a look in to Scarlet's room

Bless my husband.
He really hates painting, but the last couple weekends, he finished up painting Scarlet's room (it wasn't working with what it was before).

The color is "Blanket" from Lowe's. It's somewhere between a mint and aqua. One of the "Kid-friendly" color areas (you know, where they have all the individual swatches instead of the ones that are on the card in a set). White for the trim.

It used to be painted a beige, with a chocolate brown trim from when Steiger had this room. I re-painted just the bottom section a honeysuckle pink, but wasn't terribly happy with it. But Jay hates painting, so it remained that way for over a year.

It makes me so much happier now!

There's still nothing on the walls (except in one spot, and it's only there because it fit the existing screws in the wall.)

I plan to paint this frame white.  And put a few more things on the walls. And no, the changing table no longer gets used as a changing table.

Her room has a bit of an eclectic mix of pieces. Next to her crib is the dresser I used growing up. It's so pretty.  And the first quilt I made her is in there ( the one I made before I knew for sure she was a she).

(You can see her crib sheet here. And a tutorial for the mobile here.)

Her other quilt sits on our rocking chair. I rocked and nursed both my babes to sleep in that chair. ♥

So her room isn't finished, but is still sweet with little touches from her mama. And her daddy who loves her mama enough to re-paint. And clean out her closet too.

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Now back to finishing this quilt so another little girl can re-do her room!

a little makeover

I try to do this every year.

This year was a little late, for obvious reasons.

I've been in love with this peachy/strawberry/corally color lately... so I went with it.

This was my first one -- I liked it, but something felt off.

This was #2 -- felt a little more balanced, but still not right.

This was #3 -- I finally figured out how to use the frame feature, but it was heavy to the left.

Ah -- shrink down the quilt blocks, balance out the photo size a bit -- ♥

So what do you all think?  (just tell me I picked the best one so I can get back to sewing)... ;)

I'll actually be doing other makeovers at home too.

Starting, I think, with this framed little window-box type thing that is painted a garrish gold.  It will be going in Scarlet's room (after we put the wall in Steiger's new room)... I see Robin Egg's Blue perhaps.

Making over a baby girl's nursery is thrilling and scary at the same time; I'm just hoping my mom will give input... she's much better at this sort of thing than I am.

Anyone else like me?  Great with fabric and not so much with decor???

I think this will be my inspiration...

from Riley Blake's Marguerite line coming soon

I also really want to figure out how to make one of these for Steiger man too... (from Sweetwater)

And we need to get the garden ready for planting... hmmm, this weekend is looking busy.

Oh! It's the hubs' 30th birthday today (yes, that does make me a cougar)  ;)

I love that handsome bloke.

Happy Birthday Honey.

We are more grateful for you than you know.

(and y'all just have to see this picture of him from when he was little... you see where Steiger gets his good looks, no?)  My mother-in-law says it's eerie sometimes when she's with Steiger, because it's like having little Jay all over again.  

Thanks for passing those good genes on to our kiddos honey. ;)  And Happy Birthday.

a Christmas tradition

Each year, my grandma bakes up the houses, and we decorate. 

Here's my 2010 Gingerbread house.

I was hoping for a Scandanavian/folksy feel; I think I got it. 

My favorite part was the cute little walk... until my darling husband stole some of the pieces from it.

Apparently I have to explain to both my boys that these cookie houses aren't for eating. ;)

Steiger's definitely having a hard time with the concept.

Speaking of Folksy -- looky what came from Moda today. :)

It's the new line, Hideaway, from Lauren and Jessi Jung.

I haven't heard much buzz about it, but I really ♥ it. :)  It's so cute.

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(One post down -- the Go! giveaway closes tonight)

And go see what's going on at Quilt Hope In!

WIP Wednesday - massive reorganizing...

...is in progress!

I mentioned here (#26) that S and I went to Ikea on Saturday...

Here's some of what I'm up to.

Jay needed a dresser.  I planned on building it for him.  That is quite difficult with an almost 14 month old around (though I did build the new toy shelf organizer that I can't show you because it's in his room and he's asleep).  So Jay built it last night, and I will fill it with his clothes.  My husband's a pretty big guy, so we got the biggest dresser we could (I should have stood next to it...it's almost as tall as I am)  :)

I'm also going to be decorating (sadly, for the first time) our bedroom.  I went to the hardware store and got some pieces of plywood to cover and hang as a faux headboard.  Anyone have any good tips on how to do that?

In the living room:

This lovely pile of French General...

...will be added to this wall (sorry for the terrible picture, it was dark).

And my favorite of the changes!  To the office sewing room!

Those are most of my WIPs that are in the piecing/cutting phase on that shelf.  (I know...way too many)  But look at my rulers hanging there!  (the ones that are hanging).

