Front Porch

My husband grew an amazing crop of pumpkins this year. We counted at least 55! I am LOVING our Autumn porch, but we "needed" a bigger welcome sign. 

Our porch is so pretty! I hope the pumpkins will last through Thanksgiving. 

Our succulents are overflowing their bucket!

Wedding Sign & Other Crafts Lately

I made this sign as part of a gift for a friends’ daughter’s wedding. I used the same technique I used in this blog post (one of my most “pinned” posts ever!). It’s fairly easy, but a little time consuming. 

My mother’s group had a painting project for us last week, too. It was fun to paint with a bunch of friends and see how all of our paintings turned out similar, but different.  

Speaking of my mother’s group! I just realized I never shared any of the crafts I taught this year (I served at the Creative Activities Coordinator this year). These were two of our Spring projects... Sharpie Mugs (using oil based sharpies). I wouldn’t really recommend this project since the cups haven’t held up as well as I hoped they would, despite following instructions. 

And photo blocks. These are 2x4” boards, cut to photo size. Then we painted the edges with acrylic paint, modge-podged photos on them, and decorated with fabric/paper flowers and ribbon. They turned out very cute and the moms in the group seemed very happy with this craft. It helps that our kids are adorable!  ; ) 

Gallery Wall with a Tiny Quilt

I almost forgot to post this little guy! It might be a stretch to call it a finished quilt since it’s so little, but I haven’t felt well, so a finish is a finish! This is made from some of my Farmer’s Wife quilt blocks, as an addition to a gallery wall in our hallway. It felt like it needed a quilt.  : ) 

 And here’s my version of the famous gallery walls I see on Pinterest. On the top is my first ever art quilt (in the frame).

Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are my favorite flower. One of the first things we did when we moved into our house was plant hydrangeas. Last year was pretty good, but this year is amazing! I have SO many blooms and a great variety of colors.

 

 I think I have about 100 blooms right now, with more coming! They make me so so so happy.

 These ones are my favorite - I love that the colors varies from one side to the other. 

In other (sewing) news, I have lots of projects in the works. I'm close to finishing two baby quilts so I'll have more updates soon. In the meantime, I'll be hanging out with my hydrangeas in the backyard.  : )

Merry Christmastime

Our tree is up and decorated, our Elf on the Shelf has arrived, and my littles are excited! Twenty-five days and counting!

Our 2012 Christmas Tree

 We went hunting for our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving (per tradition, our only "black Friday" purchase!). And guess what? We found one!

Our little helpers checking out the selection.

A few hours later (with the help of a long nap from the boy child...) and we have our 2012 Christmas Tree!

I'll come back soon with some details about some of our ornaments. We have lots of homemade treasures made over the years.

 And here's one picture with the lights off. It's lovely and I find myself gazing at it quite often during the day. Now if only my daughter's kitten would show it a little less attention....... 

More details coming soon! 

A Tour of My Sewing Room & Office

I am so grateful that the house we built has a designated space, just for me. I've spent the last six years sewing at our dining room table. It's so nice to have my own room and be able to close the door to keep my children out of my projects and sharp sewing tools. 

I've been promising pictures for a while, so here we go... welcome to my sewing room & office!

To the right of the door is my computer and desk. This is where I run my portrait photography business and where I am blogging from right now! The top shelf holds supplies for packaging my photo DVDs and some antique cameras I've collected. The bottom shelf has some decorative items and more office supplies. 

On the wall next to the computer desk is my large hutch. This baby holds a lot! I have photo boxes with current sewing projects, rulers, supplies, and lots of goodies in this cabinet. Hanging above it is my Vintage Neighborhood quilt. 

On top of the hutch is my favorite red "rotary" phone and lots of little jars with misc. sewing supplies - safety pins, binding clips, ric-rac, lace, and embroidery thread. I got the aqua doilies on clearance at Michael's for 25¢!

This vintage-looking trio of baskets is actually from Hobby Lobby. It's currently holding new fabric that I haven't put away, and current projects - Farmer's Wife blocks and the quilt my daughter is making.

The view from my sewing machine...... 

This is to the left of the window - it's my original Singer sewing machine that I made my first many quilts on. On top is my rainbow button collection. 

... and the button collection that started it all. 

This little cabinet holds odds and ends - more office supplies and a lot of my camera equipment. On the wall above it is a collage of about 30 of the quilts I've made. Since I give most of them away, it's nice to have something I can look at and remember some of my favorites and who they've gone to. In the small frames next to it are some of my favorite vintage sheet prints. 

And on top of that cabinet are a couple of antique jars - one holding fabric selvedges and one holding clothes pins (which I use for everything under the sun!). The little frame says "A day comes when you say 'love' and you mean 'for life.' May 24, 2003." This was the favor from our wedding. 

And perhaps the best part of my sewing room & office? My giant walk-in closet. It's 7.5 x 6.5 feet and it's quickly becoming my happy place. We bought two Expedit shelves from Ikea to organize all of my treasures. 

This little red cart is one of my favorite things. I'm currently using it as a library cart for some of my favorite craft books. I love it. 

On the large shelf is all kinds of stuff - photo equipment, office supplies, books, computer equipment, cards, yarn, old magazines, binders with patterns in them, current misc. projects, and lots and lots and lots of old photos. The top shelf are more boxes that need to be unpacked - more old photos, yearbooks, and some holiday decor. One of the best things about this giant closet is it means very few of my things remain in the garage. I always hated seeing my yearbooks or other sentimental items out there in the heat and cold and moisture. 

I have a lot of knitting to do!

These boxes are all empty - waiting to hold some of those old photos. I want to go through and sort them by year so they won't be so haphazard. I, of course, have our family photos in albums out in the living room. These boxes are either old photos or duplicate copies of what are in the albums. Even so, it annoys me that they are so out of order.

The other side of the closet has a smaller Expedit shelf. This is my "fabric vault." The green bins on the top shelf hold quilt batting and pillow forms and gift wrap. The plastic drawer on the left side hold scrap fabrics, sorted by color. The backet on the right holds vintage linen scraps. 

Next to the green bins is my childhood baby - William. I adore this cabbage patch kid and keep him up high and out of reach of the kids. Some things mommy just isn't ready to share!

The fabric shelves are sorted by age - vintage linens and newer fabrics. Then sorted by color. Fat quarters are folded in front and larger pieces are stacked behind them. When I am pulling for a project, I sit on the floor in there and count my blessings - I am so lucky to have my own space!