Satisfaction and Sewing

It seems like lately the song in my head has been "I...can't...get... no-o... sat-is-faction" (complete with Mick Jagger's voice and inflection,) "but I try...and I try...and I try - I can't GET NO...."  I'm happy to report that things are finally different today!  Thank heavens!

In the interest of full disclosure, my husband and I just returned from a week of warm weather, sans 4 year old son, which undoubtedly had a lot to do with my shift in perspective.  Like most parents, we love our little guy immensely, but we also need a break now and then to allow that love to flourish.  Being pregnant (tired, nauseous, victim to random aches/pains) during this extremely snowy MN winter had also taken its toll on my psyche, so the change of climate was a Godsend on many levels. 

Organizing my ideas and fabrics so I could start sewing for the new baby's nursery today, the satisfaction and contentment settled in as I began sewing my first project, a crib skirt.  The radio was on in my sunny new arts and crafts room, the space heater was cranking out warmth, and I was humming along on my good old White sewing machine, while the little guy happily kicked away in my abdomen.  I was right where I wanted to be, doing exactly what I wanted to be doing!  It was glorious!  It was a luxury - and one well worth the other luxuries we forgo in order to live without steady income from me.  It was a feeling of bliss to start giving shape to the ideas floating around in my head for this nursery.  Ahhhh, satisfaction....     

So what are these ideas, this master plan for decorating the nursery you may ask?  Now that we know it's a boy, I picked a theme of natural linen, ticking stripes, and chenille - call it rustic/country french perhaps?  I am using one of French General's new La Petite Ecole fabrics to pull together the neutral linen, cream, blues and reds of the tickings.  It's vintage typography shown here:

The fabric pictured above will be used to cover inexpensive IKEA bumper pads (incidentally, I purchased the fabric from uncommon yardage on Etsy.com if you're interested in buying some yourself.)  I got a roll of natural, decorator weight linen at a garage sale this summer for $4 (a steal) which I will use to sew a crib skirt.  The skirt will be trimmed with a wide band of cream and red ticking stripes at the bottom, also from the same garage sale.  See them pictured in the upper right corner of the photo below with my other lovely fabrics for the nursery.

My plan is to use the heavy, vintage, blue chenille bedspread I thrifted for covering the cushions of the gliding rocker in the nursery.  I am a sucker for chenille!  I think there's enough to also make a quilt for the crib, although babies don't really use a quilt, so maybe I'll just drape it casually somewhere in the room.  I think the glider's ottoman will be covered in the fine, pale blue stripe sitting on top of the chenille in the photo.  Ric rac, pom-pom ball fringe, and grosgrain ribbon are my choices for adding detail to pieces.  I can't wait to see how it all turns out!
 
I will sew a wall hanging to go above the crib - not sure of its design yet.  I'm toying with using the cream flannel squares and squares from all of the other fabrics to make a patchwork design fabric hanging resembling a quilt.  It would be mounted on a metal rod, ala French General's Kaari Meng in her book Home Sewn.  Or, I may sew giant letters saying, "bebe" or simply an "E" for our last name, to a large piece of linen backing and hang it behind an old window I have been dying to use in a project (the window would act as a frame.)  So many ideas!  Got anymore for me?
 
Finally, I will sew fabric liners from the various ticking stripes for the many baskets that will coral all of the baby supplies.  I will pull it all together with a deep barn-red colored rag rug and a cream woven rug with barn-red stripes.  (I have ideas for a mobile of sorts and some other accessories, but I need to get the basics sewn first and do a little painting - with zero VOC paint, of course.)  The journey has begun, my friends!  I'm happy to have you along for the ride. 
 
May your week hold a bit of satisfaction and contentment somewhere along the way... All my best to you ~J.

Mid-week Musings

Each day I think of writing a post, much like you think of a friend you haven't talked to in a long while, with the best intentions.  But before you know it - the day has passed and you've been swept away in its activities without reaching out.  Then I think, oh well...I guess I must be too busy living life to write about it.  What a wonderful problem to have!

