Fiber & Fire

Arizona Quilters Guild Show!

2012-03-05T11:27:00.001-08:00

I'll be back in Arizona this weekend living it up at the Arizona Quilt Guild Quilt Show with my mom hosted at the Mesa Convention Center Friday, March 9th and Saturday, March 10th. Like usual we'll have lots of cute fabric, patterns and a few fun quilted pieces of furniture! Speaking of furniture, my mom was on Sonoran Living Live this morning previewing some of the quilts that will be on display (check out that peacock!) and one of my chairs happily stood by the display table. Follow the link below for a glimpse at the chair and some great quilts!

Annual quilt show in Mesa

"Frenchy" Buffet Makeover

2012-01-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

I've slowly been piecing my house together since the move last September and constantly ask myself WHY?! WHY can't I just go to a big box store, order furnishings in the latest fashion, throw them against the wall and be done with it all. I have friends with nice homes that move and within a week their new house is as put together as their last so CLEARLY it's possible to not have "set up" take 6 months! I have this constant need to "collect". Collect from flea markets, antique malls, etc. making a room never truly complete but I rationalize it all by saying, "oh, it's coming together organically.". Yea, okay, whatever.

In the spirit of bringing a room together "organically" I want to share a cute little french provincial buffet I found in a California antique mall last summer. I received a call a couple of days before we left for the California coast saying I was going to get to rent my current house and I was SUPER excited. Mostly, I was SUPER excited by the prospect of having a SUPER large dining room that could house a dinging set I had snagged for $50 four months prior that was currently collecting dust in my garage waiting to be redone. While we were antiquing in California I was telling my mom all about how I was going to use ASCP for the first time to redo this dining set and that I was excited to try and give the dining room more of a rustic ranch feel. She attempted to act interested in what I was saying and not annoyed that I was distracting her from finding her own great treasures when she spotted a small french provincial buffet and said, "How great is this?!". "Eh, yea I guess it's nice. I like the chicken wire on the bottom." I replied. To be honest I did think it was a pretty great little piece that could be nicely added in to my dining set with some paint but I also noticed the $150 price tag and I choose not to get excited if I have to let go of that kind of cash on myself. Well, ultimately she sold me on it BUT she did have to promise to throw in an awesome old set of silverware she had bought at a flea market to fill its top drawer. Speaking of which...Mom, I'm still waiting for that set.

The piece was in amazing condition so I'm sorry if anyone is offended by the addition of some stain and paint but I just had to do it! I bought my first ever quart of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and painted it in old white but stained the top a dark walnut to match the dining room table and I really love how it turned out. Also, I now understand why there is so much love for the ASCP now- stuff's GREAT!

Before

After

Still, my favorite part is that chicken wire!

-Andrea

Showing off at Show it Off Mondays and Meg & Mum's

Lark Living

2012-01-26T14:44:00.001-08:00

It's no secret that my mom can't get enough of Amy Butler's fabric. Honestly, the woman can do no wrong design in my mom's eyes! It's also no secret that my mom is constantly creating for anyone but herself and yes I am a HUGE contributor toward that. A few months ago I challenged my mom to get rid of her gigantic la-z-boy sectional recliner sofa and create a living room she's actually excited about. The challenge was gladly accepted and within weeks she had found an antique set to tear apart. Not so surprisingly, once it was torn apart, new foam and webbing done she upholstered the pieces in her favorite fabric gals' new line Lark. Take a look (and please excuse the focus on some of the photos - apparently it was an off day)!

Ok, so the last chair isn't from the Lark collection but if it ever feels outnumbered I'll gladly let it take residence at my home!

-Andrea

See you at the Fiesta!

2012-01-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

My stressful week is finally over and from now through Sunday it will be nothing but fun at Tucson Quilt Fiesta! If you live in southern Arizona come check out the fantastic quilt show and amazing (especially booth #1) vendor booths at the Tucson Convention Center Friday, January 20th - Sunday, January 22nd. You can find me in the booth with the pink walls, Mad Hatter tea party (complete with custom quilted chair of course!) and fabric galore. Oh, I'll also be sporting a fashionable but rather small hat inside the booth and in case you're worried you still might not find me I've included some reference photos found below. Happy un-weekend to all!

-Andrea

Merchant Square Booth

2012-01-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

A few months ago we rented a booth at Merchant Square Antiques in sunny Chandler, Arizona and my mom has been busy keeping it stocked. She snapped a few pictures of it after restocking last weekend so we could share them here with you. Just a side note, the white tufted couch you'll see is 10 feet long and our biggest project to date. Looking at it for too long causes a feeling of remorse for renting such a small bungalow that could, unfortunately, never support such a large beautiful piece.

Our furniture can be found in booth B-119 and at the moment (unless a very large piece sells) we add new items every two weeks so hopefully you'll see something fresh if you stop by more than once!

-Andrea

House Tour - Sewing Room

2011-09-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

About a week before Swiss Days I moved. Again. I move a lot. Like a lot a lot. In less than a month I will have officially lived in Utah for 3 years. During those 3 years I've lived in 5 houses - ACK!

My best friend and her husband moved into the Highland Park neighborhood in Sugarhouse a few years ago and last July I followed suit and rented the top part of a small house in the same neighborhood. There were a lot of things I really liked about the house and a few things that were less than ideal. My main issue was that it was only a two bedroom house and in Andrea's world that translates to a master bedroom and a sewing room but with my mom and little sister visiting so often and staying long periods of time during holidays I quickly realized it would be nice to offer them something better than an aero bed surrounded by fabric scraps.

In August I found a solution by way of this cute little house:

Only five streets down and in the same neighborhood it's an arts & crafts style home built in 1939. The house technically only has 2 bedrooms with a bath up and a bath down. However, there is a 7'x11' sun room and an extra bonus/rec room in the basement. I knew the sun room would have to become the sewing room if I wanted to have a comfortable place for visitors to stay and surprisingly its small size didn't derail my plans even though my prior sewing room was considerably larger. Honestly, I think I like this space better! I will admit that a large part of the success of this room is having a bonus space downstairs where I keep my cut table/ironing station and stores of fabric.

I have no plans or desire to leave this house anytime soon and would really like to have most or all of the rooms put together before Thanksgiving. I realize that might seem like a ton of time to get things done but between traveling for work each week, custom client projects and a general desire to keep as much handmade as possible Thanksgiving will really be pushing it for me and even then I am only hoping to have the bigger projects completed.

So, in an effort to keep me honest and keep me going I'm going to share the rooms one by one as they are completed (and by completed I mean there is always room for improvement - I'll never be one of those people who has a "finished" room let alone house). The sewing room is always the first space I set up in a new home and probably always will be. Take a look.

The before.

Thanks to the narrow size and wall of windows photo taking isn't the easiest in this room but that wall color was actually a very dark mud brown.

View as you enter the space

I got this "Bronco Babe" tool caddy half off at a store in Kanab, UT as they had it in a window display resulting in visible fading. It is 100% my style.

The curtains were made from one of my favorite gals (Anna Maria Horner!) fabric while the space under the windows features different shelving units that were either take offs from previous furniture projects I did or found at flea markets.

The color inspiration for the room-

yellow, pink, turquoise

I bought this wall planter for $2 at a DI store a couple of years ago and after a quick paint job it's been catching my scraps ever since.

The window shelves are lined with little trinkets. This antique sewing drawer (found at Farm Chicks) is holding a flour sack (found in Idaho) with a date of 1923 and 'Salt Lake City' printed on it along with some spools of thread and one of my Aunt Patti's old business cards. She was an incredible artist who lived in a small, beautiful historic home in Pasadena, CA where she attempted to teach me how to play the harp when I was 9 years old.

