Give peace a chance

I finally got some sewing done that had nothing to do with our new house, and it felt really good.

A new tote!

The fabric store had a yummy display of new corduroy, and I just couldn’t resist. Hello Autumn.

This will go in my Atomic Holiday Bazaar stockpile, because the big, bad craft fair will be here before I know it. I can’t wait, but I have a lot of work to do. A lot. I don’t want to think about it.

In the meantime, this tote is for sale in The Boutique here.

Guestroom after and…after

I’ve been working on decorating our guestroom, and while I would normally show a “before” photograph, the room was basically just a small white box. So picture an empty room with white walls, and you’ve pretty much got it.

Since the room was a blank canvas and all we had to go in there was the bed, that meant I got to start from scratch and do whatever I wanted in the there.

Our guestroom is small — about 9 feet by 10 feet — and the queen bed is about 5 feet by 7 feet, so we really only had room for the bed and side tables.

I love how this room turned out. It came together very organically, one piece at a time, each piece chosen based on the piece before. When I decided to paint the side tables that minty shade of green, I thought that red would be a good accent color. But when I tried it, the red was just too harsh for the room, so I decided to go with a soft peach instead.

We still need a few more things for the room, specifically lamps for the side tables. But I don’t want to rush it and buy something we don’t love, so the lamps will happen when they happen. 

I found the side tables at the Salvation Army and painted them “Cool Aloe.” I made the curtains and the throw pillows — the green and blue flowered fabric is Amy Butler. I’ve had the two small shelves for years. They were white, and we painted them with the leftover pale aqua paint from our dining room and guest bath. The white duvet cover is from Ikea.

Forgotten

I made a couple of bags for last year’s Atomic Holiday Bazaar (in December) that – I just realized this evening – I never took photos of or posted to The Boutique. I guess I just forgot. For seven months.

This is one of the bags, which I’ve listed here (edit: SOLD!). I love this bag! I can’t believe I forgot about it.

Lined in Alexander Henry.

Alex and I got the keys to our new house last night, and, after getting official approval from our landlord on our paint choices, immediately purchased paint, brushes, rollers, etc. We’re getting in there tomorrow to paint a couple of rooms.

We have two friends helping us, who we’ve bribed with pizza and beer (the traditional “help a friend move or paint” bribe), so it should go pretty quickly. I’m hoping to post before and after pictures once we’re settled and decorated.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Shimmer

Nola had a moment with a lizard today.

It’s all the way over to the right, perched on the edge of the deck. She’s eyeing it up, but she’s too fat and slow to ever catch it.

I finished a new market tote, which I’ve posted to The Boutique.

I usually work with bold, contrasting colors, and I wanted to try something more monochromatic and subtle (at least on the outside). 

I stacked three appliqued circles and finished each one off with a single stitch of shimmery gold thread.

I decided not to go subtle on the inside, mostly because I love how well red, black and white work together.

Check it out here.

New market tote

Bonjour my blogging friends! Although I’ve already packed up much of my fabric for our impending move, I was in the mood to sew the other night, and I realized I already had a market tote in pieces, just waiting to be sewn together. So I finished it up and posted it in The Boutique.

It’s my standard market tote design, but I used a thick cotton fabric instead of corduroy, which I think is more suitable for summer.

The applique design on the front of the tote is chocolate brown and white polka dots. The whole bag is lined in a gorgeous red and cream toile, which is yummy enough to eat and makes me want to decorate my entire house in it.

Oh, and a pocket! An internal pocket! I used to struggle with pockets, but now that I’ve figured it all out, I’m going to start including at least one in every bag.

The new bag is for sale here. (Edit: Sold!)