Whales!


whale1

I wasn’t kidding yesterday when I said I’m loving the nautical trend, and that’s largely because it’s a style I’ve always loved.  I’m one of those girls who pretends that she lives by the sea even while surrounded by mountains.  I  like seeing the nautical trend reach farther than the coast because the coast is awfully far away from me!

whale2

Last year I purchased the book Seaside Home , compiled by Susanne Woods.  It is full of sewing and embroidery projects that are all inspired by the sea.  I used the beach crab pillow pattern to make this chevron Christmas pillow for my sister, so this isn’t my first project taken from it.

whale3

I used the Whale of a Pillow pattern to make these doorstops.  I stitched them on canvas material with DMC floss 311 (six strands) and backed them with a home decor weight nautical print I purchased forever ago.  I stuffed them with some batting and added what I had on hand to make them heavier – pea gravel, washed and dried.

whale4

Now there are five of them, all stitched with a different colored star, waiting for the first hint of cool breezes when summer begins to fade.  I’m excited to have something to prevent all the doors from blowing shut when we throw open the windows.  I must also say that these whales bring a smile to my face.  They are a quick stitching project and I’m making more for something we have coming up.

What do you think of the nautical fashion/decor trend?  Is it growing on you?

Jennifer

Bird Ornament Plates

Is there anything in your Christmas storage that makes you giddy to unpack it?  Something so beautiful that just seeing it each year is like Christmas to you?

These plates fit that description for me.


Shaped as Christmas ornaments, they have a beautiful silver finish at the top and a hole which I’ve used to hang some of them on my tree in the past, or on a garland above my entry.

It’s the pattern on them that I love so much.


You guessed it.  Birds.


Red birds.  In four different patterns.  On an aqua plate with touches of white, brown and green.

Listening to the voice in my mind as I type makes me think I must be awfully predictable.  Aqua, red, birds, dishes.

Oh well.  You love what you love.


The pattern above might be my favorite.


Or it could be this one.

I haven’t unpacked these in two years.  Last year I had a 4 month old baby and I did the  bare minimum.  The year before that morning sickness hit hard during the holidays and I didn’t get them out.  As I carried the box upstairs this year I wondered if they were as pretty as I remembered.  I was not disappointed.  Nor was I sorry that I bought more than twenty of them when I first saw them.  They make me happy.

They’re spending the month stacked neatly on my kitchen counter because I can’t bear to put them behind doors.


What is your favorite thing to unpack each year?

Hopeful Homemaker

1 2 3 6