Fabric

I found 3 fabrics on ebay that I really like. I just bought one (the owls), and I don't even know what I'm going to do with it!!! Yikes.

Grandma's Quilts for Me

Some quilts my maternal grandma made for me. (The green one under the baby quilt was also by her). She made them all BY HAND! The pink one has squares with hand embroidery. She used these to teach me to embroider, but she did the vast majority of them. The mint Sunbonnet Sue is one I had on my childhood bed most of the time. The girl's dresses are made from scraps of old dresses she had made for me. The bright broken star was a HS graduation quilt.

Here's one my paternal grandma made:

Apron(s)

I posted earlier that I'd have to take my own pics of the apron I have from Anthropologie, of which I love the fabrics. So here it is:

Here is also a vintage apron that my mom picked up somewhere for Ella. It is too cute and I wouldn't dare "replace" it with a cute new one. It's so hard to find Raggedy Ann and Andy these days.

Love it

"Day of Love Necklace"

Leave it to me to find something I love while killing time (i.e. shopping) during Ella's dance class in downtown Libertyville.

http://www.brighton.com/

OK, the truly latest new find (as of this morning)

I still have a bit of money from my dance/baton teaching jobs, so I might pick up a little side table at Ten Thousand Villages. They don't have an example on their online store website, but here is the style of paint on the furniture:

http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

Latest New Find

Been busy this weekend with a wedding on a farm, in a barn. Don't ask. It was actually fun, just not very "wedding-y" and in a way, I guess that's a good thing. Being that it was really fun and casual. Then Sunday was preparing and having my son Miles' 2nd birthday party. He actually turns 2 on Wednesday just before midnight. So anyway, onto my latest find. I saw these cute necklaces (well one of them) in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine that my mom gave me.

www.jewelrybyjessica.com

Not sure which is my favorite. I tend to like the more neutral ones, but I think this type of necklace should be worn more for the color punch. Very fun.

I am a sucker for cute toys.

Some toys are so cute, I just cave. I got this adorable Jellycat pig for Ella this week. Does she really need it? Maybe?!

A Favorite Ebay Seller

This woman makes the prettiest pillows from the best vintage fabrics.

I have never bought anything from her, and most of it would not work with our decor (just too shabby chic). But I love it and I love keeping up with her new items. I have thought about maybe one of her denim totes when she uses more blue fabrics. Here are her items. She has some up right now, but there is usually some time between sets of items being offered.

http://myworld.ebay.com/madeintahoe/

Dreamy Clothes

I've been surfing www.anthropologie.com lately and here are some tops I'd love to have:

The only thing we've ever bought there was a half apron. Actually Jason bought it for me as a surprise. I still love it. I'll have to photograph it because it is no longer on their website.

My birthday is in July ;-) hint hint! ;-)

Another Blog and Artwork I Love

On the blog mentioned previously (http://treefalldesign.typepad.com/tree_fall/), there was an entry showing a room in this woman's house and it included some prints from an artist, plus a link to that artists blog.

Here is her blog:
http://www.kittygenius.com/kitty_genius/

Here is her art for sale:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=4187&section_id=5004627

I bought a print: Not even near any of the style in our house, but I'm determined to make it work. I have my eye on a couple of other prints of hers as well. She seems like a really neat person too, very upbeat, inspired and together. She likes to post about flea market finds, table setting, clothes etc... I really enjoy reading about it all.

Great Blog Find

I was recently directed to the blog: http://decor8.blogspot.com/ (among some other good ones) by an aquaintance. This blogger posted about some handmade items from a woman in England and her blog as well. I totally love it and can see it being an inspiration to get me sewing again. That is if I can find such beautiful fabrics!

her blog:
http://treefalldesign.typepad.com/tree_fall/

her items for sale:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7934

Shipping is free anywhere! Here is an example of her work, a child's apron and cooking set. Too adorable.

A Baby Quilt I Made Last August.

I made this quilt for the baby of my cousin once removed, Nathan. I hear they like it. It was a ton of work and I almost gave up at the free-motion quilting stage. I can't believe I finally pushed through, but I did it and I think it turned out quite cute. At the top I quilted "Oh what a Joy!"


Now my mom has this huge quilting machine/apparatus thing which she said I am welcome to use. I have been afraid to try it. I do have an unfinished quilt I started for Ella...

Guest Room Decorating

This room was really weird to decorate. At least we got it "back" when we had our basement done. Then the office part of the office/guest room moved down there and this room was entirely left to be a guest room. The hard thing was that I wanted to decorate it around this quilt that my grandma made for me as a HS graduation gift. Wow, the colors! you might exclaim. She did it ALL by HAND, and I really loved her too. :-) I also felt like I needed to have the decor be a little more "homemade-ish", or country-ish. Not really much what the rest of the house is decorated as. Add to that the fabulous Art Deco antique furniture that belonged to Jason's aunt. Here are some explanations for others pieces in the room.


The wall shelves were from a flea market in our town. We got them at half off because the weather took a turn for the worse and most of the customers left, so the vendors were feeling very gracious towards those of us who stayed. Some of the pictures are framed OLD postcards placed on decorative paper. The lamp on the dresser is one that I've had a while and love and hasn't really fit into any room. I'm not sure it fits here either?! Above the head of the bed are photos of cool flowers that I took at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The two on the ends are the same photo, just one is reversed. The "star" like quality of these flowers were meant to emphasize the quilt design (broken star). On the opposite wall is a piece of lace that I got from my mother in law. I was on the lookout for some lace to frame like this and this worked out quite well. The lace on the chest of drawers is from Galena, IL where we got married. I made the curtains from a sheer mottled fabric. I just wanted to go simple. The picture on that wall is a cross-stitch I'd done a while ago and just recently got framed. I'm still not entirely sure I made the right frame color decision. All of the other pieces were just kind of pulled together things I already had, plus photos of family and friends.

In All Fairness

After I found the great dresses (see below), I decided it was about time to get some portraits done. I went to the Nautica Outlet and found a cute little number for Miles. Here is the handsome little guy in his new duds.

Some Sort of Recent Garage Sale Finds

Several weeks ago I struck gold at one garage sale in particular.

First we have a beautiful Ralph Lauren dress for... $1

Then we have yet another name brand boutique dress for... $1 (and the guy threw in a Lilly Pulitzer sweater for free.

The real jackpot was this table and chair set. I've been looking for an "affordable" set for quite some time. I was quite pleased, and look how cute!

While I was there I noticed a very nice quilt and bed skirt, also for a great price. First of all, I didn't have the money for anything else on me. Secondly, I didn't know if it would match my daughter's room. After a couple of hours of thought, I decided to go to the bank and swing back by the garage sale to see if it was still there.

I'm so glad I got it! What a steal!

Just Me

I am starting a blog, here, to post things that make me happy or that I love. Things maybe people who read our family blog would not care about.

Some things I enjoy are:

dancing (mainly ballet)
art
home decorating
cute things (mostly toys - good thing I have kids)
sewing
flowers
garage sales / antiques / flea markets
books
kids clothes
MY KIDS!

I'm sure more will come up as I go along posting.