4 Patchwork Pouf Tutorial.

Happy Friday friends!  Just wanted to share this patchwork pouf that I made recently.  You can find the tutorial for the pouf on the Liberty Craft Blog today!

The top of the pouf features a patchwork Dresden plate made out of the Liberty Lifestyle Stile collection!  I used Essex yarn dyed linen in black for the base and the center of the Dresden.

This pouf is big, at about 20" in diameter and 15" high.  Perfect to use as an ottoman or extra seating!

Jackson is a fan!

Head over to the Liberty Craft Blog to find out how to make your own.

If you make a patchwork pouf, I'd love to see it!  You can upload it to the Bijou Lovely flickr group or use the hashtag #patchworkpouf on Instagram!

21 halloween decorating.

I finished my Halloween table runners, so I figured it was time to share some photos from around the house.  It's looking pretty festive in here this year!

First stop, the kitchen!  This is hanging out in the middle of our kitchen island today.  But I moved the Boo pumpkin over from the table for this picture :) 

 Spiderweb quilting!  This was really fun!

 Here's what the kitchen table looks like lately.  (The Boo pumpkin has been moved back to it's usual home).

 Over in the living room, here's one side of the mantle.

 And the other side...

 The coffee table is looking pretty fall-ish too.

Table runner #2 is in the foyer on the little table to the left of the door.  Yes, I have two of these owls!  They're too cute to just have one :)

The dining room table is decorated too, not so much for Halloween but for fall in general.  I really need some different flowers for in here!  They're looking a little too springy to me.

That concludes the tour for today!  No decorating upstairs since it is a disaster up there... construction is so messy!

33 sewing room tour.

I made sure to take some pictures of my sewing room while it was all cleaned up last weekend!  Would you like to look around?

Here's the view when you walk in the door.  The table in the center of the room is used as both my cutting table and sewing table.  I also baste my quilts on it.  My husband built it for me as my wedding gift when we got married!  It's big enough that I usually don't have to take my sewing machine off unless I'm cutting a lot of yardage.  I wish the top was a bit bigger so the cutting mat fit completely, but this works for now.  We might replace the top with something larger down the road.

(Because some people are asking, I turn my chair around from the computer desk to sew, the chair lifts up to the perfect height!  I do sew a little higher than you would at a normal table, but I find that it's easier on my back since I'm not hunched over.)

Behind the table on the long wall is my new pegboard!  I asked my husband if he could frame out a piece of standard pegboard in pretty trim to dress it up a bit.  This is the newest addition to the room, he just installed it a little over a week ago.  I hang my rulers, scissors, cutting mats, and washi tape on it, among other things.  All the things that I use a ton that aren't very easy to store elsewhere.  As you can see I still have lots of room to spare here.

I've hung a few mini quilts along this wall as well, my improv mini from Sewing Summit last year and the awesome typewriter mini from Jen.  Of course my fabric stash sits along the bottom of this wall as well!  Batting and home dec fabrics are stored in the corners, mainly because I don't have anywhere else to put them.

If you turn back towards the left, you'll see my embroidery hoop art!  Lots of my favorite fabrics are framed here.  A long dresser I thrifted last year sits along this wall and holds all of my shipping supplies, along with paper and paint.  Eventually I'll switch it out for a similar dresser that's white, but it's still half painted in my basement and I don't see myself finishing it anytime soon.

Turning back towards the door, you can see my design wall and ironing board setup.  My husband built the design wall too, it's just some plywood framed out with a reclaimed wood frame and wrapped with a layer of batting.  The ottomans in front of the design wall hold all of my work supplies and folders, and offer a place to sit in case anyone wants to visit me (which doesn't happen often in here!).  The door near the ironing board leads to a small walk in closet with more craft supplies.

Here's where you can find me most of the time during weekdays.  Parked in front of my desk and computer screen!  The board on top holds my to do lists, business cards, sketches and such.

This is where I'd actually prefer to be on weekdays... sorting through my fabric stash!  Yardage of all of my prints are stored on this side.

Solids and fat quarters are stored in the top of this side.  Linens, flannels, and home dec prints are in the bottom left and center stacks, with multicolored quilting cottons on the right (I have such a hard time with that stack!).

The middle shelves under the bench hold some WIPS and precuts, along with my AMH stash!  Thread, bobbins, and some other special fabric stacks live in small shelves on top here.

Notions, markers, and other things I use a ton are all organized in milk glass containers on the top of my shelves.

My scrap bin, binding, zippers, and more thread live on the other side.

On top of the bench I've got my spool pillow, ruffle quilt, and an amazing crewel pillow I thrifted recently.  You can also see my washi tape and twine collection more clearly in this picture!

