Daybed for the Barnetts

Okay, so I can show you Bethany and Kelly's Christmas present because they've already seen it. As you can see, the covers on their daybed (which was in my parents house when I was growing up and originally belonged to my Aunt Valeta) were looking pretty sad.

Not only were there stains, but Kelly in particular did not like how after you stood up the seat still bore an impression of your backside.They asked that I recover them (while I was down in Miami for Thanksgiving) as my Christmas present to the both of them.

So, Bethany and I went to Calico Corners and waited around forever for an employee to finally come help us cut the fabric that we wanted selected this fabric.

Then I came up with a plan for cutting out the pieces of fabric I needed. Please do not look closely at my drawing. It is embarrassing how not-to-scale it is.

Then, I cut and pinned and sewed the cushions. And seam-ripped my bad stitching and pinned and sewed them again. Ugh. We also decided that she needed some sort of 'pop' of color on the couch so we picked out some throw pillow fabric (which we got for a STEAL!) and I sewed throw pillows too.

Many hours later (far too many because of my dumb mistakes), Kelly and Bethany have a new look for their daybed.

Part of the reason for this upgrade is because they were moving the daybed into their family room to serve as their couch.

If you look closely at the mirror on this page, you can see the satisfied homeowners in the reflection. I am most satisfied that I was able to get this all done while I was there and I didn't have to mail them a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas to all (well, to Bethany and Kelly) and to all a good night!

A Preview

Remember when I said that gifts for others don't count? Welllllllllll. When I said that, I was talking about how I couldn't keep procrastinating by making things for other people when I needed to be finishing the approx. 372 projects I have started but not finished.

It's a completely different story during the pre-Christmas-gift-making season. I'd love to show you some of the gifts I've been working on, but they are gifts for people who read this blog and I don't want to ruin it. So, you will have to wait until the new year to see what I've been up to. For now, feel free to feast your eyes upon the two pictures above and take a guess at what I'm doing.

Tray

I found my camera, so now I can finally post these pictures of the completed tray for my bedroom. Unfortunately, the camera was missing during the crafting of this tray so I can't show you step-by-step pictures. I'll just have to describe how I did it!

To make this tray, first I painted the tray. This took two coats of primer and three coats of paint. Then, I traced my sketch from the curtain project I did last month onto a sheet of blank computer paper. Then I cut out the design and (using double-sided tape) laid it out on my tray.

Then I sprayed the tray all over with three coats of polyurethane.

After letting it dry for about 24 hours, I peeled off the paper design and -- VOILA! A beautiful tray with a subtle design. It is actually much more subtle than it appears in these pictures. I had to use the flash to get it to show up at all. And so, many months after starting, this project is now COMPLETE! YAY!

p.s. For those of you who are wondering, the bright shiny object on the tray is my phone base. I'm using this tray to hold a few red candles, the bedroom phone, and a notepad and pen for taking messages/jotting down genius ideas that come to me in the middle of the night.

Shoes for Vacation!

And then after Rock's birthday and birthday party, we took a week long vacation to the beach! But how was I supposed to look good at the beach with broken espadrilles (pictured above)?

Don't worry! With a little needle and thread, I DESIGN FIXed them up!

And we had an awesome vacation! So, see? Even though I haven't been blogging, I have been staying creative! Pictures of the slipcover are coming soon!

Birthday Party T-Shirts

Sorry I've been MIA. I've been having a lot of fun lately and not blogging about the design things I've accomplished.

One big fun thing that kept me away from projects was my son, Rock's first birthday. My husband came with the Rock('s) On(e)! theme for his party and I spent too much time bringing it to fruition.

I thought that t-shirt would be a fun thing for the birthday boy, his father and I to wear on his big day. The first step was buying the iron on transfer paper. Then we designed the t-shirt 'logo.' My dear husband figured out how to get the image to print in reverse (I was totally baffled trying to figure this out!) and then we printed them off on the iron-on transfer paper.

Here's the back of Rock's shirt before I ironed it on. After the paper cools, you simply remove the backing from the iron-on section and your design is permanently on your shirt!
We tried to get a shot of the three of us and the matching backs of our shirts, but it didn't turn out so well.

Here's my favorite one year old boy showing off his age and the iron-on number one that I used to further the party spirit on the front of his shirt.

Sew Mama Sew

So, I've been hinting around about a new design project and some design 'attention' coming my way. Well, here it is folks.

