cherry tomato

the small projects continue

It's already Sunday evening, and I feel like I haven't had nearly enough time to accomplish everything I wanted to this weekend. The weather has been pretty dreary, so I've spent most of the weekend inside. We have floor to ceiling windows in our living room/dining room, and it's nice to be inside and look out onto the activities in our yard. The grey sky makes all the other colors jump to luscious life. The impossibly red apples are spent and lying in the impossibly green grass. A squirrel dashes around in the rain, samples a clothespin to make sure it isn't food, and scampers off to find proper food. It's nice to witness these things from my warm, dry living room.

I awoke this morning thinking about making some plush pears. Frankly, I have no idea where the idea came from, but I had to act.

I used natural linen and mixed it with some cotton fabric, then threaded some fabric through the pear from top to bottom and tied knots in both ends to mimic the stem.

I've also been busy making some autumn pillows for the house. I still have some more to make, but I've made a pretty good start.

This is our new old sofa (referred to in the last post). I thought the pillows would detract a bit from the tattered upholstery.

Work is stressing me out a little these days, so I really need these little projects as a release. As much work as I have to do, I'm making a point of keeping some projects going in an attempt to maintain more of a balance. I have workaholic tendencies, so these projects help me keep things in perspective. I also like having the house decorated for the season. Silly, I know, but it's one of those little things that makes me happy.

Have a lovely week, friends.

when cats rule the house

One of the myriad projects I've been putting off is making new beds for the kitties. We're fortunate that our cats don't scratch up our furniture. However, we recently bought a new-to-us but old mid century sofa. The upholstery has reached the end of its life, and we're going to tackle reupholstering it this fall (we're still trying to find the perfect fabric). For some reason, the cats seem to know the fabric is on it's last legs, and they've taken to clawing at it - not much but just enough to irritate me. So, we've had to set some new rules around the house, and the cats are no longer allowed on the sofa. I feel so mean, but I don't want to do all that work to reupholster the sofa, only to have the cats destroy it within weeks.

So I've been feeling pretty guilty about it, and I feel so bad when I kick them off the sofa, that I felt like I needed to tempt them away from the sofa by making them some squishy, soft new beds. I remembered some black plush fabric I bought years ago at a thrift store, and was so happy to see there was plenty to make them some beds. I tested it beforehand to make sure they would like the fabric.

They approved.

Then I used some fabric my mom gave me for the bottom, loosely filled them with stuffing and scraps of the plush fabric, and arrived at kitty-heaven. I put one of the beds into a doll bed my grandfather made me when I was a child. I haven't used it for years, but the kitties seem to approve. It took them less than 10 seconds to discover and claim the new bed.

Now on to reupholstering that sofa. If only we could find the right fabric...

stopping for a break

Of course, it's all about the home right now. It has been a long weekend of unpacking, and it feels so nice to just sit down and relax on a Sunday evening. Now that things are settling, I'm noticing some of the little details of the house.

This is a view of the kitchen fan above the sink. We don't have any sort of hood above the stove, so I think this is meant to serve the same purpose.

Dishes in the sink:

And, because it's in bloom now, I thought I'd share a photo of our hibiscus.

Things are really starting to come together now. I'll be sharing some more photos this week, and sharing links to some of the things I want to get for the house.

Have a great week!

the next level

i have been in a painting frenzy for the past few days. And I have at least three different colors of paint on my hands to prove it. i've dropped paint in my hair, on my glasses, and, of course, my clothing. fortunately i'm smart enough to wear a smock.

Yesterday I focused on painting our mudroom. it was this terrible, dingy, peachy-looking color. We have a windowed door leading from the kitchen into the mudroom, so I really wanted to paint it a warm, sunny color that i would be happy to gaze at from the kitchen. since i seem to be obsessed with yellow these days, i went with yellow.

the sky is gray, but the mudroom is sunny, and i couldn't be more pleased. the shelf in the foreground was a green color, but i felt it would fit in much better if i just slathered on some white. I'm going to put some sort of printed paper on the back of the shelves to give it a splash of color.

there is still much to do, but i'm really happy with it so far.

for lunch i had yellow food.

warm chickpea salad from Orangette and butternut squash soup with walnuts. it's normal to match your food color to the colors you're painting, right?

drumroll please...

last week i promised to show you a glimpse of my studio. the weather has been gray and dreary, so i haven't had an opportunity to take any decent photos until today. even these photos are less than desirable, but they'll have to do for now.

and there you have it. it's nothing spectacular, but it works for me. of course, the room, as with everything else, is always a work in progress.

and speaking of works in progress: i still haven't finished the baby quilt, but i'm still plugging away at it. eric and i are doing a lot of work on the house right now, including getting the outside all prepped for a new paint job. that's been taking up most of my time these days. today i'm working on the bathroom. eric and i make a great team because he's great at the carpentry, and i do the painting (however, i won't claim to be "great" at it). eric put in some new trim and spackled the walls over the weekend, so now it's my to turn to go in with my brush and get the job done. i know most people hate painting, but i actually really enjoy it. i think i love it because it's quick, easy and takes so little effort and expense to make a dramatic difference.

anyway, i should get back to the painting. i'll leave you with one more photo from the studio. this one is of sophia and vedo basking in the sun. vedo pretty much lives on top of that cabinet these days.

i think they like it here too...

someday it will all come together...

