Making a Barn Quilt

One of my great friends who blogs over at Home on the Range Exchange was hosting a Barn Quilt class. I thought it sounded like a fun idea to get out of the house and be creative. Plus I haven't had a lot of time to quilt lately so I was happy to have a quicker finishing project.  This is my completed square. I love the way it turned out and it sets on my front porch now. 

The history of barn quilts is actually really interesting and someday I would like to go see the Flint Hills Barn Quilt trail.

Cloth Napkin Tutorial

One of my favorite things is eating Sunday dinner at my parent's house. My mother has several sets of beautiful cloth napkins, but you can always use more right? So for my mother's birthday I decided to make her some pretty upcycled cloth napkins.

My sister had given me this beautiful paisley curtain that she wasn't going to use for anything. I clipped the rings off of it and started cutting. 

This is a pretty simple project, so find some pretty fabric and let's make some cloth napkins!

First figure out how big you want your napkins and cut the cloth with 1/2" seam allowance on each side. I wanted my finished napkins to be 17" so I cut them 18" X 18".

Using my quilting ruler I marked 1/2" away from the edge in disappearing ink. Fold over 1/4" and spray with spray starch- press into place.

Should look like this- do it for all sides. Then fold over 1/4" again and press into place. Sew around all seams with coordinating color. You now have beautiful cloth napkins!

This is also my entry for the Blogger's Dinner Party for August.

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Thanks for stopping by! Have a good day!

Jewelry Organizers From Old Frames

I love taking things I already have around the house that are sitting in drawers and turning them into something that can be useful and pretty.

I started with some inspiration via Fawn's Blog- Always Chasing Life.

Then I took a couple old frames I had been saving up for some project- I think I bought these to use for signs at our wedding- hadn't found a perfect use for it yet. I love the rustic barnwood feel. I grabbed some craft paint I had on hand and started mixing. First try was a no-go- I thought a pretty lavendar would work and look great by my dresser. Nope- it turned out almost pink when spread over the wood. Then I mixed up a lovely green with some brown and watered it down.

Then took a paint pen and made some flourishes on the corners. The picture shows the green a little brighter than it is- it is actually a foresty green. Then I screwed the hooks in- a little off center to give it a bit more interest. I can't wait for my husband to get these hung up and start hanging my necklaces and bracelets on them!

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  The T-Shirt Diaries

TV Stand Inspiration

So much inspiration, so little time.  We moved in May and we have been working hard on getting our new house decorated. Owning and decorating a home takes a lot of time and big decisions. I am thinking we are going to redo an old dresser to use as an entertainment center. Here is some inspiration for the paint style that I have been thinking about.

I love the color and dark undertones of this one. 

via Pinterest

Love the color and knobs on this one.

via Pinterest

Example of what we want to do- dresser turned entertainment center.

via Pinterest

Another example, dresser turned entertainment center.

via Pinterest

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Crafting!

 

Collage Wall

Last week we finished putting up a collage wall on one of the walls in the kitchen. I had seen many of these on blogs and I have been collecting fruit paintings for a while now. I really like how it turned out. I know the pictures aren't the best- we really need to work on our lighting!

My favorite part about this wall is that most of the pieces in it have a lot of personal meaning to me and my husband. My grandfather painted the two still lifes of fruit bowls. Six of the other plates were painted by my husband's great grandmother. She was an amazing china painter and we are lucky to have so many of her beautiful pieces. The other pieces are gifts or things that I have made myself.

Looking at it now, I think the wall would probably look better if the pieces were a little closer together. Also they would stand out more if the wall was a darker color. I hope to paint in here someday, but that is a very future project! Right now I love the wall and it makes me happy everytime I look at it :)

A strawberry plate painted by my husband's great grandmother.

One of the still lifes my grandfather painted.

A cross stitched wedding gift from a good friend from high school.

Another plate painted by my husband's great grandmother.

Thanks for stopping by and everyone have a great 4th of July!!!

Roman Blinds for the New House

Yesterday I finished my first project for the new house. I made the roman shades for our living room windows. I love the way they turned out. I used the tutorial from Jen's What's New blog. The tutorial was wonderful, the only thing I would add to it would be some information on spacing for longer blinds (the tutorial was for much shorter blinds than I was doing). I ended up getting the spacing too close at the top- 3"- and it bunches a little funny. If I make them in the future I will probably keep it at least 4" apart.

The project all laid out- sewing the rings on the back.

The middle blind pulled up, you can kind of see the trim I put at the bottom.

All three blinds pulled up.

Two down, one up- you can really see the fabric here. I was dying to go with a more floral design, but we decided on something less girly (husband's words, not mine). I love the circles and I love all the maroons, greens and golds I can pull out of it to decorate with. I even have a bunch of fabric left over to make pillows with.

A close up of the detail. We think we will eventually make a valance to go over top, but that wont be right away. Off to do some yoga now!