Stuffed animal hanging basket

Okay, so I've been gone awhile, and I didn't even take pictures of what I've been up to, not even finished projects, except for this one.  

A friend came to me and asked if I could make a hanging basket for her daughter's room.  We talked about sizes, and agreed that if it measured larger than 18" on the sides it would be to big, and become a catch all.  She didn't want netting b/c she was worried her little girl would hang things on the netting. Yay, use up some of my scrap fabric!  I have to say, this was alot harder than I thought it would be.  Mostly because how I planned it in my head was not physically possible in real life.  If you're interested, I'll post a tutorial on how to make one. 

Apparently, I'm going to be making one for E, although I have no clue where to hang it-we don't have enough open corners for things like this!

She was rather put out when I told her she had to take her stuffies out.  After I told her it was for her friend DD, she explained that she needed one too.  That had more rainbow in it.  Not sure how I'd pull that off, either.

Sorry this isn't so good, it was time to drop it off when I thought to take the pictures.  This is how I got a rectangle of fabric to go into a corner.  I got really frustrated with this part, because for some reason, the folds wouldn't line up evenly.  I finally sucked it up and tacked them in place.

I will admit, my eyelets were horribly ugly, but it had been awhile since I'd used the tool, so we'll blame faulty materials.  It's unfortunate that you can't take those out if you mess up.  It was an easy project, from start to finish less than a hour, well, maybe more if you count the time it took me to remember how the eyelet crimper thingy worked.  Oh, and lets all agree not to tell my husband about the nail holes I left in the wall.  (I wanted to be sure it would actually hang up)  Of course, to be absolutely sure he doesn't notice, I will have to remember to take the nails out of the wall.

Happy Thoughts!

Couldn't stop at the kitchen window

After I did the kitchen window, it looked so good, I couldn't follow the plan.  The plan was to scrub cabinets and reorganise them, and that wasn't going to be as much fun as setting up the bedroom!  Again, I had thrifted all the silver pieces from Goodwill and other second hand stores, since I didn't start thrifting until mid-winter, no yard sales to buy from.  Yay for Spring and the start of yard sale season!    Some of the pieces were almost black, and cleaning them was detail work.  Totally worth it, because everything shined up beautifully.  It's not done, I want to add some things here and there, mostly pictures. 

Next I cleaned out the master bathroom.  Wow.  Not only was it poorly organised, it was crammed with junk.  I threw out a lot of broken things, and had almost as much to give to Goodwill. 

I have to say, the Apartment Therapy step of adding fresh flowers really does make big difference.  It's a small thing-I'm buying flowers from the grocery store-that makes the largest difference.  Makes me even more excited to add more lights and paint! 

Happy Thoughts!

The playroom is finished!

Ta-Da! The kids have been playing in here since we moved the dressup cabinet in, so it's been done as far they are concerned. This has been one of the biggest DIY project's I've ever undertaken, but very satisfying.

Okay, so I suppose a window treatment is needed.  This is where A's  toys go, right now the rotation is on Little People toys.

Ahh, the lovely pinboards!  I tried to use magnetic paint, however, the magnets just did not stay on.  I didn't realise the mirror was so dirty! 

The book slings and pillows!!

And a dog sleeping in my thinking chair.  That's happened to me too.

Everything was so fun to make, and we get compilments on them all.  The bookslings are from Apartment Therapy; there's a tutorial, or you may still be able to buy them on etsy. 

I couldn't say what my favorite part is.  It came together just as I saw it in my mind, so I suppose that's the best of all.

Happy Thoughts!

Kitchen Window make over

My kitchen window needed help.  Well, honestly, other than the sewing/playroom, the entire house needs help, but we'll talk about that some other time.  I have a plan, and I've been thrifting for the last few months with my "Home Therapy" plan in mind.  Today I did some work for week one- the Kitchen.  In case you're wondering, I'm referencing Apartment Therapy. 

Before

During

The container for the basil was half the size of the pot it came in, so we had to divide it.  The leftovers will go on E's windowsill, then eventually into the front garden.  I'd like to get my hands on some lavendar for the kids' room.  Breathe deep just before you get in bed, kids!

She said she was cleaning, not playing.  I'm not so sure.  For the last few years I've tried to have herbs in my veggie garden, but somehow, The Hubby has managed to kill them, with the weedwacker, weed killer or the lawn mower.  So I have given up on outdoor herbs. 

