wise craft

a winter day

 

Yesterday was one of those days we intended to get out. Really, we did.

But its hard to get up out of a chair when you're so comfy, and your cards are being handed to you..

And, there is that dress pattern to cut out (Amy has been coaching me, and when it comes to this area, Amy says jump and I say how high?)

It is cold here. 20 degrees. The kids have been on break all week, but likely would have missed some school with all this snow, hail, and ice.

Better to stay inside.

There are books to catch up on...soup and bread to make...and Ian doesn't want me to forget the brownies...movies to watch...maybe some crochet?

Hope you have a weekend full of family and contented catch-up on life!

xo,

Blair

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(Some days I think I'm better than at keeping on top of emails when I'm busy, rather than days like these. If I owe you an email, you'll hear from me soon.)

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Daintytime Quilts

The Radio Dept. Heaven's On Fire

 

as snowflakes fall outside...

I am thinking of our upcoming trip to Florida.

I'm *so* ready for some warm sun!

I have fallen hard for this dress at Lilly Pulitzer, but can't justify the price tag. I'm thinking of making it. I'd love to make my own version... to wear as a dress in Florida and a tunic back in Seattle (you know, the land of "corduroy until end of June").

Wish me luck.

I hate sewing clothes.

Why is that?

Maybe in the meantime, I'll bedazzle a pair of elegantly shaped (but cheap) sunglasses with some of those swarovski crystals I love so much. Give myself time to work up the courage to tackle this. Those would be perfect in Florida, yes?

 

inspiration for florals around the house

source: Flickr

source: LivingEtc

source: Design Sponge

Maybe I'm thinking a lot about Spring, but I am really drawn to large pieces in floral patterns these days. Its so incredibly impractical for the way we decorate here at the wise craft house (we used to have a a blue and white toile sofa that I loved for about a week, then started to feel a little chained to and hemmed in by).

Maybe some floral pillows are in order.

Take some inspiration from Rachel's bedroom redo, I love her mix of patterns and colors.

How's your Tuesday??

a little luxe coverlet how-to

Here is a project I've been wanting to do for a long time. Since first seeing and falling in love with the original version at my friend Sam's home.

A really simple faux fur throw (absolutely no patchwork in this project).

One of the reasons I haven't already made is because I do not like 95% of the faux fur I see for sale. So much of it feels gnarly and looks costumey, not so appealing for this type of project. The fur that Sam used is perfect for a project like this, but there was none like it to be found in my search.

Until Ian and I happened upon this faux chinchilla last week. We decided it was a good color and nice soft hand (super soft, in fact). I have always imagined the back to be flannel, creating an ultra warm and lux-feeling blanket (plus it was quite cold the day I purchased these). I chose a really nice quality gray flannel (but I'd love to see a version with a really bright color or surprising print on the underside!).

Keep in mind, this project is pretty much halfway the minute you've purchased the fur and backing fabric. It really is that easy (although if you wanted to make this ultra warm, you could add another layer of flannel fabric between the front and back layers...but I don't think it would be necessary to go as far as adding batting).

Luxe Faux Chinchilla Coverlet

Materials:

Faux fur of your choice, 60" wide, 2 yds. (mine was $18/yd)

Cotton Flannel for backing, 44" wide, 3 yards. (Trim the selvedges off on each side of the width)

Thread to match fur

Scissors

Rotary Cutter and cutting mat are a bonus to have

Pins

Disappearing marker

To Make:

1. Straighten the cut edges of the faux fur before starting, if necessary. You will need to piece the flannel together to make it the size of the piece of fur. (I have a sketch illustrating the piecing I will upload as soon as my scanner is working again.) Press all seams to one side, flat.

2. Once both sides are the same size, lay them out on the floor to smooth them out completely, right sides together, fur on floor and flannel on top. Pin well along 3 of the 4 sides, careful to keep all layers smoothed out. (At this point you can leave the 4th side unpinned for now.)

