Under a Blue Moon

Friday’s Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

These DIY sugar cubes would be cute in a coffee themed gift basket, doncha think?
Love this use of vintage rhinestone brooches
I'm always on the look out for good guy-type stocking stuffers. Love the simple packaging on these matches
Inspired by Brooklyn Limestone's stylish Christmas decor I found this sparkly pillow on line. Not a bad price (I would probably leave it out all year round….)
What a fun way to liven up your holiday travel

I am going to start bringing out the sparkle this weekend. I think I've settled on my theme this year. Crystal, pale gold and silver. And lots of greenery. I'm finding all kinds of inspiration on Pinterest. I have new batteries for my camera so hopefully you'll be seeing some posts next week.

Have sparkly weekend yourselves my friends!

Friday’s Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

Sweet little sparrow necklace
Okay I did hold off (sort of) on the Christmas themed links but now that Thanksgiving is over all bets are off. Here is a website where you can upload a picture and insert Santa into it. Proof that he really was at your house.
Pretty DIY wax luminaries. Wouldn't these be pretty in the snow, lighting the way?
Look at this adorable blog with the prettiest cookies. I want to make the ones in her blog banner: Rosey's Sugar Palace
This rollercoaster is nuts! I would so totally go on it though.

Sorry for the late edition of Friday's Favorites today. We were travelling back from my father's house. How are you going to spend the weekend? I think I'm going to start doing a little decorating around here.

I hope today's Flickr Favorites gives you some pretty wrapping inspiration.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!

11.24.11

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was up until 1:00am last night making pies. I only got one decent picture before my camera died. I have only made my own pie crust once before and it was not a success. This time I used the King Arthur pie crust recipe. It certainly looks better but since I haven't had a slice yet I can't tell you how it tastes.

Unless you think I should go ahead and have a slice now? For blogging purposes only, of course.

I still can't get the edges to look pretty. You know, by fluting or pinching them or whatever. So on the pumpkin pie I just cut out teeny hearts and overlapped them. Little leaves would have been more appropriate but I didn't have a little leaf cutter.

I hope everyone in the US has a wonderful Thanksgiving day, surrounded by those you love.

(And tomorrow we can start talking about Christmas!)

11.19.11

Table runner has been made. Why oh why do I insist on sewing ruffles and pleats? I love the look of them but man, what a pain to sew.

I did come up with a trick for sewing pleats today. After I had sewn, unsewn, resewn my first attempt.

The actual runner itself was easy. I bought three yards of flax colored linen (a cotton/linen blend actually) that was super cheap. $3.99 a yard at Hobby Lobby.

I trimmed the ends and selvedges using a straight edge I've appropriated from Rick's garage. It looks totally greeby but I prefer it so much over the plastic Omnigrid ones. Since I rarely quilt, and therefore rarely have to cut small pieces, the heavier metal straight edge works better for me. Mainly in that is stays put when I am cutting. I can't tell you how many times the plastic one has scooched while I was cutting.

Plus I think I can square things up better with it.

I cut two 3" wide strips from the end for the pleats. Then I just sewed the long edges together to make a tube and then turned the tube inside out. I pressed it so the seam was centered down the back of my runner.

Then I started fiddling with the pleats. And fiddled some more. First I pinned the pleats in place and sewed them in but they wouldn't stay straight and I didn't catch the back layer when I was sewing. So I unsewed. Twice. I repleated my strip and then – here is where my brilliance kicked in – I used scotch tape to hold down the pleats so I could stay stitch them before sewing them to the ends of the runner.

After I stay stitched them I positioned them between the layers and, once again, taped them in place. On both the front and the back. Then I just stitched through the tape. It was easy enough to remove after I was done sewing.

Maybe this is a well-known pleating trick but it was new to me. I suppose if you have a super duper fancy Bernina you may not want to risk gumming it up with tape. But then again if you have a super duper fancy Bernina you probably aren't coming to my blog for sewing tips.

This fabric was a dream to sew with. Washed and dried with minimal wrinkles and irons beautifully.

I had to do a trial run of my Thanksgiving tablescape (forgive the cellphone picture). I wanted to find a white pumpkin or maybe even a ceramic turkey but didn't have any luck. So I just used my little quail pot. I'm still going to look for something a little more Thanksgiving-ish. I think the floral arrangement with the greenery and candles looks too Christmasy.

Friday’s Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

Several books on my "to read" list: The Wilder Life One woman's journey to immerse herself in all things Laura Ingalls Wilder. And The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I've only read her Anne series, which I adored, so I'm eager to read some of her other works. I seem to be returning to the comfort zone of authors and themes from my childhood
Okay I said I wasn't going to do anything Christmas related until after Thanskgiving but for those of you getting a head-start here is a free down-load for some adorable tags from Eat, Drink, Chic
Sweet mittens for big hands and little hands
I'm in charge of the Thanksgiving tablescape this year. I'm not a fan of typical oranges and browns so I'm loving this color palette of muted golds, beiges and sagey greens
I tend to go to the movies about once a year – and almost always during the holidays. Looking forward to this movie: Hugo

As part of my tablescape duties I plan on spending this weekend making a table runner. I have yards and yards of lovely flax colored linen to work with. I plan on just spending the weekend hunched over my sewing machine.

Happy Friday everyone!

11.17.11

(oh yes – I jumped on the Instagram bandwagon)

For all the leaves raining down from the trees and blanketing the lawn, to the crisp air and the chickens deciding they have had just about enough of that whole laying eggs business thank you very much, now that the days are shorter – you would think the impatiens would give it a rest. But they keep responding to whatever tiny attention we give them and they are still blooming away.

Since we were late in planting our pots on the deck I have to say I'm enjoying every last bloom and the verdant lushness of my three-tiered planter. It's almost like it is making up for the slow start it got.

The arbor on the deck is almost complete. As soon as it is I'll take pictures. Rick has tried to recreate it for me as best he can with the new deck configuration. There are some support elements he had to change but the over all look and feel is the same. I can't wait to look out my kitchen window in the Spring and see it covered in New Dawn climbing roses.

In the meantime I get to look at the window and see this (notice all the maples leaves on the ground):

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