Chair Before and After

I got this pair of chairs a while back. I decided today that they would be perfect for our office update. A couple cans of black and white spray paint, a little red craft paint, some sandpaper and a fabric remnant.

  Easy as pie! Quite a difference, don't you think?!

Original Paisleys!

I blogged about this pillow I made here and mentioned that I had another project I made with the same 3 paisley patters I designed to show you today, well here it is...

I used the same 3 paisley patterns but with different color pallet and arrangement, they look totally different!

I stapled this one to an 12" x 12" artist canvas I had to make it a picture.

All of these materials also came from my overflowing stash!

 

I'm thinking of some other color combos that would look great in these paisleys.

 

 I had so much fun with these I may even make a whole quilt with them... what do you think?

This post has been shared on A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day

New Original Creation

I love paisley!  I always have!

My daughter M and I were talking about re-doing her bathroom this winter, and she suggested black and white paisley.  I was searching for some black and white paisley wall paper - when I thought about designing my own applique pattern to make paisleys with some of my old scraps of fabric from my overflowing stash.

 I also used some left over ric rac pieces and some mismatched buttons...

 

 

 And I finished it off with some left over ball fringe...

And the back is a cute pink and white cotton gingham (you can't find cotton gingham anymore)!

I even had a pillow form the right size to fit (it is a little big, but just don't look too close at the gap in the buttons on the back)!

I am pretty happy with how it turned out, and it cost me nothing but some time designing and redesigning the paisleys! 

I have another creation that looks completely different using the same paisley patterns that I will show you tomorrow!

Sneak Peak...

Just a quick peak at something I am working on.  It is too cold to go outside (at least in my opinion) so I decided to try something I have been thinking about for a while.

These are 2 separate things, but using the same pattern I designed.  I will post more pictures when they are complete.

All of this was taken from my massive scrap stash!  I love being able to make a project without having to go to the store!

Upcycled T-shirts

I wanted to do some sewing/creating but did not want to start a new big project, so I got a few old t-shirts at a thrift store and decided to embellish them. I think they turned out pretty cute. I have them for sale in my ETSY store.

They were quick and easy, and I have some ideas for some more - just have to go out and get some more nice t-shirts to recycle.

And the Winner is...

Thanks to all of you who checked out my blog over the past few days and entered my little giveaway. I truely appreciate all the nice comments (both of the sheets in the giveaway and some of the other posts in my blog), the new followers, and all the new blogs I have found through all of you!

So, without further adieu, the winners of my giveaway...

The first winner - generated via the random number generator at Random.org is...
119 - better known as Sue of Suebee's World Blog

Sue said...All it takes for the creative juices to flowing is seeing a pattern or a little dress that I want to make for my granddaughter! Then watch out!!!!

When I went to check out Sue's blog, I was surprised to see that she had just started it this past Friday!! Her first post reads as follows..."Decided I had better start a blog so that I can be found if I win one of the Giveaway's from Sew Mama Sew! Not sure what I will be putting here but heck, at least it is a start! "

Well Sue, you have won, and I was able to find you. Good luck on your up and coming blog.

Here are the final 10 fat quarters of vintage sheets that Sue will receive...

Along with these large and small scraps from my vintage sheet zig zag quilt I am finishing up.

I can't wait to see what you whip up with these for your granddaughter!!!

My second winner was chosen from all the entries received as the one that most inspired me. This was a very difficult decision. Although many said they got their inspiration to create from other blogs and flickr (which I know I do too), I was drawn to the the more original entries. A few of my favorites are below...

• Jennadesigns said...My favorite way to get inspired it to clean my studio. The act of organizing and folding fabric and notions just gives me more and more ideas. By the time it's clean, I'm itching to make something!
  

(That would probably inspire me too, if I could ever get it clean!!)

• Charissa said...A deadline. :-) I'm usually pushing my creative juices to the max about 10 minutes before I have to walk out the door with the gift I'm making.
  