Ha! I find these cupcakes stored in boxes all over my house. 4 or 5 years ago I read an article in some magazine about making felted cupcakes out of thrift store sweaters. I had to make them! I had to make them again and again apparently b/c I'm still finding them. *note wool sweaters are no where to be found in Arizona thrift stores hence the reason this is clearly not felted.

Mason jars & found objects

Mr. Mousey Mouse Mouse.

Oh, yea. Did I mention the view of the backyard from the sewing room?

If my sewing room had a motto this would be it.

The closet is getting there. For the time being I switched out the clothes rod with a smaller rod so ribbon can be held out of the way and started organizing the shelves.

-Andrea

And the winner is...

2011-09-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry that this announcement is coming so late in the day but I spent my morning at the airport and my evening so far staring at a room service menu trying to answer the age old question of, 'what's for dinner?'. But you don't really care about any of that do you? You're just here to find out if you'll be swingin' a new tote around this fall.

After hours and hours of debate I'm happy to announce we have a winner. Ok, so there was no debate. We let random.org make the decision nice, simple and fair for all involved. And "true randomness" chose Heather Dallmann. Yay! Congrats Heather! Of course every plus has it's minus and in this case you'll finally have to decide between the mod gray or cozy navy. Good luck!

Thank you to all who entered.

-Andrea

What's so good about neutral anyway?

2011-09-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

I feel like we've spent the last few years constantly searching for and buying furniture...oh wait, we have been! I've listened to hundreds of sellers try to talk me into buying their pieces and the number one sales line I hear over and over is, "it's upholstered in a great neutral fabric!". Too bad we're not much for neutral around here and just to prove the point below we're sampling a few before and afters. If the sellers could only see their pieces now - the horror! :)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Just to be clear, at every show we do usually have one or two people who stop, gasp in horror and ask how we could have done such a thing to a piece of furniture. Well, actually they usually don't ask. It's much closer to accusing me of forever having ruined a piece of history. I'm okay with it, though. You can't please everyone in life and I know that piece of history had a better chance of ending up in a landfill than a loving home before.

-Andrea

Let's Have a Giveaway!

2011-09-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

On September 9th Fiber & Fire reached 100 followers and over 120 subscribers! Now, we know that may not sound like much to some but to us it's a ton and deserves to be celebrated with a really great giveaway. I spent the weekend trying to decide just what we should give away and realized it's not that easy to just pick one thing and call it a day. All the items we kept thinking of just didn't seem substantial enough to offer up on their own but like my momma always says one really nice thing is better than five junky things (unless they're really cool junky things - you know like old bed springs made into cupcake holders). So, with that thinking we finally settled on a fabulous Amy Butler tote!

Honeysuckel Tote Fuchsia Tree Navy

Honeysuckle Tote Fuchsia Tree Tomato

Honeysuckle Tote Passion Lily Turquoise

Honeysuckle Tote Fountains Tangerine

Honeysuckle Tote Tropicali Shale Gray

The tote measures 15''L x 3''W x 15''H, has a retail value of $100 and is part of Amy Butler's new collection for Kalencom bags. We became a distributor for Kalencom over the summer just because of the Amy Butler line and let me tell you it is FABULOUS! I already have purchased two bags out of the collection for my own personal use and have my eye on a third. We'll be bringing a wide selection of the Amy Butler for Kalencom collection with us to quilt shows next year including shows in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and California so get ready to swoon often!

Here's the nitty gritty: Each person is able to enter the giveaway twice. Giveaway closes Monday September 19, 2011 at midnight mountain time. Winner announced September 20, 2011.

First Entry: If you are already a follower your first entry is simple, leave a comment on this post stating which color you want if you win.

Are you a Fuchsia Tree Navy person like myself? Maybe you're more of a Fountains Tangerine like my mom or you could just be much more hip and modern than either of us and want the Tropicali Shale Gray. Whichever color you love let us know!

If you are not a follower become one first and then follow the instructions above.

Second Entry: Sharing is caring! Tell others about the giveaway using the social media outlet of your choice (personal blog, facebook, twitter account). Then, come back here and leave a second comment stating you've done so.

Thank you all for your support as we dismantle piece after piece of furniture. Our cuticles are torn up and our clothes are covered in paint but it's worth it just to read your encouraging comments.

-Andrea

*images courtesy of Amy Butler for Kalencom website

Best of Show

2011-09-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Phew! All of the stress of attending our biggest festival of the year is finally over and now I just have to pick up the pieces (hopefully soon!) of my torn apart house. We had some very exciting things happen this weekend at Swiss Days and of course number 1 was seeing all of you! Our loyal followers/supporters mean a lot to us and your kind words are truly what make all of the work and stress leading up to this show worth it. So, THANK YOU!

Another exciting event at Swiss Days was a visit to our booth by the Joel Dewberry and his wife Laurie! Remember these photos?

They are the photos I took of his booth at Spring Quilt Market. The pictures only show either side of his booth. Why you ask? Because he and Laurie were standing in the middle of the booth and I was WAY too embarrassed to ask for a picture with them! I couldn't even muster up the courage to say, "Hey, I live in Utah too and think it would be divine if we all went to lunch and became best friends!" So, of course when they came to our booth at Swiss Days I was much more outgoing and by much I mean I only managed to say "I live in Sugarhouse" when Joel asked which of us was located in Utah. Fortunately, my mom can always be relied on and she chatted with the talented Dewberry Duo for awhile. While at market in May we ordered his new fabulous Heirloom collection and used some of it to slip cover our tent top and create curtains for the booth as shown below. It would have been neat to ask for a picture with Joel under our Heirloom canopy but in true Andrea form you'll just have to take my word for it - I promise he was there-he so stood right inside that booth for at least a whole three minutes!

Our last bit of exciting news from the event is that we won a Best of Show booth award which guarantees us a spot in the 2012 show! We worked hard this year on staying true to our love of bright colors and girlie fun while honestly thinking it would ruin our chance of a booth award since the Swiss theme is so highly encouraged by the committee but we are SO HAPPY to be wrong! Below are pictures of my personal "best of show" furniture pics from our booth this year. Please excuse the not so great photos as the pieces were already in our booth before I realized they were never photographed and again thanks for all of your support and such a fun show!

Andrea's Best of Show runner-up was done in Heather Bailey's Garden District line and I loved it so much I told my mom I didn't want to sell it and would just be keeping it at my house. She quickly told me if either of us were keeping it it would be her not me! Very maturely and respectfully I responded with, "Fine, sell it!" I'm very adult that way.

Andrea's Best of Show winner is the vintage double wedding ring settee! We found the quilt over a year ago and it was in phenomenal condition but at the time we did not have a settee big enough to do it justice. We finally stumbled across the perfect settee to showcase the quilt a few months ago and got it done just in time for Swiss Days. I'm happy to report the settee went to the home of an avid quilter and we'll be in great hands for the rest of it's beautiful days!

-Andrea

Home Stretch!

2011-08-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

We survived the chaos and our booth is oficially set up for the first day of Swiss Days - hooray! With 34 pieces of furniture (nearly 3x the amount we brought last year) and a couple hundred aprons our 10x15 booth is only holding a small portion of the great things we have available. Among those amazing things I'm happy to report we have 2 quilted chairs, 2 quilted settees and 2 quilted ottomans. My favorite quilted chair this year will be out on Friday and I've enclosed some sneak peek photos below. My absolutely favorite quilted settee won't be in our booth until Saturday (unless someone just has to take it out of our trailer & to their home on Friday) but it is a GORGEOUS vintage double wedding ring quilt with pillows to match! Can't wait for the weekend and hope to see you all there!

I love how bright and cheery this chair turned out with the vintage quilt top and yellow/gold paint!

