I Heart Yard Sales

I was in yard sale heaven this weekend. Last minute, Friday night, me and two of my lovely neighbors decided to go to a huge rummage sale a local church was hosting. I've been wanting to go yard-saling for forever but in between taking care of small children and wanting to spend time with my husband, it never seems to happen. So when the topic was brought up I eagerly joined in and the plan was made.

And man, did I score big time!

The very first thing I saw when we arrived was this chair:

I've been waiting patiently to find a desk chair on the cheap for my craft desk that needs painting. I don't think you can beat $2!!! It was perfect and will be lovely when it's been re-upholstered and painted.

I spied two tables full of random linens next and found a near perfect lace tablecloth also for $2!

It has a few yellow spots which can easily be removed and is slightly too small for my table but I don't care...I love it!

These two pillowcases I thought would be cute for the girls' room someday:

I hit the motherload at one of the tables and got some bundles of super cute fabric:

Like I need more fabric, but I couldn't resist such a good deal.

The last three things I found cost me all of 85 cents:

I've been wanting a cloche since they are everywhere in blog-land and I found 2! The one with the marble cheese plate is super heavy and gorgeous. The one with the flower design is wood and plastic and will get painted and used for display. I grabbed the goblet because I loved the color and it was only ten cents!

The grand total for everything I bought was $15.25!! I'd say I got my money's worth!

How about you? Did you find any treasures this weekend?

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Fabric Rosette Lampshade

My latest project almost had it in for me. And my kitchen table.

When I started this project I naively thought that I'd simply whip up a few flowers, glue them to the shade and ta-da!!! a gorgeous and effortless new lampshade.
Gorgeous...Yes.
Effortless?...Not so much.
But we'll save the drama for later.

Sooooo, a while back I refurbished a couple of ebay lamps.
I ended up in love with one of them and it's now on my nightstand, but the other one needed some improvements.

For starters, it was boring. And the white shade clashing with the creamy spray paint bugged me. It's like when my hubby wears black dress shoes with navy or brown socks. I start twitching.

So I decided to change everything.

I bought three yards of white muslin and a new box of 24 glue sticks for my glue gun and got to work.

This is how my table looked for days...

And days...

And days...
My table became a barren wasteland of ripped muslin and dried glue strings everywhere.

You see, genius that I am decided to cover the entire shade with the rosettes. Not just a small part of it. So after many days of twirling and blistered fingers I had this:

Not very promising. But I stuck it out. For two weeks.

The problem was, after twirling a dozen or so rosettes, my fingers would cramp and start to look like the hands of an 85-year old, so I could only do so many a day.

But I had seen a shade covered in white fabric rosettes at Homegoods and I was determined to copy it, no matter how blistered and distorted my hands became. So I hung in there for another week (yes, it took me THREE WEEKS to finish what should have been an easy project) and FINALLY finished what will now be known as 'the devil's lampshade.'

I decided to spray paint the lamp a pretty aqua. I think it will be darling in the girls' room someday when they have their own room.

I ended up using all three yards of muslin and almost the entire box of glue sticks for this one project. But I actually think it was worth it. I love the end result!

I'm still not completely happy with this combination of lamp and shade. I just won a few beautiful milk glass lamps off of ebay so I'm sure I'll find a good match among them. Once my fingers heal, of course.

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Patriotic Table Runner

Oye, things have been busy around here recently!

Lots of bbqs with awesome neighbors, lots of coffees with other mommies nearby, lots of new projects and sewing, but sadly, not lots of blogging. Right now, blogging is near the end of my list, although I hope to change that eventually (as in, when at least one of my children is in school and I have an iota of free time to myself!)

I have big plans and big ideas swirling around in my brain for my blog and where I want it to go, but now is not the time to act on those ideas. With another deployment coming up, as well as another mini-cross country move, there's a bit too much on my plate as it is. So big plans are going to have to wait.

Moving on!

I'm not usually big on decorating for holidays, with the exception of Christmas and Halloween, but this year I did do a 4th of July theme on my dining table. A few weeks ago, I had a lapse of sanity and decided to take all three kids to Wal-mart with me. Amazingly, they were wonderful and I found some good deals in the fabric section. I always take a peak in the remnants to see if there's anything worthwhile and I snagged a long piece of navy duck cloth for cheap which I decided to pair with some blue stripe ticking fabric to make a reversible table runner. For the pop of red I needed, gerber daisies in old wine bottles did the trick.

I love that it doesn't scream, 'It's the 4th of July!!!!' but is still patriotic. I'll be able to break it out for Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, the Marine Corps Birthday...it will get plenty of use!

Here is what it looks like on the opposite side.

