Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year

For some reason I'm really looking forward to 2015. Not because 2014 was bad. I love the fresh start and clean slate of a new year. For me it's like spring time - a time to clean out my closets, purge stuff that I no longer need or use, organize and start again. I'm the type of gal that only let's my Christmas tree linger for a few days after Christmas. Definitely gone by New Year's Eve. I have boxed it all up, cleaned the house, simplified and I'm ready to ring in 2015.

One of the biggest things that needed some attention was my pantry. I've been experimenting with preserving food / jam for the last 6 years and there were some jars dating as far back as 2008. Okay - quite a few jars actually. They were taking up lots of space and never going to be consumed. I hate wasting food but it was time for them to go. There was also lots of general clutter that needed to be addressed. My pantry is really deep so it's hard to see what's going on in the way back. So I dumped all the old jars and anything else that was old, put a few shelves in, wiped all the surfaces and organized what was left. I'd still like to get a few more baskets to corral things like pasta and snacks but it's already looking way better.


 While cleaning out the pantry I threw out a bunch or well used cloth napkins. So of course I had to sew a few more. So that happened and it's the perfect addition to my cleaned out pantry!

 

 The last thing I'm sharing are these trivets (thanks to Pinterest). I made these this year as Christmas gifts and I had a few left over. I love the contrast of the dark stain and white washed wood.



 

Happy New Year!
xo
-V

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Voila!

A few months back I made this Voila Blouse. To date it is my favorite hand-made piece of clothing. I found this fabric at Goodwill well over a year ago and was saving it for something special. Something that I would actually wear and something that had a simple design to show off the fabric. When I came across the pattern for the Voila Blouse I just knew it was the one! This top is super comfy and the fabric is a nice linen-like cotton. The one downside to the fit would be that it's a bit roomy and might make me look pregnant... Rest assured that I am not. But this would make a great maternity shirt!






Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas Highlights

 The real highlight of Christmas was family. Sure we all got great gifts but it was so nice to spend time with the people I love. My parents came up for 5 days and we even got a surprise visit from my brother and sister-in-law. It was great to see everyone, spend time together, share meals and enjoy each others company. We also made a trip to Seattle to visit more family. These pictures are us. It's nearly impossible to get everyone to look at the camera and smile at the same time but I guess that's how it goes. These pictures are all thanks to my Christmas gift which was a tripod and remote for my camera.





Next up: catching up on all the Christmas crafting plus the backlog of things I've made but haven't properly photographed.

xoxo
-V