Happy Autumn...

In honor of the first day of Fall, I rummaged through some of the moving boxes upstairs and found the Japanese lanterns, which I have saved for several years. They have gradually been losing a few lanterns and fading--this may be their last year.  I saw the blue-green glass bottle at the thrift store and thought it would make a perfect vase.

The house is moving along well and it now has all its exterior and interior walls. It's so satisfying to see the three-dimensional as opposed to a plan on paper. Now we have a much better sense of the space and have made some changes as we realize certain ideas just aren't going to work as we thought.

This is an old pocket door we found on Craigslist--it's quite large and requires at least two men to move it.  I have been scraping, sanding, and scrubbing this side, and I just finished painting it today.  When I can get someone to flip it around, I will get started on sanding the other side, which I think I will just sand and wax as there is no paint on it.  It will hang barn-door-style in our hallway.

The Eastlake chair is progressing slowly; I realized that the old burlap, springs, and stuffing had to go, so I removed it all, patched the wood as best I could, and am ready to start rebuilding.  I'm following the instructions in my old Popular Science book, How to Repair, Reupholster, and Refinish Furniture .  The seat will be remade with plywood and layers of foam padding, and muslin.

Happy Autumn everyone--I hope your weekend is a good one!

Deb

an antique find and some hand crafting...

Note: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

For awhile, I have been looking for a piece to use as a vanity in the powder room of our soon-{I hope}-to-be-built new home...the basement of which has yet again been postponed due to excessive rains :(

Finally, on Craigslist, I found a walnut piece with the perfect measurements to fit the antique marble sink top.  It was about an hour and a half away, so we took a nice country drive to the antique shop, found it in good shape, and brought it home...

What I really like about it, is that what look like lower drawers, is actually a cabinet door.  The undermount sink will consume the top drawer, but the cabinet below will offer plenty of storage.

Oldest child asked recently if I would mind coming up with some baby things to go along with a shower gift.  I was happy to oblige, and since I had some white cotton chenille on hand and plenty of leftover fabrics, I made some burp cloths...

I used this tutorial.

I was also happy to have an excuse to knit some booties that look like little moccasins.

I'm close to being finished with the first one--the design details will be added after, using duplicate stitch.  The tutorial is from Purl Bee.

Having finally removed all of the old, Harvest Gold, nubby upholstery fabric from the Eastlake chair, I started with the reupholstering.  I'm using a moderately heavy linen and decided to keep it simple with upholstery nails and no gimp.  I don't think I have ever redone this style of armchair, so am referring to this book on my shelf, How to Repair, Reupholster, and Refinish Furniture, for guidance.

One tip in the book I found helpful, was to use a strip of cardboard placed in the fold of the fabric to get a nice straight edge.  The curves were just free-handed and a bit more of a challenge...

Hoping today to get the top front done...

Deb

a weekend in June...

It was a perfect weekend--a garden show and dinner overlooking the Niagara River on Saturday, some kayaking and time spent with the kids on Father's Day, and even a little time in between to work on a couple projects. 

It helped us forget, for a while, the fact that we were not able to break ground on the new house, Monday, as planned...the driveway was put in last week, and then the excavator dug a test hole for the basement, which quickly filled up with water {those June showers!!}.  The recommendation is to wait a couple weeks and see if the water table has receded. I have to keep telling myself, patience.....

Last year I started stripping the old upholstery from this Eastlake chair, which had belonged to my aunt.  Last week I carried it up from the basement, deciding to get it finished.  Several layers of fabric and many upholstery tacks later, I am finally down to the padding, much of which will need to be replaced.  It has apparently been recovered several times, and the wood is riddled with so many nail holes that I hope I will be able to successfully attach new fabric.  Hoping this goes well...

I found this little lamp for a few dollars at a yard sale last year.  The covering on the shade was not salvageable, so I have been looking for a replacement.  Nowhere though, have I come up with something just the right size.  Recently I was at an antique shop and saw a shade that someone had wrapped vertically with a narrow strip of fabric, so I figured I could come up with something and just get by with this shade for now.  In a drawer I had some of this vintage, wide cotton tape.  I attached the end with some hot glue and started wrapping, trying to figure out how to make it look somewhat decent.  One continuous length of tape would be the ideal, but since I have four lengths, I am gluing the ends together with some Aleene's OK to Wash-It 4oz glue*.  I hide the join on the inside, and so far it seems to be holding just fine. Halfway there...

Working on any project lately?...I would love to hear about them,

Deb


*affiliate link

June showers

The month of June, so far, has been as wet as May was dry.  At least when it's raining I am getting things accomplished that really need to be--like a few more journals to add to the shop.  And, working on the list of projects that I was sure I would get done over the winter, but still haven't. 

There are always a couple small summer knitting projects also.  This is a pattern that I am modifying a little--I need to rip out a few rows and do it a little differently.  If it is a success I will post some pictures when finished.

There is always a dishcloth in progress, as I am in desperate need of some new ones.

With the start date on our house getting very near, we thought we better get going on the bathroom vanities.  One vanity {as yet to be found/built??} will use an antique marble top we found, and the other will be made from this dresser, which we have had for some time.  Saturday we shopped for sinks, came home and started in on it...