Vintage tumbling blocks quilt

-Andrea

Facebook Preview

2011-08-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all! We're still waiting on some more pictures of the quilted pieces we will be showing at Swiss Days before we post here BUT you can check out several of our other furniture pieces that will be available right now on our new Facebook page! Just scroll over to our side bar, find the Facebook link and let us know what you think of all those fun prints and colors - we'd love to hear from you! And just so you know how much of a good thing you'll find over there here's a little Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush sample for ya! 12 days and counting until Swiss Days 2011 hope to see you all there!

-Andrea

Feelin' Frisky

2011-08-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

We had two great photo shoots recently in preparation for Swiss Days September 2-3 and as soon as the edits are completed we'll be sharing all we have to offer here with you first. Until then here's a peek at a hot little number that will be making its way to the show.

-Andrea

Booth Number

2011-08-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

Swiss Days is less than a month away and we finally know our booth number! Stop by and see us in space A-38, just four booths down from our spot last year on the end. We're excited to see all of our friends from last year and make new friends this year so mark your calendar to be in Midway, Utah September 2 - 3, 2011!

Quick Recap

2011-05-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

Spring quilt market is over and while it was a bit exhausting it was also a total blast and completely inspiring. We ordered lots of great home dec fabric, some cottons and a bunch of laminates that we can't wait to work with! There are a million things I could write to describe the fun things we saw and talented designers we met but instead I'll just post a few booth views and the links to the corresponding designer. Hope you enjoy!

Anna Maria Horner

Joel Dewberry

Joel Dewberry

oliver + s

Riley Blake

Verna Mosquera

Valori Wells

Sarah Henderson for Michael Miller

Rebekah Merkle

The Quilted Fish

(modeling their new hat/headband pattern)

This display was very cute but sadly I can't remember which pattern maker did this-so sorry! I do remember that their new product is called 'Sprinkles'.

Amy Butler

Amy Butler

and once again just for Mom. ;)

-Andrea

Market Sneak Peek

2011-05-13T17:04:00.001-07:00

Our first day at market was sooo much fun! We've already ordered some new fabrics and patterns and more importantly met AWESOME people and by AWESOME people I mean people like this fabric designing goddess...

Yes, that's Amy Butler-the Amy Butler and my mother sitting in her booth featuring the organic line of Soul Blossoms. She was very friendly and of course Mom didn't waste any time telling her how well our furniture pieces did last year using her Love fabric line. She actually told us she'd love to see pictures of the furniture and gave us her card...Amy I hope you were genuine because Mom is already collecting the photos. :)

We also met Anna Maria Horner, Joel Dewberry and so many other great artists. I feel like I'm on overload! When we were strolling through the Michael Miller booths we got to witness an impromptu interview of Rob Appell (a now Michael Miller artist, formerly of Free Spirit) and he was dressed up in his super hero outfit talking all about how quilters can help save animals and be an everyday superhero.

Rob Appell

Once we get over being star struck we'll post some pictures of the too good to be true booth designs throughout the show.

-Andrea

Market Here We Come

2011-05-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

We forgot to take before pictures of the following two pieces but hopefully the afters will add some much needed cheer and color to your Thursday. The weekend is almost here! We'll be spending the next three days at Market, the International Quilt Market that is. Rubbing elbows with the likes of Amy Butler and Heather Bailey and finding out what great fabric and patterns are in store for us in the coming months. With any luck will have a few photos of Market to share with you next week so until then Happy Weekend!

We found this office chair at one of my absolute favorite stores in SLC, Second Hand Chic. (If you're ever in the sugarhouse/downtown area and are looking for second hand stores or cute boutiques for that matter I've got a list a mile long I can share with you but Second Hand Chic is definitely at the top.) Originally the upholstery was a blueish gray but now it is 100% girl and ready for that craft room or power office.

The vanity stool was a craigslist find and the color combination of the cream and tiffany blue was inspired by the settee we did for a girls surprise bedroom makeover last year (see the settee here). I've been in love with the look ever since and think the dainty legs and bright color are just perfect on this stool.

-Andrea

Where it all began

2011-05-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

We've mentioned this before but the only reason we learned how to upholster furniture was so we could put quilts (vintage or made by mom) on them. While the majority of our furniture now is not upholstered with quilts we still put a fair amount of furniture to the side hoping to one day make or find a quilt that will look great on it. We've even committed (in our heads at least) to bringing twice the amount of quilted furniture to Swiss Days this year then we did last year. All of our quilted pieces sold out so fast in 2010 that we ended up feeling a bit bummed that several people didn't get to see how it all really started for us. We just completed our first quilted chair to put in the 2011 Swiss Days collection and are looking forward to finishing a few settees and a couple more quilted chairs before September!

Before

And Now...

The purple and blue batiks were quilted by my mother and we chose a coordinating velvet for the welting and back. This chair is quite a bit more vibrant than our last quilted wing back shown here but I really love the idea of using such a traditional batik fabric in very modern bright colors - I mean really, who said quilting was only for grandmothers anyway?

Linkin' up at SNS

-Andrea

A New Before & After

2011-05-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with this chair the moment my mom's garage door went up a few months ago. It has this wonderful curved back that extends into angular arms, wonderful detail on the frame near the seat, sits low to the ground...in one word it's amazing.

We didn't think any of our fabric stock was quite right for the chair but after only a couple months of keeping our eyes open we found the fun fabric below.

And now I'm even more in love with this chair!

Linkin' up at SNS & MMS

-Andrea

Quilt Show

2011-05-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

I just got home from the Home Machine Quilting Show going on in Salt Lake City through tomorrow and had a blast! If you're in the Salt Lake area and looking for something to do tomorrow you might want to go check it out. Admission is $10 but there are tons of great vendor booths and lots of fun quilts to look at. My mom is the quilter of our bunch (apparel sewing is more than enough for me to try and handle) so while I have no idea if the quilts I loved so much were "well done" I know I loved 'em and want to share a few with you!

This quilt was my 2nd favorite at the show. I really have a love for white backgrounds with bright colors and that love extends far beyond quilts.

This wall hanging quilt reminded me of my mom (Happy Mother's Day Mom!). She constantly made wall hangings with black backgrounds and bright colors when I was in high school.

3-dimensional flowers on a wildflower quilt

The artisan statement made this quilt for me. It read something like this, "I honestly did not enjoy making this quilt...I thought if I quilted it really well I would like it better...I do...somewhat." See, this is why I haven't entered the world of quilting yet. So much work and you might not even like it!

This is an instructor quilt (Linda Taylor) and it has hundreds of beautiful crystals on it really making it shine.

They had small wall hangings for the letters A-Z that were a lot of fun to look at. The above one is for the letter L and once again I couldn't resist the white background and bright colors. The quilt below is the upper corner for the letter K and I think those flowers are to die for!

This quilt is huge and just gorgeous in person. I believe the artist statement said the circular flower is inspired from a hibiscus.

Tassles always make me ready to party!

My mom always makes me save my strips while sewing aprons so we can make a strip quilt someday. I always think but it will look so weird with all these different colors/patterns. The quilt above was made using leftover strips of fabric...further proof moms are always right.

This is the detail of a wholecloth quilt. The quilter marked and quilted on a piece of peach colored fabric, her friend then painted all of her quilting. It's spectacular, the quilt is titled "Dragon's Breath".

Now, before I show off my absolute favorite quilt at the show I'd like to pay a little respect to my home state of Arizona with the following quilts:

The artist of this quilt was inspired by her hikes in Sabino Canyon which just happens to be in Tucson, AZ, which just happens to be the city I was born in, which just happens to make it the best city ever!

The artist was inspired by the Arizona state quarter.

True southwest color and pattern! I love the turquoise in this quilt. I own a southwest turquoise ring of my grandmothers that I wear everyday and this quilt matches it perfectly.

And my absolute favorite is.....

