A Festive Fourth

I've been seeing so many cute buntings out there and wanted to do one to add to our Fourth of July decorations. This is the one that finally inspired me to do it. I loved the raw edges of the fabric but knew I wanted to make a couple changes. I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like when it was done and just went for it. Here is a view of the entire mantel {still learning how to shoot without a flash so sorry for the blur}.

I just love how it turned out. Sometimes I tend to overdo it, so I resisted adding scrap ribbons in between the pennants and buttons to the bottoms of the pennants. Please don't laugh at the rest of the mantel "decorations" {if you can call them that}. If you've read this previous post, then you know I struggle with decorating in this house. Unfortunately I haven't done much with it since that post, but boy do I have ideas!

Here's a couple close ups so you can see some of the details.

I used a white bias tape to hold it all together. I LOVE ric-rac so I had to add some of that, too. I used a navy jumbo ric-rac under a red baby ric-rac and sewed it on with white thread.

I kept trying for good pics without using the flash but we don't get much light in this room so the pictures taken with the flash on seem to show the colors better.

Why does that color pop so much better with the flash? I need to devote more time to learning how to use my camera better. I used contrasting thread on each pennant and also switched up the stitches doing some zig-zag and some straight stitches.

What do you think? Do you like it? Or is it too busy? Like I said before, I had to restrain from adding more to it, but I really like it. So much that I'm considering leaving it up for the rest of the summer. All of our entertaining in the summer is done with my American themed Longaberger baskets and pottery so it all coordinates well. Makes me think I should have chosen that theme for decorating the porch, but more on that later.

Hidden Treasures Revealed

After my last post I was so anxious to get going and reveal that hidden treasure that has been in our house for so long. Did you guess what it was?

That's right, a sewing machine tucked away in a cabinet. I feel like I might be a bit crazy, but I am so in love with this machine. After I got it all cleaned up and oiled, I just sat back and stared at it while my heart went pitter patter. I'm not sure why I am so obsessed with this, since I actually have another sewing machine that is newer than this one.

This one I purchased back in 1992 or so {whoa, that was forever ago!} I cleaned this one up too and gave it a good oiling since it's been packed in it's original box since probably about 1993. I don't recall why I bought it, but I do recall wanting it badly and stalking it at the old Woolworth's in downtown Minneapolis. They had a soda counter that I would sit at and contemplate all the things I could make if I bought it. So I saved up and spent $100 on it. {This story is making me sound like my grandma, who introduced me to sewing as a young girl.} I sewed an Anne Klein skirt, Vogue suit {shoulder pads and all} and a Toga costume on it all from patterns. Then I sadly packed it all away. It's been fun though digging it back out along with all of the patterns and notions and remembering back. If only I had kept up with it and been proud of myself instead of feeling embarrassed by a "friend" that I enjoyed such a domestic hobby.

Anyways, back to this beauty. This was my husband's mother's sewing machine. Sadly, I never met her. She passed away from ALS {Lou Gehrig's Disease} just three months prior to meeting my husband. It's odd, but I miss her so much, even though we never met. Have you ever had that experience? I think that we would have had common interests and really feel like we would have gotten along well. I wish I could have met her. I think I like this sewing machine so much because it makes me feel closer to her.


And here are some of the treasures that I found in the sewing basket. I have plans for that daisy trim on a worn out shirt of my husband's for a cute little summer sundress for Bear.

Hidden Treasures

We've had this treasure in our house for quite some time now. Can you guess what it is?




Now that the taxes are done and I have a little more time to play, I think it's time to give it the attention that it deserves. But first I'm sure it will need a {hint hint} good cleaning. Now do you know what it is? Here, this will help. Look at that golden yellow vintage beauty. Isn't it gorgeous?




Wish me luck "tuning" it and I'll be back soon with the results...

Just do it

So I've been thinking and thinking about what I want to do here. Like I said before, a recurring theme with me is to think about it and daydream instead of just doing it.

So I've decided to just do it. Just start using this blog that I created and see where it takes me. As I'm sure it is obvious, I am so new at this it is painful. Probably not as much to me as it will be to anyone who accidentally ends up here. So all I ask is that you go easy on me while I try to figure this whole thing out.

