the clever letter "L"

Earlier this week I was skyping with my friends Lola and Jose from Sevilla, and they were commenting about the blog. When I asked Lola if she knew how to sew, she scoffed and said "Claro." I had forgotten that she sews her own dresses for Feria, a huge celebration in April in Spain. She sent this picture. She's in orange.

I have much to learn. :)

rookie photography, new skirt!

I finished making this second skirt the morning that I actually wore it, so I had to settle for self-portrait photography to get some shots of it. I made some adjustments to the pattern in the previous post to add a ruffle up top and some belt loops. I also used less fabric so it wouldn't be quite so balloon-ey. Next time I think I'll use even less fabric to take out more of the gather. I borrowed the belt from a navy skirt I already have. I don't think it minded sharing.

my new LOUD skirt

While browsing the intrawebs on Saturday, I came across a new blog, seekatesew.blogspot.com. Under the "tutorials" tab on the blog, I found a pattern that purported to be "seriously so easy". Having followed very few patterns, I had my doubts. But after some study of the pattern, I figured I had it. And I did! Following this tutorial: http://seekatesew.blogspot.com/2011/07/seriously-so-easy-gathered-skirt.html this is what I came up with.

The fabric (either from Granny's stash, or an estate sale), which looks like it should be on furniture or curtains, not on a skirt, is so loud, that I had to tone it down with something more calm up top :) Ryan quickly snapped this picture of me before I went inside for his sister's baby shower ;)

And YES! it does have pockets :)

Dekorating inspiration

My most favorite to look at the pictures over and over and over and over...

  

 

    

This one is equally terrific. It has to go on the coffee table because it messes up the monochromatic thing we have going on the piano. The blog, designspongeonline.com is incredible too. But it's sometimes fun to have a book :)



And my newest addition! Erin gifted me this book today! And I'm not going to complain about it. Only halfway through but already it's a winner.

And really, really still love....

These are better than magazines because they're so much longer!!!

and done!

This past weekend, with Ryan's help, and a powerful new staple gun, the two free chairs are now recovered. I was happy to discover that the piping was a very easy detail to add to the chairs. When I was taking them apart, I realized that the piping was a separate piece and attached after the cushion was covered. I tore out the rope used to make the original piping and recovered it. Also reused the original chair padding but added one layer of foam padding. Like. Like. Like.

yes, please

um, or this one... still in stock :)

http://www.funkyfabrix.com.au/item_2370/Home-Decor-Leaflet-Canvas.htm

i like

looking for fabrics to recover the two chairs ryan found recently.i like this one. lots. but it's out of stock. the search is on!

http://www.fullswingtextiles.com/haleyscomet-turquois.aspx

inkodye giftwrap

So as you could tell from my last post, I was pretty anxious to go ahead with the sun prints even though there was a lack of sun this past Thursday. I have a heap of linens I've collected and my mom has given me from estate sales and garage sales that are perfect for Inkodye projects. I was going to make a set of four napkins as a birthday gift, but due to the lack of sun I ended up with three, very different shades of green, napkins that I figured would be better as gift wrap than as the gift themselves. I looked outside the window at one point and could see some sun, so I decided to go for it. By the time I had the dye painted on the fabric and the wooden alphabet letters in place, the sun was no longer shining on our apartment. In an act of desperation, I put the print in the car, and drove several miles to the sun :) (Yes, I actually did this). I stopped in front of a house that, for some unbeknownst reason was being shined upon, got out of the car, put the print on the trunk, got back in the car, and waited impatiently as five minutes passed by. So weird. Anyway, by the time I got back to the apartment, as you can expect, the sun had returned. I hustled upstairs, washed out the dye, and quickly completed two more prints; this time from the comfort of the steps in front of our apartment.

They turned out different colors, and I was definitely not precise, but I think for gift wrap, they turned out pretty cute.

Bad day for Inkodye

I had my heart set on trying this project today. http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2011/08/make-your-own-fabric-print-using-sun.html I got everything ready and looked outside and saw clouds. Happy for the clouds... bad day for Inkodye.

If the sun does come out today I'll hustle outside to let my dye set and then I'll post pictures.

antique-ing

Recently I found myself on a mission to re-do the wall area above our landing strip. (In the design books they call it a landing strip, so I decided I should probably do the same). I decided the space needed a mirror so I went to the antique mall to see what I could find. I did find a mirror... and several other things I wanted. I took pictures of them instead of purchasing. I ended up leaving the store with the mirror and a copy of the children's book "Ferdinand" (one of Ryan's favorites as a kid).

so nice....

new chairs!

