by Andrea | Oct 31, 2016 | DIY, handmade, Sewing, tutorials, Uncategorized
Welp, I have fallen onto the bandwagon of trendiness this fall. I really hated ponchos back in the 90’s but I like the new blanket style ones that are on the very front display at Target this year taunting me with their plaids and tribally goodness like sea sirens to a sailor. I was at Joanne’s this week a couple times for ONE THING. I kept walking past this woven tribal fabric and I couldn’t stand it. I brought it home and promptly turned it into a blanket poncho. Even my 12 year old likes it. That’s saying something. It was my reward for finishing the fancy fox quilt for my daughter that took like 1200 hours.
If you’d like to join in on the poncho trend, I’ve made up a quick and easy poncho tutorial for you to follow. It takes 1 yard of fabric and about 20 minutes tops!
Did I to mention it’s CHEAPER?! You could make 3-4 of these for the price of a Target or Gap one right now! Can we say CHRISTMAS GIFTS?!!! If you purchase 1 yard of 60″ wide woven fabric for 12.99 and they have most of it 40% off right now, then you use your 20% off total purchase coupon….. well, you have yourself an amazing poncho for only $6.30! So hurry and get started! Here is the nitty and the gritty in an easy to follow downloadable image! I’d love to see your ponchos! Tag em #aldeasyponcho
EASY BLANKET PONCHO TUTORIAL DOWNLOAD
Here are some pictures of me and my 12 year old daughter trying it on….so it’s pretty versatile size wise but I have included instructions for a custom fit do you can make for ANY SIZE!!!! Happy Poncho-ing. Make all the ponchos!!!
-Andrea
Grace was my photographer and her Miranda impressions made it impossible for me to do anything but cheesy laughing faces. She’s pretty cute.
by Andrea | Sep 12, 2016 | Uncategorized
Hello, there friends! I don’t plan to put much on the blog from my interior design work, but this Master Bedroom Plan I just finished up is way too fun not to share! My client just purchased her first home. She was SO excited but didn’t know where to start! Every room in the house needs a little TLC, but over all there are many charming nooks and crannies. I am overjoyed that she chose me to help her make it her home!
The home started as a tiny one bedroom house 100 years ago in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia. The people she bought it from had lived there for a very long time and had added on rooms and wings in lots of choppy weird ways to accomodate their growing family. This meant a nice large house but lots of little design challenges to make it functional and feel like home.
We started with her Master Bedroom because that seemed like the most important room to her when I talked with her about her goals. I decided if she was going to do the majority of the minor DIY work over a period of time by herself, her bedroom being finished first would provide her the haven she would need when other projects were in process and she was tired from her full time job.
So here it is! I call it the “Modern Fun Master” This is the visual design board which gives her an end goal and helps keep her on track. When I make a design board for a client, I provide a full list of items and where to purchase them, paint colors, and commentary as to furniture layout and any remodeling suggestions I might have.
My favorite thing about design jobs is handpicking the pieces of decor that make it truly unique to the client. In this room you’ll notice several handcrafted pieces I found from talented makers on Etsy. Enjoy!
by Andrea | May 13, 2016 | handmade, quilting, Sewing, tutorials, Uncategorized
How to make a really great modern quilt in 4 hours using 5 yards of fabric:
BUT FIRST
Here’s how it happened. I’ve been brewing up a nice modern nautical stripe quilt in my head ever since my friend made some UH-MAZING ombre stripe toddler quilts for our Handmade Markets. I have this great piece of pink and marroon Amy Butler Fabric I’ve been hoarding for roughly 6 years now and I knew that it was the perfect quilt backing…plus the sister I had in mind for the quilt loves pink. Plus the sister was graduating and I wanted to make her a special gift. The equation worked out perfectly. I stopped for a lightning fast trip to Hobby Lobby to astound all the shoppers and fabric counter lady with my tribe of children. We had to answer ALL THE QUESTIONS, “Yes, their all mine. Yes, my hands are full – of good things. Yes – they are all girls.”
But I was not distracted. I saw the perfect shades of Kona Cotton to match the aforementioned hoarded fabric while chasing a child to stop her from running through the “maze.” I’m not really sure how we got from the opposite side of the store where we only needed one thing in the art supply section to the fabric maze. It’s like the Konas were calling my name.