We continue to make progress on the room shuffle in progress at our house, along with all of the organizational efforts surrounding it.  I spent part of Saturday making labels for all of Owen's newly purchased toy bins.  Each 2x4 shipping label has a photo of the toy and the name of the toy or collection that's in each bin.  Hopefully this simplifies clean up time when we have friends over or when mom isn't around to supervise clean-up.  Also, Owen is actually playing with his toys again now that all of the pieces are together in one spot and not scattered all over the house.  So far, so good!  Finally, it's a pleasure for me to walk into his room, or into our family room, and not see toys EVERYWHERE.  Ahhhh... A small piece of visual chaos tamed.  

Garage sales are over in Minnesota for the long, cold, winter.  However, a friend and I hit my local thrift store recently and I found this sunny chenille bedspread for the foot of my bed.  LOVE IT!  It's one of those items that makes me happy each time I see it, AND, it serves the purpose of giving our little terrier a place to lay when dad decides she gets to sleep with us instead of in her kennel.  Any good finds in your neck of the woods lately?

I hope this compact little post finds your day filled with fun and adventure (even if it just consists of running the necessary errands, he, he, he.)  We are off to start our day! ~J.

Loose Ends

I was re-reading some of my past posts yesterday and realized that I had a few loose ends to tie up!  So I ran around quickly and took a few snap shots.  Remember this chair from my July 11th post about a great estate sale I stumbled upon?  Here is the before and after. 

Before

After



The ticking I used on the seat was from my favorite thrift store.  The ticking is a versitile neutral blend of cream, white, black and gray - plus it looks french to me, which I love. And for those of you who wonder -yes, I truly do find uses for all the splendid finds I bring home.  

Here is a before and after of some wicker chairs I got at a garage sale for $5 each.  I wanted some casual seating outside our front door so friends and I have a place to sit while the kids ride bikes/trikes/scooters in the driveway.  The chairs look less stable than they are, due to a support frame built under the base.  I have purchased some fun Sunbrella brand fabrics on clearance with which to sew cushions, but that will probably wait until next summer since I hear freezing rain is on the way soon (boo!)

Finally, I promised a picture of my seasonal decor change in our main bath way back at the beginning of June (gulp.)  I love the Alexander Henry fabric as the focal point.  I originally wanted to stretch it over an IKEA fabric frame, but the remnant I bought was not quite the yard it promised so it didn't fit.  I improvised by stapling the fabric over a cork bulletin board.  I love it because I can reuse the fabric when it's no longer wall decor (which will be soon, as I'm busy coming up with a fall theme.)  A side note for those of you new to my blog - I do a super simple change of the decor in our main bath each season to keep things fresh (I get bored too easily.)  It's a small space with a neutral palette, so it's easy to move things around from other rooms of the house, such as the b&w daisy pics I stole from the entryway this time.  Different colored towels, rugs, maybe shower curtain and I'm done!  Since I rotate through the different colored towels and rugs I already own, it's very inexpensive to do and truly doesn't take much time at all.  Big reward for little effort - love it!!  It's something you could easily do yourself if you were so inclined.

Enjoy your Saturday, my friends!  Thanks for stopping by.  xoxo ~J

The Other G of Summer - Garage Sales

Good morning!  A week has already passed since my last post; so much for sharing garage sale finds a day after I shared our garden progress.  But then, if you can't do as you please with your blog, in what area of life can you enjoy such freedom?!  Tra, la, la, la, la.  This seems to be the theme of summer.  *big grin*

On to the meat of the post!  With the end of the week upon us and the prime garage sale days it brings, below are a few of my favorite finds from the summer.  But first, a little background - my mission in 2010 is to renew our home, brighten it up, and change our furnishings from "Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel circa 1999" to something more eclectic and casual with vintage touches sprinkled in.  I jokingly told our neighbor I'm on a mission to sell or consign every "new" piece of furniture we own in exchange for something comfortably used.  Along the way I'm incorporating fun fabrics, lots of ticking stripes, vintage light fixtures, and slip covers (for now - I'd love to replace our couch etc.)