The sides of my cutting table provide a ton of storage too!  This side holds my stationary, camera supplies, paint swatches, notebooks and patterns.

 The other side holds my vintage sheets, thrifted fabrics, and work stuff.

The top of my dresser provides even more storage, with bins for selvages and WIPs, and a basket full of pouches holding different handwork projects.

My AMH flannels and voiles and some finished items sit on this cube next to my dresser.  The bins below hold my ribbon and even more craft supplies.  My little tv is also over here, but I rarely watch it!  I much prefer music to watching tv while sewing.

This little antique wooden cabinet holds all of my needles, pins, and small rulers.  I covered some old boxes with washi tape, those sit on top!  The little trophy is from my sister, she thinks I'm a winner!  It makes me laugh so I keep it here. :)

I think that about wraps up the tour!  I kind of feel like a hoarder after writing this post :)  I have a ton of fabric and crafting supplies, but it's all pretty organized!  This room will likely evolve over time just like any other room, but for now I'm calling it finished.  Hope you enjoyed the peek into my sewing room!

7 sewing room sneak peek.

There's been a lot of organizing and such going on in my sewing room this week!  Not enough time today for me to photograph the whole thing, so here's a little sneak peek until I get a chance to take some more pictures.

I'm off to spend the weekend with Jeni, Faith, and Lee!  They should be arriving shortly.  Hope you all have a great weekend!!

8 a few foyer updates.

Awhile back I posted about how I'm going to take more pictures of areas of my house before they are completely finished.  This is another one of those posts!  The foyer in our house isn't at all the way we want it to look, but it is going to be a long time before we finish this room so right now I'm trying to make the best of what we've got!  Eventually the wallpaper will come down, the floors will be redone or stained darker, the trim will be white (in here and throughout the house) and the carpet on the stairs will be torn out.  Until then, I'm just happy to have a few things hanging on the walls and some furniture to fill the space!

I picked up a piano bench at a warehouse antique sale recently, cleaned it up a bit and put it in the nook near the stairs.  It's a nice place to set a bag down or sit down to tie your shoes!  The art and decorations will look a lot better once we paint the walls (most likely some sort of light gray), but it's better than looking at the bare wall.

 I added a small tray with some decorative items in it for a pop of color in the corner.

 We also got new rugs in here a few months ago which I love!

I picked up an old chair at the same antique sale, and reupholstered it with a random home dec fabric from my stash.  I don't think the chair will stay in here forever, but it works until I get some sort of little cabinet or table to put here.  Plus it matches the rug, which was a happy accident!

This little table has been in here since last October, but I hung a new mirror to fill the space above it earlier this year.

We also painted the door a peacock blue which kind of ties all of the blues together when it's open.  More on that subject once the project is finished... still need to paint a little more and repair some trim.

This room still needs a lot of work but it's feeling much more welcoming in here lately!

24 bathroom update.

The bathroom is finished!  At least the construction phase anyway.  We still need to add some shelves and towel bars, etc, but the bathroom is functional again.

The shower door was installed this week, which was the last major component we needed to actually use the bathroom again.  I was a little worried that the doors would make the room feel a lot smaller, but thankfully your eye just travels through the glass to the actual shower itself, so the room still feels big and airy.

We were having some issues with the faucets that came with our vanity, but after getting some replacement parts (provided by the company) they are working just fine now.

Yesterday was the first time I used the shower, and it was pretty much the best shower of my life.  I am in love.

 I found this little marble topped stool at an antique store a couple weeks ago, and it's perfect in here!

It's kind of hard to get a straight on shot of the vanity now that the shower door is in.  I was sitting on the bench to take this picture, trying to avoid shooting through the glass.

Obviously there will be some less than pretty items in here eventually (i.e. shampoo, etc) but I took those out for the pictures :)

Now comes the fun part...decorating and accessories!

Previous bathroom posts: here and here, and before pictures here.

9 bathroom update.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend!  I didn't mess up the ham, so thanks for crossing your fingers :)  We spent a good portion of the weekend putting the master bathroom back together.  It's still not finished, but it's actually semi-functional now!

We sealed the floors and installed the vanity, toilet, and light fixtures on Saturday.  Obviously we're missing a sink, due to a faulty bolt in the countertop, but we should be able to fix that this week and get this side of the bathroom totally functional!  We're also still missing a shower door and fixtures, trim, and we need to paint the door and add the other bathroom fixtures and figure out shelves in here, among other things.  Definitely work left to be done!

Can I tell you how happy these pendant lights make me?  They are my favorite part!  Along with the floors of course.

I think it's about time to buy some accessories for the room.  I already have a few items on my wishlist at West Elm!