for twin—in red, of course

Twin has patiently been awaiting a red sundress for some time now. She only began tapping her toe last weekend, so I figured I better get on it. The dress is very similar to this top I made in the early spring from Simplicity 3875. Like last time, I narrowed the bands at the waist and neck, and made it sleeveless. And since the tunic I made last time had a slight maternity look, I replaced the gathering at the waist with pleats. Better, I think.



Side view. And look, you can see some of my flowers here which I have not even killed yet. (mama, aren't you proud!?) They are a little droopy though because it has been dang hot and dry. Well, the ground has been dry, anyway. The air is dense with moisture and sticky like only a Southeastern August can be. Not that I'm complaining, of course. I'm just sayin, is all.



I love the super soft cotton stripe that I got at Purl just before I moved. And you can't even tell that I accidentally sewed the entire back panel of the dress wrong side out unless you look really closely. Sweet.



Twin is so outta here. Photo session is so over, she says.

a bed fit for a (queen) bear

My new bedroom is petite, but happily large enough for a queen bed (unlike my old bedroom which only allowed a twin bed). Instead of buying a full frame for the bed, I made this upholstered headboard. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, even if it does look a little wonky around the feet. But you really can't see that part, so it's ok. I read over some tutorials on the internet (like this one) and then just figured it out as I went along. I stuck with a nice, simple rectangle of plywood and screwed on short planks of 1"x4" to give it legs. I covered it with .5" foam, then wrapped a thick batting and this fabric around the edges. Then I had at it with the staple gun.



The quilt was a bit of a splurge from Anthropologie. I rationalized the purchase, however, by telling myself I would make my own shams. The quilt is a lovely soft, gauzy cotton quilted in a flower pattern with navy thread.



I made the shams out of one of the beautiful block-printed Indian fabrics from Purl. It's a nice heavy fabric, and I love how tailored the shams look.



My bear finds the whole setup very comfortable, indeed.

craft room

Now we're cooking with this craft room. It's good. I'm feeling more creative already. And it will be so nice to have a dedicated space for crafting and computer-ing. A space with a door to close when the craft mess gets too big. Lovely.

My new thread holder makes me giddy. That was a happy 15 minutes spent organizing my thread by color, let me tell you. The pegboard makes me happy too, having all my whatsits and whatnots all handy and ready.



Here's the long view. That is a homasote pinboard covered with a gray linen. I followed the instructions in this tutorial exactly, and had excellent results. I only used half the sheet of homasote, so I think we are going to have a second board on the other side of the room, over Twin's desk.



The storage situation is not completely ideal. I mean, the fabric is already bulging, and the stash is most certainly not going to get smaller any time soon. But the closet doors are metal (magnets, yahoo!) and my Shim wall+pocket is attempting with its quiet elegance to bring some semblance of grace to this wall.



One more view of the pinboard. Did you see Courtney's? eep, so lovely. And there on the table is the beginnings of a quilt that Twin is making for her bed. Blue and white pinwheels. See, the craft room is even inspiring Twin. It must be good.

it's all about the red trim

Lookie! I actually finished a project! Well, that's a miracle. Honestly I had more trouble mounting the curtain rods than I did making the simple curtains. I need to get more handy with the drill. A valuable, skill, I think.

These curtains are made with that lovely folk print from Superbuzzy that has been all over the place recently (I think they sold out of the multi-color, but the brown is lovely, as is the eggplant). Just before I left NY, I finally caved in to my overwhelming need for Superbuzzy purchases. So awesome. (and oh my, when I popped over there to get the URL I just saw this. oh my. oooooooh my.)

Now, I think there is a distinct possibility that my curtains will catch fire one day. That would be bad. Maybe I should add some ties, so that we can secure the curtains back when cooking. Hmmm...

And here's our wee little kitchen. And when I say wee, I mean wee. That little bit of counter space you see there? Yeah, that's about it. But, looking on the sunny side, it's making us more tidy and efficient in the kitchen. And the lack of dishwasher means we actually do our dishes, rather than leave them sitting around until we have run out of spoons.

Hopefully there will be many more apartment-decoration posts in the next few weeks. I have many ideas simmering, limited only by my insistence that everything be just perfect (impossible to achieve but dang time-consuming to attempt) and a lack of time (due mostly to my own laziness, but it's SUMMER, friends, I'm livin it up).

In other news, Twin and I have re-engaged in our great tennis rivalry. We are fairly evenly matched, so each set is highly exciting. I generally let her win, though. Just to keep the peace. ;)

But here's a question for anyone who is a biologist, naturalist, or bugologist kind of person: why, oh WHY, do mosquitoes love to bite me, but leave my Twin completely alone? This has been the case for years. We used to joke that I am the sweet one, while she is too sour. (Admittedly true, of course, but not a scientific explanation to satisfy my mind.) Regardless of the reason, they do love me. They see me and go nutso. yummy yummy yummy they say. Punch-drunk they are. Perhaps I should be flattered.

I am sorry for being such a blog-flake this summer, but I'm sure to get back into the rhythm of things before too long. Twin has ordered a sundress, and I better get on that before the summer begins winding down into autumn.

Be well friends!