Cloth Napkin Bonanza

In my nesting efforts I have been finishing little projects that have been on my list for, oh let's say, the last two or three years. Today I moved some books from one shelf to another. I pass this shelf of books at least 10 times per day and every time I think it looks messy and needs to be moved or straightened. It took me all of 4 minutes to do today.

We've been doing a lot of home decorating as well. Talia got a bunk bed and Alex got Talia's old bed. I bought bedding and lamps and curtains for both. We ordered an entirely new living room from the nicest furniture store in Madison. Yesterday I bought a pillow for the new couch for $150. I could have totally made it myself-- if I didn't mind stealing a local artist's ideas. Today I bought coordinating fabrics and pillow forms so hopefully I can make a bunch of pillows to match. I also have been looking for an awesome tablecloth (for our new dining room table, gifted to us by my in-laws as they have recently downsized) and haven't found one I loved so I bought some fabric and fabric paint and am hoping to hand print one a la Lotta Jansdotter. I know, a lot of projects with a baby coming in less than a month-- especially considering I have totally stalled on her quilt...

Another thing I did today was sew up 22 cloth napkins. I've been wanting to use cloth exclusively for a long time but you really need a lot of napkins to make it work. I decided to take an entire collection of fat quarters and serge the edges. This is a collection I got at Joann's and I totally love it but... it's not the highest quality fabric. I made one or two quilts using this type of collection before and I think the fabric is too thin and slightly see-through so I don't want to go through all that work again and be disappointed with the final result. Now I get to look at this fabric collection every day anyway so I'll get to enjoy it! Truthfully, all I did was serge the edges of the fat quarters so if I change my mind and need a quilt, the fabric is still completely intact. Hopefully the serged edges will hold up to repeated washings.

Most importantly, I threaded my own serger today! Originally, a friend did it for me (by tying on new thread to the old thread's ends- I got a used and therefore previously threaded serger) and that worked fine. Then when I had a problem with it I took it to the repair shop. They didn't charge me but they did keep it for two weeks. A few days ago one of the needles came unthreaded. I tried to re-thread it but it kept coming undone. It worked fine as a three-thread serge, especially since I was just finishing edges-- not using it for actual construction. Today it just messed up completely in the middle of the cloth napkin project so... I got out my manual and re-threaded the whole thing. It took about 30 minutes and Alex was really trying to "help" me but I did it and I can DO IT AGAIN! I pride myself in being skilled at following written and pictoral directions. I think that's why I was able to teach myself to sew, cook, put furniture together and I'm great at reading maps. Taking on the serger, however, always scared me. Now I know I can do it. I love having a serger and would be lost without it. Imagine double hemming 22 napkins = that's 88 edges (meaning you would have to press them each twice for 176 edges). Even if the serged edges do not hold up after repeated washings I should still only have to single hem them. Isn't that great?

Details:: 8 :: Fresh Flowers

You can get the most beautiful bold colored flower bouquets for $5 at every Farmer's Market in Madison. I get fresh flowers at least once a week. Sadly they don't last as long as I would like. I think I need to take EACH flower are get all the leaves off the stems and that might make a difference. Usually I just chop off the bottoms and throw them in a vase. Still, for $5 what could be better?

Details:: 7 :: My View

Enough said.

Details:: 6 :: Organized Pantry

A completely organized pantry. I bought clear bins (big = $3, small = $1) and labelled each one with literally EVERYTHING in my pantry. Talia loves beans so I have one bin for cans of lentils and chickpeas and one for black/ white/ red beans. Now I just look in the bin to see what beans we need (this week, for example, we need red, black, white and lentils!). I have a bin of oils and vinegars, one of spaghetti sauce and salsa, etc. I can so easily see what I have that I can also see what I need. Before I would ask myself, are we out of rice?-- Oh, I'll just buy more... Now my cannisters are labelled and easy to see into. This has been amazing and it makes putting away groceries really easy too. Lastly, I bought non-clear bins for all the desirables-- chips, cookies, etc. so Talia can't see into them. She still asks for snacks but doesn't just open the pantry, see chips and want them. I also separated bags of opened chips (easy to reach) and unopened (way up high) since I generally find about 10 open bags of tortilla chips every time I look. Love love love!

Details:: 5 :: Wildflowers

I pass this protected area of wildlife every time I drive into my neighborhood. It has changed through the season from early to late summer and now to fall. According to my Wildflowers of Wisconsin book that's Canadian Goldenrod. In early summer it looked more like this...

Details:: 4 :: Staircase

I've basically got the coolest staircase ever. The metal design is amazing and makes me smile every time I go up the stairs. The wood is hard and has a refreshing quality to it. And it's very wide. The ends (posts?) have two different colors of wood in them. I will add a picture sometime when I get a chance.

Details:: 2 :: Greenery

I have always wanted a home filled with plants. This is my start. I don't have the best record with keeping plants alive. I doubt any of those flowers will last long but I'm trying! I might even get another bench and put it along the adjacent wall. I had a hard time finding a piece of furniture that would serve this purpose and fit in the space. I'm thrilled with that bench. It even matches. I guess maybe I *should* run out and get another one before they are gone! Picking the flower pots was fun too-- I still need one or two. I'll take a close up of some later. Tonight I saw these fabric pots online. I really want one!

Details:: 1 :: Sunshine in the cabinet

I think I'll try to post once a week on something I love or some striking feature of my new house.

Week 1: I caught some sunshine filtering through the built in cabinet that separates the dining room from the entryway. The bowl that is glowing was bought by me in New Zealand in 2002 (?) at the Hoglund Art Glass Studio and Gallery. I love the cabinet, I love the sunshine, I love handblown glass.