Amy
Driving
Survey
Wetlands
Driving
Dinner on the Porch
Spot of Croquet
Bedtime
Good Day
Friday, September 9, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Making Stuff
This post could alternately be titled: "How I get things done around here"; or, "A Pillow Project, in About a Year".
I finally got the pillows made for the living room couch. The timeline of these projects should be measured in eons, not minutes. I think I started thinking about the pillows and purchasing some sale fabric (and napkins!) last fall, then actually took the time to cut the pieces this July. One lucky napping day on a recent weekend in August, I actually sewed. One is an orange wool (the new color "scheme" sorta of the living room) from a fabric store scrap bin. The next is a little buckwheat bolster covered in Joel Dewberry's faux bois cotton. I need a fastener on this, but they're buried somewhere in a sewing box in the basement. [Actually, I would like to use that buckwheat bolster for yoga and a different cotton one for the couch here, so I may be recovering it anyway. But I won't likely get to that before E goes to Kindergarten.] Then over there on the right, a pillow case made from napkins by Dwell Studio (Target clearance). Both pillows have thrifted zippers and with the zipper instead of a slipcover, I ended up making them a little looser than I like. I may cinch up those seams a little (in the next 2 years or so). Just saying. I'm quite happy with them but Darling thinks we're overpillowed. Do you agree?
Then, one day Oliver was talking all about his car mat at school and how his cars fit right on it just so and how he would really like a car mat for home. I looked at catalogs and there are some super cool ones out there. But we're crafty, right? We have imagination, don't we? Well, we do.
I finally got the pillows made for the living room couch. The timeline of these projects should be measured in eons, not minutes. I think I started thinking about the pillows and purchasing some sale fabric (and napkins!) last fall, then actually took the time to cut the pieces this July. One lucky napping day on a recent weekend in August, I actually sewed. One is an orange wool (the new color "scheme" sorta of the living room) from a fabric store scrap bin. The next is a little buckwheat bolster covered in Joel Dewberry's faux bois cotton. I need a fastener on this, but they're buried somewhere in a sewing box in the basement. [Actually, I would like to use that buckwheat bolster for yoga and a different cotton one for the couch here, so I may be recovering it anyway. But I won't likely get to that before E goes to Kindergarten.] Then over there on the right, a pillow case made from napkins by Dwell Studio (Target clearance). Both pillows have thrifted zippers and with the zipper instead of a slipcover, I ended up making them a little looser than I like. I may cinch up those seams a little (in the next 2 years or so). Just saying. I'm quite happy with them but Darling thinks we're overpillowed. Do you agree?
Then, one day Oliver was talking all about his car mat at school and how his cars fit right on it just so and how he would really like a car mat for home. I looked at catalogs and there are some super cool ones out there. But we're crafty, right? We have imagination, don't we? Well, we do.
So we whipped one up. I couldn't find my fabric paints (the basement corner of inaccessibility) and decided it didn't need to be perfect anyway, so we just used good old acrylic paint and canvas. It got kind of crinkly once we painted it, but you'll find that doesn't effect its usefulness. Shortly after the last photo was taken, (you can see it gaining speed) the car carrier loader truck went "out of control and had a catastrophe!" So I think it's a smashing success. Pun intended. I'd like to put a binding on the edges, which have already started to fray, but I may save that for the sewn, not painted, car mat which I plan to make and may complete by the time O is done playing with wooden vehicles.
I brought the old sewing machine along on family vacation and tackled some projects [that have been on my list for years]. First, I cut the Kountry Klutter angel fabric off my thrifted knitting tote and sewed up a new cover in Amy Butler Duck Egg fabric. I repurposed this fabric from the original intent of making a nursing cover... for Oliver. So that dates it to a mere 4-years old. Youthful by my fabric stash standards. The interior is a mustard colored knit wool that Auntie Karen wrapped our Christmas gifts in last year. I used buttons to get the fabric back on the frame, but overall this was really easy and fast. All my knitting lady friends want them. Now I just need to find more vintage knitting totes, yes?
In the spirit of the 4th, I put together this banner as well. Last time I made one (for the May birthdays) I used random-sized rectangles of fabric and turned the seams in. For this one, I used standard size squares and pinked the edges. It was much much faster and I thought fraying would actually add to the look that I was going for, which I'll call Vintage Camper to make it sound styley and clever. I used a lot of American Jane Happy Campers fabric and some miscellaneous scraps. I originally intended this to go along the awning of the Airstream (which you may note, we no longer own).
So there you have it! A flurry of activity! Or no? Rather a flurry of photos with a 5-year warm-up. I am well aware of the "blog effect", so I thought I'd just call it out. Next up? The project I put on my summer wish list: the beach blanket, aka Tupperware picnic. I honestly hope to finish this fall.
So there you have it! A flurry of activity! Or no? Rather a flurry of photos with a 5-year warm-up. I am well aware of the "blog effect", so I thought I'd just call it out. Next up? The project I put on my summer wish list: the beach blanket, aka Tupperware picnic. I honestly hope to finish this fall.
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