New Projects for the New Home

Here is the dining room. I am currently turning it into a gallery of sorts. The wall on the right you can't see has family photos filling it in a gallery type of way and the wall to the left is going to have small photos (framed) filling that wall from all our travels. Lots of Italy and Ireland photos to hang up! We still have not decided on a light fixture yet. Right now all in the house are just boring builder grade and the dining room has 3 holes to put lights in and two were flourescents we took down because I hate that kind of lighting. So they are still waiting patiently for us to decide what to do, but we did order white plantation shutters for the dining room from blinds.com. Wont come in until end of next month. Will be excited to have those! For my bedroom I wanted it to have a cozy feeling and we currently have no pictures hung in there so I decided to make quilt blocks that I could frame and hang. I bought a mini charm pack of Atelier by 3 Sisters from Missouri Star Quilt Co. and made this one block so far...

The bear paw block! Love the fabric and the traditional block. Im thinking of using the remaining fabric squares to make a few leaves as the other block to frame. Haven't decided yet.

Took a trip to Homegoods today to buy a step stool for my daughters to use in the bathroom to wash there little hands and brush their teeth. I found a collapsible one that i can put away when not in use which was perfect. I also saw this couch pillow and loved it so i snagged it. If you see something you like there you better get it because it may not be there the next day. Well my couch pillows didn't match it at all... (you can see the blue pillow in the corner.) So I decided to make my own pillows. Super easy project with a charm pack! 

So one pillow took 16 5inch charm squares. I laid it out the way I liked then sewed each row, then sewed all the rows together. After that I took a solid fat quarter, (thanks to my mother i have a whole stash of solid quarters, was an awesome birthday present) and I sewed right sides together, pillow front I just made to the fat quarter (long side going up and down) and sewed 3 sides together, leaving the bottom open. Then you stick in your pillow form, (or in my case old couch pillow) and you will stitch the bottom shut by hand (which I still need to do.) You can use the same stitch you do when hand binding a quilt. If you are really crafty you could sew a zipper onto the bottom for a washable cover but I didn't go through all that trouble. 

I will have to make more of these!! So quick and easy! Fast projects are the best. By the way, the fabric is called Persimmon by Basic Grey for Moda. I love Moda!

Log Cabin Quilt Complete

Yay! This curved log cabin quilt I've been working on for months is finally complete! Such satisfaction when I see a project I've been working on for so long in its final form. I love the way the Eclectic Elements fabric came together. From far away the curved log cabin looks very digital.

I'm not sure if you can see the free motion quilting that is on the black part. It's loops of a sort, I recently discovered some awesome stencils from Jo-Ann's Fabric, this is my first time using them on a quilt. If I free motion I always just practice my shape and go for it, but that doesn't always work out. My freehand drawing isn't so good, especially for certain shapes and I love that I could just stencil these on with a chalk pencil and just follow that. Came out great that way. 

Here's a picture of the backing. Music notes were all over the place which made piecing the backing super easy. Can't even tell where it was put together. Love that. (Notice my babies enjoying the quilt and giving it some cuddles and love before its boxed up for it to make its way to a wedding in June. Finished in plenty of time to say phew...)

I straight line stitched the border for effect and practicality and used black thread on the pink fabric and used pink thread on the black parts to coordinate it all. 

I also finished a small crib quilt for my soon to be niece that is due in August for my brother-in-law. So glad both gifts are done. Means I can work on my million other projects in mind.. always thinking...

My favorite thing to free motion is swirls because i love the end result and its one of the few designs I'm fairly good at, (compared to other shapes I've tried!) I have a pastel jelly roll so i paired that with a pretty floral charm pack I had and then this window type quilt was born! Very girly for the new soon-to-be niece! Thanks for stopping by! More projects to post soon....

Finally moved!

The hubs and I are officially homeowners and have officially moved! Great to have the majority of everything done and set up, just have a plethora of pictures to figure out where to hang and fix up the windows with blinds or shutters eventually. I really want plantation shutters for my kitchen and living room and wood or faux wood blinds for the rest. They are costly tho! It will take some time. Tension rods and curtains are making due for the moment.. But I'm happy to say my kitchen is finished and with the new counter tops looks much more modern! (That said, the only flooring in our new home we didn't update was the kitchen tile, which isn't my favorite but is staying for now. I will lay down lovely rugs for now..)

 

I love one compartment sinks and how big and modern they look! Love the way my kitchen turned out! We also have a gas stove and I love it too. Cooks food efficiently and quickly!

We picked this single mount faucet by Moen that pulls down and matches the rest of the stainless steel appliances in our kitchen. 

Here's a picture we took after the hubs put in some under cabinet led lighting we got from Ikea! My Mother's Day present was a weekend in Orlando to do some shopping, primarily at Ikea. Our house is smaller than our rental was so we needed some storage solutions and Ikea has so many! 