Ms. McDonald's Farm

Never in a million years would I have thought this quilt could be my favorite at the show but it is! I went back to it five times and probably took 20 pictures of it. The quilt was constructed by the "Hanging by a Thread" quilt group and is an original design by one of the members. They said they felt the topic is appropriate for the ladies whose lives are rooted in the colorful farming community of Boistfort Valley, WA where they live. It took first place in the applique division of the show and I can't even begin to image how many hours it took to construct yet I desperately wish it was a pattern!

-Andrea

So Tweet!

2011-04-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

We found the chair below in a dated navy blue with green and cream plaid fabric. We're sure plaid has its place in the design world but we weren't feeling it at all on this piece. Another thing we weren't feeling was the built in front legs-too plain! Up to this point we had never taken legs off a piece that were built in and then installed plates to screw in new legs. We're pretty adventurous but knowing this piece was destined for Swiss Days we thought it was only right to let a true professional do this part for us...at least once that is-it turns out it's SO EASY! In the future this project will not intimidate us in the least and we plan on posting a tutorial to take you step by step with us. Unfortunately the before picture doesn't feature the wonderful (not) plaid fabric as we got a little ahead of our self but you can somewhat see the original front leg on the bottom right of the picture.

As you might be able to tell the chair originally had some tufting on the back and normally we're all about the tufting and by we I might just mean me, LOVE the look HATE the work involved. It wasn't my laziness that kept the tufting out though! The beautiful fabric picked for this piece just needed no extra detail.

One of my favorite things about this chair is how the roundness of the seat matches the round shape of the new legs. The raspberry colored birds on the fabric are pretty awesome too. Here's a closer look of the detail and colors on the fabric.

Linkin' up at SNS

-Andrea

Peek-A-Boo

2011-03-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last summer we found this very beautiful Hollywood glam type bench. The deep purple velvet would have been oh so perfect if it wasn't thread bare and if velvet in general could hold up to most peoples lifestyle. We hoped to do it over in time for last years Swiss Days event but due to the heavy tufting (emphasis on heavy) we thought it best to focus our time on other pieces. Here's a look at her the day we brought her home:

Is that bench eye catching or what?? It's five feet long 17'' tall and 17'' wide, perfect for at the foot of a queen bed or in a long entryway depending on the style of your house or rather ultra hip loft (swoon). While a redo in velvet would have been luxurious we just don't believe life comes without the occasional water spills (or worse), rambunctious children or even the desire to sit and actually use a piece of furniture. Believing beauty and function can be combined we went for a high quality chenille in a somewhat periwinkle, smoky purple color.

While we couldn't finish it in time for Midway Swiss Days 2010 but we are happy to announce we will be attending Midway Swiss Days 2011 and this happy little bench will be right there with us!

-Andrea

Before / After $30 Find

2011-03-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

These past two months have felt full of chaos and adjustments for us at Fiber & Fire. I took a job that requires me to travel two weeks per month but allows me to work from home the other two thinking I could ultimately dedicate more time to sewing and furniture demolishing than I was able to last year. Well, it has taken up until this last week for that to actually be true. Adjusting to flights, hotel rooms and keeping my house in order during it all was just a bit harder than I imagined. Do not worry though! We are now ready for our comeback tour and are also anxiously awaiting to hear if we made it into Midway Swiss Days (hurry it up USPS!) so we can start working on new furniture pieces and share them with all of you!

Until then I thought I would show off a cute piece I picked up at an estate sale in my neighborhood for $30 last fall. The lady I bought it from told me the owner had used it to store sheet music for her music lessons. Since I'm not musical (at all!) I thought it would do better storing sweaters in my house. The number of sweatshirts and sweaters I own has increased ten fold since moving to Utah a few years ago and they just take up so much valuable closet space! The small piece of furniture clearly had seen better days but it had just enough detail to make it interesting enough to part with the $30.

Someone must really hate coasters over at that house! I mean really where's a mom when you need one?? Originally I was just planning on picking up whatever oops paint I could find in a gray or white at Home Depot but my Home Depot doesn't sell oops paint anymore. Is this a new company wide policy? No oops paint deals?? After deciding on a color I asked friendly Curt to mix me a quart while I picked up some new drop cloths. I returned to a gallon waiting for me. Um...a little too much for my needs but since they don't do "oops" cans anymore and it is a big hassle for them to HAZMAT the paint he gave me the entire gallon for $7.95-deal!

A work in progress...

Viola!

The light pink knobs are courtesy of a Hobby Lobby 50% off day making the whole transformation under $40 and my sweaters are so much happier for it!

Partying all night at SNS, Stuff & Nonsense, Shabby Nest & French Country Cottage

-Andrea

Goodbye Trees

2011-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

You know those people who take down their Christmas trees the day after Christmas and get their house neatly put back into place? Yea, I'm not one of them. One year I didn't take my tree down until the last week of January even! I haven't had to work this week so one of many goals has been to take down all of the Christmas items...I'm getting to it...really. We never got a chance to show off our Christmas homes so before I actually disassemble all of this chaos I thought I should at least get this last chance to show it off a bit.

2 years ago when Dept. 56 basically went under my heart sank. My tree ornaments, wreath, etc. are all part of the Krinkles collection by Patience Brewster. While I know I'll never be able to expand the collection past my mantle and slim tree I just can't imagine starting a new one.

My mom, however, can't start enough different trees. Growing up we sometimes had 7 Christmas trees to set up each year. This white tree above is one of hers and my absolute favorite. It's decorated with brightly colored candy ornaments and that sleigh it's in this year was a recent craigslist find. It looks absolutely amazing in person!

My New Old Chair

2011-01-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Many months ago my mom came across this chair on Craigslist for only $30 in AZ and asked if she should pick it up.

At the time we were waist deep in furniture preparing for a show and one more chair made little difference to me so I told her it was her decision and forgot about it. Fast forward to October and I'm staring at this sad little corner in my living room from my newly, perfect slip covered couch and thinking man that chair my mom saw would be so perfect in that spot why didn't I tell her to jump on it?! I became obsessed and scoured KSL every few hours hoping to find a tall chair with cane accents as perfect as that one. No luck, of course. However, magic struck when my mom emailed me a million photos a couple weeks later of furniture we had to sort through yet and redo for our next show. I clicked on a chair labeled "wood center piece" and saw the chair she asked me about so long ago! She had bought it!! I called her up and said that one is MINE don't even think about touching it! We finished the chair just in time for Christmas and visitors and I am absolutely in LOVE with it.

I like everything about this chair, the height, the cane sides (no damage), and the perfect imperfect white paint. The chair was in really great condition and to be honest there was no reason to paint such perfect wood other than my own desire for a white chair. Overall this chair was an absolute steal as well. Cost breakdown:

$30 Chair

$0 paint (white paint on hand)

$37.50 fabric (2.5 yards)

1 beautiful all mine chair $67.50

I'll admit we lived on the wild side when it came to only purchasing 2.5 yards of fabric, with all that double welting we ended up with one little 18'' square left (perfect future pillow size!) and could have easily been in trouble if a mistake was made but I count on my mothers perfectionist spirit to save us from those disasters! :)

Linkin' up and makin' friends at DIY Showoff, Thrifty Decor Chick, MM, SewChatty, MMS & SNS

-Andrea

New Furniture for a New Year

2010-12-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

I hope all of your holiday celebrations have been full of family, friends and fun. I finished my chair in time for Christmas and just love how bright & cheery it is against the backdrop of all this Utah snow and ice. The after pictures will be up soon but in the meantime I want to share a great child chair we just finished.

We had just enough pink & black damask fabric left over from a settee we took to Swiss Days for a small chair or bench and when we stumbled across this cutie on Craigslist we knew we had to snatch it!

The chair was obviously in great shape it was just boring and not near fun enough for any child's room I can imagine but now...

it's pink and perfect!

Linkin' up at Romantic Home & Boogieboard Cottage

-Andrea

Blizzard Warning

2010-11-23T07:11:00.001-08:00

Christmas gift to myself! YES!

