120 triangles

That was a lot of cutting!  Thankful for my fabulous work table, cutting mat, and rotary cutter.  

Making good progress on the quilt!  Have all triangles cut and sewn together.  Now pressing seams and sewing each row together today.  Binding is made and ready to go.   Then on to backing the quilt, actually quilting it together, and binding.  

 triangles cut

 stacks on stacks

 deciding on the pattern

inspiration pillow, cutting binding strips

binding... ready when I need it

club chair

I found this chair a long time ago at a thrift store for a crazy good deal.  In great shape, just a little dirty and dingy. 
The folks that did our living room chairs suddenly stopped doing reupholstery projects so that delayed my getting this done. 
Finally got around to finding a new place and taking the chair in.  Rainbow Upholstery in Raleigh did a great job and had a very quick turnaround.  So happy to have this done and in place in the craft/baby room!

 before

after!

Quilt #2

A new quilt project!

I came across this tutorial and it looks like a good next step in trying a quilt.  I made a straight line quilt last year, which now belongs to Pepper.

This new quilt will belong to my daughter.  She is due to arrive in March, so I have plenty of time to pull this together (or do I??).  I am excited to see how this goes with a different shape, and a LOT more sewing.

The fabrics I got:

Starting to cut out the many many triangles today!

working it

I've been keeping busy with little stuff:

Pins!  And more pins!!

For a class reunion

Kalisher keeps us busy.  Art is love.

Pretty vellum bunting for a party in BKLYN!

SYNCSTUDIO woop woop!

The LIST

David and I were recently shot into gear to get the house in order.  It is officially GET THE HOUSE IN ORDER time.

Earlier this year we checked off a few other overdue to-do list items, like removing dead trees from the back yard.  There are just some things we should not attempt to DIY- like cutting down trees with the potential of smashing your house.  We called professionals, and I got to watch nervously from inside.

What we've done so far:
Cut down trees
Started so back yard clearing & clean-up
had plumber fix faucet

What we need to do:
sell the Toyota
touch up paint in master bath
paint above chair rail in craft room
organize/clean out craft room closet (we did David's downstairs office closet last year)
DEEP CLEAN the house (wiping baseboards and cleaning blinds, etc)
upholster craft room reading chair
fix back gate
strip & repaint/seal the deck
create landing pad for trash bins outside
create walkway in front garden

What looms in the future:
painting the house (you're supposed to do that every 5-6 years, right?)
still thinking about that detached office out back
make downstairs office a guest room again

LET'S DO THIS!

Gunlocked

The chairs!!!  YAY!

little collections

After touching up the walls in the bedroom MONTHS ago, we finally got some artwork back up.  It is feeling complete again in the bedroom.  I made these teeny tiny little things:

Hannah gave me these lil' canvas babes in a craft box for my birthday in April.

Also in April, I got some fancy earrings.  I love them.  I do not wear them very often, as exercise and GIANT fancy earrings tend not to mix.   Most of my earrings are in a ceramic egg crate, and they are studs so it makes sense.  I did not want to store these like that... so I put them on the wall!  Then I was inspired to make a little collection of fancy lady things.

art deco in the house

Nothing says (old) lady more like cross-stitch amiright? And nothing says fancy like displaying your jewelry on the wall.  I love it.

To continue decorating the bedroom, I am going to take some neat-looking bottles and make a little collection with fake flowers- I can always swap in fresh ones when we have guests.

And speaking of little collections, I gathered these babies in Alabama last year around Thanksgiving.  We may have the opportunity to visit the gulf coast again this year and I can't wait to find more tiny whole shells.

the black one is the size of a dime

And finally, here is my collection of (mostly) living things by the window!  The guy on the far left was a wedding favor from Alex & Adam, and is still kicking after almost 2 years!

a little R & R

It has been over 2 years since I have taken this much time off from work all at one time.  A whole week!!  The Wintons and The Smiths spent a week at Ocean Isle Beach and it was just what the doctor ordered.  It was great to rest my body, and quiet my mind.  While at the beach, I did a tiny little cross-stitch:

Now I am back in Durham and I feel ready for action!

I have so many ideas and projects... in fact I whipped up a circle/cowl scarf yesterday in about 10 minutes.  Here is Pepper modeling it:

Coming soon:  backyard progress pics and Gunlocke chair pics

See & Hear

APRIL 21.  THIS SUNDAY.  NIGHTLIGHT.  5PM.

David has been working on this event, a visual arts + music gathering.  Three artists and three musicians.  He has been making display & lighting concepts and I cannot wait to see it all put together. I helped paint some display pieces, and the big wooden flag.

