wallpaper love

The other night I decided that I would finally decorate our dining room for real. We have been wanting to do this room for years and still haven't decided on a flooring, but I am going to get going on the rest of the room. First up, wallpaper.

I bought a bunch of samples from York Wallcoverings. This place has a huge selection of wallpaper and some really cool patterns. And they are located very close to where I grew up, so that is a plus.

 

 

They give you really large pieces for a small fee, which was great. If you are thinking about hanging wallpaper in your house remember to test wallpaper samples in the room you will be using them. I ordered 6, but 2 didn't work.

These two are flocked (fuzzy) and they are rad. They were Dave's favorite. The tan one was my second favorite.

 But I am in charge of decorating this room, so this is the winner.

It is INCRDEIBLE.

And it just so happens to match these chairs perfectly. The chairs are from Dave's grandma and we love them. Part of this dining room re-do was going to include re-upholstering the chairs, but since this wallpaper has the same colors they are staying as-is.

That saved a lot of $$! And just look at this wallpaper.
It is gold and it shimmers and I love it!

This rubber plant was trash picked shortly after we moved in (almost 3 years ago). I saw it in the neighborhood while walking moz and it is so cool. I love it.

Moz

We were lucky to have almost 12 years with the best dog you could imagine. Moz died sunday night, March 8 and we have been missing him every day since.

Moz on a camping trip. He loved being in the water.

Here he is with Dave in 2008 when we went to Canada. Dave was trying to kayak on the lake, but Moz kept swimming after him and following him.

Here they are hiking in the Berkshires.

And this was on a walk through Farimont Park. He was in that water seconds later.

It's certainly not the same without him following us around everywhere we go. But he had a great life and we were lucky to have him as our friend. XO

snow day

We finally got a nice, big snow storm today. I was hoping that we would get at least one this year, and we did-- in March. But I'll take it. Although tomorrow I will be back to wanting Spring to arrive at any moment.

Here are some photos from around the house.

 

Cosmic O'Keeffe Quilt

Based on my high school friend's love of all things science and cosmic, I made this quilt for his baby girl. It may be a bit intense for a newborn, but they love color, right?

I was searching online for a fabric with pictures of the universe and found this great seller on etsy, stellar fabric. They have fabric of photos taken from the Hubble Telescope. I used the Orion Nebula for the front, mixed in with various other fabrics including two vintage tea towels of flowers.

Here are some photos of the process of making this quilt:

 I only used a small bit of each of the tea towels, so you will certainly see this fabric in some other future quilts.

 The Orion Nebula fabric was used for the back.

 Piecing the front:

 Sandwiching the layers:

 Quilting:

 And the finished product. Here is the back.

 And the front:

 I finally bought some tags to use for my quilts.

This was a really fun quilt to make, especially since I also love the cosmos and am fascinated by the universe. By the way, have you watched the remake of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey? It is quite possibly the best show on TV. I love it.

 

baby quilt

Over the past few months I have slowly gotten back into quilting, which has been a great feeling. I only make them for gifts, so brand*eye is not back to "business," but I am back to quilting!

Here is one that I made for my cousins baby, while it was in-process. Quilt-top.

 And sewing the binding.

 And here is the finished product.

 Quilt-back.

Decorating for the Holidays

I cut some of the plants from the garden to make these outdoor arrangements. I'm not sure they will make it through the winter, but they should look nice for a few weeks at least.

 

Moz and I had a Holiday card photo shoot. Isn't he the cutest? 

 

 

And the wood pile even got a little sparkle. What is your favorite thing to decorate during the holidays?