7 friday.

So happy today is Friday! The day was started off right with some fun mail that arrived at my doorstep.

Fabric!! I haven't bought fabric in forever. Seriously, the last fabric I bought was some Habitat in April! But I needed to pick up some things for Sewing Summit swaps and a quilt I'll be making when I get back, so I added in a few extras (okay, more than a few) to add to the stash. I've been doing a good job of using what I have here but I'm a little sick of using the same prints all the time. Hopefully this will help with that.  I picked up some Heirloom, 1001 Peeps, and the Tarika print by Dena Fishbein in a few colors (love that print!).   I have another smaller shipment coming on Monday as well.

I made a new camera strap last night to go over my Nikon strap.  Made of gray corduroy, the Dasha print from Alexander Henry Fashionista, and some linen for a little pocket to hold my lens cover.

I used some gold faux leather to close off the ends.  It's a semi permanent solution since I stitched the ends to the black strap, but if I unpick a couple stitches I can have my normal Nikon strap back if I don't end up liking this one.  

One more week until Sewing Summit!  I am getting ridiculously nervous.

4 birthday flowers.

I put together a flower arrangement for my sister-in-law Angela for her birthday today. Every girl deserves flowers on their birthday!

Luckily for me, the flowers at the grocery store last night were really nice!  I picked up a mixed bunch and a bunch of yellow alstroemeria and put them in a thrifted green vase I already had.

I dropped them off to her at work today and she had tears in her eyes and said it made her day.  If that's all it takes to make our loved ones happy, I think we should all buy more flowers!

Happy Birthday Ang!  We love you!

11 traveling handmade.

The Sewing Summit is coming up quick, only 10 more days until I leave for Salt Lake City!  While there is no way that I'll have time to make anything as cool as these amazing duffel bags, I did want to bring something with me that I made for myself.

I've been in need of a laptop sleeve for a long time (actually, I have never owned one for some reason!), so I finally stitched one up yesterday using this pattern.  I made it out of some of the AMH velveteen that I've been saving for something special, and lined it with a pretty yellow print from Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow.

It's hard to photograph the texture of the velveteen, but it feels so soft and luxurious!  I think my laptop is pretty happy with it's new case, even if it is a little too loose.

I also finally finished the iPad case that I started working on in April!  I've been using it in it's half finished state for months, but finally added a proper lining and buttons to close the flap this weekend.

I'm glad I'll have these pretty cases to travel with me to the Sewing Summit!

1 happy fall!

Happy Friday friends!  Are you as excited as I am that today is the first day of fall?  I love fall, it's my favorite season, mainly because I get to wear sweaters and scarves.

Today I just want to share a few things that have been posted in the Bijou Lovely flickr group lately.  You're all making such beautiful things!

Kelli from Monsters Live Upstairs made this gorgeous circle quilt, and is making a quilt similar to my modern baby quilt with her leftover fabrics.

Amandasplit made a circle quilt as well, I just love the color scheme she used!

Mbquilts3 made a bunch of oilcloth totes using my market tote tutorial.  The polka dotted bottoms are so cute!

Megan from Notes From the Bench made a market tote too.  I absolutely adore this one!  Her fabric choices are beautiful and she photographed it wonderfully as well.

Don't forget to add your projects to the Bijou Lovely flickr pool!  It's so fun to look through all the lovely things you're making.

p.s. I just joined Instagram today if anyone wants to follow along.  My username is @bijoulovely.

2 pretty little pouch swap - round 3.

Just thought I'd let you all know that the sign-ups for round 3 of the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap are now open!    I sat out the last round but I'm excited to be back this time!  I had so much fun in the first round of this swap, and I know a few of you were wondering how to join.  Simply head over to the flickr group, check out the sign-up thread, make an inspiration mosaic, and fill out the form.  But hurry...because the spots will fill up fast!

Here's my mosaic for this round.  Lots of bright colors mixed with gray or linen (surprise!), chevrons, hexies, and hand stitched details.

I can't wait to find out who my partner is and start planning!

3 more photography.

I'm not sure if you all hate the photo posts lately, but I've been taking a lot of pictures... so hopefully you're not too sick of them.  Earlier this summer I had a little photoshoot with my sister to practice a bit before taking her boyfriend's senior pictures.  I finally got around to uploading them to flickr last night, so here are some of my favorites.