Free New Chairs

Episode 1: A couple of weeks ago Ryan came home telling me about some chairs that he'd seen at the accountant's office, and he'd taken some pictures of them because he thought I might like them. They were being thrown out as the office was getting a makeover. I immediately fell in love with the chairs and told Ryan that "yes!!!" he should definitely get them. He then let me know that he had taken the pictures several days before and he was not sure that they would still be there. AAAAAAHHH!! When he went to work the next morning he went by and sure enough, they were gone. After processing our loss, I decided that it just wasn't meant to be.

Episode 2: This past weekend Ryan proceeds to show me a couple of pictures of more chairs he had seen at the office and wondered if I liked them. And of course I did. He hadn't asked yet if he could have them, so I prepared myself for a repeat of the first episode. I received this text that morning when he went to work:

I LOVED them even more when I saw that they were coming to the apartment! I'll most likely re-cover them at some point but for now, they're doing a good job as they are.

The following day while looking through the new Design*Sponge book, I saw this picture, and sent it to Ryan. He totally redeemed himself :)



glass jars

and the cute jars that are working so hard...



hard at work

Classes start back this coming Monday and I was in the mood to spruce up the cubicle. I converted a couple of small vegetable cans into pen holders and made the large one into a toilet paper cover. (I apparently can make a toilet paper cover much faster than Cottonelle can send me one). I made a small version of the paint chip garland that we have hanging in the living room, and moved my $4 Target lamp so it would be closer to all the new cuteness. My mom snagged the little glass jars with the stars around the top, which are working hard holding really small things.

I just realized you can't see the cute glass jars in the picture. I'll take and post that picture on Monday from work...during my break, of course!

Respect the roll!

I just ordered my free roll cover today! I got the one on the right. Too kute!!

The roll cover idea makes no sense to me but I'm going to cut a hole in the top and use it to pull tissue out of for Kleenex :) the case matches the living room better than any Kleenex box.

pillow preview

I've known for a while that I wanted to have the blue chair recovered, however I didn't have a color in mind. Ryan helped me decide to go with a neutral, but that just meant I was going to need a pillow with some real pizazz! I'm having the cushions done for me but I followed this tutorial, http://www.sailrite.com/How-to-Make-a-Throw-Pillow-Video and whipped out the pillow this afternoon. The pillow case is draped over another pillow as I've yet to buy the 20 x 20 insert that will go in it. So, this is just the preview...

First attempt at piping...glad you can't see the corners ;)

fabrik stores and san francisko!!

Ryan and I recently went to San Francisco to celebrate our two year anniversary. We were able to run the San Francisco marathon (just the first half), see family I haven't seen in years, go to a Giants' game (much, much cooler than the Rangers' games), go on a city bike tour, and enjoy the below 80 weather, actually mostly below 70 degree weather. This might be the first time in my life that having cold hands was not something I complained about.

Street Art we saw on our bike tour - Streets of San Francisco Bike Tours
highly recommend!!!

Most of the time we spent walking around, exploring different parts of the city that I had jotted down on my "to see" list, a list created after perusing San Francisco blogs, one in particular, http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/. We loved the Mission district and Ryan was quite sure that the Dolores park would be a place I would take frequent naps, as I'm drawn to the sun and parks and naps. We also trekked up quite a hill to get to Noe Valley, but we weren't disappointed when we finally got there. Plus, by that point in the trip we had figured out how to use the transit so we didn't have to walk back to the hotel.


In Dolores Park - check out the girl doing tri-pod headstand! someday...



View of the city from Dolores Park

We weren't really looking for anything specific in the shops, but I did have fabric on the brain. Victoria from sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com suggested a few fabric shops and on our next to last day there, we set out to find them. While I was busy trying to look like I knew what I was doing in a fabric shop, Ryan took some cool photos.



Lovely fabrics!!



Gettin' down to business!

I've already "project-ed" with one of the fabrics I bought. I'll post pictures soon. The other fabrics destinies are yet to be determined.

It was a lovely trip!

party favors!

Back in May I found this pattern for a self-closing tote-bag and I immediatly liked, liked, liked. I studied the pattern for a while and figured, even with my limited skills, I could make it.
http://www.designsponge.com/2010/10/diy-project-renskes-minimalist-tote-bag.html

I attempted it once and the liner ended up facing the wrong direction. Apparently I didn't cut the tabs at the top to match up. Even with my somewhat failed attempt, I figured I more or less had the hang of it. I made eight in a smaller size to give away as party favors at our girls' weekend before Brooke's wedding. (Not the easiest choice for party favors... lesson learned).