(oh yea, maybe add some white paint in there too)

Since SLC is expecting a blizzard (yes blizzard with 60mph winds & 10'' of snow on the valley floor) perhaps I'll get to work on this $30 find and have it ready to finish off my living room before Christmas morning!

-Andrea

Snow

2010-11-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

The current view from my front porch.

-Andrea

Halloween!

2010-10-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that people have been posting their Halloween decorations and tutorials for weeks now and while I did put up a few things here and there at the same time I never got around to blogging about any of it. With Halloween this weekend and my birthday a few short days after that I thought I'd show off a few pics to start getting in the spirit of all things creepy, fall and festive.

I love my hay bale and the fact that I've had pumpkins out all month with out the fear of the AZ heat making a mess of them!

I made the wreath following a tutorial from Tatertots & Jello. Might have to make a Christmas version next month if I don't try to replicate one of these.

Bunting, feathers, skulls and spiders around the mantle and living room.

Happy Halloween!

Linking to The DIY Show Off here.

-Andrea

Fall Break Sewing

2010-10-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

My sister had some time off from school for fall break last week so she and mom loaded up the car and headed to Utah to help with a few projects. Lucky me!

Thanks to blogs the like of Life in the Fun Lane and Miss Mustard Seed I have been obsessed with the idea of a white slip covered couch. White, cream, canvas, slipcovers-they're everywhere! In July I started scouring craigslist and KSL looking for an inexpensive, comfortable couch that would look great in white and in the new home I would be renting. September came and score! $50 later I owned a greenish tan comfy couch I couldn't wait to take white. The only snag in this great plan was I'd never sewn a slipcover before and an 8 foot sofa seemed like a beast to learn on. Not to fear! Enter one sister, one mom and a Bernina. Not only do I have a white couch but a new table cloth, 3 pillows and 2 outdoor seat cushions-sweet!

Sittin' pretty in white.

Making the pattern
(side note: I did NOT want to make a pattern. Drape and Go I yelled! Yea, what a terrible experience that would have been, good thing I listen to my elders-hehe)

So close!

I love you perfect white sofa & your happy pillows!

Did I mention we picked up the fabric for $4.60 a yard?? Of course that would have been an even better price if the sofa didn't end up taking over 110 feet of welting! Still, with only a $50 investment in the sofa I think I made out. Five days produced 1 slipcover, 3 pillows, 2 seat cushions and 1 table cloth-oh and a little bit of shopping and good food. Feel free to come back soon guys-I might even let you leave the house more than once! :)

Linkin' up to Miss Mustard Seed

-Andrea

Tiffany Blue

2010-10-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Remember This?

It later became this and found its way to Swiss Days with us.

While at Swiss Days we made a new friend who was in the process of creating a beautiful new bedroom for her daughter. She asked if the settee could be transformed one final time and today we delivered her this.

I love how it turned out! Her daughter's room is a complete surprise (this is one lucky girl) and I can't wait until she sees what a gorgeous room her mom put together for her. Thanks for letting us be a part of it!

-Andrea

Making New friends at this link party, at MMS and over at Sugar Bee.

Our Sewing Heritage

2010-09-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

Given my pasty white skin, freckles and red-hued hair some people find it hard to believe that my mother's maternal family is from Mexico. Even harder to believe is that when my grandfather was re-stationed away from the Arizona-Mexico border and given a new assignment in Alaska (where my mom was born) all of the Mexican family followed them. My great-grandmother, great-grandfather, two great uncles (one w/a wife and family), grandmother, grandfather and uncle suddenly found themselves in a much cooler climate.

My great-grandmother, Bertha, was the unbelievably talented lady in that bunch. Her sewing and knitting skills were unmatched. Lucky for me and my mom she wasn't bad at teaching her craft either and lived until I was 20 years old. While I do not know this to be true at all I always imagine her immediately getting to the task of making winter coats for the family's first Alaskan "arctic" winter.

While she may not have made coats for the entire family, however, she did manage to hand knit and embroider one magnificent coat while living in Alaska. It turned out so beautifully she entered it into the Alaska State Fair and took the Grand Marshall prize that year. That same coat has been hanging in my mother's sewing room since I was 15 and reminds me of how much wonderful talent I am surrounded by.

-Andrea

Recent Finds

2010-09-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

We sorted through our stores this weekend and managed to take several pictures of found furniture we have yet to start work on. Given all of the excitement over the settees lately we are posting a couple below that we will be refinishing soon OR if one really strikes your fancy email us (address on our sidebar) and we'll customize it just for you!

The settee below is small, approx. 44''(l)x16''(d)x32''(h), and the bottom cushion will be filled with down. If the settee is not claimed we will give it a french make over with the fabric used on the settee here.

This is a beautiful antique settee we just found on Saturday! The wood is mahogany and the piece is much larger than it appears, approx. 60''(l)x24''(d)x42''(h), a beautiful carving of a woman's face is at the top.

After this weekend all of our special order aprons from Swiss Days will be in the mail and we will start work on the furniture above and so much more - can't wait!

-Andrea

Better After Feature

2010-09-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

We're being featured again at Better After-thanks so much Lindsey! We love her blog and find a lot of inspiration over there. If you have never checked out her blog before now is your chance! Our Anna Maria Horner chair on her blog is HERE and you can see more pictures of the chair taken by the talented Carly on our blog HERE. Thanks so much for stopping by and we so appreciate all of the supportive comments-they really keep us going!

-Andrea

Before & After

2010-09-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

Did you know that when we started this little Fiber & Fire adventure the only furniture we did was "quilted furniture"? Reupholstering in bright funky colors/patterns and painting wood in goodness knows what colors didn't really appeal to us at the time. Now of course we like to mix it up and we tend to find ourselves all over the place but the quilted pieces always leave their mark on us a little longer. So without further trips down memory lane let me introduce you to this floral catastrophe. This is the second chair we've found lately that had a nice large slash in the back fabric. We aren't really sure if people have resorted to their furniture for anger management therapy or what but even minus the fabric incident on the back that floral pattern just had to go!

It is no secret that mom is the talented quilter in our bunch and while sometimes we find vintage quilt tops to upholster with she took one look at this chair and decided she would be making the quilt to adorn this wing back.

We think it came out great and apparently quite a few people at the festival agreed because we got TONS of great comments on it. Only one person could take it home though and we're so glad that it found a home with someone who is just as nuts about the chair as we are!

We're joining a party over at somewhat simple here and miss mustard seed here.

-Andrea

French Chair Available

2010-09-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

This antique chair is a found piece that we have worked hard on transforming into something chic and beautiful. The fabric has a stone color antique French document and bird motif printed on a flax cotton blend giving it the look of canvas without the severe feel. The sides, back and double welting are finished in the same fabric without printing. The chair is approximately 36''h x 28"w with a 19'' seat depth. The seat cushion has down feathers and is removable. Exposed wood has been left untouched due to the antiquity of the piece. Priced at $450 chair is currently in Salt Lake City, UT and can be picked up, delivered within a reasonable range for a reasonable fee or buyer can arrange own shipping. If you would like to see the chair in person please email at address in side bar.

This chair was also chosen as one of Miss Mustard Seed's favorites from a Furniture Feature Link Party here.

-Andrea

Happy Labor Day & Goodbye Swiss Days!

2010-09-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day everyone! We've been hitting the snooze button all morning after a very labor intensive weekend at Swiss Days. THANK YOU to everyone who came out and met us-we had a blast! We met so many amazing people and we are overwhelmed by all of your kind words and support. We hope to be at Swiss Days again next year but in the mean time let's keep in touch-a girl can never have too many great friends! To everyone who is interested in what pieces we have available to be customized we'll be taking a lot of photos this week so please drop us a line with the type of frame you're looking for and we'll shoot over some photos of the goods and we can start dreaming up the possibilities. To all of you living in the Salt Lake Valley area of Utah I'm thinking of having an open house of sorts before Christmas highlighting new quilted furniture pieces and funky reclaimed pieces that we finish between now and then. Does that sound like something anyone would be interested in? Dropping in for some good food, good conversation and taking a look at some seriously awesome found furniture in the Sugarhouse area?

