We’ve made another journey around the sun, and I’m finally getting around to sharing this red white and blue beauty. These blocks are from a block swap I participated in using a free star block pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew and I’m happy to report that it’s ready for the 4th of July holiday!

Of course I needed to add my own spin on the final product – because that’s what I do. It may be because I wanted something different or perhaps it was because I didn’t have quite enough blocks for a whole quilt (ahem, the latter). After some quilty math, and deciding on a layout, Oh My Stars! was born.

For the star blocks, visit Cluck Cluck Sew for the free pattern and awesome tutorial.

To make the large blocks, I used Alison’s original measurements but doubled them. My pieces measured 8″ and 6″. This does make a block slightly larger than needed but if you’re like me, you’d rather have to trim it than have it be too small. This large block will need to be trimmed to measure 21.5″.

To construct the quilt you will need 20 original blocks and four of the large blocks. I have separated them into Units for easier assembly.

This quilt would be adorable in so many color variations. Think Christmas, Baby or Star Wars!

The final quilt measures 63″ x 63″ but could easily be adjusted depending on your desires. The good news is you still have time to make one of your own before the big holiday.

Have a Happy and Safe Independence Day!

It had been over 30 years since I attended a college class. I got married. Had four kids. Life happened and I never finished – although I always wanted to.

I now work at the local University, my kids are grown and I’m finally finishing my degree. This semester I’m taking an online math class, where the final project was to be something that related to what I learned in this class plus something that could be used in my every day life. 100 points worth of something.

From the first week of the semester, this project idea bounced around in my brain – a lot, and when I pitched it to my instructor, she was enthusiastic about the idea. Whew! What a relief. I’d hate to think all that “bouncing” was for nothing!

For my project, I wrote a pattern and created a quilt based on the Fibonacci Numbers and The Golden Spiral.

From the first assignment, in this class, I was intrigued by the Fibonacci sequence. I love how when you used these numbers, in order, they fit so nicely together and it made me think how amazing a quilt could be by using this sequence of numbers.

The basics in quilting is cutting whole pieces into smaller pieces and then putting them back together to create something completely different. By taking the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, in order, the pieces nest together nicely and create a spiral, known as the Golden Spiral.

I’d like to share this pattern with you in hopes that you might learn something about Fibonacci Numbers and discover that math is fun!

FIBONACCI QUILT DOWNLOAD

This is a quick make and if you should make one of your own, I’d love to see it. Tag me on IG @kimsbristol and use the hashtag #fibonacciquiltfun.

It’s never too late to finish what you start. Something I have learned in life, school and my many crafty adventures.

This is my third craft room.  Third room, same house.  Ask my husband and he’ll tell you that this is the last one I am getting.  Good thing this is the best one.

We recently remodeled the entire main floor of our home.  Walls were opened, closets were removed, and rooms were shuffled.  The craft room and the dining room table did the big switcheroo but somehow along the way the craft room lost some square footage.  Don’t let anyone tell you I didn’t make any sacrifices here!

Because I like to spread out and make messes, custom cabinetry and a door on the room were a must – even though its a full glass door, I got the best of all worlds – quiet, awareness of what’s happening in the rest of the house, and the ability to keep the cat out!  The only problem now, is I don’t want to mess them up with all my “stuff”!

The door to the left of the built in cabinets is a pocket door that leads to the laundry room and completes a full circled path around the main floor. While I really love that I can access this room from two places, it works really well to “sneak” my newest fabric purchases into the house without having to parade them through the living room. C’mon ladies, you know what I mean!

This is my room to be creative  in and be creative with.  I chose a navy blue wall with a metallic gold stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils that I’m in love with but my very favorite piece of this room is the light fixture.  “Sputnik” was special ordered from Lucent Lightshop on Etsy.  It took a month to receive it but it was well worth the wait.  I have to chuckle a bit though.  A big part of remodeling our home was to get rid of the brass light fixtures and door hardware and then I intentionally ordered this fixture in brass.  Again, my space, my choice!

