Work In Progress Wednesday - One Down

One block down.....eleven to go!  Hooray for small victories. 

And in "Dollhouse World," I'm almost done putting siding on the dollhouse bakery.   And I've put up beadboard on the top floor of the little white dollhouse.  And in the words of Col. Sew Fab:  "We're about to break ground on the French Provincial Dollhouse Winery."  I love the way he said "break ground."  It makes it sound so official. 

And fortunately I've added no new projects to my list in the last week.  I just worked on projects that are already on the list.  It's a miracle!

Hugs,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Granny-ing Again

I am happy to announce that I now actually have something to sew!!!  All of the squares have been cut for my Going Coastal Granny Square quilt including 144 white squares (which I almost forgot about).  Now I'm just playing around with placement of squares and colors - I LOVE that part!

I'm thinking that I might put the Gray Sea Star fabric in the center of each block.  I like the way it picks up the gray in the edge of the fussy cut Bottle Caps and creates a bit of consistency throughout the whole quilt. And maybe I'll even do light gray sashing instead of white sashing....we'll see....

And as for the rest of my Works in Progress.....well....it's getting kind of scary!  Since I last did a Work In Progress Wednesday post I've started the Dollhouse bakery and I've started buying supplies for the French Provincial Dollhouse Winery - two HUGE projects.  I just can't seem to stop myself from starting new projects when an idea pops into my head!!!  Restraint and common sense are SOOOOO over-rated!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Here are this weeks stats.

Active WIPs:  5  - That number is up one since my last WIP!
-Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt
-Dollhouse Bakery
-Hooterville:  Top is pieced.  Owls just need French knot eyes.  Then it's time for quilting!
-Little White Dollhouse:  Lots of progress in dollhouse land.  I'm getting bleary eyed painting teeny, tiny doors, windows and mouldings.  
-Vintage Valentine:  I've started prepping freezer paper templates!
Must Make:  French Provincial Dollhouse Winery
Back Burner WIPs:  4
Ready To Go:  21 - That number is down ONE from last week because the Going Coastal Granny Square quilt was "promoted" to Active WIP!
Must Make:  10 - That number is unchanged from last week!
New Projects: 
Forgotten/Abandoned Projects:  Didn't find any last week - Yay!

 

How Did I Let This Happen?

I've let something unthinkable happen!  As of right now I have no applique quilts ready to sew.  I have no pieced quilts ready to sew.  I have no quilts ready for hand or machine quilting.  I have tons and tons and TONS of boxes full of fabric for different quilts I plan on making....but none of them are cut out and ready to sew.  The only projects that are ready for immediate sewing are torn up dog toys that need to be repaired. And that's just sad.  My little fingers are very sewing deprived right now!

So, I'm cutting out squares for a Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt as quickly as possible.  Well....as quickly as possible without wrecklessly almost cutting a finger off again.  Anyway.....I'm fussy cutting the Bottlecaps print (3" squares) and throwing in some of the other prints from the Going Coastal Collection and maybe some Shore Thing and a few solids too.  And after I have a bajillion squares cut out I'll just start playing around with them and see what happens!

I can't wait to see how this looks!  I'm cautiously optimistic that it's gonna be really cute!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  The Going Coastal and Shore Thing Collections are by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics

P.S. #2  The original Granny Square Quilt that I made used 2.5" squares.  I had to increase the size of the squares on this one to 3" because that size was perfect for fussy cutting the Bottlecaps prints.

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year!  So, it's that time of year when we're supposed to look back and reflect on the previous year and make all sorts of plans for the next year.  In a way it seems so silly because there's nothing inherently special or significant about the first day of January but for some reason I still really like the whole idea of starting a brand new chapter with a clean slate.

This past year has been.....well.....pretty unremarkable for me.  As I look back on the year there weren't any really BIG events in my life.  I finished a few projects.....I took care of a few sick pets.....I ran a lot.....I re-discovered my love of dollhouses.....I worked hard.....I staycationed hard.....I got a hot tub for my birthday.....but there were really no big, defining moments of 2012 for me.  It was the year where Col. Sew Fab was promoted to Colonel and he had his final flight in the F-15 and he started a new job so it was definitely a big year for him so I kind of had a BIG year by association, right?!  I guess 2012 was the year where I was just along for the ride!

