Summer Sewing

I took a blogging break for a while. But I did a few sewing projects that I would love to share with you. I made this tote bag with this paisley fabric. My absolute favorite thing about this bag is this button I found in Hobby Lobby. I love how it does not look as much like a button as a pendant to a necklace. It really looks like something a Jane Austen heroine would wear, don't you think?

I think this bag is quite strong because I put a Bible, a notepad, cell phone, keys and other small things in it and took it to the mall and it stayed strong. Here is the bag with a magazine inside it.

The fabric that you see under the bag is a chair cover I have been working on. To make it I cut out shapes like leaves of trees and and vintage Christmas ornaments. I cut those shapes out in green polka dot fabric and sewed it onto a white fabric. I am not done with this yet.

I also made a gift bag with fabric and lace flowers for a friend. I found these gray flowers also in Hobby Lobby.

Have you done any sewing lately? Would you let me know? If you leave me a comment it will make my day. Have a great day!

Red,white and blue pom-pom garland (Updated)

I made a pom-pom garland consisting of thirteen pom-poms in red,white and blue to represent the original thirteen colonies that participated in the American Revolutionary war.

I made the pom-poms with white yarn and then dipped four pom-poms each in red and blue paint. I dipped the last pom-pom in red and blue paint.

Then I wrapped two glass jars with red crepe paper and made white and blue dots on it to make a fourth of July vase for some daisies I gathered from our yard.

If you check out my post on Friday, June 28th, you can see the fifty paper flowers I made to represent the fifty states in the United States represented in the fifty stars in the flag. If you would like to check out my 1776 sign you can look at my post on Thursday, June 27. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have a recap of all my fourth of July crafts. Have a great day!

Mirror-work wall hanging in living room

Today I hung a red mirror work wall hanging on the wall behind the sofa. My husband Jerry Anthony brought it for me from India in 2009 or 2010. I think, it is supposed to be hung over a door. But I like it this way.

Here it is up close. I hope you have a great day!

Fifty red and blue flowers

I made fifty red and blue flowers, each with white centers, to symbolize the fifty states in the US, that are represented in the fifty stars in the US flag.

I made these flowers with crepe paper. The stems are made out of fabric wrapped chenille craft wires. I kept the flowers on the coffee table in the living room. I hope you have a great day!

Red, White and Blue Paper Flowers for the Mantel

I made red and white flowers with white centers with crepe paper for a fourth of July bouquet. I made red, white and blue polka dots with acrylic paint on a glass jar for a vase. I made the stems of the flowers with chenille wire wrapped in green fabric.

Have a great day!

Framed Postcards (updated)

I love the idea of shopping our own homes for art and meaningful decoration. I had found some postcards in my home and framed them. Today, my husband Jerry, fixed two nails on the wall in our living room and so we put up the framed postcards that I shared earlier.

My husband told me that the building is a picture of "Rashtrapati Bhavan" in New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bhavan is the president's official residence. And the street is the one in front of it. My husband's undergraduate degree is in Architecture and so his knowledge about buildings and understanding of buildings is very good.

New Delhi is really an amazing city with a ton of old buildings and as many new buildings. Since it has been the capital of many ancient Indian empires, it was the capital during the time when the British ruled India and because it is the capital now, it has layers and layers of history. But this particular picture represents the time when the British were ruling India.

Do you like picture postcards of old buildings? Have you framed postcards? I hope you have a great day!

My Fourth of July Mantel

I framed a quote by the second president of the United States, John Adams and kept it on the mantel. I also wrote the date on white paper and stuck it on red, white and blue scrapbook paper and framed that as well. The daisies are from our yard. Have a great day!

A quote and a picture of butterfly art

I love good quotes by wise people. I think quotations by wise people can guide us in our lives and can sometimes point out the truth to us. This is a quotation by Jane Austen which I like very much. So I wrote it down on my computer in the font called Script MT Bold and then copied that on a white sheet of paper and framed it for a wall in my home.

Here is another picture of the butterfly art I made yesterday. I took this picture yesterday. Do you have a favorite quote?

Four Butterflies Updated

I added one more butterfly to the mix. Earlier I had painted some butterflies to this same wall. I cut out one painted butterfly and added it to the earlier butterflies. I removed the pic of the three butterflies. Earlier I made two butterflies with scrap book paper and stuck it on the wall of the tiny hallway between the garage and the kitchen. I saw a small picture like this in House Beautiful and wanted to try it out. For one butterfly, I just cut out a butterfly shape on paper and stuck it on the wall with tape, and placed a frame on it so that it framed the butterfly. I removed the glass from the frame. I like the look of the paper wings sticking out and this is how it looked in the magazine too. For the other butterfly, I did not have a frame and so it is just there. The third butterfly is with fabric. I cut out the shape of a butterfly on fabric and sewed it to another piece of fabric. Then I stuck it to the wall with tape and placed a wood frame around it without the glass. Do you like butterfly art?

Stars and Stripes Pillow

I love decorating for the 4th of July. I love everything about this holiday... the colors, ---the red, white and blue, the fruits we get to eat, the watermelons, the strawberries, the blueberries, the cherries, yum; I love the fireworks we get to watch and I love to think about all the things that happened in history that led up to this great day. However, this is the very first time, I am making a 4th of July pillow. First, I thought I would put red and white pom-poms on a navy pillow but did not feel like going to the store just to pick up red pom-poms. I already had a white pillow and so I made it more interesting (I think) by painting red stripes and blue stars on it.

