Saturday, July 5, 2008

blue and green equals art

I finally hung some pictures in my house. Only two years late! Story of my life.

The downstairs of my house is painted green, and I've been accenting it with blue- blue glass vases, blue pillows (to come), and artwork with touches of blue. I have a large, gorgeous photograph I bought at Penrod several years ago. It's of a bright blue door somewhere in Santorini- I love it, and I can't believe it's been hiding in my closet for two years. It's my first and only true "art" piece so far, and I even tried to find that door in Santorini when I went four years ago. Alas, I couldn't find it. I did, however, take many other "blue" photos in Greece (pretty easy to do; everything there is bright blue!) and I am going to accompany those with some other "art."

I took some square frames from the clearance section at Target- three bucks apiece last winter. I added some pages taken from a calendar we gave my Mom last year. It's a page-a-day type of beaches from around the world. I picked four of my favorites and hung three on a column in my dining room, and added another to an end table that was missing something in my living room.

new pictures

IMG_0841
(sorry the flash blew it out so much)

There are over a hundred photos left, and I didn't want to waste them! I took some photo coasters that had been sitting empty and unused, and cut up four other calendar pages for those. I didn't want a recognizable "beach scene," so I picked four aerial shots that had texture to them- they are all water, but it's hard to tell when a small section is used in a close-up.

IMG_0847

Tomorrow I'm going to finish using some of the other calendar pages in more square frames. I love making art out of found pages like this...it's professional photography, but it didn't cost much, and I'm recycling the pages too, in a way.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

baby quilt

I am 95% done with the baby quilt I made for my friend. I still have to sew up a spot or two and do the quilting, but other than that, Finito!!! My first quilt, and the first thing I've sewn in years. Now that I've brushed up, I can work on the duvet cover for my bedroom.

I used a pattern from "Quick Colorful Quilts for Babies and Toddlers" by Rosemary Wilkinson. It was a very basic book, although I had to do quite a bit of math in order to cut out the rectangles. But I think it turned out well. All of the seams and joints between rectangles lined up and everything.

Jungle quilt

Friday, April 4, 2008

Late bloomers

I checked my flickr page just to be sure, but I was right! My daffodils are only just now blooming- and only the smaller bulbs, not the larger daffodils. Last year, they peeked out in January, and bloomed by March 24th. Three years ago, they were blooming (granted, at my apartment, not my house) by March 20th. Where's the global warming?

daffodils

first daffodil of spring! DSCN1004

Bristow on the prowl

This is what my house looks like after my dog has been home for eight hours by himself...

Bristow after 8 hours alone

Thursday, March 20, 2008

zippidee doo dah!

Zippidee zoo! I bought this adorable fabric for an upcoming baby quilt- bright colors, gender neutral, matches the nursery, and cute to boot!

IMG_0211

I haven't yet picked a pattern, but it will probably be something very Denyse Schmidt-like, maybe like the one in Last Minute Patchwork Gifts, like this.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

come out, come out, wherever you are!

I bought some bulbs for 50% off last fall when I was refinishing my floors. I stashed them in the basement and promptly forgot all about them, until I discovered them a few weeks ago. They daffodils and alliums were sprouting in the bags! I picked up some potting soil, mixed it with some peat moss, and filled these pots to the brim. I probably should have planted the bulbs a bit deeper, but I did what I could. Spring has sprung!

come out!

(yes, that's part of a blender in the background. ha!)

Monday, March 10, 2008

baby blankie

I've been working on an idea for my first quilt, a baby blanket. I started looking online this weekend for fabric, and fell in love with this Alexander Henry fabric:




However, it seems to be sold out everywhere and eBay wants $8 for a fat quarter. That is crazy! so instead I've set my sights a bit lower and settled on some different jungle fabric. I hope it comes in the mail soon; I want to get started!