Measuring about 9 feet x 11 feet, this room is not huge by any means, but there was no way this table was going to be anywhere but in here.  A hand-me-down from my gal pal, I gave it a fresh coat of white paint and carried some gold to the bottom of the legs to make Sputnik feel at home.  

The antique teal cabinet was purchased from a local craft show and while it’s darling with it’s pink “insides” it also gives me some drawer space for everyday items like scissors, adhesive and tools.

So, in the spirit of “keeping things real”, I will tell you this room rarely looks like this, but isn’t that the point? It’s continually a work-in-progress (like most of my projects) and I’m always looking for better ways to organize things and being more productive. Sure, I could stop buying fabric, but there’s nothing real about that!

Floating shelves are everywhere these days.  They serve a purpose or they are strictly for display.  They can be changed on a whim or by the season.  I really wish I was one those people that could change their shelf displays by the month.  I don’t have the patience or mental capacity for that!  If you are one of those, kudos to you!  I’m envious.

These shelves were intentional as part of the design of my family room/fireplace wall.  I wanted them to be lighted and I wanted them to be substantial.  The company that built my dark cabinetry, also built these gorgeous shelves.  Even though they are wall to wall, they are still considered floating.

The second thing to consider was what I already owned.  I always shop my house before making additional purchases.  You’d be surprised how something “old” can have new life in a new place.

Thirdly, I will shop to fill in holes that are left.  I NEVER pay full price for home decor.  Thrift stores, antique shops and coupons are plentiful.

Half of what I added was from what I already owned with some additional pieces added inexpensively from Gordmans, Hobby Lobby and Pier One. I love the basket at the bottom for throws and blankets, to be used as needed. That space is otherwise, unused and looked bare.

Before starting the arrangement, I gather everything I plan to use plus some additional pieces.  It’s always better to have more than not enough.  You’ll notice I used frames for color and added scrapbook paper for another dimension or until I can decide what I want to put in them later.  Frames are really easy to come by and are paintable, if you so desire.

I do swap a few pieces during the holiday season, but most of the time, I leave this as is – besides then I can ignore the dust, right?

We renovated our home a few years ago and just like when you move into a brand new home, it’s a little scary putting that first nail in the unblemished wall.  I struggled not only with the nail holes, but with the worry that what I hung up wouldn’t be good enough or I wouldn’t like it.  Yes, the background is fantastic, but it wasn’t personal.  Call it fear. Call it self-doubt. Call it what you will.  The reality is I was so worried about making a mistake, I did nothing.

But hosting a birthday party is a great way to get a kick in the behind and now I have a new outlook!  I’ve spent about a week adding those personal touches and feeling good about it.  I shopped my basement and I shopped my local stores and now, this girl is on fire (as is my wallet).  I’ve put my fear aside and put nail holes in the walls (and subsequently, patched a few) and love the result.

This wall stands at the top of my stairs on the 2nd floor of my house and is visible from the front door.  It all started with this blue frame.  I picked up for less than half of it’s marked price.  It was pretty beat up but the frame itself was interesting and virtually unscathed.  I brought it home and went to work removing everything in the middle, relocated the hangers on the back and it now serves as art on its own accord, rather than a frame for something else.

Many of the items I added to this wall were already owned by me.  I picked up a few items, on sale, at Hobby Lobby (orange frame, white framed picture, wire heart and wooden arrow) and I cut some small paper flags from my stash and sewed them into a bunting for an added and inexpensive pop of color as well as some dimension.  This was a perfect place to showcase some of my favorite photos of the kids, too.

I love the pops of color in an otherwise, grey palette.

When I asked my college boy what he thought about it, he replied “Looks pretty girly”.

Good thing I’m a girl.

For more than 8 years, I worked at a Kitchen and Bath Remodel/Design Firm.  As you can probably imagine, I would see many beautiful things and major transformations nearly every day.  Then I would go home and look at “1995” all the other hours of the day and night. Honey oak everywhere, four children leaving their mark on every surface and a poorly designed floor plan were only part of the issues with our home of nearly 20 years.  It was only a matter of time before I needed to make some changes.

