CHRISTEPHI

I once read that every room should have something living in it.  And I do love houseplants!  There's something so magical about a green, thriving thing sharing your space.  There are also  all kinds of benefits to having houseplants.  But that only works if you don't murder your plants. I am a plant murderer. A once-beautiful dracaena tree. I can't count the number of once thriving houseplants I've destroyed over the years.  Overwatering.  Underwatering. The blame doesn't lie entirely with me.  I water them when I'm supposed to.  I even give them plant food sometimes.  But I've never lived somewhere that has the right conditions.  We only have northwest and southeast facing windows.  They're small windows and only rarely get any direct sun shining through them.  All the windows have deep roof overhangings and they all have UV coating that blocks the sort of light plants love from entering. The ficus, or Rubb...

A few months ago I was given some quilting panels featuring country style scenes of houses, barns, churches, and schools.  We’ve been wishing for a large quilt to cuddle under on the couch, so I designed a quilt around the panels and set to work. Now quilting is not my forte!  I got the thing assembled without too much trouble, but trying to quilt a queen-sized quilt on a regular sewing machine falls somewhere between insanity and a feat of strength! I pieced the back as well since fabric doesn’t usually come in “queen size.”  I bought quilt binding to finish it off ‘cause by that time I was ready to be DONE!  I took tons of shortcuts and there are loads of imperfections, but at least now we have a usable quilt!

We have two bedrooms in our home. Hubby and I have the larger master bedroom and it encompasses not only our sleeping area, but also our hobby stations. Hubby plays the saxophone and has various music equipment for making arrangements and recordings and the like. I, as you know, sew and knit and do a variety of other crafts.  From the time we moved here over two years ago, we were short on storage space. But storage devices require money and, frankly, we didn't have the money to spend on shelves. The room got worse and worse.  As I did projects I had to quickly whisk things up off the floor out of the kids reach.  Things piled higher and higher on what was supposed to be my crafting table and with nowhere else to put it, it all just sat there.  It was embarassing.  It was depressing.  It was a block to our creativity. I finally decided something had  to be done about it. Hubby said I could buy some needed org...

Freezing just about describes life around here lately.  Not only does it feel like this bitter cold weather will never end (I admit I was spoiled by living in Southern California for 8 years..."winter" is about a week long), but today a truck arrived from Nebraska Furniture Mart to deliver this: The romantic-looking photo is courtesy of my mad Paint Shop Pro skills.  The frozen veggie distribution is courtesy of Miss M.  The freezer itself is courtesy of Uncle Sam.  It pays to have a baby right at the end of the year!  I'm very excited to have the extra freezer space.  Now I can cook large and put away the extras for those days I just don't feel much like cooking.  I may have to invest in some good freezerware though.

I took the plunge and made simple tie-back curtains.  They don't quite meet my ideal, but they're not bad and it definitely adds to the room's cheerfulness! There was only so much of the print (a Jo-Ann exclusive that I bought off of Etsy), and though I'd have liked to make them quite a bit longer, I did the best I could with what I had.  I still need to make some pull-backs.  Right now I'm using a couple strands of super-neon orange yarn!  Hubby's first comment was, "Do you have any more of that green so you can make a valance to cover up the top?"  Geez...way to boost a body's confidence!  (The answer, by the way, is no. I used every inch I could squeeze out of both fabrics).  Maybe some day I'll get a decorative curtain rod and hang them straight (not tied back) on the sides of the window.  But this'll do quite nicely for now.

I dislike curtains.  I can never seem to find any that I like.  Mostly, I think all curtain styles look dumb.  However, the one place I can tolerate them is in kids' rooms.  Still, I'm really stuck with what I want to do curtain-wise in my kids' room.  I have two fabric choices, but it's the style that's really throwing me for a loop.  I'm leaning toward simple, traditional tie-back. It was suggested to my by someone on Craftster to use an overextended curtain rod to give the appearance that the window is bigger than it actually is.  I think I like that idea a lot.  Still, I can't decide between a basic "invisible" curtain rod, or one with decorative ends and tabbed curtains.  If I could just make up my mind I'd whip 'em up and be done with it! I've got a new game in the works...  The paint is drying, but I should get it finished tomorrow and then I can tell you all about it!

Yesterday I showed you some pictures of my kids' bedroom.  Today I have a sneak preview of some changes that are taking place in that room.  (Please excuse the horrible lighting...  The overhead light went out and I didn't have time to hunt up a new light bulb since hubby wanted use of the camera!) The addition of COLOR to the room! The addition of LIGHT to the room! I found the lamp at Target , eyed it several times, and finally shelled out the moolah for it.  Neither my photo nor the product photo on Target's website do it justice. I need to get cracking on the wall hangings I designed for their room too.

I am not much good at home decorating.  Right now, my kids' room is quite dull.  It's neat and clean, but basically devoid of decor.  (Obviously these pictures were taken a while back when it was still good and green outside.) But I think I've finally got it fixed in my head what I'd like to do in there.  There will be some colorful changes in the next few days.  I'm excited to finally execute some ideas that have been brewing for a while.

Tunisian Crafts has some gorgeous handmade items for sale on eBay.  I have my eye on a couple of these Moroccan footstools to keep in my living room for extra seating and for putting my feet up while nursing E-boy.  They'd fit perfectly on either side of our wooden bench when not in use. I'd order a couple, but unfortunately today's mail brought two hefty medical bills (to the tune of $4,000!) and no white Ottobre envelope .  So I won't be making any purchases until I speak to our insurance company on Monday.  I didn't pay a penny when I had Miss M, not for the prenatal care, not for the hospitalization, nothing.  I don't know why I should be saddled with such high bills this time around.  Hopefully there's just been some mistake...keeping my fingers crossed!