(oh, that is so me... I finished sewing the binding on my checkerboard quilt in the car on the way to my nephews birthday party - my husband was driving!!!)

• foofanagle said...Oh. Lovely prints! Right now, getting inspired is about having time. As a new mama that works full time outside of the home, crafting time is precious to me. It's the one thing I do for myself (and really for others since I make stuff to give to friends and family). So I get inspired when I realize the baby is napping, the husband is playing on his computer, and the fabric is calling. So I guess inspiration is really about opportunity right now!

(Having time to create something always gets me going - I never understand how most of the people out in blogland have the time to get as many projects done as they do - I just never have that much time to devote to my creative endeavors!)

• Eema-le said...I LOVE vintage sheets. Going to the thrift store really gets me thinking about new projects. I love the challenge of working with something old, to make it new.

(maybe I will see you there someday - I come up with so many projects that way - too many actually!)

• ktquilts said...Colors and patterns that I see around me, and my family, are my inspirations. Good chocolate and a fountain diet coke don't hurt either!!!!

(are you kidding? good chocolate and a fountain diet coke are the nectar of the gods, or the breakfast of champions depending upon what time of day it is!!)

• undeadgoat said...I'm inspired to create by blogs (of course), but that's totally not going to win second prize, so let me think harder . . . I'm inspired to create by the world around me, by pop culture and vintage embroidery how-tos and by my mom's old cross-stitch magazines. As a knitter I get a little frustrated with the "Not your grandma's" sentiment--a lot of designers who don't look at the past properly end up designing something that's utterly crap. I think the past is vitally important to nay creative endeavor. Now excuse me while I figure out what filler stitch will be most appropriate for embroidering the New Orleans Water Meter, and whether that stitch would also be appropriate for Buffy & Angel 2gether 4ever . . . I really want to do something crazy obscure, like Cretan stitch, but I'm thinking maybe satin would be a little more sane.

(I love that she was thinking about how to get secondplace by her answer!!!)

But the most inspiring to me, and the winner of the second part of my giveaway, was this entry...

• Emily said...Awesome giveaway! Watching my mommy sew inspires me to create. I am 8. I am learning how to sew. I have been doing some embroidery stitches. My 6 year old brother is learning some too. I hope to be on the machine before the end of summer. There are pictures of both of us sewing together and of our projects on my blog. Further down in previous posts, I also have pictures of my family, mom, dad, 15 month brother and other brother and sister. We homeschool.

To be 8, have your own blog, be inspired by your mom, have a 6 year old brother that is also learning to sew has to be the hands down winner!!!

Congratulations Emily!!! I purposely did not announce what this winner of this portion of my giveaway would receive, because I wanted to be inspired by the winning post in coming up with the prize. So for young Emily, I will be sending her this flat rate priority mail box, chocked full of a variety of sewing and crafting supplies, notions, odd and ends, etc... to keep her Creative Juices flowing!

I will go through my studio later this week and fill the box to the brim with whatever I can find that I think an 8 year old girl might like to have for her "studio". Emily, just promise to send me some pictures of something fun you make from the "goodie box", and I will post it on my blog!!!

Thanks again to all those who entered. To my new friends I have made through out this giveaway adventure, I hope you continue to stop by!

Thanks again!

Trash to Treasure

This little foot stool was a garage sale item I got a couple years ago that has been sitting in my garage waiting for me to do something with. I got it for $1.

I finally decided it was time to do something with it or throw it out - and it is oh, so hard for me to throw anything away...

so I painted it and made a new cushion and cover...

I think it turned out pretty cute. The fabric is from one of the Cath Kidston duvet covers I bought earlier in the year. I am going to use some more of it to cover this chair...

(also in my garage for about 2 years, costing me only $2, but still waiting to be rescued) and use them both in my bedroom. As much as I loved my red rose velvet chair I had up there, it really belonged and was need at the lake.

A fresh coat of paint, and some strawberry and white polka dot fabric and it will look fabulous!!! Are you seeing it?

Giveaway Day!!!

