and the painting continues. this time ... inspired by paris!
after piecing these two pieces of wood together and painting them an amazing aqua blue, this piece was crying out to have the effiel tower painted on it.
these two pieces of wood are especially amazing and the aqua color just makes all the imperfections truly special.
have the perfect spot for this piece in your home? well, i'm super excited to announce that my etsy shop will open this wednesday morning at 10am EST. woot! woot!
i'll have two flavors of homemade jam. some beautiful wrapped bakers twine. and of course my hand painted signs. as for the signs there is only one of each, so once it's gone, it's gone. i'll have some more information, the link to the shoppe and a couple more signs to show you tomorrow.
happy monday!
(oh - and the little stools in the photos are seriously the cutest things! there are three of them (these are the smaller of the three. they are for sale in my gift shoppe. love them!)
after posting about the final call for material for my quilt i got a lovely email from heather over at tallgrass designs. she was inspired by my project to create her own quilt in conjunction with the south central region of the kansas department of social and rehabilitation services. each year they take donations of quilts for children living in foster care in south central kansas.
i was thrilled that my little idea created a small spark for heather to create something quite amazing. a round of applause for her!
so, not to bug you for more material, but should you have an extra square, please slip it in the mail for heather. i'm sure she, and the child/children that benefit from her creation, would be more than appreciative. you can click here for more information on her project. thank you.
in other news, i have no patience.
yep. you guessed it! i started piece some of my squares together for my quilt. i just couldn't wait anymore! and it's actually more fun than i thought it would be. i'm using this quilt pattern. to being the process of putting the squares together i was told to chain piece pairs of patches.
so, of course, as a sewing novice, i had no idea what this meant. i did a quick youtube search and was lucky enough to find this tutorial:
so with a new confidence i began chain quilting. and to my surprise it was super easy. and fun!
i almost want to hang my chain of attached squares around my house as some festive bunting. it'd be beautiful, right?
but i won't. instead i snipped them all apart and now i have lovely stacks of two patches. i'm making progress. next i need to press the seems down. luckily, the video above also told me to press my seams, not iron them. i had no idea! i'm finding that these little tips are the important ones. if you don't know what i mean just watch the video.
i liked it so much that i could have sat and pieced these all night, until the wee hours of the morning ... but i had to resist. i want to have all my squares before i finish. that way some of the newer square are attached to some of the older squares. i know this won't matter in the end, but i'm weird like that.
but i love this beautiful stack. it's a sign of progress. i like that.
and apparently so does sebastian. after stacking my squares, taking some pictures and walking away, he appeared from nowhere, as he normally does, and made my stack of paired patches his new bed for the afternoon. what is it with cats and new fabric? or, for that matter, new things in general?
my first thought was to quickly shoo him off, and he know this, so he decided to make himself extra comfy and extra adorable.
and then, honestly, within seconds was sound asleep.
the challenge is going to begin when mms reaches 4000 followers. and she's almost there! i'd say tomorrow or friday at the latest. you can read more about it here:
anyway here's my take on her sign. and for those who don't know what an apiary is... it's a place where bees and beehives are kept. (i knew it had to do with bees ... but i wasn't positive. just keepin' it real)
the wood is from an old shed that was torn down in lovely pennsylvania that i've used for other signs. i really worked this wood to get a nice golden color.
i love all the knots and beautiful texture. isn't old wood incredible. so much character.
it almost tells it's own story. love that!
the next sign was inspired by an image i printed off the internet a couple months ago. again, i don't have a source so i do apologize. i've just started using pinterest thanks to my friend kim, so hopefully that will allow me to keep better track of these things.
i just love this quote. especially for us bloggers ... even though we are technically not using pens. but you get it.
this sign was painted on a shelf from an antique cabinet. i painted the whole thing black and 'beat it up' and sanded it a bit to add some vintage character and texture. the little groves on the bottom would have been used to hold plates or platters.
they created the perfect spot for an extra special line of text. don't ya think?
this is probably one of my favorites so far. and probably the most time intensive.
thanks to all your kind words and encouragement, i have decided to list all my signs on etsy. they'll be up early next week. i'll give you more information about all of that on friday. i'm excited ... but a bit nervous.
