Friday, May 20, 2011

Quilt Top Done! Tokyo Subway Map

Dear Elizabeth Hartman,
My first draft of this letter was an apology for butchering your absolutely beautiful Tokyo Subway Map Quilt design. As I was going along, I messed up so much. Seams were uneven. Seams weren't straight. Fabric wasn't cut straight. I was going to invite you to Powell's the next time I'm in Portland for coffee to sing to you to make it up to you. Then, I started doubting my vocal talent because my sewing talent was clearly not as good as I thought it was all these years.

Luckily, some of my own experience and skills helped me repair a lot of it.  It's so far from perfect like yours. It is still absolutely beautiful and I'm proud to show it off.

Love always and forever,
Dee
P.S. We can still do coffee if you want...I'll bring a copy of your book and a sharpee for you to sign it.









Now, I just need to come up with the cash to buy the supplies to finish the quilt. I've figured out how I want the back and the binding. So excited to finish this!

Monday, May 16, 2011

I love Power Tools!

Give me a jigsaw, a dremel, and a sander and I'm in Heaven!

I've had a lot of fun building, refurbishing, and redoing many furniture items. One of my favorites is the upholstered stool.



I like to keep this at the foot of my bed. I had it for awhile when I was in Knoxville, but we lost our sweet dog on this very stool. My husband wanted to get rid of it but I put a lot of hard work into it and it was my pride and joy! PLUS, that just made it that much more endearing to me. So, instead of trashing this awesome piece of furniture, I decided to reupholster it. :)


How cute is this little model?

I also really enjoy buying old furniture from thrift stores and redoing them in fun fabrics. Here are a couple of reupholstered chairs that I've done.

Before
After



I forgot to take a picture of this chair before I covered it in this fun funky fabric.  It must be said that my husband seriously opposed this fabric from the very first time he saw it. It must also be said that while he was talking, all I heard was, "blah blah blah."




I've skyped and webcammed with people who always notice my awesome chair in the background! HA!

The cute animal-print chair was for my daughter's bedroom. When we moved from Knoxville to our current house, she went from the master bedroom with a LOT of space to a regular kid-size bedroom with no space. We ended up buying her a loft bed and put her computer desk underneath.

I made the desk, of course.

In process of painting Giraffe Print

Scrunchies in my hair!!!


Paint is drying

Here is is in her bedroom with all of her accessories:
 

Oh yes, I also painted her chest of drawers. I'm such an awesome Mommy!



I also have a refurbished item that took on a completely new life.  A good friend of mine had an old yucky chair hanging around her house. She hated it and only kept it around because it had a small amount of sentimental meaning to her: She made it in middle school shop class. She knew I liked playing with furniture and told me I could keep it and do anything I wanted to do with it.



That same friend found some old fabric that her grandmother had stashed away. She said she had no use for it. She only kept it because it was her grandmother's. There were even cute little matching buttons in the stash. Instead of making something for myself...I made something for that friend and gave it back to her!



It went from an ugly middle-school-shop project into a beautiful ottoman. Yes, I was pleased.



And finally, I leave you with this awesome lamp I made using a flower vase. It was actually the 3rd vase that I had tried because, even though I had a glass drill bit for my drill, it broke a couple times.

Saturday, May 7, 2011