We are officially under contract!!! And what a story this is. I am not sharing photos until we close and take possession which actually is not going to be until the beginning of July as the sellers needed a little extra time to move. Dont worry, I will share all the pictures and details once that time comes and we actually move in. It will fly by for us and hopefully you guys! First, here is the story along with some pictures of my favorite Colonial homes I have snapped while driving all over town. Raleigh is constant architectural eye candy! The story of finding our home in North Carolina is ..read more

It has been a long time since I posted to the blog and for good reason. We made a cross-country move from Indiana to Raleigh, North Carolina. If you follow me on Instagram @homewithandreasims then you already know this. Our decision to move surprised everyone and especially with how fast we decided and then made the move (March 10th and then arriving April 15th!!). While it came as a surprise to anyone on the outside; it was a thing gradually developing in our hearts (hubby and I)for a long time. We moved to Indiana for land, country life and snow. We always knew though that we could NOT go fu ..read more

It has been a while since I posted and since I sewed! Having baby number five changed alot and with homeschooling, I just had limited time. Well this Christmas has been restful and I had some sewing time. Like so many I want to set New Year’s Goals. My WIP is driving me crazy! I have almost always kept to zero WIP. I was a finish every project person, until this last year that is. I want to get them all completed and I want to bring you guys along. It isn’t about knocking out 60 WIP-it’s about progress. So we will celebrate EACH WIP completed regardless of how many you have left. I made a prin ..read more

This is a story of project creep and rearranging existing kitchen cabinets. This is a huge before and after transformation but I only added some cabinets on the back of the island and one for the gas cook top I found at Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The renovation started out with an island renovation meant for function and grew to a complete renovation of my dream European cottage-inspired kitchen. It turned out better than I had ever hoped or envisioned and I am so thankful to God, my husband and our contractor. It was a LONG six months and I even had our fifth baby in the midst of all this ..read more

My latest pattern Bright Ornaments Quilt is here! This quilt comes in baby size, small throw and large throw. and it is Fat Quarter and Layer Cake/ Pre-cut 10″ square friendly! This quilt is fast and fun and its CHRISTMAS! You know how much I absolutely LOVE Christmas fabrics and Christmas quilts. BUY PATTERN HERE This beautiful fabric is Christmas in the City by Art Gallery Fabrics. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it! In fact, it is one of fabrics I showed in my stash building post. This fabric is full of whimsy, charm and bright colors. If you have followed for me sometime, you kno ..read more

I used to have NO fabric stash. I was the opposite of every quilter I knew but the idea of buying fabric with no pattern in mind stressed me out. Ohio has SO many quilt shops and I lived within 5 miles of three different shops! In fact, within an hour I lived near 13 quilt shops so I never felt the need to have a stash. I would find a pattern, buy the fabric, make the quilt and then go buy a backing. I would quilt the quilt or send it out and then buy the binding. It worked beautifully until 2020 and everything shut down. I had almost no fabric to sew (I had just started writing patterns) and ..read more

I said I wanted to add color and pattern to my sewing studio and I knew the pressing station was going to be one way to do it. I absolutely love how this project turned out! Originally I wanted an antique English Prep table. I have seen them all over Pinterest for years but never actually in real life. After many months of searching for the right table (24″ x 50″ by 36″) I found one CLOSE at 29″ x 49″ x 36″. This table is one of those good ‘ol before and afters. When I brought this home-my younger two boys said what an ugly table and they couldn’t believe I was gong to use it since they kno ..read more

The vision I have for my sewing studio is pattern, texture, and layers. It is inspired by traditional decor and English design. This new direction is actually quite the opposite of my prior sewing studio in our last home. It is the opposite of what I have had thus far. But as I mentioned in the previous tour post I never quite “decorated” the space. Our goal was to get it set up and functional. Since we had fantastic bones in the form of our white furniture and the incredible room itself-it actually felt and looked finished. Still though I always knew that at some point-I would get around to f ..read more

It occurred to me this week that I have NOT actually written a blog post about my sewing studio here in our Indiana home. I did a full tour on YouTube and Instagram and I have shown it many times on my Instagram stories and here in snippets on various posts. I am actually going to be making some BIG changes in the next few days/ weeks so I thought a tour was due now but if you prefer video-I have included that below. Let’s start with the room itself. The above picture is a wide angle view showing the entire sewing studio/craft space. I actually share this space with my husband. We each have ..read more

BUY Pattern Here Once again, blogging got away from me. I have been so busy with school (we do year round schooling), vacations (we spent 16 days on a roadtrip to Flordia, the kids did NASA Space camp too), and our never-ending kitchen renovation (countertops get installed August 8). Let’s not forget that I am officially 36 weeks along and due August 24th!! During all this time, I released another quilt pattern called Pleasing Plaid quilt. Oh how I LOVE this quilt!!! It goes together so fast that I made four versions! I also made a version for the quilt-along (worked ahead since baby will be h ..read more