But I'm making all sorts of big plans for 2013!  I'm taking about a week to figure out what my goals for the year are - quilts, dollhouses, business, home organization, exercise (half marathon in 2013?) and all of those big secret projects that got put on hold over the holidays.  And once I have all of my goals written out I think I'm going to hand the list over to Col. Sew Fab and let him work out the details and make a yearlong schedule for me and tell me how on earth I'm going to accomplish everything - LOL!  He's really good at that!

And if you're wondering......the photo is Col. Sew Fab.....on New Year's Eve.....holding lit fireworks with kitchen tongs and running around the backyard.   Fighter Pilots know how to celebrate and have a good time!

Hope you're having a great year so far and I'd love to hear what your plans/resolutions are for the year!

Hugs,
Jenny

Merry Christmas

Merry Late Christmas!  We've had a wonderfully lazy and indulgent holiday season.....sleeping late.....nibbling on prime rib and bacon and blue macaroni and cheese and rum cake and peanut butter truffles......sipping champagne.....watching movies....sitting in the hot tub....and just hanging out.  Perfection.

The kitties also had a wonderful Christmas and Daisy (who is doing amazing well!) fully dedicated herself to guarding all of the new toys and kitty treats.....

While Emma was dedicated to shredding every last piece of tissue paper that dared to cross her path....

And I attempted to learn how to use my new Christmas present from Col. Sew Fab.  Watch out Katniss 'cause here I come!

And of course I "surprised" John with our yearly matching Christmas pajama pants!  This year I had my heart set on using a pink fabric from the Alpine Wonderland collection but I was kind enough to make Col. Sew Fab's pants using a blue fabric from the same collection.  Even though I think he'd look fabulous in pink!  But I still don't think I'll be able to get a picture of him in the actual pants so this will have to do.....

And now I'm kind of looking forward to getting back to some post-holiday "normalcy"......even though I'll miss eating truffles with wild abandon at all hours of the day because for some reason chocolate seems to become an inappropriate breakfast food after December 31!

Hugs,
Jenny

P.S.  I used the Sew Easy Pajama Pants pattern for my pants and the Sleep Well pattern for Col. Sew Fab's pants.

The Most Patient Man In The World

Shhhh.....don't tell him I said this but Col. Sew Fab just might be the most patient man in the world.  Here's why I say that.....

Last weekend we did a bunch of work on the dollhouse bakery.  We actually took an old dollhouse room box that I never finished and decided to remodel it into the dream bakery.  So we spent the weekend refinishing wood dollhouse floors and sanding off a very bad and very old stucco job and priming and painting the walls.  Three times.  Yes we painted the walls of a dollhouse three times.

Dollhouse Before

I originally wanted them to be green.  Then I wasn't sure I liked the green with the wood floors.  So we painted them buttery yellow.  Then, I definitely didn't like that color and decided that my heart was set on green.  So we repainted the walls the exact same shade of green that we used the first time.  And then I was happy.  And let's face it.....even if I weren't happy with the third repainting, re-priming and re-sanding I'm smart enough to just keep my mouth shut!

Dollhouse After

But I truly love the color and I really love how it looks with the white furniture.

Next up.....PINK clapboard siding!  Yay!  And I have to finish the one, simple sewn Christmas gift that I'm making this year.  If you've been following the blog since last December I bet you can guess what it is!

Hugs,
Jenny

Just A Man and A Dollhouse

Just a picture of a man.....

Refinishing wood floors.....

In a dollhouse bakery Patisserie.....

Hugs,
Jenny 

The Living Room Quilt is DONE!

I never thought I'd say these words but the Living Room Quilt is finally DONE!!! It's a very simple quilt....just a bunch of squares and strips and simple rows.....

But due to my inability to disrupt happy pets sleeping on my quilt in progress it took me over a year to finish the thing.  Can you blame me?  Could you disrupt this snuggly, warm, fuzzy love fest???!!!

