Quilt Squares with Birds

Though I love to bird watch, I hadn't realized how much I enjoyed birds and bird silhouettes in home decor until recently, when several bloggers were posting things they made which highlighted birds, and I noticed many others had blog logo's with birds in them. Then I realized I have bird figurines in my house, too. I didn't know I had an "almost" theme!


I made these quilt squares, sans quilting yet, last weekend. I visited my sister-in-law for Easter, and she is an amazing crafter and seamstress who has recently taken up quilting. She was showing me some of her out-of-this-world beautiful quilt tops, and I was inspired to put these simple squares together. I only wish I had more of these fabrics. I would love to see an entire quilt done in these colors.

I'm sorry for this awful photo. 

I just could NOT get a good photo tonight.  

I'm blaming the camera and that's all I'm saying.

Making these, sewing skirts like crazy (made another one tonight!), and playing with my blog design, are things I've been doing when I should have been sleeping this week (not kidding, I think I got a total of 20 hours in the past 7 days, lol).

I hope you get the chance to be creative today! 

...but don't forget to sleep!

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from Lori@Kitchenfunk

Skirts and more skirts!

Saturday I made some skirts using THIS PATTERN from Dana at MADE

I love this site and all of her tutorials. This tutorial made these skirts so easy!

 

My youngest niece, 

wearing her new skirt on Easter, 

over her pink shorts!

Dana says to make sure you iron your seams...

 

And she also recommends a double stitch for a professional look...

I LOVE it!  I think it makes me look as if I know what I'm doing!!!  Woo-hoo!!

I ended up making 4, yes FOUR, skirts on Saturday.  Three of them using this same fabric, fun and funky, and a fourth using a soft silky poly blend (handling that fabric was a challenge, let me tell you!). 

But boy did I have fun, and wow I feel so great!!

Check out Dana's site, and also, check out the links below 

where I am partying this week with my skirts!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Happy Easter...

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

-- John 3:16 NIV

Craft-O-Maniac Link Up

Recently I was a guest blogger on Jenn's Craftomaniac...

This site is fantastic!  Jenn does simple projects (or makes all of look as if they are easy to do!) and makes everything look GORGEOUS.  She has awesome style - I love her vignettes, and take notice her current use of black and white. Beautiful. 

She is due to have her fourth baby soon, so I'm wishing her good thoughts and prayers!  Check out Jenn's site and give some of her projects a try. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When you are not crafting, blogging, or thinking about doing either of those things, you might be reading (if not making dinner or working or...).  Here is a book I own and I LOVE.  It reads like fiction and if you have any interest in art, 

its a fascinating true story from just a few years ago:

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was sewing up a storm on Saturday, 

and I look forward to Monday when I can show you some of my projects!

Have a blessed Easter!

I hope you get the chance to do something creative today!

Choices, choices...

For my new kitchen:
Rachel Ray Cookware in Green Enamel ...
Gorgeous but so expensive!
Sadly, I have heard that the enamel scratches fairly easily.
The lowest I've found it was around $140.
This photo was from Squiddoo.


Paula Deen Cookware in Blue Enamel...
And again, so gorgeous yet so pricey!
Photo from K-Mart's website.
I haven't found it any less than $119.


This is Calphalon Cookware.
Its very costly, around $200 for this 10 piece set
(this picture is from Amazon),
but I see it recommended in so many places.

I am currently waiting for my construction to begin on my kitchen. For 2 weeks I've had everything in boxes and I've got my new appliances in place.

However, I am so worried about taking the best care of my new glass-topped stove that I have banished all the cookware from our house except for the extra big flat bottomed pot my mom gave me a few years ago, and a frying pan I just bought out of desperation.

The set of pots and pans I had was very nice. Unfortunately the bottom of the pans was grooved and the sides were rounded, and I was paranoid that that would scratch the stove top. And the other pots I had were glass, which I've heard also can scratch the stove top. So now I'm on the hunt for a new set of cookware. I had NO IDEA they were so expensive!!! I might just have to break down, though.

Any thoughts will be appreciated!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk

First Time Scrapbooking!

These flowers were part of the set I was using...

