Quilt Ladder Awesomeness

Wow. That's a lot of fabric cut up then sewn together in one corner of a room.

I finally got myself a quilt ladder! My quilts were all draped over sofas and stacked in a corner, and even though this isn't enough to hold all of them (the large bed quilts still live upstairs because the quilt ladder would probably crumble under their full weight), I much prefer this method of storage!

A few of my published quilts finally came home to me from Martingale last week, and I was so thrilled to get reacquainted! After a spin in the washer, of course hehe They've all been on an adventure, and as much as I'm glad that people got to see them, I'm so happy to have them in my home again :)

FYI, the top three and very last one are the published quilts. Lightning Strikes and Lanterns in the City are from Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe, and Vertigo and Floating Pyramid are from Modern Baby. The others are a couple of the lap quilts we use in our living room -- Scrappy Trip Around The World and a courthouse steps quilt I made with RJR solids.

As for the ladder, it's from here, but this size ladder (7ft tall) was only being offered for a limited time and they're no longer offering it.

And if there's another word about my unhung frames... I will... probably not do anything about them hehe! I've been a busy bee lately, and finding them permanent homes isn't high on my list at the moment. In the meantime, I've bought more prints. There's no hope for me...

Another Picture, Another Pillow

I need to stop poking around Pinterest. Serious time suckage.

This time, I saw this picture (4th one down) and decided I needed to make that pillow because it'd look pretty on my cornflower blue armchair.

Insert heart eyes :)

The solids are a mix of probably Kona, Moda Bella and RJR... I'd tell you the names but since I pulled them out of a scrap pile, chances are very slim. The black is Alexander Henry Heath, that I know! I threw that one in for something a little different, and I find solid black can be very severe in my house.

Oh and just in case you'd like to know how we're doing with the blasted snow...

That's what the sliding door to the back deck looks like. Great, huh?

And this is the window in the library.

There's more coming in a few days. We're just thrilled beyond words.

A New Pillow For A New Chair

We bought a little chair from Ikea to put in a nook in our living room, and I thought it needed a pillow. By the way, I say little chair because it is wee. And by wee, I mean it was probably made with me in mind. It's 26" tall. The hubs looks absolutely ridiculous sitting in it hehe 

Anyhow, I'd gotten some pillow inserts from Crate & Barrel when we moved in. More than a year and a half ago. Whoopsies. Cobbler's children and what have you :) For some inexplicable reason, a couple of the down pillow inserts I got were 12" x 18". I don't know why. They somehow found their way into my house. I have no control over myself at that damn store, so I have no answers for you.

Some time last week, while wasting some time on Pinterest, I came across this picture of what I'm assuming is street art. The blog the picture is on calls them trees but I thought they were mountains hehe Whatever it is, I liked it enough to want to make it into a pillow!

I pulled out some scraps and did a mock-up, then pulled out some solids and sketch fabric, and set to work. And it's really the only thing to do when you look out the window and you see THIS...

Plus the hubs had taken my car to work so I was kind of stuck at home. I don't know why, but I don't fancy driving his car... Like wearing someone else's shoes...

I think it turned out pretty cute, don't you? I do realise this close up that I forgot to clip a few threads, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

I didn't quite know how to quilt this at first, so I decided simple was best. I stitched in the ditch around the trees / mountains, and skinny horizontal lines that got bigger as they went up. I put a hot pink dot on the back, which somehow got hidden in every damn photo I took! Just take my word for it that it's awesome :) Hee!

This is the little area on the right of the fireplace. There's an identical odd space on the left. I've got a quilt ladder coming in a couple of weeks that'll go in the corner to sort of finish it off and give me some storage solutions for all the quilts! The leaning frames will hopefully find homes on the walls... My sister asked me if I'm doing that cool leaning-the-frames-against-the-wall decor thing. No, it's just good, old-fashioned procrastination and laziness. They've been there for longer than I care to admit... I went on quite a print buying spree, then realised I don't know where to put them all and forced myself to stop!