I couldn't have finished it without my loyal assistants.  Bailey helped me pin it.....

And Daisy helped me do the ties......

And Sammy guarded it while it was FULL of pins.....

And now we all have a nice, warm, fluffy, new quilt to snuggle with this winter....

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

I Need A Pintervention

While I spent the last six days on Staycation I realized something.....I am a Pinaholic. 

Here's what happened......Staycation started out innocently enough.  I did some sewing and watched some tv and did a lot of work on the dollhouse.  I painted and sanded and cut and glued teeny tiny little pieces until I was blissfully bleary eyed.  And I even mentally redecorated the dollhouse for the third time.  But I won't even go into detail about that yet because I'll probably mentally redecorate ten more times before the dollhouse is done!

And then I ordered tons of supplies for the new dollhouse bakery patisserie because of Col Sew Fab's offer that I couldn't refuse.  I even finished the giant living room quilt after sloooowwwly working on it for 1.5 years!  Yay!  More on the quilt tomorrow.  

Anyway.....I also spent some time browsing Pinterest to find more ideas for the bakery....and then things spiraled out of control.  I saw one pretty little picture of one pretty little French Provincial dollhouse shop and I fell head over heels in love.  I became obsessed with this darn dollhouse and spent TWO DAYS searching Pinterest and etsy and google images and blogs and online shops for all of the perfect little items for MY very own little French Provincial dollhouse shop/winery because I REALLY need a third dollhouse project!  I've drawn floor plans and picked colors and I have a huge etsy wish list full of all of the perfect furniture for the shop (I even found mini wine barrels!) and of course I have a Pinterest board dedicated to this (Miniatures - French Provincial Ideas).  

I've even named the little shop/winery!  I'm going to call it le Petit Lapin (the little rabbit).  I had originally planned on calling it The Black Rooster because I found some really cute French black rooster dollhouse accessories but then I realized that when you translated that into French it becomes le Coq Noir......and well......that just doesn't sound good if you know what I mean.  I almost spit out the wine I was drinking when that came up on Google Translate.  And if you don't know what I mean just think about it for a moment....it will come to you....

Where was I?  Oh yeah.....I need a Pintervention.  I CAN'T STOP planning new projects that are inspired by Pinterest.  I never seem to finish these projects.....but I'm great at planning them.  Maybe I should use this skill obsession for good and become a "Craft Project Consultant."  Wouldn't that be an awesome career?  I could meet with clients and help them plan their craft and sewing projects and pick their colors and find all of the supplies and build Pinterest boards for them while sipping some wine and then set them free to do all of the work.  I'd be great at it!

Cheers to my new career!

Hugs,
Jenny

Staycation vs Mancation

Well.....just a few more hours and then I'm officially on Staycation!  I haven't done one in soooo long and I can't wait.  It'll be 6 days of sleeping late, sitting around in my pajamas, sewing, crafting, baking, eating (the calories you eat on Staycation don't count!), watching tv, sipping wine and champagne and soaking in the hot tub.  Absolutely heavenly.

And while I'm on Staycation Col. Sew Fab is on a Mancation in Chile.  He'll have a week full of mountain biking, white water rafting and volcano climbing.  So he'll be enjoying his version of heaven too!

But you won't believe what happened before he left!  I had been talking babbling about how I want to make a dollhouse size bakery while he was packing for his trip and he said "let's build your dream dollhouse bakery together over Christmas break.  Just buy all the supplies while I'm gone."  Seriously!  I'm not kidding!  Yes - I realize that he's a keeper!!!  And I also realize that I already have a million craft and sewing projects going on.....more projects than I could finish in a decade.....but that was an offer I CAN'T REFUSE.  Soooo.....add online shopping to the list of things I'll be doing while on Staycation!  Yippee!

Hugs,
Jenny

P.S.  Take a peek at my Pinterest board called "Cupcake Shop Ideas" if you want to see what I'm planning for my dreamy, pink, heavenly little cupcake shop!

P.P.S.S.  If you're not on Pinterest just send me an e-mail or leave your e-mail in a comment and I'll send you an invitation to join.  They keep the spammers out by making it "invitation only."