About Me

My photo
Jane of all trades, Master of none. Still on the search for the occupation that I can love.....

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Grandparents

Kit's grandparents always send us great gifts for Christmas. The gifts usually come with handmade ornaments that his grandfather carved. When it comes to what we will get from them it's usually a struggle to decide. What do you get for a couple that seem to have the things what they want. We decided that handmade for handmade might work. I couldn't go with the apron and pot holder thing because I did that the year before. So we decided on my last tangible talent.

I'm a little rusty. I haven't picked up graphite in a while and my lack of practice shows. Kit seemed to think that it was turning out fine.( probably because he didn't have to do anything but provide prospective.)

The frame made it to Minnesota just fine and the grandparents liked it. Now we have about 11 months before we rack our brains on the next gift.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas

I have managed to slow down a bit today. So with the little extra time I wanted to say Merry Christmas !

Friday, December 17, 2010

Does anyone have time to spare? Lost all of mine

It's no secret that I have once again joined the land of the unemployed. You would think that would leave me with a lot of time to get things done. Well to my surprise it hasn't. There was one day last week that I actually said I had free time and nothing to do with it. Big mistake!
Just when I was ready to sit down and recover a yoga bolster that was given to me (Thanks Patty). I was hit with a load of requests for other projects that took up most of my time. Before I knew it Christmas season was in full swing and I had not started on any of the gifts. I decided to make a few because it would be better on my non-existent budget.


A few months ago, I saw one of my nieces’ for the first time in a while. When I saw her she was making pink cupcakes. So when I saw the above cupcake fabric and whenever I see a cupcake, I and immediately think of her. I still have to put together her tea towel and the pot holders and get them in the mail. I have made 3 sets so far.

There are 2 other projects that need to be completed before Christmas. I'm about to run out now and get this 40lb box off to Minnesota. Then replace the bottom of my neighbors 100 year old chair and just in case you’re wondering, no I have not completed the yoga bolster yet. Where does the time go???????

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Coming apart at the seams….

I received a call from a friend that a co-worker posted on their internal ForSale.com website that she need someone repair her sofa and she also needed slip covers for 2 chairs that she found on-line. I was recommend by 2 people. :-) So off I went over to have a look.

The sectional pieces looked like they were not tied properly at 3 different corners of the sofa. Maybe it was a machine error, or the saying is true, they just don’t take the time to make things like they use to. This is the second fairly new sofa that needed repairs in the last 2 months. Good for me me but not so much if you paid good money for your sofa. I closed the ends with a blind stitch using upholstery thread so that the repair wont be seen.

Shoni went shopping for her fabric and found two that she liked. One was a micro-suede and the other was a multi-colored Repp (traditional woven fabric with a dominant rib running in the weft direction). She had extra fabric left over so I made 3 throw pillows.




I tried my hand at a log cabin quilted pillow in the micro-suede. I thought it was very cute. I do need to work on my quilt pattern.

Friday, November 26, 2010

New Dresser


I found this dresser at a garage sale for $30. It was in pretty good condition. I was not too crazy about the curves on the bottom so I decided to replace the skirt.

Before I could get any further Kit came upstairs and let me know that he had done me a favor. He dropped the blender on the dresser and subsequently put a hole in the top. He said that it was a favor because its better to know now that it was flimsy than later. I let him know that he was right. Also that since he had completed one favor that he could do another by leaving $20 on the dresser so that I could replace the top.

Now that this piece was up to $50,I am all about reusing the hardware. I spray painted the drawer pulls a copper color. I am not married to them however. I may switch them out..... Not sure yet.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The same... but not.

I think this is the last part of my Blitz Furniture Repost:

This desk was on craigslist for $40. We needed the drawers, and I needed to not look at the PC tower all the time. It originally came with 4 legs. I thought it looked better with 8. It also came with a foe wood top. I felt it was incomplete with out a real wood one. So I replaced it.

I was out the total of $100 plus my sweat and time. It was worth it.

This was a 9 drawer dresser in it's previous life. That life was over when I purchaced it for $50 at the thrift shop. When I looked at it I saw a sideboard of sorts.
Don't you think of wine bottles, beer and wine glasses with party platters when you look at it. I do....

I like it better this way. Where else was I going to store platters that I have no room for in my kitchen. Besides it makes a great buffet table on occasion.

Door to Headboard


This is a $15 reclaimed solid wood door from H4H Restore.

This is that door being trimmed out and getting 2X4 legs and a French cleat added to the back.

This is that same door in its new life as a King-size headboard that didn’t cost me my arm and leg.

Friend’s need somewhere to sit too…..

Rose and her husband come from the land of the giants… No seriously they are both really tall. She was looking for a chair for her master bedroom. Well I should she sent me a BOLO (be on the lookout) for a good size chair. Another friend mentioned in conversation that she was about to get rid of some chairs so I asked if I could have a look.
This one was perfect! There was really nothing wrong with it other that the fact that it had gotten in a fight with the cat on its backside.

Rose picked her colors from my old reliable 7.99 per yard store. And off to work I went. I get better at this the more I do it and now that I have way to much time on my hands I have actually started to study the art upholstery. Here is the finished product.


Brinda grew up with this lovely sofa and her mother thought that she should have it as an adult. For some reason she did not want to keep the birds and hydrangeas.

I was pleased that she found a sold that she liked as this was a big project to take on. It would have been made bigger if it involved prints or stripes.

I tried to keep the details of the arms so that it wouldn’t look like a giant slip cover. She was pleased. These two projects are part of the repost blitz, they are not recent work.

The Kitchen

After I removed my previous posts I was asked to re-post some of the before and after that I have completed. So here goes. These are my kitchen chairs. I picked them up from the flea market for $70 for the 5 of them

I stripped them down and stained them in Ebony. I have added new cushions and covered them in a $7.99 micro-suede

I found a green and yellow kitchen table at the local good will. Oddly enough it was also $70. For 20 minutes I had to lean on the table while holding the leaf insert that goes in the middle. All the while fending off crazy old ladies that stopped by to rub the insert asking me if I was going to buy it. This particular Goodwill was cash only so off Kit went to the atm.

I stripped it down and stained it to match the chairs. I love this table. We don’t actually eat at it. The sofa is our dining room table. But this table holds the large fruit basket very well.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Beer... He's getting good at it

I'm bias. I thought that Kit was getting better at his home brew from the first time I tried it 6 years ago but lets face it. I am a little partical. Tonight we went to the 2010 Piedmont Brewers Cup and he won 3rd place for his Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. As always you can see how much he loves photos.



I thought that it was worth the mention so there it is. Im on my 3rd beer for the night so I think I will leave it at that. Short and sweet.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Another Chair

Found this lovely chair at The Durham H4H Restore. It was $15. I should have taken a photo from the front view but once I got home I started to tare it to pieces. Too late now.
I thought that it would be lovely in brown and white. I just found the new fabric today it is a chocolate linen. The Linen ran me $35 dollars for 5 yards. That was 2 yards more than was needed for the chair. I think it would make since to have the fabric repeated in the room in other places so the extra will come in handy. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

PS: Sorry about the Blog tare down. I had a lot going on and didn't handle it well. It will come out in the wash at some point.....it always does.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010