Patriotic!

First, I DO know that the 4th of July is over.
Second, this is not for me.
Third, my mother has a thing for flags & red, white, & blue.

This is for her birthday, which is July 22nd, and I know that she has been wanting a patriotic something or other. My mom has been asking my dad to put a flag in our yard for... oh, my whole life, basically! She made herself a throw pillow that was red, white, & blue when she was at my house, but I wanted to add a little something to it. She found this tumbler pattern on YouTube that she liked, but I didn't feel like buying a template, so I just used 3" x 4" rectangles of scrap fabrics that I have left from projects. Some of the fabrics are from this quilt, and others just came along the way! I'm happy with how it turned out, I just hope that she is too! I had use two different fabrics for the binding, but it's all good and navy. Muslin is the backing, and I machine quilted in straight lines and used my Janome walking foot (used these instructions). Why have I never tested this foot out?! It's awesome!
By the way, I checked out the first season of Lost to watch while I bound it (I'd never watched one episode) and now I'm a bit weirded out. Didn't people love that show? Maybe I'll like it if I keep on watching..? I don't know. My favorite series at the moment is Doc Martin. Sarcasm & British accents? Yes, please. Maybe I'm just a weirdo, but what else is new!?
~Rachel

 

 

Red, White, & Blue

Since I am posting today instead of on the actual 4th, Happy 4th of July from me! I hope you all have a great time with your cookouts and fireworks and all of that goodness! I know that I am definitely thankful for our freedoms and love our country. While I feel blessed to live in this country, I feel that our freedom is starting to mean less to us because we have never had to fight hard for it. This of course doesn't mean that none of us/you have. Both of my grandfathers served in the armed forces, and I have a brother who is currently a Marine. I'm grateful that there are people willing and able to fight for our rights. I won't use this blog as a political platform or a soap box, so that's that!

These past couple of days, I've still been working on the nautical quilts. Nearly there now, the first one is bound, tagged, and washed... Now just for the second one! I started quilting it this evening and should have it finished sometime tomorrow after I come home from the bakery. Then I need to figure out what I'm going to bind that one with. So for today's posts, I found little bits of red, white, and blue in my house to share with you. I'm definitely no decorator, but I'll share my mantle too. I hope you all enjoy!

A scrappy banner of my extra red, white and blues!

 

I think one day I'll learn how to decorate properly, but for now, this will have to do!

 

This quilt just happens to be the festive 4th of July colors! Hand quilted for my cousin.

 

Making tags for quilts for my Etsy shop and checking out the coupons at JoAnn Fabrics!

 

Extra pile of fabric. I wanted to make a scrappy flag wall hanging, but I ran out of time. Maybe one day? Hopefully!

 

Well, have a fun time tomorrow, and light a sparkler for me!

~Rachel

 

Marriage!

I have a thing for pillows (among other things), maybe because they are simple and quick to whip up, but at the same time they can make a room feel different-just with a little color! So here are a couple more simple pillows, they are another version of Mr. and Mrs., just because I feel like I know a few people getting married soonish!I'm definitely a fan or marriage, it's the best thing I've ever done. I've been thinking about it a lot this week, and about how fast the time seems to go when you really like your spouse. Don't get me wrong, we are still human and get on each other's nerves at times, but usually there is a pretty happy feeling in our home.  One example of why I like my Handsome so much is: Saturday night I'm shot because I've been staying up late working on projects, patterns, or just folding laundry to an audio book. I don't even remember how it happened, but I zonked out on the couch around 7 or 8 o'clock that night, and didn't wake up until 6:30am. That never happens to me, I always brush, floss, take out contacts, and scrub my face before bed. Well, when I woke up, I'm disoriented and look around. I spot him on the floor asleep with a blanket, and he had tucked me in and given me a pillow too. At that moment (mind you, I'm usually very grumpy in the morning) I felt such a rush of gratitude and love for this person that happened to find me. Later he told me that he just didn't have the heart to wake me and didn't want to leave me downstairs all alone. I was happy all day and his back hurt all day, poor guy. So now that I've gotten all sappy, I shall stop! I made these by randomly chopping and piecing fabric, and by cutting out letters with my Silhouette Cameo! I love that thing, it's so handy!
 For an update, I'm working on another pillow sham right now that matches a quilt, and that will be unveiled soon! My Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Tutorial should also be getting close. I just need to wax on, wax off. But then I get distracted because I'm having the opportunity to design not one, but TWO nautical quilts for someone! I must say I love nautical and so I just ordered a bunch of very adorable fabric from Hawthorne Threads.  Now that you know a little bit about what I'm doing, how about a picture of the pillows that made me ramble about marriage?! And a fabric sneak! Enjoy!
~Rachel

In my Etsy shop here!

 

 

 

Abe Lincoln Sign

Haley has gotten me on a sign kick! I have so many that I want to make, but I'll be moving soon and it's pointless to decorate at this point! Anyway, I couldn't resist dragging out my husband's miter saw to slice up a couple of boards for this quote from Abraham Lincoln. He said, "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." How can you not love that? I love it when famous people who have made a difference trust in God, and this is a perfect example. Everything that I used for this project was already on hand, some boards that Linwood hadn't burned in our fireplace this winter, wood conditioner, stain (dark walnut by Minwax), some Valspar paint (Statuesque), and some finishing paste by Minwax.
I love my silhouette more every time I use it! I measured the size the boards would be when I put them together and decided on a font. Then I cut the letters, peeled off the extra vinyl, and applied it to the stained, dry surface. I tried to make sure every letter was pressed down well, I didn't want paint all up under my lettering! With my last sign it didn't much matter, it was supposed to look worn through. This one  though, I wanted to be crisp and precise. After making sure the lettering was pressed down as well as I could, I went ahead and painted on a layer of the Valspar. I never know if you are supposed to wait for it to dry or not. I try... and then give up shortly after. I don't want to wait around, I want to see what I made! So this is how it turned out in the end, after it all dried, got sanded, wood pasted, and I antiqued with Annie Sloan dark wax.
~Rachel

 

 

 

 

The Evolution of a Home

I don't know about you guys, but my house and decor is always changing I usually have a moment every couple of months where I just start moving things around and pulling things out of old boxes and re-using old decor. This is probably why I don't throw old decor away because I never know when I'm going to "re-love" something. Any who, after purchasing our king bed,we were left with an extra queen bed. My family all recently deserted me and moved to Washington state. (I'm not bitter or anything...) and I wanted to have some sort of guest room for them when and if they ever decided to come visit me! So we decided to move our old bed into Scarlett's room. This means I had to change a few things up! I will be making some new decorative pillows for her bed eventually but for picture purposes I used the ones I made this past weekend. Scarlett's room is pretty dang small so everything kind of looks crammed in there but oh well it will do! It's not like she sleeps in there any way.... Yes she is still in my room in a porta crib I just can't transition her yet! She's much too cute ! So here are some updated pictures of her room that is all beautiful and pretty for when ever she does move in!