A Giveaway!

Heather over at House of A La Mode is having a fab fabric giveaway. Check it out here

Good Luck!!

A Good Thrifting Day ! ! !

I had a fun day doing a bit of thrift shopping. Jay watched the boys and I was free to browse! I found two flat twin size sheets, two pairs of vintage pillowcases, 1/2 yard of lovely blue fabric and a few sewing notions.

The sheets and pillowcases remind me of the wonderful collection from Urban Chiks by Moda. Image is from True Up.

I've seen some incredible quilts made with vintage sheets and pillowcases on Flickr. Check out this beautiful one by Jeni. She also has a flickr shop and sells pieces of vintage sheets for an incredibly reasonable price.

The boys are busy playing with papa so I'm going to sneak in a little sewing time!

Happy weekend to you!

Portrait Series

I've been working on a new group of jewelry pieces I'm calling the portrait series.

I like to cut or saw a design into the back of the bezel (cup that holds the stone) to add interest and make it special. And my necklace will sometimes flip around to show the back so I think it is really quite lovely to have a pretty image on the back. This is # 3 and my second favorite.

This is my fourth and favorite. I like the thicker lines used by cutting with a larger blade.

This is my second attempt.

This is my first attempt.

Here is the front with the lovely Crazy Lace Agate Stone.

I Love my Featherweight

Ok. So I am the absolute lamest blogger on the face of the earth. Can I even call myself a blogger when I haven't posted anything since November?

Anyhow, we had a lovely holiday. Jay waded across a river to get our tree. It was beautiful and about 17 feet tall. (He left 4 feet by the riverbed and cut 4 feet off the top when we got it home!) The boys had a magical Christmas and were terribly sad to see it end. Luc kept saying "It is Christmas tomorrow" days after it was over!

I have been doing a bit of sewing the past few weeks. Mostly working on a few different quilts. Last year, I bought a Singer Featherweight for myself for my birthday. I bought this particular model because it was made the year I was born. I took a class on servicing the machine last summer but I never actually did any sewing on it.

Well...lastnight I decided to plug it in and I Love It. It is a wonderful little machine. It makes the most beautiful stitches and if so sturdy.

Here's to 2011, doing lots of sewing and actually finishing projects!

Jewelry Show

So I've been working on a few pieces to put in the House Show at Danaca Design. Some are reworks of older pieces. A few are brand new pieces I'm pretty excited about!

The party is this Saturday in the U-District and includes work from those of us that work at Danaca Design. We created beads that were fashioned into a necklace that will be auctioned to raise funds for a student from Seattle Public Schools to pay for metalsmithing classes at Danaca.

Check out the link above for all the details!

A House Remodel - The Epic Before and After

We purchased our 1908 Madrona Box Style House 5 years ago in December.

It has been quite an adventure. My husband Jay and I had been looking for a bigger home and desperately wanted to restore a classic house.

This pic is during the remodel. Jay removed all the double hung windows and restored them. The windows that are where the wood is attached are the original leaded glass windows.



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Front Door Before


We found the front door and all the matching hardware at a 1908 Four Square style house that was being demolished in the Eastlake area of Seattle.

Front Door After

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The Original Front Door


The beautiful door After
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The Front Entry
This is a view from the front door into the entry. We took 3 feet from the kitchen to add a powder room which is at the back of this picture.

Yep, that's me removing the tile from the oak hardwoods in the entry!

After Hallway into the Powder Room.

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Staircase

Staircase during the remodel after gutting the area.

Staircase After.

Another view before

And after.

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The Dining Room

Before

And After

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The Dining Room Fireplace

Before

And After

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Dining Room into the Kitchen

Before

And After

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Living Room

Before

And After

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More Living Room

Before

After

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My Favorite View from the Kitchen to the Dining Room

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Kitchen

Before

After

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More Kitchen

Before

After

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Even More Kitchen

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Landing. Lets head upstairs!

During

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Lets Walk down the hallway to the East Bedroom

Hallway Before and After
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East Bedroom

Wow that was some nasty carpet!

Before and After. Lots of room for the boys to play. We added sconces to the nook which holds a twin size bed.

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West Bedroom

This was by far the worst room of all. The window was broken and there was water damage on the ceilings.

Another View

A view of the landing from the South Facing Bedroom.

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Hallway to West Bedroom

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West Facing Bedroom

This is a during photo. Post gutting of the upstairs and post floor refinishing.

Nook in West Bedroom

True Before of the West Bedroom

After of the same corner


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Upstairs Bathroom

Unfortunately I don't have a true before of the bathroom. Lets just say it was beyond horrible. Have you ever stopped at a gas station restroom that hasn't been cleaned for years? It was that bad!!

New hex tile floor.

We salvaged the claw foot tub from a 1908 Four Square on Eastlake that was being torn down to build town houses. It was quite a score. We salvaged all the five panel fir doors, period door hardware, the beautiful front door and light fixtures!
The sink and vintage Mixer faucet came from a local salvage store.