Friday Five

Hi! I can't believe it's the middle of August already! 10 days until the boys go back to school and regular routine can resume - can I get an "Amen" to that?? Thankfully, this morning the boys are happily playing (and hopefully they are sufficiently motivated by the possibility of Beth Marie's ice cream this afternoon to continue!), so it's time for another Friday Five...

1. Heavy on my mind is my cousin who is having brain surgery in Montreal this morning - praying for her and her family and the surgeons!

Update: her surgery went well; now praying for a speedy recovery.

2. I have been working on this project this week. It's definitely more difficult to get things done with both boys at home (especially since D does not really like the sounds of the sewing machine!), but it's coming along...

August Blues - Floral Ottoman

3. Speaking of sewing machines, I am seriously thinking of upgrading my machine to an industrial walking foot machine - any advice??

4. Yesterday, the Professor took D for a car ride and D brought these in when they got home - he picked them out and I would say he has pretty good taste in flowers :) Aren't they pretty?

August Blues - Rose Bouquet

5. This arrived for D the other day - so excited!!!

August Blues - Snug Vest

You  can read more about the Snug Vest here. I was excited when I found out about it; then we entered a contest to win one. We didn't win, but were offered a vest at half price. Friends had offered to help us to get one for him, so we did a Go Fund Me campaign and, MANY thanks to generous friends and family, were able to get one! Now to get him to try it long enough to feel the benefits :P

So, how are you spending these last few days of summer (here in Texas we will have summer for awhile yet...)? Are you starting to think of fall?

Happy weekend!

Sherri

Vacation 2013

Hello, friends! Well, I'm back after...

August Blues - Colorado Lake

23 days, 2 adults, 2 boys, 2 dogs, 1 vehicle, 4000 miles, 11 states, 2 provinces...

August Blues - Regina, SK

... almost 4GBs of pictures, 3 birthday parties, 1 funeral, 2 random TV interviews, 1 6-hour catch-up conversation over coffee and the most amazing double chocolate cake you will ever have...

August Blues - Bessborough

... 1 loose tooth, 1 doctor visit (not related to the tooth), 1 vet visit, an unknown number of Timbits (not related to the vet visit), 2 1/2 thought-provoking books, 7 hotel rooms...

August Blues - Canola Field

... 1 epic summer vacation!

August Blues - Flags

And, now I am getting ready to get back to work - my next project arrives tomorrow!

How has your summer been?

Sherri

Home, Part 1

During this vacation, I have been thinking about home. And probably more about the concept of home than the actual place. If you will indulge me, I would like to share a few thoughts and ideas in a series of posts. None of this will be earthshaking or new, it's just what I have been contemplating, and maybe it will stir a few thoughts of your own... I thought I would start by sharing some pictures of some of the places I have lived since leaving my parents house. Not included on this list are: a basement suite, 3 apartments, and the house we currently live in, the latter because, while it is perfectly functional, does not quite represent the style that these favorites have. I would say that these here most closely represent the style that speaks to me, that feeds my sense of "home."

I shared this house with some roommates while we were in university, one of whom, while she is also my second cousin, has become a dear friend. You know, the ones that every time you are together, you just pick up where you left off, even if there has been minimal communication in between (and every time I resolve to change that :/ )? Oh, there are stories from this house...

August Blues - Craftsman

It's a fairly typical Craftsman bungalow, with a  great family room addition on the back. Most of the original moldings were intact when we lived there. There was even a claw foot tub and doors with frosted glass windows and hardwood floors - lovely!

This next house was the first house that the Professor and I bought (and the blue-and-white color scheme was totally coincidental!). We loved this house! It was a little (730 sq. ft on the main floor!) cottage built in 1914 and located across from a lovely green park. The backyard was filled with gorgeous perennial borders put in by the previous owner (thankfully, because I do not have the greenest of thumbs). Unfortunately, it's looking a little worse for wear now, but there are so many memories in this house...

