More Contact Paper !

Covered more STUFF with Dollar Tree contact paper.

These buckets are a few years old, from Ikea. Fintorp series I think.

Covered this chicken broth can with it. Added a bow.

 I think this can had green beans in it. It sits on my cutting table - I didn't want anything really too tall. this can is short & squat. I've accidently hit it a few times & have not knocked it over.



Pillowcases

I did some machine embroidery on a set of pillowcases for a friend. I gave them to her for Christmas - & she has already opened them - so I'm OK to post them on here!


I had originally tried to put this embroidery on pillowcases made in that magic tube technique - but I could not get the design lined up properly. then I bought pillowcases & unpicked all the stitches on the hems - couldn't use those because I could not get all the needle holes out of the fabric. What to do? What to do?? So I bought a flat sheet, washed it in hot water - dried it in a hot dryer , tore it up, marked my centers & embroidered my little heart out.


I used a borders design from Country Needle (dot net) that is sewing themed. It's a "redwork" design & it seemed a little thin so I embroidered the designs twice. My friend's favorite color is BLUE. So BLUE thread instead of red. I also embroidered BOTH sides of the pillow cases. 2 different designs. That way both sides are usable & pretty. Not just ONE.


These turned out really nice & since I still have SHEET left over? I'm going to make a set for myself. LOL.


I can not figure out how to rotate the photos  - excuse the shadows. I was taking these pictures after 10PM


M

Ikea Trofast Unit

I bought this Trofast unit from Ikea. I had it delivered to the house. I won't do that again. Only because the bottom corners got a little mangled. It's not noticeable, because I have the munched parts facing the wall. I prefer to GO to Ikea & get my stuff. Better experience!

This Trofast unit is used a lot in children's rooms. The drawers hold a LOT. You can get drawer covers for them, as I did. This is the tallest Trofast unit. If I had this in a playroom, or child's bedroom, I would definitely secure it to the wall. I only have ONE complaint about this unit. No back. It seemed slightly wobbly .... so I had my husband cut a 1/4" piece of plywood & we used a pneumatic brad nail gun to secure the plywood to the unit.

 

Of course I had to girlly it up some! Here it is sans shelf paper.

I cut the shelf liner paper about 3.25" inches deep & left it the 18 inches wide. At 18 inches, the liner paper does NOT go to the middle of the sides of each drawer. Only just barely around the sides. But it looks better that way then just cutting it to fit the fronts of the drawers.

In this photo you can see that the back (plywood that we installed) is papered as well. I got lucky, the plywood was 18 inches wide!  I really like how this sets off the unit. You sure CAN NOT see it when the drawers are in, but it gives it a little unexpected detail.

Putting a back on this unit also keeps the drawers from sliding all the way against the wall. Now they all only go back the exact same amount of space & line up at the front just perfect. I can not stand stuff not being level, or inconsistent! So putting a back on this Trofast unit solved more than just a few of my little ticks!!

Cardboard Magazine Holders

I have a LOT of patterns. When I get my closet (in my new sewing room) I will have a shelf with just these magazine holders on it. Filled with my patterns. Well , they are pretty boring. So I trolled around on Pinterest & found a few ideas to cover them. With shelf liner paper.

I bought a bunch of these holders at Office Depot on clearance. I think I got like 36? Something like that. $1.99 for 3. They were on clearance because they are being discontinued.

I used a black & white toile shelf liner paper from the Dollar Tree. Each roll? $1.00 ! They are not large. Not for $1.00 !  18 inches X 54 inches per roll.  

I also put a little rectangle of chalk board paper right where the white blank space was. I failed to get a photo. But in the very first picture, where the white label box is? That's where I have the chalk board label.

This toile really ties the black & white theme together. I bought a bunch of rolls!!!

Shirt Quilt #2

9 patches. I'm making them scrappy, so no speed cutting in sets. 9 little 1.5" squares. I only do like 20 at a time because they are pretty boring & my hands start cramping up!

4 rows done, 5 to go! A piano key string border to go too! The angle of the string blocks is RANDOM, so if you're looking for a rhyme or reason of how they are set? Don't waste your time. Because there is not one!

This photo makes the blocks look so washed out. it must have been the lighting. I like this quilt best so far of the "shirts".

Shirt Quilt #3 / Only Half Way

Accountability people. That's what this post is.


Pattern is free from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website. I think she calls it Mountains Majesty. It's a Delectable Mountains variation. Whatever. It's an easy pattern. Easy to screw up too. I honestly don't think I have enough contrast between MY lights & darks, but it sure shows up fine in these pictures.


