she's done!

or should i say he. i think if this console table was a sex, it would defiantly be

male ; ) here's the before pictures.

and here's the AFTER.

after 4 coats of red, some sanding, some staining and varnishing it's finally finished. i really love the legs and the red...

i'm not quite sure how i feel about the doors being stained... i thought it would give the piece a retro vibe but now i'm seeing a country one...

what do you think? i'm hoping in my husbands office it has more of a contemporary feel to it. fingers crossed because i REALLY don't want to paint the doors.

p.s. still working on the quilt... did you get what you wanted to get done this weekend ladies?

quilting...

there's something about sending a quilt off to the quilters that makes me nervous...

i think it's because i'm sending off my creation to be interpreted by someone else. what if they don't see the same vision???

that's what happened the last time i got a quilt back from the quilters... it's just not the way i envisioned it. the pieced blocks bulge slightly and the stitching is off. there are two horizontal lines across the bottom of the blocks and none on the top. i hate to spend the money to have it professionally quilted, just to have to fix it. i think that's why it's taken me so long to get around to finishing this one.

my goal for the weekend is to finish the console table (if it wasn't -21 out i think i would have checked that one off the list already. i'm just having a hard time bringing myself to the garage to sand off the legs...) and finish up this quilt.

if i can check these off the list, i think i'll be feeling pretty good! WHAT'S on your TO DO list for the weekend?

" i'm painting the roses red"

well not exactly roses... this.

and it's coming along nicely.

i just can't seem to get that song out of my head while i paint.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERY ONE!!

she's got nice lines...

but she needs a little work.

this buffet cabinet has been kicking around my house for a while now. i originally found it at a garage sale, painted it black, never did finish it but it still ended up under my TV some how??? it never really worked well as a TV cabinet so i'm going to repurpose it.

we finished the reno at my husband office but it lacks furniture, so i thought, why not freshen this lady up and give her a NEW home! and because everything is grey lets add a punch of color. my husband's first chose was RED!

so RED it is. i'm going to paint it RED and stain the doors. i hope she turns out the way i picture her in my head... if not, i guess i'll just chalk it up as a BIG learning experience.

*** yes... i'm painting it in my front entry way. it just seemed like the best space. i hope no one knocks at the door ; )

UPDATE* i thought it would be fun to add pictures after each coat to see the progress.

buffet after the first coat.

UPDATE*

after second coat.

sister = bliss

my sister's blogging again!

she use to be owner of an on-line quilt shop that ended up being too much to handle. if you know my sister though, she can't stay still for long. and with a PILE of fabric sitting around it's hard not to be inspired by all of the beautiful fabrics!

so what do you do when life hands you lemons... you make lemonade!

and that just what she's doing! she's making the most FABULOUS American Girl doll clothes!

i don't think they get ANY cuter than this!!

the other thing you should know about my sister is that she can sew like the wind! i have never met anyone that can sew as fast and as accurate as her. i just talked to her about making American Girl doll clothes about 4 days ago and she already has a pile of skirts made. how is that even possible???

SHE'S AMAZING!!!

now go check out her blog!

how i got my baby to sleep through the night.

this post is for all of those moms that have babies that don't sleep through the night until they are over a year. (at least that is when my other children decided it was time to sleep through the night.) if i only knew then, what i know now, i would have been a little smarter about things.

my baby is now 8 months. (i know everyone says this but where did the time go... they grow SO fast) he hasn't slept through the night without being fed since he was born and i/he was starting to feel it. i NEEDED/HE needed some sleep. SO... here's what we did.

he had a night where he randomly slept through the night on his own. this made me realize that he indeed COULD sleep through the night. he didn't need to eat, i was feeding him enough during the day that he really shouldn't of needed anything at night. that and he started leaking out his diapers in the night because he REALLY was getting TOO MUCH. that was a sure sign for me.

so after we knew he could sleep, we let him cry for the next 2 nights. it was hard to listen to him. there's such an urge as a mother to go pick them up and console them. i never let him get too out of control though and when he did i rocked him.

the 3rd night came and i was able to use his soother to comfort him. he really didn't cry very much at all. he woke up 3-4 times a night for his soother for about a week. and then the night came when he slept the whole night... HEAVENLY! and he's been sleeping through the night ever since.

although there is something i miss about waking up with my baby, i think we are both happier during the day. and that makes me a better mother and him a better baby.

i'm not saying that this is the BEST way or the ONLY way to get your baby to sleep through the night. this is just what worked for us. and if it helps another family get some needed sleep, then this post was worth it!