new additions to the family

We're expecting some new additions to the family. Right now they are about a half-inch in diameter, and the loveliest shade of green. Yes, it's true, Jamie has been fathering two gigantic tomato plants!
It's pretty cute to watch him lovingly water and talk to the little guys. I mean, in a totally manly, tough, I'm-gonna-pasta-sauce-the-crap-out-of-you way.

i've never been paralyzed by perfection

Excellent progress made on the quilt.

Let me start by saying, however: the title of this post is NOT true.

This was my Grandma Jeanne's favorite saying. I need to say it to myself more often.

Like today, when I was sitting on the bedroom floor, my quilt spread out, thinking to myself, WHY did I think this was a good idea? Putting a quilt together is no easy task. I almost let myself get frustrated until I remembered: this is only for me - who cares if I do it the "right" way??

So I figured out A way, even though it may not be the RIGHT way, to get my three layers assembled. Once I started running it through the machine, I fell in love with it again. As in, I can't wait to curl up with you all winter long.

You will not find any perfectly straight lines or many perfectly matched patches on this piece. Yay!! Down with perfection!

quilt top! (and bottom)

I'm finished with my quilt top! (remember this post?) Oooohhhh I love it.

I also love going to The Quilting Loft (my favorite Seattle fabric shop) on a mission. Yesterday my mission was to find a quilt back. Some quilters might complete this step earlier in the process... ya know, when you're deciding what the top is going to look like. Details, details. I'm not to concerned that everything is really matchy-matchy. So I picked this:

I'm also not real concerned about other stuff, like, how to actually finish putting this thing together. Meh, I'll figure it out as I go. I am dying to get cozy under this thing, so I'm going to have to figure it out fast. Wish me luck!

in a jam

Oh I was SO very proud of myself yesterday. SO proud. I made strawberry freezer jam all-by-myself. Yessirree. Read proud. Look how pretty it turned out!

THEN I tasted the jam.

So, it wasn't BAD. In fact, it was hard to put my finger on it. Almost ... sour patch kid. I don't know quite what went wrong, but my final verdict is that it tastes like really really REALLY sweet strawberry jello. yikes. Perhaps a little more research on method and another try will do the trick! In the meantime...dessert jam?

dining room : finished!

Do you love my new dining room? With hand-me-down furniture from Grandma Jeanne. Thank goodness Jamie digs the orange!

bridesmaid bags!

Usually when I send off an order, I realize that I will never see it again (sniff) and that's that.

However, sometimes people are especially kind and come back to my shop to leave me a note saying they're happy with their purchase. So sweet!

Miss Mary (or should I say MRS. Mary - she just got married!) took it one step further on the sweetness scale by sending me a picture of her cute bridesmaids with the bags she gave them as gifts! Aren't they looking good with their monogrammed market bags?
I'm sure it was a beautiful wedding, judging by her pretty bridesmaids and her perfect color matching! :)

Thanks, Mary!

treasures

I got featured in a lovely treasury! The theme is "Poppies." The photograph here is my personal favorite of the set:
Treasuries really are brilliant, because you end up discovering some really cool artists! The piece above is by Tim Irving, whose Etsy shop is called opart. Here are a few more favorites from his shop:
and
Feels like summer!

thrifting adventures

My sissies and I have been on many thrifting adventures lately! Many of our found objects will be available at our next Fritzi's sale (date TBD)...however these pieces will be living at my house:wooden planter

Little blue stepladder

wee wagon
(some lady about ripped this from my hands. that's how you know it's good.)

Head over to the Fritzi's blog to see more of our finds!

dining room makeover

Hey! Look at this boring, dreary dining room. Blah.

Who would allow such a room to exist in their home?
Blllah. I had Cousin Ann help me pick out some new colors to spruce up my white, white house. We picked "Live Wire" (C2 paints) for the dining room. I jumped in and got started today, finally!

First coat is done... Yowza, it's definitely brighter! I think I love it.



Doesn't the blue painter's tape make a lovely trim?

Next I'll paint one accent wall in the dining room: "Salty Brine." Wondering what color that might be? You'll have to wait to see the after pictures!

blue sky days

We went for the music (Dudley Manlove Quartet) and the beer garden. Apparently Redmond Derby Days is really about a bike race?
We also found funnel cakes...
corn dogs...
and lemonade!
Since we were aaaallllllll the way out east, we drove out to Marymoor park to see the RC airplanes and the velodrome. A lovely day! How could it not be, with all that blue sky?


*note: Mr. Wix was the photographer of the day. I hate to admit he takes the better pictures!

scrap project

With all this sewing, you won't be surprised to hear that I have a bit of a scrap problem. I won't even provide photographic evidence of the full extent of this problem...but I will tell you that attempts have been made to organize the chaos. So I've been rolling ideas around my head to address this issue.

What better way to get rid of scraps than with a patchwork quilt? I set to work cutting 5x5 squares. Did you know it takes 387 squares to make a full size quilt? sheesh!

I only wish this had made a slight dent in the scrap supply. Indeed it did not. But I am LOVING how it is turning out! The top is almost done...


another work in progress!

Project, Phase 3

So, you know the clearance rack at Lowe's? Yeah, the one with all the random crap? Turns out you can go there to get mistinted paint at sweet discounted prices! For example, I got this lovely gallon of latex for A DOLLAR. I give you phase 3 of my project:I have to say the shade looks better in real life. Promise. Phase 4 to come. This one might take awhile.

Project!

The weather in Seattle has been GORGEOUS. It was a beautiful day for some backyard painting projects!

I found this cute little wooden stool at Value Village.

Phase 1: Cleaning.

Phase 2: Priming.


Phase 3: Painting. To take place tomorrow...stay tuned!

And yes, I did say painting projectS - plural. Alli came over and we did Phases 1 and 2 with MANY little gems (you can see a corner of one such gem in the bottom left of the second picture). More to come about these, too!