home alone

What's a girl to do when her live-in boyfriend goes out of town for a Japandroids (jealuzzz) concert?

Go thrifting on the way home from work because there's no one to call and ask where you are. There's also no one to see you come home with a couple bags of 'stuff' and ask "what the hell is all this for?!"


This was a set of three, but the Boston Fern was my favorite. Bahaha, yeah, those fern-y things actually come out from the embroidery, with a basket embroidered underneath. So weird. We were also just talking a couple days ago about getting a hanging fern for the loft, voila!


'AA' is our loft unit. These are bigger than normal blocks, and flat on the back (judging from the other blocks at the store, they used to spell "AARON"). Not sure where to put them yet, but yay. We had thought about getting two A's for our wall months ago!


Can't say no to a delicate little vintage tablecloth. It's super yellowed and very faded on one side, but the pattern is so unusual. I think it might fit our table (and go great with the chairs!) if I ever clean the thing off, oops.

Do some sewing. Watch some more project runway (yup, I'm hooked again).


I started these blocks nearly 4 years ago. Yeah!! I remember sitting in the floor of my first apartment, cutting out the fabrics for it, after recieving my first ever order from reprodepot. It was one of those scrap packs. I kept asking my then-boyfriend and then-best-friend for their opinion. I think they might actually be the first blocks I ever machine pieced....and I'm so happy to say they're done! Next up, some wonky white sashing.


Okay, I probably won't actually sew with this amazing vintage feedsack fabric for a long time (or ever), but I do keep staring at longingly...

And now I'm pretty sure I'm going to go get some ice cream! This is the life...when are you coming home, Mark? Oh, tonight? Hm.

mini diy: ruffle frame

A few days ago, Elsie gave me this sweet little painting from her recent black & white series...



I loved it instantly (it kind of reminds me of this picture of mine!), but I was afraid it wouldn't stand out from our stark white walls.



So, I cut some pretty fabric into a thin strip--this piece is actually from a dress I hemmed for Elsie's shop, so it's extra special--and ruffled it by hand while making a long machine stitch down the center...



Then, I just used a thin line of all-purpose, washable glue (I wanted to be able to remove it later if I needed to, and not compromise the artwork) on the back edge of the canvas, and attached the ruffle! Instant frame, instant cute.



It looks so good above my desk in between these two vintage silk dresses.

Love! Thank you, Elsie! xoxo

my creative space

A couple more peeks at "my" room...





I worked diligently today on several projects, sitting next to my window, the warm breeze coming in. Having no where else to be, as everything is closed for the holiday.

So nice to not be stuck at the dining table any more!

love spring cleaning

Mark is the sweetest sweetie best roommate ever and consented to giving the separate (not spare) bedroom over to being my sewing room. He even helped move everything! I have issues with the cats getting all up in my business when I'm trying to sew/craft, I needed to be able to close a door! And luckily he understood.

Plus, our bed looks totally cool in the living-area. And there's a ceiling fan over it. Score.





This is the only corner of the room I've had time to arrange (you don't want to see the other end!), but I'm in love.

This room is also going to be our "walk-in closet"...we're both in the process of paring down our wardrobes.

Loft is good, life is good!

mi casa

...got a few updates over the weekend.


Thrifted @ DAV<3 for $3.98. Cats love them too! Not sure where they're going to go yet but I think they're going to work perfectly for little sewing odds and ends.


Hung up a few notions to get my desk organized. Please ignore how unorganized my desktop is...


From last week, an old photo project that didn't get very far now has a new life framed and hung.


And finally hung up our little rhino. Mark bought him for us at the Rock N Roll Craft Show last year, and he has sat in the glove box ever since, oops!

the embroidered home

Stitching is taking over the loft.



Finished up another mini, finally. Working with the plastic canvas takes far too long.



So glad Mark agreed the birdies were a good find ($1.98 at the DAV) or I might have left them behind. They were just what we were looking for to center over the bedroom door! It also turned out to be the perfect spot for Mark's fish, which he found at a garage sale we went to last Spring.



These used to hang in Mark's old place, and I was so happy he brought them home this past weekend. He also found a great spot for them, yay!

Now I just wish I had the time to design and work up my own embroidery, hmph.

christmas is for...

making!


Sugar cookies on Christmas morning, even when you don't have vanilla extract (why??), or maple syrup (left it at my old place!), a suitable substitute. So what do you do? Using the previous recipe, substitute 1 tsp vanilla extract for 3 tsp lemon drop martini mixer, add 3 tbs butter for easier hand-creaming, and an extra tbs flour because you added too much liquid ingredients. Use a sawed-off portion of an upholstery fabric tube (covered in aluminum foil and saran wrap) as a rolling pin, a cup as a cookie cutter, and a cake pan for a cookie sheet, and you end up with a little over two dozen amazing cookies!

Lessons learned: unpack kitchen tools and buy what I don't have, buy vanilla extract (and lemon!!), make do and mend!


One of Mark's Christmas wishes, for his "cubby" to be padded (still working on the pads for the walls, heh).


The boys' litter mats are about half done...


here's a close-up of the quilting I did on one of them. My first time trying stippling, done in between lengths of painter's tape.


The project from Linen, Wool, Cotton I was working on, fruit bags, for Christmas presents! Two down...ten to go. Hmph.

Hope everyone had a good one! There's one minute left in mine. I'm gonna go pretend we've got some mistletoe.

officially moved in

The new home, a loft above Flame, a local fancy steak house, was found in a hurry. The decision to share it was made in a hurry. In short, the person I had been living with previously was asked to leave her home. As always I will be keeping it classy and leaving it at that. Plus, I'd much rather focus on....

Mark


Me


Georgie


and Jay.

The gang is, as a matter of fact, all here.


And we are totally ready for Christmas.

Lots more pics of the place over at my flickr.