Tonight I went to a scrapbooking party!
I have used scrapbooking paper for crafts but I have never
scrapbooked with pictures and photo-albums. It was a blast!

I even won a prize - a small book of sayings used to journal.


This is the website of the person who hosted the party.

The album I bought... I love pink!

I made two pages, and I'm going back tomorrow.
I will definitely post my completed pages here.

These buttons were part of my kit, too.

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori @ Kitchefunk

Thank You Tokens

In less than one month my work is hosting our city's Arts Gala.

It will be held at the local science and arts center,
and the students at
the school of the arts
will be performing and showcasing their work (song, dance, film, theater, visual art, and writing). This is an outstanding event that only costs $12 to attend. However, prior to the event we host an arts auction for a minimum attendance cost of $100, and all the money from the auction and the sponsors goes to the school.

So today I had to stuff and label
TWENTY-FOUR HUNDRED ENVELOPES.


Yes, 2,400.


And because our copier wasn't cooperating,
I had to stick to and from labels on all of them!

Because of this, several of my co-workers rallied around me and helped me get this done, so that tomorrow EVERY SINGLE envelope will be in the mail!
Can you believe it? How wonderful is this?


In order to thank them, tonight I made little gift bags full of jelly beans. This JELLY BEAN theme would not have even entered my mind if I hadn't seen someone on a blog do a Thank You with jelly beans in a jar last night.

SADLY, I cannot remember which blog it was, and I didn't save it because I didn't think I would ever use it. While I am not doing the showcased craft, I AM using some of her theme ("thank you for bean..."). So if anyone reading this knows who it is, please post it here so I can give her credit!

But I love how these came out. I only wanted something small, and these candy bags were perfect. I filled them with jelly beans, held the top closed, and then stapled the scrapbook paper over the top. Then I printed out the words, cut them out,
and glued them over the staple.

So simple!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!


...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk

Spilled Milk, err Lemonade - Mug Rug?

I found some fabric I just LOVE and I bought two yards of it - JUST BECAUSE.

I wanted to buy ALL of it, but someone else must have loved it a lot, too, because there wasn't much left.So I took home my two yards but I REALLY really wanted to just sit and look at this fabric...
So I decided to make some COASTERS, so that at least I could enjoy a little of it.


I also experimented with a few other colors,
and I machine quilted some haphazard lines all over them.


I used batting in most of them, but then I realized I didn't want to use all of my batting when I had scraps of felt around the house, so I used felt for the last two. In fact, the ones with felt are a little better - they are sturdier!

In my final pieces, I ended up folding a 5 X 10 inch rectangle in half, but originally I was cutting two 5 inch squares, placing them face to face with the batting or felt on one side. Sew three sides together.

Then turn the pocket right-side out.

Finally, fold over the open side by 1/4 inch, iron, and sew along the outside, like so:

If you wrap them with a ribbon, you could give them as a gift!
Add some glasses and its an extra nice gift!

These were so quick and simple that I think I might make a few sets to put away for those times when I need a quick, thoughtful gift. They are fun to make, too!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk

Excited to clean my house!

Oh my goodness is it pitiful when you are

happy to be able to clean your stove??

THIS is clean!

This photo was taken just a week or so after we bought it...
Just a little grimy!
You wouldn't want to see it now!

The past several months have gone by so quickly, and my house is suffering for it. You have to dodge around things when you walk, or you are likely to trip over them. Compounding the daily drop and run is the fact that we are in a state of static in our kitchen/living room remodel. We have just NOT had time.

So my living room is full of boxes, and I have metal shelves and crates all over the kitchen & living room full of stuff from my cupboards. What a mess!

But this weekend I get to spend some time with my two youngest peanuts...
They have an open schedule for once. I can't wait!


I also have a secret schedule for this weekend...
And while I won't be talking about it here (it IS a secret),
I'm happy to make cleaning my new stove
a part of my weekend, because it is self-cleaning.

I'm not Jewish, but it even has a Shabat setting. How cool is that?

Well, what are YOU doing this weekend? Are you cleaning your stove? Are you doing something magical?

I hope you get to do something creative today!

...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk