heat wave

It seems as though summer is dragging on. The heat zaps my energy, appetite, and general desire to do any outdoor activity. ...sigh. I'm ready for Christmas! So, I'll have to settle for the next best thing - the smell of Christmas. Last night I made some oatmeal raisin cookies. The cinnamon and cloves made my apartment smell absolutely festive! 

We're going on a mini-road trip to visit family this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. It feels like it's been ages since we went anywhere. 

Happy Weekend!

oh happy day!

I have been wanting to collect vintage paint by numbers for oh so long. I go thrifting fairly often, but never seem to come across any. Soooo, you will understand my excitement when I found one at Goodwill this weekend for a mere $2!

Although the frame isn't in great shape, it could be replaced... and the colors are still so bright and vibrant.

On an unrelated note, I made blueberry scones for Sunday breakfast. They were delish! Next time I'll use raisins and a bit of cinnamon.

summertime

Few things are better than iced coffee in the summertime with one's sweetheart. :)

out of the heat

I love waking up in the morning with a project on my mind that I can't wait to start! It's blazing hot outside, so I feel no guilt at all about staying inside allllll day and sewing to my heart's content.

:)

a few peeks from my apartment

I think carnations get a bad rap. They're very pretty flowers. (Not to mention affordable.)

<-- some placemats waiting on quilting. and apparently a good pressing.

It's going to be a good crafting day... I can feel it!

happy anniversary

Charles and I recently celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. I am a little late with this post, as our actual anniversary was last Saturday... but, better late than never, right?

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pictures. 

We went to Pink Elephant Cafe for lunch (which is now my new favorite local restaurant). The decor is so charming and vintage, and the food is delicious!

Then, we went to Cuppies & Joe. Of course it didn't occur to me to take a picture before we ate the cupcake... but trust me, it was just as pretty as it was tasty.

Then we had dinner in Bricktown and walked around a bit. It was an absolutely lovely day. I love you honeypie! Happy six years!

a bit of sewing

New project... a baby quilt. (for no baby in particular) I'm in love with the colors, but not in love with the lighting in my apartment. I really need to start taking pictures outdoors.

Happy weekend!

birfday!

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a wonderful day! We went to The Diner (one of my favorite local restaurants) for breakfast. Then, we drove to Fort Worth to have dinner with some dear friends and to see Imogen Heap in concert. Dinner was lovely and the concert was absolutely fantastic.

I got up early this morning to hit up some garage sales. Unfortunately, no treasures were found. Oh well. win some, lose some.

Charles always jokes with me that I did not get the girl gene of being able to take a decent outstretched-arm picture. :) I'm working on it.

back to real life

We're back from Myrtle. It feels SO good to be home. Especially since I left the apartment so neat and tidy. (Doesn't that make coming home so much better?)

My first order of business (after unpacking, of course) was to give my sewing machine a much needed cleaning. For the rest of the day I will be tackling all the quilting bee blocks that I am ridiculously behind on. Here goes!

Oh, and here's a pic of myself and the hubby after graduation. :)

blogging break

I'm on vacation! in Myrtle Beach ...so that's my excuse for the severe lack of blogging. I realized that I haven't even posted a picture from graduation! I would do it now, but I'm not currently using my computer. Will be back soon, hope everyone is enjoying the beginnings of summer.

new project

I must say, I had one splendid weekend. I relaxed, sewed a bit, cleaned house, made/drank lots of coffee (per usual), and spent some quality cuddle time with the hubby. It was wonderful! Plus, the weather has been gorgeous lately. It seems like we rarely have a true spring season here in Oklahoma, but this spring has been lovely. I feel rejuvenated, and ready to take on these last two weeks of school. (YES!)

SO. Here's my new project. I hate to gush, but I am in loooove with this quilt. (Although, it can hardly be considered a quilt, as it is still in block form. But I am sure it will grow up to become a b e a u tiful quilt.) The photo doesn't really do it justice, as the lighting in my apartment is terrible.

This is one of my favorite color combinations for spring. (robin's egg blue & yellow is my other fave). I never used to like yellow, but it has really grown on me. Actually this quilt started because of the yellow solid fabric. I mis-cut some yellow strips for some placemats I'm making (will blog about soon, SO cute), and I didn't want them to go to waste - especially since my stash is nearing depletion of that color yellow.

Anywho. Hope everyone is having a nice week!

pretty flowers

I am so addicted to English paper pieced flowers. Couch, coffee, some good tv, a needle and thread, and I'm ready for a nice evening in. However, it blows my mind that there are actually people out there who make entire quilts this way. I think I'll stick to making small flowers for embellishing bags and pillows.

It's almost the weekend, yay! I'm going to do my utmost to be super organized and get all kinds of crafty stuffs done. We'll see how that goes.

burp cloths and the countdown begins

Another gift for my sister-in-law : 12 burp cloths! Aren't the colors so bright and happy? These were quick and easy - I just added a strip of fabric to the middle of Gerber pre-fold cotton diapers. It almost seems a shame to use such pretty fabric for spit-up and such. But... only the best for little Maggie!

On a school-related note, I think the countdown to graduation should officially begin. I have 3 more weeks (counting this one), then finals week, then graduation! I cannot wait. But I will. only because I have to.

looks like someone has a case of the mondays

and that someone is me. It's been one of those days...
BUT, as promised, here's a picture of my Itty Bitty Baby Dress. Isn't is absolutely precious?! I love it.

I don't think the picture captures just how small it is. It really is tiny. which only makes it cuter. I followed made by rae's tutorial to a T, except for the piping at the waist. I didn't have any piping, so I opted to instead use a plain fabric strip (minus the piping inside). OH, and all the fabric came from my stash. Go me.

bee block

Today I worked on a block for Corey of my Scraptastic quilting bee. She sent the Kona charcoal, and we each supplied the colorful prints from our stash. I love how it turned out! Plus, I got to use up some scraps. I'll be back later to post a picture (as soon as I take one) of my Itty Bitty Baby Dress. Hope everyone has had a pleasant weekend!

friday night in

My poor Charles is sick. So, we spent our Friday night on the couch catching up on t.v. shows we had missed throughout the week, and then going to bed rather early... except I wasn't tired yet, so I brought my laptop with me, and took advantage of the time by perusing Flickr and my favorite blogs for inspiration. I could really spend hours and hours online without evening noticing... probably not a good habit. Anyway. It hasn't been a good week for sewing, and I have to work tomorrow, but Sunday... Sunday is going to be a crafty day - I can feel it.
I've had the Itty Bitty Baby Dress bookmarked on my computer for a looong time, and I think I'm finally going to get around to making one. My sister-in-law is expecting in June, and baby Maggie definitely needs a handmade dress from her Auntie Claire!

it's a beautiful day

I had such a successful morning out garage/estate sale-ing! Along with the cute little owlies above, I got a small fawn AND a bunch of gorgeous vintage fabric. Now I feel fueled up for a weekend of studying for my tax test. Bring it on "taxation of capital gains" and "depreciation recapture"!

Goodness gracious, did I fall off the face of the earth?

Okay. Clearly I'm not great at this blogging thing. It's been many many many days since I last posted! Geez...

So why the long hiatus? Well. mainly because I graduate in May, so I'm finishing up my last semester here at OU - something that is both exciting and stressful. Also, I've been in somewhat of a crafting funk. Anyone else ever get that way? I have lots of ideas, but I feel like I can't get my brain focused in one direction. And, I realized that I am NOT happy with my fabric stash (which is of a moderately large size)... maybe I've just been staring at the same fabrics for too long, I don't know. 

Anywho. On a more pleasant note, I've been taking an Indie Business class (taught by Elsie Flannigan, Leigh-Ann Keffer, and Jill Munro), and it has been absolutely wonderful! I will admit I was a bit hesitant at first to blindly take a class like this, but I am sooo glad I did. It has been incredibly valuable. I'm really hoping that Charles finds an oh so wonderful job that will financially allow for me to stay home and focus full-time on getting my crafty business going. 
I actually did do some sewing this past weekend... but alas no pictures to show. Note to self: must take more pictures. 


Well. If anyone is still reading this... have a wonderful day!


-claire

!!

Liberty of London has a collection coming out at Target!

Be still my beating heart. 

-claire

not a good day

Hello folks
I'm writing this post in an effort to truly blog about everything that happens in my life - not just the positive. Last night I had to make a trip to the ER for some weird allergic reaction I had. My eyes were swollen about halfway shut (which has actually happened before, I was advised to take Claritin every day, and if it happened again and my throat started feeling tight to go to the ER). So, I of course took my Claritin yesterday like a good girl. But around 4:30 my eyes started swelling. When my throat started feeling puffy as well, I decided we should go. It's scary, and I hate it. ...Luckily we have some savings (I've been able to work more this semester, as I'm only taking my last two classes), to pay for the ER visit and a forthcoming visit to an allergist (since I have no idea what I'm allergic to). Blech. Not a good day.

