Quilty Updates

Hello!

I've been lucky enough to be able to spend some time with my sewing machine lately, and after my previous successful attempts with foundation paper, my confidence level has certainly grown!

First, I have printed out a lot of the Moda Blockheads instructions - that is, the ones that look beginner friendly. I attempted Blockhead 5 from 2023, as it seemed pretty easy. It's not perfect, but I am pleased with it! I definitely still need to work on matching my seams up.

Now onto foundation paper...

I had been playing around with my stitch length while working with the foundation papers, and it seems that the sweet spot on my machine is 1.2 - and since moving to that, I am much happier with my results, and of course, the removal of the paper.

I wrote a blog post about my first attempt at using foundation paper, and of course I started with the easiest block I had - the Economy block. I made a few more blocks, and I am really happy with them!

These Economy blocks certainly boosted my confidence, so I took a deep breath and decided to give my Log Cabin block a whirl - not expecting much at all, but much to my surprise...

I was very worried about this block, considering the instructions state that the first two cuttings for the middle blocks must be cut exact - and of course, like with all of this, I'm still practicing my cutting! But somehow, this all worked out, and I couldn't believe my eyes!

Am I crazy? It seems it would be difficult to mess up with foundation paper, but then, maybe it's just the way my mind works? Maybe I need to sew on the lines that foundation paper provides, just like coloring in a coloring book. I am definitely more confident with the paper than I am with written instructions and what feels like "free sewing". I know that confidence will build with patience and time.

Now, for my final blocks. I made these the other day, and am considering making an Economy block with coordinating fabric, piecing them together and making a small table runner for my coffee table for autumn. 

The woven star was another one that was very intimidating to me. I rewatched Kimberly Jolly's video demonstrating how to use it, and I am so glad I did. I actually had to break out my seam ripper as I had incorrectly pieced together parts of the star. In the end, it came together, quite nicely, I feel, for the trouble I had with it. Next attempt should be easier, and I did learn something from it! After I finished the woven star, I quickly put together this coordinating Log Cabin block. Like I mentioned, I may make a third block and piece them together for a runner. I will need to find a good backing fabric, as well as something eye catching for the binding. I am really drawn to striped binding, I really think it adds a fun detail. But, my binding certainly needs work and maybe stripes would show too many of the mistakes I'm bound to make!

Thanks so much for reading, and please, I need some wise sewing eyes to please kindly point out any mistakes I may be making!

Stay tuned for more updates! 

-Bunny

A Hot Brown at Mammy's Kitchen - Bardstown, Kentucky

 Last week my husband and I took a small weekday trip to Bardstown, Kentucky for a shopping and lunch date. I'm sure I've mentioned before - #willtravelforfood !!

We have dined at Mammy's Kitchen before - but it was many years ago. It truly is the cutest little restaurant. With all the current news and controversy surrounding Cracker Barrel's redesign, it was interesting to be back inside Mammy's Kitchen and paying a little closer attention to their decor. 

The entire restaurant is a decorated with local and family photos and memorabilia, much like Cracker Barrel, but these photos and the stories on the walls have direct meaning to the place.

Of course, I can't blog about this place and not include a picture of their adorable indoor "front porch"! 

I had completely forgotten about their menu being in newspaper format - so I was surprised when our waitress handed it to us. 

You know I ordered my hot brown. In fact, I ordered the "baby brown", the smaller version.

IT WAS AMAZING, and just as good as I remembered it!

My husband ordered the Bourbon Burger and was equally pleased, so much that he said he would order it again.

Once we finished, we popped into the gift shop, and I was blown away with how much they had and how cute everything was! The sold items from one of my favorite brands, Mud Pie. 

I saw this darling cast iron sign that I would have loved to have, but it was heavier than I expected! I wouldn't know where to hang it. Maybe I should have my husband investigate a place for it with his stud finder. I may just have to go back for it!

Overall, we had such a nice day, and it was wonderful getting out on a day trip on a weekday. That doesn't happen often for us!

If you're ever in Bardstown, Kentucky, 

Mammy's Kitchen

 is located at 

116 W Stephen Foster Ave

Thanks for reading!

-Bunny

#willtravelforfood

My Grandma's Hutch has arrived!

SHE'S HOME! 

I mentioned in a previous post that I was inheriting my Grandmother's hutch. My Mama has been keeping it in her very unused family room for many years - it was storing glassware and glass art she makes. It was also starting to collect cobwebs and dust, so she offered it to me!

