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

A Fat Quarter Shop Haul

I had a browser window open on Fat Quarter Shop for a few weeks, with quite a few items sitting in my buggy. I was having such a hard time deciding, plus a few things I had my eye on were being released soon. I decided not to wait, and will place another order next month! Here’s what I purchased, with links:

Shown: Autumn Quilt Seeds Pumpkin 8 Block KIT by Lori Holt $25.98

Bluegrass Charm 5" Stacker - Melissa Mortenson for Riley Blake Designs $11.98

Grand Haven Charm Pack - Minick & Simpson for Moda Fabrics $11.98

Sunnyside MINI Charm Pack Camille Roskelley for Moda Fabrics $4.98  - Sold Out?

 

6' Woven Star Quilt Block Foundation Paper | It's Sew Emma $10.98

6" Economy Quilt Block Foundation Paper | Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet for It's Sew Emma $10.98

6" Log Cabin Quilt Block Foundation Paper | It's Sew Emma $10.98

Sewline Blue Fabric Water Soluble Glue Pen $7.48

Kimberly's Color Alphabitties Specialty Marking Tools $7.48

Schmetz 5 Count Universal Size 90/14 Machine Needles $3.98

Black Frixion Ball Erasable Gel Pen $2.98

Add a Quarter 6" Plus Ruler | CM Designs $9.48

I have a reservation in for:

Blueprint Charm Pack | Camille Roskelley for Moda Fabrics

Nantucket Summer Charm Pack | Camille Roskelley for Moda Fabrics

Wishlist:

Morning Mist Quilt Kit | Featuring Nantucket Summer by Camille Roskelley

Backing Set for Morning Mist Quilt Kit

I love all the blues and greens of Camille Roskelley's fabrics. I have a lot of blue and white china displayed in my dining room, and recently was gifted some Borallo Pinheiro cabbage ware from my Mama that I will be decorating with as well. If weather permits towards the end of the summer, I will be hauling my Grandma's hutch down to my house to give it a makeover and a new life! It's not 100%, but I'm thinking it will be painted 'Kudzu' by Dixie Belle Paints. Here's to big plans, and praying they happen!

Thanks for reading!

-Bunny

Happiness is a warm puppy!

 

We have a new baby dog! Meet Thelma Lou! 

At the beginning of June we drove across Kentucky, picked this little lady up, brought her home, and instantly fell in love. She’s been a long time coming, even though we weren’t expecting to get a puppy until this fall, our breeder contacted us and let us know someone backed out, and we were next on the list. We couldn’t believe it! We were days away from leaving for a trip to Nashville, but we knew this was our girl! 

My husband had been dreaming of an English Springer Spaniel for years. He had big dreams of hunting with a spaniel and all the training he could do with it. I had always wanted a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, but this is a great compromise for me. I still get the sappy eyes and curly ears.  He did a lot of research on the breed itself and breeders. We had never gone through a breeder before, as we have only had two dogs during our 20 year marriage, and both of them could have been considered “rescues”. This was all new territory for us. I really wanted my husband to experience a puppy, since he was deployed or away at training so much during the beginning of our dogs’ lives, and he was never around for those fun early years. 

After some months of research, many books, YouTube videos, etc, we decided on a breeder last year and got in contact. Then, last fall, we randomly decided on a name, after spending a lazy Saturday morning in bed watching the Andy Griffith show. Thelma Lou was decided! 

We made it to the one year mark of losing our chihuahua this past February. We always knew we would wait a year until we brought another dog home. Fifteen years with a dog is hard to get over, but honestly, we never truly get over it, do we? We just make the decision to open our hearts again and make new memories with a new friend. 

So after all the research, decision making, planning, waiting, and dreaming, Thelma Lou comes home, and SO FAR….

She’s a HUGE Mama’s girl!!!

Sorry babe! 

XOXO, Bunny 

Long time, no blog!

 Wow. Does time fly or what?

Last time I blogged, we were calming down from the crazy flooding in our area and our destroyed basement. After the massive cleanup, we were able to switch our focus to finishing up replacing parts of our deck. Summer comes fast, and we wanted the deck finished before we opened the pool for the season. We were able to complete one massive section, before we would need to move grills and tackle the lower part. 

But SURPRISE! Illness came and got my husband first, then me. We were out for the count for about ten days. As we started feeling stronger, we got back to the gym, and in our normal routine. 