so, nothing truly original or epic here today. just fitting for the upcoming valentines holiday.
i have this need to have something on my front door. to me, it's welcoming and inviting. it makes a house looked lived in. anyone else have this issue?
anyway, this time of year i never know what to put on the door. i've always loved the look of a feather wreath, plus i had some extra feather boas from a christmas tree i did this past year.
so i grabbed a grapevine wreath i had stashed in the basement. wrapped it like crazy with a couple red and pink feather boas.
and i now i have a new seasonal wreath to adore my otherwise naked front door.
congrats ladies! and i must say you both have the loveliest of blogs. it's been a joy discovering your creativeness and talents through this giveaway. take a minute to check out these ladies lovely sites if you already haven't.
but the giveaway is over just yet. there were a couple song selections that really struck a chord with me, so i decided to have three additional winners. yep. three more winners. so, based solely on your selection of songs these three lovely folks will receive one of my fabulous new old charm mugs. and here's why...
first is suzanne from meridian road. her favorite 'of the moment' song is adele's - rolling in the deep. and if you happen to be one of my neighbors (or following me on facebook) you'll know that i've been completed obsessed with adele for the past two weeks (as that's the only think i've been listening too at a very loud volume). her new album is phenomenal. so when i saw that suzanne was loving this song i was super excited. you can check out the song here:
next is katy from eat, drink & decorate who had me at 'sugarland.' she's diggin' one of their newer songs, stand up. i can't tell you how much i love sugarland. seriously. adore. i've turned to the lyrics in their songs time and time again when i need encouragement or comfort. and this song, stand up, is one of my favorites. talk about encouragement ... give it a listen:
and finally, christina from cookie louise pleaze listed a song that gave me goosebumps, feels like home from chantal kreviazuk. (not to be confused with the remake from edwina hayes in my sister's keeper) any dawson's creek fans out there? (i still think joey and dawson should be together - but that's a whole other topic [and i just noticed you can now buy the complete series on dvd...yay! i just may need to purchase this] ) anyway, that's where i first discovered this song. i've loved it from the moment i heard it. since then, it's been one of my favorite songs, if not my very favorite. i have a bad habit of over playing songs so much that i grow to hate them. this probably sounds weird, but i tuck this song away, and it has a way of finding me. this way i can't grow to hate it. i just think it's beautiful beyond words. check it out:
kelsee, amy, suzanne, katy and christina please email me your mailing addresses. if i don't hear from you i'll try to contact you via email. i'll be mailing your winnings later this week.
thanks to everyone else that entered!
and i'll be back later today with a super simple valentines' day wreath project.
until then...
other exciting news and a new handpainted sign coming later this week! stay tuned.
are you sick of seeing my dining room yet? no? good. i promise to share pictures of some of my other rooms. i just haven't done any major changes there yet. but it's coming ... and soon. so you remember the pictures i had on my dining room walls before? if not check here and here.
so the other day when i posted that story/poem my guest wrote for me i paired it with some pictures i took standing on my back porch. nothing fancy.
just the tops of leafless trees set against a grey-ish blue sky.
i took a total of nine pictures and had them printed at wal-mart as 8x10s. the cost was around $20. i filled up my frames (which i got at the family dollar for like $6 per frame - i know a steal - and they look super expensive).
i was actually nervous about doing this. i just wasn't sure how it would look.
but i'm so glad i took the risk. i think for this time of year it couldn't be more perfect. and i'm really digging the grey-ish blue against the orange-ish yellow walls.
it's so light and clean. perfect for january. these won't stay here forever. that's what i love about this wall art. i can change up the photos whenever i get tired of it (which happens often). and it only costs me twenty bucks each time.
and the images are so peaceful, yet really interesting.
and i'm always amazing how much my guests like to look at these images. people are constantly commenting on them. whether they like them or not, at least they are talking about them. and that's what art is all about. right?
so be confident! go take some pictures of some random stuff. get them printed and hang them up. you may just surprise yourself.
and it's the final day to enter the giveaway if you haven't already done so. good luck!!
