The Big Picture

One of the reasons I wanted to get yesterday's table runner done was to finish up a little redecorating project in our dinning area. (Although if you never had decor in the first place, I am not sure it can be called decorating.) When we moved to this house I ended up killing off almost all of our house plants. I just couldn't find a good place to keep them and they paid the price. When a friend heard that we were living sans house plants, she graciously gifted me with three new ones. (She also included the white pots I had been looking at from Ikea. Score!) The only bad part was that now I had to find a place where they wouldn't join their already departed forerunners. (Isn't is a bummer when you have to buy something to decorate with???) Since they were smaller than our old ones, I came up with the plan to install floating shelves close enough to the patio door to allow them plenty of sun. I ended up finding a set of shelves that I liked at Menards. Mr Cherry happily put them up for me. (After he informed me that I better be sure I wanted them because once he drilled for them they weren't going to be moved. Ever.) Another bonus of the new shelves is I now have a place to store the Anthropology measuring cups that I won, er bought, through a blog auction. I shopped the house for a few more items to round out the look and now have a darling plant corner in our home.

Next to the shelves is a vinyl Bible passage that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I was so happy when I found it because it is part of our wedding reading and has become a motto for our life together. Since the passage was on the small side, I added two candle sconces from Kohls to help beef it up a bit. Now that the runner is done, I am happy to say that the redecorating/decorating is complete.

Tutorial Tuesday: Simple Stripped Table Runner

I have been wanting to create a runner for our appliance shelf for a while now. I even purchased the fabric and there it sat. I knew that it wouldn't take long. I knew I just needed to dive in and do it. And that is just what I did starting yesterday. The master plan was to get it all done then and posted about it this morning. That didn't happen. Oh well. However it is done now and it is still Tuesday.

What you will need:
Random fabrics (I used a fat 8th pack from Joann Fabrics, but you could easily make this from scraps you have around.)
1 yard for backing, binding and borders
Batting
Quilting supplies

What you will need to do:
1. Measure the how big you would like your runner to be. (The top if our shelf is 25 by 15. I decided to make it a little longer so that it would hang over a bit.) Subtract the borders from the width. (I used 3 inch pieces for the border. Subtracting 1/2 inch for each side for the seams left me with 10 inches for the center of my runner.)
2. Cut strips the size of your middle at varying lengths. (All of my strips were 10 inches wide since the center of my runner is 10 inches. The smallest strip I cut was 2 1/2 inches and the biggest was 3 1/2. I think if I would do it again, I would cut some strips even smaller.)
3. Lay out your pieces to ensure that you have enough and to find an arrangement that you like. (Don't forget the you will subtract 1/2 inch for seams on each piece.)
4. Stack your pieces on top of each other being sure to keep them in order.
5. Stitch your pieces together. (I started with the top two pieces and stitched them together (pieces 1 and 2). Then I took the next two and stitched them together (pieces 3 and 4.) I continued until they were all stitched to a partner. (I had an odd number, so I had one piece remaining at the end.)
6. Stitch your sets together. (I took the piece that was made out of 1 and 2 and stitched it to the piece that was made out of 3 and 4. I repeated this until every piece was stitched together.)
7. Repeat the process until all of your middle pieces are in a row. Then press all of your seams in the same direction.
8. Cut your borders. (I cut three strips of my border fabric the width of the fabric and 3 inches wide. I also fussy cut four 3 inch squares from one of my prints for the corners.)
9. Sew the two borders onto the long sides of the runner and trim off any excess fabric. (I wasn't thinking and started with my shorter borders. Then I had the hardest time getting my long borders to be the right length. I finally ripped it all off and started this way. You can learn from my mistake and avoid the ripping.)
10. Cut the remaining strip into two pieces for the remaining borders. (I cut mine into two 10 inch strips.)
11. Sew the corner pieces onto the 3 inch sides of the borders, one on each side. Then sew the final borders into place.
12. Cut four 2 1/4 inch strips for the binding from the backing fabric. Join the pieces together at a 90 degree angle. Trim the seam to 1/4 inch. Press the seam open. Press the entire strip in half with wrong sides together.
13. Using the remaining backing fabric to make a backing for your runner. (I ended up piecing mine.)
14. Place the baking on a table face down. Place the batting on top of the backing. Place the pieced runner on top of the batting face up. Pin through all three layers.
15. If necessary, trim the backing and batting around the runner. (Make sure to leave a little extra.
16. Quilt. (I decided to make boxes around each of my strips 1/4 inch away from the seam. I also quilted 1/4 inch in from the border seams.)
17. Stitch 1/4 inch away from the edge of the quilt on all four sides.
18. Trim the backing and batting along the edge of the top.
19. Bind.
20. I added some buttons to my flower corners.
21. Sit back, relax, and admire your work.

Shamelessly Asking for a New Toy

Have you seen all of the Silhouette cutting machines that are being given away in blogland right now? I can't wait until I win one. (Positive thinking never hurt anyone, right?) The latest one that I came across is over at Just-a-Girl. In order to get one extra entry I am blogging about it now. If any of you win because you read about her giveaway here, please know that I will be camping out at your house all hours of the day using your new toy. Okay? Thanks!

Works In Progress

As I look around my house, I find more and more to add to my to do list. However, it is summer, and this is the time of year that the weather sets the schedule. If it is nice outside, you can be sure I will drop anything at hand and head outside with Little Peachy.

Here are a few things that are on my do to list presently:

1) Finish the front porch. Nothing much has happened on this front since my last post. I was able to purchase some red outdoor pillows at 50% off, however.

2) I recently added to my to do list when I found this Peachy-sized picnic table for a price I couldn't refuse! (It was out on the curb on garbage day. :o) Don't worry, we got the owners' blessing on taking it.) I have a grand vision of red for this little guy.

3) While the wet warm weather we have been having is making the garden pretty much self-sufficient at this point, it is still a work in progress. (Thankfully it has survived the strong winds, driving rain, and hail we have also received.) We had our first taste of its goodness yesterday with a yummy spinach, butter crunch, and gourmet lettuce blend salad. I can't wait to sample some more of its bounty.

Foodie Friday: Itty Bitty Cinnamon Rolls

Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm. Tasty little bites of heaven.

(I stole this recipe from: From an Igloo; Fun Things to Make and Do)

Ingredients:

1 cup warm milk
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups flour

Filling
1 cup brown sugar
lots of cinnamon- when you think you've added enough, add some more
butter or margarine to coat

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk and let sit a couple of mins
2. Add melted butter (make sure it isn't hot), and add eggs
3. Add salt and sugar
4. Stir in flour to form dough
5. Let rise about one hour
6. Split dough in half and roll each half out into a rectangle of about 13 inches by 4 inches.
7. Spread butter onto your rectangles of dough and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Remember you can never have too much cinnamon or sugar, so when you think you've sprinkled enough on, sprinkle on some more.
8. Roll up and cut each "roll" into 12 buns
9. Put them into a 24 piece mini cupcake pan and let rise about another hour
10. bake at 400 degrees 12-15 mins. Watch em close and pull them out when they are golden.

Makes 24 mini buns. (I totally agree that these outgrew our mini muffin tin and could be made on an even smaller scale.)

Cream Cheese Icing
1/2 brick of cream cheese
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
tsp of vanilla

Mix together and ice your cooled rolls.