Carlton update

Hi friends!  Since the cable was shut off (no, I didn't forget to pay the bill!) that someone else had apparently paid for, and my internet is spotty at best, I decided to stitch up some squares tonight.  I'm working on a vintage sheet queen size quilt using 6" blocks, alternating a cute little cream/green/purple polka dotted new fabric with the vintage sheet squares.  Who decides he has to be literally in the center of all the action?  Carlton...

It was cute until I realized he'd been chewing on the foot pedal cord and then I was rather upset.  I didn't get a $$$$ sewing machine to be a cat chew toy!!  Yes, that lovely is my graduation present - a Bernina 440 Quilter's Edition complete with BSR.  Wooot woot :D  Look for more hopefully amazing projects in the future!

Vanity Mirror Turned Fireplace Screen

I'm not really sure how this idea popped in my head, but last weekend I decided to turn this vanity mirror I bought for a quarter at a garage sale into a fireplace screen.  My fireplace is a little blah so I thought this would do wonders at sprucing it up.  Plus, it's probably the cheapest project I've ever done.

The trifold mirror was 25 cents because one of the pins was broken, so I stuck a nail in it and viola! fixed (duh).  The fabric was on clearance at Joann's and since I heart houndstooth, I had to have it for $4 for almost 2 yards.  I used Elmer's spray adhesive which is about $4.


First, I made a paper pattern of the mirror pieces by tracing along the trim.  Then I cut out the fabric and messed it up by first making two of one side.  Oops!  (There are a lot of oopses when I craft).  

Next, I took it outside.  That spray glue reeks!  I chose the temporary tacky option since I may change it someday.  So you spray both surfaces and wait 5 min before you put them together.  

Rub out the bubbles and trim up any excess.  There ya have it - a shabby chic fireplace screen! 

Vintage Sheet Swap Project #1 Completed!

Hello!  I know I'm sort of sporadic about my posts.  I've moved for my new job and had training and all, so I've been busy decorating and learning etc. etc.  I have managed to finish my first project from my lovely stash of vintage sheet fat quarters.  


I stumbled upon the lovely Pink Penguin blog awhile ago after I had purchased the Spring 2010 issue of Stitch magazine.  The author, Ayumi Takahashi, had a plastic bag dispenser featured in the magazine.  She has great tutorials on her blog too.  I decided the Quilted Placemats Tutorial would be a perfect way to showcase some of my vintage sheets in my new apartment.  I say perfect because, frankly, I was scared to cut big pieces out of my fat quarters!

I finished 2 placemats and am pretty happy with how they turned out.  I did make a few mistakes that should make the next versions come out improved.  I skipped the spray on basting step and after I was finished quilting the white center, the placemats were a little more like a rhombus than a rectangle!  I think next time I'll quilt the white before sewing the patchwork strips on the edges to make sure it's straight.  I guess I had a mental block when I was sewing the bias tape on.  I used purchased double fold bias tape and machine stitched it to the back of the placement.  Duh - now the front has hand stitching showing instead of a nice straight line!  Oops...  

The patchwork edge is an assortment of vintage sheets.  The white fabric in the center is Kona linen that was 50% off at Joann.  I bought a ton to make a cathedral window quilt - to be continued later.  The bias tape is Wright double fold bias tape.  I used leftover light loft batting and the back of the placemats is a purple cotton I found in the remnant bin super cheap.  

There's more in the pipelines for my vintage sheet stash.  I actually have received my box from a second swap I participated in.  I think my new kitten, Carlton, likes them!  I should probably make something for him soon!  He's fascinated with trying to help me type :/  

Have I mentioned I love garage sales?

I don't think I've told you this before, but I heart garage sales.  The best kind are church sales where everyone brings all their unwanted goodies into one big place = less driving for me :D  


I found some great stuff for my apartment today: Rubbermaid silverware organizer, pizza cutter, and Intuition razer blades that would have cost $12+ for a grand total of $1.00.  Yeah, a buck for all of that.  Love it!  


Meanwhile, here's a picture of my vintage sheet swap collection that I'm busily crafting from.  Sorry I can't show you any works in progress currently, but they'll be up shortly!  Feel free to send some project ideas my way.

It's June already?!

Where has the time gone?  I'm not sure.  Better make the best of it!  I'm lounging around the fabulous town house I decorated in New Hampshire at the moment.  It's so beautiful out here!  Plus, no sales tax is a perk.  Perhaps that was just the incentive I needed to go crazy and buy the Barnes & Noble Nook!  Yep, I finally took the plunge.  I'll let you know in a few days how I feel about it.  I figure a 5 hour plane trip will be a good indicator of how usable it is.  B&N is having a promotion where they give you coupons to download ebooks for free - 1 new book a week for 4 weeks.  They seem to have good ratings too.  I can't wait to find people to elend me books!  I think that's a wicked good idea (couldn't help it, had to use the local terminology).  


