cherry tomato

finally!

i am pleased to finally present you with the baby quilt i have been working on. according to the date on my sketchbook, i sketched this out nearly 3 months ago. i can't believe it's taken me so long to finally finish it. it was the applique. i've decided i don't really like applique. Oh, i love the way it looks, but it's really a pain. don't get me wrong, i like hand-stitching when i'm doing embroidery and cross-stitch. I guess I just don't like quilting by hand. Lesson learned.

thank you for all of the kind comments about the mudroom. i'm sorry i haven't been able to respond to each comment. i have been having computer problems, so i've only been online very sporadically over the past week or so. please know i am extremely grateful. i love that yellow even more now that i've had nearly a week to live with it. i was really worried the color wouldn't turn out the way i had envisioned it, so i am now breathing a huge sigh of relief. i know it's not a big deal if the color didn't come out they way i wanted. i just didn't want to have to go through paining it again.

i also whipped up this little thing to put in the mudroom:

i used a swatch from the fruit fabric to select the yellow for the room, so i wanted to make something with it to go in there. our plastic bags have been a little out of control for awhile now, and this seemed like a cute, easy solution.

now, i've moved on to painting the kitchen. after that, i'll just have the living room in the interior before moving on to painting the outside of the house. of course, that is contingent on the weather cooperating. so far, the weather is being pretty nasty, so it may be awhile...

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?

exhausting description of a silly little shirt

Ever since I saw this on Angry Chicken awhile back, I have been itching to make a similar shirt. The pattern really is scary, but, like Amy, I liked that it reminds me of my favorite Forever 21 shirt. it's nice and basic, so you can do all sorts of things to it to make it slightly different and build a whole wardrobe of adorable shirts! I think I'll add some cute buttons to the collar of my next one.

mine looks like it's a little bit longer than Amy's, but it could just be the angle of the photo. I was sitting on the ground looking up. Although, I did make it long, because I wanted it to fall below my waist (just like the aforementioned forever 21 shirt). This is now my one and only yellow shirt. I've always loved yellow clothing, but, at the same time, I have a strong aversion too it. i have fair skin that seems to look washed out in most tones of yellow. I bought this same fabric for the baby quilt I'm working on, and I thought it was mellow enough to be all right for me to wear, but it's still bright and sunny.  Plus, by sticking in a different fabric at the top, I was hoping to to break up the color a little just in case.

It's been awhile since I've sewn a garment for a grown-up (I made a dress for myself last summer), and there was a little seam ripping and swearing involved, but in the end, it turned out the way I had envisioned. That's always a good thing.

I'm getting ready for another weekend of home projects. I doubt I'll have much time to work on the never-ending vintage stripe blanket and baby quilt, but I'm going to try. I simply HAVE to finish that quilt this next week.

Have a great weekend, friends!

it works!

thanks for all the studio-love yesterday. since getting the it put together, I have actually been reluctant to work in there  because I know it won't last. once i start working on something, it seems i am in such a frenzy at times that i just sort of forget to pick up after myself. i want to get better about that, because it ends up being way too counterproductive since i simply can't work in a messy studio. if i pick up after each project, i'll be all set for the next and i won't have to take the time to clean before i get started on the next thing. the only problem is that i rarely just have one project going at once. i'll need to come up with a space for my "works in progress".

i went into the studio this morning and got to work. i felt the powerful surge of inspiration and got to work drawing and designing some new things. i'm very excited about some of the new projects i have in the works.

i have been working on projects that are taking awhile to get finished, so i needed something quick. I sat down this morning and made this spring scarf. I have this impossibly soft cotton voile fabric with hot air balloons that i've been hoarding for awhile and waiting for the perfect project. I pulled it out along with a few other fabrics and got to work. on the back i used another paper thin swiss dot fabric. the result was a nice, light scarf perfect for the warmer days.

it also works in my hair...

(please forgive the lack of make-up and messy hair). it's so nice to actually complete something. i feel a productive period coming on.

on a completely unrelated note, i thought i'd share a couple of things i'm loving right now.

* the new blog for Blueprint magazine called Bluelines.
* this chair from CB2. Oh, i am in love...
* this game. thanks to megan for the tip.
* this book, which i just learned is being made into a movie.

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...

more about enterprise

I keep hearing from more and more people from Enterprise about the devastation the town has sustained. It's heartbreaking: the loss of life, injuries, loss of homes, loss of family members and loss of pets. I can't seem to stop thinking about it ...and crying about it.

I am extremely sensitive by nature. So much so, that usually when something like this happens, I go out of my way to avoid the news stories. When there is a shooting at a school, weather-related tragedy, or anything that the media tends to sensationalize, I have to block it out, because I feel it so deeply that it will take over. Many years ago, while living with my sister, she banned me from reading the newspaper because I would constantly cry about the stories I'd read. I have to maintain a fine line between keeping up with what is going on the world and letting it take over my emotions. It may sound strange, but I'm glad I feel things the way I do. I think many of us have become so desensitized to the events we hear or read about that we don't really feel them they way we may ought to.

The point of this is that in the case of the tornado in Enterprise, I simply can't block it. I have very strong emotional ties to the town, and I still have enough contact down there that I can't avoid it. Nor would I want to. It's the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else, and even if you don't know them personally, you know OF them. I received an email from a friend today who's father is a teacher at Enterprise High School.  He forwarded an email from his father detailing the events of the day, and I could barely get through it because my eyes were filled with tears. I'm not going to go into any detail here, but the more I hear about what happened, the more horrible I realize it is. Please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers. I know I am. Also, I have heard that the town is in need of bottled water and blood donations, so if you feel compelled to help, those are some ways you can do so.

If you're still here, thanks for reading my rambling. I'm still trying to sort out my feelings, and my feelings of being so helpless by being thousands of miles away.

the school is gone

By now, I am sure you know about the tornado that hit Enterprise High School. It is so tragic and particularly surreal for me because that is where I went to high school.

Enterprise is one of three towns located around an Army base, Ft. Rucker. My family lived there when my father went through flight school when I was 4 years old, and we moved there again when I was 13. Ihave very fond memories of my time there, and I am one of those dorks who loved high school. It's really difficult to see the footage of the devastation on television and not be affected by it. I feel so terrible for all the people who have been hit by this tragedy. As far as I know, any of my friends who still live there are all right, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that everyone still unaccounted for at this time is okay...