A February Finish!

Remember back when I started working on my custom sewing table?  I was inspired by From Marta with Love.  Aren't their tables fab?  My bf helped me do the power tool stuff back in November and I finally finished adding the decorative touches - aqua paint of course!  I used Sherwin Williams SuperPaint in Tidewater 6477 and gave it a couple of coats of poly.  It's so smooth now and the fabrics just glide right over when I'm sewing.  I can't wait to start my next quilt!

That pillow under the table?  Yeah that's a cat bed.  Carlton and Zoey like to visit me in the sewing room and love sitting on the cat bed under the sewing table.  It's made from a fish shower curtain that I found at the thrift store!

October Sewing

This week while I was searching for a double oven mitt tutorial, I came across The Plaid Scotty Kaelin's pumpkin table runner and thought I just had to make that so my house will be a little bit festive.  Here's my version.  It goes together very quickly!  I'm actually quite surprised with myself because I used all scraps for the pumpkins and the backing!  

This was my first attempt at a pieced binding and I think it turned out great.  The directions call for the backing to be quite a bit larger than the front before quilting, so I just used the excess cut to my binding size and added a little bit extra.  I may actually like the back a little more than the front - oops!

Happy October!

Ingenious Ikat

I've been enamored with ikat prints lately, especially the fabrics in the Dear Stella Lanikai line.  I made a skirt already, and recently I decided to reupholster this great thrift store score with a darker printed ikat for my living room.  I bought this fabric for $20/yd at one of the fabric warehouses on Harry Hines Blvd in Dallas (great fabrics at those places!) and I think that particular store had it custom printed.  It's home dec weight and partly linen I believe.  I absolutely adore my new chair :)  I think I have enough left over fabric to make a throw pillow or two for the couch.  Love when things turn out like that...

Before:

After:

Thrift Store Lamp Update

I needed a table lamp for my dim living room so obviously I started combing thrift stores for the perfect one.  Unfortunately I came home with this....

Brassy, 80's, doesn't play well with the other collected furnishings (West Elm zebra rug, estate sale cedar chest, & boring beige couch that is).  So I decided to spruce it up with spray paint and see what happens.  A couple coats of Rustoleum later plus a new modern shade from Target et voila!

Much better!  I'm still working on clearing the clutter.  I think I have too many different shades of blue here, no?  Don't worry, it will eventually be all fixed!

Another Christmas Stocking!

I've been working on a Christmas stocking for myself this time.  Originally, it was for my boyfriend, but then I saw that I had picked rather feminine colors, so this one's for me.  I'm using the Thimble Blossoms pattern again.  I like to have the versatility of double sided stockings, so here's one side and I'll have to make the back.  Only 11 days left for me to finish this before Santa gets here!

Here's something else I've been working on - the Snapdragon quilt from Two from Ones Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam Lintott.  I must say, this book is great!  There are so many cute quilts I've made from this book and it would be pretty easy to enlarge some of them by adding more borders.  The fabric is a mix but mostly Sew Cherry by Riley Blake.  

Work in Progress Wednesday

I'm still plugging along with my vintage sheets Mod Sampler from last week.  I have the top completed and am really loving it!  I haven't had much time to sew this week, so that's really all I've worked on.  

I did some more organizing of the sewing/crafting room.  My boyfriend and I have decided to dub it the "crap room" since there's so much crap in there!  His mom gave me a quilt rack she had in storage, so I had him hang it when he came to visit this past weekend.  Two weeks in to the long distance (3.5 hrs apart) relationship and all is well!  My only concern is I don't have time to quilt on the weekends when he's here :P  I displayed some of my favorite items on the top of the quilt rack.  I'm definitely going to paint it at some point in time.  

Included in the display, just in case you wondered what in the world those things are.  

Purdue gnome, guardian angel from my mom, an Eiffel tower ornament, a silver plate that was a wedding gift to my parents, an eyechart flask :), a vintage Maine plate, and a pink pineapple.  What can I say, it's an eclectic mix!

My current list of projects:

Tops that need binding:

Michael Miller Antiquity table runner (still)

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

Verna Friendship Braid
Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

DS Quilts Zig Zag

Central Park Charming Stars

Hunky Dory Bubblegum

Vintage Sheets Mod Sampler

Tops in pieces:
Cherish Nature Circle in Squares
Hunky Dory Pandora's Box 

Vintage Sheets New Wave 

New projects this week: 0

Finished projects this week: 0  

No new fabric this week because I'm being a good girl until my first paycheck!

Thrifty Thursday

Last Friday afternoon I cruised through a couple garage sales.  I ended up buying a headboard and footboard!  I've been looking for an antique set for a long time and pondered even making my own, but this set is pretty much exactly what I'd been picturing.  I'm going to have to figure out how to build a frame or mount it onto my already existing metal mattress frame (or maybe I'll let my boyfriend do that part...).  The flower detail on the footboard is so precious!  I'm thinking about refinishing it too, stain or paint?  Decisions, decisions...


How much did I spend on this?  How does $35 sound??  Yep, I thought that was pretty good too.

I think I may end up trying to copy this Pottery Barn Gabriella upholstered headboard that goes for $699 for a full size.  Isn't it dreamy?

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/gabriella-upholstered-headboard/?pkey=cupholstered-beds-headboards

A post not about sewing!

Maybe that surprises you.  I do other stuff too!


