I Ikea-fied our bedroom

 

Last month, my family and I trekked northward for our first Ikea experience ever. And let me tell you it was everything I had imagined, all at once. We had made plans to hit up a few of the other stores we don't have in our town, but we didn't actually get that far. We twisted and turned our way through the Ikea Marketplace, not even venturing up into the showrooms, and that alone took almost all of our time. I loved the kitchen wares and the textiles, frames, planters, lighting and the furniture section (which is another post all together) but my very favorite was the self-serve fabric counter. My mind began spinning when I saw that gorgeous blue floral pillow back in textiles. I knew our bedroom would never be the same.

  I love the backs of the pillow almost as much as the front. Almost.

 When I ventured to the cutting table, I found coordinating navy /tan stripe clearanced for $3.99 / yd and almost had a heart attack right there. I bought 6 yards of the stripe and 2 of that fantastic blue check (because that was $8.99/yd). Then the Map Pillow. My poor husband. He must of thought I was crazy because I think I was shaking with excitement at that point.  

We had a cash budget set aside for this trip and I had a piece of furniture that was on the top of my list, so I calculated all the yardage for the duvet cover carefully and realize that it would be more economical to back the cover with that blue bedspread I had just passed up in the linen section. I was in love just looking at everything already coordinating in my cart, yet also not being matchy- matchy, which is exactly what I wanted to avoid.  I picked up that ruffle pillow and I that point I couldn't wait to get home and finish my new bedroom.

This whole project was so super simple. How simple? Simple enough to not even use a pattern. I cut my huge 6yd cut of stripe in half, matched the edges and sewed the panels together so that you can't see they were pieced. I used my old pillow sham dimensions to make the new navy check shams. I made the duvet ties from some torn scraps from that navy check.

(A word about the chicken pillow. I was not anticipating putting a chicken of any sort on our bed. However, I found that our Ikea has a clearance section off to the side of the warehouse right before you get to the checkouts. I took a peek and found a large plastic bag of fabric scraps stapled shut. I saw quite a bit of that navy check in the bag and decided to take the $2.99 gamble. I check out, make my way to the car and open my goody bag: that piece of blue check was actually this 19" pillow cover. For now it lives on our bed, but I haven't decided it that is the permanent home. Feel free to give your opinion in the comment section.)

Housework is not always my favorite thing, but I guarantee you that I smile every day when I make our "new" bed.

First Sewing Lessons

As you may remember, Dabney bought an American Girl doll last spring with her own money. Naturally, we've been on the look out for more clothes for Kit, but boy, can they be expensive! In our case, necessity really is the mother of invention so Dabney and I took inventory of the house. Providentially, we had just gathered a large garbage bag of clothes from the closets, destined for the Goodwill.

We found some free patterns online and got to work. We loved the patterns so much that we even bought a few, which is almost out of character for me.

Dabney and I printed, cut and laminated the pattern pieces, then got to work on cutting and marking the fabric. I did the sewing this time, but Dabney is not far from doing those steps herself.

Happy Customer!

Dabney's New Pajamas

Ok, so here is the project I mentioned a few posts ago. I've been trying to use up some of the acreage of sewing supplies and fabric I have in the basement. Add that to the fact that my kids just won't stop growing (no matter how much I plead with them) and Dabney needed summer pajamas.

I'm not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but they're made of eyelet and Dabney has decided that the set has nice twirl-ablilty. I think they'll fit her this summer and next, also.

Classic and cool, light and summery~ another satisfied customer.

Christmas Project Reveal

So a long time ago I mentioned that was making some presents this year for some little girls in our life for Christmas and I never told you what the project was. See, a few days after I began the project, we discovered the existence of baby #4 and since then I've been slammed to the couch with exhaustion. There goes the project. Until yesterday. I had been psyching myself up for about a week for the hauling out of the sewing machine and all the other accouterments and yesterday I did it and I hope that I truly am back in the swing of things. (And Cait, it reminded me of Penelope.)



