The House Saga Continues...

As you all well know... I am on the hunt for an adorable house with a lot of character and charm. Its now been about 5 months. Nothing, nada, nilch, zippo...

I saw houses that were *almost* it, but they all had one thing that was a deal breaker. For instance, one had NO yard. Well, that defeats the purpose of looking for a house, doesn't it? Another house had a tiny bathroom with no room to spare for a future renovation. A third house had no central air... Im sorry, but when you have a soon-to-be 130 lb shaggy black dog, I highly doubt you (or the dog) will be able to survive the summers without any cool relief.

This week alone, I saw seven houses and have 5 more lined up to see tomorrow. It seems to be a neverending process of viewing properties, making calls about mortgage loans, making sure your pre-approval status is still valid, and so on.

Paul and I are trying our best to stay optimistic and be patient about this process. We still dream about a cute bungalow that we will call our own. I already have my craft room decorated in my head. I found this adorable cabinet/hutch the other day and fell in love with it. Wouldnt it just be perfect in my craft room with crisp white walls so the colorful patina will stand out. It will overflow with paper, paints, embellishments, and my other art supplies. Can you visualize it?

Evolving Taste...

Right now I am on the cusp of Spring, yet not ready to leave the deliciously grey days of Winter.


Here are a few of my favorite things. Its so inspiring to watch your own taste/style evolve over time.



I am hopelessly in love with the color grey. I want a room in my house painted in the silvery, mysterious shade of grey. It is a very neutral color and is easy to pair with a pop of color, such as blue, red, or pink. This French bathroom is just dreamy... The old, rusty clawfoot bathtub is just perfection.



Even though I love grey, I am ready to see splashes of color here and there. Daffodils are one of my absolute favorite flowers of all times. As a little girl, I loved them only because they bloomed faithfully on my birthday and I always thought it was so special that they only bloomed for me. Now, I love them because they're such a cheerful, tough flower that can live virtually anywhere.


I will fully admit that I have never been the girly, frilly type. But... Ive noticed that my style has been slowly evolving and I do appreciate the occasional jolt of feminine color. Over the last few years, Ive come to love Peonies. They're such an old fashioned flower and remind me of Grandma J. My particular favorite is the big, frilly pink Peony. They're so full, yet delicate. It would make a world of difference if I had a simple bouquet of frilly pink Peonies on my desk everyday.



I am very well known to be an organized person, almost to the point where I'm anal. While it is nice to be organized and clean, Ive come to appreciate organized chaos. I love these wire baskets that are organized according to color. I can fully envision these baskets in my future office and/or craft room. My style has evolved from strictly organized (where you cannot see the materials) to a open, visual system where you can see the textures and colors of the objects I own. The more things that I see, the more inspired I am to create beautiful things.


I will gladly admit that much of my taste has evolved since my trip to France. It was a truly eye-opening, life-changing journey. Much of what I saw in that country has a very simple, beautiful yet practical approach. For example, these bundles of lavender are simply wrapped with kraft paper and tied together with twine. So simple and beautiful, yet practical.




Speaking of simplicity... Ive come to really appreciate the old villas that we saw in France. The buildings are typically built from stone and they have stood for thousands of years. They have a beautiful, irresistable patina that lends to its character. While I probably will not find something like this in America, I can still apply the concept to my future garden. Can you see it? A small stone wall with a large old tree and a few pink, frilly peony bushes?


Isn't this paper Eiffel Tower just adorable? I thought it was a very appropriate picture to put on my blog considering today is Valentine's Day. This would be a cute centerpiece to create for a table. Instead of placing an engagement ring in the center, a small single flower or a piece of candy would be ideal for a party.

As you can see, Ive come to really appreciate softer colors, old objects with patina, and simple objects that can found just about everywhere. I should adopt this concept and apply it to my life on a daily basis in terms of my attitude and perception. If I can view the world a bit softer, with character and simplicity, there would be less stress... don't you think?

In Memory of Grandma J

The wonderful ladies in Michigan that Ive been in touch with are awesome hand-quilters! I sent them two very large antique quilt tops that I had in my collection. They finished the pieces and put them together into beautiful pieces of art. Along with the two quilt tops, I decided to take a risk and send them a very small top that Grandma J had started but didn't finish. It was too small to be a twin size quilt, so I asked them to turn it into a wall hanging.

It arrived today and is just absolutely gorgeous!





Guess how much they charged me for quilting this wall hanging?

Only $30. What a bargain for beautiful hand stitching!

