Handmade Chevron Quilt

I have been wanting to update Anthony’s room and make it more colorful for awhile – he was almost 7 when we started this project and still had a room full of trucks, trains and planes.  He likes “zig zags”, so I convinced my mom to help me make him a chevron quilt for his new room (he also switched bedrooms).  If you know me, you know I am not really into sewing, and I definitely do not enjoy it. That said, I love a good project and seeing progress happen, and making this quilt definitely met my desire for a “quick project”.  My mom might not agree on the “quick” part, but more on that later…

My Mom drove over from Wisconsin and we met at my house.  First we had to spend some time working through the math to figure out a pattern.  This was tricky, but we figured it out!  We headed out fabric shopping around 1:30 and eventually came home with this pile of fabric.  I have to admit, I was SHOCKED at how expensive the fabric was.  Seriously – crazy expensive!!


After dinner we dove in and started working. It took a little time, but eventually my mom trusted me to measure and cut the fabric. We used a method like this to make the squares and then just set them out on the floor to create the strips.  I measured, cut, did some ironing, and most of the pinning, while my mom was the lady at the sewing machine making the real magic happen.


Here are all the rows laid out on the floor in our living room – this was about 24 hours after we headed out to buy the fabric!


We finished the quilt top around 5:00 the next afternoon (less than 24 hours after we starting cutting the fabric!). After we had the top all sewn together, we laid it out on Anthony’s new bed and this guy quickly climbed on top of it.  (check out that outfit – crazy swim trunks are all day attire! Ha!)


Then came the easy part (at least for me!).  My mom took the quilt top home with her, picked up some batting, and finished assembling and sewing the quilt. It sounds so easy, right?  I do know that she spent many long hours working on this (and Anthony and I are very thankful for her work!).  She tells me that this was a HUGE quilt to maneuver through her machine. So big that she had to move her machine from her sewing room out to the dining room table so that she had enough room. The quilt is also so heavy that she had to help “hold” the quilt by rolling it and throwing it up over her shoulder. It looks a little warm too (she did this in June)…


Here’s a few pics of the finished quilt, just because you need to see it in all it’s glory! 


The gray fabric is a little funky and I LOVE all of the other bright colors!






Now if only the rest of Anthony’s room would get finished up as “quickly” as this quilt did!  Thanks Mom!


Linking to: Sugar Bee Crafts, Uncommon Designs, Life With the Crust Cut Off, Skip to my Lou, Ladybug Blessings, Made to be a Momma, Ginger Snap Crafts, The 36th Avenue

Master Bedroom Updated (finally!)

A few months ago we painted our master bedroom and swapped out the bedding, curtains, etc. I have already shared our updated photo wall and promised to share pictures of the newly changed room. To be honest, I was waiting to post until I could finally put a few finishing touches on the room (like ironing the curtains! Don’t look too closely!) but a couple months later that still hasn't happened, so I decided to just go ahead and share.

Here is how the room looks now:

The red/white thing by the bed is a fire ladder. Our bedroom is on the 2nd floor and there is a 2-story drop to the ground from our windows. Safety first!

Click here for more info about the photo wall.




These pictures make the bed look super tiny, but it really is a queen. We definitely have the room for a King, but they don’t make this bed anymore and we are just fine with the queen. It works for us.

What changes have you been making in your home?

Linking to: Thrifty Decor Chick, Remodelaholic

Photo Wall Update

A couple months ago I changed up the wall of photos in our bedroom. I posted about that here. I promised to post an update when the pictures were all finally changed and the wall was officially done. It took much longer than anticipated (lost motivation anyone?!?) but it’s finally “done” – at least for now! Most of the photos were taken by us, however there are a handful of pictures that were recently taken by Krissy McCabe. We have known her for years, my hubby actually went to school with her – pretty sure they met in 1st grade, maybe even kindergarten. If you are in need of a photographer, check her out!

Here is the updated photo wall:



Please don’t look too closely at the curtains. They still need ironed. Remember that lost motivation? Guess there are still things to complete in this room…



Like the pic of the super cute 5-year-old with his face in his hands? We do too! That’s the work of Krissy McCabe Photography. So are the pictures both above and below. We love them!



Here’s a bonus shot of the display on the other side of the room:



The painting was painted by my Grandma years ago. It’s a painting of a cat we had when I was in high school. We are lucky enough to have at least 9 oil paintings that my Grandma painted.

The photo wall is complete! Once I finally get those curtains ironed, I will share the bedroom before/after pictures.

Linking to: KristenDukePhotography

Foto Frame Fun

We recently took on the task of giving our Master Bedroom an overhaul (more on that later - promise!) which inevitably led to additional projects. Painting the bedroom a cool blue required a new duvet cover, which required new curtains, updating the photo wall, etc. What started out as a painting project ballooned into a much bigger project, that still is not done, over a month later....

While thinking about re-doing the photo arrangement, I spent some quality time researching on Pinterest for ideas. If you have not explored Pinterest yet, I highly recommend you check it out. You do need an invitation to join, but lots of people are willing to share invites - check out Pinterest on Facebook for more info. Here are a few of the pics I found on Pinterest (sorry, I don't have the sources) that were inspiration for the changes to our photo wall -

I really liked the idea of adding our initial to the wall, so I put my hubby to work building/painting an "F" - thankfully he is SUPER handy! After laying out all of my frames on the floor in a new and improved arrangement, I decided that I should cut out magazine frames to tape on the wall to ensure the placement of the frames would be perfect on the first try. Young House Love had great success with this technique, so I had to give it a try.

Here are some pics of the process -

First I made a plan on the floor.

Then I cut the magazine pages to match the frames.

Once the magazine "frames" were on the wall I was able to adjust them until
they were right where I wanted them.

Most of the frames on the wall. Somehow I forgot to take a "final" picture...

All of the pics except the frame in the lower right are really our family, although the pics are all at least a year old. It's definitely time to update to some new photos! Plus, it's time to add some color to these walls - no more B&W photos for now! Doesn't the F look great?!?

Once the frames are all updated, I will be back with an update. We are having family pics taken in September, so I may just put this project on hold until after the new pics are taken. We'll see how impatient I get looking at the faces of some strangers on our walls!

Following the magazine frame idea used by Young House Love was definitely an excellent decision. I can say with confidence that it pays to watch and learn from others!