Come out on Sunday!  IT IS FREEEE!! 

it really ties the room together

A new rug for the living room!
We got FLOR tiles last year.  I liked planning a totally unique rug, but I was very disappointed to find out that the tile style & colors we ordered were discontinued six months later.  I was ready to buy more FLOR tiles to expand out rug, but that was no longer a possibility.   RugsUSA.com to the rescue!  We  got our black & white chevron kitchen rug there for a good deal, so I began looking again.  My friend Sabrina has had good luck there as well. I came across this puppy at 50% off, so why not go big?  Now I can't wait to see the Gunlocke chairs in the living room.

oh, hello

Well.  2013 was off to a rough start.  I am happy to report that things are looking up for March.  I have not had much time (or desire) for projects lately, so my spring to do list is still a to do list.

I repainted the upstairs bathroom and it looks great!  The hexagon wall is going to take much longer.  The unopened gallon of paint I had leftover did not match what I originally used.  So instead of just touching up a few spots, I have to redo the entire wall.  By hand.  Which is slow.  

Over the weekend, I played outside in Durham and helped these guys take some pictures:

They are launching their new website soon.  If you know of any brides-to-be in NC, let them know!  

We have a lot of family time planned for March.  In April, I will hit a pretty cool milestone, and David has an interesting side project event.  Here's hoping things keep moving on & up for spring!

small stuff

Homemade Peppermint Patties

These are SO GOOD.  I found the recipe here last month.  The smaller discs work better when trying to drench them in chocolate, but I couldn't resist making hearts and Mississippis.  I am definitely going to make these again!

Cross-Stitch Arrows

I have been wanting to make some more small artwork, and trying some quickly gratifying sewing projects.  Then I got my DIY magazine in the mail last week (thanks Hannah!!) and copied this arrow design.  Pepper helped me pick out the colors.

YAY Pins

It is no secret that I love what I do for a living.  I say "yay" entirely too much while I teach, and I wanted to share my enthusiasm with my class-takers.  I gave these YAY pins to the folks who took my TRX class this weekend.  

Today I started to touch up and redo the walls in the upstairs bathroom.  Hoping to get that completed before we get our roommate/buddy/house guest next Sunday!  

Project Projections

Welcome 2013!
Happy Birthday Lowell & Louise!

In 2012, we tackled some major house projects.  Scraping the popcorn from the great room ceiling, painting almost everything, and putting down hardwood floors.  We have no plans on stopping for this year!

Here are some things we want to get done in 2013:

1. (re)paint any rooms/walls that have not been touched (up)
2. refinish and reupholster our Gunlocke chairs (already in progress!!)
3. have the other chair reupholstered
4. build an outdoor office in the back yard!
5. landscape the front yard (including making a brick or stone pad for the trash and recycling bins, and a new front walkway)
6. make lighting for downstairs bathroom
7. host a dinner party (or two or three)

JJ wedding

Jim and Jen got married!  YAY!!
The weather was perfect, and the lighting when we got to the reception venue was amazing.  Can't wait to see more of Tim's pictures.

I made an envelope box for their gift table:

I made little bride and groom pins that the couple wore on rehearsal day:

And here is the garland!  I hung it along a 17 foot buffet area to camouflage a big burlap blank space.  I think it looked great!

My mom also bought a ton of string lights so they were able to hang strands between the balconies and create a lighted "ceiling" for the party area.  I don't have pictures of that because we were too busy DANCING!

the beautiful bride

time flies

How is it DECEMBER already??

My brother gets married in less than one week!  I have been working on a little bit of decoration for their reception (pics next week!) and I made them an envelope box.  I also whipped up a lined zipper pouch as a bridal gift for Jenny.

Look!  Pictures of garlands in action!  They look great and I love how everyone is using them a little bit differently.  You know you want some...

a tree in Charleston, SC

a living room in Durham, NC

with greenery in Chapel Hill, NC

Exciting new product coming for L&L in January.  We decided to get something fun as a Christmas gift to each other.  Can't wait to get to work!  More details on the L&L blog.

Also, coming this week: the Winton Annual Photoshopped Family Holiday Greeting!  It is going to be out of this world (yuk yuk yuk).  Check your emails, check the facebook.

I will have a few days off for Christmas and I am excited to relax in Gibsonville. I will help David get those drawer fronts out of Dad's workshop on on to his desk.  We are also going to check and see how manageable it will be for us to refinish those Gunlocke chairs.  Fingers crossed!

Laurissa's Project

My friend Laurissa and I set a date to get together and work on a project together.  So we met on Veteran's Day.  She wanted to make a fabric-covered headboard for her new place. We went to Scrap Exchange, JoAnn, and Lowe's (and Bean Traders) and spent that Sunday afternoon putting it together.  Check it out!

Laurissa made her own fabric-covered buttons, too!  She is on a DIY binge and has since mounted the headboard, and made four pillow covers for her couch cushions.

I picked up some fabric that day as well.  I couldn't leave JoAnn without finding something to buy.  I  made little quilted coasters.

David and I spent part of Thanksgiving week in Orange Beach, AL.  It was very relaxing trip... David said he stocked up on his zen for the year.  Now we are back in Durham and ready to get more L&L action going.  I have glittered-up some garland, so check the etsy shop soon for more decoration things.

Now it is time for MATTHEW to get here!!