Quilts for Hope

That is me with the beginnings of a quilt that I can't take much credit for. My mom made the pieced blocks and I just sewed them together! But I did it in only a few hours, so I can take credit for that!!

Our church is beginning a campaign to support an orphanage in Rwanda called New Hope Homes. Since my mother has a passion for quilting, she has organized a little group to make quilts for each and every child in that orphanage. That will be about 30 quilts total. We plan to put a label with the names of the specific children on the backs of the quilts so that they will each have their own special one. I have not done much quilting at all, but I am really excited to learn from the other ladies while doing it for a worthy cause! 

The children LOVE bright colors and wild prints, so I'm sure we will produce some fun and interesting quilts. I will be sure to post more pictures later! (Maybe I will actually make a quilt I can take credit for.)

Check out some of my mom's incredible and beautiful work here and tell her to start her own blog!

18 Months and Tour of Lula's Room

Lula turned 18 months a couple of weeks ago. I can't believe it! I hadn't taken any pictures of her in a little while so we had a little photo shoot in her room. (Notice the flower hair clip she is modeling) I just had to share them!

I also thought some might be interested in seeing a few of the projects I did in Lula's gender-neutral nursery before she was born. We had little to no budget, so everything was sewn or re-painted ourselves! (along with my mom's help)

This is the bedskirt I made using some cute fabric by Alexander Henry. The orange dot is by Amy Butler.

Another one of the many things you can do with freezer paper! I made these to match the animals in the fabric. It's just fabric that I stenciled and stretched onto canvases, then stapled with my trusty staple gun . They are hanging over the changing table/dresser.

We found this 100 yr old rocking chair at a garage sale for $20! I painted it white and re-covered the cushion, then made a matching pillow. It's super cute, but not the most comfortable for those late night feedings. Thankfully we are past that stage, but I may be investing in a more modern glider for future babies!

We did not have a budget for furniture, so we just re-painted my old bedroom furniture from when I was a little girl.  We replaced the hardware and did a little sanding to achieve the "shabby chic" look. The dresser doubles as a changing table which I love.

And lastly, panel curtains using that same orange Amy Butler dot.

Making things for Lula's nursery was so incredibly fun for me. I also love the fact that it's totally gender neutral and can be used again for a boy! There you have it, a little piece of the life of Lula Maureen!

Freezer paper & felt shirts

I've been making freezer paper stenciled shirts for a few years now and it's very addicting! If you don't know what that is, here is a tutorial. I like to do a few things differently than what is explained in that tutorial.  For example, I like using sponge brushes to apply the paint, my favorite fabric paint is jaquard and I'm too impatient to let it dry overnight before ripping off the freezer paper, so I just use a hair dryer on it for about 2 minutes!

Anyway, I tried combining freezer paper stencils with felt for some Christmas gifts. The one pictured above is a stenciled owl with a brown felt branch and bow. I just hand stitched the felt on.

I stenciled the dog in this one and did pink felt for the collar and bow and again hand stitched.

I think they made for some pretty cute little girls shirts!  You should try it!! (at least the freezer paper part, it's so easy!)

 

Make your own covered bulletin board!

I love my staple gun. It's the greatest tool ever! I have recovered countless chairs and now these bulletin boards. The one above is an old one that I had in college that was getting pretty dingy. I had some Amy Butler red and white fabric and bought some aqua ribbon to re-cover it! Literally all you  need is a staple gun!

here is a view of the back. It's not pretty, but it works! I just stretched the fabric right over the old fabric and stapled it on. Then I did the same thing with the ribbon.

Here is another one in our office. This was an old cork board that was falling apart, so I just did the same thing. Stretched fabric over and stapled.

I LOVE this fabric. My friend Donna brought it back from Africa for me. I wanted to do something with it where I could see it regularly and enjoy it, so this was the perfect project!

I used some of the same ribbon for this one also. I think it turned out super cute!!