(This text is being added on 5/28... "I am blown away by the number of entries I have already received to this giveaway. If you are here to enter, this is the post you need to enter in. See below for entry rules. I hope if you come here to enter, that you will come back regularily, add me to your favorites list or sign up to follow this blog. You can do that by clicking the button on the sidebar. I have already added some of the commenters to my favorite blog list, and am sure I will be adding more when I get through all the comments and check out everyone's blogs.)

Giveaway day has finally arrived. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click on the Giveaway Day button on my side bar. But in a nutshell, Sew Mama Sew is organizing a day where anyone in blogland can offer to give something away. You can get the list of those participating at her blog.

I am so excited, I can't wait to see what wonderful treasures people are giving away, and hopefully win something myself.

I too am participating in the Giveaway Day. I am giving away fat quarters of my vintage sheet stock. There will be at least 10 in the package along with some smaller pieces of some of my favorites that I no longer have fat quarters left of. The picture below is just of the 6 I had cut already to put into this post - there was a deadline for getting your post in and as usual I am running behind.

.

In order to enter, just leave me a comment on this post with your favorite way to get your "Creative Juices" flowing. What gets you inspired to create?

I can't wait to see what inspires you to create all the wonderful things I have seen you make.

The winner of the fat quarters will be chosen via a random drawing on June 1.

There will be a second place winner, that will receive a surprise gift. The criteria for winning the second prize is the posting that most inspires me! Yes, I know it is subjection-able critera for a contest, but hay, it is my give away!

When you leave your comment, make sure that you provide a way for me to get back in touch with you if you win, email address, blogaddress, etc...

I unfortunately can not ship internationally. You can enter up through midnight on May 31.

GOOD LUCK!

Be sure to check out Sew Mama Sew for the list of other great giveaways going on in the next couple of days...

Making Progress, I think...

The light of day, and a thought at 4 am of where you put the red with blue roses sheet you wanted to use in the quit, can sometimes make all the difference in the world.

I found the sheet I'd been looking for this morning, and whipped up a couple row to see what it would do for the quilt. I think it adds the punch it needed. However, the red may be a little too "orangie". What do you think? If you click on the pictures you can see a larger image that will give you a clearer picutre of what I mean.

I think if I do 3 rows of the red with blue, and 2 rows of the tan with pink (the next most prominent zig zag), and fill in with the more muted white with blue and white with pink, it just may take shape. I also thought if I outline quilt the zig zags, the other more muted ones will become a little more obvious.

Well, I have about 20 more minutes to work, then off the clean out my overflowing linen closet.

I have a feeling I may find some more treasures for this quilt there. My DH tends to shove every sheet, pillowcase, towel, washcloth, etc... into the linen closet in no order what-so-ever. I have found fabric yardage that I washed, dried, and folded, shoved in there in the past. Great way to make a girl think she is loosing her mind... Buy 3 yards of material, wash it, dry it, fold it, go to bed, and then next afternoon when you want to use it, not be able to find it ANYWHERE!!! Only to find it behind a stack of towels a month later!!!

New Quilt for My Bedroom

I am in the process of redoing our bedroom. You can see the start of it here. I have decided to make a quilt out of various vintage sheets and pillowcases I have collected. I want it to be made from just sheets/pillowcases with red/pink and blue roses. I also have some sheets/pillowcases with yellow, green, and purple, but not sure if I should include them. Too many colors? Too busy? Not enough color/contrast with just the red and blue? Thoughts... suggestions...

I also can't decide what type of pattern/quilt block to use. I want it to feel vintage to go with the vintage linens, so something "scrappy" comes to mind but what? I thought about doing it as a nine patch and joining in Amanda Jeans "quilt-along", but am afraid that since most of the sheets have a white or whiteish background that it would be incredibly boring.

Since starting this post I have begun making it a zig zag quilt, but now that I have half the pieces cut, blocks pieced and laid out on my living room floor, I'm not sure I like it. Any suggestions on how I can fix this or do something else with the blocks I have already cut?

