Color Quiz

I'm a sucker for a good quiz. I heard about this color quiz on How About Orange and immediately clicked over to check my color. The results? Green. I like it. Maybe because the comments about it are flattering, and I thrive on positive reinforcement. ;)

Valentine's Wreath

There have been SO many wreaths in the blogosphere the last few months that I just had to have one. But really, I wanted one for each holiday/season/whim-o'-mine. Unfortunately, we definitely do not have enough storage for that, so here's the solution I came up with.

I bought a basic wreath at Hobby Lobby. I'm not sure what they're called, but it was the cheapest ($3.99ish), and that's what I was going for. Then I bought a half-yard of the cheapest fabric I could find ($3/yard or so) that was as close to the color of my front door as possible. I followed this tutorial for making binding (I modified it for a half-yard rather than the fat quarter she used and did 2" strips). The principal is the same, but you get a very bizarre spirally piece of material before you cut - just go with it. Sorry I don't have any pictures of that part - I didn't really think I could improve on her instructions. Once I had the VERY long 2" strip cut out, this is what I had to work with:


I began by pinning the fabric to the wreath each time I looped. I used dressmaker pins so they would be as inconspicuous as possible I always pinned on what I had decided would be the back side. This is how it looked a few wraps after I started:



And this is how it looked when I was half-way through.


When I finished, this is what the back looked like:


And this is what the front looked like:


It's not much to look at, but this is going to be the base for all my seasonal wreaths. That's why I wanted it to match the color of my front door; the base color is neutral for any season or whim. Now I can buy things that I can easily pin on and remove when I'm ready to switch the theme. Then I can store each of those in a ziploc bag and have all my seasonal wreaths stored in something the size of a shoebox rather than a moving box (or 3).

For this valentine theme, I unfortunately don't have many pictures. The lighting was atrocious, and I didn't think the visuals would really add very much.

I started with 2 pink feather boas from Hobby Lobby ($4/piece). I pinned one along the outer edge and one along the inner edge. The outer boa was a little short, but the inner one was long, so I just cut the extra 8 inches off and pinned it to the outer edge. I used regular quilting pins that I had on hand for this part. When I started, I tried to use the pink ones, but they got covered by the pink feather boa, so in the end I used whatever color was closest.

After that, I took three pieces of plain craft felt (also Hobby Lobby, 4/$1) and cut them into three-inch sections (I know these look like they're red, but I promise they're the same shade of pink as the boas).


I used my machine to gather these (I just gathered the felt as I fed it toward the needle) and then sewed them into one long circle approximately the size of my wreath (so you would modify the number depending on wreath size, how tight your gather is, etc.).

I then pinned the gathered felt to the front of the wreath using more dressmaker pins. Now when V-day is over, I can grab some cheapo St. Patty's day material to pin on and so on and so fifth (as my husband's grandfather used to say).

Here's the finished product. I think it could use a little more, but I was pushing to get it done before Sunday, so more embellishments will have to wait for next year, I think. Thanks for checking this out. It's the closest thing to my first tutorial, so I'd love some feedback!


I'm linking to these parties:

Decluttering the Fridge

I LOVE to have pictures and cards and announcements and magnets all over my fridge. It makes me feel loved. But lately it's been getting a little out of hand. I'd been ruminating on this idea from the Pink and Polkadot Blog for over a month now (since the Christmas cards started coming in), and finally decided to put my idea into action. Unfortunately, my kitchen door doesn't really lend itself to just one wide ribbon (um... maybe because I never got around to making curtains?...), so I decided to solve the problem by using three shades of ribbon centered on each third of my kitchen window. So FINALLY my boring kitchen door, which looked like this when I bought the house:

(hurry! scroll down!)

Now looks like this:

MUCH friendlier.

**edited to add that I'm linking to these parties:

2010 Words of the Year

I mentioned on our family blog that my husband and I only made one resolution this year. And I also commented that I've decided to participate in the Feeling Fabulous Challenge over at Somewhat Simple. But I decided to post about my word of the year on this blog. Maybe just to spread the posts around a bit.
I've seen it all around the blogosphere this past week. People picking their 2010 Word of the Year. I'm not sure that I can or want to pick just one word for this year. A few years ago a friend introduced me to a "game" where-in friends pick 3 words to describe you. Or something along those lines. But it got me started thinking what 3 words I would want someone to describe me as. I can't remember exactly what they were at the time. I believe 2 were gracious and peaceful. Aren't those great? Imagine how flattered I felt a year or so later when in the midst of graduating, moving to a new city, and starting my first real job a coworker commented that I seemed very calm. Calm? Me? Hardly, but maybe I'd learned to embrace that peace a little.
That was three years ago. I think I've lost some of the calm. And I'm not sure I ever learned the grace. So I'd like at least three words this year, and the first are peace and grace. The third? I think I like sass. Because I think that sass embraces confidence and poise and capability. I think these three are words I'd like to work on this year. The three combine to incorporate kindness, gratitude, faith, and so many other words that I've thought about for this year. And, if I realize I've missed something, I'll just add a fourth word. :)

Dresden Plate Quilt?

I've been seeing the Dresden Plate quilt pattern around the blogosphere lately. Meg over at Boutique NutMeg Designs has a great tutorial I bookmarked for possible future use. But the fact is that it looks kind of daunting to do more than one, so I've been kind of ho-hum about getting started on it. I have the wall-hangings to work on, after all (not that I've done anything but buy fabric, but I digress...). But in my blog-walking today I came across this quilt pattern at Michael Miller Fabrics:


Isn't it GORGEOUS? I NEED it. And I might need it bigger, as well. Oh, the colors! The patterns! I love it!