I'm trying to just let go of my perfectionism in hopes of actually completing things. Is there anyone else that struggles with that perfectionism thing? Are you like me and you procrastinate to the point of feeling paralyzed because you want everything to be perfect? I procrastinate on starting things because I never feel like it's the perfect time or I don't have the perfect supplies or I don't have the perfect instructions to get me going. I want to leave that all behind and stop procrastinating and just do it. Who's with me?

How ironic...

As I think about this blog that I've started and what I can do with it, I find it very ironic that I have done this. I am a very private person. I don't really want people knowing about my business. I'm not someone who wants to be the center of attention. Don't get me wrong, I like a little attention every now and then, but I'm really one of those people that doesn't like all eyes on me. I get all nervous and hot and sweaty and worry I'll say something wrong or that I have spinach in my teeth.

I started doing Facebook this past summer. Everyone was talking about it and what a great way to connect, reconnect, etc. My 20th {GULP} class reunion was coming up and I hadn't heard anything so I thought I'd try it out. I was amazed at how many people were on there and found it really interesting that I could find out what was going on with everyone. I would go about my day and think "I should post this on Facebook" and then I would never do it. Didn't want people knowing about my business - because I always wondered what everyone else would think about it and if they would think it was dumb or worse, bragging. I don't know why I think like that and let what other people think dictate my actions. I'm a pretty humble person that can laugh {sometimes cry} at my mistakes, but I don't take myself that seriously.

So instead of posting things on Facebook for all of the people I know to read, I decide to post it on my blog for all of the people I don't know to read. Pretty ironic, huh?

Time to decorate?

I've been spending {way too much} time lately surfing, searching and reading so many new blogs. No wonder my house is such a mess and yes, the Christmas decorations are still up. There are so many cool blogs out there and even more talented women than I knew of yesterday. When I first heard about blogs I didn't really understand what the point was. Now I am totally addicted - like can't get anything else done addicted. Like have to check in to all of my new favorites before I can move on with my day addicted. It's really bad.

The one good thing that is coming of my new found love is the inspiration that I am finding from these blogs to finally finish {or should I say start over?} decorating my own home. As I am also still trying to figure out who I am, I'm also trying to figure out what my style is. And I realized something about myself that seems to be a repeating theme that I am now determined to ditch. I used to decorate to please everyone else, making conservative and predictable choices in hopes of looking like I knew what I was doing. Lately I have just been hating my space and everything in it and have stopped putting any effort in to decorating. Maybe it's because I now spend all of my time here so I am noticing things more. Maybe it's because I've been able to truly make my own decisions lately without worrying what everyone else will think. Maybe it's because every January I dread taking down the Christmas decorations and putting all the same old decorations back in their place. Regardless, I'm ready to get started and put more personal choices in to decorating. After all, since I am here more often than anyone else, shouldn't it be a place that I love instead of a place I hope everyone else loves?

I'm actually really excited about this and the possibilities. Hopefully I can find some time to run out this weekend and start exploring at places I've been wanting to go for months now - antique stores, vintage finds, thrift stores. Wish me luck!!

I finally did it!

I did it. I finally did it. I started my own blog. I don't really know why, but I did.

Since I ventured in to the world of digital scrapbooking, I have found so many blogs that I just love to look at. There are so many talented women out there. I guess maybe my creative inner being is screaming to be let out.

After working (and living) so many years in a very structured world - working 60+ hour weeks, running to keep up with schedules, and doing everything possible to make everyone else happy except myself - I somehow lost sight of who I am. Who am I? I don't even know anymore. I don't think I ever took the time to figure out who I was as an individual. I have always thought of myself in relation to who I was to other people. But not who I was to myself. I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, co-worker, etc. But those are relationships. Who am I as a person? What are my beliefs and what do I stand for? What are my favorites and what do I despise? What are my talents? What are my goals? What are my dreams? Those are the questions I would like to answer as I start 2010 on a journey to rediscover, scratch that, DISCOVER who I am.

I have many different thoughts for this blog - maybe it will just be a place to keep all of my thoughts to get them out of my head. After all it is getting a little crowded in there - might explain the abundance of headaches I seem to have these days. Maybe it will be where I discover who I am. Maybe it will be where I discover what God intended for me. As for now, it's back to being a mother as it's time to venture out in the cold wind and snow to get my Kindergartner off the bus.