Since moving into our house, my studio has been the last room to really get organized. The truth is, I'm still working on it, but I finally have things put together well enough to work on some projects in there. Everything is still awkward though because I have a hard time remembering where I've put things. It's sort of like when you start a new job, and you have to figure out how everything works and get into a groove. This is a shot of my little sewing corner. I haven't updated my bulletin board for awhile, so that's at the top of my to-do list. To the left is where I do my cutting, piecing and ironing, but I'm not going to show it to you now because it's a bit messy at the moment. However, I will show you another little peek.

This is an art quilt I made that I have up in the window that is too high for the kitties to reach. It's nice to have a spot to place things and not worry about them getting knocked off.

I've been taking my camera with me everywhere, but my handbag was way too small. This week, I designed and made a new one that works nicely. I do have handbags that are large enough to hold it, but they either tote bag-style or messenger bag style. I wanted something what was large enough to hold the camera and my other stuff, but not so deep that it seemed cavernous. This is what I came up with:

One of the benefits of making your own handbag is the ability to customize it for the things you carry. I made pockets inside to hold my phone, moleskine and lipstick (an essential for me). It's nice to have everything so accessible.

Of course as soon as I finished this, I found an Orla Kiely handbag I fell in love with and is now on my wishlist for my birthday. When I saw it the other day, it made my heart hurt. So darling...

kitchen? done

The first room we've (I've) managed to get put together is the kitchen. I love the kitchen. I have been collecting vintage (mostly from the 40's) kitchen items for many years now, and have managed to procure quite a nice little collection. The kitchen in our house has not been remodeled, and I believe all of the cabinetry and even the sink is original to the 1915 house. I love it because my vintage pieces look right at home here.

Yes, the stove is old, but at least it is gas. It's so interesting to try to figure out what this house was like when it was first built. I'm fairly certain there was a wood burning stove here because we have a chimney but no fireplace. The stove would have been centrally located in the home and was probably the sole source of heat.

This is a little cubby/shelves just to the right of the stove. It is where I keep my blender for making my breakfast protein smoothies, my rice cooker and my beloved Kitchenaid mixer. I haven't been able to use it much lately because I still haven't quite figured out the whole baking-without-gluten thing. Once we settle in, I'll be going a lot of experimenting though. You  The strawberry canisters are filled with gluten-free flour I will be using for said experimenting. Above that are my favorites: popcorn (my favorite food), rice noodles and bendy straws in my cherished vintage cherry pitcher. Oh, and of course, rice. With my new diet, I eat a lot of rice and rice-derived foods. I don't know what I would do if I didn't like rice.

Fortunately, the curtains I made for our last place match perfectly. The walls in the kitchen are nice shades of blue, and the curtains have the same shade, along with the red found throughout the kitchen. Some of my vintage aprons hang to the left for easy access.

I worked on the kitchen while Eric worked on the basement. He seems to have finally conquered the flooding in the basement. He sort of reminded me of the battle between the father and the furnace in the movie "A Christmas Story". A constant battle involving many expletives. He likes to talk to me about what he's done, but I don't really understand it. Something about epoxy, tarps, sandbags and little dams.

The rain continues to fall here and shows no signs of ending any time soon (thus the dark photos). It looks like this weekend will be spent indoors. I hope to make some progress on the studio, but I'll probably just be lazy and take a lot of afternoon naps. I think I'm much more into the decorating than the unpacking...

I lied...

I thought I would be able to show you a photo of the other art quilt I completed, but I just haven't been able to get a good shot. I think I'm going to have to wait for the weekend when I'm home during the day.

Since it's Thursday, and I haven't posted for the "Corners of my Home" for awhile, I thought I'd to that today.

This is in my kitchen. There is a bookshelf I got for free from a friend. I have my cookbooks and various kitchen accessories stored there. I made the curtain out of orange fabric that has little chicks on it. I tried to get a good photo of it but failed. You'll just have to trust me when I say it's super cute. I bought the big red breadbox at vintage shop in Athens, Georgia several years ago. That's where I keep all my tea. Next to the breadbox are jars of flour and sugar for baking and the recipe box I bought recently at a thrift store. The calendar is from the talented Camilla, and the lavendar in the bucket is from my trip to the lavendar festival here in Washington last summer.

Here's a front view:

corner of my home

(can also be seen here)

Here is a blurry picture of another corner of my living room. plants are sitting on an old steamer trunk that was given to me by my great aunt. When I got it, it still had an old Little Orphan Annie paper doll packet in it that belonged to my aunt and was never used.  It is the one piece of furniture I have had ever since I moved out on my own. It will soon be replace in that spot by a beautiful table Eric just built. I would be so happy to show you a picture of it and the paper dolls, but I'm having some technical difficulties with my laptop. I only have one USB port, and it has decided to be a pain in my arse, so until I can get that fixed, I won't be able to show you any new pictures. Fortunately, I took this one last week while the USB port and I were still friends.

corner of my home

Here is a corner in my living room where i like to knit, embroider and watch television. The photo is a bit bright, but  I took this picture the other day when we actually had a tiny bit of sun peeking through the clouds for about 10 minutes. This is the room that gets the most light, and I love having the living room there. The pillow is one I made out of a vintage curtain and the fabric is called "The Happy Marriage". I like to think it brings us luck. I am sad to say though that the fabric has lost its integrity and has simply fallen apart in a couple of places. I think I'm going to have to make some new pillows and just include some of the fabric instead of using it for the whole pillow. You can see the robot I've been working on for Eric. He still needs some arms. It's difficult to be a productive robot without any arms. Eric likes to call him "Optimus Square".