Homemade Pillows

I churned out about 7 pillows the other weekend. I don't think I quite figured out how to do the zipper until the second or third one. Once I figured it out (which only happened once I stopped following the directions), they actually turned out looking pretty professional. I may re-do the first pillow I attempted, since I have extra fabric, but it still turned out okay.

Unfortunately, the charcoal gray fabric I ordered to reupholster my couch is still on backorder, so we are currently living with the couch covered in a chartreuse green bed sheet. At least the new pillows still kind of match!

My first upholstery project, this high-back chair is finished and has it's own throw pillow.

This chair will also be recovered in the charcoal gray fabric. I made a throw pillow for it using the leftover fabric from the high-back chair

Winter Upholstery Projects

Here are three pieces of furniture in my living room that I'm working on reupholstering this winter. The two chairs were both purchased at a thrift store. The couch is a hand-me-down from my parents.

The first chair is currently upholstered in worn sky blue velvet. I bought this chair almost 5 years ago, so I'm not quite sure, but I think I paid about $20 for it. It will be redone in a charcoal gray woven fabric. I will not be replacing the tacks, but will instead cover those areas with double-welting (more on that later). Since the chair-back is concave, I will have to replace the buttons/tufting, which I haven't done before.

 

The second thrift store chair was purchased in the last month or so for about $12. It was also done in blue velvet (must have been popular at some point). It has already been reupholstered (more posts to follow) in a white and gray floral fabric with olive-green cockatoos. 

 

I grew up with this antique couch in my parent's house. I'm not completely sure what color the fabric was originally (beige? champagne?), but these days "dirty dishwater" describes it best. It has metal claw feet (which I love), and hand-carving on the scroll arms and seat back. This will be redone in the same charcoal gray woven fabric as the first chair.

I'm also making new throw pillows to liven things up a bit. My boyfriend didn't seem too keen on some of the bright colors and wild prints I was thinking of using on the furniture, so I'll have to limit myself to some fun throw pillows. There are also plants to make an ottoman to match the couch. My plan is to purchase a coffee table from Ikea, add foam, cover with the same couch fabric, and do some tufting.

My plans may be overly ambitious, so hopefully we won't end up living with our furniture stripped down to the bones for months on end (e.g. our naked couch is currently covered in a bed sheet). The first chair turned out great, so I'm excited to start working on the other two pieces (if only my fabric wasn't back-ordered)!

Mom's Quilts (Part 2)

Here are a few more examples of my mom's quilts. Some are original designs, some are from patterns. She has a huge fabric collection and it has been fun watching her taste and style change over the years.

Here are some close ups on the previous quilt:

She also went through a Kaffe Fassett phase (I think she still is in this phase):

Mom's Quilts (Part 1)

Both of my parents are retired, but they keep busier than most people who work! My dad is crazy about golf, while my mom is crazy about quilting. My mom is a very talented quilter and I wanted to show off some of her work. She gets asked to do trunk-shows (a quilt show-and-tell) quite often, has had a show in a local art gallery, and she also volunteers a lot of her time making quilts and stuffed toys for charities.

This last one is currently hanging in my living room. It goes perfectly with the blue and cream paint job:

Where Have I Been?

So my blogging has definitely slowed down the last few weeks due to several reasons:

1. The garden is slowing down (and frankly, it looks like crap this time of year)
2. I've been busy working on a manuscript at work (that will be morphed into the first chapter of my dissertation)
3. I've been spending some time getting back to my crafty side (something that gets put on hold during gardening season).

I felt the urge to haul out the old sewing machine that my mom handed down to me. I learned how to sew when I was in elementary school and I've made a number of quilts over the years. The real quilter, however, is my mom. She's very creative and dedicated to quilting. I'll try to post some photos of her creations soon.

The old Singer sewing machine works pretty well considering it's from the early 1970s (and yes, its seafoam green). They definitely don't make sewing machines like they used to. The housing of my machine is entirely metal (no cheap plastic housing like modern sewing machines). Of course it also weighs a ton due to all the metal, but who really lugs around their sewing machine on a regular basis anyway?...oh wait, my mom does all the time.

I decided I would experiment with sewing on paper instead of fabric (partially because paper is so stable and easy to work with, and partially because paper is much much cheaper than fabric). I'm having so much fun working with the whole sewn-paper concept, that I decided to open a shop on Etsy. Head on over to my shop and take a look at some of my other projects.

Here are a few examples of what I've been making lately.

Notecards:

Paper garlands: