home is where my story begins... -

Farm Girl Vintage Quilt Project

September 15, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I’ve decided I just need more hours in the day. I know everyone probably feels like that, but I need time to spend on my hobbies. Crafty projects make me feel like a whole person, plus when I finish a project I get to add the cuteness to my house.

I found the Farm Girl Vintage book on Instagram, after I saw the adorable Baking Day block. I fell in love and HAD to have the pattern. This was the first block I completed in this awesome sampler.

Baking Day Block

The Canning Season block was just too cute to pass up. I finished this one second.

Canning Season Block

The blocks were very simple to make. I wouldn’t call it a beginning quilt, but it’s a good project for an intermediate quilter.

There are so many blocks to choose from. The barn block is another favorite and it’s been on my “to do” list for quite a long time.

I think it’s time to start cutting into the vintage fabrics and get sewing!

I’m promising myself some quality time with my sewing machine this weekend!

Happy sewing!

Welcome to Our House

August 9, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I have often said that the inside of my house is a Fall house. It has the colors and coziness of a crisp Fall day and the smell of warm cookies and hot apple cider. The outside of my house is another story. It is, most certainly, a 4th of July house.

I live by my watering a fertilizing schedule in the Summer and I love my hanging baskets and window boxes. I fill my baskets with red and white flowers and tuck little flags in everywhere.

Geraniums line the stairs on my tiny porch and more flags are there to greet people.

I may have a slight obsession with using flags as decor and it might be time to take the 4th of July decor down and store it for next year.

I bought a new variety of hydrangea for the front of my house. This a brand new variety from Monrovia, called Bobo. It’s a compact hydrangea, so I’m hoping it will stay nice and short. I also planted some Blue Star Creeper, which will fill in nicely as a ground cover.

Here’s my Bobo

I finally got rid of my old benches in the front of the house, and we bought some pretty Adirondak chairs from World Market. We also dug up all of the overgrown hydrangeas and moved them to the back yard, replacing them with Bobos as well.

I planted a pretty little basket for the front of the house to add a little color to the white chairs.

I did save two Annabelle hydrangeas, because who can live without Annabelles?

I can’t wait until my flowers fill in! They will grow up to be so pretty!

It’s almost time to start figuring out how to turn my 4th of July house into a Fall house. Until then, I’m just going to hold on to Summer. Welcome to our house!

Tomato and Basil Planter Box

July 22, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

Here’s a great surprise. I bought a friend a tomato plant for his birthday. (We have a common love of tomatoes and he and his family just moved to a new house with plenty of room for growing tomatoes.) My friend decided to build himself a planter box and then built one for ME too!

I have this planter box on my deck, right up against the wall so it would get lots of afternoon sunshine.

My basil loves the heat and the controlled amount of water. I started the tomatoes inside, with my Miracle Grow Aero Garden and then moved them outside to my new planter.

I’m not sure what it is with my big garden this year, but the tomatoes and basil aren’t looking too great. They look kind of scraggly, so I’m happy to have my new planter. I now have tomatoes and basil to cook with!

Thanks for my planter, Kenny!

New Outdoor Furniture

July 20, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I have some new outdoor furniture on the deck and I’m loving it!

We had a set of outdoor furniture that I really loved, but we’ve had it for 9 years and it was beginning to show signs of many parties, a fire pit that was too close to the chairs, and too much lounging on warm summer days. The cushions had seen better days. I started shopping for outdoor fabric, assuming that I would recover everything. Once I started adding up the cost of outdoor fabric and the foam I needed to replace, I started thinking that it would be cheaper to just buy new cushions. Ummm…. Have you ever looked at the cost of new outdoor cushions? Oh. My. Goodness. It was going to be almost $600 to replace just the cushions and they weren’t even a perfect fit. I was going to have to do some reconstruction. The fabric and foam was nearly the same cost, so it was looking like that wasn’t going to happen either.

At that point my hubby and I started shopping for a new outdoor set altogether. We checked around in a few stores, but everything was getting sold out. Hello, it was only the end of June so, of course, it was time for the stores to start bringing out Christmas decorations. We ended up finding our new set on Wayfair.

