Random things

This is what I see sitting next to my Keurig coffee machine in the morning. It makes me happy :)


Just before Christmas, my husband painted our dining room. It went from this:


to this:


I like the after SO much better. The whole area is so much brighter and seems larger. For the record though, my favorite bright color is red. Once when I was watching Color Splash on HGTV, the host David Bromstad said to never paint a whole room your favorite color. It's too overpowering. Instead, use that color in your accents. I thought that was interesting coming from the host of a show called Color Splash!

I never got to show these Christmas stockings I made before Christmas. I had a whole bunch of Christmas decoration pictures to post, but never got around to joining any of the linky parties during the holidays. Hopefully I will this Christmas!
The stockings were sewn out of a painters drop cloth I got from Home Depot. I washed it a few times and used lots of fabric softener to soften the fabric. They turned out really nice, though they started out to be much simpler and shabby. I just had to add the decorative cuff though. It was the first Christmas in quite a while that we've had "real" stockings. I made a template for the stocking by tracing one of those red furry stockings you can buy at Walgreens for .99 cents. I loved sewing with the drop cloth, and plan to do several more projects with the leftovers.


Linking to Funky Junk Donna's SNS

What I've been up too

This. This is what's been occupying my time lately.I have to tell you I love it!!
I bought this for myself as an early Christmas present at the end of November. For the first week it sat on my table completely untouched. My husband asked me why I needed to buy it if it was going to sit on my table. The truth was, I was so intimidated by this piece of machinery!I was afraid to even turn it on. The sewing machine I had prior to this one was a small mini blue machine that I bought from Sears for about $50. I bought it solely for the purpose of sewing on cards and scrapbook layouts. I think I used it in that capacity for maybe a month or two. Then I never touched it again.
I can hardly be described as a seamstress. I call myself a "survival sewer". Everything I know was self taught. And that isn't a whole lot! I have never sewn a button hole or a zipper. But I can sew a pretty straight line if I have to! I can't follow a pattern to save my own life. I actually do pretty good sewing from my mind's eye. In the past I've sewn window treatments, a bed covering, embellished towels, etc. Lately I've been reading alot of sewing and quilting blogs. I have seriously been bitten by the quilting bug. I made a quilted rag purse a couple weeks ago. And I made a lap quilt for my youngest son for Christmas.







The lap quilt is FAR from perfect, but overall, it's not too bad for a first timer who was under a time crunch. My son loves his quilt and I enjoyed making it for him.My oldest son asked if I would make one for him too. I have so many other quilting projects I want to make. I am in deep I think! Now I just have to figure out how to afford 2 spendy hobbies at once!
Linking to Cindy at Cottage Instincts

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