Enough said...

Rosie went to work with me the other day. Everyone was shocked at her size and how much she grew in one week. Scroll down and see for yourself...

I think this will be the last time I'll be able to pick her up...

She is getting so big, I can barely hold her!

She slept under my desk for a few hours. I think the kids wore her out!

My Addiction

Hi, my name is Hollie and I am a quiltaholic.

I honestly don't know how many quilts I have in my closet.
Every time I come across a quilt that is in excellent shape, has feed sack fabrics, and is reasonably priced, you can guarantee that its coming home with me.

On Tuesday, Kathy and I decided to scope out the antique store in town during our lunch break. We were having a bad day at work and needed some antique retail therapy. I came across this lovely twin-sized quilt. The blue vintage print from the '20s is adorable and the design is just too cute! The price wasn't bad at all: $45. So, naturally, I folded it up and tucked it under my arm and proceeded to bring it home.





Speaking of quilts, I got my two very large sized quilts back from Therese in Michigan. She binded and finished two of my antique quilt tops. They are just absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to show them to you, which I will in another post.

Now, all I need is a lovely house to showcase all of my quilts.

Inspiration for a Kitchen

After posting about my New Year's resolution, I got a comment about the house that I found from Aunt Julie. She made a suggestion of putting a row of bottom cabinets with a countertop under the row of windows in the kitchen, as well as an island if the room can accommodate one.

Thats a wonderful idea and I did wonder about that, but unfortunately the windows in the house are larger than your usual windows. They run longer and a standard height cabinets/countertop would not fit. So, I was thinking about maybe finding an antique table that would run the length of the windows. It'd give me some space.

Also, I got my Country Home magazine in the mail today (I love that magazine!) and they ran an article with a kitchen that I really liked. I love the butcher top island... I wonder if I could do that?

I love the fresh look of this kitchen. It is very clean and airy, yet has style and substance. I just love that island. Can't you see me having a kitchen with something like that in it?

Aunt Julie also asked for more details regarding the bungalow that I found. I am still looking around to see what else is out there. The bungalow has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. It is indeed a 2-story bungalow. It has a full basement that has great potential to be finished. The upstairs is a open loft that runs the entire length of the house. It has great potential to be turned into a master suite, complete with a bathroom and walk-in closet and maybe another bedroom or a sitting area. The house, in general, has wonderful bones to be a really lovely house. If I were to buy the house tomorrow, it is livable just the way it is and we could make the additional renovations in a few years. It has a decent yard considering that it is in Milwaukee. A fence can be installed for the dogs.

Here is what the exterior looks like:

As you can see, its a classic brick bungalow built in 1929. The neighborhood consists of similar bungalows and cape cod homes.

Im excited to see what else is available in Milwaukee and I can't wait to finally own a house and turn it into my home.

5 More Facts about Miss Rosie

Its been an interesting night. Rosie has been on our minds literally ALL night. She kept us up for a good couple hours with diarrhea. Poor thing. I am so thankful that she is housebroken and didn't have one accident in the house. But, it wasn't fun going outside literally 8 times at 3 in the morning. I'm happy to report that she seems to be doing better this morning. Thankfully I have a boss who also has a 14 week old puppy and understands all the little things you deal with, so she is allowing me to work on my reports from home in order to keep an eye on Rosie.

Anyway, I thought I'd do another "Facts" post about our darling puppy. She has been with us now for 4 weeks and we are constantly learning new things about Rosie everyday.

1. Rosie loves to sleep on her back with her limbs splayed out. Apparently this is a common tendency in all Newfoundlands. I wonder what it'll look like when she's 120 lbs? I'm sure it'll be an interesting sight!

2. She is growing rapidly. She has gained 20 lbs in the 4 weeks we have had her so far! Each of her paw pads is the size of a quarter. Just huge!

3. She is now learning how to take walks properly with Sam. Every evening when we come home from work, one of us will take both of them out for a walk. Rosie will not walk on the right side of Sam. She absolutely has to be on his left side. When she walks alone with me, she also has to be on my left side. Why? Who knows?

4. Rosie is now entering the lovely, awkward stage where she is all legs. As you can see in this picture, she has very long legs and huge paws. She often stumbles over herself and it is just comical to watch.


5. Rosie continues to favor me over Paul. It looks like her order of preference is: Me, Sam and then Paul. Smart girl, eh? Of course, some days Sam bumps me to 2nd place, but that's okay. We all know who Rosie will run to when she's hurt, hungry, or needs to go out.