I love how it turned out and now I'm on a table runner frenzy. I first got the idea from Elizabeth & Co's burlap and ruffles table runner, which I love! Burlap is my new favorite fabric. Who knew that it irons so well? And it doesn't hurt that it's super-duper affordable. If it wasn't quite so scratchy I would totally cover my couch in burlap. I'm not joking. Cause I'm cheap like that.

Here's my version of the burlap runner (with cotton drop cloth for ruffles, also cheap-o!!)

I love how a simple table runner can dress up the table instantly. I think I might make one for every holiday now. As long as I can keep the kiddos from touching it when their hands are covered in maple syrup or tomato sauce.


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Hangovers and Another Baby Quilt

I am currently suffering from a travel hangover.

To be more precise, a traveling-with-two-toddlers-and-a-baby hangover.

You all know what I am talking about. That incoherent daze that takes over your body after you return from a trip and takes many days and many cups of coffee to get rid of. Our trip to Virginia was great. We saw some old friends and the hubby and I were able to go out quite a bit without the kids. Charlotte was finally baptized and I even got to go to my first vineyard with my mom and sisters for a wine tasting (I know, WAY overdue). I'm definitely hooked.

Another highlight of our trip was being able to see my brother-in-law, Nick, his wife, Cait, and their son, Little Nick. I love spending time with them and even lived with them for a short period of time last year, while Cait was still pregnant with Nick and I was pregnant with Charlotte. Two preggo women in one house might equal danger for some, but we had good times. They are currently pregnant again and due near the end of September.

About two weeks before we left for Virginia, Nick and Cait found out they were having a girl this time around. Yay!! As soon as I found out, I started on their baby quilt so I could give it to them while we were all there together. The process of making them is getting shorter and shorter and I think my corners are slowly improving.

Still not perfect, but a vast improvement from the last one, right?

Again, I used the girls' old (free!) receiving blankets for the blocks in the front and the backing flannel I believe I found at JoAnn's on sale.

I still have enough receiving blanket blocks to make another two, maybe three quilts. There are lots of babies coming this year so I have a lot more to make. And thank goodness, one of those babies is for sure a boy so I'm excited, after making nothing but girly quilts, to make one for a baby boy. Here's a sneak peak at some of the fabric I'm using for it:

I love the owl fabric and the orange and blue chevron! Almost makes me want to have another baby boy...almost...this factory is closed for business.


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Old Mission Santa Barbara

When we were in Santa Barbara, we visited the old Mission, which is one of the main tourist attractions for the area. I love visiting old churches and studying the architecture and always manage to get choked up because of the beauty. They just don't build churches like they used to.

I know that's hard to read but the Mission was built in 1786...so old and full of history. I get giddy just thinking about it.

This was our view from across the street in the parking lot. We didn't get here until 4:30 in the afternoon so the tours were done for the day but the gift shop was still open so we looked around and ended up buying a gorgeous, hand-tooled leather Bible. We don't have a family Bible, so we thought it was time to get one. Once the shop closed at 5 we walked over to the main chapel, where mass was going on. I wish I had gotten a picture of the doors into the sanctuary...they were dark, solid wood, hand-carved and just beautiful. You know the kind I'm talking about...the kind that are all over Europe.

We snuck into the sanctuary, as there was about five minutes left of mass, and sat down and just took it all in. To say I was speechless would be an understatement. It was so beautiful and so old and I felt immediately jealous of the people who were able to go to church HERE! I almost didn't feel right taking pictures, I can't explain it, it just felt like a holy place that shouldn't be exposed to tourists' cameras all the time. But I knew that if I didn't take some I would regret it.

It was dark, so please forgive the quality of the pictures. I didn't want to resort to using the flash since I hate how it makes pictures look.

This view of the outside of the Mission was just gorgeous. I couldn't take a picture that would actually do the view justice, but I tried. I could have just sat where I was for hours, reading a book or just taking it all in.

Behind the parking lot, there was a little garden of olive trees (like the kind in the Garden of Gethsemane, which btw is a wonderful sight to see. I went to Israel when I was 15) and the Stations of the Cross.

After exploring the garden, it was getting close to 6 so the parking lot was closing and we had to leave. But after a little bit of driving around and seeing some amazing house that I can only guess the cost of, we came across another gorgeous church. I made Tim stop and park so we could get out and explore it and get some pictures.

This was one of the side doors into the church, but still...so grand!

The front of the church.

To the side of the church, there was a pretty garden.

This part of the trip was my favorite and I wish we could have spent more time there.

Our family is heading to Virginia tomorrow to visit with family and once we get back, I am sucking it up and potty training my second child in less than six months so if you don't hear from me for awhile, that's why. I'll be up to my ears in Dora underpants and laundry!