modern Southwest quilt

Here is my latest little quilt:

in a mix of solids and linen essex (linen/cotton blend, perfect for quilting!)
The pattern is from this book "Southwest Modern" by Kristi Schroeder:so inspiring!
I made mine bigger by adding extra borders and stripes.

I started this little quilt more than 2 years ago,

during my ORC living room update

thinking that I would make it a cover for the leather couch,

where the dogs love to sleep....

but it seems too nice to be use there!

And it looks so perfect

Of course, this handsome boy looks pretty good

with it too!

Happy sewing!

Front yard overall, part one

Last time, I shared our new front porch,

well here is how it all came to be ....
But first we need to look back to the house in 2011:

Good house but not very interesting from the outside.
The first thing we changed was the front door, it was not closing properly. we had to replace it with a custom door as it is very wide, great for moving furniture!
A couple years later, the two huge windows that are in the stair case,  went from single pane 1960 windows to double pane windows, no more rain inside from condensation!

The house remained this way for a few years, not beautiful but very comfortable. You can see scars just above the front/large window where a porch or something must have been.
Finally last year we had the house repainted, we thought about doing ourselves, but felt overwhelmed.

Tall ladder and roof are not my friends! The crew we hired did a great job, and were able to work uninterrupted, probably the only week of summer without rain!

The color is SW Oyster Bay .
From the pictures, you cannot tell but the retaining wall was rotten, and started to fall over, it was time to do something.
Finally this year, in late February, we started the front yard overall! We hired the same contractor/mason that did  our back patio 6 years ago.

The first part is always a little scary and ugly!

We were the envy of the neighborhood!

Once the dirt was removed, they built some forms

and it started to look less scary...

Once the concrete was poured,

they started building walls and covering all the concrete with blue stones.

Coming home every night after work was a treat,

always looking better....

and until the masons were done:

(the driveway still needed to be redone)

Next up: building of the front porch.

Happy day!

morning coffee on the front porch

This summer we are staying home, like a lot of people, so we have been enjoying a new routine on the weekend: coffee on the front porch!

We also use it after work for a cool beverage,

and a chat with the neighborhood and its many dogs!

I could not resist adding some sunflowers, 

both in plants and in prints,

so cheerful!

Espresso and homemade lemon biscotti (still working on those..)

are a fun way to dream of Italy and the vacation we could have had...

Our front porch is a new addition to our house,

and we love it.

We also added a walkway through the front yard,

and it is so nice!

We still have some things that we need to work on, but it is so much nicer than when we moved here over 9 years ago....

I will do a post over our front yard transformation in the near future...
Happy day!

homemade taralli, or eating Italian snacks while dreaming of vacations!

This summer we were originally planning on going to Italy (and France of course!), but instead we are staying home, eating Italian snacks and drinking wine, not a bad combination!

Mon cheri has been teaching the kids his family recipe for these delicious taralli, and they did a pretty good job. It is very similar to this one from She Loves Biscotti.

They have anise seeds which adds a nice flavor.

They are quite different from the ones you can buy,

I love both!

I hope we can go visit Florence next year,

it has been so long since I was a student there...

Until then, vine and crackers!

Happy Holiday weekend!

refinishing the patio table and some new candles

Summer is well on its way here in the DC suburbs,

and since we are not going anywhere,

it is nice to eat/drink on the patio.

But some of the furniture I made for the patio in 2015/2016

were starting to look a little tired.

Too many long winters!

Earlier, I refinished the couch, staining it blue:

and that brought back that little corner to its former glory.

So I decided to tackle that huge table I built in 2016 for the ORC

from our old deck.

(the house was repainted last year!)

I never updated it on the blog, but I added some wood all around it for a more finish look.

I spent hours sanded it, bring it back to the light wood:

I liked the look of "naked" wood but it needed some protection for the elements,

so I tried teak oil on the bench like in the past, but that has a country look.

so I went with this oil instead :

it is darker than "naked" but the wood doesn't have that yellow color,

so I am happy with it!

With the table looking so nice,

I wanted to add some candles to the tabletop.

A while back I had seen this cool tutorial at Remodelando La Casa

and decided to make one too,

and it turned out perfect:

I followed the tutorial Cristina wrote, just changing the color of the spray paint to sea foam  instead of aqua. And I do not have any sand or seashells, so I used stone dust and flat rocks. I even had the same little glass containers,  I guess we like the same desserts!
So now we are ready to enjoy some nice meals on the patio:

Happy Day!