My Projects...

These last few months I have started several "home decorating" projects. Some have been significantly easier than others but still they have all turned into really good learning opportunities.... more than anything they have helped reaffirm my original belief that I should look for a career as an eternal college student (You think I have kidding but I'm not).

While we were living in Texas we lived with my wonderful grandparents. I needed a project to keep myself occupied (let's be realistic I haven't had free time in 3 years and I don't really have hobbies anymore) and my grandmother suggested I make a quilt. At first I thought "Yeah right that is going to be boring" but over time I learned that it is actually significantly less boring than I orignally anticipated and in some ways actually quite rewarding. I can't say that I enjoyed the entire process because well that would be a lie but I did really enjoy buying the fabric and... okay that is really it but I did learn a lot. So here are two of the 4 finished quilts that I created. Creating these quilts encouraged me to try sewing/gluing other things and put the idea in my head that I should redecorate our 500 sq foot apartment. I really just want to go to Ikea and have them do it for me but I thought I would start slowly in the living room. So far I have made some improvements, some are more finished than others (dont worry the picture frames will be better when I put up the additional frames hidden on the floor) and have run into a few dilemmas (how to hang curtains without drilling holes in the wall or a curtain rod) but all in all I think that I am making a bit of progress. I thought it was finally time to post some of what I have been up to.


OUr couch with some new pillows a quilt and in a new location... the rest of the room was messy so all you get to see is the couch.



My pillow, there is funny story that goes along with this, well a story at least. I decided I wanted to make 4 additional couch pillows (I have only gotten around to making 2) but I didnt have a pattern. So I decided the best way to do this project was trial and error, turns out it took THREE hours to make this one pillow, the second took about 10 minutes. I am guessing that 3 and 4 will take 30 minutes total! Anyway I made this pillow without a pattern, amazing!


Our pictures, I thought this was an improvement over the previous "shrine to me" that hung here. rest assured that I do understand symmetry, there are 3 frames missing, I didnt think it would be fun to hang empty frames... updates to come later



This board is in our kitchen. I thought it would be more fun than it actually is but I guess the good thing is that it will be less cluttered than our original board.



I thought it was important to bring more red into the room, so this is the board right above my desk, it turns out when I am not in school I dont have a lot to post on it but it is very red!




This was my second quilt... I had a few serious difficulties with it, first I chose ugly fabric and took it apart, then I didnt like the pattern and took it apart... and now well not sure what is wrong now but I will find something. I know the quilts look long a skinny, but they are folded into thirds, dont worry I actually worked faster than it looks



This was my first quilt ever, I do have to say that it turned out well despite my complete inability to sew, cut or even walk in a straight line.