And the chair (it's called Gagnet, if you're so inclined) is really quite adorable. It's a bit strange yet cute, so I had to have it. I'd seen it online and decided to go have a look at it in the store. We were slightly disappointed that it was so small but both of us fell in love with it and couldn't leave without it. It was super simple to put together (basically two screws)... Truth be told, it took far longer to remove the packaging!

You might be seeing more pillows because in addition to the second 12" x 18" pillow insert, I have four 16" x 16" ones. No reason. I just have them. Pretty sure there's a 20" x 20" one upstairs somewhere. Crate & Barrel is truly dangerous... and it's just down the street. Eek.

Orchids

I don't normally have plants in the house, mostly because when I do, it's a short countdown to their demise. I don't know what it is... I think I just forget they exist and don't water them. My petunias and marigolds outside are pretty much dust at this point. Oops.

But I was gifted an orchid plant a few weeks ago (clearly this person doesn't know me well!) and so far, it's alive! I only have to water it once a week, and I almost forgot this past weekend, but thankfully the hubs reminded me. I've since made a little note in my phone to remind me weekly. Ahem.

I really, really want to keep this alive because it's the national flower of Singapore, and every time I see it, I think of home. They mostly remind me of my maternal grandpa and paternal grandma because they both used to grow them. Although I believe my grandma still grows them in her garden.

Also, question... those clippy things... is there no alternative? They're not particularly pretty hehe

While we're in the dining room, we hung some plates. Because apparently we're those people now lol I had an Anthropologie gift card from Christmas that I hadn't used, and saw a few plates that caught my eye, so I thought why not!

That's what the buffet looks like... I reckon it needs a runner, don't you? :)

Artsy, With A Bit of Fartsy

Some randomness from around the house...

I saw all this neon yarn and had to have it... I was sitting on the floor in the living room playing with them and trying to be crafty. The hubs found me there and I'm pretty sure he's reevaluating his decision to make me his life partner now. Can't say that I blame the guy.

I made this. It's... Yup. I've no words. I blame Pinterest. It looks like a 5-year-old made it. No offence to 5-year-olds out there. I trimmed it at an angle and my bin looks like I gave a muppet a haircut.

I kind of want to buy a tapestry loom now and make some proper wall art that doesn't make me feel like it needs qualification for why it's even being displayed. Really wishing I was visiting home right now so I could attend this class. That's stupid... I'm sure there's classes near me. But come on! It's in Singapore! I wonder if my sister would go in my stead... She'd probably tell me to stick the entire loom in my... Oops, this took a wrong turn...

Framed art still leaned up against the wall in the living room. It's going on the walls of our bedroom and dining room but I haven't had the chance to do it quite yet.

Some of the frames we put up along the stairs. This was earlier in the week...

This is today. I can't leave things alone.... Clearly. I just thought it started way too high so I lowered the beginning frame. It looks a bit wonky right now but I've got something else going to the right of the picture of The Beast, above the Lisa Congdon print. Waiting on the handmade frame to arrive! :)

By the way, the hubs still hasn't a clue that I added another frame lol 

And the view when you're coming down the stairs.

If anyone's wondering, most of our prints are from Etsy and Society6. The latter is a bit of a mixed bag sometimes. The quality of the prints are good, but the condition in which your prints arrive is anyone's guess. The last parcel had one print with all its edges completely rippled even though it was in a tube. The parcel before that was slightly bent. And the one before that had a print missing. They replaced it, but it's just slightly irritating to have to wait almost two weeks for your prints only to have them arrive in questionable condition or not at all. I've got one more order coming and after that I think that might be it for a while or for good. We'll see.

Oh, and this has nothing to do with anything but my lovely long-armer friend Laura gave me some yummies from her garden the other day when she came to visit! Thanks Laura! :)

Randomness: The Verbal Diarrhea Edition

- Aren't these gladiolus in my front yard just ridiculously gorgeous? Things keep popping up in our yard that we have no idea are there... I continue to be amazed one year on! Good job, Nature! And the previous owners...

