Crafty reference

This is on my 'must pick up' list.  This book looks like it has lots of good crafty ideas and diagrams (which don't necessarily guarantee success, but hey, there's pretty pictures to look at!).

Back to regular programming...

I missed a good chunk of last week due to a nasty stomach flu sneaking up on me, so this week, let's turn over a new and refreshing (and healthy!) leaf, dust off our crystal balls and take a look and see what our future Ikea summer purchases for summer might be...

Mynta plant pots (*gasp* This may be hard to believe, but I would pick the white one!).

Salvia hanging planter. I think these would look amazing with strawberries spilling over the sides.

Solig solar-operated lights.

Greno cushions. 

Roxo easy chair (not sure how comfortable this would be, it looks a little awkward).

Kitty participation

When I was sewing the blanket ('QUILT!') for my mom, Lulu couldn't get enough of it.  Give her a yard of fabric and she's a happy kitty*. 

*(Other things that make her happy: a Kerplunk stick, a chickadee through the window/or on tv, a running faucet, grass, a paper tube, her squeaky dog, her fluffy feather duck, a cup of juice...) 

Making a quilt

I wanted to do something special and handmade for my mom's birthday this year, so I decided to make a quilt.  I took the instructions from the French General Home Sewn book I bought last month (with a few changes, I didn't use linen so I needed batting, and I added buttons on the outside to hide mismatched squares and give it a little 'bling!').  I used fabric by Anna Maria Horner from her Garden Party line.  Overall, for my first (EVER) quilt -- and I use that loosely after calling it a blanket many times and having a woman at a fabric store snap at me and say 'quilt!' -- I think it turned out pretty good*.   

* And LARGE.  You don't realize what 81" x 81" is until you sew this behemoth.

Kitchen shelves

Like most people with limited kitchen space, I like to take advantage of wall storage for items that I use on a regular basis when cooking or baking. Of course, this storage needs to look good -- who wants to look at something ugly in one of their most-used rooms? My shelves were decent, but in need of a little spruce-up. Here's some tips that I like to follow:

- Display things that you use regularly, but aren't crucial to have within an arm's reach (like pots and pans, utensils, spices, etc.)

- Take dust wraps off of books that you display -- they're usually much prettier looking without them (I have some really ugly ones that didn't make the cut)

- Include some quirky items that add some personality

- Find jars and containers that look pretty, and use opaque or ceramic jars to hide not so pretty items

- If you're installing shelves in your kitchen, be sure they can hold the weight of heavy items (mine are installed according to Trevor's 'so strong you can hang off them' mantra -- which means making sure you hit some studs or use proper wall anchors!)

FLOR musings...

Checkered Past (Laurel and Lime)

FLOR tiles look like such a great idea for so many areas around the house. There are so many designs to choose from, and these are my favorites:

Shirt Stripe (Stripe a Pose)

Corrugated Rib (Brook)

Bedroom inspiration

When we go away, I like to check out the small boutique hotels -- they always have something more interesting to offer than the chain hotels (and sometimes at an equal or better price!).  One of our first stays was at Hotel Deluxe in Portland, where we found the inspiration for our bedroom*: 

Another hotel that we stayed in last month was Hotel Max in Seattle:

And, most recently, I won a free night at Hotel Murano in Tacoma (yay twitter contests!!):

*no photos of that, it's in the middle of a major ensuite reno and looks like a disaster