Hearts Everywhere

I love hearts

and I tuck them into vignettes around the house

all year long.

But at this time of year, I can blatantly use hearts all over the house.

I have spent the last few days setting out full heart displays in every room.

I made this little embroidered piece when we were in Kauai at Christmas

and this quilt was my project last week - yes, I cheated and machine quilted it.

I bought a rusty metal heart garland months ago

and added it to the dining room shelf.

Supplies from the garage are filling up the guest room

and my rusty red cart is being used as a work table for my creativity.

The cloth hearts are a couple of years old and I just added some string to make a garland for my chalkboard.

I cut a variety of sizes of hearts out of book pages and have been playing with them the last few days.

I've made a couple of three dimensional vertical garlands

that will be put into cute little muslin bags from Michael's

and mailed off to friends tomorrow.

This little spool of hearts is an  experiment - I thought it would look cute draping out of a bowl.

I am not quite finished adding Valentine's everywhere, but scenes like this are getting in my way.

It's difficult to stay inside when Lulu is crying to be taken to the beach.

But, I am determined

to finish fluffing tomorrow

before we head back outside.

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Life doesn't have to be perfect . . .

I don't make New Year's resolutions and I don't choose a word for the year,

but when I came across the quote, "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful", I thought it would make a good motto for 2016.

So, what have I been up to in this imperfect, but WONDERFUL life I lead?

Mainly, I have been changing everything around from Christmas to everyday decor.

The dining room shelf turned white.

I stole a bunch of quilts from a cabinet in the living room and added them to the guest room ladder.

And of course one moves triggers another so new vignettes adorn the shelves in this skinny cabinet

and I spruced it up with a little ivy wreath.

My little shopping cart is now in the living room filled with a portion of my letter collection ( I have an addiction) and I discovered that an old wire crate fits on the bottom as a second shelf.

The ivy wreath didn't last long in the living room - the tall white cabinet in the entry needed a little color.

Everyone wondered why I would move my new red cart from it's spot in the entry, but it was just a tad too big.

My grandpa's rocker, spruced it up with some hearts I made the other day, takes up very little space.

Steve's kitchen got an update with a tall metal stool and then an unplanned change this afternoon.

I yanked a cord that got twisted around one of the shelves and then CRASH!

Not much survived, but I only lost 2 old treasures.

Even with the disaster in the kitchen (definitely not perfect) it's still a wonderful world.

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A New Year & A New Look

It's a new year and the perfect time for changes around the house.

I spend most of my time in the dining room and I am a bit tired of the red window seat cushion, 

but I have made 3 cushion covers since 2003 when we added the window seat and with a dead sewing machine, I needed a simpler solution.

I found this chenille bedspread in the attic - one of two on the twin beds in my childhood room.

I decided that after a white look for a few months, I will be happy to return to the red cushion cover so I simply wrapped the chenille spread around the existing cushion.

My favorite quilt was added mainly because I just like to look at it.

Next up was some new pillows - I love the white, but I am ready for some color.

My sweet sister-in-law, Carrell, gifted me with a remnant of Waverly check fabric because she said it just looked like my style.

There was just enough fabric for two pillows and KC's sewing machine works well enough until I can decide on a new machine.

The red striped pillow was made out of a table runner that I never use.

We are having a cold and rainy January so I decided that having my embroidery

and some reading material on hand are a nice touch for the room.

The colorful pillows brighten the room on the cold gray days of January.

As you can see, Lulu has given the new look her stamp of approval.

The Happy New Year banner will come down soon, but I am content with it for now.

And now that the dining room has a fresh look, I need to find just the place for my latest acquisition.

A wonderful friend just gave me a vintage cart and I have no idea where to put it.

What are you up to in these first days of the new year?

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