- The summer weather has been weird. Sometimes steaming hot and muggy, sometimes cool-ish but somewhat humid, and sometimes it's just so bloody hot you pray for sweet, sweet death. And no matter the weather, all I want to do is eat ice-cream or froyo. Which I've done a great job of not doing despite my reputation for having no self-control. But the struggle is real.

- Recent things I've shouted to the hubs from the shower include, "That wasn't me! It was the conditioner bottle!". Classy.

- I'm trying to figure out what to do with the Cotton + Steel fabrics because I need it in my house! On my bed, on my sofa, EVERYWHERE. Too damn good.

- But I did make one as a sample for work... pictures to come!

- 25 Husbands who must be stopped... They require patience and a sense of humour, don't they?

- We had something living in our backyard, and we think it's gone now. The hubs found parts of a bunny, and most of a bird, and then spotted the culprit one morning. He initially thought it was a fox (because he failed science apparently) but upon looking at pictures, I determined it to be a damn fisher cat. In other news, I'm never going outside again. I'll keep an eye on the baby bunnies and chipmunks from the safety of my house.

- I feel awful for these 11 doggies who ate bees (and I hope they're alright!) but I couldn't help but laugh hehe!

- I now have a blog post with 'diarrhea' in the title. I win everything.

It Only Took A Year

We got art on the wall, ya'll! It only took an entire year! Yay! High five!

I don't know why we kept putting it off... I think after we moved in, we kind of couldn't be stuffed anymore and eventually forgot about the decorating part. So that's the wall in our living room... a bit of love for NYC / Brooklyn, Lisa Congdon, The Black Apple, Marc Johns, a hilarious Batman / Joy Division (Ian Curtis) mash-up, and one my sis gave me that I've absolutely no clue who it's by. She also gave me the Marc Johns one because that's what our tattoos are based on :)

I've thrown a quilt over the sofa because it is cooler than sitting on microsuede in the summer. Gah is it September yet?! Although, mercifully, the weather has been lovely the last few days!

It also took an entire year to finally change out the hideous light fixture in the dining room. And only because the stupid rotary dimmer decided to get stuck in the on position. It was original to the house, so we've now had it changed out and join modern times, so we thought we'd get the light fixture swopped out at the same time. 

By the way, if I'm being honest, it took about nine months for us to decide on dining chairs. We finally used the dining table for its intended purpose this week. I have no excuse. Moving on...

This one's in our bedroom, taken on the day we actually got married. 11am on a Wednesday in his parents' living room. Romantic.

This print is also in our bedroom :) I'm very aware of the grammatical horror of this print, but I really don't care. It's awesome and I like it. And now we get to stare at it from our bed for... like... ever. 

The library overfloweth. We need another shelf ALREADY. It's a sickness. This is the view the hubs has from his desk. I think it's a pretty lovely view, especially when I appear in the hallway, inexplicably dancing or making faces.

I don't know if you can see it, but there's an orange book on the top left corner, on the shelf. We went to a rare and used bookshop and the hubs found this phone directory from 1961 that had his grandparents' contact info marked. What are the odds?! So of course he had to come home with it hehe 

And yes, those are my Mr Potato Heads on top of the shelf. Spud Trooper, Darth Tater, Artoo Potatoo and Opti-Mash Prime. Oh, and Lenore, Mr Gosh and Ragamuffin. I'm classy, what can I say?

The 'Get Our Art On The Walls Already!' project started last weekend when we dragged everything we had up from the basement. I even found some prints I'd ordered and had never framed, so we took a trip to the shop to get some frames. The hubs has decided that he detests frame shopping more than anything in the history of the world. Wah wah. 

There are some prints that still need to go on the wall but I can't decide where they should go, and if I still like the frames. I've got a couple of cross-stitch pieces I did (American Pastoral and Starry, Starry Night) and I honestly don't know where to put them. So rather than slap things on the wall just to get it done, I'm going to place them here in the corner of the living room while I walk around with the frames to see what rooms / hallways I like them in. I might need psychiatric help fairly soon.

