Year 2014 Last Project ~ Herringbone Quilt

Shortly after Thanksgiving, I started working on this quilt for a really close family friend for Christmas. Because there was tons of stuff going on; just as you would expect in the month of December, I was distracted numerous times. He wasn't going to come to town until yesterday so I had a little more time to work on it. Whew! It was a close call, but I finally finished it a couple days before he arrived.

I didn't follow any particular pattern, and just used half triangle squares to create the herringbone design. If you would prefer a more unified look, you should use more of the same colors and tones. This quilt is about queen size. I was going to make a "throw quilt" for him, but I realized that he is about 6'4" or 6'5", Uh-uh, that wouldn't cut it. It needed to be bigger.

I usually hand stitch the binding, but I used my machine this time. Don't you think these stitches kind of mimic the herringbone design?

This is not my usual color scheme, but it is so fun to think of the receiver and trying to come up with a design that would fit that person. It stretches my imagination and forces me to try something new. Before handing the quilt to him, I had to test it outside...

Saying good-by to a quilt you spent so much time and effort on is a little bitter-sweet. Well, I guess it is more sweet when I think that something I created will be used for years to come by someone you care about. We were able to give him the quilt and I am very happy to tell you that he really loved it!

This was my very last project that I completed this year. What was yours? Of course if you love to work with your hands; what ever that may be, quilting, sewing, crafting, drawing... etc our work is never done and there is always the next project, right?

So, my friends, how was your 2014? What are your hopes and dreams for the year 2015?

I wish you all the very best! Really, I thank you and am grateful that you are visiting my little spot in blog land.

Have a Happy New Year!! xoxo

Sachiko

Chair Makeover

I found this chair at a local thrift store for $4. I loved the look of the back and it just screamed "potential", I had to take her home with me...

I spray painted it, did some applique on the Amy Butler fabric I found at Harmony (Thank you Laura for your input, the fabric worked perfectly!). After adding a pom-pom trim, it was done!

Tada!

The fabric I bought was Amy Butler's home decorating weight fabric and I happened to have fabric from the same line(this one is regular weight). I decided to applique some flowers to add more personality to the chair.

Doing some free motion stitches on the flowers is very fun. I just followed the design that already existed on the fabric.

I was very tempted to do a totally different color scheme this time, but since my house has lots of white with some light blues I decided to stick to the theme. So when I gather them up, there will be a calm and nice harmony that I love.

I have been busy preparing for our special Christmas Eve dinner, so I need to get back to the kitchen right now. I will talk to you really soon everyone!

Two Necklaces with Different Feels

I realized that I didn't share the pictures of a couple necklaces that I created as birthday gifts for my friends...

Most of the times when I am creating jewelry, I have an inspirational piece and expand ideas from there and come up with the whole design. When I am making jewelry for a particular person, I imagine that person and her favorite colors, personality type, and style and then go from there. It is a bit different than my normal design process, but I enjoy both paths.

I made this one at the end of summer for my friend who loves red.

I made this recently with a softer color palette than the first one.

I love how they turned out and I have an itch to work with more bright colors right now. Well, maybe after Christmas... after everything calms down.

You are My Cup of Tea Apron Tutorial at UCreate

I am sharing this "You are My Cup of Tea apron" tutorial over at Ucreate. It is a challenge to find a pretty, unique, and functional gift for under $5, but I thought this apron could be just that. I used a kitchen towel I found at Target when it was on sale for around $3. If you are a sewer, I assume you already have some fabric scraps, heat & bond and some trims & pom-poms laying around... that is pretty much all you need to make this apron. Head over to see complete tutorial at Ucreate today!

Hello, Shiny Pinecones!

Sometime in November when we had a nice warm day, Rachel and I picked up some pine cones. I wasn't quit sure what I was going to do with them, but I wanted to do some Christmas crafts. So, to start off, I spray painted them with silver paint... Then things got so busy. They have been patiently waiting for me.

Silly me, I started making a quilt for someone for Christmas. "Crafting with pine cones" went way down on my list of things to do, but I thought it is such a shame if they just sit in a bag. I decide to do this with them...

I displayed them with other Christmas-y stuff...

and scattered them around on the mantle...

This was pretty fun for Rachel too, her labor is displayed around house and making our home more festive and Christmas ready. What are your favorite Christmas decorations in your house? Are you all ready for Christmas?

Tutorial ~ Star Ornament

I shared this tutorial at Ucreate a couple weeks ago; here it is for those of you that may have missed it. This idea came to me when I was doing some origami (the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures). I thought why don't I do this with fabric instead of paper? I tried and it worked nicely, and get this ... there is no sewing involved with this project.

Are you ready to start?

No Sew Star Ornament Tutorial finished size 6 3/4" x 6 3/4"

{You will need}

4 different fabrics (if you want all different fabrics 16 scraps)
Best Press(or some other ironing starch you prefer)
Mod Podge and brush
string

{How to}

1. Cut out 4 pieces of 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares from 4 different fabrics. You need 16 squares to make one star.