When you know, you know. I saw those Kona Solids and knew I had finally found the perfect match for my Amy Fabric and my Stripe Quilt Idea. So here we are with grace from above and the stars aligned.
This quilt is perfect if you have a beautiful cotton print that you can’t bear to cut up.
WHAT YOU NEED:
TOP -2 yards complimentary cotton quilting fabric solids
BACK -3 yards patterned cotton quilting fabric
3 yards of batting -I LOVE really thin 100% cotton Mountain Mist Cream Rose Batting
WHAT TO DO:
1.) Cut your solids into 12″ pieces across the width of the fabric from selvage to selvage.
2.) You’ll end up with 6 pieces total, each measuring 12 x 44″
3.) Sew the stripes together alternating colors along the 44″ length side.
4.) Cut your backing fabric in half at the 1.5 yard line and sew together along the selvage to create the backing.
5.) Spread out your batting on a clean floor and smooth quilt top across. Trim batting to the same size. It should measure 44 x 70″
6.) Next carefully pick up your top and batting together and lay aside. Lay down your backing piece wrong side up. Place top/batting down on the middle of your backing piece and smooth from the center out with your hands. There should be about 2″ on either side of the length of the quilt sandwich and more at the top and bottom.
7.) Baste it. PIN THE HECK OUT OF IT WITH LARGE SAFETY PINS! Always smoothing, pin from center out. We don’t want our quilt sandwich bunching or shifting when we sew it together, do we now?
8.) Quilt it a 1/2″ on either side of the seams where your solids meet. Set your walking foot up if you want. Use a longer stitch length. Start in the middle of your quilt and sew out from centers of stripes.
QUILTING TIPS: If you try to start sewing at the ends all the way to the other end you will have bunching and unwanted pinching or pleating of fabric. Yuck. Don’t do it. I promise it doesn’t take much longer to keep starting from the middle of your quilt. Keep your quilt rolled up neatly under the arm of your machine so the bulk of the quilt will fit easier.
9.) Now trim thread tails and the backing of the quilt. Use a clear ruler and rotary cutter and leave exactly one inch of the backing fabric for your binding.
10.) Double fold the backing up onto the top of the quilt to create binding. I like to use wonder clips for holding the binding in place while I sew. Then you machine sew it along the edge. It’s so easy and fast. This binding technique saves so much time! Hence the ability to complete this quilt in just 4 hours!!!
Finished Quilt measures approximately 44″ x 70″ A great size for a twin bunk or napping couch throw!
DISCLAIMERS: No children were neglected or starved in the making of this quilt. I really did make it in 4 hours! I did not count the hour I stopped in the middle to feed/nurse children. I did count my time while helping children with school sitting next to me.
Show me your Modern Stripe Quilts! Tag ’em with #ALDstripequilts on your social media accounts!
HAPPY SEWING! You can do it!
by Andrea | Jan 5, 2016 | Uncategorized
In Joy and Pain
Meet Ruby Jane. Our beautiful 5th girl. In her honor I will share all the juicy details about how I really feel and what I really believe about having 5 girls. Please don’t continue reading unless you’re human and have struggled with disappointment at some time in your life. Or if you’re really nosy. Then proceed.
DISCONTENT. It’s the problem. The ultimate sin that plagues most of us. It reaches flexibly into all areas and circumstances of our lives. Satan’s arsenal of mass destruction, a cancer of anti-joy infecting our soul. From Eve in the Garden of Eden to our very-real now.
THE STORY OF MY LIFE – I got the same question every time I walked through a public place with all the girls and my pregnant belly. “Is that one a girl too?” or comments, such as “Please tell me that’s not a girl.” I would look at my oldest daughters face. A mixture of insult, awkward sadness and the knowledge that it’s ironically funny. But behind all those emotions, a deeper knowledge of how it hurt me to be asked again, and a certainty of how much we loved and welcomed this baby into our lives as the blessing and reward she is. We treasure all our girls, never for a moment wishing them away.
