a snippet of our weekend

weekends always go too quickly. ours are still packed full with 'settling-into-a-new-house' chores. and leave me sunday night feeling as if i need another day. a day to do nothing.

we went to whole foods friday night. for dinner and grocery shopping. i loaded up on gourds for some fall decorating. although i still don't feel like it's fall yet here in dallas, considering today is going to be 90 degrees. cool front coming tomorrow and bringing temps around 70s degrees. funny... in seattle, 70 was a hot day. dallas cools down to 70.

this is on my dining room table. i went with greens and greys. i love orange, just not at halloween. weird, huh?
this is my favorite guy. maybe cuz he's so ugly he's cute.i also managed to get the ghastlies up on the wall. also in the dining room.
they make me laugh.speaking of the dining room, this will be another framed fabric in the room. i bought this on onekingslane last year and have yet to do anything with it. i'm thinking of framing it in gold.

and i just ordered these silk grommet drapes from pottery barn for the dining room. more than 50% off. can't beat that. well, free can beat that...ah, perhaps i can use this room as inspiration for the dining room. lots of cream (my walls), hints of pink, and grass green drapes.***

i won!

about a month ago, the lovely ceri hoover of cooper grey had a contest. the winner won two pillows of their choice. i won! i got the pillows today. they're gorgeous! and huge. and in my favorite fabric, kelly wearstler's bengal bazaar. head over to ceri's etsy shop to get your own. the quality is superb! thanks ceri!

loving this

my sister-in-law sent me this. isn't it awesome? i'm usually not a skull type of gal but i love this! found here.

dwell studios at calico corners

i haven't popped into my local calico corners in awhile now. life's been hectic. and when i pop into a fabric store, i usually don't pop. i linger. i linger for about 2 hours. sometimes 3.

but this may give me cause to stop by. dwell studio is now at calico corners.

these are some of my favorites.
we've been stalling on redoing our master bedroom for awhile now. but that pretty plume fabric would be perfect for a pillow or two for what i have in mind.

and to top it off, calico corners is having their annual spring sale right now until march 26. 20% off storewide! i just may have to pop on over.

sunday in the suburbs

my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were in town yesterday. she brought this. i love it.

it's alexander henry. merry main street. i think i'll make some christmas napkins out of it. now that i can sew. i've had one lesson. from her. yesterday. oh yea, and home ec classes many, many years ago.

this is now sitting on my dining room table.
i bought it in april. it was brand new in the box upstairs in the spare bedroom. you know, the bedroom that becomes a graveyard for everything you have no space for elsewhere. she got it out of the box, carried it downstairs, and got everything ready for my sewing lesson. and before you think, wow, pam's really lazy....stop. i was at the same time cleaning up the dishes from our grazing lunch. pumpkin bread, butternut squash soup, cheese and crackers and fig spread, homemade chocolate chip cookies. we had a small feast.

anywho, we threaded the machine. we filled bobbins. we threaded the machine again. and again. so i wouldn't forget when she wasn't here looking over my shoulder. we did straight stitches. then we tried out the decorative stitches. you can probably guess my favorite.... the greek key.
thanks for the lesson, julie! i can't wait to post my first finished project!

framed fabric

i adore framed fabric. this is my all-time favorite. emily walker. beautiful, vibrant artwork.

lauren of pure style home framed fabric recently for a client's dining room. fantastic! love it.

this room, featuring framed antique fabric, was in the latest issue of elle decor.

and this was once an elle decor cover. framed antique ikat.

here's my version in my office. on top is a marblized fabric. and on bottom, this fabric. i'd show more of the bottom fabric but there's a lovely portable air conditioning tube running across the frame. (seattle... remember?? no central a/c in the homes.)

the last time i saw my sister, we picked out fabric for her to frame at her calico corners outlet. yes, there are outlets. and it was wonderful. great prices. i wish i had a before of the artwork that was hanging above her fireplace. the frame was a mottled pale color that blended into the wall and the art, well, it was a mass produced piece purchased many years ago. didn't go with her current living room at all. she sent me photos last night of the finished piece.

she painted the frame a dark grey. and covered the art with the fabric we chose. she said it was a bear getting everything centered.

but i think it looks awesome! much better than the previous art. now if i could just get her to take a straight photo. next visit...

i'm giddy

remember my obsession with this fabric? different colorway here, but same fabric.

well, thanks to jenny over at little green notebook, 1.5 yards are headed my way, at an unbelievable price. maybe i'll do this with it.

