it starts to look like fall...

Fall is here, lots of leaves to rake in the yard,

cool weather (the heater has been turned on),

the dolls have their new outfits,

the only thing missing was some fall decor in our house.

I had great plans, especially after my Halloween Hunt a couple weeks ago...

Well it did not work out at all,

so bad and sad that I do not want to go into the details...

(but it did involve some paint and foil, there is always Christmas)

So I went with something easy,

and it did make me happy in the end:

I decorated our sideboard in the dining room, with a variety of pumpkins, real and glass;
(how fitting to have a glass Cinderella pumpkin since I made Cinderella dresses for everybody!)

and pottery: the green one is from Miss C.'s pottery class,

the beautiful orange and black comes from a South West Native American tribe,

the yellow pitcher holding the flowers is from PB.

And no setting is complete without a proper drink collection!

Of course the amazing banner is really the most interesting part for me.

I received as a gift from Chartreuse and Co,

perfect for somebody who enjoys paper crafting!

A non fall related news, but totally inspired by vintage things,
we purchased some new chairs for the dining room.
I guess we are going for vintage industrial look....
I have plans for the IKEA bookcase,
hopefully it will work better than my fall plan!

Happy day!

I am linking this post to Primitive And Proper who organized the Halloween Hunt.

Cinderella costume

As I have mentioned before,

we are Cinderella lovers,

and since Halloween is coming soon

at least on blog land (!)

I am reposting our costumes.

I made both of our costumes

Miss C. is Butterick pattern 4320

and mine is  Simplicity pattern 2813.

Of course Dolly had to have her own!

The pattern is simplicity 2264.

There is a tulle petticoat for added volume.

I know a true lady does not show her undergarment

but she is only pulling up her skirt to knee level!

It was a great Halloween evening,

with matching Daughter and Mom and Dolly!

Sewing costumes takes a while,

but they last so much longer,

zippers are so much better than velcro!

How do we know?

well we dress up more than just for Halloween!

It is a least a once a week event for Miss C.!

Happy sewing!

fall sign

Do you remember the American flag I made

using this tutorial?

Well it was so much fun, I decided to make something similar for fall!

I started with some 2 x 4, mod podge, craft paint,

and scrapbook paper.

I  cut 3 pieces from the 2 x 4:

8, 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 inch long.

Each piece was painted a different color.

I used my Slice machine with the farm cartridge

and cut Fall, pumpkins, fork and fence.

I clued the paper with mod podge,

then sanded the edges,

and applied some more brown paint on these edges.

I then glued the letters and accessories to the block.

Voila, a cool little sign!

Now I am not sure which one I prefer:

all in a row or with the extra block on the top...

What do you think?

any favorite?

The acorns come from a park around the corner

where we spend a lot of time during the showing of our house.

My son, the scout, was quite shocked that we picked them up,

"leave nature the way you find".

He is right, I just hope who ever was going to eat them will be OK!

Happy crafting!

olive fabric, take II

While I enjoy making my olive pillows,
I also made a little place mat/table runner
using burlap and my olive fabric.

I started with this fabric,

perfect to make a band.

I cut the top part of, using the smaller part of the print,

leaving 1/2 inch on either side.

I ironed under both seam allowance.

I first sewed the 2 ends at a 45 degree angle.

Then I found the middle and stitched again at

a 45 degree angle.

Each time I cut the extra fabric.

Then I decided on a longer length and sorter length,

and again sew a 45 degree angle, twice to define my rectangle.

I stitched it to the top of my burlap (bigger than the finish size),

on the inside edge,

just inside the applied fabric.

After this step,

I folded the burlap up, just under the olive fabric,

pinned it, and stitched it.

voila a perfect little table runner!

I also continued my pillow quest!

Once again I was inspired by another PB pillow!

 This lumbar pillow cover.

I have seen them in the "flesh" and they are nice,

but the linen/hemp is fairly rough!

So once again I used  my trusted linen,

soft, easy and readily available!

I made it simple, same shape,

but no applique,

each time I tried something,

it never looked quite right,

it felt as I was trying to hard,

so I let the fabric do the talking and I listened!

Plain and crisp, that what it said!

and it was right, I like it just that way!

I used a continuous piece of fabric, about 24 by 29.

The shorter end were turned under twice at 1/4 inch,

and stitched.

Then the longer end were folded under once at 1 1/2 inch.

With wrong side together and the fabric overlapping in the back,

the side were stitched (from the right side) at 1 inch,

giving a similar feel to the PB pillow.

Decorative buttons can be added on the side to complete the look.

I am still unsure about adding buttons,

I even made some fabric one covered with the yellow fabric...

Do not forget tomorrow, Wednesday,

it is olive fabric giveaway

so please come back!

For giveaway, enter here

Happy sewing!

One more olive picture:

now real peace!

olive fabric, take I

As I wrote in my last post,

I played with the fabric from Provence my Mom sent me.

You probably have seen my inspiration:

the PB olive oil patch pillow cover ,

cool, but not soft and over price!

So I made my own version, and my own patch!

I used the fabric from the top right corner,

the image sticks out of the clear square onto the yellow border,

so I decided to go wider, much wider!

I fused some wonder under to the patch

(a little smaller than the actual square),

and like PB I stitched twice around the patch

and frayed the edges

(does not work if fused to the top!)

The background fabric is 100% linen from Joann,

it does wrinkle a lot,

but has a great live in feel!

The rest of the pillow is sewed simply, without zipper,

just by overlapping the fabric in the back,

as I have done on these pillows.

As I was concerned about all the frayed edges

and our "active" life style

(ie. big dogs, small children)

I decided to make another one:

Here I just sewed bands of linen around the olive oil picture.

I just love this fabric!

Together they work well,

and so far the raw edges are surviving nicely

Come back tomorrow for more olive goodness

and Wednesday for the giveaway!

*update: giveaway closed*

Happy sewing!

gifts from Provence

Have you been to Pottery Barn lately?

It is as usual beautiful and

full of Olives!!!

One of my favorite themes,

and perfect with all of my Provence accessories.

A while ago I wrote about my parents' trip to

Provence and how hard it was to watch it from afar...

Well apparently not matter how old you are,

whining will get you something!

I just received my care package:

a tablecloth and some fabric!

And guess what is on this tablecloth?

Yep, olives!

While it might not match everybody's decor,

it works for us.

It does it especially well since I have plates

with the same dark yellow and olive trees.

I bought these plates at Sur La Table about 5 years ago.

They are from a French designer: Guy Degrenne,

but since they are made in Hungary,

they were never sold as French plates,

they were very popular in France.

It also works well with the olive wood serve ware I have:

a cheese tray that I showed you here

and a salad/fruit bowl.

So I am very pleased.

I must admit I did buy one small olive plate at PB

and I think it looks good too!

But alas I cannot afford more...

But there is still the fabric!

My Mom knows I like quilting/sewing,

so she usually tries to send me a variety of fabric

in small yardage, instead of one big piece.

And this time she sent me some Olive fabric of course!

She is so clever!

The fabric on the top left corner is extremely small

as it is her remnant from a tablecloth she is sewing.

The linen is mine and I have some ideas

that I will be sharing with you tomorrow and in the next few days.

More PB inspiration!

Also I am planning on sharing with one person

my little olive fabric paradise:

yes, a first giveaway in a couple days!

For giveaway, enter here

Here are a few pictures from Provence:

so many tablecloths to choose from!

For dinner: ratatouille of course!

Happy day!