2. Take one square. I found that when I sprayed best press first, the fabric kept its crease better when I folded it and it was much easier to work with. Spray, fold the square in half diagonally. Then, fold that in half again. Every time you fold, press with the iron to make a good crease.

3. Open the up the triangle to a square. Bring all four corners to the center one at the time and fold. Press with the iron.

4. Fold the sides. Use the picture as a guide.

5. Flip the fabric over to the back side.

Fold the bottom tip up and fold that in half. Now you have a piece done and get to repeat 15 more times!

6. Push the tip of the triangle to the opening of another triangle. I used my small scissors to push the tip in deep.

7. Repeat the process until you have...

8. This!

9. You are almost done. As I was finishing up, I did a coat of Mod Podge to protect the fabric and also to secure the part that is connecting each piece.

10. Add a string when it is completely dry.

I am so excited at how it turned out!

I can't believe it's almost Chrismas! Whatever you are busy with, I hope you are feeling the joy and happiness of the season. I will talk to you soon my friends!

Vintage Book Wreath

You might be in the same boat as me, but I have a lot of things on my "To make" list.

Recently I came across a vintage book "Little Women" at a thrift store. It is one of my ultimate favorite stories... unfortunately, it was not in good condition. I bought it anyways with the intention to make a book wreath which has been on my "to make" list forever.

I bet there were tons of tutorials out there, but I decided to share with my beloved readers what I did. So you need to look no further.

How to make Vintage Book Wreath

{You will need}

• Book (mine was about 7" x 9 1/2" size)
• Cardboard
• Staple
• Glue gun
• Ribbon
• Spray paint (optional)

{How to}

1. I used a 12" dish I had in my cupboard to trace a circle on the cardboard. Cut it out with an X-acto knife.

2. Tear out the pages from the book. I know, if my book wasn't already falling apart, I would have had a hard time tearing the pages out. I was taught to treat books nicely growing up. This was a bit out of my comfort zone! Start rolling them up to make cones.

3. Staple the narrow end...

4. Put a dot of glue on the wide end of the paper cone, so it will keep its shape.

5. Start gluing the cones onto the cardboard. When you are near the completion of the first circle, glue on the ribbon. Continue gluing the cones to fill up rest of the circle.

6. The Last three rows or so, I made my cones smaller by cutting the book pages in half. Some how it was easier for me to make the circle well balanced with smaller cones.

7. (optional) I decided to spray paint my wreath with white and silver. I sprayed the whole thing with white, but did not cover it completely in white, just enough to give it a muted look and you can still see the letters of the pages. Then, I sprayed silver randomly to give a splashed look.

I was walking around my house with the wreath in hand thinking of where to hang it. My choice? In our study/computer room and Mr. TRH actually likes it too!

It was lots of fun making this wreath. Best of all, this project hardly cost me anything! The book was $2.99, I already had spray paints and the cardboard was in my basement. Ha! I love projects like this. :)

Thanksgiving Giveawy Winners!

If you are the reader from U.S, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. If you are a reader from outside of U.S, I still hope that your week has been wonderful one. I usually wait to put up our Christmas tree and decorate our house after the Thanksgiving. Though, I am tired from getting ready and cooking for Thanksgiving, I drag my feet to do so. So, I suggested to Mr.TRH that we will start couple days before the Thanksgiving... and I LOVED IT.

I feel like I can just dive in to enjoy all the fun anything related to Christmas. Today, I was listening to Christmas music while I cooked dinner ( Frank Sinatra and Mindy Gladhill anyone?) and cozied up on the couch and watched my ultimate fab "While You Were Sleeping" with my family by the fire place.
Ahh... all those little fun things around Christmas...

I will talk more about them in my future post, but I am ready to announce the winners for the giveaway. Are you all ready?

The winner for the Bee Keeper Necklace is...

Ruth Lutz

The winner for the pink eclectic statement necklace is...

BETHBUSCH2003

The winner for the Winter Daisy PDF pattern is...

Nanna Chel


Congratulations! The winner of the bee keeper necklace and pink necklace, please email me your shipping info and it will be on your way! For the winner of the PDF pattern, I need your email address. :)

Thanks you all for participating! I will see you at my next post.

Thanksgiving Giveaway!

I know this is last minute, but I am doing a Thanksgiving giveaway. I started earlier on my Instagram, and asked people to share a picture of what they are grateful for with hash tags but there aren't many entries. Of course not, because I totally forgot to post what the prizes are going to be. I had the intention to do so right away, but it slipped my mind!

So... let's do this right. Here are the prizes I decided to giveaway.

Pink Eclectic Statement Necklace

Black Bee Keeper Necklace

My Winter Daisy PDF pattern

Here are the rules;

1. Leave a comment here tell us all what you are grateful for.(1st entry)

If you want to enter more than once...

2. Follow me on Instagram (2nd entry)

3. Share what you are grateful for at #tearosehomesoblessed

I will announce the winner on the 29th. Good luck everyone!