wanted: poodle skirt. a dining table makeover.

in the sixth grade, i met blondie. i spent lots of time at her house and always marveled at the fact that no matter what, her family ate dinner at five o'clock. every day. for reals. so perfectly 1950's. so perfectly awesome. despite my mom's best efforts, our family drifted to the opposite extreme. occasionally we all ate dinner together, but more often then not, my mom had to catch us between our comings and goings to gymnastics, volleyball, hockey, etc. we ate at the kitchen table, kitchen counter, or sitting on the couch. at some point along the way, i decided that when i had a family, i was aiming for the 1950's version of dinner time. right.

my DIY assistant.

when the mister and i got married we had no table. we ate sitting on the couch or at the kitchen counter. but i wanted us to be able to gaze adoringly into each other's eyes over our plate of macaroni and cheese, so the day our ikea opened, we went and bought a little table and chairs. it was great for a few minutes, until our life swallowed it. and then big-E rolled in and that was the end of even thinking of dining at that table.

our starter dining set.

we ate all of our meals on the coffee table, sitting on the couch. we even bought the little guy his own chair, perfectly sized for him to join us at the coffee table. and when people came over, they joined us, on the couch. oy vey.

literally 1950's. no, thank you.

we have a lot of furniture. a lot. we had a full house of furniture and then a few years ago my grandmother passed away and we acquired more. the arrival of big-E exasperated the problem, but last week, as i was sewing at our "dining" table, i had an epiphany. get rid of all the little bits of unnecessary furniture cluttering up our two rooms and buy one big dining set. oh, and did i mention that we had no money for this? seriously, zero cents.

the mister painting the base coat under close supervision.

enter craigslist. i posted some of our excess furniture for sale and voila! moolah!! we even spontaneously sold our coffee table. exciting, although it was a rash move, because our living area is now devoid of all tables. oops. anyhow, we took our greenbacks and went shopping. we found an old queen anne-ish style dining set. probably built in the 1950's. $50. yes, please. SOLD.

transformation.

we bought it. dismantled it. recovered the seats. repaired it. and painted it. now, it is so delectable. and we can all eat together at a proper table. we can even invite friends! and we can teach big-E some proper table manners. happy mama. now i just need a poodle skirt.

swoon.
(ignore the lack of any other decor. we have a toddler.)

go waters?

big-E constantly asks to "go waters." (he made it plural, don't ask me why.) the kid is obsessed with water. obsessed.

puddle, lake, river, bath, bay, sink, canal, pond, ocean, you name it, the kid wants to see it.

our favorite place to see water is the state park near our house. we go there everyday, sometimes twice a day. it is not a gigantic park, but it is a small chunk of wild jutting out into the bay. we go to the shoreline where big-E throws rocks in the water, splashes in the water, and talks to the water. i sit on a bench in the shade, throw the rocks big-E occasionally brings me, ooh and aah at his "big splash," and relax. yes, relax. it is the only place on earth where my energetic, active, bundle of boy turns into a calm, stay-in-one-place, happy camper. 

on this big-E and i can agree...our state park is a slice of heaven.

scrap me silly.

oh my, where does the time go? the looooong pauses between posts are unintentional, but it seems that they are here to stay. luckily for all of us, keri is determined that this is not the year our blogs will die, so here we are. so happy together.

this little fella sucks up all of my time.

the days are all running together, so it seems like just yesterday that mrs. nipper knapp and i decided that we should make quilts for ourselves. just for fun. just because we are awesome. just because. yup, that is it. we have no other reason. but considering that my scrap box is now three boxes, yes three, it seemed like a good idea. of course i do not undertake projects like this without a plan, so i started pondering what pattern i would use. i wandered through internet land. lots of scrap quilts. and then i jumped onto pinterest. whoa nelly, loads of scrappy quilts. and now i am completely overwhelmed. while i have dithered back and forth between patterns, the missus n.p. has been sewing and sewing and sewing. and trying her hardest to get me motivated to jump in while the quilting is warm.

the problem, of course, is that i have about as much time for sewing as i do for everything else. ummm, none. oh and my sewing machine lives in the bedroom. where big-E sleeps. but, i dragged my machine into the living room and mrs. n.p. gave me another kick in the pants and now i am seriously determined to start before the end of this week. so i picked a pattern. i think. oh my god, there are sooo many. and they are so lovely. and i want to make them all. but i think i have made my decision. final answer? yes. i think. 

granny squares from blue elephant stitches.

i am ridiculously enamored of quilts that have bits of color in a sea of white. this pattern definitely fits that bill. but then i started thinking that it is not going to relieve me of my humongous stack of scraps. plus, i am still struggling to settle on just one pattern. sooooo... i am going to make a double-sided quilt. i mean, why not? it is a quilt for me. so i can do whatever i want. might as well make it so complicated that i can work on it until big-E is twenty-three. wheeeeeeeee!!

string quilt by leesa. oooh la la.

the back (or is it the front) will be a string quilt, which is sort of a patternless pattern. delectable. so with no further ado, here goes nothing. uhh, i mean, here goes the quilting.

that hat.

big-E.

once again, it has been forever since my last post. ever since big-E (the baby formerly known as pringle) stopped sleeping 22 hours a day and then became mobile, i never seem to have time to sit down to breathe, let alone keep up with my blog. plus, in the last year, my world has completely shifted. i am now an art teacher and mama to a toddler. not sure what direction that will take my blog, but i am rather certain there will be a lot more posting about children and art.

 

nothing earth-shattering to share today, i just decided it was high time to stop the blog silence. and i simply have to tell you about my latest sewing project. YES, sewing! it does still happen on a rare occasion. i have a gadzillion projects piled up on my sewing table and i finally determined it was time to tackle the mountain. first up, a hat for big-E. we have misplaced his adorable sun hat and life in florida demands that the kiddo have a sunhat. we cant wait until we unearth the old one and i refuse to pay the big bucks required to procure a cute hate, so i made a new one. 

i found this fabulous tutorial by oliver+S. dug up some lovely plaid material and set to work. first thing, i affirmed that my kid has a giant head. he needs a medium, which is sized for 3-5 year olds. right. i had to add a chin strap, because despite the size of his noggin, the kid is too young for reasoning and simply wont listen to me when i tell him to stop yanking off his hat. i also refused to hand sew the last step, so i machine stitched it. worked like a charm. end result is a totally fantastic hat. and i can definitively recommend this pattern & tutorial. total awesomeness.