*via*

now if somebody could just help me refresh the sewing skills i learned in the eighth grade.

i'm obsessed...

with this fabric.

bengal bazaar, teal, kelly wearstler

lee kleinhelter has a pillow made of it available at her shop pieces.


and, yikes, lost my source.... but isn't it gorgeous in this setting?

weekend agenda

first, as in this should be done tonight, is finalizing our carpet selections. this'll be the third trip to the carpet store. we have mostly hardwood on the first floor, except for the formal living room, which is being converted to my office. there's carpet there now, but we're replacing it. we found a good choice for that. a dark greige wool berber. and while we're at it, we're replacing the carpet on the stairs. it's in desperate need of a facelift. it's sagging. it's tired. i'm tired of it. this was my front runner. godfrey hirst, boulevard.

that was until we found out how much it is. we'll choose another.

second,
is my shipping desk. it's getting a facelift too. in sassy green.
and third, is recovering this pinboard from pb in this fabric,

which i've showed you all before. it's my fave.

have a great weekend.

what's happenin' round here

a couple days ago, i received the fabrics i had ordered from calico corners. as i unrolled them, this little girl strolled in and found the perfect height chin rest. thank goodness she doesn't drool. the fabric she's resting on is for recovering our kitchen chairs.
do you notice all the upheaval in the background. pixel's in the dining room, which i currently use as an office. across the hall is the formal living room, which we use as a formal living room, which means it never gets used. it's becoming my office. see those french doors? they used to be the entrance to the dining room/current office from the hallway. now they're the entrance to the formal lr/new office. got it. good. the dining room has another not enclosed pass thru into the kitchen so it wasn't a totally enclosed room. which meant i could always see my work. and think about how far behind i am. not good. now my office will be totally enclosed. oh, and the dining room is becoming a dining room again. with a huge farmhouse table and mismatched seating. totally informal.

the color scheme for the new office is chartreuse and purples (aubergines and plums). colors taken from this fabric. i'm going to use to cover my immense inspiration board. it's 3'x4'. i love this fabric. i talked about it here.

in totally unrelated news, i found steve upstairs (in his makeshift greenhouse) the other morning in this position.
if you look closely, there's his cell phone and he was on a conference call at the same time.
he was using needlenose pliers to pluck out the scraggly seedlings. i'm scared.

color crush

i was in my local calico corners recently looking for fabric for a kitchen shade. i rounded the corner, spotted this display, and stopped dead in my tracks.
i'm in love with this color combo. chartreuse and purple. i hate to call it just 'purple'. seems like there's a more descriptive, better name for this color. it escapes me now. eggplant? aubergine?

it reminded me of this. how i covet those wall hangings.

via odi et amo via canadian house & home

and this, which i also saw recently.

image via here

this silk was part of the display.

silk fabric via here

even anthropologie's in on it.

fluidity belt at anthropologie

what do you think? do you love it? just like it?

decisions, decisions

we've made a couple more decisions regarding the kitchen facelift. we've decided that this porcelain tile will be our backsplash. after wednesday's frustration (and let me add that my frustration was fueled by a not-so-customer-oriented tile rep at our granite shop who really made me feel like our small residential project was beneath her) steve and i headed out to another tile shop. we sorted thru display after display of tile and settled upon this charcoal grey porcelain lined tile. it meets our original goals.... simple, modern, grey. and because the tiles are so large there will be few grout lines and tight grout lines. and best yet.... this tile and installation costs less than one quarter of the price of the subway tile and install we were considering.

image via here

thanks to those of you who came to my aid and gave opinions on the backsplash. millie, your suggestion left me with beautiful visions of a phillip jeffries grey grasscloth gracing the backsplash. but if i were to ever wallpaper in our house, it would have to be while steve is out of town. he would only then live with it because he wouldn't want to take it down.

we ordered this today. this will be the pendant light over the sink.

image via here

and a roman shade in this material for the sink window is also on order.

from here

and even though i'm excited about the granite and backsplash, i'm most excited about the new sink area. farmhouse sink, gooseneck faucet, pendant light and roman shade. ahhhh. wonder if i'll cook more.

lovin' these

friday is my day to show you my latest love. today it's little bloomers.

made by handmadecharlotte. she calls these her fortune cookie shorties, sized 0-18mos. each one comes with a secret message sewn into the waistband and packaged in a chinese takeout container.
just adorable. when i get up the nerve, i'll ask her if she'll make these in my size. in the meantime, i've got her shop flagged for the next time i need a baby gift. oh, and she's got a blog too. visit her here.

Garden Stools

when we bought our adirondacks for the patio last year we didn't purchase the footrest.

from here

sometimes i need a footrest. i found this today on martha's site.

you buy a cheap campstool and customize it with your own fabric.

images from here

i think i can do this. i've got some burlap coffee sacks in the garage just looking for a place to land.

image via here

maybe on the stools? i wouldn't have to be concerned about the fabric weathering on the back deck. they'd also make great extra seating for when we entertain a larger group. i think i'll add this project to my to-do binder. yes, binder. started as a to-do list and grew and grew. it's now a binder.

look what designsmayamade has done with her coffee sacks.

pin cushions

image here

burlap bucketsimage via here

she even offers the sewing pattern for her burlap bucket here in her shop. check it out.

found here

i think this is going in the binder.