3. Stitch around the 3 sides you pinned, backstitching at the beginning and end. Clip the bulk at the corners, then turn entire coverlet right sides out, pushing out corners fully.

4. Now you're ready to close up the 4th side. With the coverlet laid out flat and smooth (easiest if flannel side is the top layer), turn the edges of the fur and the flannel inside the coverlet a generous 1/4" and pin well.

5. Topstitch all around each of the 4 sides, staying close to the edge. As you stitch over that 4th side, it will catch those edges you turned under. Backstitch at the beginning and end.

6. In order to keep the layers together, I added 6 small bartacks even spaced over the body of the quilt. Use a ruler and a disappearing marker to mark on the flannel side. Stitch small bartacks on the marked areas, through all layers. (I can't even see these on the fur side.)

I love the texture that it adds to our front room, the kids are fighting over it, Peter napped with it this afternoon, and Gracie wants to marry it. My work is done...

sy: love for textiles

Yes, I am talking Ikea again (I promise there's an end to all this Ikea prattling, but there are really doing a lot right for me these days).

Several trips ago, I found this book for sale in their fabric section and I picked it up ($10.00 for a hardback, 179 page book felt like a deal compared to some design books I've seen recently). It features many of their fabrics, but there's some lovely new ideas in this book to get us thinking about fabric and textiles in all sorts of ways.

 

Fabric covered wooden pantry shelves...fabric covered walls...a "coffee table" made with a table top on 2 stacks of magazines...simple, and so pretty.

 

Thought these fabric wrapped table tops and legs were pretty. (Would be fun to do with laminates.)

 

 

Look, a gypsy caravan! I love the strips of fabric at the doorway.

 

I have looked through this book many times since I bought it. There are many no-sew or low-sew projects throughout, and the photography is very inspiring.

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Are you guys good? It's another busy week for me, but not drudgery. Just busy. I am working on several projects and DIY's that I plan to share with you soon. There's even Story Trading DIY office decor from Peter.

On the Ipod today, Say Hi's november was white, december was grey

he's forcing me to hide the craft books

Ian is completely obsessed with the idea of making his own stuffed animals.

Actually, he's obsessed with the idea that his mother can make stuffed animals.

He pours over all my craft books each night before bed to get ideas.

I pointed out to him that the very same whale that is sitting on his bed is pictured in the book Plush You.

You know what he said?

"Wow!?"

No.

"Mom, you're awesome!?"

No.

He said,

"Wow, you are in the same book that Lizette Greco is in! Cool!"

(Actually, I find all this pretty freakin cute, but I'm still hiding all the books. He's put in plenty stuffy orders to keep me busy for a while.)

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Thanks for all the good wishes on my new studio space!

the new studio space

Happy Valentine's Day!

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As of this past weekend, most of Story Trading's necessities have been moved into Peter's new office space (pictures coming soon!). I am so proud of him, and of the new space he's created.

However, you realize what this means, right?

I get a new space too!

For the past 4 years I have used a spare bedroom on the main floor of our house as my crafting and sewing studio. For the most part, it has worked out really well. The biggest bonus was being on the main floor of the house. My kids were young and needed me often throughout the day. I could slip in and slip out of the studio, all the while being near to them.

But the timing is perfect for me to move my space down to the basement. There will be lots of room for me to spread out. I won't have to worry about the kids running into a hot iron. I will have space for Emma to craft and create with me (my current space is very tight for more than one person). There is a lot of bonuses to moving downstairs.

As you can see, the space is still very much in transition. Once everything is moved out (to be clear, nothing you see in that photo above is mine), the floor and walls will get a fresh coat of white paint. From there, I will plan out the rest of what will go in there carefully. I've been anticipating this move for a while, so I've been clearing out my fabric hoard stash, and finally getting rid of craft supplies I've hung onto forever, finally realizing that I'll never use them. There is limited natural light that comes through the 3 windows that I hope to compensate with special light bulbs. I have been looking at some of my favorite basement spaces for inspiration.

hearts

I survived our busy week without any real trauma, and for that, I give hearts out to everyone.

