Christmas Candles

I have REALLY wanted red and white striped candles for years, but I haven't found any, except online. So I just finally realized I could just make them myself. I bought two white candles and used red craft paint to paint the stripes on. So easy and fast! I think I will do some with polka dots, and some green ones too. Yahoo, I finally have some now.

Something else I wanted to share. I made eight of these candle blocks for a church project, where we made gift baskets for some members. I think they turned out cute. Here is where we found the idea.

Pom-Poms

We have our Christmas tree up and the decorations are around the house. Something new I've added this year to our many homemade decorations are these cute pom-poms. I hung them up on the banister next to the garland. I just used fishing line to hang them with and taped them to the banister. Bright and fun!

Pom-poms are easy to make using yarn, and you can find a great tutorial here.

Christmas List 2010

Last year I made a Christmas List on my blog and I got everything on it this last year! Amazing how that worked out (I didn't get a white kitchen, but that's an easy fix with paint). So I thought maybe if I made a new Christmas list, eventually I will get everything on my new list,

so here it is:

Camille Roskelley's Book...

Sandi Henderson's Book...

Pottery Barn's Graham Secretary Desk, or one similar to it...

New Bedroom Furniture (I'm thinking black).

My husband and I don't usually buy each other Christmas gifts, but instead we spread it out throughout the year, so we'll see. I hope you get what you want on your list too!

Unfinished Business

I'm finally getting started on some unfinished projects. I've had these projects partially finished laying around and I just haven't finished them. I want to get started on some new things, but I felt like I'd better get these done first. I guess since I don't have a deadline, I'm taking my sweet time. I did get the Sweet quilt above stippled this week and the Darla quilt below, I finally sewed the blocks together. I plan on either selling these projects or donating them to Doernbecher's Children Hospital.

Happy Sewing!!!

Christmas Stocking Bunting

I've made a couple more things for the bazaar that is this weekend. First, a stocking bunting using this adorable Christmas fabric called 12 days of Christmas by Kate Spain. This was a last minute project so I wanted it to be quick and simple, but you can actually put something in the stockings if you wanted. These would be cute as an advent calendar too, but I wasn't willing to make 24 of them.

Last year I had made Santa hats from fun polka-dot, striped, or swirly fabrics, but this year I used some gorgeous velvet fabric I had purchased last year. I needed to change things up a bit.

Now go and check out some bazaars in your area this year!

Fabric Christmas Trees

I bought several wooden candlesticks last year to use somehow, but never got to them. So this year I wanted to use them and this is what I came up with, fabric Christmas trees. Bazaars are fun, but it's a guessing game as to what the shoppers are going to like that year, so I made different style trees. Hopefully someone will find their style. What style is yours?

Rag Trees with a White Stand or Antiqued White?

Rag Tree with a Black Stand?

Red and White Tree with a Pleated Skirt?

or Funky Patchwork Trees with Pom-Poms?

Simple Placemats and Coasters

I'm still working here and there on a few things for Connie's bazaar next weekend. If you're in the area, this is a wonderful bazaar and Connie's booth is always packed with shoppers because she is so talented and makes the greatest things. This year I'm trying not to buy any supplies, but use what I already have. If you've been in a bazaar before, you know that if you put too much time and money into your crafts, you won't recover your costs or time. So like these placemats, I kept them simple. I used two coordinating fat quarters to make a set, plus the backing fabric.

A few more, I made 12 total, I'm going to sell them in sets of two.

Then, I couldn't waste the scraps, so I made some coasters. As I was making these, I thought coasters would be a great Christmas gift for a school teacher. I have the perfect scraps to use too.

I have something else I'm working on that I will be sharing soon. I may need to go to the store and buy a few supplies to finish them up though...that's okay, they'll be worth it!

My Living Room

Please come into our front room, the living room. But keep in mind it is a work in progress. I'll try to show you our house room by room as I get things a little more organized.

When you first come in this is what you see (above). I love the openness of the room: high ceilings, open staircase, and windows to let light in.

A view from the staircase.

The foyer area.

I love this console I bought a few years ago at a garage sale for $40. I finally found some baskets at TJ Maxx that fit perfectly.

I just love Craigslist! I didn't have any formal living room furniture, so I started to shop Craigslist. I bought these wingback chairs on Craigslist for $100, for the pair. They are in great condition and I'm actually really liking the blue upholstery.

Another Craigslist find, $50. So my new-to-me formal living room furniture cost me a total of $150, not too bad. Okay, now on this settee I'm not fond of the floral fabric, but that will be changing soon. I'm going to try to reupholster it myself. This will be my first upholstery project, so wish me luck. I brought home four fabric samples from JoAnn's. I'm going to go with a light neutral color so I can brighten it up with fun pillows.

This is the upholstery I will be using, it's called Crypton. It's not cheap, but it's 50% off at JoAnn's and I have a 20% off coupon for the total cost. It's perfect for families since it is extremely durable, stain resistant, etc. I've read where people have been able to easily wash off dirt, chocolate, ketchup, and more. It's also soft and looks great.

So there it is, our living room. After I get the settee finished, I can finish decorating and show you more pictures. Thanks for coming by!

My Quilt for Quilt Festival

I'm joining the Quilt Festival Fall 2010 over at Amy's Creative Side.

I'm entering the quilt I finished last spring, for my niece Aria. It's one of my favorite quilts because it's really my first real quilt I had made. I did a lot of hand stitching on it, so it took a lot of work and I loved how it turned out. I experimented with doing hand stitching, machine stitching, and machine stitching on the binding, which I found to be quite a bit easier. On this quilt I used Moda's Layer Cake fabric Sultry by Basic Grey and I love the colors.

I hand stitched every other square with four hearts.

Reversible Apron

It's that time of the year...bazaar season. I really thought I wouldn't do anything this year, but after I got my craft room organized, I got the bug. So here is an apron I whipped up, it's reversible. You can wear it front ways or back ways, or back ways or front ways, there is no front or back. You can tie the bow in back or the front. There you go! I hope someone will like it at Connie's bazaar, if not here is a peek at my sisters' Christmas gift.

(Photography above by my 4 yr. old, thanks Preston)

Here are some more, fronts and backs. I used Mary Engelbreit's The Caroler fabric.

If you want one for yourself or would like to make some for Christmas gifts, I'm working on putting together a tutorial. Think of all the cute fabrics out there you could use!

Tutorial Coming Soon...

Finally.......Home!!!

We are finally in our new home, or at least new to us. We bought a short sale house that was not a short wait, but worth it in the end. This house was smaller than what we were looking for, but had many things we liked, especially location, location, location. But now that we have moved in, I just LOVE it, it's a great layout and feels like the perfect size after all.

We still have boxes to unpack and some organizing to do, but here is a little glimpse of some of my favorite things about this house. First, a little front porch to display my flowers and keep an eye on the kids.

An apple tree, with "the best apples ever", said the previous owners. Apple pies, apple sauce, yum, yum yum!!!

Windows and Light! I love a lot of natural light and this house feels bright, which was very important to me, especially here in the Pacific NW.

A kitchen with cabinets galore, a pantry, and an island. I'm loving it, but I see white cabinets in the future.

A nice white mantle around the gas fireplace.

A room to sew and craft in. I'm not finished yet but I did put up IKEA wall shelves.

An upstairs laundry room. My least favorite chore is laundry, but so far an upstairs laundry room seems to make this never ending chore easier.

Okay, now the real reason we bought this house. The master bathroom has it's own toilet room with a fan and a window that opens...double bonus!!!