August Blues - Cottage

And this last house is the house we left behind when we moved to Texas. And that was a little tough. We came upon it by going to an open house on a whim. We looked at the house, and carried on with our day. But, we kept thinking and talking and realized that it had a lot of what we were looking for in our next house (we realized that 730 sq ft would probably get too small at some point ;) ). And the price was right. So, we had another look, put our house on the market and when it sold in 6 days, we were the proud owners of this beauty!

August Blues - Row House

This house is located a few blocks from downtown, on a lovely tree-lined street filled with similar homes in various stages of renovation. There is a coffee shop and small grocery store around the corner and a park a few blocks away. The river is just another block further.

Built in 1912, the house has 2 1/2 storeys and 1930 sq ft, with 4 bedrooms and a large kitchen addition on the back. It had been a rooming house at one point in it's life, so it had some quirks (including a walk-through closet and sinks in two of the bedrooms). But the hardwood floors were wonderful and it had most of it's original moldings. The Professor quickly claimed one of the third floor bedrooms for his office (it really felt like a tree house!) and I got a pass-through room on the main floor for mine (we both worked from home at that time). We loved to entertain in that house - the large kitchen and open/connected spaces on the main floor meant lots of room for everyone. And we loved that front porch! And I could go on and on...

As you can probably tell, we are drawn to older homes with tons of character. They do require work and being able to live with quirks, but the sense of history is difficult to duplicate in a newer home (imho). Someday we hope to find another old beauty, but for now, we will be thankful for these and continue to work on the one we have.

Are you drawn to a particular style of house?

Sherri

P.S. If you know the location of these homes, please do not reveal the address in your comments - thanks :)

A Little Retail Therapy

I hope you have been enjoying your July 4th weekend! We have some actual vacation time planned in the next few weeks, so I needed to finish one more slipcover project. It had it's challenges, but I am happy with how it turned out:). I will post about it later in the week.

We delivered the chair and took the opportunity to make a quick stop at IKEA. It was a win-win for everyone - I got to do a little shopping, the boys got to eat lunch out, and the Professor was happy to take advantage of the kids-eat-free deal this weekend :)

It's so hard to stick to a list at IKEA - anyone else have that problem? I did pretty well, only picking up a couple of things that weren't on my list.

August Blues - IKEA Things

I ended up with a decidedly modern country collection.

I had seen the set of two metal vases (Socker here) highlighted somewhere else earlier in the spring. Our store only had the cream color, but other colors looks like they would be great, too.

I was so happy to find the glass canister (Burken here)!! I have a couple of the them in my pantry and have been looking for another one; the last time I was at the store they didn't have any, but this time they did!

August Blues - Basket, Hooks, Vase, and Napkins

Also on my list was another basket for the shelf here (Byholma, but this one is not on the website).

And anyone else have trouble resisting the napkins? I wasn't going to get any this time, but this pattern in these colors? Well, they went into my bag :)

And finally, we have the Leksvik hooks up all over the house - I just needed one more set for one of the boys' bedrooms. Great look and so functional!

Do you have favorite IKEA products?

As I mentioned at the beginning, I will be taking a little vacation time over the next few weeks. I have a couple of slipcover projects to show you and will be starting new projects in August. I am booked into September, so if you want to get on my wait list, let me know (I will continue to check my e-mail).

Hope your summer is going well!

Sherri

Birthday Friday Five!

Good Morning! I hope you have had a good week. I have another birthday Friday Five for you today - this time it's my birthday, aaannd that's enough about that ;)

August Blues - Scale

1. I picked up this beauty a couple of weeks ago. It's a birthday perk :) Have you joined the Explorer program at World Market? It's free and totally worth it just for the little gift they send you for your birthday. I saw this scale on their website a couple of months ago and knew right away that I would be spending my birthday gift on that. Isn't it gorgeous?