 

I love my photo sessions with Gaby, we have so much fun.  It's easy to take cute pictures when you've got a cute subject!

18 snippets.

I realize I am horrible at the before and after posts of our house.  I just never feel like a room is finished enough to photograph.  I am definitely one of those people who collects things over time, and I don't like buying furniture and such just because we need it if I'm not in love with it.  But our house is slowly coming together, so I've decided I'll post snippets of things anyway, even if a room isn't finished.  Here are a few snippets of the living room.

We have a big U shaped sectional in here, since this is the living room in the back of the house which we use as more of a den.  It looks into the formal living room, with a view of the TV in the corner and the fireplace.  I bought the coffee table and floor lamp from cb2.  I love them both!

These were the first shelves we hung in the whole house.  They were on clearance at Target and they match our walnut trim perfectly.  I need to add a little more color but this is how they look at the moment.  I'm on the hunt for a console table or buffet to put underneath them since it's sort of an awkward space near the doorway to the kitchen.

All of the milkglass, the book and little owl tray were thrifted.  The photo of the door was taken by my cousin in Italy.  The print is from Oneword Designs on Etsy.

You can kind of see one of two chrome bookshelves we hung in the back of this picture.  I need to restyle them before I photograph the shelves in more detail.  I'm not loving the layout at the moment.

The mantle is definitely a work in progress.  I found this awesome ship picture at our local Habitat for Humanity Restore for $35.  It was a total steal for such a large painting and ties in the color we're using in the formal living room with the curtain color in here.  It's a little big for this space though.  I'd like to hang a mirror up here but haven't found one I like yet.  I'm also dying to paint the fireplace (and brick...and mantle) or somehow make it more modern.  That cheap brass look is killing me.  Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

I made the white wreath using this tutorial a year or so ago (and yes, it did take forever).  The ottoman was from HomeGoods and the awesome aluminum birch vases are Michael Aram and some of my most prized possessions.

I just picked up these two books on Amazon, and they inspired this entire photoshoot.  That coral cover of the Design*Sponge at Home book is the perfect pop of color I've been searching for.  Which is pretty awesome considering the fact that I bought them more for content than for looks.  Yay for functional items that just happen to be pretty.

The floral vase is from HomeGoods and the honeycomb vase and hammered metal bowl are from West Elm Modern Furniture.

So there are a few little sneak peeks at the views from our living room.  What do you think?

9 cotton.

Did you know that the traditional wedding gift for a second anniversary is cotton?  Perfect time to stitch up a quilt for your wonderful husband, don't you think?

Obviously it's not finished yet (I have a broken sewing machine to thank for that!), but it will be soon!  Block  design based on Thea's Puzzle Quilt from Amy Butler.  Download the free pattern here.

Happy Friday!

17 new horizon.

Something very special came home with me from our vacation.

I still love my little Kenmore, but it is currently broken and giving me all sorts of crazy tension issues.  My husband is going to try to fix it for me to use as a backup machine, but in the meantime I think I'll be happy to spend some time with my new Horizon!  I can already tell we're going to be great friends.  I see lots of sewing in my future!

3 2 years.

We took a much needed vacation this past weekend and spent a few days in Minneapolis.  We headed out Friday morning and arrived in time to meet up with some friends for dinner at the always fun Chino Latino in Uptown.  There was a message waiting for us on the bottom of our menus!

After eating entirely too much food and picking up a couple more of our friends at the airport, we drove back our friends' house and went to bed.

Saturday was spent getting mani/pedis and lunch with the girls, stopping at a bar to watch football with the guys, and having a cookout with a lot of my sorority sisters that I haven't seen in years.  It was a lot of fun and of course I didn't think to take any pictures.

On Sunday, we did a little shopping before getting ready and going to the wedding of two of our friends!  It was absolutely gorgeous and so fun to spend some time with some of our best college friends.

Monday was our second anniversary, so we headed downtown to check into our hotel.  We walked around for awhile and grabbed some lunch before heading to the Twins game.  

We had an amazing dinner at FireLake and a couple drinks at Cosmos to celebrate our second year of marriage.  It was the perfect end to our trip!  

Sorry for all the crappy iPhone pictures!  I didn't feel like hauling my big camera around while we were out.