Salvation Army Hutch

I got this hutch for $47.00 at our local Salvation Army.  I got lucky and caught it at a 50% sale. In it's original state it was not bad but just looked somewhat outdated.  I sanded it down and primed it and then painted it a very pale turquoise blue and then put a Burnt Sienna glaze over it. I did not put the glaze on the inside because I wanted the inside to be darker. I also painted the original knobs and pulls and put the glaze on them as well. The glaze does not look orange in real life like it does in the photo. I think it turned out awesome - espeically for a first time project. It replaced  the generic hutch that I bought at a thrift store when we got married 17 years ago. That hutch is currently being painted pale pink and will replace the ugly Oak Express shelves currently in my daughter's room. That project was a little more labor intensive because I had to do some things to make it look like it belongs in a girls room and not in a dining room.  It's almost done and I will be posting photos soon.

Hello Floyd

Meet the newest member of our family ~ Floyd Walnut ~ we adopted him Saturday evening. They say time heals all wounds and apparently so does a new kitten.  I was planning on waiting a while before looking for another cat/kitten. However, we all decided that maybe we should look.  I'm glad we did, he is very sweet and laid back. Right now he has an upper respiratory infection and we have to give him meds every day.  I think that once he feels better he might be more active and play more.  Oh, and he got the middle name of "Walnut" because that we his name when we adopted him and we felt he should keep it as part of his name.  We got him at the Denver Dumb Friends League  I highly recommend them if you are looking for a new pet.

Granny Square Love

It took me all winter and most of the summer to make this blanket. I don't really crochet that slow but I only worked on this blanket while waiting in the car to pick up my daughter from kindergarten for a total of 15-20 minutes each day. It's all wool and very heavy. Not too bad for my first try. Some squares turned out somewhat larger than others so I just sprayed water on the larger squares and threw the blanket in the dryer to shrink up a little bit. Worked like a charm! Gotta love wool.

Furniture Projects

Our church had a "Really Really Free Garage Sale" today and they had so much cool stuff. I got this love seat for FREE! There was a matching one but someone else snagged it before I could so I made sure to get this one. I plan on painting it either white, black, Celery green or a light teal, I have not decided yet and I will also cover the custions with a much more modern fabric with celery green, tan and a teal print. I want to try and sell it but I know I'm gonna want to keep it for myself. I do not need more furniture in this house!
And about a month ago I bought this oak shelf at good will - $14 bucks plus $10 in spray paint = a much needed shelf for my kitchen. While painting this I did figure out why I never see painted oak pieces - oak is a real pain to paint and seemed to just soak up the paint even with primer on it. Its not the best painting job but it came out ok.

Floor Pillow

I found a tutorial to make these floor pillows HERE at Living With Punks. Since this was a trial run I just used some sheets I found at Salvation Army. I made two and my kids love them. I think they need to be stuffed a little tighter and they look lumpy but I think that is because the material I used is thin. Probably if I used decorator fabric the lumps from the stuffing would not show up as much. The 4 year old girl that I watch everyday wants me to make her a skirt out of the striped material. The stripes are totally her and I will post a photo when I get it done. :)

New "old" furniture for Gracies Room

The headboard came from Goodwill and it was $24.99, the posts and top part are wood and the center is laminated wood. It is a very heavy piece and is stamped "Made in America" on the back - you rarely see that statement anymore! I forgot to take a before photo but trust me, it looks much better painted antique white. The dresser I got about 5 years ago at a garage sale for 20 bucks and it has been setting in Grace's closet and it was funky blue color with red painted knobs - quite ugly. And finally the mirror above the dresser is something I picked up at a garage sale about 16 years ago for $5.00. I'm not an expert at painting furniture but I am learning fast and even though some of the paint bubbled when I put the protective coating on - I was able to fix it somewhat and I think it came out pretty good for a first try.

Mental Block

I want to make SOMETHING - anything but I am having a block. I want to sew something or scrapbook or make a card, or knit or crochet but I can't get motivated.

So here I sit - drinking a Pina Colada while I try and get motivated. Hmmm, don't think that colada is gonna make me any more energetic.