I live about 3-ish hours south of the town I grew up in, so while realistically moving the piece and getting it to my house wasn't a really big deal, it was something we were dreading! Of course, illnesses in the family, a sick dog, a flooded basement - all these things would put off our truck rental to "next visit, hopefully"....

I made the promise to Mama (and myself) when we made the trip up to celebrate her birthday this year, that we would finally bring it home. I sure didn't realize that her birthday coincided with back to school dorm room move-in times! Rental truck prices were CRAZY! But we went ahead with our plans anyways.

The hutch has now been sitting in my dining room for 48 hours and honestly, it looks like it has always been here. Somehow it is a perfect size for my room, its not too tall, and will provide all the storage I need, and have needed for years. It's a really beautiful piece as it is, but I AM planning on painting it - and my Grandma did give her blessing on that long before she passed away.

The things I am noticing - 

The hardware - while beautiful, definitely not my style, so that will be replaced. I'm saying that now, but who knows, once the piece is painted, who knows?

The glass doors - THE GLARE!! Oh goodness, we have realized just how bad the glare is coming in from our glass sliding door with the sunlight and pool water reflecting on the glass. We will most likely be removing the glass.

We love the feet, as well as these decorative carvings. I had forgotten what the carvings looked like, and for some reason was picturing "wheat" - and was planning on having my husband fill it in. Thankfully, my memory was wrong, because we both really like it!

We have settled on a color - after painting our kitchen walls 'Olive Grove' by Magnolia, we decided that will also be the color of the hutch. The dining room is separate from the kitchen, but we wanted to pull that tone of green into the dining room since we like the color so much. Olive Grove also plays very well with our blue and white transferware. 

With all these shelves and drawers, I FINALLY have a place to store my holiday Spode collections. You always seem to forget what you already have when it's packed away for most of the year, so I am so looking forward to unpacking everything and taking inventory. 

I am so excited to have such a large family piece in my home, and so happy to finally have something on that wall in my dining room!

Stay tuned for her makeover!

XOXO, Bunny

My first attempt at using foundation paper

 Well hello!

Hope you are staying cool wherever you are!

I was able to get into my craft room and turn my sewing machine on! It's been so very busy here with our new best good gal Thelma Lou - lots of training, walks, and pool time! She's an absolute dream! But - sometimes you need to just yell "Tag! You're on puppy duty!" and run to your craft room!!

I wanted something easy - yet challenging, and since I am such a beginner in all things sewing and quilting, I figured a very easy foundation paper block would be quick (under an hour) for me, give me a bit of a challenge, but also wouldn't be too frustrating for me.

I decided to try my hand at the 6'' Economy block paper I recently purchased from Fat Quarter Shop. I went through my practice fabric stash and picked a sewing print, a polka dot, and a gingham print. EASY FABRIC MATCH! I was off to an excellent start.

This was so easy! And oh so very satisfying!

After some quick fabric cuts I was ready to start. Nothing about this seemed very intimidating, as I have watched Kimberly Jolly's videos using these papers about a dozen times! I really am pleased with how quickly this block went together, and how confident I was while using the foundation paper.

Here was my piece after I trimmed it down. This probably took me about 30-40 minutes. 

Here is the back of my piece - I feel like it looks pretty good, but definitely welcome y'all to point out any errors! My newbie eyes may not catch mistakes!

Here is my piece after I removed all the paper from the back and pressed it again. Next time I will "fussy cut" my middle piece a little better. Stay tuned for more practice with my Economy block pad - I'm not sure I'm ready to try the other pads I purchased just yet!

As always, thanks for reading, and your tips and suggestions are always welcome!

Pottering around in July

 How is it July already?

This is the first year my husband hung our Tommy Bahama bunting on the front porch. It has certainly turned some heads!

This has to be one of the fastest years I have experienced in a while. Maybe because it's been a busy (but also laid back) year for us so far. We have worked so hard to finish up some home projects that desperately needed to be done before Miss Thelma Lou joined our family (thankfully we succeeded!), that to be honest, a lot of our "usuals" got put on the back burner.

For once, we actually DID NOT garden this year! The only harvest we have for this year is our annual garlic we put out every Autumn. We were able to harvest that this past week and it is hanging on our covered porch to cure. It's one of our saddest garlic harvests yet! But, we are thankful for what we were able to salvage. After it cures, we will dehydrate it and grind it up for granulated garlic to cook with. We do have some volunteer tomato plants, as well as some zinnias, and our berry patches of course, but vegetable wise, nothing! We will see how those tomato plants do! Because of our lack of a garden, this will also be the first summer I won't be canning anything, which feels weird. 