My CUT-OUT CURTAINS tutorial is being featured on SewMamaSew.com. Sew,Mama,Sew! is a fabulous blog/store/forum of design ideas and how-to tutorials. You can see my tutorial at: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=572, but don't stop there! This site has inspiring ideas and detailed tips to help you fulfill your design dreams, and a store that sells fabulous fabrics and patterns to work with. Seriously, check it out!

So you don't lose hope...

The slipcover is on it's way!

Sconces

Okay so even though the slipcover rated #1 as the project you'd most like to see me complete, I finished the sconces first! Why you say?

Well, I was in the room when my husband cast his vote in my poll. As he selected the 'paint sconces and a tray' option, he said "I'm picking this one because I want those things out of our dining room." Yes, due to my extreme procrastination skills, the unfinished project had been sitting in our dining room for two months! So, for the sake of our marriage, and as a surprise to my hubby who was out of town, I finally completed the sconces last week.

Here's how they looked before I started. We bought these sconces shortly after we were married at a cool antique shop in Roanoke, VA. Although the shabby chic style worked with our 'look' for awhile, I felt it was time to update them! To give you a feel for the procrastination time frame, this picture was taken on 7/8/2008.
The first step I took was to sand down the edges of the tray.
Then they sat on the dining room table until I decided to do the first coat of primer on 7/28/2008. That's 23 days later. When the picture above was taken.
Then, on 8/5/2008, I did the last coat of primer.
Also, on 8/5/2008, I did the first of three coats of paint. I needed to do three coats because I used the same dark, dark, dark, dark green ('Nocturnal Green' if you will) that's on the wall in our bedroom and it took that many to make it look 'even' without all the white peeking through. Finally, on Labor Day weekend, while my husband was out of town, I did the last two coats of paint. I finished them off with two coats of semi-gloss Polyurethane and...

VOILA! My beautiful sconces are no longer shabby chic. I love how they tie in the Nocturnal Green wall in our bedroom, my husband is pleased that they are no longer in our dining room, and we both love the romantic element they add to our room.

See how there is only one curtain? That's a hint at one of my next design projects! And to those of you who are curious about the tray... Well, that sucker is still waiting for it's final coats of paint and Polyurethane. But it's not waiting on the dining room table. Sigh. You can't change a true procrastinator overnight!

The Results Are IN!

So, the poll is over and the results are in. When asked which projects you'd like to see me tackle, over the coming weeks you answered:

57% wanted to see me finish the slipcover on my living room sofa. What? You want us to cover this tacky 1970's fabric?!?

19% wanted to see the painted sconces and tray for my bedroom.

Painting and recovering the dining room chairs and making curtains for Rock's room each got 4% of the vote.

3% wanted me to do it all.

And 0% of you voted to make a bedskirt my top priority.

So, I've been working on the slipcover. To be honest, it was my top priority as well. My husband has been helping me with this project (yes, I am lucky enough to have a hubby that can sew!) and we hope to bring you the final project soon. No, this isn't the completed slipcover, but it IS a shot of the recovered pillows (in the same fabric of the future slipcover) on the sofa opposite the one we are working on. Seeing these completedgave my husband a lot of hope.

And gifts for others don't count...

Yes, I've made some gifts for friends and family, but I need to get stuff done in my own home! Does anyone else understand where I am coming from?

Baby blankets for Baby Barnett (due soon!!!)

Rock's Room

Actually, immediately before my son was born, I did get quite a few things accomplished. Take his nursery for example. To prep for Rock's arrival, I recovered lampshades... And made a bumper.
And a crib skirt.
I made a Boppy cover (on the bottom shelf pictured above).
I even made a little pillow for his swivel rocker...
And drilled the holes for new hardware on his dresser (being preggo they wouldn't let me do the painting so I gotta give the credit for that to my darling hubby).

And all that in a body swelling with the added weight of my sweet little parasite -- I mean -- son.Then the little punk (and I mean that in the best way) was born and my productivity has gone downhill quickly. This blog will chronicle my brave attempt to get it back!

Christmas '05

See? I have completed things in the past! For Christmas '05 I made a bunch of aprons for my sisters, mother, sisters-in-law, future-sister-in-law and mother-in-law.

This cool asian print was for my cool at-the-time-future-sister-in-law-now-sister-in-law.
Oh yeah and this was for my best friend.
My mom loves red almost as much as she loves Coca-cola.
For one of my sisters. I think.I loved this red one so much it was hard to pass it on.
Oh and I made some clutch purses for my sisters.
Inside shot.
Another clutch.