A little bit of this and that

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Hello friends, 

Today's blog post has a little bit of everything~ from home improvements to crafty projects, with a bit of quilting thrown in!

Let's start with the home improvements! As many of you know, we bought an old-ish ( 40+years ) house a few years back when we moved to our town. We loved the vibe of the house immediately and decided to put in an offer the same day we saw it ( my husband and I are not known for our slow and deliberate decision making ;) ). The house had only one previous owner and needed a LOT of updates, mostly cosmetic, but some functional as well. After having new windows put in a few years ago, this year it was time for the rotting plasterboards on the outside to be replaced! 

So a few weeks ago the work began and we are super excited about the changes, especially on our sun porch, which previously had dark brown siding, and now has a lovely, light new look! 

We were a little sad to lose the Tudor look, but it was hard to find anyone that could replicate that look and it was very expensive. So siding was our next best option. We chose a siding color that we thought would complement our bricks and are very pleased with the look! We also decided to paint our garage doors to match right away and it looks all brand-spanking new again. 

 

On the more creative front, I finished a super fun little project ! I found a tutorial on how to make a wire bed and was so inspired by it that I promptly bought all the materials and got to work! 

So full of whimsey and quirkiness, don't you think? My bed of course needed some bedding too so I made a little mattress, a pillow and pillowcase, and a teeny quilt! 

 

And now I need to come up with someone who would enjoy sleeping in this little bed! 

If you are interested in making your own little bed, the tutorial can be found right here: https://www.annwoodhandmade.com/wire-doll-bed-diy/

Over Labor Day weekend I had the chance to take a class with Irene Blanck of Focus on Quilts. Irene lives in Melbourne, Australia, but  is over in the USA for a few weeks, going here, there, and everywhere to share her method of needle-turn applique, among other things. Irene's patterns have been featured in several magazines, and she will also be in an episode of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson, which will air sometime later this year.

 Irene makes amazing quilts, all very colorful and whimsical, and it was fun to see these beauties in person ( and yes, we were allowed to pet them!). 

Here are some of her creations:

As you can see, Irene loves color and just looking at her quilts is a joyful experience! I so enjoyed spending the day with Irene, who has a little naughty explanation about making bias binding that we all laughed about very much. Make sure you don't miss it if you ever have a chance at a class!

I started a little needle-turn block and, while I can't say that I love the process, I will persist and make 3 more blocks, and then make up my mind if I want to try doing more needle-turn projects, or just stick with my tried and true: fusible web :D.

To finish up this very long blog post ( thank you for still being here!), I want to share a really interesting product that I was sent a few weeks back: I think many of us quilters struggle with how to store/display our quilts. The Quiltkeeper is a super simple system that hangs over any standard size door and allows you to store or display your quilts. You do not need any hardware to install, but simple place the hooks over your door, place your quilt on the bar, and hang it up. The door closes just fine ( yep, I went and tried it on a bunch of our doors!) and I think the wrought iron look is super pretty too.

If you would like to check it our, the website is the quiltkeeper.com.  And if you are interested in buying one ( or several), you can get a 10% discount with the code FHQBLOG.

Until next time~happy creating!

Monique