Category Archives: home

Ummm…Cookies

Posted on December 3, 2011 by ginabean • 1 Comment
I’m staying way from all the crazy drivers and long lines out there in the real world. (I went out yesterday and thought I was gonna have to use my ninja skills on some dude. Don’t make me take you down during this festive holiday season, because I will Mr.) I’ll just stay here in my little space…. making cookies. I’ve never made sugar cookies before and my inner Martha Stewart really thought I should give it a try. I came across this beautiful blog and knew I had to. I used her recipe and they tasted very good. (according to my very critical taste tester who is not afraid to give his opinion…a.k.a my husband) Just in case they didn’t turn out, I bought a sugar cookie scented candle. If it went bad, it would still smell all holiday-like up in hur. Now that they are baked… the hard part. I have to decorate them.   
Filed Under: home, life, recipes

Sneak Peak

Posted on August 18, 2011 by ginabean • 1 Comment
I can not get enough of these cute little pinwheels. They look adorable on cupcakes, which I can also not get enough of. These poor little guys need some cupcakes to partner up with. Ummm.

If you will notice, too…this is a little sneak peek of the kitchen redo. My new counter tops are installed and the tiling was wrapped up on Tuesday. I’m not ready for the big reveal yet. I still need to make the new window treatments and cover the bar stools. I was going to go with a nice top treatment on a pole, but now that the counters and tile are all in, I’m thinking simple Roman Shades instead. The fabric is ordered… found just what I wanted at Ballard Design AND it was On.Sale. Score! I guess that help make up for the horror of the faucet installation. Let’s just say it involved 5 trips to 3 different Lowes Home Improvements, one trip to The Home Depot, one trip to a kitchen & bath supply house, one leaky faucet, a faucet with a box of missing parts and two very high dollar sink strainers. Oh… and a partridge in a pear tree.
Filed Under: design, home, life

Trying New Things

Posted on August 15, 2011 by ginabean • 3 Comments
I thought I would try to make some metal framed purses. This is my first attempt. I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. I even managed to get it done without covering me, the fabric, the frame, the table, etc… with glue. (it was almost a given that I would get glue everywhere) I’m trying to make some time to get some more made, maybe to sell at Flaunt. Operation DIY Kitchen Remodel is still underway. We are not going to talk about that though. Only to say that this weekend didn’t go so well. HGTV makes things look so dog-on easy. WHATEVER, HGTV….what.ever.

Filed Under: home, purses, sewing

Lots To Do

Posted on August 10, 2011 by ginabean • 4 Comments
It seems like I have an endless “To Do” list lately. I guess the best thing about that is I seem to stay more focused and get more done when I have a lot to do. Here’s a sneak peak of the latest quilt I am working on. I hope to have it done by the end of the weekend.

In the middle of everything… this is going on in my kitchen. After ten years of a counter top I never liked, I am finally getting new ones. So, today is demo day in the kitchen. The hubby already tore down the old back splash and today he is taking off the old counter tops. Darn… I planned on cooking a nice big dinner, too. Oh well, guess I can’t. (Yeah right, like I was going to cook. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) New counter tops get here Friday. I can’t wait! After that, hubby has to put up a new back splash. I’m thinking subway tile. Then I need to make a new window treatment for the window over the sink, then we need to recover the bar stools, then we need………the list goes on.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Filed Under: home, life, quilts

Yummy Fall!