If I have some time this weekend I would like to make one of these for everyone in the house.

I would order myself this print. Wait! I have to order myself this print.

I would hunt for pennies under the sofa cushions in hopes of gathering enough to buy this.

Maybe we'll hunt and gather some stones and make these.

Valentines, rethought. A-dorable!

Ian is really not much into Valentine's day itself (although the school party is always fun), but will oblige me with some cardmaking. Emma's class drew names, so she has been busy this week leaving tiny treats and notes in her Valentine's mailbox.

Me? I think something chocolate and heart-shaped is in order. And I've finished my heart garland. How where to hang it?

What about you?

going vertical

(I hope I didn't freak out the snowbound/housebound out there with my little budding hellebores from yesterday. I was quickly reminded that some of you are looking at several feet (several!) of snow outside your door! Considering how little snow we've had in the northwest this winter, it's all quite a contrast.)

A few weeks ago I decided that everything in our living room was too low and horizontal. This realization would not be considered a problem for everyone, but for me it was quite the situation. One that I started thinking about every time I walked through that room. But I wasn't sure what to do, it had to be a low-to-no-cost solution (how could I justify an expensive, vertical piece of furniture just because?) I remembered seeing an idea in Lotta Jansdotter's book Handmade Living that I thought was so simple and yet so perfect for just the right spot.

This space with the shelves in the photo above is described in the book as "an awkward space that is challenging to utilize".

And I thought, "Hey, I've got one of those!"

And it happened to be our the vertically-challenged living room. Here's it is-

Well, the stars began to align... I purchased about $15 worth of light wood shelving and shelf brackets from IKEA and Peter graciously hung them for me. Here's the same area of the room now-

I hesitate to show these to you only because I am not happy with the arrangement of things on them yet. I don't know if they're the right things. I've just pulled from here and there around the house with the thought that I will let the arrangement of things happen organically. It'll get there eventually.

Here's my coveted collection of Diana's gorgeous cups (which I do occasionally use, I swear!), my thrifted s & p shakers...

 

My most-used cookbooks, and a little thrifted cup that makes me smile.

I love that these shelves camouflage our alarm system control panel and the light switches. The challenge will be that what's kept on them feels neat. I am kind of a stickler for having the "public side" of the house neat and tidy, even if the "private side" isn't, and this faces the front windows. Which flies in the face of my tendency to stack and stack and stack.

P.S.- And have I ever shown you that portrait Emma did of Gracie on the facing wall? Its one of my favorite things in our entire house. There was nothing but pure feline love in those brushstrokes. Matter of fact, that whole wall is a love letter to Gracie.

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Cynthia of FabricWorm, one of my sponsors here, has a beautiful 5 points quilt tutorial on the FabricWorm blog right now, here's part one and part two. This quilt feels like spring to me (or, maybe it feels like snow), but whatever it is, I love it!

Rachel of the lovely blog Smile and Wave is leading an e-course called Modern Patchwork. I have seen the contents and projects of this course and I can tell you if you're looking for some really lovely inspiration to get sewing and make some amazing projects, this course is for you. You can find all the info here.

xo,

B

 

i love them the most

When we moved into this house 8 years ago, I was a big gardener. Year later, I still am, but its mostly in my brain these days. We were busy with small kids, inside things needed tending, then Peter started his own company, which often made long days even longer. The garden fell by the wayside in the biggest way.

But around this time every year, it makes me so happy when I realize that my favorite flowers, our hellebores, are once again making their yearly push through all the yard debris to stand up tall.  They remind me that Spring is coming soon.

I dearly love these flowers, every color, every variety, every size. I think its because they are such early, strong bloomers in our yard.

What about you? Is something peeking up in your yard?

I'm hearing 2 ft of snow surrounding friends right now in other parts!!! Guess no peeks yet right? Good grief!!!