This cape (above) is for a friend's daughter (you guessed it, Rebecca, hope it will suit Corynn!) and the cape in progress (below) is for Dabney. I have a fabulous silver metallic for the collar and it will be lined in grey. These capes are way fast to make and very satisfying, I must say. Perfect for the little drama queen in your life. Oh, and Rebecca, all I have to do is add a frog closure and your Christmas package should be in the mail very soon!

Glider Make-Over

We bought this glider on December 23, 2005. I remember it well because I was 8.5 months pregnant with our first son. He wasn't due for 6 more days so I was glad to have the glider as an early Christmas present. Now this is not an expensive piece of furniture but it definitely serves it's purpose. I assembled the glider as soon as we brought it home (from KMart) ~ I love to assemble things~ and right before we headed out for a Christmas party. Of course, that very night after the party, I went into labor and the next morning delivered our Christmas Eve baby boy. One thing I neglected to think about was how dirty things get around babies~ diapers, spit up, etc. I really should have Scotch-guarded the whole chair.

Fast forward to this week. I've washed the chair pads many times and it really looks pretty bad. It may be "clean" but appeared shabby. And not in the good way. So I decided to recover the chair. I saw really beautiful toile fabrics at JoAnn fabrics for $15- $25/ yard, but I decided on the Walmart version for under $6/ yard. I think it turned out pretty well. And I remembered to use ScotchGuard.

It looks expensive, doesn't it? This whole project cost around $15.

With some extra fabric, I covered this 99 cent Goodwill lampshade (it was still in the original wrapping) and gave it some cool trim. I love how it turned out.

Thought I'd show you the border I decided to use

It's just a simple mitered border with the unbleached muslin and a print I used in the top, but I think it suits the quilt. All I have left to do is baste, quilt and bind!

For David

Before I was married I made quilts. Many many quilts. Some were wall hangings, some were bed coverings, some were kept for my family, some were gifts. I even got paid to make a few. It's funny now how few quilts I make. I always imagined I'd make a quilt for each of my children (at least one), and now I'm in the midst of it, although I thought I'd have finished more quilts by now.

We moved our big boy from a crib to a toddler bed last week (love those convertible cribs) and considering that winter is just around the corner here, we figured that he needs more than his little chenille blanket when we tuck him into bed. Excitedly, I went shopping in that tiny fabric store in my basement and emerged with the blue plaids and checks. I really like the result~ masculine, but not babyish is exactly what I was hoping to accomplish. However, in the spirit of a stubborn 2 year old boy, he claims that he already has a blanket and doesn't need a nice, warm, soft quilt and I should give it to Josh.

I made this pattern based on a beautiful vintage scrap quilt I saw at my uncle's house a few weeks ago. Maybe I will post a picture of the original some time. My quilt is only about 56"x65" right now~ which is a nice size for a lap quilt or a toddler bed (which was my original intention)~ but I'm seriously considering enlarging it to at least a twin. Maybe by the time I've quilted it, David will really love it.

If not, I'll cover him with it when he's sleeping.

The Quilter has returned

It's been a long time since I've made a quilt. However, since I re-arranged our basement and revamped my sewing table, I was so inspired that I ran this quick quilt off the machine this week. It was a fast project (I began Tuesday and ended Friday) and I'm so excited about how it turned out. I love that "homespun" quality. I really love the colors and it's a good size. I began thinking I could do 12 x 12 - 6" squares, but as I went along, I realized that I really didn't want to use all of my lovely burgundy fabric stash so I stopped at 10 x 10. It's actually a rag quilt (so yes, you're looking at the wrong side) but I haven't washed and dried the quilt enough for me to show you the top. The best part about this quilt? I had everything I needed in the basement and I didn't need to buy a thing.

It's finally finished!!!

The quilt is done. I thought I would never finish. Piecing it was hard enough, but when I was sick a few weeks ago, I decided to hand quilt like a mad woman. And I did. It lived on our couch while I was in the midst of quilting and every spare second I'd work on it even if it was a little. Phew. I'm so glad it's done. I planned the quilt and bought the fabric before we moved into our house, but it's all worth it to hear Dabney say "I wove my qweelt".