Weeks later, illness hit again, and this time it was my husband and a bout of pneumonia. What a wild ride that was. It didn’t help that we have had a ridiculously wet spring, which really slowed his recovery.  Thankfully, he made it through! (I did too!)

After all the ickies, we got back to the gym again, and back in our routine. We finished the bottom part of our deck, and now our pool is open. We celebrated my 45th birthday as well as our 20th wedding anniversary in Nashville! A week after that we took another small day trip….more on that later! 

Have I been sewing? Unfortunately, no. In fact, I hadn’t been up to my craft room in more weeks than I would like to admit. I missed it so much! I ventured upstairs a few days ago, refreshed my memory on what I had been working on before LIFE happened, and started cleaning up and organizing. 

Now, I’m sure everyone can agree that your craft room can get messy FAST! But my space is also where I pay bills, store memories, run my small Etsy shop, and is also our gift wrap room. I’ve been working hard on organizing each corner of my space over the years, and I am slowly getting there! I have too many interests and hobbies it seems. I think my biggest problem is the mail. After paying bills and figuring out what is junk and what isn’t, it just seems like there’s piles on piles on piles. My shredder gets a workout, that’s for sure!

 I’m hoping that sometime this fall or winter I can share my space with you. I’d love to do a photo tour of my room, once everything is in place. I’d even consider doing a video tour, if I could figure it out! Fingers crossed I can keep making progress and make this happen. My husband has definitely spoiled me with this room over our garage, and I’m so grateful to have it! 

Anyways, I just wanted to check in. I’m still here, and still blogging. I will be posting much more this summer, and I’m looking forward to it! I hope summer is good to you, and you’re making good memories! 

Stay tuned for a post about a recent day trip we took, and a Fat Quarter Shop haul! 

Thanks for reading!

-Bunny

When it rains, it POURS

 

Well here I am, back on my blog. It's been a wild end of January and February for us. What started out as some beautiful and welcome snow in January turned into more than we expected snow and ice. We finally thawed from that, and had a GORGEOUS day of 70 degrees!

Then, round two of snow came. My mind truly is drawing a blank on how much we got, because not long after that days of rain followed, we got a small break, and then IT HAPPENED.

SO MUCH RAIN, WAY TOO FAST.

Everything was fine, all through the day, and into the evening. I'm sure you know where I am going with this. The last I checked our downstairs, everything was dry as a bone at 1am. I woke around 7am, and wouldn't you know it, there was 7 inches of water in our finished basement. I'd also like to point out that when I woke up to a flooded basement, I was also surprised with the fact that we had two inches of fresh snow on the ground!

Fast forward a week later, and here I am. The basement drained (VERY quickly), our utilities were checked by professionals (sump, furnace, hot water heater, electrics, etc) and all carpeting, drywall, doors, and baseboards have been removed from the house. We have completely dried out and our humidity down there is around 36%. It was a busy week, but now that all of the urgent things have been taken care of, we can take a break and a breather. Absolutely nothing down there is pressing at the moment. We can take our time remodeling. The sun is finally shining, and will be all week, so we have spent some time on the porch in our rocking chairs, and today I have spent a little time at my sewing machine, in front of an open window, and watching sewing and quilting reels on Pinterest. 

Before we flooded, I had quilted the block I sewed in January. I was so pleased with how it turned out, considering I have never done this, and I was ready for binding. Being a beginner, I decided to order a bias tape maker, and I am glad I did. I had watched some videos about cutting your fabric for binding, but with the events of the last week, I realized I needed to watch them again. That's what I've done today, and I practiced a little on some plain white fabric. I'm not ready to cut into the fabric I have picked for my binding yet, I think I am going to practice a few more times!

I have to say, this small little quilt block sure is taking ages to finish, but I guess that is how it goes with any hobby sometimes. Life truly gets in the way, and that's ok! We have these hobbies as a way to relax. It will mean so much more to me when it's finished, and I can't wait to hang it somewhere to remind me of where I started.

Here is the fabric I picked for the binding. I am hoping to finish it all this week. It's coming off darker in the photo, but I think it will look really good.

Hope to have a good quilting update for you soon, and I hope you are DRY and enjoying some nice sunny weather, wherever you are! Three weeks until Spring! 

-Bunny