August Blues - Lemonade

2. We made this lemonade recipe earlier this week. Couldn't be easier! Not the cheapest way to make lemonade, but it's the real thing and it sure is tasty. Next time I think I will try it with a little less sugar ;)

August Blues - Crepe Myrtle

3. Does anyone else have a crepe myrtle like this? We have two of them, planted a couple of years ago. They were supposed to have white flowers, and now you can see they have both white flowers and pink flowers on the same tree - I don't think that is supposed to happen... but we are ok with it :)

4. I linked up this projecthere (Link #54 if you are looking). Wow, if you want blog traffic, this is one way to get it :)

5. "Kid hangover" - if you are an introvert parent with extrovert kids, you may get this :) Seriously, I love the way Emily talks about transitioning to a summer schedule for those of us who attempt to work from home (she links to the post that describes the kid hangover).

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the first official weekend of summer!

Sherri

Friday Five

Happy Friday! I hope your week was good and your weekend promises to be even better :) Well, I worked on the fireplace yesterday, but you'll have to read to the end to see the "after"  ;)

1. We made it through our first official week of summer vacation! The boys had two days of day camp (awesome!) and we managed to fill up the rest of the time with trips to the park, therapy appointments, errands, a playdate, and some down time.

2. My favorite product of the summer so far? Sunscreen stick - have you tried it? Not very exciting, but if you are a mom, I'm sure you'll understand. It's probably been around for awhile (I'm a little slow). It just works so great for the boys!

3. Ok, I have two favorite new products ;)  Have you tried Tazo Decaf Chai Latte concentrate? I found a carton at Kroger (apparently it's also at Starbucks) and, wow - it makes a delicious drink! A great treat without leaving home :)

4. I got brave and joined my first linky party yesterday - check it out here!

5. Ok, here is the fireplace after (check out the before here)...

August Blues - Fireplace After

I basically used the technique she describes here, and I'll give more step-by-step details another time :)  We all like it much better! Now the mantel really looks not-quite-right (and we'll have to do something with the black hole), but we'll live with it for awhile so we can figure out what kind of mantel we want.

And the fabric for my next project arrived yesterday, so it's sewing time!

Do you have any projects for this weekend?

Sherri

Friday Five

Hello there! How has your week been? I don't know where mine went; well, I guess I do - we have all been under the weather and it finally caught up with me. Yay that it's not strep throat, boo that I have a sinus infection, yay that it was caught early. So, onto the five...

1. I have been working on an amazing slipcover project. It's for a pair of wing chairs and I can't wait to share it with you :)

2. I have also been working on redesigning my website at augustblues.com - now I'm just waiting for it to be launched on the web. I'll keep you posted on Facebook in the meantime!

3. In other slipcover news, I entered this contest, just for fun. There are some REALLY talented seamstresses around, so it's very inspiring to see all the entries. These are last year's winners - amazing! Wish me luck!

4. Oh yeah, our boys have one more week of school and somehow our youngest is already looking like a first-grader - how does that happen? I think our oldest is just ready to be done school - praying he can last 4 more days!

5. Ok, I'm having trouble coming up with 5 things (I guess it's been that kind of week), so I thought maybe you would enjoy a picture of our dogs...

August Blues - beagle

August Blues - chihuahua

Yep, kind of how I feel today ;) Tempting though it is, I will carry on with my day - going to mail my contest entry, do a bit of sewing, and then attend a couple of year-end parties at school :)

Have a great weekend!

Sherri

Master Designer

Just popping in to say... did you notice the new button on my sidebar? The fancy blue one? I can across this when I first started following blogs and thought if I ever had a blog, I would add it. Well, I came across  it again the other day and now I have a blog so I could use it :) And I was able to figure out how to add it - even better! This concept comes from Darlene at Fieldstone Hill Design and it goes as follows...

MD-manifesto-400w1

Isn't that great? If you would like to add this buttton to your website/blog, click here and follow the instructions. And while you are there, take a look around Darlene's blog - lots of gorgeous eye-candy!

Have a great weekend!

Sherri

P.S. I have been working on some great slipcover projects, but I am thinking I will enter some of them here, so will need to wait to share them until after the contest is over ;)