I found this prayer this morning and thought it sounded so modern, that it fit “today” so well. I was surprised to find it was written by Sir Francis Drake in 1577.
This makes me want to dream a little more, dare a little more and try not to worry so much when I lose sight of land.
I made this mobile of Spool birds several months ago, but they’ve just been hard to photograph, so I haven’t bothered to post about them. Christmas morning, while waiting for the girls to wake up, I snapped another pic from my seat on the couch. I love the shadows they cast enough that I think I’ll go on and post this anyway.
Here’s a more straight on view.
Check out the Spool Sewing birds here and find the free PDF pattern and tutorial here. They’re hand sewn and very easy, a great craft to do on the couch in the evenings while you relax.
If I had high ceilings, I could see me doing something like this:
Sorry for the blurry picture, but doesn’t it make it look even more like they’re flying? This is the ceiling at Flight in Hendersonville, NC. I was lucky enough to visit there on a girls’ weekend several years ago. I have so many happy memories from that trip! My little bird mobile makes me think of it and smile.
One of my favorite blogs is Purl Bee, which shares loads of project ideas using fabrics, yarn and more found at the Purl Soho shop in NYC. I got to visit the shop on our recent vacation and am even more in love! I bought the wool felt used to make these citrus coasters, one of their recent tutorials. I spent the last day of my vacation with my feet up, watching the Royal Pains marathon and stitching away. *Bliss!* (They were out of the “spring” bundle, so I used summer and am happy enough with the result.) Even better, I have enough to keep a set and give one as a gift.
I took some pictures while I was there so you could have a little peek at the shop, too.
Such a gorgeous wall of yarns! I restrained myself and just bought one. (After all, I can order more later, right?)
I can’t decide if I want to make a wall of fabric hoops like this at home, or maybe mini quilts?
They sell a kit of rainbow fabrics if you’d like to make a color wheel quilt of your own.
I think I’ll be making this wreath, another of their tutorials.
I hope you find some inspiration there, whether you visit the shop or the blog!
As soon as I saw the painted wallpaper tutorial by Emily on Jones Design Company, I dropped everything and started using her stencils to make a headboard. Seriously, right then. I was only partway through painting our bedroom in the first place, so now the freshly painted wall is sporting this painted headboard and I still have more than half the room to paint!
You should certainly visit Emily’s tutorial if you’d like to try this, but I thought I’d show you how I modified the stencil she created to paint just a portion of a wall instead of wrapping around the entire room. This helps to create a finished edge on either side of your painted area.
I made four versions of the stencil to make the painted headboard, one of the full design, one that was halved horizontally for the top and bottom rows, one that was halved vertically for the sides, and one that was quartered for the corners. These pieces aren’t exact halves, though. I wanted the thickness of the lines to be equal all the way around, so I made each cut piece large enough to have a full line of paint along the cut edges. Since my paintbrush was about a half inch wide, the cut edges are about a quarter inch wider than if they’d just been cut in half.
Also, Emily stated she has a good “sense of straight” and just traced the stencil as she went along without leveling it. I am not gifted with a sense of straight, so I drew a line down the middle of the main stencil and checked the vertical level each time. Maybe twice I had it just right.
Then just paint inside the lines. (Much easier said than done, especially on textured walls.)
Many, many hours later, stand back and admire your handiwork.
I’m only showing a tiny peek at our room because there’s still so much to do:
Well, at least I can check the painted headboard off the list! Back to my work in progress …
And be sure to click below to check out an amazing gallery of painted wallpapers, so many beautiful ideas!
I received my first ever order from Spoonflower, a site that lets you create and print your own fabric designs, or buy those made by others. When I saw these, I knew I had to have them!
Maybe you have to be a Dr. Who fan to understand.
So, now that I have them, what the heck do I do with them?