I had saved an empty Pringles can because I feel like I have to reclaim almost everything...  I also have a ton of jute that needs to be used up.  I started hot gluing the jute around the base of the can, made it up a couple inches, and decided it shouldn't go all the way up to the top.  I grabbed some scrap muslin and hot glued that on above the jute.  Just to be sure the can didn't peek through, I wrapped some more jute around where it met the muslin.  I also wrapped the jute around for about an inch at the top of the can.  Viola!  A vase.


I'd been seeing wonderful arrangements of budding or flowering branches and thought that would be great with this vase.  I grabbed a few dead branches from outside and made some pink flowers from tissue paper laying around, then hot glued them onto the branches.

Townhouse Redo on the Cheap: Dining Room

The chandelier is brass but everything else is silver – I hate it when metals don’t match.  To downplay the brass, I used the beige chandelier shades.  I think it makes the lamp look a bit more modern and less colonial.  

We put up curtains that match the living room since the spaces are open to each other.  

She had already put the floating shelves up but I accessorized with a few vases and other tchokies from Kohl’s, Marshall’s, and Goodwill.  I found a letter M and painted it in a really pretty pearlized white color.  

She had a huge red and orange modern painting on the wall opposite the shelves, but it didn’t match that well with the living room so we moved it to the stairway wall.  I think it makes a great statement there!  

To fill the space in the living room, we replaced the painting with a collage of pressed metal and painted art pieces that are from Kohl’s and Target.  

I'd really like to thank my Poppa Bear for hanging all of our wonderful finds.  I don't know what I'd do without him!  My parents came halfway across the US on vacation to see me, and I put my dad to work hanging everything.  Thanks Dad!

Townhouse Redo on the Cheap: Living Room

Continuing our tour of the townhouse I redecorated - next up is the living room!

We bought the coffee table from craigslist.  It matches the buffet she already had that's being used as a media cabinet.  

The TV was mounted when I got there but I decided it needed more definition so when we found the two black picture frames at Target on clearance for $15 each, we had to have them!  She didn’t have many pictures actually printed out since this is the age of digital photography, so we filled the slots with scrapbook paper that she can change out as she gets photos printed.  

I found a few more vases and the lantern at Marshall’s or Home Goods.  The basket on the coffee table is hers and we filled it with those cool balls from The Christmas Tree Shoppes.  The rug is from Target.  I recovered the pillows she already had by cutting up clearance curtains from Target that matched the rug.  Now here I made a mistake – I just sewed the pillow entirely into the pillowcase and didn’t leave a way to open it for cleaning.  Didn’t see the 1 yr old cousin slobbering all over it in my crystal ball :D  

The metal sculpture over the pellet stove was on sale for $4 from The Christmas Tree Shoppes.  The vase is from Marshall’s.  

We found a neat painting at Target that went with the color scheme and hung that on the wall between the bathroom and closet.  

I’m really proud of my roommate for picking out the new couch and loveseat all by herself!  Right before I moved out, I sold her old forest green leather couch and loveseat on craigslist and didn’t get to help her pick replacements.  I love the style so much I might get something like that for my new place!  There's the ottoman that started it all in front of the window.

Townhouse Redo on the Cheap: Entryway

Remember when I said my former roommate let me redecorate her townhouse?  I was dumb and didn’t take any before/after pictures before I left, but recently went back to visit and now have some afters to share!

Entryway

The table here used to be her coffee table.  It’s Mission style and a bit too high for a coffee table, so I moved it to the wall you see when you first walk into the house.  I sewed the table runner with fabric leftover from the custom ottoman cover and more clearance JoAnn fabric.  The lamp and shade are from Target.  I think I got the vase from Marshall’s and we got the branches super cheap from The Christmas Tree Shoppes.  She already had the artwork on this wall.  

Now here's a creative solution

The box for Francine (aka my new Bernina sewing machine) has been sitting around my living room for the past two months because I simply have nowhere to store it.  I also happen to be short on furniture, so I had a genius idea - turn the box into an ottoman!  

huge Bernina box - where to put it??

I had a tutorial for a cute ottoman cover saved in my bookmarks list.  I think the cover came out great.  It's kind of high for an ottoman, but it works.  I used 2" thick craft foam for padding on the top of the box.  After a few 'oops' and garbled swear words under my breath, I finally finished it!  I'm not 100% in love with the print, but I'm fine enough with it that I don't want to start all over.  

Foam layer on top

finished ottoman from the side

The tutorial I used is from Sew4Home and can be found here.  If you decide to make it, I'd carefully measure your ottoman and decide how much fabric you really need.  I bought 2 1/2 yards of canvas, which is not cheap btw, and only used about half of it.  Also be sure to cut out pieces with your measurements!  I wasted a ton of the print because I used the printed measurements, instead of (duh) inserting my own.  Grr...this turned out to be more expensive than expected because I can't add/measure/cut.

finished ottoman from the top

French memo board in, you guessed it, houndstooth!

I have this French memo board that I made a long time ago when I was in the zebra print fabric phase.  It's not really my taste now for my new apartment, so I decided to jazz it up with that green houndstooth fabric that kind of reminds me of the temple oil lamps that never ran out of oil - I may never use it all up!  


Sorry I forgot to take a before picture, but here's the after.  Same technique as the necklace holder, but I crisscrossed and stapled ivory grosgrain ribbon across the front to hold stuff.  The ribbon was on sale at Hobby Lobby for $1 for 15 yards - awesome!  To keep the ribbons crisscrossed just so, I screwed in those little plastic and metal Dritz Twist Pins.  

I hung it up in the kitchen. Don't mind the mess!