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dense

The thing one quickly realizes when trying to cover a wall with doll quilts, even a small wall, is that you need a certain density or it doesn’t work. To that end this week produced a few more additions for the wall. They’re all pretty much quicky specials — three of them I made yesterday.

Pinky here is made from thrift store linens. I ran out of batting so it has just flannel inside and I did a pillowcase binding and a stippling quilt pattern.

Here’s a little fussy cut number from some folky vintage fabric and orange gingham. I made this one earlier this week and hand quilted it and hand sewed the binding. I like hand quilting when there’s a little gingham grid to follow. Makes me less obsessed with getting my stitches even.

I found this cross stitch at a thrift store ages ago. I thought this would whip up into a quicky little quilt but it went through 3 different bindings until I found this one, a tiny vintage polka dot binding tape, that actually worked.

Another fussy one, this one is made from my stash of japanese storybook prints and the yellow dot flannel was Oscar’s crib skirt. close up here.

This one I made from a thrifted kids quilt I’ve been holding on to forever. It had lots of stains and tears but some great big appliques that were waiting to be saved. This little house just needing some binding and it was all set!

I hate to jinx myself but I think the wall may be full. I have one I’m on the fence about. I’ve nailed all but that one to the wall. I need to sleep on it. Now I’m waiting for hand-me-down bedding to arrive in the mail and to get the curtains up and then I’ll have some nursery pics to share 🙂

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miss bunny and her outfits doll quilt

This doll quilt has been brought to you by the amazing phenomenon of… yard work! The exciting new activity around here that keeps both Tim and Oscar entertained for hours on end. It was heaven to sit in my craft room all weekend and putter while watching those two outside the window puttering in the backyard. We’ve become the putterers which is just how we’ve always wanted it. It was awesome to have a big chunk of time to work. I was able to sketch out the idea and start embroidering on Saturday and finish up on Sunday.

I think this may be my favorite of the doll quilts I’ve made. I used all my favorite colors and fabrics and of course I’m a sucker for anything paper doll-y! I was helping a friend of my mother with some ideas for a redwork baby quilt and got inspired to try one out for myself.

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a quick pop in on the craft room

Back in the old apartment before we moved I would sit around at night daydreaming about decorating and styling glamorous photo shoots of every "corner of my home" with big dramatic results. The reality, as I keep saying (rather defensively) is it’s just an everything-in-a-place-any-place free for all over here. I feel like an ass for not wanting to share my amazing new craft room because it isn’t just so or not wanting to show all the pics of Oscar’s room because it’s "in progress". Especially since this is probably the nicest it will ever look! All clean and spare, before the "craft misc" boxes are unpacked and before I really start working in there. So I tidied up the craft room this morning and decided it was time to peek in. Then of course I realize it’s a bear to photograph because it has really bright sun in the early morning and then is pretty dark (for photo taking but fine for working) the rest of the day. So I tried every setting on my camera and this is what I came up with.

We really lucked out with this house because we got one of the standard 3 bedroom ranches that litter this neighborhood that actually had an addition added back around when the house was built in 1957. So we have less backyard but two good sized rooms off the back of the house. Dick and Dot had three kids so they used one of these rooms as the master bedroom. We decided to make their master my craft room/the guest room. The other room we set up as a playroom and it’s pretty funny in all its wood paneled loveliness, but that’s a photo shoot for another day.

So one wall of the room is all closet and that’s where I’ve stored all the fabric. Another wall faces the yard (with a snazzy space heater in the middle) and that’s where I’ve put my sewing table and work table. Another wall I left open and am using it as my feltwall to hang quilt projects. And the last wall holds shelves, the daybed and some awesome built in shelves (another Dick masterpiece).

the sewing table and some new shelves.

the work table

the day bed

and the built ins. this is one area I really need to work on. I just threw things up there as I was unpacking. I’d really like to set up lots of little just so vignettes but for now it’s like a softies high rise.

And that’s my big shiny white craft room with at least twice as much space as I had in the apartment, big fluffy new shag carpet and it’s own bed! I’m a happy girl.

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a new little quilt

I finished up another little quilt for junebaby’s wall this morning. I followed this pattern here. It’s a fun pattern to make. I highly recommend it!

I have two more little quilts swimming around in my head. A fussy cut number and one with some embroidery. I hope my energy lasts and I can get to them.

Thanks for all the nice comments on the house pics! I’ve been wanting to put up more photos everyday but there’s one little problem…tidying up. I’m at that point in pregnancy where if I bend over to pick something up I’m pretty convinced I’m never getting back up. I’m working on training my little toddler cleaner upper  — and he’s doing an amazing job helping out! — but even he can’t keep up with his own mess. I’m going to head in there now and see if I can make any progress on the fabric tornado that Oscar created making “kanga’s new cave” while I was working on this quilt. Or I might just take a snoozer on the daybed… I mentioned it was a craft room/guest room right?

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what’s better than a flat box

my most favorite thing to do these days is to tear the bottom tape off a box and break that brother down! then I stack em and take them to the garage in big satisfying piles. and maybe I talk a little smack at them too. it’s me against them these days and they will not win.

here are a few unearthed items from the last few days…

birdie from alicia that looks like she was made just for the nursery

treasured japanese fabric that matches my new sofa perfectly. soon to be a pillow I think.

a mountain of 0-3’s

and while I’m working on the new nursery one last look at the old one. baby boxcar’s broken down crib and left behind mural 🙁

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a dull read

Ok. I figured out the most boring thing to blog about yet… unpacking. There’s nothing to say about it. A long, messy, cluttered, unglamorous progress. The end result might not suck but still it’s that just-moved-in unpacked. Not that smartly appointed, just the right knick knack, everything in its perfect place thing that happens way way down the road.

For now it’s just going to have to be little snippets here and there…

a parked camper

a new shirt by small object sarah from art star. monsters!

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home sweet home

We’re here! We made it! It’s amazing… a miracle really. How those one gazillion bits of stuff and junk made it from there all the way over to here completely stuns me. We had the very best movers ever. They knocked it OUT! The best moving experience I’ve ever had. If you’re in the Chicagoland area and moving I highly recommend them… usa movers.

We’re falling over tired, completely surrounded by a fortress of boxes to unpack, ikea furniture to assemble and projects to complete but I’m so flippin happy. I guess it finally sunk in… our own house! I’m having lots of little happy warm fuzzy moments. Seeing Oscar coming up the basement stairs and thinking how tiny he looks and imagining all the times he’ll be walking up those stairs to me progressively getting bigger and bigger or watching him chase a butterfly in the backyard or waking up the first morning and realizing we look up at an evergreen outside our bedroom window. It’s such a relief to be able to finally feel some calm in the middle of chaos.

And how about a little gorgeous in the middle of this mess. This breathtaking doll quilt came in the mail from one of my oldest and dearest internet friends, Jen. And yes… it’s all Liberty prints!! I see she blogged it today so there’s more info and pics on this amazing quilt over here. I had to pull some packing tape off a box so I could stick it up on Junebaby’s wall right away and admire it. So pretty! Thank you Jen xoxo!