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Sneak Peek

Sneak_hedgehog

Today, I have been working on a little photo shoot for an upcoming project.  Photo days are funny things.  I woke up this morning, and my number one priority was to buy prettier slices of bread.  (The loaf of bread in our kitchen was deemed not photogenic enough.)  These are the days when phone call interruptions can result in very weird conversations.  I find myself saying things like “I can’t talk now — I really have to hurry and finish photographing my colored pencils.”  Needless to say, some of the urgency gets lots in translation.  However, in truth, photo days are a mad rush around here.  I am always fighting to get everything finished while the lighting is still good.

The good news is that I have been collaborating with one of my favorite fabric buddies, and I think you’ll really like what we came up with.  More on that soon…  Hope you are having a good week!

Filed under Photography, Site News.

Nesting

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Lately, I’ve been finding mysterious piles of twigs on my front doorstep.  Since we live on the second floor, I thought this was a little odd.  Of course, I was secretly hoping that it was an elf.  Preferably an elf who knows how to sew and wants summertime employment.  I would have been happy with a shoe cobbler.  However, after a few days of this, I realized that it was actually a dove making a nest in our light fixture.

The interesting part is that the dove made this nest three times — completely disassembling everything and starting over from scratch until it was just right.  I’m taking that as a not-so-subtle reminder about perseverance.

In the end, the dove settled down, and now I think she’s content to stay for a little while.

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Wishing you a peaceful day.  XOXO, Kelly + the dove

Filed under House & Home, Inspiration. Tagged with .

Work in Progress: Picnic Blanket

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First of all, I wanted to say a huge welcome to those of you coming over from Creature ComfortsEz posted a link to my DIY Cuckoo Clock project. Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you’ll find some other things around here to enjoy.   I also wanted to let you know that I’ve been really touched by the kind comments and e-mails.

As some of you know, I’ve been working on a project that I’ve been calling the DIY Picnic for Two.  It’s a little bit fancy, a little bit French-inspired.  This week, I am finally tackling the picnic blanket.  Right now I’m working on the step which I call: putting squares of fabric on the floor and then moving them around.  Right now, I am thinking I need more black fabrics.  I hope to get to the second step today, as well.  It’s the one we refer to as: cleaning up squares of fabric off of the floor before husband gets home.

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I’ll be back later this week with an update on the blanket.  Wish me luck!

Filed under Fabric & Sewing, I Made This. Tagged with , .

the last 5: DIY Headboard (Finished)

[the last 5 is a series of posts about tackling unfinished decorating projects and adding those personal touches to a room.  Find out how it all started here.]

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Hello there, and happy Monday!

This weekend, I was looking around the apartment for unfinished decorating projects I could tackle for this week’s last 5 post.  That’s when it occurred to me that I never posted the finished pictures of our DIY Upholstered Headboard.  In fact, the last time I mentioned this project, the headboard was lying on the floor waiting to be hung.

Well, the truth was that when we attached the headboard to the wall, two of the buttons popped right off!  I know you’ve probably been there before — you get 99% complete on a fairly labor-intensive project and the thought of having to re-do a step just makes you want to throw up your hands in the air and/or take a nap.  I think we did both.  So up until this weekend, our bed looked something like this (see below).

The Sad Before

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Can you see those missing buttons?  I hope you are not going to hold this (and the unmade bed) against me.  This weekend, we finally took the headboard back off the wall, and spruced it up a bit.

The Happily Ever After

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Ah, I feel so much better.  I think the total fix it time on this project was under 30 minutes.  I also treated myself to an orchid.  So far it’s been in bloom for over a month, so I’m really happy with it and glad that I purchased a plant instead of cut flowers.  (Not that I would ever complain about fresh flowers!)

We’ve always had a few more plans for this room including some gray paint and nice lamps.  Right now, we are waiting to see if we will be staying here for another year before we pull out the paint rollers again.  For right now, I just pretend that I’m in an airy beach house with all of that soothing white.

Anyone else tackling those unfinished decorating projects?  I’d love to hear about them.  I figure we need all the support we can get.  XOXO, Kelly

Filed under House & Home, I Made This. Tagged with , , , .

DIY Picnic: Part 5 (Free Embroidery Patterns)

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Hello there and welcome back for our next installment in the DIY picnic project.  Last week, I etched some glass canning jars.  I think they looked lovely, but a little plain.  This week, I created an embroidery pattern to decorate the lid top.  Yes, it’s possible that I’m procrastinating on sewing the picnic blanket (the next craft on the list), but if you’re looking to procrastinate, I think embroidery is a perfect activity.

Now, I know that not everyone wants to embroider French phrases, so for this free download you have two options.  There’ s a PDF of the pattern in English and a second PDF in French.  You may have your pick.  (Scroll down to the bottom for the download.)

I was having so much fun putting this together that I drew a few more pictures to embroider.  I haven’t had a chance to stitch these yet, but wanted to include them anyway.  I might need to make a little fabric menu.  Here’s a little sample:

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I didn’t make too much of a fuss over the embroidery.  However, I thought it might help to show how I transferred the design onto the black fabric.

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I printed out a copy of the pattern making sure it was the correct size for my jar lid.  On a protected work surface, I layered the pattern, some Wax-Free Tracing paper in white (color side facing down), and the fabric.  Pressing firmly, I traced the design with a pencil.  While the pattern didn’t transfer perfectly, there’s enough there that I could follow the design.  (All that extra white mess comes off with a damp cloth or fabric eraser.)

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After I back-stitched the lettering and outline in white and filled in the cat with satin stitches, this is what the design looks like (below).  Now, I was ready to trace around the lid top and cut out the fabric.  I also cut out some felt to layer underneath (batting would work too).

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I tied a ribbon around the top for a punch of color.  Now, I’m ready to fill up my jar with treats for my picnic.

Here is where you can get a copy of the embroidery patterns.  First, we have the French:

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Next, we have the English version:

Englishbutton

If you have any problems with the download or have a question (or some comments on my French!), please send me an e-mail at kleecreel at everkelly dot com.

I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend.  All the best, Kelly

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Filed under Fabric & Sewing, I Made This, Tutorials & Downloads. Tagged with , , , , .