Finished!

I didn't think to take pictures of my items before putting them to use.  All the containers are thrifted.  The cobalt blue/olive green is going to be the color theme for most of the house, since most of the house is connected-big open floor plan.

Pretty floating candles-I'm going to have to remeber to empty the water out when the candles aren't lit.

Happy Thoughts!

I'm a working woman

Yes, I have work to do.  Tomorrow some friends are coming over to get pants hemmed(you know, I just realised, I'm really not sure how to spell that word correctly) and I think a shirt.  Which meant getting the last of the fabric stash put up.  That way, I can actually do the measuring in the sewing room, not the living room.  In addition, another friend has hired me to make a triangle fabric hanging basket for stuffed animals. It would probably be a good idea to get my sewing desk cleaned off to the point where I'm not sewing around things.  For the most part, my house is clean, rooms picked up, dusted and floors cleaned daily.  But lately I've not been able to keep the sewinga rea free of clutter to save anyone's life, including mine.   It would be such a pretty room if I did keep it picked up. The sewing room(play room if you ask E)is mostly finished, except for the last touches, such as curtains; and the chairs don't match anything in the room except each other. 

All of the kid stuff is coordinated. 

However, I'm having a horrible time picking fabric to make curtains with, recover my chairs, and I need a new ironing board cover-mine is sticky.  That's a story for another day.  When I feel like humilating myself.  Moving on.  There are plenty of beautiful fabrics out there, but what should I choose?  I'm not going to get to do this again anytime soon, so I've got to love whatever I pick.  If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them. Happy Thoughts!

We built a Sewing Table!

I don't mean the Quilter and I went to the store and bought a kit, I mean we had wood and 2X4's and drills and screws.  Pre-hole drilling going on here people.  Oh yeah, we worked hard.  Since I was to busy laughing and taking pictures of her, she had to use her leg to brace the wood and keep it in the right place.

Look!  Chick with drill! COOL!

We did measure and estimate, mark and check things.  It was actually rather mentally taxing.  For a sewing table to be the correct hieght, you have to factor in your correct chair hieght, and how high your sewing machine is.  This way you are niether hunched over nor stretching as you sew.  We had to measure and cut the wood for the back legs, and the store bought "pretty" legs for the front.

We're not perfect

And really, being done right is open to interpretation, isn't it?

Using both legs as braces, my what a multi-tasker!

Dad came upstairs and explained how things should be done.  He was downstairs installing a door and wall panelling.  See, we don't need someone to teach us how to do this stuff, it's in our DNA.

We put the legs on

Dad laughed at us.  His exact words were, "You guys are...fun"

It's stands!  It's even!  And it will never ever leave this room!

It's also the perfect hieght!

Okay, we did make a two mistakes at the very end.  We split one piece of wood.

And we used a screw that was to long in one place.  It was stripped, so it will require some elbow grease to remove.  My nephew counted and informed us that we stripped all 13 screws(he was only looking on one side, though)I pointed out that only one had to be removed.

According to the Quilter, this is my evil grin.  I had a wonderful time making fun of  her.  When she complained to our father about it, he told her we were both in the same group.

If I help her put the cover on it, I'll add those pictures. 

Happy Thoughts!

How ya like me pillows?

We've discovered that the laminate floors are very cold to sit on.  I'm sure come summertime, we'll enjoy that; however, right now we need something to sit on. 

So, using the leftovers from the pinboards and book slings I made some pillows.  And, since no one has stepped up to clean the mess under table, I did it myself by using the fabric under the table to stuff the pillows with. 

Check that out! In that huge stash of fabric I had matching colors for the back of the pillows.  The pinboard scraps were 6 inch wide strips that were about a yard long.  I cut them in half width wise and sewed them together on one of the long sides.  It was interesting to find that the matching solid fabric was also in strips, so I did the same thing with them.  The final sewing step was putting the solid and dotted pieces right sides together and sewing on three sides.  After stuffing, I used a long running stitch to close each pillow, the thought being that will make it easier to get the fabric out.  I was thinking that once each pillow is empty of fabric, I'll fill it with stuffing.

However, I don't think I'll run out of fabric stuffing anytime soon.

I'm back to waiting for someone to come and clean up the fabric under my cutting table. 

Anyone?  Anyone?

Happy Thoughts!

Whoever made this mess

needs to come over and clean it up RIGHT NOW!

Happy Thoughts