It had a couch, two chairs, two huge ottomans, and a side table. We found the fire table on Amazon. I added a few quilts to cozy it up and bought some outdoor pillows, on clearance, from Pier 1 Imports. I am in love with our outdoor space.

Our old furniture is still on the deck and I’m kind of hoping to keep it for times when we have bigger parties. I just pushed it off to the side, hoping my hubby is just ignoring the fact that I’m hoarding furniture.

I had a little table on the deck, but it was really out of place. I moved that to the corner and put a bunch of herbs on it. It’s the perfect mini kitchen garden.

It’s also a great place to display my new treasures that we dug up while on vacation in Central Oregon. (I’m kind of a rock-nerd.)

I’m loving my view from the deck. The flowers are blooming and it’s a perfect place to sit and relax.

Another little perk to having new furniture is that I have a great little table for the lower area of our backyard. This is the old firepit.

I guess I’m proof that Wayfair has just what I need. I’m sure you can guess that shipping was free! (Sorry to put the song from the commercial into your brain!)

Happy decorating!

The Story of the Garden – July 19th

July 19, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

The story of my garden isn’t actually IN the garden this week. It’s FROM the garden but we’re going to stay inside today.

The chocolate mint, in the containers on my deck, is absolutely overflowing. It was time for a haircut but I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with all of it. I put some in a jar on the kitchen counter, just because it smells good and looks pretty.

Then, I got the bright idea to make mint chocolate chip ice cream. I love making homemade ice cream. (I’ll share the recipe in another post.) It was VERY yummy. My daughter didn’t like it, but the rest of us did.

My oregano was also getting out of control, so I cut and washed a bunch of that too. It is currently hanging from my pot rack in the kitchen, drying. I’m thinking I’ll probably have to do some oven drying with it too, since it’s pretty wet and humid in the Pacific Northwest.

Of course, Summer wouldn’t be complete without bouquets of my Annabelle hydrangeas! I love my galvanized container that I got from the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. It’s the perfect spot to display my Annabelles.

Annabelles are known to be gigantic, but sometimes there will be a few tiny flowers toward the bottom. I cut those and put them in my latest Goodwill find. I got this little wire container for $2.99 and then put a few glass jars in it to make it complete. It’s perfect for my kitchen table!

So, that’s the story from the garden this week! I’m enjoying all of the treasures I’ve been growing. I love summer!

Happy gardening!

Salt Air Summer Projects

June 28, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I can remember a time in my sewing life, when I walked into a Joann store and said to myself, “I don’t understand why anyone would shop at one of those fancy quilt stores, when you have all these choices at Joann AND you can use your coupon!”

Those were the good old days. I’ve found, over the years, that I have become a fabric snob. I still shop at Joann. I still use my coupons. But, a specialty quilt shop is my happy place. I’ve even started stalking some of the Moda fabric blogs to see the new lines that will be coming out. I love how a fabric line will have 20+ different fabrics that all coordinate. I can pick and choose my look, but know that it all goes together. It takes the guess work out of fabric selection. Not only that, but the quality of Moda (my favorite) fabrics is so much higher. It makes a much nicer quilt, I must say, when you are working with a higher quality fabric.

A few summers ago, we were in a small little town in Eastern Washington. We were just passing through, and had stopped for lunch. When I spotted the quilt shop across the street, I couldn’t resist. I bought a few fabrics from the Salt Air line. Here’s a peek at some of the projects they’ve been turned into.

So far, there are two quilts. I played around with different designs on a computer quilting program I have, and came up with these. I can’t tell you how much fun I had designing my own quilts.

I made a bunch of floor pillows too. Our family room has comfy seating for about 3 people. After that, it’s pillows and blankets on the floor. Joann (see I do still shop there) sells giant 27″ square pillow inserts. I make all of my pillows with zipper enclosures so I can trade the covers out. I like to change my look with the seasons. The Moda Salt Air fabrics are definitely going to be my Summer look.

I think I may even take these quilts to the beach with us, and snap a few pictures. How can you resist taking pictures of projects made with Salt Air, when you’re at the beach. (Ok, that just shows how incredibly dorky I am.)