-Andrea

Move In Day

2010-09-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we were busy moving into our booth at Swiss Days. We will be selling this Friday & Saturday from 8am - 8pm each day so if you live in the area we would LOVE to meet you! Below are some picture for you to witness the chaos for yourself.

Furniture was everywhere, aprons were bursting out of boxes and eventually we just had to admit not all of the furniture was ever going to fit in our 10'x15' space. We're fine with that though. Mostly we're fine we made it up to Midway at all. The truck pulling the trailer blew a spark plug 48 hours prior and the dealer wasn't able to vacuum out the metal shavings and replace the plug until the day before we needed to climb the mountain. Oh well, that's how life goes sometimes. I'm thinking by now our bad luck must be over with-right? right?! (knocking on wood now.)

-Andrea

Vanity Chair Reveal!

2010-08-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Remember that weekend projects post a couple weeks back? The one with the cute antique vanity chair that had horse hair poking out of the seat in multiple spots? Well, it's finished! A couple weeks later, a big mess, some itchy skin from all that horse hair and we now have quite the sassy little vintage vanity chair. I think it turned out great and reminds me of a prop that could be used by Bette Midler in the movie For the Boys. Translation: red lipstick, lots of sass - meow!

That before shot one last time...

nothing but vintage sass now.

-Andrea

3, 2, 1...Blast Off!

2010-08-24T16:12:00.001-07:00

We're ready to load the trailer and head on over to Midway, UT for Swiss Days! Once again our friend Carly of Volcam Photography did us proud and photographed a few of the furniture pieces for us before they get bagged and tagged. Thanks Girl! We realize you've seen a few of the pieces but it's been awhile and let's face it, Carly's photos just do them so much more justice!

All of this furniture, over 300 aprons plus MORE furniture will be going with us to Swiss Days. More Furniture?? Yes, we know. We're exhausted. Did I mention that while all of this has been going on I decided to move? Yes, I'm moving right now-blogging from an almost empty place. Mom messed up her back last week, can barely move right now and is supposed to be driving the trailer up in less than a week. Not to mention the million trips around SLC and the Valley of the Sun we've been making to acquire new places for the next show! Does it ever end?!

-Andrea

You can't get rich sitting on the bench

2010-08-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

With all the bright colors of our last post we thought we would give your eyes a rest and a small peek at a black and white bench we just finished.

I think we could have made a nice carpet bag or two by now with all of the tapestry we've been tearing off. It might be that I am destined for a Mary Poppins costume this Halloween.

A bit more chic and today.

-Andrea

Before & After

2010-08-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

We bought this chair back in July at the Pasadena Flea Market (read about our trip here). Just the smallest bit of pressure on the fabric was causing it to rip and of course someone had already decided to take a big chunk of fabric off the back. Some golden yellow paint and beautiful Anna Maria Horner fabric later and I think we have ourselves a winner. We understand loud furniture isn't for everyone but I just love this bold happy chair!

Feeling a bit blue and sad (the blue is actually the primer but that's exactly how that fabric looked, eek!)

TADA!

This chair is part of some fun link parties here, here and here and linked to the DIY Show Off - Come make new friends with us. :)

-Andrea

Weekend Project(s)

2010-08-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd give you a peak at what will be occupying our weekend. We're finishing up a very loud and bright (my fav!) chair today and then diving into these two beauties, or they will be beauties again soon.

We found this chair shortly after the Rose Bowl Flea Market while still in California at an antique mall. The way it looks is exactly how we bought it, horse hair poking out and all-ugh, horsehair everywhere.

4 = the number of times we have painted this settee. Yes, indecisiveness at its best. We've settled on this pewter color and now we're off to tear off that lovely cream colored horrifically stained fabric.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

-Andrea

New Apron Photos!

2010-08-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

Last week my friend Carly of Volcam Photography was vacationing in Utah with her incredibly adorable daughter Mady and lucky me they decided they could spare some time during their visit to model and take some photos of our new aprons! We love how they turned out and want to share a few of our favorites.

Thanks for hanging out with us!

-Andrea

The Collection is Growing...

2010-08-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

Sadly we don’t have any before pictures (we’re going to get better at that though-promise!) of these two pieces of furniture. We're hoping, however, you find them wonderful enough in their current state to forgive not knowing their beginning. The settee and the set of little girl chairs (yes those chairs are not full size) will be making the trip with us to Swiss Days.

Amy Butler Love fabric (oh yea we love it!) on a gorgeous antique settee-mixing new & old.

When one won't do...just make two! Look at those lines, look at that pop! Oh yea, two is definitely better than one.

-Andrea

Eye Candy

2010-08-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

Our rooms are overflowing with aprons and there are only a few more pieces of furniture left to finish for Swiss Days - hooray! In celebration I thought I would post some eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

-Andrea

Weekend Off

2010-08-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

I got to take a break this weekend to visit with my sister who came up from Arizona. We had a blast! Two days of non-stop zip lines in Park City, bowling, shopping, eating and a trip to Lagoon. Mom, of course, had two days of solid work preparing new aprons for a photo shoot this weekend (cute new little girl aprons on the blog next week!) and reclaiming two amazing children's chairs. I hope to have some good pictures of the chairs before the weekend to share but until then think hot pink and black accents-totally rocker chick!

Speaking of reclaimed funiture have you ever checked out the blog Better After? If not do it! We love seeing so many crafty people taking junk to pure awesomeness! Oh, and if you go now, you might just notice one of our settees being featured. ;)

-Andrea

Ooh La La

2010-07-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

This little blue chair was feeling a bit down on itself when we found it. In a series of quite unfortunate events Monsieur Chair found it's light lovely blue fabric being used as a scratching post by an unrelenting chatte (that's cat for us English speaking folk).

It's a bit difficult to see but the side of this arm has served well as a scratching post.

Look at all that potential though!

We just couldn't let ALL that potential go to waste so we got out our wands, and by that I of course mean our blood, sweat and tears (it just doesn't have the same ring) and VIOLA!

I absolutely LOVE this french linen chair! It will be making its way to Swiss Days but I must admit with a lot of reluctance on our part. Monsieur Chair we'll forever chase the cats away!

This chair redo is linked to a fun party! Check it out here.

-Andrea

Green With Envy

2010-07-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

Donna Karan once said, "I love building spaces: architecture, furniture, all of it, probably more than fashion. The developmental procedure is more tactile. It's about space and form and it's something you can share with other people." We are sooo with you Donna!

So far over 15 pieces of furniture will be making their way to Swiss Days along side our aprons. We always build the tuffets but most of the big furniture are rescue pieces. Furniture that was once loved, then neglected/forgotten and now brought back to life to serve as highly functional beautiful pieces. Throughout the next 2 weeks we'll have lots of before and afters of the great finds that will be available at September's show and some posts will show our entire process from drab to fab. To start the week off right we chose a small settee with such beautiful ornate carved wood we couldn't bare to paint it but a faded, heavy tapestry reminiscent of my great-grandma's decor.

Greens with a bad attitude to...

greens glammed up and modernized!

Amy Butler's Nigella Petal fabric gave this settee a new meaning to the phrase 'green with envy.' We love how the petite traditional settee contrasts with these bold greens and splashes of pink petals (because every girl needs a little pink!).

Check back tomorrow to witness what a blue antique chair turned cat scratching post has transformed into now. *hint, think FRENCH LINEN!!!

