Color Me Inspired

So You've Had A Bad Day

What's on your short list?

I'd like to dedicate this post to my husband. He's just had a couple crap-tastic days at work and I am trying everything I can to support him, love him, and show him that I care so much about him. I wish I could take his bad days away, but since I can't, I just fill them with things that make him happy.

Without further ado, here is our short list.

Baby Quilt: Finished

Last night I decided it was a fine time to finish the baby quilt. Love ended up staying WAY late at work and it gave me the opportunity to push myself to see what all I could get done. This is a light baby quilt backed with a light yellow flannel. I'll admit, the size is a little unconventional, but I don't care; I love this quilt. Finishing at 33 x 47 inches, it is just the right size and weight for a soft blankie.

As with any project I've done lately, I definitely didn't use a pattern. That's my downfall. In this case, I got distracted at some point and forgot to put in additional separating strips between panels. Either way, I love the way this one turned out. And it has a basic pattern....

Tonight's Project

Catch-Up

Yesterday was a pretty great day that didn't include any projects. Or at least, not really. After a successful work-out at the gym with my husband, he went off to work and I went and enjoyed some much needed girl time. We went to a spa and got PEDICURES! I don't frequently have people do my nails for me because I feel I can adequately do them myself most of the time. Yet sometimes, it is TOTALLY worth it to go out and enjoy a little pampering.

Afterward, we went to this quaint little (or not really so little because there were about a million people waiting to be seated) restaurant for dinner. Now, I've definitely heard stories about how good the food is, etc., etc. I'm not sure why, but I just never decided to eat there until last night. IT.WAS.AMAZING. They had an eclectic, small menu, but it had some good choices on it that sounded wonderful. I ended up picking a burger and chips. WOW. One of the greatest burgers of all time.

As for projects, I didn't get much done yesterday, like I said. A couple nights ago, I'd remembered a tutorial I saw while web-browsing and decided to do that for more flair in the dining room, but once I started, I realized that I'd need my husband to help with the spray paint. So, that might wait until he's got time on the weekend.

But that didn't stop him from waking me up this morning so I could help him with a project he's been bugging me to do. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of impressed with his ingeniousness, but it took me awhile to figure out what he meant and where he needed things stitched. And this is what he came up with; a tactical tourniquet.

It has a cinch buckle on one end with a clip sewn in about an inch away. On the strap, there is a floating "D" ring and then a sewn in "D" ring as a stopper through the cinch.

As in his example, once you get the tourniquet in place and cinched on, you can tighten it by moving the floating "D" ring close to the clip, twist to tighten and lock with the buckle.

Well, now that THAT project is temporarily finished, I'll go back to working on a baby quilt. P.S. I also bought more fabric and am excited for what it is going to turn into!

I have a rapidly growing "To Do" list of projects. Next up will be to finish a couple of things I've started, design and construct a rifle ammo case for my husband, make myself a Christmas stocking, and finally make a tote bag of some kind. I'm excited for that!

Life In Black And White

Inspiration

I feel like I'm lacking a bit of inspiration today.

So, this cup of coffee is it.

My husband and I purchased this batch of coffee when we were in Costa Rica on our honeymoon. As I was cleaning today, I came across some more honeymoon pictures that had become a little displaced from the rest. That was such an amazing trip for us. I'm not sure that any of the places that we went would be permanent homes for us; WAY too humid in the rainforest and TOO busy and closed off in the city. But, still a fabulous trip.

That's the other thing that's been on my mind lately. Taking another trip. The weather is making it REALLY hard to want to stay here. Sewing and coffee keep me warm and entertained, but I'd like to spend time somewhere else. The scenery here is starting to get tiring. All I see is snow, fog, and life in black and white. It is time for some color.

Check Me Out

Two projects in one day?!

What?!

Ok, so after I finished my color wrap earlier, I felt that I was on a roll. Haha. Pun intended. Color wrap... roll.. haha. Nevermind.

But I had a hard time keeping the momentum going. So after a Chinese take-out dinner with my husband, I was able to get my groove back and start cutting again. I think that is the worst part. Cutting. Or getting poked with pins. That sucks too.

Our "new" dining room that we just finished needed a little bit of coverage. By coverage, I mean putting up some curtains or something because we have fairly nosey neighbors. Not everyone gets the cops called on them by the neighbors when friends come to visit like we do.

The paint color I chose for the dining room is called "Beacon Falls", but since that isn't really a color description, I'm gonna call it light blue. Funny story about the "Beacon Falls"; when I got back from the store after picking it out, I lined up about a dozen color swatches for my husband to guess which one I picked. He responded with, "I bet you picked the one that's called "BACON Falls" because it sounds crazy." Haha. Right in the fact that I picked that color... but it wasn't because of the bacon.

Anyway, it is light enough that in pictures, you can't REALLY tell that it is blue. But it is. Especially at night. So, we decided on a simple curtain to cover the window that is a medium brown. It has a nice light pattern on it of some foliage.

Here's the finished project!

Open:

Closed:

I'm still trying to decide if I should make a matching panel so that there are two hanging panels or just leave it the way it is. I'd also like to make at least one tie-back so that when it is open, it'll stay open.

