Thursday, March 31, 2011

Hometown Glory

Auditory Deliciousness

Todays artist is Adele.  I have to admit that at first I did not really like her.  Personally I am not a fan of her 'Chasing Pavements' song.  It is overplayed and I don't know why it bothers me, but it does.  Well thanks to Pandora, I discovered more of her songs and changed my mind.  I absolutely adore this song.  Adele's voice is so smooth and beautiful.  So this goes to show that you need to always give someone a second chance!!


Thursday, March 17, 2011

Hallelujah

Auditory Deliciousness

I don't know if anyone has heard of Kate Voegele, but she is basically a-mazing!  I love her version of  Hallelujah.  Her voice is just beautiful.  Enjoy!


Monday, March 7, 2011

Mismatched Fine China

It all started with this. . .


My mother in-law is an amazing host.  Every time she has a party she always has the cutest favors.  This adorable tea cup was one of those favors.  She found them at the DI, a thrift store.  She grew some wheat grass in them, and had one at each place setting.

I immediately fell in love with the idea of having fine china.  When I got married we didn't register for china (who knows why?!).  I mentioned to my mother in-law that I would love to start looking at thrift stores for fine china.  I didn't want them to match at all, the more eclectic the better.  This was in April, in December to my surprise and delight I opened my Christmas present from her and fell in love.


She spent 9 months combing thrift stores in search of fine china.  I now had a place settings for 8.  Each place setting has a matching dinner plate, salad plate, saucer and tea cup.  Some of the sets even have a matching bowl, or an extra plate.


Even though they match within each place setting, all of the settings are totally different.  To top it off she also bought me 8 water goblets, 8 wine glasses, and 8 sherbet cups, all of which are real crystal.



 I couldn't believe she had done that for me!  At the risk of sounding tacky, I asked her how much she ended up spending on the whole lot.  I researched the china and found the price for each item if I had paid full price.  I was able to find all of the patterns except one, if anyone knows what pattern this is I would LOVE to know!!



For the main dinner plate she spent $1 on each one.  For the other salad plates, bowls and dessert plates, she spent $.50 each.  The saucers and tea cups were also each $.50.  When you add this up it equals $22.50!!  I couldn't believe it.  After all of my research, the estimated (due to the one mystery place setting) total is around $275.


I wasn't able to identify the crystal glasses, but I did research how much it would be to buy a similar set.  To average out the prices I am going to say around $10.  This would mean that all of the crystal would cost around $240.  My mother in-law paid $1 for the water goblets and $.50 for the wine glasses and sherbet cups.  Add this all together and you get $16!


 Now I have a whole set of shabby chic dishes worth over $500 for less than $50!  I am definitely going to keep building my collection.  Even though it takes a lot of time and searching I think it is worth it, who wouldn't want these awesome dishes for that price!



Friday, March 4, 2011

Bunting Baby Quilt

I have tried to make quilts for a few of my good friends when they have had babies.  A little while ago, one of my really good friends had twins.  To be honest the thought of making two pieced quilts was a little overwhelming.  At that time my life was on overdrive and I had too much to do as it was. 

While searching for a fast and easy, yet cute pattern I came across this from A Pretty Cool Life.  I love the colors and how simple it is.


Since she had a boy and a girl, it was fun to change up the colors to make them gender specific.


I made my quilts a little different size then the pattern says.  They actually ended up being larger.  When I went to the fabric store to get the white material, I came across a great sale, so I ended up buying material that is meant for bed sheets.  This material is so wide.  When measuring the width of the quilt I was able to just cut all the way across.  The width of the material is the perfect amount for the front and back of the quilt.  I also used more bunting because my quilts were larger.


I wanted to add a little something to the quilt.  I loved the simplicity, but felt it needed a little boost.  I decided to add embroidered clouds as part of the quilting.

I wanted the baby girl quilt to be different from the baby boy quilt, so I decided to embroider pink clouds.  I love how they look with the pink fabric.


This quilt was so easy.  I am definitely going to make more if I ever need a quick project.


PS- For some great ideas head on over to my group blog


Thursday, March 3, 2011

Please forgive me

Auditory Deliciousness

This week I present you with David Gray.  He has been around for quite a while but that doesn't mean he isn't awesome!!  I absolutely love this song.  I can honestly say I have never seen this video before now.  All I can say is quirky!  I actually really like how off beat this video is.