Projects Archives - Page 111 of 213

15 Days of Happiness :: Paint Something

May 23, 2013 jennifer Decorating, Musings on Life and Beauty

With the change of every season, I often feel tempted to go shopping for pretty new home accessories. Stores and catalogs are transformed by seasonal color and designs that make the coming season feel even more exciting and beautiful. They plan it that way, and while I believe it’s fine to update things now and then, I also know that if we update our fashion at the rate the retailers hope we will, the result will bring pleasure at first, but will end up robbing us of happiness in the end. There is nothing wrong with liking pretty things; the fault comes in buying too many of them. Falling prey to retail therapy brings more stuff into our already cluttered homes, gives us more to store/maintain/care for, and usually ends up being a roadblock to our long term dreams by pinching us financially.

One of my strategies to benefit from the gorgeous advertising without sacrificing my goals is to paint something. It’s usually the color that sucks me in, and I’m particularly vulnerable to the colors of spring when they hit the stores. My favorite pictures this year came from the Wisteria catalog that arrived in my mailbox covered with every shade of blue – my favorite.

Wanting something new, and wanting it to be blue, I decided to “shop my house.” In the basement I remembered a votive candle holder that my sister gave me 3 (yes, three!) years ago. The plan was to paint it all along, but I never got around to it. I used paint I had on hand from another project and got started. My candle holder looked like this:

Pretty, but not me, especially with the metal inserts. I decided to simply paint over all of it, and a few coats later I had this:

I also decided to put it to use with flowers instead of candles.

This project allowed me to be creative, to use something I already had, to display the flowers from my yard indoors, to save my money, and still feel like I had something new and exciting to enjoy.

Isn’t it wonderful what a little paint can do! Perhaps you’ve got something you can update, too. Making home more beautiful – and doing it with self-discipline – is a happy thing!

Have a great day!

Jennifer *This post is part of a short series on happiness. You can find the complete list of posts in the series here . To read the previous post, click here . For the next post, click here.

Leave a comment beauty, Decorating, flowers, happiness

Modern Medallion Border 5

May 22, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

The Utah County Modern Quilt Group met last Saturday morning, and I stayed up ridiculously late Friday night, determined to finish another border in time to share it at the meeting.

In these photos the quilt top is hanging over a window, so the back lighting shows all the seams and makes the colors look more saturated than they otherwise would, but I think it looks kind of cool.

One of the leaders of the group did this border on her quilt and I really liked the mosaic feel it had. My measurements are different than hers, but construction was the same. To make mine, I needed 28 – 6.5 inch squares. Each square is made up of a nine patch block, and the “squares” in each block are two rectangles.

To make my border, I cut 30 – 1.5 inch wide strips of fabric (averaging about 41 inches long). I paired the strips, starched them carefully so they wouldn’t begin to curve, and sewed them together. This gave me 15 strips of fabric that was now 2.5 inches wide.

I then cut each strip into 2.5 inch widths. I then started laying the squares out in three strips of three blocks, with the blocks alternating in a horizontal and vertical orientation. I pieced these together until I made 28 of them, then made two rows of 6 and two rows of 8 blocks. They were then sewn to the quilt and it now measures 48.5 inches square.

Now I have decisions to make. I want to keep adding borders to this quilt, but I also need to start deciding how large I’m going to let it be. One thing is certain: I am loving this project!

Jennifer

15 Days of Happiness :: Give a Gift

May 18, 2013 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty, Pretty Packages

There’s nothing like receiving an unexpected gift. I’m pretty sure that the only thing better is giving the unexpected gift. Once upon a time I felt like I was a really good gift-giver. It was back when I only had a few little children and I was pretty much still in control of my life. I had more energy and resources than they required of me, so I focused on becoming a good giver of gifts.

As our family became larger and the older children required more (and ate more!) my time and resources were all directed toward simply taking care of my family and I didn’t have much money, time or creativity left for giving gifts. I began to hesitate to give them because I felt they weren’t good enough, and they certainly didn’t feel like an adequate expression of my regard.

I’m repenting of this folly. Each of us is of infinite worth. There will never be a thing I can give to someone that could possibly match their worth. Some of the gifts I give will be perfect and some may feel more like I’m offering dandelions instead of roses. But a gift is a gift, and if it’s offered from my heart with sincerity then that is good enough. We must learn to give gifts without expecting a certain response, expression of gratitude, reciprocation of gifts or recognition. When we let go of all expectation and simply give the gift with no emotional strings attached, we experience joy. The purity of our intent allows us to feel joy in the giving no matter the reception.

I am also learning how to give gifts that are hard to give. Perhaps it’s a thing we hesitate to part with, or time we don’t feel like we have. We can give “expensive” gifts without spending a penny when we share our time and efforts. These gifts are, in some ways, the healthiest to give. They stretch us and make us bigger than we were.

I recently gave a treasured out-of-print book to a friend. It wasn’t easy to part with a favorite I may never see again, but it was the right thing to do and has made me happy every time I reflect on it. Simple little things like a package of mints or a bottle of favorite nail polish can be delightful if wrapped with a pretty ribbon and a kind note. It takes effort, but the return is totally worth it.

Today, give a gift. Maybe you just finished reading a book you enjoyed. Wrap it up and give it to a friend. Stopping at the grocery store? Grab an extra pound of strawberries, tie a bow around them, and write a note to someone telling them how much you appreciate them. Keep it simple, but put your heart into it. It only needs to take 5 minutes but it will make you happy.
Have a great day!

Jennifer