But on a happier note, anyone noticed that Teddy Grahams have belly buttons? It makes that much more delicious I say. : )

-claire

P.S. Looking forward to some major crafting this weekend. major.

all you need is love

I must confess, I'm not a big Valentines Day person. But, I will admit this V-day snow was magical!

Enjoy your day with the one you love!

-claire

tax on the brain

I'm doing this:

(studying for a tax accounting exam)

but I would rather be crocheting... or basically anything but studying.

brown bear, brown bear

I am in love with this hat! I finished it over a week ago, but haven't been able to get a good picture of it. So when we were out walking around downtown yesterday morning I had Charles snap a quick picture of it in front of the pretty red brick. (By the way, I LOVE our downtown.)

I've really been making an effort lately to experiment with things, and not be bound to patterns. So, this hat was definitely an experiment. Next time I will: 1) make a ribbed brim instead of rolled, 2) make the bow bigger, and 3) change up the way I do the decreasing stitches towards the top. But still. I lovelovelove it.

-claire

chalkboards

Lately I've realllllly been wanting a chalkboard wall. But alas, I cannot have one, because we will soon be moving... which I'm sure I've whined about before on here :) (And really I have no right to whine, I mean, we're blessed to have been able to get college degrees, and have the opportunity to look for jobs - whether out of state or not.) So, I've been trying to think of smaller projects I could do instead. Like, maybe little chalkboard plaques that I could write cute messages on. Or maybe an actual chalkboard. (a small one, and with a cute frame of course.)

Someday, soon I hope, I want this:

[source] (She has the cutest flickr)

(Although, it's technically a chalkboard door, not wall. but still)  

I hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend!

-claire

snow days are the best!

We didn't attempt to get out on the roads today, and I'm not sure if we will tomorrow either. My car is going to take foreverrr to de-ice. I will hate to miss our Saturday morning doughnuts though...

Anywho. I did get one project completed today: a tote bag out of some of my feed sack scraps. I'll post a picture at some point. It turned out pretty cute, although there are few things I will change for my next one. It felt good to use up some of those scraps. They're odd/small sizes, but I definitely didn't want to waste them.  

Happy Weekend!

-claire

P.S. I have no idea what this is... but, I'm using it to hold knitting needles. Maybe it's meant to carry wine in? I think it would be big enough to hold the average size bottle. Anyway. I love the peach-colored flower print - so pretty!

wintery weather

We're enjoying a snow day here in Oklahoma. :)

I'm snuggled up with my hubby drinking coffee and listening to the Shins. 

mmm mmm good.

-claire

thrifted owls

I found this owl lantern at a local thrift store. I just love him! He looks even better with a little tea light candle inside.

I found this one when I was thrifting with my Mom over the holidays. We found the best thrift store that benefits the humane society. They had so many cute things, I will definitely be returning! ...anyway, I'm not really sure what this is meant to hold. change or candy maybe?

Have a great weekend!

C for Charles, C for Claire

We drink a lot of coffee. like, a lot.

Charles spotted these mugs when we were at Anthropologie while on vacation in SC.  Although I love that store, I usually don't buy anything because they are oh so expensive and I am oh so cash-poor. But I couldn't resist. Mine is on the right. I love the bird in the middle. So feminine and pretty!

Hope everyone is having a splendid week!

-Claire

home again, home again

Had a wonderful time visiting the in-laws in South Carolina. Especially my sweet sisters-in-law:

As usual our flight home was delayed. Also, our bags were delayed. so yeah. that was quite inconvenient. With each trip, flying becomes an increasingly unpleasant experience. It makes me think seriously about the option of driving out to SC- even though it is a 19 hour drive... eww.

I did come home from our trip with some goodies - both vintage and new. But I haven't taken photos of anything yet, so that will have to wait for another day. I spent most of today unpacking bags, tidying up the apartment, and crocheting granny squares (which are dangerously addicting). On to a new week!

-claire

it's a new year!

Happy New Year!

The arrival of a new year always makes me want to redecorate. Unfortunately, since we're moving this summer (when Charles and I graduate), there's not much point in redecorating. I'm so looking forward to moving and getting settled in to our new home - wherever that may be.

So for now I'll just admire all the pretties in blogland.

These rooms are the decor of Elise Vaughn - found on Design*Sponge.

[source]

[source]

[source]


So vintage and chic. lovelovelove.