And from another angle...'cause it makes me so happy. :)

I put this little bar up myself (Jay did the rest).

I've still got totes to sort, and my dresdie color wheel to add, but it's coming together nicely.  I've got plans for a design wall above the sewing machine.  

Organizing and decorating is not my gift, but this feels good. 

Another thing that feels good is friends!  I mentioned here (# 97) that a friend (and her 2 boys) moved back to the area.  She stopped by to use the computer the other day.  The boys had cookies. :)

S has been up for a while now.  He needs me.  Until later...

our little party

Steiger had a party this weekend. 

I made a cake.  It was the first cake I've really decorated... not bad, I say... but,

I preferred making the tractor in fabric.
With a little matching banner.

We blew out a candle.

Steiger didn't quite get that this was his one chance to make a real mess... a bit anti-climactic.

He opened presents, and fought back when cousin Cooper tried to steal them.

All in all, a very happy day.

Help me decide! Which poppies?

I need to make a valance for the freshly painted bathroom.

I'll probably add a stripe to the top or bottom, but one of these 2 fabrics, Poppy by Laura Gunn, will make the majority of the valance.

So do I go with the green on green look?  With the aqua dots and pinky-red roses?

Or, my favorite of the line... the gray, with spicier red?

The paint is called "Aloe Vera," and is almost the color of honeydew.  Very fresh.

Thoughts?

I'm leaning toward the green, because I like the idea of putting aqua in there, and I wouldn't have to take back all the towels I bought at TJ Maxx.

Patchwork on the wall

My husband and I are not the best when it comes to house-work, or decorating... but today, he turned this:

in to this!

(And yes, those are the stock photos in many of those frames). ;)

In quilty news... look what I got this week. :)

In Steiger news... he learned to say 'Mama!' He's been saying "Dada" for a while now, but now I have been named too.

He's calling me now... by name! gotta go...

But wait! Something else to tell...

One of my favorite places to go on the web, Burgundy Buttons, is having a giveaway via another one of my favorite places to go, jaybird quilts. Go see! (I get extra credit points for telling you)

They're giving away some of this:

WIP (work in progress) Wednesday - Redecorating

After much mental debate, and trying my own quilting with minky on my machine, and having it go terribly wrong (the bobbin thread wasn't right), I decided to hire a long-arm for Steiger's quilt. But I couldn't go back to the people who don't know green. Good news! I found Natalia from piece'n quilt. Her work is SO cute (I really want to make this quilt for my sister-in-law), she's reasonably priced, and is a WAHM (work-at-home-mom). So, after I piece the back (I'm still wondering whether or not to go with minky), I will mail it off to her!

To help finish Steiger's room though, I've started on some little wall decorations. I bought this pattern by Tula Pink at Christmastime, for my Blush Fat-quarter bundle. But I wanted to try it out first. It has curved piecing and template cutting, which are a bituva challenge, but with a lot of pins, it's turning out well. This will be on Steiger's wall soon, along with some other ones.

I titled my WIP Wednesday for today "Redecorating." The truth should read "Decorating for the first time even though you've lived in your house for over 3 years." Let's face it; I don't have my mom's skill apparently. But I'm working on it. Our couch needs a quilt and pillows. I'm using Rouenneries by French General and this pattern. It's half-way finished!

In other news, I finished Julie's mini quilts. She wanted orange, so I used all the orange I had (not much), added a couple other prints, and made this completely improv "9-patch." It is sashed in Chocolate Kona Crush, and the binding is a mix of my orangey prints, including one of the vines with red leaves, giving me the *red* in the binding.

I saw a variation of this quilting somewhere in Jacquie from tallgrassprairie.blogspot.com's photostream and decided to try it out. It was my first time using my darning foot, and first free-motion quilting. It went all right. Using a dark sashing certainly complicates thread choice.

This is my favorite block

And this is the back.

Oh, and the car is back, but the "check engine soon" light came back on. It goes back to the shop tomorrow... That was one expensive bunny.

So long from my little crawler/climber!

Nesting

Finally! We got to paint the nursery today!!! :-D
The Father in law (Jay's dad) and Mother-in-law (Jay's Step Mom) came down today and helped. There is still some touch up work to do, but I am quite excited.

The dresser is almost finished being sanded (it was an old dresser Jay's grandpa made), Mom has found a small dresser to double as a changing table, and I plan to get fabric for valances tomorrow. I am also going to look for a rocker/recliner.

Here are some pics of the progress so far:

Finally picked crib and bedding

We got to go to a fancy-pants baby store yesterday, and picked out the bedding and the crib. :)

We ordered the bedding, but I will order the crib in the morning.
It was very cute.