Kitchen Cleansing

July 22, 2010

Kitchen Cleansing

Have you ever cleaned and rearranged an entire room because of one new piece?
That's what I did today.
Now my new sewing chest has a fresh and clean home.






My kitchen is also my sewing space so I am always on the look out for clever and pretty storage.
Now all my sewing notions are in one place instead of all over the place.

I made a shelf for the top of my hutch with wood from my garage.
Until today I used books to raise the stuff I put on top of it.



It was so fast and simple to do.
It really uncluttered the top of the hutch.
I should have done it forever ago.

(The new sewing chest is going on top of the hutch and I should have a photo of that now but it's later).

Oh yes, my cleaning story.

I try to rotate my dishes once in awhile.

I have collected so many over the years and I want to be able to see and use them.

(I didn't plan to do this today but I had to make room for the sewing chest.)

I have to deconstruct to construct.

Which translates to a big pulled apart mess.

It drives Chris crazy but he doesn't have to help me clean so he doesn't say anything, anymore.

It was a fun afternoon playing with my dishes and freshening the cabinets and hutches.

Just a few of my favorite dishes.

The more crazed the plate is the better.

I love the beautiful faded colors of this scene.

I love ironstone.

It was inexpensive and easy to find when I started collecting 15 years ago.

My dish collecting has slowed down over the years.

I have edited my colors to white, cream, pink, red and light blue and I don't buy a piece unless I love it and it has a home.

This makes moving everything around really easy.

Everything goes well with everything.

I add little surprises, like a little plate hung in the back of the cabinet, to keep it from looking to matchy and boring.

Can you tell by the fading light that it took me all day to clean and rearrange my kitchen?

(And the whole family's patience).

The cleaning supplies just coincidentally conform to the color code.

I was hesitant to use one of my brand new linen baskets under the sink to hold sponges and sos pads, but I made them to use as I would a wicker basket.

It's a nice surprise under the sink and it's washable!

I whipped up two pink baskets Tuesday.

The pink linen is too fancy to go under the sink.

I'm sure I can find somewhere to use them.

A Monday Full Of Happiness

July 19, 2010

A Monday Full Of Happiness

Freya was up, dressed and ready to ride her bike at 7 am this morning.
Usually the kids and I sleep until 9 am.
(Indulgent, I know).



Freya is a whiz on her bike.

Last week she showed off her 'ride with one hand' trick.
Today her new trick is 'ride with no legs'.

Now she is working on 'ride with no hands'.

I love seeing my handy work on the line and knowing that the clothes I make are worn and loved.

Even if the clothes are mostly cozy pants.

I may have mentioned before that I'm a bit obsessive when I find a project that I like.

I worked on these linen baskets today and yesterday.

They are so darn fast and fun to make.

I found the purple floral linen tablecloth at an antique store close by.

I made a special trip out Saturday to look for linen and ended up at the antique store.

It was a great find!

I really like how the table cloth baskets turned out so I made a quick stop at another local antique store this morning and found this amazing hand made mini chest.

It's the most perfect aqua blue.

I haven't found anything this wonderful in a while.

I already have a place and purpose in mind for it.

The best thing about my perfect little mini chest is that it cost $15.

I can wait to organize my sewing stuff in it.

I have so many odds and ends floating around my kitchen

Oh, and I found a lovely pink linen table cloth.

I hope to have the pink baskets ready to share tomorrow.

I think Mondays are great!

Giveaway Winner

July 18 2010

Giveaway Winner

Forgive me for not posting the winner this morning.
The morning pasted so quickly and suddenly it was past noon.

Before I announce the winner I wanted to share these photos of a ginormous stag beetle we saw last night.

We all came outside to admire it.

Congratulation Kendra from byhandathome.com.

Kendre please e-mail me your address to oliver_freya@yahoo.com

Thank you everyone who left a comment.

I love meeting new bloggers and linking to your blogs!

There are so many talented, creative and strong women in blogland.

Cheers to a new week!

Random Sewing And A Giveaway

July 13, 2010

Random Sewing And A Giveaway

Recently I came across a stash of paper doilies.
(Really I was just cleaning up in the basement and found them)!
I've been trying to think of cool ways to use them.
It's not rocket science but I think they dressed up this parcel.

I haven't been sewing anything big lately.

I keep putting off sewing Freya's school clothes choosing instead to sew little tiny labels.

I want to share one of my favorite things I have ever sewn.

This is the first quilt I hand made and quilted.

It's a pattern of my own design called Baby Grandma.

I loved making this quilt.

It's about eight years old and beginning to wear.

When I finished this quilt I took it to the quilt store to show it off and the ladies asked me where I was going to hang it.

When I told them I wasn't going to hang it that I was going to use it, they thought I was crazy.

The hexagons were paper pieced then appliqued onto the linen.

The border is a hodge podge of different widths of fabric strips.

I quilted it with my own design I call Swirls Around.

From quilts to PORNO.

This sign was at the end of my street.

I had to drive back home and get my camera.


And after all that .... a giveaway!

If you would like to have this awesome, awesome book, please leave a comment.

Oliver and Freya will announce a winner Sunday morning.

P.S. If you have ideas for doilies let me know!