You've seen the perfect little desk from a farmhouse yard sale earlier this summer, and the makeover of the $2.95 thrift store find, so here's the $5 table from my return trip to July's estate sale.  Ta-da!  The crock, books, and milk bottle holding the massive hydrangea are all garage sale finds as well.  I love this new corner of my dining room - much better than the tacky fake ficus tree that sat there for the past 4 years! 

Here is the $2 side table discovered at a neighborhood sale displaying the $1 quilt I found at the same sale.  I'm ashamed to say I've paid more for a glass drawer pull like the one on this table before!  All the table required was a little scrub down, and it was ready for use!

Finally, here are before and afters of the $5 chandelier that replaced our heavy black Home Depot chandelier.  It took some serious clean-up, reshaping, and 2 cans of "Canvas White" spray paint, but it looks great!  I only wish our Nikon was fixed so I could've gotten better pics.  (note: the little pink sticky notes are to mark which arms need re-wiring, as only 3 lights work for now, so turn a blind eye as I have.  Patience is NOT my middle name so I'd rather enjoy it as is for a while until my hubby has a chance to work on the wiring.)

Before

After

  There have been so many other treats and treasures from garage sales, estate sales and yard sales this summer.  I love it.  I love that it keeps the items someone else is done with out of our landfills.  I love the opportunity it's given me to teach O about money's value, spending it, and making choices about what we want.  Finally, I love the thrill of a gorgeous discovery and figuring out where it will fit into our home.  Happy hunting!

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it {or how my heart swells with Joy for $25}

Friday and Saturday yielded such outstanding, inspiring, exciting finds that simply had to pop in to share them with you!  

First, apologies for the crummy photography.  Our Nikon D40 took a tumble out of the back of the car a month ago and has yet to be repaired (or replaced? *Gasp*)  That leaves me with the little point and shoot camera which even in macro mode, doesn't produce very detailed pics.  This long apology is necessary because the photos just don't do this stuff justice I tell you, it's so great and I'm so inspired to begin transforming, creating, and incorporating it into our home and our life!!

Details of the finds: 
*One garage sale with 5 boxes of fabric found in a mother-in-law's attic, each scrap was $.25.  This sale was a block over from my house and I met a really cool mom of 3, so we're certain to meet again at the neighborhood playground that's also a block away.  Such a bonus! 
*One estate sale happened upon by accident on our way home from Farmer's Market yesterday morn.  As it was the final day of the sale, everything was 50% off!!

First the fabric:  This piece is 53x35 and begging to be stretched on a wooden frame and hung on the wall.  It's from Finland circa 1972 (and totally my colors - love that bright citrus!)

Here are the rest of my scavenged scraps----(can you see the little green critter at the base of the apple?!  Wish I had my good camera - ugh!)  What ideas spring to mind when you see this stack?

The estate sale gave me some new projects and a bit of whimsy for our expanding garden.  I dug the chair out of a corner in the basement, there was no price on it, and the worker's response was that he'd check on the price but couldn't imagine it would be worth much.  The result - I paid $3 and felt that it was indeed worth A LOT.  The white plant stand only needs to be cleaned up and filled with pots of flowers.  Next year I think I'll use it to grow herbs.  The side table/magazine rack will stay in its weathered state, but I will probably replace the glass top with something a bit more preschooler-friendly.  Either a fabric covered board, a brightly painted top, or maybe a rustic tiled surface?  Maybe this is my hubby's chance to try a mosaic?  What do you think? 

Finally, the textile pieces from the estate sale.  A couple of fun dresses that look to be a perfect fit for my friend Jen and her daughter (wish I could've gotten a better picture of each so you could see the rhinestone studs on the pink dress and the texture of the fabric on the red/white one), a soft linen pillow case embroidered with yellow flowers (my color!) a softly worn white mid-weight blanket for O's bed (reminds me of grandma's,) and a great quilt which was hiding under a cheesy pink satin bed set (only $3 folks!!)

Time to sign off the computer, close down its screen, and head outside!  Talk with you soon, friends!  Hope your weekend has been wonderful.  ~Joy