On a different note, I took a different plunge and bought some new makeup.  I picked up Laura Mercier mineral foundation and Bare Escentuals hydrating mineral veil at Sephora this morning.  I returned the Cover FX pressed powder that I tried the other day - made me look way chalky and dry.  I definitely think the Laura Mercier is a great match for my skin tone and it makes me glow :D  Love it!  I should be getting the Laura Mercier mineral primer in the mail soon so we'll see how that works too.


Have you noticed I've been spending like a ton of $$ recently??  That's me freaking out before I have to go to w-o-r-k in the real world and be on a b-u-d-g-e-t.  I don't know if I can handle this!

Feeling Nostalgic...

On the way to the airport today, I saw a billboard for a bakery that I hadn’t thought about in years.  This particular bakery is no longer open in my hometown, but it has another store about 40 miles away.  Why did I happen to think twice about this sign on the interstate?  Ever since I graduated from school (a week ago :D), I’ve been thinking, this is it, I’m an adult now.  And a doctor to boot!  (Not trying to be cocky, I just can’t believe it myself).  Well, since I’m an adult now, I guess I’m allowed to fondly remember my not so distant childhood.

Picture from: www.roadfood.com/Forums/ Route-66-roadtrip-m39...

The town I grew up in is a fairly small farming community.  I remember being very excited when my family would go to the movie theater.  Here’s an idea of how small this town was/is: movie tickets were $1.75 circa 1990s.  Now it’s a whopping $4.50 and people complain about the price hike!  Anyway, the movie theater is on the town square and there used to be a lot of ma and pa shops there before Wal-mart came and ran everything out of business.  I loved going to the movies because we’d look in all the shop windows before or after the movie started.  My favorite window was (no not the jewelry store Mom!) the Jubelt bakery window because they always had the most beautiful and elaborate wedding cakes I could ever imagine on display.

Back when I still thought all weddings, love, and marriages were as simple and perfect as my Wedding Day Midge and Alan made it seem, that bakery window was my inspiration for the future!  My parents would practically have to pull me away from the four tier sugary confections decorated with buttercream roses and real working water fountains!  My favorite cakes were the ones with plastic staircases that ran from the middle cake to matching cakes that sat nearby.  How beautiful to a young girl who used to be so naïve she didn’t realize that buttercream roses and porcelain painted bride and groom statues.  Sadly, now that I’m an adult, I realize how tacky my sucrose dreams were. 

                                                             picture from: www.carolynssweettooth.com/ Photo%20Gallery%20...

Jubelt’s had a signature cookie: the iced thumb print cookie.  You couldn’t go to a church potluck or kid’s birthday party without a box of those showing up on the buffet.  The cookies fit in your palm and were made of some kind of crumbly sugar cookie that tasted like sand.  To counteract how terrible they truly were and entice you to consume them despite your better judgment, the cookies had pastel pink and yellow sprinkles on the edges, and a dollop of rock hard icing in the middle.  I remember they tasted like crap!  But you couldn’t eat just one, because come on, they were from Jubelt’s and they were so pretty they had to taste good, right?  Ahh, the good old days!

Picture from: http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/ALLAN.htm

Some closing thoughts:  Why don’t those painted brides ever have red hair?  Why do people insist on forcing kids to eat cookies that taste like crap?  Why didn’t I stop on my way to the airport and pick up some of those damn cookies?  Or at least look at the cakes in the window…

I'm a doctor now!

Wow, it's been awhile since I last posted!  A lot has happened in the past 2 weeks so my postings got delayed a bit.  It basically went like this: drama drama work drama moving across the country going back to school drama party GRADUATION! and back home to take it slow for awhile.

On graduation day, I thought I was really clever posting this on Facebook... I woke up this morning and decided, I think I'll become a doctor today!  And it actually happened.  I still don't believe it.  I think the only change I've made so far is to wear mascara more often when I go out in public :)

I'm taking a mini vacation from vacation this weekend and heading to New England, so who knows what I'll craft in the meantime.  Right now I'm focusing my attentions to building the Vermont Farmhouse Jr. dollhouse from Real Good Toys.  This is the third dollhouse I've started (notice - started, not completed) and I must say it's the best so far!  I picked up my exterior paints today from Sherwin Williams.  They have an excellent color combination tool online called the Color Visualizer if you're looking to paint some walls.

Well, it's time for me to get the brushes out and start painting!