Got this Hemnes 8-drawer dresser from Ikea too which I love! I needed a dresser badly and couldn't find any at thrift shops for the right price or that I loved that I could fix up with some lovely chalk paint by Annie Sloan. So this dresser fit the bill and is perfect for our space. The tv is now right on top. Would have liked a mirror on the wall but space is limited and you do what you got to do. Small spaces can be a challenge but I love our little home and the fact that we were forced to downsize on furniture and everything else. It is freeing in a way to diminish the junk that one accumulates over time just naturally even. I had a bag of quilting scraps that had sat in my closet for a couple years unused that had grown to be the size of a big trash bag, finally got rid of it and I now know exactly what I have and feel much more organized. Let go of the old! It frees up space and clutter and excess which can be great to do now and again, minimizing can feel wonderful! So.. go spring clean, give away (one mans junk is another mans treasure), or throw out the unused. You may feel lighter. :)

Curved Log Cabin Quilt

We are in the middle of a near future move... not sure when its happening, maybe in two weeks, maybe longer. Have things to finish at our new home before we can move into it. This has caused my sewing room to be in chaos with boxes everywhere... trying to finish a wedding present, a full sized log cabin quilt, in time for the wedding in June. Hopefully we will move sooner rather than later so i can finish it in time! I am stitching in the ditch, but still have a long way to go. This picture above is when i was pinning the quilt sandwich together. The primary fabric line I used on this quilt was Eclectic Elements 2 by Tim Holtz which i love. Has a beautiful map fabric and roses and postcards... all kinds of random items that come together beautifully. Love the colors. I picked pink as the log cabin centers because it complemented the colors in the rest of the fabric. I like the way pink and black go together as well. They are a good pair.

 

Started stitching in the ditch around the log cabin curves. Takes lots of time. Much completed but much still has to be done. 

Here is a peak at the backing which is all music notes... matches the front and thought the sheet music look was really neat.

And here are some photos of the beginning process that took place when i first started this quilt top...

 Ignore the pile of toys in the corner..

 

Again, If you would like the tutorial I got it from the wonderful Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co. Love there tutorials!!! Curved Log Cabin by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  

I will post more photos when it is finally complete! Hopefully sooner rather than later. 

~Jaclyn

Twin quilts and a New Home

So, we will be moving soon to our new home, our very first home the husband and I have owned and not rented!! It is very exciting but a lot is being done to it slowly, but surely. We are currently waiting for the roofers to put a new roof on it but because of rainy Florida weather the date keeps getting pushed back which is a real bummer. We were thinking of moving this next week but would rather have the roof put on it first before we move in. We are also getting new quartz countertops installed very soon to replace the old ugly laminate ones. Not sure of the exact date on that project either, but I am happy to say we got new laminate flooring installed that looks amazing. Makes the little house look more modern than the original white carpeting and tile.

 

(My daughters being entertained by a phone of course!) This is the living room. The laminate flooring turned out great. I love the dark and light variation of color. The color was called golden acacia. I liked pretty much all the acacia flooring i saw, especially the real hardwood tobacco acacia! Gorgeous stuff!

This is the only before photo I have which is dark, but you can tell the space looks better with the wood flooring. At least I believe it does, and with two toddlers and two pets.. carpet is a no-go!!

 

One of our next projects, will be to update the lighting in the dining room. It had two ugly florescent light fixtures, reminiscent of a bleak school room, but i ordered these vintage Edison bulbs and a few metal cage fixtures to turn the lighting industrial to match our rustic table and we may end up buying metal dining chairs along the way to complete the look. The entire house has builder grade light fixtures and not a single fan in any room. We will have to change them out over time and decide what we would like in each room. The house is a work in progress but I love that we can make it our own! 

Speaking of making it our own, the girls will be sharing a bedroom in the new home, so they have twin beds and I wanted them each to have their own quilts to give each side of the room their own style in a way. For my youngest daughters recent 4th birthday I made her a pinwheel quilt and I let her pick her own backing fabric (which she ended up picking my little pony fabric of course) and I added a few pieces of baby clothes for a couple pinwheels that she had outgrown and some of the pinwheels were made from a baby fabric that was my grandmothers fabric, and sadly she has since passed away and it will be a nice heirloom piece for my girls and something to remember her by as well.

 I had a rose muslin colored solid that i cut into 5 inch squares and i was able to use one charm pack i already had and then added coordinating colors of other fabrics that i already had. My daughter has a side dresser that has sunflower knobs so i thought the addition of sunflower pinwheels would be perfect.

 Our cat Snickers seems to like the quilt top...

And this is the completed quilt on her bed. Snoopy our mini-dachsund loves it too. I quilted by using a free-motion foot and made spirals around every pinwheel block to give the pinwheels some motion. I liked the way the quilting really complemented the blocks.

For my oldest daughter I found a fabric line that looked so country, chabby chic and old time modern with beautiful roses called 'Roses and Chocolate' by Sentimental Studios. I bought a layer cake and laid all the blocks out the way i liked and sewed them together. It was an easy, quick, yet beautiful quilt. My daughter loved it. Here is a link to this very easy quilt tutorial  Here!

And here is the girls current room setup which will be changed up at the new house...

I love how much a quilt can add to the decor of a room!

Thanks for reading... have new quilts I am working on and will be posting those soon.