Sunday, May 16, 2010

My first quilt?

Alexander Henry's The Ghastlies

I LOVE this fabric. I have been wanting to buy a few prints from this line but had no idea what to do with it. Last night I decided to just do it and bought a few yards in order to attempt my first quilt. Because of the style of fabric, I am thinking that most quilt patters aren't going to work, so I am going to make it up as I go. Do you quilt? I would love to hear any suggestions and tips you have for a first timer.

You can find this line from a number of sellers. I bought it from Contemporary Cloth.

Friday, May 7, 2010

And the winner is...

Fabulous number four!
Congratulations to Katy from The Country Blossom!

Katy will receive two totes of her choice from my shop. Thank you to everyone who entered and started following this blog and my tweets. This giveaway was really fun and I will definitely being doing another in the future.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Sunshine and flowers

Remember that beautiful linen fabric I fell in love with and bought at Mood in L.A.? I wrote about it in this post back in March. It's been sitting in my sewing room, calling my name, but it hadn't told me yet what it wanted to be. Last night (about 10 minutes before the fabric store closed) I finally understood what it was aspiring to be. Curtains for the kitchen! I ripped one of the old curtains off the wall and eye balled it for just a second to get an idea for the construction. Then quickly made a list in my head, jumped in the car and made it to the store in time to get supplies.

I didn't quite have a wide enough piece of the print for both windows, so I decided to buy black linen to make a 4" wide border on both sides. The next dilemma was lining. I was afraid that if I used black, it would make the white flowers muddy and less crisp looking. On the flip side, if I used white lining, I did not want the black borders to appear lighter or less solid black looking. So I decided on gray lining, but was still I concerned that would end up diminishing booth the white and black portions. I posed the question to a handful of friends who sew and Alisa had the answer. Yellow lining! It was absolutely the right choice.

That was a lot of talk about curtains without even showing them to you, so here's one:

You can't see the second curtain (for the window above the kitchen sink) because I can't count. I was thinking I needed to make 4 ribbons for the ties. There are four per curtain though (two on the front and two on the back) so I ran out of yellow linen. The second curtain is completely ready to go, so I should be able to finish it quickly.

I can't stop wandering into the kitchen to admire this one. The camera just doesn't do the floral fabric justice. The gray area is almost metallic without being silvery. Most of the accessories in the kitchen are red. Darn. Guess I'll have to go shopping for new stuff including fabric to cover the dining room chairs!

As I was taking pictures of the one completed curtain, I noticed that this corner of the dining area seems to have taken on a wine theme. It really isn't a deliberate collection and just sort of happened over time. I don't dislike it, but some new yellow things will need homes here now!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Mother's Day gift idea

SPOILER ALERT: If you are one of the mom's expecting a Mother's Day gift from me, STOP READING NOW!

Why am I posting this before I give these gifts? Because I think it's a really great idea and want other people to feel free to use it for their moms but it wouldn't be too helpful if I post it after Mother's Day, would it? (Mom, I know you're still reading. Stop now!)

I know both my mom and MIL have had gardens off and on over the years, but neither have had a full garden recently. When I started growing my own herbs a couple of years ago, both seemed intrigued. My MIL asked lots of questions about using fresh herbs for cooking and how to grow them, but didn't run right out to Earl May to pick up any plants. So I got them both a couple of herb plants for Mother's Day this year and planted them in cute ceramic pots. It seemed like a good idea, but then I wondered if either of them would actually cook with the basil, chives and rosemary. Solution? Make fun recipe cards with information about each herb along with a recipe we love to make with each variety.



I thought they turned out pretty cute! I printed them on cardstock and laminated each card to protect them from cooking splatters. I plan to punch a hole in the top corner of each one, thread a pretty ribbon through and tie it around the corresponding pot. Once I get them all together, I'll update this post with a finished picture.

I'd be happy to share these if you'd like to print some too. Leave a comment with your email and I will send you print resolution PDF files.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

May Day Giveaway!

Happy May Day! Remember giving and getting little treats from friends and neighbors when you were little? I grew up in the middle of nowhere, so our May Day fun was very limited. To make up for that, I've decided to do a May Day Giveaway! How would you like to win two totes of your choice from my Etsy shop?


I've never hosted one before a giveaway before, so bear with me. You can enter up to 5 times, using the methods below. Entries will be closed on Friday, May 7th at noon. I will use random.org to pick an entry and announce the lucky winner on the blog.

Very important: Leave a separate comment for each entry, please.

To enter, visit TonyaDusold.Etsy.com, come back and leave a comment letting me know which is your favorite tote(s).
Extra entries:
1 entry - Sign up to follow this blog (towards bottom of the right column)
Leave a comment even if you already were a follower. You don't have to be new this week!
1 entry - Follow me on Twitter (@TonyaDusold)
Leave a comment even if you already were a follower. You don't have to be new this week!
1 entry - Tweet about this giveaway (include @TonyaDusold in the tweet so I can find it)
1 entry - Post a link to this giveaway on your own blog

Be sure to leave your email or a way to contact you in your comments so I can let you know if you win. 

Entries to this giveaway are closed. Thanks!

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