I am not sure if I did the stars right. But I like this pillow although it is a departure from the gray color palette I was going for on this sofa. I have a couple of other ideas also for 4th of July decorating which I am looking forward to sharing in the coming days. Do you like decorating for the fourth of July? If so, how do you do it?

Happy Memories of vacations

When our kids were in elementary school our family took a lot of vacations and travelled quite a bit to interesting and historic locations in the United States. And everywhere we went we would go to the sounenir shop and pick up a little something. A coffee mug, a necklace, a toy or just some picture postcards.

Going through old photographs I found three picture postcards that are like black and white photographs or pencil sketches. One is a historic building, one a pretty street and the third a rural scene of a horse driven buggy and lots of hay. I framed them in frames lying around to hang in our living room. We have not put nails yet to hang these but here is a tiny preview of these pics. I like them because they have an old world charm and because it reminds us of happy memories of trips we took as a family. Have you framed picture postcards? How do you preserve memories of past vacations? Shall share these again when we hang them in the living room. Right now, they are just leaned on the wall in the family room. Have a wonderful day!

Styled Book Shelves

I styled three more shelves in the bookcase in the family room. This is how it looks now.

The two lamps that look like Aladdin's lamps are from Turkey. My husband, Jerry Anthony had gone to Turkey last year for a conference and he brought me these lamps. I love them.

On the shelf beneath that I kept a ship and a bell. The bell is from Mexico and the ship is from Milwaukee, I think. Also, this morning, I framed three postcards with pictures of two buildings and an ink and pencil sketch of a rural scene. Shall share soon. Have a great day!

Bookshelf lined with gift wrapping paper and alphabet covered in gift wrapping paper

Yesterday I lined the back of the bookshelf in our family room with gift wrapping paper. This is how the first two shelves look. I'll style the rest of the shelves and show more pics later. Also, I made the letter "A" for Anthony and covered it with the same paper and kept it in the same gallery wall I have been working on. I have taken more pics but need to run them through picmonkey which I am doing now for all the pictures. Hope you have a great day!

Embroidery Hoop Word

Here is the embroidery hoop word I made. Joshua suggested the word.

Since the fabric and the thread I used are different shades of blue, I wanted to bring out more of the blueness and so I kept a bowl of blue pom-poms that I made last Christmas on the table. I read in a magazine article as well as in a blog that if you have a certain color in a very small quantity in a room, such as in a rug, or curtain and you want to accentuate that color you can do so by introducing other elements into that same room with that same color. That was the technique I was trying out here in this vignette. So in order to highlight the blue color from the embroidery hoop word, I found a book with a blue spine and gold lettering which I also kept on the table. However, the blue of the book does not show up as blue so much in the picture. I also kept a lamp that has blue on it which my husband Jerry Anthony brought for me from Turkey where he had gone for a conference last year.

Yesterday I made the Alphabet A (for the first letter of our last name) with cardboard and covered it with grey and silver polka dot gift wrapping paper. I fixed it on this same wall on the family room where I have the embroidery hoop word. All I have to do is take pics and post. Hopefully I can do it soon! Do you like embroidery?

Embroidery Hoop Word

I love the quote which says, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Lead the life you have always imagined." I think this quote is by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Because I love this quote and also because I have always liked the word "Dream" I embroidered the word "Dream" on a piece of blue fabric. Then, I framed it in the same hoop in which I embroidered it and hung it in our family room. Hopefully, every time my kids see this word or even my husband, Jerry and I see this word it will inspire us to dream big, reach for the stars and use our talents.

I have seen embroidery hoops used in gallery walls to display fabric and other things and so this is a spin-off of those ideas I have seen in blogland and magazines. This is how it looks with the other pictures I displayed recently on the same wall.

I have another embroidery hoop in the same size and so tomorrow I am planning to have the word "Smile" on this wall. I hope you will check back. Have a wonderful day!

Painted pink and gold dots on linen

I finished the project of painting pink and gold dots and small patterns onto linen and fixed it on a wall in my home between two windows. This is how it looks finished.

I think, later I will use another method of attaching the fabric onto the wall. Do you like painting fabric? I hope you have a wonderful day!

My Week

Sometime last week I started on this project for our living room wall. I am still not done with it. On linen I bought from Joannes, I am making this dot pattern with pink stencil paint and gold paint. I love this shade of pink. A few days ago, my husband Jerry gave me some roses. They were very beautiful buds at the time. But now, after only a few days they are wilting. This flower looked the freshest and so I took a picture of it. I really have missed blogging the past few days. It really is my creative outlet. I hope to get back into consistent blogging from tomorrow. Hopefully I can share with you the completed fabric project for the living room wall. Have a great day!

Children's accomplishments, and gold painted tree branch with pom-poms and paper flowers

Recently, both my children were honored for the hard work they have done in different areas. My older son Jeremiah Anthony was honored with the Youth Human Rights award for starting a twitter account in his school that sends compliments to other students. My younger son Joshua was honored for receiving the 7th place in the country and 4th place in the state of Iowa in a national level French language test. So I displayed those two certificates in the corner of the family room that I have been working on. I already had the blue border from the scrapbooking section in Hobby Lobby and so I made a frame on the wall with the blue border by sticking the border onto the wall. With Joshua's certificate, I had to place the certificate first in black construction paper and then place it inside the frame made by the border. Jeremiah's certificate already came in a black frame. Also, I had this pretty branch from my yard. So I painted it gold and hung pom-poms I had made earlier, and paper flowers and just placed them in different spots on the branch. In early spring I had seen an idea in marthastewart.com for making paper flowers and hanging them on a tree branch. So that was my inspiration for this. I hope you have a great day!