Coziness

As the weather continues to turn toward cold, I am excited about the prospect of a cozy house.  Last year this time, the only warm & fuzzy that we had came in the form of dust bunnies.  All of the year's progress certainly contribute to a much warmer, homey feeling (having walls tends to do that), and I'm having fun with craft projects that further my vision of a warm, welcoming, and comfortable home.

To that end, I have FINALLY finished a blanket for the living room couch.

I found a great tutorial at dana-made-it.com for a faux chenille blanket.  She describes it much better than I will be able to, and she also has a great tutorial in case you are interested in making one of your own, so go check that out here.  Basically, it is several layers of flannel with many (MANY) rows of stitching.  All but the top layer of fabric are cut, and once it is washed, the edges fray and curl up, leaving a very soft chenille-like blanket!

Now that I look back at her tutorial, she does mention upwards of 10 times that it is a time-consuming project.  Somehow, in my excitement to tackle this project, I missed the warnings about how long it would take, but miles of sewing later, I'm very excited to have it done!  I'm happy with the fabric choices, which tie together the colors of the den, living room, and kitchen (brown, green, and orange).  This blanket not only keeps us warm, but it also is the first step in the accessorizing that makes the orange and green walls a little less circus-like.

Please ignore that striped pillow, it came with the couch, and it needs to go ASAP.  Some new throw pillows will hopefully be joining the blanket as part of Operation: Cozy sometime soon.  Also a new lamp, another chair, and hanging family pictures around the "family tree."

So although we haven't yet reached my final vision, it's reassuring for me to look at pictures from last year.  Here's a shot from last December.  I remember I was really proud of the red fabric "slip cover" draped over the twin bed.  It made a nice temporary couch, but not half as cozy as what we've got now :)