More pleated pillows

I finally got the sewing machine from my mom's house and I'm starting some projects. Today I made two pleated pillows with the Amy Butler fabric that I got last week. They turned out really cute. I can't wait to take them home to Australia, stuff them, and put them in the guest room (or maybe they'll make their way to our bedroom).

The front fabric is Amy Butler Lotus - Grey Lacework and the back is Amy Butler Lotus -
Full moon polka dot.

It was so nice to sit in front of the sewing machine and MAKE something! Love it.

Stick it to the Man!

I had a lot of fun making Revision Design stickers. All I did was make graphic and print it on sticker paper and then cut them out. Here's what I came up with.

New Additions

I got this cute vintage Sock Monkey and Sock Elephant pattern. It's perfect because my husband loves elephants and our last name is Gibbons, which is a small ape so these little cuties go well with our family.

Add this to my stash

I went down to the fabric store again. I got some more Amy Butler fabric that will go with the fabric that I got a few days ago.

Wanting this for the guest room

Saw this Dwell Studio for Target pillow at Target the other day and I'm really wanting it for our guest room. The other side of the pillow is gray with yellow peonies.

Oh, and Target in Australia should really wake up and start selling really cool things like the American Target - I think the Aussies would appreciate it.

Here are some things that would make my guest room complete...

Gray and Yellow Room by Revision Design on Polyvore.com

Now on my Amazon wish list

You can find 'The Find' on Amazon.com. It's currently on my wish list and I'm hoping that a certain sweetheart of mine will take a hint and get it for my birthday.

New Fabric, fresh ideas

I went to the fabric store last week and had to touch everything. I was so excited to see all the different fabrics that I've been googling for the past year. I settled on some Amy Butler fabric in her Lotus range.

Mark my words, I will be back for more fabric.

One more post before I go!

I have to confess that I'm in love with Pugs and have been for a while. I admit to looking at the available pugs on the Pacific Pug Rescue website. PPR takes in pugs from all walks of life and adopts them to their "forever homes". I hope one day I can adopt one of these little cuties, like Betsy - someone please adopt this little darling!

They make the pefect accessory to a Valentino dress too!

photo via here.

I'm off

Early tomorrow morning I'll be making the trek back to the Northwest U.S.A. I'll be signing off the blog for a few days. As I've mentioned before I'm looking forward to doing so many things while I'm back in Seattle - including going to the Museum of Glass and the Space Needle.

My mom

My mom is from Norway and she brings with her a lot of Norwegian heritage and spunk. I love her very dearly and I'm wishing her a happy Mother's Day this weekend. I'll be with her next week to celebrate for reals.

Here we are at my wedding - my mom is wearing her Norwegian National costume.
(Gratulere med dagen mor!)

Us in Norway for a girls trip in 2005. Read the sign.

Project of the Day - Hope Pillow

I decided that this pillow would be my last sewing project before I leave for the States next week. We're having Cam's mom Trish come and stay with us this weekend and celebrate Mother's Day, so I thought that I'd clean up the craft/guest room and have it ready for her. So I set off to finish my HOPE pillow, made of fabric I got at the thrift store and leather upholstery samples. I'm very happy with the result and I hope Cam's mom likes it too (it adorns her guest bed).

See the little red vases on the white table? They are Trish's mom's so I thought she might like to have them in her room this weekend. Her mom liked to cut flowers from the garden and put them inside, so that's what I've done here.

Decisions decisions

I'm trying to settle on a theme for our living room and the upholstery fabric for our chairs, ottoman, and sofas that we got for FREE! I've been in and out of the local fabrics stores several times and I'm just a little underwhelmed by the choices. I'm currently browsing the Finnish design fabric mecca called Marimekko and I'm loving their selection of upholstery fabrics. I've been to their flagship store in Helsinki Finland and it's absolutely wonderful. We bought a piece that was designed after a Russian church and made a wall-hanging from it.

Maybe you can help me make a decision. First, lets have a look at the chairs that I'm going to upholster. They are a Danish-like design.
Here's the idea - we already have some black and white paintings that we bought in Russia and we want to continue with the monochromatic color scheme and then add pops of color. So I'm gravitating toward black, white, gray and charcoal fabrics at the moment.

Marimekko upholstery fabric - Tuuli

Marimekko upholstery fabric - Praliini

here's a close-up of the design in Praliini

Marimekko upholstery fabric, Kivet

Cotton fabric, Kantaleen kutsu
(not for upholstery, but I could make some cushions out of it)

Visit the Marimekko website to browse all their other products and to find a store near you!

Dutch Cinnamon Apple Sauce

I bought a big bag of Granny Smith apples the other day and didn't eat many of them. So they've been sitting there and I finally decided to do something with them. Here's my recipe for Dutch Cinnamon apple sauce.

-1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons sugar (sweeten to taste)
- 1/2 tablespoon Dutch Cinnamon powder
- sprinkle ground ginger powder
- 10-15 apples. Your choice - I used 10 Granny Smith (tart) and added 2 Pink Lady apples (sweet).

How-to. Boil one cup water in a large saucepan. Add 1 Tablespoon sugar, let it boil for a minute (it starts to caramelize). Peel and chop your apples and put them in the pot - I peel the apples and add them to the pot as I go, but you can peel and chop your apples before. Add cinnamon and ginger and add more sugar if you like it sweeter. Turn the heat down to medium and let reduce for a half an hour. If your sauce starts to "pop" add a little more water. Let cool and enjoy.

I enjoyed my apple sauce on a crumpet this morning for breakfast, yum yum.

Off the top of my head

Came across this lovely hat maker, Liza Rietz, on Etsy and wanted to share her work with you. Check out the rest of her hats and clothing here.

I'm doing some hat making of my own, but they're not as cute as these.

Going home for a little while

This is the view of Mt. Rainier (a dormant volcano) from my parents' house. Splendid!

Don't get me wrong, Australia is definitely home, but Seattle will always be home too. Next week I'll be making the trek back to the U.S. - I'll be there for about 5 weeks. I'm looking forward to sunny days and going to the market. One of my nieces is graduating high school in June (can't believe it) so I'll be home for that!

In the meantime Cam will be here in Melbourne, and he's looking for a cleaner.

Here are some pictures of the splendor that is the Northwest.

photos by Sonja Barrett - November 2008

Project of the Day - Love Pillow

I'm still rummaging through my leather upholstery samples and trying to come up with ideas for them. On Monday I made a new pillow for the guest room who's theme is gray, white, black, and yellow - but its lacking the yellow. I handmade the yellow leather letters for L O V E and sewed them onto a wool blend handmade pillow. It's a nice reminder to walk into a room and automatically see L O V E staring right back at you. I'm making more of these pillows this week.

I couldn't sleep last night so I went into the guest room to read Huckleberry Finn for a little while and was very content snuggling up to this LOVE pillow.

The LOVE pillow is feeling right at home on my charcoal sofa bed

Feel the Love today