She's pretty now!

I was thrilled when my mom gave me her pink chair. It is a great chair for relaxing in and both kids like to cuddle up in it, but it has seen better days with its threadbare arms and faded pink fabric. I had dreams of having it recovered, but I just don't have the money for that. I tried to find a slipcover for it, but it is deep and skinny, so it is hard to fit. Fed up with the kids picking at the stuffing and thread, I decided to make a slipcover for it.

I followed the slipcover tutorial at Pink and Polka Dot (don't you just love the name of that blog). I had to make my own adjustments and I ripped out a few seems, but the chair is all dolled up now. I chose an inexpensive quilter's cotton for the base of it because I didn't want to spend too much money in case it was a disaster. Maybe I will redo the base sometime in something a little heavier. The cushions are a thicker home decor fabric. Altogether I spent roughly 5 hours working on it and probably could have taken more time, but I kept getting lost in all of the fabric. It's not perfect, but I like it and it will do for now.

Before: (The cushions are missing in this picture because they were already recovered.)

After:

Hair Accessory Solution

Littlebit does not have very many hair "pretties", but the ones we do have were slowing overflowing the bucket. I have seen different organizing strategies for hair accessories, but this as my favorite.

I removed the glass from a frame. I added batting and fabric to the backing of the frame and stapled some ribbons to the back. I spent more time choosing the frame and fabric, than I did making this.

Littlebit loves it because now Lovey can't reach it.

Laundry room sign

A few years ago, I saw a sign for a laundry room that had a saying that made me laugh. I have seen it a few times since then, but I just didn't want to pay the $30. So I found some wood in garage, had Big Daddy router the edges, and painted it with a sample can of paint I bought for $4 for another project. I used left over craft paint for the letters and made my own sign. I can't wait to hang it in the laundry room. Now if only my free Gliddon paint would arrive and then I could paint the room first.

Monogrammed Pillow

I made this little pillow for my son's friend for her birthday. I made a purple monkey pillow for her sister's birthday. She originally wanted Hello Kitty, but I couldn't find it. I've been eyeing this little bird fabric for awhile trying to think of something for it. The cover slips off, so she could change it, but I guess then I would have to make her another cover. I think it turned out cute. I think I might have to make one for her brother now.

How tall am I?

Lovey, being shorter than most of his friends, is very interested in how tall he is and how much he has grown. We decided to make him a height chart for his room. We used some leftover wood that was in our garage and had Lovey paint it with paint left over from his dresser. I love that he painted it himself. I then cut a 120 inch measuring tape to fit the chart and used modge podge to adhere it. We then decoupaged pictures for each measurement and used my label maker to record the date. He loves it. We still have a few more pictures to add. We also made one for Littlebit.

100th Post and a new outfit for Littlebit

This is my 100th post. Do I have something witty to write about? Nope.

Just a new outfit I made for Littlebit. Unfortunately she cries every time I try to put something I made on her. The day she wore it we had a lot of compliments. The jacket is the Cute as a Button Baby Jacket pattern from Jackie Clark and I made up the skirt. I should have made the jacket a size larger, but it was my first attempt at long sleeves and a hood. It worked out well.

This is the back. Here is the front.

Closet makeover 2

Lately I have been in a spring cleaning mood. I've been trying to get rid of things and clean up and reorganize. (Although someone, Mom, not to name names, Mom, keeps bringing me stuff.) I decided to start with something I look at every day. We have a closet under our stairs that first served as an all purpose junk area. Things that we hardly use like suitcases, sleeping bags, etc. were thrown in there. It was also the coat closet, but the coat rack went across the closet so you had to go through the coats to get anything out of the closet. It was rather useless.

When Littlebit was a baby I was annoyed with the toys spread around the living room and the messy closet, so Lovey helped me move everything out of the closet. Big Daddy came home to a huge mess. This was my plan because I told him I wouldn't move anything back into the closet until it could be organized. We put up shelves on one wall to hold the toys and cut the bar for the coats and made it into two and put it an alcove on the side. He was skeptical that it would work because of the size of the closet, but was pleased after it was completed.