Fabric Pinwheels

My big bare teal wall in my guest room finally has something on it! I found a free pattern/instructions HERE and made them today. The hardest part of making them was deciding what fabric combo to use. Instead of glueing down the corners to the center I punched a hole in the corners that would be glued down and I punched a hole in the center of the pinwheel and then I put a brad through all the layers of the corners that get turned in to the center and then but that same brad through the hole in the center of the pinwheel. Once I find some cool buttons I will hot glue them over the brad in the center. To attach the pinwheels to the wall, I took clear push pins and put them under each folded sections of the pinwheel and stuck it to the wall. Clear as mud? The largest pinwheel is 18 inches, the next size down is 12 inches the two bottom ones are 9 inches and the smallest is 6 inches.

I also made the throw pillows on the bed - but not today, I'm fast but not THAT fast! lol

I Spy With My Little Eye...

A tutorial! I found a tutorial to make I Spy bags at "Craftiness is Not Optional" . I have made two so far and they are very easy to make. I would suggest looking at places like Oriental Trading Company for the little goodies to put in the bags. I used left over toys from around the house and a few things I found at Hobby Lobby and Big Lots.

My machine had a hard time sewing the vinyl and the fleece until I figured out that when sewing with the vinyl facing up was making it stick to the sewing foot. So i sewed the 2nd one with the vinyl down and the fleece facing up and it sewed like a dream. Click HERE to go to her blog.

Can you say Ugly?

I have been wanting to make my daughter a pajama bag. I searched patterns at the fabric store and the internet and came to the conclusion that there just is not much out there. There were several rather scary looking clown bags. I found this vintage cat on Etsy.com and ordered it. The pattern was hard to put together and the cat came out really UGLY! I'm just stubborn enough to try it again but I need to think about how I can change it so the pieces fit together better and so it's actually cute. My daughter liked it or else she was just too kind to say anything negative - lol.

From Foggy to snowy in just a matter of days

Welcome to life in Colorado!

From regular old wool sweaters to fabulous felted wool sweaters all in one day!
Now, what to make with them?








I also got some nice buttons off the sweaters and I felted the seams to see how they would turn ou. I think I might be able to find a use for the seams because they felted up pretty tight.

More sightings of Indiana Jones

I have been finding Indiana Jones is strange places sround my house, so I have started taking pictures every time I find him.



I finally got this throw done. It turned out quite nice. I'm thinking some for Christmas presents but only to those I know appreciate this kind of thing. Nothing is more annoying/frustraiting that to spend hours making something for someone only to have them toss it aside like yesterdays garbage. The backing to this throw is some heavy weight material I had on hand, I think it needs ot be tacked down to the front of the throw but I don't want to quilt it. Anyone got ideas on what would work? I went a little heavy on the leave applique, I tend to do that when I like something.

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A productive weekend...

I knitted this weekend, I'm making a felted wool tote. It's my own design so it may not turn out like I hope it will. I'll let you know. I also worked on that Bucilla Christmas project - such a pain, but it will be cute when I get it done. The little seed beads keep coming lose - it's gotta be the felt, it has too much give.

And finally, I started on a wool throw. In a dark corner of my basement are piles of felted wool sweaters just waiting for a project. This is the first one, if turns out the way its supposed to then there will be more for Christmas presents. The idea came from here I bought her book "Warm Fuzzies" at Hobby Lobby about a week ago. Hobby Lobby made me mad because they changed their coupons and you can't use them on books or magazines anymore. I still bought the book - lol.

SNOW

Yes friends and neighbors - its snowing here in Denver.

I walked into my bedroom yesterday and found this - Indiana Jones hanging upside down from my dresser doorknob - To bad it was not the real deal - lol.

Random photo

This is what I found when I opened my freezer door last night. Should we eat them for dinner or are they dessert? My son's explantion? He likes his blankets cold when he goes to bed.



P.S. Please do not look too closely at my very messy freezer, It is on my to-do list to clean out. I am normally not such a slob or at least I try not to let anyone see that side of me lol.

Shrine to the Broncos Gods

This is what I found on our couch last Saturday just before the Broncos game - a shrine. My son, who is nine, had this all set up so he could watch the game. What can I say? He loves his team!

Market Bag...

This is my little effort to start going green. I bought the pattern off Etsy.com and I really like the bag. It was a very easy bag to make but the directions weren't exactly clear in some places and I had to tear it apart twice because some steps were left out. It's a good thing I have some experience in sewing - lol. The bag is fairly large and would be good for boxed items or bread but not heavy items like cans. I am going to see if I can downsize it a litte.



The pattern recommended that material from something like an old denim dress be used, but that just sounds a little too plain; so I dug out some old tablecloths that belonged to my grandmother and used one of them to make the bag. She was a thrifty person so I think she would appreciate how I recycled the tablecloth.