-Andrea

Swiss Days 2010

2010-07-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

September 3rd & 4th we'll be in Midway, Utah selling our goods at the annual Midway Swiss Days. We're pretty excited about it-pretty stressed too. Just take a look at this crowd:

The size of this crowd intimidates and excites us. Ok, maybe a wee bit more on the intimidating size. Sleep has been hard to come by these last few months, the sound of sewing machines has been dang near constant and furniture transformations seem to come few and far between. We think we're nearly ready though and we're excited to share pictures of some of the new aprons and a lot of before/after pictures of the amazing furniture we're taking with us-so check back next week!

-Andrea

Rose Bowl Flea Market

2010-07-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

My youngest daughter and I recently returned from a visit to California. One Sunday a month a large (and I do mean very LARGE) flea market is held at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. It was just pure luck we visited California during that day (*wink, wink). If you have never been to this flea market mark your calendar and plan a trip because this is so worth going to. The parking lot and surrounding grounds were turned into a mecca for bargin and treasure hunters. We chose one section to concentrate on, antiques/collectibles, and guess what?! It took us over 6 hours just to finish that one area! Next time we visit we'll definitely take a wagon to cart our treasures around in but the market does offer a pick-up area for large purchases like the great chair we scored!

We found it!

Vintage dishes for an eclectic table.

Oh the possibilities for this iron bench!

Hollywood Glam anyone?

Three's a crowd.

Look at all those blue drawers!

Beautiful chairs.

For that beach cottage some day soon.

-Patricia

Guess where we're going?!?

2010-07-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to be attending one of the Art & Soul art retreats next year! February 28 - March 3, 2011 don't stop by to borrow a cup of sugar because we'll be in Las Vegas stretching our artistic talent and making new friends. We have each signed up for 4 full day classes (2 together, 2 apart) each and I'm particularly excited to learn from a couple of the artists below. Check 'em out!

Is this chandelier amazing or what?? The artist behind it is Sally Jean Alexander and while I don't get to learn how to make one of those lookers from her my mom and I will both be taking her perfume bottle pendant class. However, if you are feeling like doing a little traveling she does offer workshops creating the above beauties. Check her out here.

This painting/collage/mixed-media fun is from Lisa Kaus. She'll be teaching my Monday class called gridlocked. The class calls for lots of paint, paper and 3-dimensional found objects. I hit up a local SLC flea market at Abode last month and found a great vintage measuring tape like the one in the above piece for 1 dollar! 1 dollar! Check out more of her great work here.

Is it February yet??? There are 4 other great artists we are learning from but if we have to wait months to go you'll just have to wait months to see the goods as well-ha! Think you want to join us or find out more about the great artists that participate? Well, just check it out for yourself here!

-Andrea

Tick Tock...Tick Tock...Tins make a Clock!

2010-06-29T21:57:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Sky Harbor Airport to pick up my Aunts who came to visit from the big ole State of Texas. While we were waiting for their plane to arrive I browsed through one of the galleries that had a gift shop. The clocks are mostly made of kitchen items and beads...Very Creative!

2010-06-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

Check out the hands!

2010-06-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

How Cute is this one...

Pom Poms & Pie Slices

2010-06-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

An Amy Butler pattern + some great Anna Maria Horner fabric = most amazing floor cushion ever! Even better it has taken up residence in my living room. Oh happy day!

-Andrea

Chalk Art

2010-06-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend The Gateway in downtown SLC hosted a chalk art event to promote foster families in Utah. A couple special artists were invited to create on the sidwalk along with over 50 children and their parents. We headed down to check it out after a visit to the SLC Farmer's Market and below is just a small highlight of what we saw.

By far my favorite drawing-her hair and eyes were incredible.

A tribute to the great SLC.

Dr. Seuss lived in SLC while he was teaching at the U.

My favorite Einstein quote.

A burst of color.

Invited artist Gina Jrel. The mermaid's face was yet to be finished while we were there.

Weekend Project(s)

2010-06-13T16:36:00.001-07:00

I was so excited to shove the sewing machine to the corner this weekend and start work on my new hutch!! Saturday evening came around though and I was still completely frustrated with my color choices! I took the night to "sleep on it" and this morning to mull it over some more and decided I give up for now. Not wanting the weekend to be a complete waste I potted a few herbs I've been meaning to get to and brushed some chalkboard paint on the front of the pots. Tomorrow I will label them and pretend I actually finished one project this weekend. The basil smells absolutely wonderful-maybe I'll boil some pasta and get to work on dinner.

*In actual sewing news my mom had a goal of sewing 20 aprons this weekend with 3 kids running around her house (yea, she can dream right?). As of 30 minutes ago she had completed 11 and felt confident 3 more would be finished before the end of the night. 14 aprons vs. my 3 herb pots...oh man, what did I do this weekend??!!

Not too Shabby

2010-06-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that we tend to find ourselves drawn to bold, bright colors. Making a color statement is kind of our thing. However, that doesn't mean we don't appreciate all color palettes and styles. I personally have no problem shopping in a store filled with white wash, antiquing and cool colors. When we found our latest settee to bring back to life we were inspired by cutie pie little girls and cool breezy country days. The result is a little bit shabby chic, a lot sweet and completely wonderful.

In the beginning...

2010-06-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

On the corner of 8th & 8th in downtown SLC there is a little store with one of those great canopies over the front door and the name Emilie Jayne printed in fancy white letters. They don't have a web page just amazing deals on great vintage and eclectic finds. A few weeks ago I spotted this:

I nearly shelled out the $325 on the spot for this blue/turquoise beauty. My lack of space indoors was the only thing that held me back. I couldn't keep the dream of a turquoise hutch out of my mind though and soon stumbled across this in the local classifieds:

Its price tag? $125. Size? Just a bit taller and wider than the Emilie Jayne hutch. My mood? Ecstatic! With just a little bit of elbow grease, paint and some new knobs I'm confident my turquoise dream hutch isn't far away. I searched the web for some further inspiration and came across this beauty:

I found this great table here and now am seriously thinking that dark wood stain needs to be incorporated in my hutch. Oh gosh, I'm so excited to get started! Stay tuned for the final result!

Apron Sale

2010-06-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

For the entire month of June we are having a six months 'til Christmas apron sale! Our shelves are starting to get a little too full with all the aprons we've been sewing and we need some more room. Thanks to our lack of space you can score some cute holiday aprons now for a great price and be all ready to bake come December. Check out the little girl holiday aprons at our etsy shop here. Want a matching momma one? Let us know, we'll whip one up for you at a discounted price as well.

Fait a la Main

2010-06-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

June is one of the best months to visit France (or so we've been told). Sadly we have no plans for a Parisian adventure abroad of our own but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate the beautiful language here- say from our couch? We searched for months, literally months, trying to find this wonderful fabric that has an elegant scroll writing with french words and names. Finally, we found it! Don't ask us what the words mean we are merely here to enjoy and feel a little more elegant.

We went to work and created this beauty as soon

as we had the fabric in hand.

Closer view of the beautiful script.

We couldn't go on this short lived adventure without learning something helpful to share. Fait a la main translates to 'hand made' and our favorite things may come from all over but they are always hand made.

Recent Happenings

2010-05-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

In preparation for a very large show (more about that later) we have spent the winter and early spring collecting and rescuing furniture from a life of neglect and often unsightliness. While we aren't even close to half way through completing our reclaimed furniture lovelies we thought we would share a couple of beauties ready for their big debut in September.

Amy Butler 'Love' fabric made us fall in love with this chair all over again.

Mmm, and look at that paint job. French provincial = wonderful.

A very traditional Victorian settee takes on new life with a modern pink and black palette. I'm envisioning a low hanging crystal chandelier of sorts will compliment it nicely.

Thanks for browsing.

Scraps

2010-05-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

Sewing a lot of these

inevitably leads to a lot of fabric and trim scraps.