And that mirror... well... here's the thing. If I hang it, the hubs can only see his chest. If the hubs hangs it, I'll see maybe three hairs from the top of my head (humidity and frizz... what a bastard). I'm thinking perhaps it should go on the wall along the stairs so I can stand on the stair and use it while the hubs can use binoculars and use it in the hallway. The trials and tribulations of being 14" shorter than your husband...

And just to prove that I sometimes go outside, here are some things my front yard grew! This is some purple stuff!

And this is some white stuff!

The white stuff attracts many fat bumble bees!

There's also tiger lilies (I mean orange stuff!) but one of the bees looked like it was trying to plot my demise, so I decided to retreat.

OH! And there are more itty bitty baby birds! Man, they're ugly right now.

I Planted Stuff

I planted stuff. Yup, I'll wait here while you buy your lottery tickets.

The other night at 8pm, it started to drizzle rain and I thought that would be the perfect time to go plant my flowers. I've now cemented my standing as the neighbourhood crazy person.

I've never grown petunias so tada! Petunias! I'll be honest... These puppies came home with me because of their colour. They're called lemon zest yellow or something like that. A lady at the nursery stopped me to tell me that she loved the colour. I told her my house was white and I had black shutters, and my porch was greyish, so yellow flowers would be great. She looked at me strangely, smiled nervously and shuffled away.

Anyway, the petunias were my choice because everything else was the wrong colour or needed full sun, and since these guys would be hanging out on the front porch where the sunshine is spotty, I needed something that'd be okay with partial. I just said a lot of things that've sent my mum and sisters into a coma.

Oh, I got marigolds too! They look weird and sad now because they're itty bitty but hopefully they'll fill out and be all sorts of lovely soon :)

See that tiny hole in the tree? That's where the nest is. The birdies were all chirping and bopping around... until I opened the front door and they all immediately froze like we were playing musical chairs.

I did my best with taking a picture of the baby birds but I'm too short to have a clear shot, and I don't want to get any closer because I really like not having my eyes pecked out of my head. See the bird eyeing me already??? He's all STAND BACK, WOMAN, and I intend to.

Fairly certain this isn't from the momma bird because it's about the same size as her babies, but it looked kind of pretty just sitting all by itself on my porch :)

Some of the irises we had pop up... there's white ones too but they've since gone a bit sad and droopy because I honestly hadn't realised we had irises at all till the other day hehe!

And this is one of a few bunnies who dwell in our yard. This one likes to come nice and close, and almost got run over when I was leaving my driveway the other day. Oh I see you giving me stink eye, my friend, but you don't want to argue with my tyres, capisce?

What have you guys planted in your gardens?

Garden Blooms

I took a few pictures around the front yard of the blooming Rhododendrons (I think that's what these are, yes?) the other day, before all this rain started to fall. The yard is just awash in pink because it's everywhere, and I love it! 

These and the birch trees just make me so happy :)

Look! Tulips!

Another hyacinth! I didn't see this one till it was starting to fade because it's on the other side of the front yard, and I can barely see it amongst all the daffodils.

Speaking of daffodils... sigh :)

Driving up to or past the house always brings a smile to my face.

I'm not much of a gardening type, but I'm always amazed at how plants just pop back up after a long, difficult winter to greet you with cheeriness. Can't wait to see what else we have in store!

Spring Has Sprung

One of my biggest thrills about a new house is finding out what's in store for us when Spring comes around. These flowers just popped up and every time I drive home, there's more yellowy gorgeousness greeting me. There's more on the other side of the front of the house, and it's all looking so beautiful :)

I didn't even see the hyacinth until I went to take pictures! That's how much I go walking outside lol! I LOVE them!! I hope there's more hyacinth to come because they smell so lovely.

Also, I can't say / think of hyacinth without thinking of the show Keeping Up Appearances. Anyone? Anyone?

Pretty, pretty, pretty :) What's blooming in your garden?