I have 5 girls. I didn’t want all girls. All the questions ran through my mind at one point or another. Silent, sad, pathetic, desperate and heated conversations in my head with God. “Why Lord?” “Really?” “Is it something I’ve done wrong or said?” “Why does _____ get one and I don’t?” “Just one, please?!” “I promise I’ll raise him to serve and love You”
So, when you are tempted to despair or when you are wrecked with the overwhelming tide, the burgeoning “too much” like these children bring me to daily….how do you deal with it? When the girls are crying dramatic tears over some ridiculous problem involving what to wear or who hurt their feelings….. There is a tension to it. I no longer mentally debate whether God is really good or whether He really knows the plans He has for us.
Yet, the flesh and the Spirit still wage war in my soul.
I can listen to the lies, that if I had a boy, or a bigger house, or a healthier body, or a better job, or whatever the lie is… life would be easier…but there are so many lies. So many idols to worship.
“I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans for a hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11
This verse used to be a cliche to me. Do you believe this? I didn’t. This promise of scripture applies to our lives, not just Jeremiahs. We are always such discontented little creatures, us. Always dissatisfied with that which God gives. Our hearts “manufacture idols” as Charles Spurgeon once wrote. But God’s character has never changed. HE is still the good God who gives and takes away. He ordains our days. He gives life and breath. Our souls were made to be happy in HIM alone, so that in all situations we could say “Blessed be the Name of the Lord!” Every trial big and small, every loss and heartbreak, is an opportunity to believe that He has planned this day for you and there is a good gift of joy to unwrap in the pain. That each moment is tied to our present sactification and our future joy.
HOW?
How do we do that when our angry, blinding tears paralyze us in our prayers for what we feel we desparately need? After I found out my 4th was a girl, I sobbed for days. I cried every time someone I knew or loved found out they were having a boy. Their good news striking a blow to my scarring, bitter heart. Sometimes I still have the sting. How do we get the joy? He gives that longed for joy the minute we stop to thank Him and bless His name. The joy is in the eucharisteo, or the giving thanks of our gifts to God. But sometimes five girls or fill in the blank with your gifts-don’t look like gifts. So He lovingly took me and will continue to take me and you (dear friend if you’re still reading) to a place where I could see that my girls were indeed good, purposeful, sacred gifts. The place is called…Not having anything else. Just girls.
Truth stops the bitter cycle of discontent.
WITH TRUTH:
“3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Psalm127:3-5
But is there anything wrong with wanting or having a son? NO! If I believe Gods word is true, then I can rest in the fact that the children He DOES give me are a reward and blessing.
Really at the end of the day the deal for me is this:
I BELIEVED THE LIE THAT HAVING A SON WOULD MAKE ME TRULY HAPPY.
Believing that your joy is based upon any one earthly necessity and cannot be found in Christ alone is an idol. I believe a lot of lies, to be honest. (They are all straight from the pit of hell.) We all do. Praise God for revealing them to me. I pray He reveals yours to you.
Here is a little analogy…..If you like to quilt and sew you will understand.
I made Ruby a quilt. I kept sewing the pieces together and cutting them WRONG! When we bind our hearts together with sinful beliefs, it’s a MISTAKE! So God, being the masterful “quilter” HE is, takes his loving hand of sanctification to His beloved US, and rips those seams apart. He shows us the idols, and destroys them. He corrects us and remakes us and refashions us and ultimately our thinking. He directs us RIGHT back to TRUTH. The truth is in His Word. HE is Truth. The ripping is painful. It’s painful because our flesh, and what we want more than Christ is dying. But the end result is beautiful.
I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Psalm119:75
I often ask myself, “What is your biggest problem?”
That you have to die for your sin. Has He taken away your sin and it’s penalty? The answer is yes. Yes He most wonderfully has! So all those lies are answered with this one truth. HE HAS given me a son. His Son died for me. And for you. It is finished. When we behold the fullness of our salvation and the beauty of our Savior, the lies of the happiness this world offers pale in comparison, or they should. So you need deep, still, solid peaceful joy to happen in your soul? Just ask.
And friends, the truth is ONLY HE CAN MAKE US HAPPY. Truly full of JOY. So why aren’t we always happy? If we are Christians and we know this with our heads? Because we are in a war. The war between our sinful flesh and our redeemed Spirit. We can wallow in our mistakes and our desires and our lies, leaving that unfinished quilt to die in our basement craft piles, or we can submit ourselves to God who is faithful in our struggle for joy. We can be remade.
Isn’t my newest gift just beautiful? God is good. Here she is with the quilt I made her.
{Edited by Lori Chally}
