Kolor Kismet

There I was, pinning away, looking for color inspiration for my house. My neighbor loves my colorful garage and when I showed her the taupe and sage window on the side of the house, I could tell I had let her down. Sad face. I had similar feelings about it, but this was the simplest solution. And I didn't want to start from scratch. And yet,...So I went looking for something else. Something perfect for our cottage bungalow.

I searched "aqua and gray" and found a few houses with gray and white and aqua. And then I found this fabric:

Instant love. The beige instead of white makes it less "NEW HOUSE COLORS" and more like it's always been that way. Like the khaki kind of grounds it and makes it less "fresh" and more "vintage," which is all I've ever wanted. And I won't have to clean as much.

I was showing John, who said, "I thought it was too good to be true," referring to the sage and beige that I painted one window.  He thought I had finally chosen and it wasn't obnoxious. As I stared at the fabric I had a feeling that I knew it.  But I could have just pinned it before, a common problem with Pinterest.  So I traced the original post and...AMAZING!

It was designed by Cameron Blazer. My cottage-industrialist friend who used to live UPSTAIRS from me when we lived in the valley. Like, I could knock on her door and watch the food network with her. And sometimes she had dinner parties where she made sushi from scratch. And we shopped together and inspired each other in many, many ways.

Of all the pins on pinterest, I pinned her fabric as an inspiration for my home. Looks like we can still inspire each other even with all those bloody states between us.

Starchy and Hutch

My fabulous thrift store red cabinet. What have I done to you now? Previously on musebootsi I added hooks to the side to provide a place to hang my jackets and bags. But mostly to keep things away from the kids.

This time I decided to add some fabric to hide my mess. I knew I could starch the fabric in place, but I wasn't sure if I could spray starch it. You're supposed to use pure liquid starch. Which John normally uses to mix his own starch, except that we can't find it anymore. So I just used Faultless Spray Starch.

I just sprayed the glass, then sprayed the fabric until it was saturated and then pressed the fabric in place. It ended up with a few bubbles, but from a distance they are not noticeable.

It's been 24 hours, and it's still up. I'll let you know how it goes.

Things to do in Altadena when it rains.

My mom came to visit and took me to the fabric store to pick out a couple of fabrics to complete my quilt. They had a row of Timber by Jessica Levitt which I instantly fell in love with.

 

So I got the aqua trees. Maybe it doesn't exactly match. So it may be the back. But it's so pretty it doesn't matter.

In other news, I was asked to sew something for Hartwell's class art project for his school's silent auction. I'm not sure if they expect someone to actually buy it. Or if it's a presentation of how amazing our children are. His teacher thought a small quilt with squares designed by the kids would be cute. Crayola has some fabric markers and I found this quick and easy quilt tutorial to use.

I can't wait to see what the kids do! I love kids art. I'm having trouble throwing it away. I want to wait at least until I have his entire preschool collection. Then I can photograph it and frame the good stuff.

Quilty, quilty, green squared.

Thought I'd give quilting a whirl. Last time I visited my mom in Seattle (more like Canada), she bought me this pack of squares. I thought they matched my living room and that maybe I'd eventually make some pillows or something. Now that we're trying not to spend any unnecessary money, (i.e. on fabric and jalapeno poppers), I've been digging through my stash of unfinished/never started projects and gettin' busy.

The projects do two things, keep me busy so I don't leave the house and give me something to post about. I'm also slowly finishing all the little bits that I have laying around. I found an embroidered drum set and some great vintage pieces that I meant to turn into something amazing.

I keep stumbling and finding really fantastic quilts people whip together. Which makes me want to try it. I remembered I had this pack of fabric, arranged it in a pattern I liked and started sewing. It's not perfect, but it'll make a great nap quilt for John. Something I can keep in the living room that I don't have to hide if someone comes over.

My mom is coming to visit for Hartwell's birthday and she's an uber-quilter. So I'll probably drag her to my local quilting store to finish the edges and get a cool backing fabric. It's only 3' x 3' right now, not quite enough to cover my feet.