Posted on October 10, 2010 by ginabean • 4 Comments
One of my favorite things to do in the fall…bake a Fresh Apple Cake. It has kinda become my own personal tradition. Every fall, my in-laws go to the mountains of Virginia and get apples. Every fall, I make an apple cake.
Fresh Apple Cake
2 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Crisco Oil
3 Eggs
3 Cups Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Black Walnut Flavoring
1 Cup Coconut
1/2 Cup Nuts (Pecans or Walnuts)
3 Cups Chopped Apples (2 Large Apples)
Cream sugar and oil; add eggs, flour, soda, salt and flavoring. In separate bowl mix coconut, nuts and apples. Fold into creamed mixture. Bake in a greased and floured tube pan in a 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.
Glaze
1/2 stick Margarine
1 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Milk
Combine in saucepan and cook for 10 minutes. Brush on hot cake with a pastry brush.
Filed Under: home, recipes

I Couldn’t Resist

Posted on September 28, 2010 by ginabean • 6 Comments
I’m pretty lucky that I get to put my Interior Design degree to use twice a year and work at the High Point International Home Furniture Market. I help put together the Guildmaster showroom. Doing this has plenty of advantages, one being that every once in a while I get to bring home a great piece of furniture like this! My husband would argue that we have too much furniture and I have to admit that it did take quite a bit of figuring and rearranging to find a place to put this, but I just couldn’t resist. I had something special in mind for it. (By the way, my husband loves moving furniture around for me. He didn’t complain once. Yeah, right. But hey, that’s what he gets for marrying a designer. Designers like to move furniture around a lot.)
I wanted to a place to display my quilts and this fit the bill perfectly. I have been wondering what the heck I was gonna do with all these quilts I have. Lately they have been getting stacked up in the crib in the nursery, but since that space will be occupied soon, I needed to do something with them. So, Viola! And doesn’t that cute little Featherweight tuck in there perfectly!
Filed Under: furniture, home, market, quilts

My Little Corner, Take Two

Posted on June 1, 2009 by ginabean • 5 Comments

If you remember from some posts back, I did a little redecorating in my living room. I decided things needed a little update . Well, things just weren’t quite right, so I did a little re-redecorating. My hubby never really liked the metal table in the living room, so that is now the new cutting table in my workroom. (Perfect for cutting on, just the right height.) I got this great table from Guildmaster, of course, and I added the chair and a couple of pillows I made. I think this way is a keeper! Much more warm and cozy feeling than the way it was. I could definitely see myself working on my hand applique project in this little corner.

Filed Under: design, furniture, home

Birthday Boy!

Posted on May 30, 2009 by ginabean • 3 Comments
My little baby turns 3 today. He was so excited to wake up to balloons in his room this morning. He hasn’t stopped carrying them around yet. (Remember when all it took was balloons to make your day great?) Just to see how happy he is about turning 3 fills my heart with so much joy. Of course, Lighting McQueen is the theme of the day… including a somewhat recognizable McQueen birthday cake. (I tried.) Fletcher likes it and that’s what matters to me. Hopefully it doesn’t taste like Red no.5 food coloring. (It took the whole jar of that coloring to get an almost bright enough red.) Also, thank you so much to everyone for the wonderful comments you have left over the past few days. I have read each and every one and appreciate them all. I am ecstatic to have so many followers and hope that I can do a good job making my blog a place you would like to visit. Hasn’t the Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway been great. There are so many talented and generous people out there.
Filed Under: family, home

My Little Corner

Posted on April 24, 2009 by ginabean • 2 Comments

This is my new little corner. I found this great rug at Home Goods which inspired a little up dating of my living room. I wanted a desk to put here so that I could put my new Featherweight on it, but I could not find one in my price range (free) so I sent my husband out to one of the buildings on the farm and we dug out the metal industrial looking table. It was under piles of lumber and my husband was not too happy about that, but he got it out for me anyway. He still doesn’t understand exactly why I would want this table in our house, but I think it is cool. The drapes are new. In the middle of all this sewing window treatments for market, I decided that I needed new ones to go with the new rug, of course. I never liked the old ones and I got the fabric at a store that sells it for $2 a yard. How can you beat that! I got the mirror from Walmart for $20 and the painting from Guildmaster. The glass jars and flower are from Home Goods and I stole the stool out of my parents garage. That little quilt hanging on the rack is the first quilt I ever made. It’s a little nine-patch lap quilt. Oh, and that deer head….that is my husbands latest addition to our living room. (I have my hobbies, he has his!)
Filed Under: design, home, quilts