Our usual garlic harvest is about 6-7 times this amount!

We definitely planned to take the summer off from gardening, of course, to get the main part of our deck finished (will stain it this fall!), and get the house ready for a puppy. We also knew we were going on our anniversary trip, so gardening just really wasn't a priority for us.

This fall, however, we do plan on relocating our garden. We will be having a massive (dying) tree cut down, which will open up the sun to a back part of our property. We will be purchasing new galvanized raised beds, and re-designing everything. I’m really looking forward to it, and I will keep y'all updated. My artist husband will be drawing up plans for bed layouts soon!

July so far has been slow for us. Lots of puppy kisses, and pool time, after a glorious 9-ish days of beautiful summer weather. It was a heatwave, and I will admit the word glorious would not be coming out of my mouth if I didn't have a pool! It was really nice after working so hard on our deck, to be able to enjoy grilling, eating outside, and lounging in the pool. It made all those late evenings so very worth it. Next up, we will tackle some small repairs on our connecting gazebo, then we will be skirting everything hopefully by the end of summer, and like I said, staining it all in the fall. 

This morning my husband and I went to the back of the property and picked some blackberries and mulberries. I'm thinking....blackberry ice cream? 

These are our first pickings - so many blackberries on our bushes this year, and the mulberry tree was well!

Also, over the holiday weekend, we dove head first into a very small project on the east side of our house. We have 3 hydrangea bushes over there, enjoying the morning sun. For years we have been fighting the weeds, and of course it was a losing battle. I decided I wanted to do something simple, with some small cottage stepping stones and pea gravel in a checkerboard pattern. I was very unsure how this would look, but decided to just go for it. We aren’t done with it yet, but I am so happy with it! 

Luckily the pea gravel is a good match to our concrete/gravel walkway.

My hydrangeas are doing much better this year, after some much needed TLC.

That's all that's going on around here these days, hope to have some fall gardening updates and a finished hydrangea area to share soon - and some sewing! Fingers crossed!

Thanks for reading!

-Bunny

A few hours in Springfield, Tennessee

 Last month my husband and I found ourselves in Springfield, TN on our way back from Nashville. We spent about two hours there, exploring their historic downtown, a quick stop at an antique store, and lunch at Whataburger. We had not eaten at a Whataburger since a 2010 visit to Altus AFB! Hard to believe that was 15 years ago.

The downtown area was in great shape! It’s so nice to see such a historic town still being used. So many of the stores were actually occupied, which is always good! 

Very surprisingly this small town had a health food store. The roof on this was just perfect!

My husband and I love artwork and signs on the side of old buildings. And of course, would it even be a small town without some vintage Coca-Cola art?

This store front was my favorite in the entire town! 

If you blink you’ll miss Jail Alley! 

After we walked the downtown area, we headed over to Springfield Antique Barn. What a surprise this place was! The booths were all so beautiful, and I found at least 20 things I immediately wanted. 

This booth with the rooster and blue and white vases caught my eye for sure! 

So many barn quilts throughout the store. I probably missed a lot, because you had to look up high for them! 

I loved this patriotic booth, and definitely wanted to bring those pillows home with me. 

Sometimes I find myself in an antique store and the booths are so empty/filled with junk I wonder how the booth owners are even making any money. This place was different, everything was so beautiful, and thoughtfully styled. My husband and I found a piece of art we both loved, and I dare say we may even drive back and purchase it. Since we were heading home from our 20th Anniversary trip to Nashville, I wasn’t really wanting to drop $350 on a piece of art, but I can’t stop thinking about it all these weeks later. Maybe I should find a place for it FIRST, then call and see if it’s still available! 

The hutch in this booth was beautiful! 

Next up we drove by Cedar Hill Apothecary. What a darling building with so many lovely touches! I so wish I could have gone in, but alas, I sure do have a habit of being in these cute little towns on a late Sunday afternoon! 

It was just a few hours of our day, but what a nice time we had!

If you are ever in the area, definitely check out the following:

McClellan & Co. - 108 Sixth Avenue W

Southern Threads Boutique - 700 S Main Street

Cedar Hill Apothecary - 1108 S Main Street

Springfield Antique Barn - 700 Willow Street

Thanks for reading!

-Bunny