laeroport

reinvention

I have new furniture in my living room.  New to me, at least.  It all came from Grandma Jean's house.  There's a cream with light grey and tan sofa sleeper, a rocking chair and this chair. 

 
It is a very comfortable old chair that no one ever really sat in.  And I love the lines - the wood peeking out, the soft squishiness of the cushions. Grandma had it reupolstered some years ago in a rather girlie pattern.  Perhaps that is why no one else laid claim to it.

 
I am a rather big fan of pillows on chairs and couches.  And I really like the calm, neutral vibe in the living room right now, especially as it is flooded with light.  So I wanted a neutral pillow for this chair, that coordinated, but didn't make the whole room too pink and blue. 

 
Then I ran across this table runner/dresser scarf.   I picked up this bit of vintage goodness at the antique mall years ago.  It was so beautifully stitched and all the hems were finished by hand.  Perfect except for two holes smack in the middle of the embroidery pattern at one end and a few small holes in the middle.  Hmmm... and it was exactly 14 inches wide, which also was the size of my pillow form.

It was destined to be a pillow.

 
Of course I wanted to make it RIGHT NOW, and was without any piping except white or any cord to put inside piping, so I twisted some yarn together and sewed it inside some bias tape.  The runner was long enough that I was able to make an envelope back, which I finished with the same bias tape.  To cover the wee holes in part of the center section, I cut up the embroidery on the other end (where there were also holes) and fused on as a patch.  Then I added my own bit of embroidery around the edges in a floss that matched the background.

I think it looks right at home there, don't you?

 

sneak peek

 
I'm transforming a little bit of vintage embroidery into something new.  Back here tomorrow for the finished product?

small repairs

It seems so much of my sewing time is taken up with small repairs.  Tim's shirt lost a button, a pocket needs reinforcing, and this week, jeans.  These are just the ones I did tonight.

 

I would like to be like  my friend Miss Chris and spend some sewing time transforming some things for me, but I let go that pile of guilt and optimism when we moved.  But nevermind.  I have had robots and chick flicks to keep me company in this mending chore.

 

And if I can't change my clothes, at least I can change my hair.

 

Ciao!

our afternoon

before

 
during

 
and after.

 
and I got mine all whacked off too.

over-thinking

I'm a classic over-thinker.  What could have been a 10 minute project took me three days, all because I kept thinking of alternatives.  Not that over-thinking is necessarily bad, but sometimes often I can't get past the thinking and on to the doing.

Turning this outgrown t-shirt into a pillow should have been a no-brainer.  Snip snip snip, sew sew sew, stuff and sew up the edge by hand.  But then there was that little pocket.  And I got to thinking, if a robot had a pocket, what would he keep in it?

So I got out some felt and did a little drawing, and then a little embroidery, and then attached some yarn and fused another piece of felt to the back.  Voila.  Tools.  A robot screwdriver, wrench and blaster, although Eliot told me my blaster looked more like a hot glue gun. Pfft.  Whatever.

 
And because I am thrifty, I didn't want to BUY a pillow form, so I pulled out this sad looking thing and ripped it apart. 

But the pillow form was bigger than the square I could get from the t-shirt without running into the sleeve or the neckline.  So I had to add on a bit. 

And once I'd added on a bit, I felt like I should add some batting behind it and quilt around the seams.  So there's another step. 

It still needed a bit of something.  So I took the yellow piping from the old pillow and wrapped it again with some dark grey fleece binding that I had on hand.  How convenient that it was exactly the length that I needed.

And voila!  Three days later, a pillow.  With tools in the pocket,

 

and tools out of the pocket,

 

and with a robot at the ready to blast his way through trouble (or hot glue something, as the case may be).

 
Thanks, Erin, for the pillow week inspiration.  Maybe I'll manage a few more in the week to come.

thwarted

This week is not cooperating.  I worked my butt off the past two days in Lawrence.  Today I read with the kiddos at school.  My husband stayed home with a head cold and sinus headache and a cough that is painful just to listen to.  My mother-in-law is in the hospital after a dizzy spell and blood pressure spike - it seems it was a fluke thing and she will be fine.  Thank goodness.  Our Girl Scout troop met and chose a Bronze Award project - more to come on that one.

All of that has kept me from doing the one thing I wanted to do this week - make pillows.  So come hell or high water tomorrow, this stenciled-by-Aidin outgrown t-shirt of Eliot's WILL be a pillow.

 
I hope.

that light

those trees, that sky.

 

Makes a girl want to break into "Oh What a Beautiful Morning."  

I've had a busy few days at the old house, mulching, cleaning out gutters, washing down siding.  Tomorrow I'll move on to pillows.  Right now I need to tear Eliot away from Godzilla vs. Mothra.  It is time for bed. 

(And this morning I have just discovered this did not post last night.  Chalk it up to tired.  Happy Thursday.)

school stuff

Crafting has been interrupted by school activities.  Yesterday I went with Aidin's class to see Willy Wonka at the high school.  The dress rehearsal of the first act.   Aidin would like to go back and see the whole thing this weekend.  We'll see.

 
I was more interested in the costumes than in the performances.  Am I the only person that spends more time looking at the oompa loompa's socks than listening to their song?

Yesterday was also the 50th day of the school year, so our principal declared today 50's Day to celebrate.  The boy child wanted no part of it, despite the fact that I had a perfectly Leave it to Beaver outfit selected for him, complete with black-framed glasses.   Of course, my daughter embraced it.  We spent last night turning my belly dance skirt, last seen as a queen cape, into a poodle skirt.

 

She'll be wearing it to the sock hop in the gym on Friday, too.  Catch ya later, Daddy-o!

more for the boys

Okay, as promised, here are a few more things we've made for the boys in our life.

Aprons - for Dhruv from an old shirt of Tim's - the chest pocket became a front pocket.

and for Bryce - our little Jayhawk fan friend.

 

A tote bag for Max (because his big brother Owen already had one.)

 

and a 4 shirt for my nephew, Trey.

My brain is working on pillows for Erin's pillow week challenge, but Willy Wonka and a poodle skirt grabbed up all of my time.  More on that later. 

one boyish thing

 Dang it if I didn't wake up at 5:45 this morning with the realization that I didn't  post yesterday.  So much for every day this month.

I'll try for a bigger post later, but to assuage my guilt, here is the boyish thing I made yesterday for Eliot's best friend, Lyric.  Lyric said he would rather have Eliot spend the night than have 6,000 birthday parties. Awwwwww....

So for Lyric, a 7 shirt.  And since the L nestled in there so nicely.... a little too nicely.  Someone may well think he is 9.

I don't think he'll care.