Pictures from Home

As requested, here are some snapshots of the living and dining rooms at Cloudcover Cottage. I did not stage these in any way( as you will be able to tell). Now that I learned about some of what photographers go through to get good pictures of homes, I feel less bad about how pictures of my own home look. Not good, but less bad. So, here they are.

The old dresser is now in the living room. CD's are inside, toys underneath, Brio in the box on top with quilts to warm us while watching television. All of the toys are in the dining room, with cards and board games in the lower part of the corner cupboard.


We are ready to snuggle. We are ready to play.

Ross Chapin

Did I tell you that Ross Chapin is my favorite architect? Has been for years. His website is beee you ti ful. Here is a sampling of one of my favorite houses. I love the detailing in the woodwork in each of his cottages. I particularly love the decor in this one, as well.

I'm glad that more than one person at a time can visit a site. I don't mind the crowd. Let's all spend a few hours over there looking around, shall we?

October Kitchen Views

Thank you to FarmBoy for providing this beauty in our kitchen. It is such a blessing to me to be able to see such sights first thing on an October morning.

Soulemama's House !

What a treat! Amanda Soule's house is featured on the Nesting Blog today. I so admire her child-friendly, low-cost, beautiful style. I think that you will too. See the feature here. And click there on the links to Soulemama's blog, if you are not yet familiar with her. She is one of my very favorite bloggers. She is such a wonderful--and artistic--mother.

An Often Overlooked Tiny House--The Motorhome

Office Inside - Vintage Postcard
Originally uploaded by Shirley Two Feathers

Thank you to Shirley Two Feathers for the antique postcard. Click on the picture.

She has done it again! Sara of "Walk Slowly, Live Wildly" has converted another motor home (!) into a beautiful place to live. I never thought I'd see the day, but now I've seen it twice. See the new photos here. See her former home here.

A Beautiful Space for a Child

I so appreciate real-life living spaces with real-world asthetics. Today I found a photograph of just such a beautiful room. See it here at Happythings.

Scraparadise (Not Mine)

Scraparadise
Originally uploaded by qusic

Just so pretty!

(Click on the picture for proper credits.)

Letting in the Morning Air

Our green way of keeping our house cool is to open up all the windows in the morning, when it is cool (and how thankful we are for cool evenings and mornings here in western Washington) and then to close everything up tight when the temperature outside begins to climb. (We also have coverings for our windows, which we move according to where the sun is shining, but that's another story.)









One benefit of this is that, while opening the downstairs windows in the morning, I get to look out onto my porch with it's flower-laden window boxes and smell the clove-scented dianthus wafting in on the morning breeze. The scent is one of the best parts, but I'm afraid I can't share that here.

I do have these pictures, though, including one of the quilt I leaned over this morning, as I opened the window behind the couch.

Decorating Inspiration

A pretty, pretty room. How does she do it?

Oh, Oh, Oh, Quilt, Finished

Oh, Oh, Oh Quilt

The quilt turned out well, but the pictures of it, not so much. Here is the best of a bunch of no-goods. More to come.

(I still have so much to learn about our lovely new camera.)

The Heirloom Quilt

Last evening I finished the last of the hand sewing on the heirloom quilt project. This is what I have remade from my great great grandmother's bedspread and window covering. It can be now used as a wall-hanging, at 33 by 49 inches, rather than folded up in a drawer somewhere. I hope you like it.

A Quilt to Welcome Back-door Visitors

I got the 30's quilt up on the hallway wall yesterday. Now it is the first thing you see when you walk into the house through the pantry. It's a day-brightener for sure.

Heirloom Bedspread Update

I got the heirloom bedspread cut into squares, put them back together like a free-form jigsaw, and have begun to sew together the patchwork quilt top. I though you might like a peek.

Vintage Style Quilt

Thank you to this post at thesmallobject.com for thepattern idea.

The Back is Pretty, Too!

I turned the heirloom bedspread over today to begin cutting and found this beautiful work of embroidery on the back. These are the backs of the blanket stitches. Aren't they beautiful? I had to look pretty closely to see how Great Great Grandmother ended one colored thread and began another without leaving a trace of the change. You can see how she wove the thread back through existing stitches in the bottom example. The yellow thread, middle photo, is the "messiest" spot on the whole bedspread.

Taking My Own Advice

Taking my own advice from this post, I pulled back and quieted things down in my dining room this week. Blue wooden chairs, blue plaid seats, a little plate as a reminder.

It's a Cutter--Yikes!

I received from my mother yesterday this muslin appliquéd bedspread, below, made in 1926 by my--get ready--great great grandmother. On the left is the rod-pocket curtain which goes with it. Mom and her cousin who had possession of these agreed that I would best know what to do with these treasures. What an honor for me.

These are not quilts, but single layers of muslin with appliqués cut from floral fabric and affixed by a blanket stitch in various colors of embroidery thread. While the fabrics are in nearly perfect condition, I still think that this heirloom will best be honored by being cut up (scary, I know) and made into a new, smaller quilt suitable for hanging on a wall. In this way, the beautiful hand-stitching will be preserved and displayed.

What will result will be a quilt made by my great great grandmother and I, in a collaborative effort. What an amazing thing.





Stay tuned for updates on this project.

Two WIPs and Newly Blue Chairs

Good Morning

It is no small comfort to me to wake up under a pile of homemade quilts. I love it.