Home Dec Project

Over Spring Break, I happened to stop by our local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. Mr. Gnomemade and I have been using one of our kitchen table chairs as a desk chair, so when I saw this chair sitting there for $5, I couldn't resist!








Now, it was in a little bit of rough shape - some light yellow paint that was chipping, peeling and not very event. But, I figured, we had some time off from work and it was a beautiful weekend, so we'd try a little re-finishing project.

A quick trip to our local hardware box store for some sand paper and spray paint (and then a second trip for some more spray paint) and we got to work!

And here it is in all its finished glory. It went from a light yellow to a pretty ivory color. Now, I'm searching for the perfect seat cushion and we should be all set!

I Can Hardly Believe It Myself!

So, when I started my personal UFO challenge a while ago...it was one specific quilt that I had in mind that I really needed to finish.

Now, I've only been quilting since 2005/2006, so I don't have a ton of UFOs that have been hanging around for a long time. But, this one...well this one has been almost four years in the making.

After Mr. Gnomemade graduated with his Master's, we accompanied his parents for a 2+ week to Italy. I had never been, and it was a wonderful experience. We had the chance to visit Florence, Sorrento and Rome, along with areas all around those three cities. We had a great trip, and I was greatly appreciative to his family for the opportunity for such a great trip.

Mr. Gnomemade's mother had subtlely asked a couple times about me making her a quilt, and their house is full of photos, so I figured that would be the perfect marriage...hence this quilt was born.


Now, it's been a labor...mainly of love, but I'd be lying if there weren't times I just wanted to throw this out of the window. First, it was about trying to pick out which photos I wanted to use. Now, that shouldn't be too hard - but Mr. Gnomemade is the quintessential tourist, and I think we have about 900 photos from our trip. Then it was onto designing the layout. Then, I had to figure out how to print photos onto fabric...and that was an ordeal for quite a while. Some of the printer photo fabric worked well...another package of it...not so much. Picking the rest of the fabric wasn't too hard - my now Mother-In-Law loves gold and burgundy.




So, it went for about 3 1/2 years. I'd pick it up, then put it back down. Sew some more, get frustrated and then put it away for a while. I really worked on it ine arnest over the past two years, especially once I found the perfect backing fabric.

I mean, isn't it perfect? It's a fabric of major Italian landmarks. We had seen quite a bit on our trip and I thought it was great.

The rest of it eventually came together and I finished up the binding in March. Yup...March of 2011. We went to Italy in June of 2007. Don't judge too harshly.

It was hand delivered to my in-laws in April when we went up to see them for a wedding of a close friend.

They seemed to like it and I'm just happy to cross this one of the list - and that it made it through the washer.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Hope your day, however you choose to celebrate, is a wonderful one.

Our ham is in the oven and the Macaroni and Cheese is prepped.

We have several of my students coming over for dinner tonight.

And we thought it'd be nice to give them some small Easter baskets.


Who doesn't love some tasty candy?

And the baskets are handmade by me using the Pink Penguin tutorial!

Keeping with the Christmas Theme

In mid-December, I entered a giveaway over at The Happy Zombie. Now, I always am flabbergasted by the generosity of quilters and their willingness to giveaway fabrics, notions, projects, etc. I try to be fair and only enter those giveaways that I actually would want/use.


I've been blog-stalking (in a harmless, oh my goodness, I love what you're doing) Monica at The Happy Zombie for a while, and was so excited when I saw her Christmas fabric line called Holiday Happy come out. As the title of my blog might suggest, I love gnomes. No, really - Mr. Gnomemade and I even had a gnome-themed wedding - which I realized I never admitted to on this blog - I really should post some photos of our gnome related items...put that on the to-do list (you would think I would have gotten around to that, but what's eight months in a lifetime we'll spend together...but I digress).

Anyways, where was I...oh yeah...gnomes. I love gnomes and I immediately fell in love with the little "Gnoma-Claus" on Monica's fabric. I went to a couple of local quilt shops, but couldn't find the gnomes, so I was browsing on the internet instead to see where I could find some of this wonderful fabric...this brings me to the giveaway.


