to visit some friends and family had a little dinner, watched a movie, etc, etc...  the dinner was sooo good and our friend shared the blogs she frequents to gather recipes, etc.

And I thought I would share them with you!

A pot of tea and a biscuit

101 cookbooks

Veggie Terrain