Making a house a home

After a month in the new place, all the furniture is finally where it should be and the unpacking is winding down.  There are a still couple of boxes of lagniappe items, which I either didn't have the heart to donate, or have been too lazy to put away.  But there's nothing like the impending visit of an old friend and a dinner party to spur some action, so those boxes will be dispatched before the weekend.

Now that the dust has settled, I'm ready to devote some time to the decor.  In its former life, the house was a farm when it was built in the 1920's, so I'm trying to throw a little farmhouse chic into the mix.  Doesn't this early Christmas/housewarming gift from Mom fit right in?

Suddenly I feel the need for a little Urban Cowgirl in my life to make a quilt for the sofa.  I'm also on the hunt for more yardage of Garden Party for curtains- I'm thinking the Waltz print in any color would look nice.  I have a few Drawing Room prints which were originally intended to make sofa pillows and a tablecloth.  But the thought of spilling food or drink on such beautiful fabric horrifies me, and it would be sinful to cut up the large-scale Trellis print for a pillow, so I'm considering using them as backing for a quilt and to reupholster a chair. But first things first.

Our expected guest will be staying in Antonio's room, so the Urban Chic quilt is top priority by default.  The back will be pieced from these two flannel prints:

They're washed and pressed, so I'm hoping to piece and baste this evening.  We actually have a formal dining room now, so I'll be able to use my dining room table for basting. I didn't have the luxury of using the leaves to extend the table at our old place, so basting was always done on the floor.  Now I can just pop the leaves in and away I go!  It's the little things that make life good, isn't it? 

I'm also going to try to squeeze in a couple of pillow covers (I may cave and cut up Trellis, after all) and a few more Vintage Holiday blocks before the weekend.  It would be nice to actually finish the Christmas quilt before Christmas!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Black Friday Madness

While the rest of the country shopped or spent the day recovering from a turkey hangover, I stitched.  And stitched.  And stitched like mad.  I stopped long enough to have breakfast and cut down a Christmas tree (okay, I picked the tree and hubby chopped it down) with family and friends. 

Then it was nose to the grindstone to finish up my 4x5 bee blocks.  The block I chose is called Geese All Around.  I've had this block bookmarked for quite some time, and I was happy for the chance to finally make it.  Here's what I learned from making these blocks: If you are going to wait until the last minute to sew multiple bee/swap blocks, do not choose a block with 56 pieces.  Enough said.

The move went pretty smoothly, with the exception of breaking one of the glass doors from my china hutch.  And breaking the glass from the dryer door.  Doesn't bad luck come in threes?  I should just go ahead and throw a glass on the floor and get it over with, because we've still got a few mirrors to retrieve from the old house.

The rest of the weekend will be dedicated to unpacking, and decorating the Christmas tree.  Out of curiosity, has anyone else gotten their tree yet?

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Wrap it up!

The feeling of accomplishment after completing a project never gets old.  It's inevitably followed by inspiration to finish other projects, and while that never gets old either, reality steps in.  This house isn't going to pack itself, and the big move is Saturday, so no more sewing until after the weekend.

I do have a couple of finishes to share.  First up is a long-overdue quilt for the Love Circle at do. Good Stitches.  My month to host was July, but the backing fabric got boxed and put in storage a few months ago.  The fabric was finally unearthed and the whole quilt kit came along to the SBAMQG retreat.  There the backing was pieced and quilt sandwiched basted (no quilting due to walking foot debacle), and I finally quilted and finished the binding at home this week.

Here are detail shots of the quilting (stitch-in-the-ditch) and binding (Kona Coal):

 
This one is hard to send off, but it's going to a great cause.

I also finished my partner's pillow cover for The Pillow Talk {Swap} Round 9 (last-minute,of course).  Batwing blocks in front, hexies on the back.  Quilted very simply, with a top-zipping invisible zipper closure.  This was the first pillow cover I've ever made, and I definitely see more in my sewing future.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.