I LOOOVVVE PINK !!!

These three little words have been stuck in my head for the last month.  Visiting my almost 3 year old granddaughter last month I wore a pink shirt one day and she just couldn't stop touching it and telling me that she loved pink.  It was with her words in mind that I decided to hit up my fabric stash for some pink fabric to make her some summer things.  I started with searching for some pink thread, well that turned into a few hours of cleaning up my thread box.  I should have taken a picture before I cleaned it out, but I didn't.

 

There are over 250 spools of thread in this box and could I find the "pink" thread I was looking for.  No, but did find some that could work.  I was once asked how many spools of thread I have and I would have told you a couple hundred, but this box only represents part of my thread stash, doesn't take into account all my serger thread or coveted and hoarded wooden spools.  I can't help buying sewing/crafting items at yard sales or auctions and that is where the majority of this has come from.  But now that I know I need pink thread, I guess I will have to make another trip to the fabric store !!

 

After my search for thread and fabric I found some patterns and got to work.

 

 

Now I know she will have some "pink" options for warm summer days.

BLOOD, SWEAT AND PIN PRICKS....OUCH !!!!

A few of these little bloody spots along with a lot of love have been stitched into a lifetime of memories.  I have finally completed my mission and finished the t-shirt quilt.  It was a challenge for me and my sewing machine, but after much research and thought, machine quilting is the way I decided to finish.

 

My hope is a young lady will keep warm on cold nights and will be able to share all her accomplishments with her grandchildren someday and if my wishes come true I know all my blood, sweat and pin pricks have been worth it.

 

 

 

SCHOOL'S OUT ?????

Well, it's almost time for school to be out for the summer and soon I will be able to plant some flowers in the yard, but until then I have been working on the many, many projects I have indoors. 

I purchased these old school chairs last fall at an auction

 

They are elementary aged chairs for smaller children, therefore I wanted them to appeal to the little ones once I had them finished.

 

 

I wanted to add a little detail to them and as I have said before I was not gifted with any artistic ability, therefore I dug through some of my stash and came up with a stencil and some rub on appliques, then finished the chairs off with a light coat of poly.

 

 

They turned out real cute and I think they can now be someone's room inspiration or a child's special chair for summer reading.

HOBBY LOBBY INSPIRATION

On my last road trip I visited a Hobby Lobby and always pull a ton of inspiration from their stores, however I purchased very little, but after an hour of perusing the store I did bring home some drawer knobs for a little desk that I had.

 

I paid $20 for this little desk at an auction last summer, a little pricey for me but I really liked it.  It has gone from my garage stash to my computer desk to my sell on craigslist pile and now back in the house.  I knew I could sell it just as it was and make a tidy profit but just couldn't bring myself to do it and thanks to Hobby Lobby it has a new look and a permanent place in my home.  When I brought this piece in I knew I needed a chair and looked for another one of my auction finds in the garage.  After I settled on a place for these items it was time to take my inspiration and get to work.

 

The desk had a great paint job on it and I wanted to keep the color, so I simply hit it with the sander and applied some wax to it as well as to the new knobs I had purchased.

 

 

The chair got a good cleaning and a new seat.

 

 

Now that these pieces have a new look maybe they will give me the inspiration to write letters while I enjoy a cocktail !!!!

 

 

 

A FINISHED ROOM.....well almost

I have been working on the styling of my back bedroom for awhile and other than hanging some shadowboxes, which aren't done yet, I have finally finished and this room no longer gives me anxiety.  We all have those rooms that need to serve a multitude of purposes and this is the room for me.  When I started I really didn't have any budget for re-doing things in this room, but with a little "garage and fabric stash" digging and some paint I am very happy with the results.

I have shown in previous posts the shades I made for the windows and the auction furniture I brought in.

 

Last year was my first attempt working with chalk paint.  I had been given a little dresser, one of those unfinished pine pieces that were so popular many years ago.  This one had been burnt in spots then many, many layers of shellac covered it.  I took my sander to it and brought it back to the bare wood, then painted it with chalk paint and finished it with wax.  It needed a little repair and some new knobs, but after the work it turned out really nice.

 

 

With this piece in mind I set out to match the desk and little side tables I had brought in, this time opting to not do any prep work on the pieces.  That's right, no sanding at all.  I just mixed up a batch of chalk paint and put two layers on each piece, then finished them off with a coat of wax.

 

I mixed a tangerine paint with plaster of paris and water and gave each piece two coats of paint, then waxed the pieces, which stained and sealed them.  I am so excited about the no sanding thing and know I will use this technique in the future.  So much fun to learn something new especially when the new knowledge saves me work.

I gave the two little dressers the same knobs as the larger and not wanting to spend any money on my re-do I painted the drawer pulls on the desk. 

I found a piece of Styrofoam to hold the drawer pulls and a box to put them, then outside I went with a can of metal primer, giving them a good coat, once dry I followed up with two coats of a glossy white spray paint.

Once I had my furniture painted and completed, it was time to find a chair for my desk.  Again, digging in the garage I came up with a chair that was the correct height for the desk.  I have had this chair for several years and it only needed repairs to the seat, so I took it apart and started the refurbishing process.



 

The Before and After

 

The larger dresser in this room was a freebie for me, the desk was purchased at auction for $2.00, the little side dressers were part of a three piece set I had purchased at auction for $5.00, the chair was another $2.00 auction buy, the knobs I used were some saved ones from a kitchen re-do in another house many years ago.  The fabric came from my fabric stash and the paint used was in my stash of paint.  I purchased nothing new during this makeover and this room now makes me very happy.

