~ Pink, Pattern, Perplexing ~

Something weird has happened to me over the last week ... I mean seriously strange.  If you know me at all, you know that I'm a blue and white kind of gal.  With a lot of white and a smidge of green thrown in.  I work with a lot of color in my quilting, and want more restful colors in my home.

Or so I thought.

About a week ago I picked up the December issue of Romantic Homes. There was an article in there about a woman who decks her halls with vivacious candy colors ... abundantly.

I don't have the space or the energy to put that much decor into Christmas, but I could NOT for the life of me get those colors out of my head.  Since I did have Christmas on the brain, I thought I would test out some brighter colors with my Christmas decor.

But ... something in me didn't want to stop there.

I have a file of room pictures and admittedly, most of them are ... white. Except for this tiny bathroom from Country Living that intrigued me the moment I saw it and saved it.  I thought it was the landscape pictures (I'm a sucker for landscape pictures) but then I realized that it was the contrast between the greens in the art and the pink on the wall. And the pattern. I was shocked to realize how attracted I was to that pink on the wall. And that pattern.

Tonight I stopped in at Home Fabrics to browse and was astounded to see this fabric ... a pretty close resemblance to the wallpaper in the bathroom photo, if I do say so myself.

Oh, I bought it all right.  And it will become pillow slipcovers before the weekend is out.

What is happening to me??

Linking to Transformation Thursdays
Linking to Inspiration Fridays
Linking to Feathered Nest Fridays



~ Wrap Music ~

The first thing I have my eye out for when the Christmas Spirit hits ... is wrapping.  I guess this makes sense since I'm a woman who loves fabric and pattern and color.

It started last Wednesday when I went to Shinoda's with a friend and came back with these three delightful beauties, seen above.

Next ... Target of course ... where I picked up my Can-O'-Tags for a measly 5 bucks.

I love how the colors match my three dotty spools of ribbon.

Next ... Costco, naturally ... where I picked up the giant roll of wired ribbon for a song.  I was particularly enamored of this sheer white with the delicate red/white border.  Yum.

I picked up this roll of wrapping paper at Stein Mart.  It seriously spoke to me in the store and I seriously answered by saying, "Of course I will take you home." 

Did I mention that I also picked these mini-rolls of paper up at Target for $1 a piece?  I get these every year and find that they are so much easier to wrap small gifts with that the big rolls.

Don't get me wrong ... I haven't even begun to think about what I will actually be wrapping.  I'm a girl who likes to do her Christmas shopping when the stores are crowded and Christmas is in the air ... in December.

But I will admit to listening to some Christmas music.

How about you?

Linking to Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Linking to Tuesday's Treasures
Linking to Wow Us Wednesdays

~ Design + Wall ~

Yes, I worked on the stocking this week and no, I didn't finish it.  I still need to do the "cuff" with the machine embroidered name of Granddaughter #4 ... Grandchild #5.

You can see it hung here on the design wall in my somewhat small miniscule studio. The little design wall I was working with worked fine for the individual placement of blocks, but when I put the quilts together, I need something bigger.

Then I found this absolutely stellar idea in an issue of BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting.  First, I bought a flannel backed tablecloth.  On the non-flannel side on the top, I reinforced it with duct tape.

Then I hung two hooks over my closet door (a space going totally unused when space it at a premium here) and cut slits in the table cloth (through the duct tape) to correspond with the hooks. Voila! A new design wall.  I can take down my "wall" quite easily, although I will admit to just leaving it up and pushing it aside when I need to get in the closet.

I am not gonna lie:  the reason I didn't finish the stocking is that I only do this machine embroidery stuff about once a year and I just didn't have it in me to experience that learning curve once again.  I will absolutely have it done by next week at this time.

And I'm counting on you people to hold me to it.

Linking to http://sewhappygeek.co.uk/
Linking to The Girl Creative
Linking to Creative Me Monday

~ Gifts from the Sea ~

Several years ago, one of my daughters gave me a particularly welcome birthday gift.  Unlike most summers, we had not been able to take a family vacation to the beach and I was feeling a tad blue about that while sweating out the Arizona heat.

One day there was a knock on the door and the sweet UPS man handed me a rather large box from Crate & Barrel.  I love Crate & Barrel!

Inside were these scrumptious beachy beauties and a note from my daughter indicating that she hoped it would bring some beach into my life, even if I couldn't be there in person to enjoy it.

I am pretty certain I could smell the ocean air as I removed the bubble wrap.

Now these lovely urchins sit on my coffee table in my home ... just miles from the beach.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh had it right all along.

linking to Feathered Nest Friday 

linking to Home Sweet Home
linking to Inspiration Friday

~ Window Dressing ~

These are the curtains from my bedroom in Arizona. They are actually shower curtains.

It all started when I bought these cute shower curtain hooks at Anthropologie (without a specific purpose in mind) and careened out of control from there. I was always thrilled with them.

These are the curtains from my living room here in California. I love the way the morning light makes these babies sparkle.

I also love that the panels were $5 a piece at IKEA.

But, mostly I just love the light.

These are my kitchen curtains here in CA. I made them from fabric purchased at Home Fabrics. I adore the print and never tire of it.

I don't know what I like best about windows ... the fact that they let in the light, or the fact that they give me an excuse to "dress" them.

linking to White Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays

~ It's Beginning ... ~

It turned cold here in the Southland this weekend.  The heat is on as well as a sweatshirt. The leaves are falling from the trees and I'm being very ... very ... tempted to turn on some Christmas music.  Just for myself.  In the privacy of my car ... or my studio. 

Don't judge me.

 Part of the reason for that is that I am already working on Christmas sewing projects, specifically a new stocking for Grandchild #5 and getting caught up on the personalized ornaments for GCs #'s 3, 4 & 5.

And ... I'm just saying ... that when you run your fingers over these red and green beauties, it wouldn't hurt to have a little Bing in the background.

I love Bing.

This probably isn't the first time you will hear me mention that.

Linking @ Sew Happy Geek
               Creative Me Monday

~ Feelin' Crabby ~

Truth be told, I've been feeling a bit on the crabby side, over the last 24 hours, which started when my internet went kaput and ended when it went un-kaput.

Just be glad you weren't one of the lucky ones who had to speak to me over that period of time. Including four (count 'em 4!) different Cox employees.

Once I was feeling ... um ... connected again, I was thinking that I had been so caught up with Halloween and Fall and Home Decor that I had strayed from the very roots of Sea Quilts.

So in honor of my crabby day I give you this little number which will wash the crabbiness out of anyone pretty quickly.

It's chock full of dots which are a big favorite of mine.  Can't get enough of 'em.

I like these dotty beauties so much, I chose this pink little lady for my Favicon. 

I am so glad I'm not crabby anymore.  I sure do love the internet.

Linking to Feathered Nest Friday
Linking to Made By You Monday