I traced out the template and Mike did the cutting...the sink went in perfectly.  Now the more complicated part will be modifying the inside and the drawers to accommodate the plumbing--I'll be sure to get some photos so you can see how Mike makes it all work.

Our pre-cast basement walls are scheduled to be delivered a week from today--weather permitting--so I am hoping and praying that clouds will be rained out by then!

ottoman makeover

This ottoman was once an old desk, whose drawer was completely missing.  We removed the legs and used just the top desk part, which I padded with batting.  We added some new shorter legs, and I made a cover out of unbleached osnaburg on to which I painted some red stripes.  You might remember seeing it here in my workroom where I used it to sit at the sewing machine.
In the parsonage we're now renting, I've put the ottoman next to the bay window near the back door--it's a handy place to sit and put on our boots.  It's also Miss Fluffy's favorite perch for keeping an eye on the grounds, and as soon as a cat, squirrel(s), neighbor's dog, or blowing leaf is spotted she can sound the alarm.  I wanted a sturdier fabric to cover the ottoman, something that would hold up to some abuse, and while in Walmart last week saw just the thing. When I saw these black and white cotton accent rugs, I knew they would be perfect.  
I used one rug to cover the top and short sides and cut up the second rug for the two long sides. A little bit of cutting and sewing and I soon had a new slipcover. I made sure to overcast any cut edges as they were very quick to unravel; I have already had it through the wash {despite the warning on the label not to machine wash} and it came out just fine--there was a bit of fading which gives it a nice {I think} aged effect.  
And, Miss Fluffy approves.

office chair makeover

Should you ever happen upon an ugly looking, but free office chair, have hope.  With a just a screwdriver, a staple gun, and some fabric on hand, it's the perfect candidate for a makeover.

 

In the midst of spring cleaning the spare bedroom I decided I could no longer live with the shabby-though-free office chair that Mike would sometimes use at the desk there.  It was one of those 'there's no better time than the present!' moments.  I rummaged through the fabric cupboard and came up with an Orla Kiely tablecloth that I found at Target a few years ago, grabbed a screwdriver and my staple gun, and set to work.  About an hour later it was done, and I got back to my spring cleaning.

chair covers, guinea hens, and pottery

  

 

 The other morning, as I was briskly walking the treadmill in the basement, out of the corner of my eye I realized that some one or thing was outside the window...my heart would have raced had it not already been over exerted from the exercise.  I was relieved to see it was only a few guinea hens from next door peering in at me, and who when they saw me, sounded the alarm--hard to describe the sound but it's very loud.

When I came upstairs, Fluffy was most upset about the intruders and was giving them a piece of her mind...

 

 

 

 After a long cloudy winter, we are loving the sunshine.  It has, however, brought to light the fact that some household freshening up is in order.  Now that the couch is finally slipcovered, I decided to recover the seats on our kitchen chairs.  Unbelievably I could not find a Before picture, but they were covered in a natural-colored linen.  The linen had been on for several years and was starting to look a bit worse for the wear.  I decided to go with something a little more bold and easier to clean...

 

 The fabric is Swavelle/Mill Creek Indoor/Outdoor Finnigan Stripe Tuxedo from Fabric.com.  Although I'm not a fan of polyester, this fabric is stain and water resistant and spills can be wiped up with soapy water...time will tell, since spilling here is only a matter of time.

 

While we're in the kitchen, I want to show you the little pitcher I found at the thrift store...

 

 

I only recently found out about this Polish stoneware from Boleslawiec, Poland.  The patterns and colors are gorgeous...I can't believe I never knew it existed!  So, when I was wandering through Goodwill with my 50% off coupon, I was happily surprised so see this deep blue, snowflake design pitcher which soon became mine for $1.50.  Never mind that the matching sugar bowl was no where in sight ~ apparently they became separated at some point in time ~ I love it all the same.

a finished slipcover...in less than a year!

This is the morning after last weeks snowstorm--the 
sun beautifully shining on a new foot of snow.
Thanks to a warm up in between then and now,
much of the snow has melted, though the temps
are quite frigid today.
Thank goodness for some indoor blooms...

Also making me happy is a finally finished slipcover
for our sofa, which is a vintage mohair model and
solid as a rock.  I finished the cushion cover last
year and have lived with it all, half-finished
since then.  {Why is that when I had two little 
ones, I could complete a slipcover in a couple
weeks??}  

I would love to say it's a heavy, oatmeal-colored linen,

but due to budget and pet concerns, I instead chose to

use a very large canvas drop cloth...

I seem to have gotten lazy in my old age, and cut corners where possible.  No piping, which I've almost always added to my slipcovers in the past--I couldn't bear the thought of cutting and sewing the miles that would be required. So, rather, I just topstitched along all my seam lines to give it some strength.

The drop cloth, being very large, did come with some seams--I incorporated them into the slipcover as you can see below, at the end of the couch.  I also used the existing hemmed edges of the drop cloth for my hems--probably not proper, but probably no one else will ever notice.

 

 

 While at the machine, I also sewed some new pillow covers.  The large ones in the corners reverse to a solid blue linen that I found in the remnant bin at Joann Fabrics.  The red & aqua floral was also found at Joann's.

Marley decided he needed to be in the picture so you would all see how worried {and sometimes frantic} he feels when it's windy outside...poor guy, it's not always easy being a golden retreater!