This has worked well until recently. Now I have two kids who play in there and a kid throws his backpack in there because it doesn't have a place to go. I also store in there most of the art supplies and a lot of Disney moves on VHS that Nana has left at our house, so I needed to clean it out. That is what we did yesterday. During quiet time and while the kids played outside I completely emptied the closet, vacuumed, and rearranged everything. I hung hooks up on the side opposite the shelves so Lovey's backpack, Leappad backpack and firefighter hats have a home. I took some of the bins from my craft room (which I will tackle next) and resorted the toys. I tried to get rid of a few, but I was caught. I'm pretty pleased with my results.

This is what the closet looks like from the doorway. It is sort of an awkward space.
Here are the coats and shoes. The adult coats are up above. Big Daddy made the shoe rack.
The toys are organized and put in bins for now. The games the kids can get to are on a shelf and the art supplies are on a shelf the can't reach next to the coats and scarves. The vacuum usually sits under the game shelf.
The hooks are the 3M removable hooks and they work pretty well for holding up the backpacks and hats.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and ready to tackle my next project.

It's here!

Our bedroom set arrived yesterday. I'm so excited that they could deliver it so quickly. It was a quick weekend of driving around to look at furniture, but this one just said, "Take me home!" We were actually going to go with a more formal sleigh bed from the same company, but realized the dresser drawers were very shallow and we weren't sure about fitting all of our clothes in it. The salesman then took us to look at this one and after a weekend of visiting other stores, we finally decided to buy from a local store and go with this set.

Ignore the nightstand on the side. It is temporary and I couldn't find the fabric I have to go with it, although the fabric is rose colored and not really my style anymore.

I am thrilled with the purchase. I find myself going into my room just to look at it. Now all we need are nightstands, but at $700 each, I had to pass on the ones that went with the set - no matter how cool they were. (All of the cords for lights, alarm clock, phone plug in inside the back of the nightstand, so no messy cords anywhere.)
I love this detail on the headboard and the foot board. I just love the beading.

Thank you for the sunshine!

Surprise! They called for rain and wind, but we had partly cloudy skies this weekend and only a little rain. We were able to plant some onion starts, some gladiolas, and dianthus, and sedum. The daffodils are getting ready to bloom too.

We finally hung up the curtains that I made for the office/craft room. I like them now that they are hung up, especially with the ribbon to tie them back. I also made some pillows for our bed. The bed was too bland with the cream and black and white, so I needed a little red to brighten up the room. They actually came out nicely. This is the front.

This is the back. This is the fabric from the bath mat in our bathroom.

Projects completed

Even with having a nasty cold sweep through our house and a two year old who is not sleeping, we have managed to complete a long list of projects this week.

My car finally got new brakes. It also needed a 90,000 mile check up. Yuck. It was at the shop all day Saturday and when we picked it up, the brakes didn't feel right. We took it back in on Tuesday morning and it turns out there was an air bubble in the brake line. Oops. It is a good thing I insisted that it be fixed.

I mopped the floor and wiped down all the cupboards and baseboards in the kitchen and eating area. Not that you can tell any more thanks to messy and messier, but I know it was clean. Now mopping the floor might not seem like a big deal, but I need a new mop, so I did this on my hands and knees.

I mopped the bathroom floors because I wanted to show off this bath mat that I made using a fabric and an old towel. I quilted along some of the flower stems to hold it together. The colors go well with my sage green walls of my bedroom, so this may become pillows for my bed too. I love this fabric by Heidi Grace.

I finished these pillows for downstairs. They incorporate the fabric that I used to recover my dining room chairs.

I finished curtains for the office. I'm not totally pleased with how they turned out, but they will do for now. I just need to buy a curtain rod to hang them. They are brown with white polka dots. I love this fabric too. I used it to make a skirt for Littlebit, a diaper carrier, and some baby items for a friend.

I even hemmed my new 40% off trouser jeans from Nordstroms. It only took me a month to get up the nerve to do it and to buy the thread. I finished it last night and they look good if I do so say myself.

I made Littlebit a new sleep sack. I love sleep sacks and Littlebit outgrew her last one and the bigger sizes are back ordered. I decided I would make one of my own with some fleece that I have had for quite awhile. (I miscalculated and bought WAY too much three years ago.) I haven't tried it on her and it is not exactly pretty, but hopefully it will get the job done. As anyone who has been to my home knows, it is cold in our house and we keep the temperature low at night. So anyone not able to keep blankets on freezes. We do try to turn the heat up when guests are here, but we sometimes forget. (Sorry Mom.) Hopefully Littlebit's sleep sack will keep her nice and warm.