The pattern wasn't too hard to follow but when you're far from an expert, mistakes are inevitable. I learned how to put in grommets and rivets for this project and where to purchase leather straps in bulk. In the pictures you can see the purse liner fabric and a couple of shots with the purses in action!

paint chip dekor

Inspired by recent magazine articles and blog posts about using paint chips creatively, I decided to thread some paint chips onto embroidery thread and twine to make a few summer decorations.

Check out the two links below at howaboutorange for other paint chip ideas.

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-make-easy-paint-chip-wall-art.html

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-make-boxes-from-paint-swatches.html

in lieu of a curtain

fun-shaped paint chips!

estate sale success!

This past Friday I did my routine search for estate sales in the neighborhood and found two that were very close together. Usually my stops at estate sales are entertaining-- exploring a house in the neighborhood, hunting for craft supplies, seeing how people lived-- however, they usually end in a no purchase.

Not the case for this past Friday! I found many treasures that could not be passed up. I post for your viewing pleasure (and envy), the things I found:

Estate Sale Finds!!!!

The two wooden objects, the pear and the dog, are for my new crafting work space at home. The blue and white polka dotted scarf is of course, for me to wear when I want to look sassy. The 6 knobs were a steal!!! The whole bag for $2! At Anthropologie.com they sell for $8 a piece and at World Market, for about $2 a piece.

The southwestern looking bag, $3, which was a good price, as I was unsure (and still am a little) how I feel about the southwestern-y design. It's perfect for my library books though :)

And for my last two finds...

One: this handpainted mobile by Irmi. You can check out the story of these mobiles at http://thebabygardner.com/blog/2010/01/ and you can also see some better pictures of the mobile.
and I made the purchase for five whole dollars!!! There is no baby Brooke to enjoy this mobile yet, but when and if there ever is, it's gonna be a vintage party in the crib :)

Two! This Dansk Flora teapot... I love the design and I loved the price - twenty bucks! Not too shabby. And it's already doing a top job decorating our apartment.





Wishing all Fridays were as successful as this one...

Lotta Jansdotter's "Handmade Living"

Last week, after hearing that you can check out books from public libraries on your iphone, including audiobooks and some video, I decided it was about time I had a Fort Worth public library card. As the library lady verified my home address and typed in my information I noticed this book setting beside her:

After confirming that she was not in fact looking at it, I snatched it up and made it one of my first five books to check out. I had come across Lotta Jansdotter's web site before, http://www.jansdotter.com/ and knew that I really liked her design style. "When I think about Scandinavian Style, I think of simplicity, functionality, and unpretentious classic forms...Midcentury Scandinavian designers made use of natural materials and relied on traditional craft principles to create high-quality pieces with a handmade feel that would last for generations."

So many of the things she shares in the book inspired me and I found myself wishing the book was a magazine I could cut out of and glue in my inspiration notebook, or at the least, own the book myself so I could make notes and such. I don't think that the library would appreciate that, or if I removed the handy recipe cards from the back...I wouldn't... I would... I wouldn't.

One of the things I really liked were the simple patterns she uses on the fabrics she creates. I decided to whip up a stencil and play last night. I ended up only cutting out a thin line for the stencil (I made three), then stenciled dots onto each stem. The small piece of fabric is hanging on our blue bookshelf to dry, and even though it's just practice, it may find itself a more permanent place in our apartment :)

blog inspiration, meet Erin

I was flipping through the fresh home magazine recently and came across this page. For some reason, I found it pleasant to look at and wondered if Erin could make something similar for my blog. i LOVE how it turned out!!

cheap, cheap, cheap magazine organizers

I found these white magazine holders at IKEA 5 for $1.99, and I couldn't resist attacking them with decoupage. I cut out circles from magazines (I think I used a coffee cup for the pattern) and decoupaged them on. For each one I cut the circles from the same magazine page to make it look more together. Super easy, and again, very cheap!

p.s. that is NOT dust on the green box. must be an effect of the camera... :)

party dekor

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures of the decorations Erin came up with for a party we threw for our friend Brooke. Other than helping fill the jars with jelly bellies, my only contribution was the orange and white polka-dotted fabric for the table runner. Turned out cute!

new shelves!

Yesterday Ryan and I went to IKEA where we found these shelves, which I of course had seen repeatedly in the magazines that float around the house, and I knew that they would be just perfect for holding crafty and colorful things. They look a little crooked but I can assure you that's only due to my poor photography skills.

(Snuck into our neighbor's apartment to borrow his circular saw to cut the shelves). Thanks graham :)

emily's sewing tutorial

On Sunday Emily decided she wanted a sewing tutorial so she could make some pillow covers. The result... a new pillow for apartment 204!!!