So, I put my name into the ring, never expecting with over 1200 entries, I'd be picked. But I won! Oh my goodness, I won. And shortly after - this beautiful stack of fabrics arrived at the post office for me! Isn't the "Gnoma-Claus" just adorable?

So, here the stack of fabric sits - on my trunk waiting patiently to be cut into and made into our first ever Christmas quilt. It's wonderful! And thankfully, I have a very supportive husband who encourages me (and goes with me to quilt shops/online shopping) to get all the matching fabrics I'll need to turn this fat eighth bundle into a snuggly quilt for us.

Thanks so much, Monica!

More UFO Progress

When I first started quilting, I was strictly a machine project girl. The only handwork I did was turning over a binding and when push came to shove - sewing on a button.

I did try my hand at hand quilting two different quilts...but seeing as how the first one arrived a month after the wedding it was a gift for, and the second arrived over 2 years after the birthday it was a gift for, I quickly tossed aside the idea of handquilting - except for some small projects.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, when I arrived at my first small group meeting arranged through my quilt guild. I was instructed to bring some embroidery floss and a hoop, to do embroidery. Now, the floss I had plenty of - what self respecting 80's child didn't make tons of friendship bracelets in her day? But, I had never done any embroidery! Thankfully, I had some great teachers and it seemed like a fun concept.

Then, I found Gail Pan's Free Block of the Month, and figured I'd give it a try. That was 2009. I made the first block back then, bu tthen in the midst of engagement and wedding, it got pushed aside.

Well, I've picked it back up and made some progress, if I do say so myself.

Here are 5 of the 9 blocks.
I've got numbers 6 & 7 complete, and number 8 just needs a couple more french knots. Then one more to go and then I just need to put it into a quilt! The fabric for its been sitting around since '09, and I'm hoping to get this UFO crossed off the list before Christmas 2011.

Better than the dishes...

While Mr. Gnomemade did the dishes last night, I spent some much needed time on this project.

It's one of my many UFOs that have been in the works for way too long. But recently I've plowed ahead and carved out some time (like during the dishes) to finally get some quilting onto it. Can't wait for the final product and hope to have all the quilting done and binding ready to be turned over by the time the SuperBowl rolls around.

We're hosting the annual SuperBowl party for all my co-workers at our place again this year. A series of events have led to my family becoming major Steelers fans, so I know who I'm rooting for, as well as Mr. Gnomemade! Looking forward to some good snacks, great times with friends, a good game and some crafting - all in one!

Snow Day

Now, I'm a girl that was raised in the Northeast. For the first 18 years of my life, I had piles of snow every winter and negotiating a snow storm was just another typical winter day. I own more scarves, mittens and hats than I'd like to admit, but they were alowasy put to good use. Now, fast forward a couple of years - living in the Carolinas - and it's a rare occasion when I have to pull my now infamous (more on that in another post) pink boots out.

But, today it's snowing like crazy here. They're predicting we'll have seen over 7 inches fall by the time the storm is over. So, we have a snow day - which in truth is a rather odd experience for me. You see...I live where I work. No, I don't work from home, but rather have an office in the building in which I live. So, in actuality, my commute is maybe 50 feet or so down a hallway. Yet, offices are closed, so I'm tucked away in my apartment enjoying the pretty snow before the wintry mix gets here. (I do have a meeting I have to go to later today at 2 pm, and then again at 9:15 pm, but we'll just ignore that fact right now.)

Anyways, Mr. Gnomemade decided despite being rather well versed in winter driving himself, he'd work from home today - a decision thankfully his work agreed with. So we're both here at home. Now, while he works away, I'm enjoying my snow day and cutting into this...

The majority of the fabrics are from "In the Pink II" and I'm using a pattern I found online through AllPeopleQuilt.com. While not a UFO, it does meet my criteria of working on projects I already have the fabric for - didn't buy anything new for it this year (though some of it did come in on New Year's Eve!)

So, that's my snow day. Well, that and trying to unearth our cars. And maybe some hot cocoa.