Happy fabric shopping!

By the way, if you’re a quilter but have not ventured into a quilt shop, it’s time. Go in, browse around, and pick a line that jumps out to you. Moda is my favorite brand. I love the Moda fabrics designed by French General, V and Co., Fig Tree, and Camille Roskelley. Ask the nice ladies in the shop to show you where those are. You may just find your happy place too!

The Story of the Garden – June 24th

June 24, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I have some new additions to the garden, and I don’t mean plants! Last weekend, after my son’s basketball game, we went to the Edmonds Art Festival to grab some dinner. Since it was Father’s Day, I told my hubby that we didn’t have to walk around and look at arts and crafts. We had a few minutes to kill before the next basketball game started so he kindly let me wander around. It’s been years since I’ve been to the Edmonds Art Festival, so it was fun to see the variety of artwork.

One booth that caught my eye had art work that had been transferred onto wood planks. They also had these cute little garden markers that I fell in love with.

I don’t have too much art out in the garden, so these were a nice addition.

They add a little more color and give you something else to look at.

We were there on the last day of the festival, so they only had a few garden markers left. I bought a couple of markers, but I wish they had more of the items I had planted.

I think they are pretty cute additions and I had forgotten how much I love a good arts and crafts festival! You never know where you’ll find fun things to add to the garden!

Chicken with Creamy Basil Sundried-Tomato Sauce

June 21, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I saw a yummy looking recipe floating around on Facebook recently and wanted to give it a try. Like most of my cooking, I didn’t stick to the recipe and changed things up a bit to put my own twist on it.

My kids said they like my thick and creamy Alfredo sauce better, but my hubby liked this recipe because it was lighter than an Alfredo, but still had a bit of creamy texture to it. This was one of my favorite recipes I’ve made in a long time. I’m a big fan of basil and sundried tomatoes, and love using ingredients from my garden, so this one made me happy.

Chicken with Creamy Basil Sundried-Tomato Sauce

A light creamy sauce, fresh basil, and sundried tomatoes gives this sauce a Tuscan flair. Serve over noodles for a complete meal.

CuisineItalian

Servings	Prep Time
4-6 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
4-6 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Chicken with Creamy Basil Sundried-Tomato Sauce

A light creamy sauce, fresh basil, and sundried tomatoes gives this sauce a Tuscan flair. Serve over noodles for a complete meal.

CuisineItalian

Servings	Prep Time
4-6 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
4-6 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken breast thinly sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil extra virgin
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup chopped spinach fresh, not frozen
1/4 cup chopped basil
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes thinly sliced
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated

Servings: people

Instructions

In a large skillet, heat olive oil and cook the chicken until brown on each side and no pink in the middle. Remove the chicken to a plate.
Add heavy cream, chicken broth, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan cheese. Stir and heat until it starts to thicken.
Add the spinach, basil, and sundried tomatoes. Then, add the chicken back to the pan.
Serve over pasta.

Recipe Notes

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DIY BBQ Cart for Father’s Day

June 20, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to give my hubby this DIY BBQ Prep and Serve Cart for Father’s Day. Pinterest has been calling my name since I had surgery, a few weeks ago. I couldn’t really focus on reading because my brain felt like mush, so I turned to Pinterest to just look at pretty pictures and feel like I’m doing something productive. I saw a picture of a DIY BBQ cart from Home Depot and thought this would be a perfect gift.

As I mentioned, I am still recovering from back surgery so I knew I wouldn’t be much help in the thinking department or the lifting department. I sent the picture to my friend Diane, who is my partner in the blogging world, mom-life, and is a wanna-be farmer like me. I told her that we should build these for Father’s Day and she was all for the idea!

We took the little girls to Lowe’s and had them do the heavy lifting of the lumber. Diane did the thinking and I took my medicated self along for the ride.

There were nail guns and chop saws involved, so I stayed back. (I’m telling you, there is no telling what could have happened if I had my hands on these. My brain is mush.)