We are constantly looking for new ways to use up some (preferably all) of these scraps that seem to multiply everyday. Waste not want not, no? Last night I worked on a few projects that are the perfect size for all these fabric and trim bits. They include: party hats, hanging lanterns and my own interpretation of a cherry blossom tree on canvas.

Balloons!

2010-05-15T14:10:00.001-07:00

I was scanning the web and some of my favorite blogs yesterday looking for color inspiration when I stumbled across this picture at partyperfect.

How fun does this party look? Does anyone have a birthday coming up?? I'm suddenly having the urge to fill a space with several hundred balloons and LOTS of color. Really, why settle on a few colors when you can have them all? Hmm...I should buy the movie UP. Happy Weekend!

Winner Winner!

2010-05-10T11:16:00.001-07:00

It sounds like Emily will have a lot of fun baking with mom in her new apron! Stacey, let me know your mailing address and I will get the apron sent out pronto. Thanks so much to all that entered and your support while we get better acquainted with the blogging world.

Giveaway!

2010-05-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those people who gets giddy at the idea of winning something free? I sure am. I'll enter just about any contest and instantly day dream about how great it will be when I win the HGTV dreamhome or free double scoop ice cream cone. I never win though. Ever. Ok, I won a N64 once (which was a BIG deal) but it was my stepmom who entered me in the drawing so it doesn't really count. You, however, might just be far luckier than I am and be the lucky winner of one of our little girl cupcake aprons! A cupcake apron like this one here-

We're trying to get the word out about our blog and looking for a few good followers and friends. We hope one of them will be you! What do you have to do to enter for your chance to win? Not much really! 1st: go to our sidebar and become a follower of our blog 2nd: leave a comment on this post with the name of a little girl who might benefit from this apron and what she'll help you bake first. You have until Sunday (the 9th) night to enter and the winner will be announced Monday. Good Luck and Thanks for your support!

New Packaging!

2010-05-03T15:40:00.001-07:00

Speaking of yummy sweets found in pink boxes, our sweet aprons can now be found in pink boxes as well! If you catch us at a show and happen to buy one or more of our highly functional yet perfectly girlie aprons you'll be handed a pink bakery box with your apron all ready for the trip home to the kitchen or the addition of a bow for perfectly pink gift giving. We love everything girl so naturally when thinking of how to better package our aprons our thoughts went to chocolates and pink and we wound up with this. I also got 5 sample sets of stickers in today for the outside of our box. I love EVERY SINGLE ONE of them. There is no way I can decide but here are just a few of them so you can better understand my dilemma.

Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop

2010-05-02T11:20:00.001-07:00

Do you live in Utah? Have you been to this bakery? If you haven't, what are you waiting for?? Mrs. Backers Pastry Shop and I go way back, they became some of my first friends when I moved to Utah (so what I haven't lived here long? I'm still loyal like that). The bakery opened in 1941 and the same family has been baking in it ever since. Unless you stop by late after work when the bakers, decorators and shop curator (that's how I like ot think of Renee) have finally left their work you are guaranteed to find a Backer in there maybe even 6 of them! But who cares about that anyway, right? You want to visit this bakery because if you love buttercream icing you are about to find your heaven. I haven't disliked anything I've tried there but if that something has icing on it surely it will skyrocket to the top of my things you must eat list. The bakery also has an assortment of aprons, cake platters, cupcake trees and other treasures for sale. Of course, Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop was one of the first shops I approached in Utah to see if they would distribute our children's aprons. Luckily, I had an assortment of aprons in the truck the day I asked because on the spot ten of them left my car and went on immediate display! The next time you are in downtown SLC stop by and try something delicious! Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop is located at 434 East South Temple, closed Sunday & Monday.

Saturday Shopping!

2010-05-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Early this morning (10 am is early right?) my girlfriend Carly and I headed off for a morning of local Utah shopping. After a nutritious breakfast, well it was yummy at least, we headed over to Oh Sweet Sadie. Every time they hosted a show last year I was going out of town or at the farmers market so NO ONE and NOTHING was keeping me away this year! I was only 2 booths in before I found my 1 st find, 3 booths in when I found my 2nd find and somewhere in the middle of the huge warehouse I found my 3rd and final find (hey I have some self control) at the show. I left with a sewing pattern, cupcake purse and new necklace. They offer lots of classes and I will definitely take one at their winter show. From the beautiful community of DayBreak we headed north to Farmington to check out another local art show, Piper & Chloe. I literally got 3 feet in the door and found a purse I couldn't live without. Notice a pattern in my shopping habits? The whole house looked great with the artists items displayed in various ways and while there were several things I willingly would have taken home I resisted. Oh, and please don't think I was shopping alone, Carly found some treasures of her own at each show. So despite the gloomy, rainy weather I would say we had a pretty fun girls shopping trip and who can't help but love it a little more when you know you are buying locally, handcrafted items? Below are a few images from the Piper & Chloe show.

Arizona invades Utah

2010-04-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago a gang of rowdy Arizonans (including my mom, sister and brother) descened on the Salt Lake Valley for a few days of fun. It's rare that both sides of Fiber and Fire are together shopping and creating so we took full advantage of our time together and set off Friday with a long list of local shops and fabric stores to visit. Our morning started with a great breakfast at a local sugarhouse eatery called Finn's. From there we were able to find lots of treasures at one of my favorite downtown shops, Jolley's. BUT our real find of the day was during an early visit to Second Hand Chic in the heart of Sugarhouse. The owner Kelly is a self proclaimed junker and highlighted us here on her blog last summer while we were at the farmer's market. I love going to Kelly's shop and it's because of finds like this:How cool is this chair??! The fabric has seen much better days but don't let that scare you, this chair is going to look AmAzInG when we are finished. I'm already nervous about the idea of having to part with this funky chair-maybe it's meant to have a permanent home in my living room?

The rest of our weekend was spent eating great local food at the likes of Cafe Trio and Millcreek Cafe, walking the beautiful gardens at Thanksgiving Point and visiting 3 of our fav local quilt stores (more on those jems later!).

A life in Technicolor

2009-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday I wake up worried. Worried I will never make it to the Farmer's Market in time, worried my tent won't go up, worried I'll forget some little bolt that is crucial to the opening of my booth. Then 8 am rolls around and I realize all of that worry and stress was wasted because everything is up, ready to sell and so colorfully inspiring.

I am so grateful for the colors our world is painted in and that I can see and enjoy them all. Above are a few shots from my booth and as you can tell I believe in using all of the colors we have been blessed with when creating my art. Nothing instantly changes my disposition as much as a bright cheery color. And nothing proves all of that Saturday morning stress was wasted as much as when I sit back and admire my booth at 8 am and SMILE because I live in a world of color and have created my own 10' x 10' world of pure happiness.

Downtown Art & Craft Market (SLC)

2009-07-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well I have made it through 4 Saturdays at the Downtown Farmer's and Art Market. I wasn't sure what to expect from it all but I am happy to report that I have met a lot of great people and so many cute little girls. I have officially found my unexpected audience. Who would have thought 6 year old girls and I would have the same likes: pink, frills, and as much over the top fun as possible. So many little girls pass my booth yanking on their mom's hand saying, "Can we go in there?!" They don't have any idea what I am selling but they like what they see and that's just fine with me.

A rainbow of inspiring COLORS make a pretty tuffet top.

Little girl aprons lined up waiting for a friend to bake with. Pure Happiness.

Hi Everyone!

2009-04-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I have finally decided to blog. Heck I can barely work my smart phone..this could be interesting. Seems like my fellow artists and crafters are all blogging. So why not! We are busy with lots of sewing and crafting around here. Preparing for the Vagabond and Bohemian Soriee. We will be showing our vintage furniture, art quilts, aprons and other assorted handcrafted items. So If you are in Mesa be sure you stop by and visit all of the artists and be sure and take home some unique handcrafted items.