"It was the oldest sound in the world. Souls flying away." The Secret Life of Bees

Thursday, March 17, 2011

In Progress

I hope you all are having a great st. patty's day! I am looking forward to homemade pizza, movies, and cuddling with my dogs (and Ben too:)! Boring? Yes! And exactly what I need right now. I'm not really into huge crowds of drunk people, so a night at home it is.

I have mentioned my swatch portrait project a couple of times. It is finally (almost) complete. It is super simple and fun to do. The hardest part was finding the hoops. I expected them to be very easy to locate, but I was wrong. After going to 6 different stores (local craft stores, fabric stores, even Michaels), I ended up ordering them online. They are quite cheap and arrived about a week after I placed the order. I got all of the fabric from Bolt, a local fabric boutique. Here is what I have so far:




I feel like something is off. Is it too much? To little? Not the right overall shape? All of you home decor experts, please share your wisdom with me!

20 comments:

  1. Ooh, I love it! That honeycomb fabric is the best subtle offset to the other patterns! And I want to make a dress out of that top floral!!

    I tend to like to see one little jarring element- maybe the little one in the top left hand could be a darker or bolder colour? The great thing is how you can play around with the fabrics endlessly!

    Oh, and love your quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How clever! I absolutely love it. I'm not a home decor expert - our home is very messy and lacks character. I think what you've created looks great the way it is. The fabric colours don't overwhelm the purple wall - loving the teapot fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i love it! lovelovelove. i wouldn't change what you've done. keep adding to it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's perfect, And the fabrics are so unique!
    The evening you have planned sounds wonderful.

    I was wondering what dough recipe you use and how you like it- I've been testing recipes and hadn't found one I like... Oh, and have you been to Ken's Artisan Pizza in NW Portland???

    Your new 'follower' and fan,
    Steph

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kristin, you did a fabulous job! I especially love the teapot motif. One decorating rule that I have heard is that you are supposed to have an odd number of items grouped together. I don't know if this holds true with everything though. The purple backdrop is perfect for this-love it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love it! It is just perfect. I think you just need to keep going with it, and adding to it. In this case, the more the better!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! How pretty, Love the background color. Very serene. These are very pretty prints too. I love the picture with Mr.Pup! He is so sweet. I also have that same statue in my living room. Great project Kristin. hope you fill up the whole wall.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love it! Your fabric choices are great, I love the teapots and those amazing floral fabrics! The colors are right up my style alley so I think this looks great (plus decorating with Buddha, I do as well)! It's a unique, creative way to decorate your home. I tend to like lots of a good thing, so I may add more.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great decorating idea! I really love all the fabrics you've chosen--from the simple, geometric honeycomb print, to the one with teapots and kitchen accessories. I think you just need to keep adding to the collage, and maybe even scoot some of the hoops a little closer together? (It's hard to say. When it comes to projects like these, I feel like the best way is to just play around with the arrangement.)

    ReplyDelete
  10. OOH! I totally love the fabrics you chose. Gorgeous! And let's talk about your purple wall....LOVE!! Though it's hard to tell from the pictures how big the wall you're dealing with is, but I agree with Christy...if you feel like somethings's "off", it's probably the scale of the hoop collage to the wall size. When I did my wall of pictures, I cut paper to size of each frame I was using, and taped them up on the wall first, rearranging it like a rubik's cube until I got it right. Maybe try cutting out paper circles and tape them up around your existing collage to see if more would indeed be better? Or, maybe it just needs a grounder object to the right of the dresser? Like a big chair. or a Dress form. Ooh, I'd love one of those!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the idea. I saw your project early on. They came out so well. I think the issue is the size of the wall. It calls for something larger. Have you thought of incorporating them in with some larger Objects De Art. Say mirrors perhaps. What if you had one large grouping and two smaller on each side. I like Molly's idea of cutting out paper templates the same size as each hoop and playing around with the groupings. We could then help by voting for the best set if you showed us pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  12. i'm no expert, but I love this idea. I think you did a very nice job. I love the different fabric colors and patterns you've combined. This looks like a nice and easy way to change things up a bit when you get bored looking at the same old wall. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I LOVE this project of yours! I remember seeing it on a home decor blog years ago, and thought it was fabulous and swore to do it whenever I finally moved out on my own. Yours has turned out beautifully, and it is very inspiring!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thatdamngreendress - Thanks! I love the honeycomb! So simple, yet so meaningful. Thanks for the suggestion - that's a great idea. I got the quilt on sale from Anthro last year. It adds a lot of color to the bedroom and is very warm and cozy!

    Vintageglammz - Thank you!

    Ms. Mindless - Thanks! I do have a few hoops left over, so I will definitely try adding to it. I need to pick up a little bit more fabric. Thanks for the suggestion!

    Steph - Thank you:) Ben makes the dough and here is what he says: 2 cups of Bob's red mill unbleached white flour, 1 and 1/4 tbsp of rapid rise yeast, 1 tbsp salt - mix together. Add in 2 tbsp of EV olive oil, then slowly add 1 cup of warm water (or however much you need to form a shaggy dough ball). Let sit for 10 minutes. Knead until smooth. Put it into a bowl, coat with olive oil, cover the bowl, then let sit for 8 - 24 hrs in the fridge. Let the dough sit out of the fridge for about an hour before you are ready to divide the dough and then form into pies. Top as desired and enjoy:) I know that is kind of hard to follow. Feel free to email me (kristinfmilner(at)gmail(dot)com) if you want more info. Yes, I have been to Kin's! I work in NW, so it's super convenient. SO YUMMY!!!! Thanks for reading:)

    Hi Loraine! Thank you! Aren't those little teapots adorable? That is a great suggestion - I will give it a try and see how it looks:)

    Overcaffeinated - Thank you! I will pick up some more fabric and start adding!

    Gabby - Thanks:) My walls used to be blue, but I re-painted them a couple of years ago and I am so much happier with the purple!

    Minnesota Maven - Thanks you! The floral fabrics are Liberty of London. I will definitely try adding more:)

    Christy - Thanks! I will definitely try adding more. I also think you may be onto something about moving them closer together. I'll see what I can do! Thanks for the suggestions:)

    Molly - Thank you! Your idea of using paper cut-outs is genius! I so wish I would have done that before putting these up. I love the dress form idea too:) Thanks for the suggestions!

    Terrie - Thanks! I really like that idea. Now that you say that, I do see how having the two biggest ones in alignment can cause it to look weird. I will play around with the shape. Thanks for the suggestion!

    Laura - Thank you! I like all of your suggestions:) I will definitely play around with them. Yes! Maybe I could put a poll up!

    Betty Ray - Thanks! Yes, this is definitely an easy way to make a pretty big change!

    Lauren - Thank you so much! It was really quite easy to do and didn't take a whole lot of time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think it looks perfect. you did a great job, I love all the fabrics you chose. They are gorgeous. I also love the color of your wall. :) it is so nice to make new blogging friends!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks Beth! I agree - I love new friends:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. oooh. i really like this!! bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Kristin,

    I have planed on doing this project over a year by now... I am just too lazy to fine coordinating fabric yet! I went to local Joann's for the hoops(and yes! they were very cheap!) You did an awesome job on picking the right fabric together floral, geometric, scattered pattern etc,
    This post is inspiring me for now(hope it last until I finally finish)

    Great job!

    Jin,

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Jin! Thank you so much! Good luck with yours! I would love to see your completed project:)

    ReplyDelete