Diane taught the girls how to use the tools and insisted on safety goggles. (Don’t you just love it when other people insist on safety? It makes me feel like shouting to my kids, “See! I told you I’m not the only mom who is cautious!”

My son lives on the basketball court so he had to jump in and help whenever I could grab him. He helped quite a bit and I was thankful for his muscles. My main roll was “drill supervisor” as we were putting the frames together, and I also helped with staining and weather-coating. I can’t even tell you how much I love this piece and how thankful I am that I have a fun neighbor who enjoys woodworking and can be the brains behind the operation.

We put the BBQ cart over by the smoker, so my hubby would have a place to set his things when he is out grilling. It’s on wheels, so it’s easy to move if he doesn’t want to keep it on the deck. My kids did the styling and tried to make it just like the picture I found on Pinterest. Here is the link to the DIY Prep and Serve Cart on the Home Depot website, if you are interested in building one.

Happy Building and Happy Father’s Day!

The Story of the Garden – June 15th

June 15, 2016 By Becca Leave a Comment

I’ve decided to start a new series called The Story of the Garden, here on the blog. I love my garden and I hesitate to constantly post pictures because this isn’t JUST a gardening blog. But my garden is my happy place and I really enjoy taking pictures of the changes that happen from month to month. I plan to document those changes here. I’m hoping you enjoy some pretty photos, gather bits of inspiration, and hopefully learn from my mistakes and success!

For the first few photos I took the screen off of my bathroom window, upstairs in my house, just so I could take pictures from a different point of view. You can’t see the whole yard, but this is my main “garden” area. We have an L-shaped house, and therefore have an L-shaped yard, but this is the bigger side of the space. When we bought the house, 10 years ago, the big Rhododendron was the only plant in the yard and the two large Maples anchored the space. The brick was there, but there was just dirt in the area. The kids helped add pathways so we could divide up the space and make it easier to reach when planting herbs and veggies. In the back, where the red chairs are, we used to have a swingset. Now it’s just a cute little sitting area and another space for gardening.

There’s more grass to the left of my garden and I have a few things growing over there. There are two apple trees but they have never produced a single apple. It’s just too shady. We keep them because they are nice trees. I’ve also planted some hydrangeas and a lilac.

Back to my favorite part of the yard…

I planted lots of herbs, lettuce, peas, zucchini, and spinach on the left.

On the right, I have potatoes, tomatoes, and my square foot garden.

I divided up this small space and planted something different in each spot. There is a mix between herbs, veggies, and flowers here. There are a few squares that didn’t work out. My sunflowers NEVER make it past the seed stage.

There’s a reason my sunflowers never make it. See that bird feeder? Well, it doesn’t really feed the birds too often.

We have lots of squirrels in our yard. They are the reason the birds don’t come to my bird feeder and they are also the reason my sunflower seeds disappear before they even get a chance to germinate.

They are awfully cute little guys, but not a gardeners best friend.

**Side story: See the little guy below? He’s laying on his side. He does walk, but he’s constantly falling over. He takes a few steps and then tumbles, and then gets back up again. Well, I know exactly why he can’t walk well and it’s one of those stories I wouldn’t believe if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I was looking out the window one afternoon and saw something fall from the tallest tree in our yard. Then, I saw a medium-sized bird dive bombing the thing that fell. It was the squirrel! The squirrel ran and hid under a bush and when it started to walk you could tell that something was not right. He’d walk and then fall over. It’s like one side is paralyzed, but he still gets around ok. I really can’t believe he’s alive after falling from a huge tree onto the rocks below.**

The squirrels really love my bird feeder.

They spend so much time clinging to the side that the birds rarely get a chance for a nibble.

The squirrels are super cute, but the hummingbirds are my favorite to watch.

They are just so dainty and they love this fushia-type plant that I have.

I only had to sit outside with my camera for about a minute before seeing a hummingbird stop by for a drink. They are constant visitors in my yard.

That’s the garden tour for today! I guess animals in the garden was the theme of the day. I’ve been home recovering from surgery and I haven’t been able to do much. I guess sitting and watching the animals has been a good source of entertainment for me.

Happy gardening!

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