Now I just need to make one for the door to match!

New Project

Ok, so I've been hoarding fabrics like no one's business and as I've mentioned before, I LOVE COLORS! Which lead me to my new project. I've been procrastinating a little on it because I didn't have the motivation to really do all the detail work that I kind of assumed would be involved in this. But it wasn't that bad!

I found a picture of a similar project in a book a few weeks ago as I was sitting on the Borders floor waiting for my husband to pick out books he wanted to buy. There was only one person at the time that I thought would appreciate it, so it became her birthday present. Shhh... don't tell.

It took me awhile to actually pick out the fabrics that I wanted to use and still make it a complete, yet flowing appropriately color wheel. The main body is made of a duckcloth canvas and once rolled up, ties with ribbon.

Wallet!!

Ok, so no one will really understand how excited I am about this wallet. Not only is it made from the fabric I so dearly love, but it is what has been running through my mind as I lay awake the past two nights. Not that I was being stubborn and not wanting to use a pattern, but I wanted something I would use, which meant a little bit of an original design. I'm also very excited because this is one of the only projects that I've actually completely finished this month. YAY!

The second great thing about this is that my VERY BRAND NEW SEWING MACHINE is rockstar! It was able to gauge the size of the button and do all the work for me!

More Fabric

Ok. So I had every intention of working on my project yesterday with my other new fabric, but instead I sat around working on other things around the house. Oh, well. They needed to be done too, right?

Then, I went and bought more fabric. I think that I'm now stocked for awhile.

Fabric

My husband had to be in bed early last night and I thought it sounded like a fine idea to go to bed early and start fresh in the morning with a new project. I have been blog-browsing for days looking for places to buy great new fabric (and you'll see I'm following a few new ones too). I am all about cheap fabric that looks great, which I'm sure everyone is...

So as he started drifting of to sleep, I couldn't stop thinking about the new fabric I'd just purchased and what I was going to do with it. I stayed up for HOURS, seriously, hours planning how I was going to make my new project work. Haha. I'll have to let you know what I come up with, but until then, it is a surprise.

P.S. I also found TONS of additional fabric that I'll have to show later.

Quilting Blogs

I cracked open my new sewing machine almost immediately.

Since I was still in the Spirit of the Season, I figured I'd make my wonderful husband a new Christmas stocking. Last year when I was still living in Wisconsin with my parents, I used my Mom's sewing machine quite a bit and being that I am IN LOVE with colors and textures, I accumulated a lot of craft supplies and fabric. It was with these fabrics and fat quarters that I was able to piece this together. Ultimately, I just wanted to knock something out with my new machine. I like the colors and patterns on the fabric, but I probably should have used a real pattern to cut out the shape of this stocking. Haha.

So then I used the scraps of the fat quarters to just practice a little with different cuts, shapes, etc. It, like many of my projects is unfinished, but I want to turn this into a tote. Just have a quilted side and I think it'll work as a good bag.

And since I still had fat quarters left, I wanted to try a Bargello. I know, I know... lots of work. And it was, but I just want to test the waters right now with all my projects. I'm sure some things are WAY out of my league, but I just want to try things to get ideas. So here's a quick shot of my Bargello. Again, just like most of my things, it is unfinished.

Another thing I got "into" if you will, when I was in Wisconsin was working on baby quilts. Now, I know NO ONE that is having a baby, but I still love making baby quilts. I had purchased some fabrics that I really wanted to work with and so I've finally cut them all up and started putting together another baby quilt. I don't think it'll take me very long to make it, but my husband likes the "nine-patch" more than the "disappearing nine-patch", so that cuts out some of the work.

New Start

The new year started a little different than I expected, but the changes have been amazing. My new hubby returned from Iraq and my big personal change was that after leaving my job, I was able to drop my muscle relaxants, anti-depressants, and response drugs for migraine issues. I think that was one of the best things I could have done.

In the search for change, I started fixing up the house. I started with my "craft room". It is kind of my catch-all room, including our guest bed and craft storage. I feel incredibly organized and inspired by this room. It is un-cluttered and ultimately, makes me happy. It has rapidly become my little sewing center thanks to my wonderful Mom who bought me my first sewing machine for Christmas.

The next room I had to change thanks to really out-dated wallpaper and the new towels we got as wedding presents was the bathroom. I didn't get any good pictures of this, but imagine a light teal with cream and chocolate accents. I LOVE it!

From there, I took on the dining room. Now, I'm going to show a picture and I'm well aware that the pictures do not do the work justice. The house is from the 50's or 60's and the wallpaper must have been too. It was a horrific solid wall of green and pink plaid with baskets of fruit as a high border around the entire room. Small details, but the curtains must have been original to the house also, seeing that they were the worst winter scene I've ever seen. By removing the wallpaper, I had to spend another 8+ hours with goo and a scraper to get all the glue off. Which, in turn, scraped off all the texture. My next move was to fumigate the place by putting new texture on the walls. And finally the paint. As I said, you definitely can't see the extent of the work that went into it, but it is there.

So now that everything is done, I started on new projects. All of them include fabric, thread, needles, and a lot of stitches.

It makes me happy.