goodwill trip

Today I ventured out to Goodwill and found some decent stuff.

That wooden box to the left is just begging for a few coats of spray paint.  Not sure what I'm going to use it for, but it was in such good shape I couldn't pass it up.  Same story with the rectangular basket to the right...I'm sure I'll find a job for it soon.

I love the antique look of the teapot.  It looks so nice up there with my canisters.

We just got an old set of Sesame Street books from my sister that her kids didn't want anymore, so I was excited to find a storybook that went right along with all those.  Since my kid can't be trusted with books with paper pages right now, this one's going in his closet with the rest of them. 

And by now I've realized I have a weakness for old children's readers, as seen with that book called "Along Friendly Roads."  It's from the 60's and it seems to have a lot of cowboy stories in it, so that might be good for my son when he's older.

I mean, this story has a cowboy named Texas Gus in it, and apparently it sheds light on what kind of music cows prefer.  How could I pass it up??

I also saw some really old-school 70's travel books for kids.  The pictures were really neat and they were all in good shape, but I know they were hopelessly outdated.  Case in point:  one of the books was called, "Let's Travel to the Soviet Union."  Nice.

Guess anything's better than "The Day My Butt Went Psycho."  I spotted this winner in the children's book section as well.  Seriously???  No wonder it ended up at Goodwill.

big brother shirt

This is a bittersweet post for me to write.  About a month ago, my husband and I found out we were pregnant.  What followed were five doctor visits within a couple of weeks.  During this uncertain time I chose to stay positive, and made this "big brother" shirt for my son.  I had found the shirt at Target on clearance a couple of months ago, and used fabric scraps for all of the letters.  It was very therapeutic to design and make the shirt, and also a fun way to announce our news to family and friends.

Sadly, our baby didn't make it.  During this brief pregnancy, I kept feeling she was a girl, so that's how I'll always think of her.  She's with the other baby we lost a couple of years ago, and that gives me comfort.  As the days go by, seeing this shirt gives me comfort, too.  Caleb is still a big brother, even though he won't meet his little sister here on earth.  And I'm confident that God will bless us with a healthy baby again, so maybe Caleb will have another opportunity to wear this shirt before he gets too big for it.

 
"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."  1 Peter 5:10

finished quilt!

It's done!  Thanks to my awesome mom, we got this quilt done in essentially one weekend by working just a few hours per day.

We decided to just do one wide brown panel on either side of the center panel since the other panels I had made weren't really lining up (see this post).  We sewed the top together and made our quilt "sandwich" on Friday.  Then on Saturday afternoon we used painter's tape and a water-soluble marking pen to quilt straight, even lines.

Let me just say that the painter's tape idea is genius.  It stays on when you want it, and comes off cleanly once you're done.  And miraculously, neither of us accidentally sewed over it!  We got the whole thing quilted in a few hours.  Then on Sunday afternoon, we used the discarded panels from the original quilt top to make the binding and managed to finish the whole thing up before my son woke up from his nap.

My husband and I slept under this last night, and it was very comfortable.  So pleased with the results!

Now we just need new pillows and a brown bedskirt.  :o)

Here is the tutorial where I got the idea to make a quilt out of large panels, and you can find the tutorial for using painter's tape to aid in quilting here.

Sewing your own quilt for your bed certainly takes some work, but I'm so happy with how it turned out.  It was fun sewing with my mom, and without her I know this would have taken me much longer to do on my own!  Thanks, Mom!  :o)

Linked up to Creations by Kara!

quilt top {almost} done!

Remember that quilt I mentioned pretty much a MONTH ago?  I finally buckled down this afternoon and started sewing the top.  I had mostly everything cut out a few weeks ago, then realized the green fabric I had picked out for the skinny panel looked horrible next to the main center panel.  I have just decided to accept the fact the designers behind Michael Miller's Dandy Damask fabric collection must have created this crazy shade of green themselves, if only just to mess with people like me.  And yes, the pattern is actually called "Dandy Damask."  Not so dandy if you can't find anything but brown to match it!


Anyway, today I decided just to do all the side panels in that solid brown.  And once I got everything sewn together, I realized it actually looked good.  Not as plain as I was expecting, yet not obnoxious either. The only other thing I need to do before the actual quilting process is to sew the brown panels to the center panel; I only hesitated to do it since the center panel ended up a few inches longer than everything else, and I wasn't sure how to proceed from there.  Luckily my parents are coming for a visit, and I'm sure my mom will help me with lining everything up....and quilting it....and binding it.  Or at least show me how so I can get it done once they leave.  :o)

what a difference a rug makes...

I'd like to introduce you to my new laundry room rug.  Found it at Ross the other day and I LOVE IT.

I had been wanting something for the floor in there for awhile, both for comfort reasons since I normally do the laundry (and pretty much every other household chore) barefoot, and also for aesthetic reasons.  Anything to break up the boring pattern of the vinyl floor, right?

I like that the rug is all neutral colors too.  We need to eventually repaint pretty much every wall of our house, and I'm always tempted to pick a really fun color for the laundry room...just because.  This rug would work with almost any color scheme, so it's here to stay!  Maybe it'll help me enjoy laundry more....

scrapbook scripture

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've been working on a few surprises, so it's difficult to keep things secret if particular family members check up on my blog!  All will be revealed in due time (as in, when certain gifts are given....haha!).

This is a project I did for my mom's birthday.  Earlier this year, my parents moved into a new house and she asked me if I could make something for the master bedroom.  She liked the scripture hangings I had done for my son's room, but basically gave me free reign design-wise.

First, I decided to use this pretty frame I found at Goodwill for a little over three bucks.  Pardon the pun.

I really liked the natural wood of the frame; it's a rare occurrence when you find a picture frame at Goodwill that you don't want to immediately attack with spray paint!  Although the deer and tacky matte had to go.  :o)

Next I got out my bag of scrapbook paper "scraps."

Scrapbook paper usually comes in 12X12 sheets.  But about 99% of the time, I end up cutting mine down to fit whatever project I'm doing, and then I can't bring myself to throw any of the scraps away.  So I made a very tiny dent in this collection with this project!

Anyway, I played around with some design ideas, and finally settled on a simple tree with my parents' initials carved in it.  I added leaves to the top to add some color and dimension.

And put a simple yet meaningful Scripture at the bottom.

I also took a thin permanent marker and outlined almost everything with fake "stitches."  I like the look of applique and embroidery, so this was my way of incorporating that look without using fabric and thread!

I hope she likes it.  I know she'll like it because I'm her kid and I made it for her, but you know what I mean.  :o)

Linked up to Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!