Everything's Coming Up Roses

Good morning! Hope you had a lovely weekend.

I'm here to tell you a bit about that project I mentioned last week... the one that only involved hand-sewing. Well, do you remember this lampshade that I made (embellished) last year for Maddy's room?

I decided that she needed a matching night-light. So I got me one of these...

And I got to work.

Only problem is that I miscalculated the amount of fabric I would need and ran out as I was nearing the end. Doh!

I must run off to the fabric store to replenish supplies and then finish this baby up!

I'm working on a tutorial to show you my step-by-step, so stay tuned.

Just a Quick Hello

Hi there. Just wanted to say hey. Things are status quo over here... no sewing, no crafting, no quilting. Just living under a thick layer of dust as we anxiously await the end of our construction project. But I can't post without a photo, so I'm sharing this sweet shot of Miss Maddy.

Can you believe those eyelashes? I'm so jealous! Both of my kids were blessed with eyelashes that never end. Lucky babes.

Hope you're well. I have lots of ideas in my brain that I hope to share soon.

xoxo

Embroidery!

Good morning friends. I hope all is well with you.

I'm slowly but surely getting my groove back. Thanks in part to a little embroidery therapy.

I've been doing little bits of embroidery for the past two weeks. It feels so good to be doing this hand-work after so many years. I was a bit of an embroidery freak when I was 9 and 10 years old. I was the fastest and most dedicated cross-stitcher in the west and could whip up a Precious Moments wall hanging in a matter of hours. Ugh. The very thought of all that pastel prettiness. Yuck! My style has changed a lot since then but as soon as I picked up my tapestry needle, I felt like I was home again.

I'm starting out with some basic stitches... nothing too crazy here. I have this vision in my head for a quilt with embroidered blocks. Here is the start of my process.

I'm using a neutral linen as my base and created a template for the flower by enlarging the design from a craft punch I had lying around. The stitch is just a simple chain stitch. These blocks are 6.5" squares. 

The floss came from my beloved stash which quite literally was covered in dust. That's my lovely fourth-grade handwriting on the floss holders. As I was going through the box, I found a skein with the price tag still in tact. It was purchased at K-Mart for 17 cents, God knows when. I think the price of floss has doubled since then. Good thing I bought it when I did! :-) I guess my mom probably bought it. Thanks, mom!

My thought is to make up a bunch of these in different colors and add white sashing. I have something fun planned for the centers of the flowers and will share later. I think this project will take a lot of time but I love that I can sit in my jammies at the end of the day and mindlessly chain-stitch away. It's a nice break from all of my machine-sewing.

I thought I'd also share a couple of quick kid photos... moments that made me laugh in the last day or so.

Here's what I found when I woke up this morning...

Yes, that's a frying pan. My son very deliberately and purposefully arranged his cars and trains on it. 

And that's his sister in the corner of the shot. If Daniel only knew that Maddy was messing with his stuff. Oh boy! He'd go through the roof!

And this is what happens when I'm blogging...

I keep my recipe files in a drawer next to my desk and my daughter has really taken to pulling them out while mom is busy typing. Little stinker. 

I'm off to make a few more stitches while Daniel is at school and Maddy takes her morning nap. Then it's back to the daily grind of meal prep, dishes, toy pick-up, etc. Ah but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Happy Day to you all.

Happy Hearts Day!

Hi there. Happy Valentine's Day to you! I hope you're having a lovely day celebrating all of the wonderful people in your life.

Things are good here although I'm feeling a bit "off." I'm not sure if it's the time of year or what but I'm a little scattered. I've been sewing and crafting like crazy but I don't feel organized enough to post about my projects. I haven't been sleeping well and I'm trying to make sense of all the craziness in my brain. There are just too many ideas and too little time. Does this happen to you too? Any advice? Maybe I need to do yoga or something. :-)

Anyway - in other big news, my little girl is officially walking (tears in my eyes as I type this). This might be one of the biggest reasons that I've been a bit melancholy. I'm so happy for her and she is ecstatic about her new skill, but I'm feeling very sad about it. She's getting so big and is changing on a daily basis. I just want her to stay little with those chubby legs and chipmunk cheeks. Oh why do they have to grow up??? I'll share a picture of Miss Maddy walking soon but in the meantime, here's a little Valentine's Day prettiness that makes me happy even though I'm a little sad.

I found this fun project over at Under the Sycamore. Aren't those heart chains adorable?

I simply cut hearts of various sizes from a book of vintage love poetry I've had since my college days and sewed them together. I have to admit it was VERY hard for me to cut a book (books are sacred to me) but I haven't even glanced at that book in over a decade and I'm appreciating its pages much more now that they're hanging in my front window.

Pretty, pretty.

So that's it for today. I wish you lots of love and peace this Valentine's Day.

Be back soon...

Rosette Picture Frame

OK.  I promise this will be my last rosette post for a while.  I really want to get into the holiday spirit and shift my sewing focus from projects for my kids to projects for the home for the holidays.  Now that turkey day is just one week away, I think it's time I get into the fall / winter / holiday spirit.

But in the meantime, I couldn't resist applying some of my little roses to a picture frame for Maddy's room.

This was a very basic, white wood, 8" x 10" frame that I bought at Joann a while back for $4.98.  It was so basic and was knicked in several places.  I just couldn't bring myself to use this frame in her room and even considered getting rid of it in favor of something a little fancier.

And then... this happened.

I'll admit that this project took some time but it was sooooo much fun.  I had such a blast that I actually purchased some 4" x 6" frames at Target yesterday for a whopping $1.99 a piece and have a similar fate in mind for them.  Something tells me that my little nieces will be getting rosette picture frames for Christmas.

So that's what I've been up to.  

Now I'm off to drink some apple cider, maybe even put on some Christmas-y tunes (already???) and get my holiday on.  :-)