The reasons people start a renovation are very different.  Many times it was for something as simple as needing a new faucet, so we may as well get a new sink and then, of course, new countertops too.  I mean, why not, as long as you’re making a mess – just keep going!  My husband will tell you (and has told many others) that it was because of my Christmas gift that year – an orange Kitchenaid mixer.  That may only be partially true.  🙂

This project started as a kitchen remodel for a better layout and quality cabinetry.  What happened next was amazing.  By working with kitchen designers, you get fresh eyes and fresh ideas.  There was a new window and a new door.  There was a new entrance from the garage and a large kitchen island – something that I never would have thought I could fit in that room.  The footprint didn’t change – just the way it was used.

 

The before.

The during.

The vision.

The result.

Thanks to my friends/co-workers, 1995 is but a distant memory and getting to be a fuzzy one already.  Walls were removed to open the space between the dining and living room, a second hallway was better utilized to be part of the laundry room and the powder room and even the entrance from the garage was rearranged for better flow.  All things that I could never have imagined without the help of the place I spent my days.  I gained only 3 feet in my kitchen from the before and after.  Yes, three feet.  It feels like 30.  A new window, more efficient work flow and  custom cabinetry brighten this space three-fold.

And, this was only the beginning.

This is Minnesota and everyone in this family are Viking fans – well, except for my brother-in-law, Simon.  He hails from the land of cheese.

When my baby sister brought “the boy” into the world, four years ago, the competition began.  Would “the boy” wear the purple or the green?  Would there be Viking horns or Cheese heads?  Team Bridgewater or team Rodgers?  This was a whole new kind of border battle!

When I saw this quilt from @CluckCluckSew I knew it was my only way to get a leg up on the competition.  So cute, boyish and subtley clad in purple and gold so as to brainwash encourage the recipient to love this side of the border a little bit more than the other.

Now, I like my brother-in-law and I was feeling a” little” guilty about dissing his team so while it’s a Viking party in the front, there’s some Packer green and gold in the back.

It’s better than nothing, right?

SKOL!

I’m really fortunate to have some really special friends.  The kind of friends that you just can’t go to the store and pick out a gift for – especially when you are a crafty person (you know who you are)!

Every Christmas and birthday I struggle with what to give my close friends.  I remember a time not so long ago, that I worked for a looonnggggg time on a beaded, hand woven peyote bracelet with layers of embellishments and the like for my friend’s birthday.  I know her style.  I know how put together she always is and I know that I can’t just give her some bracelet that I picked up at Walmart (ok, I’d never do that – even for someone I don’t like so much).  So, I gave it to her and before she opened it, I said, “I really hope you like it and if you don’t, please pretend you do otherwise we might not be friends anymore”.

Ah, another holiday requiring special gifts for special friends.  I’ll admit, it was down to the wire.  Like most things I do, it was last minute and I was drawing a blank.  Who knows where the idea came from but it was a good one.

A couple of months prior, I picked up this ugly piano bench at Goodwill for $5.  It was sturdy and I knew I could make something fabulous with it!  My husband keeps complaining that I keep bringing home junk and don’t do anything with it.  I had to prove him wrong and I’m 90% sure that wasn’t my only reason for concocting this little treasure.

I’d love to tell you I spent a month on it.  Sanding it perfectly between coats of paint and drawing out my quilted pattern, but I didn’t.  I made it in a weekend and it was so much fun!

I started out by giving the bench a good cleaning and light sanding and painting several layers of white paint to freshen it up and hide the “imperfections”.  Then I went to work on the quilt top.  I measured the existing cover and figured out how big my squares needed to be so that the pattern wouldn’t get lost.  These squares measure 6″ x 6″ and there are 12 of them.  They are paper foundation pieced and the fabric came from my stash.  Make sure to allow “extra” quilt top to wrap around the bench top so you can staple it without it showing the edges.

I wanted the top to have some cushion, so once the top was finished, I layered it like I would a regular quilt with cotton batting and backing and then quilted them together with my sewing machine.  There’s no need to finish the edges – they won’t show.

Wrap the quilt top around the existing top, staple it good and reassemble!  Viola!  Instant gratification and a very happy friend. (Well, at least that’s what she lead me to believe!)