Party Season Count Down: My Patio Projects
Lately I’ve been trying to get my house together for the summer party season with some knitted and quilted accents for both indoors and outdoors. I am lucky enough to have a great big patio to entertain on in the summer and I’m jazzed about my 2 new lounge chairs. It’s going to be a great time!
First thing first, I had to choose a color palette. Anyone who knows me will tell you: I have a little trouble in this area. While my instincts are to go too colorful I often try to combat this by going too plain. The first place I lived in with my boyfriend (now husband) was almost entirely beige. Bleh! I tried to jazz it up with throw pillows and a rug but I think it was just a lost cause. Now I find it very important to really think through my color palette. I try to find something that isn’t to constricting (I think you should always be able to put an “s” on all of the colors in your palette: yellows, blues etc.) and also not too crazy. Then it just looks like someone who can’t make up their minds (which is true but I don’t really want it to look like that’s true).
This summer I decided to build upon the table runner I made last year and the fabric I bought but never got around to doing anything with (who knew weddings were so much work?!). The theme was yellows and greys but I have now added a bit of orange as well.Last year I made a great big long table runner for the patio table and that is as far as I got. I had great intentions of making a tea cozy and some cloth napkins. People I talk to can’t seem to decide whether the tea cozy is super lame or retro/vintage cool. I suppose I will just have to change their minds with some sort of inovative design or whatever. I might make the one in ‘Last Minute Knitted Gifts’ but I think cashmere is a little over the top for a tea cozy.
Anway, I didn’t get around to making any of those things so my fabric sits and waits, washed, ironed, and ready to go.I’m not sure if I am still jazzed about the cloth napkins. I have tried several ways and it just doesn’t seem to be working out. They always turn out to be about 100 times more work than I expect and they just don’t look as perfect as I want them to.This Christmas I had to enlist the help of my mom to finish the cloth napkins I had promised my friend. Thank goodness for mom!
I do, however, really want to make some blankets for those chilly nights and some pillows for the loungers. I want my patio to be inviting morning, noon, and night. I bought some more fabric with the intentions of making some super easy quilts. I want to make something that was really funky but wasn’t too much work, as they will be going outside and you just never know. Anyhow, that’s the plan for now!