 

 

A fresh room to hang my shadowboxes, do computer work and a fresh clean place for guests.  This room now serves all the purposes I had hoped for.

 

 

 

LAST TWO WEEKS

Hard to believe March is over and it's been awhile since I posted but I have been so busy, whew, and not with any of my "garage stash",  but had a wonderful time and will try to catch up with all the exciting news. 

Spent a week babysitting the gallery during the Art Week in Great Falls.  Over $5 million dollars worth of art sold to support the C.M. Russell Museum.  I love auctions and art auctions are so much fun.  If you ever have an opportunity to attend a high end art auction, I strongly recommend it, and of course, collecting art is something everyone should do regardless of the level you can begin to collect. 

While setting up the gallery I found my favorite piece.

 

Willie was excited that he got to be on "display".

 

Had a new grandson right in the middle of art week and with both sets of grandparents showing during the week, I had to wait until right after the show to head to Nebraska to see him.  Good thing for me the weather cooperated for that trip.

 

 

On March 22, 2014 the world welcomed Blake Michael to our family and Mama and baby are doing wonderful.

 

While in Nebraska had to take advantage of visiting a "real junk" pile Carhenge, a place where someone has taken a lot of time and effort to take the junk cars out of the junk yard and transform them into art pieces.

 

 

and of course I had my little "art admirer" with me, Blake's big sister, Emma

 

 

funny faces for Granny's camera is so much fun.

 

After a wonderful visit with the kids, we headed home and I was able to visit my favorite store "Hobby Lobby".  For those of you that have one of those stores in your town you are very lucky, we do not have any in Montana, so anytime I get the opportunity to visit an actual store, I must take advantage.  I didn't bring home a lot from the store, but did pick up a few things for very specific projects.

 

 

Yes, some new drawer pulls and I can't wait to share the projects I have in mind for these things, but first with spring in the air, I have made a promise to the hubby that I will clean out and organize my "garage stash".  So I will now unpack and put away all my treasures so I can begin the new month fresh.

 

 

ONE AND ONLY "REBEL" CHILD

Found a cute little applique in my stash a few weeks ago and have been wondering what I would do with it, well today I came up with a plan.  A "tomboy" outfit for a 3 year old little girl with an attitude and a few big brothers !!!!!

Camouflage and skater shorts with a very special "girlie" applique.

 

Don't know if this outfit will help her keep up with her big brothers, but she'll certainly look cute trying......

SPRING IS COMING !!!!!!!

Weather has cleared and I can feel the beginning of spring in the air, that so excites me.  I have been very busy with my t-shirt quilt and am on the final leg of finishing it, however, I will be putting my stitching on hold for a few weeks as some outings have been planned. 

 

I have cut and stitched about 30 two sided t-shirts and made two quilt tops, using as much of each t-shirt as possible.  I have purchased the batting and yarn to hand tie the quilt.  I have decided that this quilt needs to be hand tied due to its size and the fact that it has two quilt tops. 

 

 

I still have a few months to finish this project, but for the next few weeks it is going to lay on my dining room table waiting for me to get to work. 

 

Art Week is almost here, so I will be babysitting an art gallery and spending many days enjoying all the artists and their art work that comes to town each March, then it's off to Nebraska as it's also almost time for baby grandson.

 

 

LESSONS I'VE LEARNED

There are seamstresses and then there are quilters, I'm a seamstress.  Youtube videos make things seem easier than in fact they are.  If you want to build a house, don't start with the TajMahal.  With all that said my work on my t-shirt quilt has been on-going for the last few days.  I have cut up all the t-shirts

 

Finished sewing all the pieces of one side of the quilt together

 

 

Ironed the t-shirt pieces to the second side

 

 

so now it's ready for some fabric strips and to be sewn all together before I make the decision as to how I will finish it off.  Will I hire it out to a long-arm quilter, will I machine quilt it myself or will I hand tie it.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.......

 

But before I can make any decisions I had to clean up my mess and take a break

 

 

to remind myself that I really appreciate quilters and all the work that goes into those beautiful pieces and will forever look at all quilts and quilters with a whole new appreciation !!!!

EMMA'S CRAFT TABLE

I love working on things for my grandchildren, whether I'm sewing, crafting or re-doing furniture for them I can channel my inner child and be a little whimsical.  It was so much fun to dig out some children's furniture from my "garage stash".

I wasn't certain what I would do with them, but after sitting for a few days and a trip to Joann's for some fabric I had all the inspiration I needed.  I decided Emma needed a little crafting table of her own, I can also see a lot of "tea parties" and picnics happening.  Once I got to cleaning the table I realized the top was a hard counter top surface, so redoing it wasn't really an option, the stools were originally chairs, but missing a lot of pieces, so with this green color in mind I went on the search for the perfect fabric to re-fashion the chairs into stools.  I wanted something durable and easy to clean.  I headed straight for the oil cloth section at Joann's but there was nothing that suited me.  As I was wandering around the store looking at different options, I spotted the perfect fabric.  It is baby PUL fabric, used mostly for diaper covers.  What could be more perfect and the color was going to work perfectly with that green top.

 

I was now inspired to mix some paint to match the colors on the fabric.  I decided on the blue and after mixing a few colors I came up with a color that appears I went to the paint store with my fabric and had them match it. 

 

 

I cleaned, glued,  painted, added a coat of poly, padded and covered some stools and I have taken this dreary little table and chair set from "DRAB"

 

 

To "FAB"

 

 

and ready for many hours of fun !!!!!