"dad's shirts" a keepsake quilt

my husband likes himself a good plaid shirt. so over the years i have collected the ones that no longer are worn with this project in mind.

one of the shirts he wore when we were dating. the red plaid one he wore when we had our first 3 babies. they all remind me of different events in our life.i guess in a way it's a bit of a time line.
i also decided to add a shirt of his fathers and of his grandfathers. and because his grandfather has passed it was only fitting to leave his piece whole. you can see his shirt piece second in and one up from the bottom.
i really like the straight line quilting although it was a process to get finished. with minky on the back it's sure to get some good use and hopefully be a treasure for years to come!

office reno on a budget

a room opened up at my husbands office but before he could work in there we needed to give it some TLC. we added bead board, ripped out the baseboard heater, added baseboard and trim and of course a lot of paint.

here's the BEFORE

and the AFTER

what an improvement!! it needs some pictures and things to jazz it up a bit but i think we did pretty good.

i think this little man approves!

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!