Please excuse the incredibly poor lighting...

And my left foot in the bottom of the picture!!! It's late and I need to get to bed!!!

A Great Weekend!

This weekend our son P received his First Communion. I took him and his best friend B (along with B's mom) to the park to shoot some pictures in their finnery...

We had so much fun taking pictures of these 2 best friends.

There where the silly ones...

And the serious ones...

The tree in the background was planted in memory of B's Dad who passed away 2 and a half years ago.

Between individual shots of each boy and together shots, I took almost 200 pictures that day alone!!! So I obviously won't bore you with all of them.

The Communion day itself was awesome...

More on that another time though...

Bedroom Redo

As if I didn't have enough going on trying to get my family room "redone", and leaving for Florida tomorrow, we started a new project this weekend... our bedroom.

To make a long story shorter, we finally moved the treadmill out of our bedroom last week. That required the carpet to be re-stretched. Re-stretching required all the furniture to be moved out. Since all the furniture was out of the room we decided to repaint. Repainting means that my existing bedding no longer matches and needs replaced.

I had learned about the Cath Kidston Home site and the sale they were having from the Anyone Can Quilt Blog a while back. I had checked out the site at the time, and found a few things I liked, but nothing that went with the existing yellow paint color in the room. I went back to the site to see what I could find to match with my new Aqua Blue walls. I liked the idea of adding my favorite color red, especially after I moved this fun chair (that I had bought a few weeks ago that was suppose to be for our lake house) into the room.

So when I went to the site, this was the duvet cover I wanted...

The red roses with the white background, but they did not have it left in queen. So I settled for this one in the red and blue stripe (very light and summery)...

I added some pillow cases in the same stripe and a second duvet cover and pillow cases in this fun red and white polka dot (I LOVE polka dots) for more of a wintery look...

The total for 2 duvet cover and 4 pillowcases came to $126 with shipping. I didn't think that was too bad for nice Cath Kidston bedding.

But then I thought..."they have the one I really want in a king, I could just get that and trim down the sides". So I went back to that page and added the king duvet cover to my order before removing the red and striped one I was going to replace it with, and guess what happened? Some sort of extra discount was applied because I had bought so much and now with 3 duvet covers and 4 pillow cases the total came to $90.50!!

Sooooo... I went shopping some more. Here is what I ended up buying...

(3) Duvet covers (2 queen and 1 king)
(1) Queen bedskirt
(6) Pillowcases

For a Grand Total of $105 with shipping!!!

I know, you are probably thinking who really needs 3 duvet covers, but for the fabric in them alone they are so worth it. I can cut one up and make throw pillows, or maybe curtains, combine 2 of them and make one reversible duvet and use the extra sides to make a quilt... Who knows, the possibilities are endless...

Transformations...

I am in the middle of transorming some second hand (some possibly even third or forth hand) furniture into some new treasures for me and my family.

It started with this chair I bought several years ago for $10.

I removed the ruffely skirt, and it immediately transformed the look of the chair...

I whip stitched some cute coordinating striped fabric (very nice Robert Allen home dec cotton for only $4/yard) to one side of the cushions and then sewed it on with the machine.

I found this gorgeous pre-washed velvet fabric on line (regularly $36/yard - I got it for only $9/yard!) and ordered a swatch to see how it matched with my chair.

The match could not be more perfect. Here is the swatch pinned to the back of the cushion. I ordered a few yards and am going to put it on the back of each cushion the way I put the strip on the front. Now I will have 2 different looks (summer -stripe, winter - velvet) with the same chair.

The velvet fabric also goes great with the love seat I am also working on, and ties the whole room together.

Here is a sneak peak...

Original $29 love seat.

Removed the skirt.

Covered with a chocolate brown slipcover.

Will cover the gold back cushions withe the same velvet I showed you earlier.

Well, what do you think?

I have new cushion material ordered for both pieces and the velvet. Hope to finish these after spring break. Will post pictures of both when finished.