The Handmade Dorm

My daughter Holly is heading off to Pepperdine this fall & she I had so much fun making things for her dorm that I thought I'd share our creations with you. When you make it yourself, you are able to put in your own unique style! We started off with a purchased duvet from Pottery Barn Teen in a deep navy with white pattern. We then went to my fabric stash & picked out fabrics for her patchwork & minky throw that will be at the end of her bed. You can find a listing to order one yourself from my shop here & I can customize it with your colors!

We created some custom pillows pulling fabrics from her blanket. We used a print from Hawthorne Threads called Cascading Border for one of them

This pillow I used Anna Maria Horner's pattern in her pattern booklet called Love from A-Z  & bordered it with a print that is out of print from Sarah Watts.

We found a really cute doily at Barn House Chicks that matched her bedding perfectly & I sewed it to a solid navy fabric & used piping from Hawthorne Threads called Arrows in peacock

Holly picked out a verse that had meaning to her but also gave a nod to Pepperdine as a Wave. She painted the canvas a deep navy & then glued letters & hand wrote some words in aqua. 

We both got into embroidering, so Holly had bought a pattern from Sublime Stitching with treats on it & since she loves to bake & used to work at an ice cream shop, this pattern group was perfect! She told me what she wanted written & so I did the small hoop that says "Lord Let them see you in me". The P is from the Moda Alphabet called "Spell it with Fabric" that was available as a download & thought it would be great in Pepperdine colors & I embroidered 'Go Waves' in aqua thread.

An obvious, easy make was a tie blanket made from 2 yards of Pepperdine colors tied together while we watched a movie together. We bought these at Joann Fabrics.

These thrift store finds painted aqua will be great for some free downloads she printed out from French Press Mornings "Encouraging Wednesdays" for the scripture.

Holly is ready to go to Pepperdine, but am I ready to send her?? I will post a finished dorm picture.

Embroidery Question

Before

After

I've been stuck in bed with the flu or some other bug since Sunday, so I've picked up my stitching. Okay~ so I'm learning embroidery~ this is my first time trying a chain stitch. I got my book out and in the first photo was the result on the bottom of the stem. Then I went to welovefrenchknots , Bari J's blog about embroidery and clicked on 'How to Videos' and learned the chain stitch! The results are in the second picture & although those of you who have been embroidering for years will see the flaws, I'm just happy to see an obvious chain stitch!! 

HERE'S THE QUESTION: can I pull out the stitching that looks bad from the V of the branches and below or will it unravel all the stitching that is done on that same strand that isn't bad??

If you are beginning to learn about embroidery, check out Bari's blog to learn the stitches and see great examples that other people do as well.