Cool. Works for me!


This is only HALF done. I need 7 more rows of 14 blocks each. Then I don't know if I'll leave it with NO borders, or if I'll put more Mountain blocks on, as the border. We'll see how enthusiastic I am when I get to that point! Here it's seen on a queen sized bed in our spare room. it currently touches the edge of each side of the BOTTOM of the quilt beneath it. Edge to edge on each border.

It's possible, I'll put my Shirt Quilts on hold thru Christmas, as I have SO MUCH to get done! I am trying to get some ornaments sewn for my daughters I am using the patterns from MMMCrafts, the "12 Days Of Christmas" series. She has only published thru 7:


http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html




I started last year & did a whole ONE ornament. I want to better than that this year. When I complete any, I'll post those as well.


As Always, Talk To Y'All later!
M

Shirt Quilt #1

This is the first quilt that I have finished. Made from men's cotton button up shirts. The green was a sheet.


It measures 89" X 104" ( I think. I measured it last night, wrote it on a sticky note & pinned it to the quilt top - but I simply can't remember what it is exactly!) It is, as yet, un-quilted. I am trying to use a flannel sheet as the backing & I need to make that flat sheet larger by adding strips of the fitted sheet to it. Still working on that.

I should have taken the picture with it on the bed. But I didn't. Oh well.

I wanted to knock a few of the "Shirt Quilts" out before I resume my unfinished projects again. That way, I'm not rushing to have something for the show next October.


M

November. Already !

Wow. I'm a rotten blogger! It's been awhile since I've even thought about writing a post. Rest assured - I have been busy.


My daytime job has had some major new programs rolled out. Change is difficult. Necessary, but confusing. My EXACT job is changing. Morphing in to other things. Maybe bigger & better. Maybe not. I don't want to dwell on what might be pessimistic or negative. So I'll leave this subject with this end. this post isn't about my daytime job - just musings about why I have been so absent lately. Also - it's weighed heavy on my mind and my heart that a very dear friend of mine, her husband died in October. It's been rough for her. and the whole situation really hits close to home.


I HAVE been sewing. Lot's of sewing actually. In September, at my quilt guild meeting, I had suggested the theme & name of the October 2017 Quilt Show that my guild puts on. Well the theme was well received, but I also , sort of volunteered to chair the show. Yah. I did that. The theme (or name) of the Quilt Show for 2017 ???? "The Shirt Off My Back" You know....quilts made from shirts. Cotton shirts, T-Shirts...etc. Leave it to me to suggest a theme for which I have NO QUILTS!


Making quilts from men's shirts is a LOT of work! I have bought all my shirts from Goodwill. Mostly on the 99 cent days. Or the 50% off color of the day. Some have been incredibly difficult to cut up, such nice quality. But for 99 cents, I didn't have too much heartburn. I bring them home, wash them in hot water. Dry them in a hot dryer. Then remove buttons & cuffs & collars. I have a nice collection of shirt buttons now! then I remove the seams.


I have officially completed ONE  Rail Fence quilt from shirts & I am working on 2 more.  I made a Teddy Bear from a shirt too. He's so cute.


I am not going to post photos of my shirt quilts, as I want what I make to be a SURPRISE next year at the show.


I know one thing is for sure..........I am SO GLAD that I don't have to make all my quilts from repurposed clothing. It's very, very VERY time consuming!


So.........Once I have these 3 quilts completed, I will resume my pile of unfinished projects.


M

Red White & Blue - Lady Of The Lake #2 (#2 in finish for the month & #2 as in it's the same as another one!)

This quilt is the reverse colors of a quilt I made in March of 2011. This is a traditional Lady Of The Lake pattern - but I used "Belle Meade" by Red Crinoline Quilts for this one. In 2011 I made all the HST's for both quilts, but I only finished the one with red borders in October of 2011 - you can see THAT quilt in THIS post.  Where the 2011 quilt is RED, the 2016 quilt is BLUE. Red White & Blue being my favorite colors never gets old for me!

I finished putting the borders on this blue one over a week ago - I don't remember when I finished putting all the blocks together & setting them. The blocks maybe before I broke my leg (July 2015) and setting them maybe after I broke it...I don't remember zactly - but it's done nothing but rain for nearly 2 weeks (as evidenced by our VERY green grass!) and it's so big, I wanted to lay it out on the lawn. As you see it here, it is unquilted - the lawn is also not flat - our yard slopes.

As does most all Tennessee.

Had to get a shot of my baby Bourbon! I was afraid he'd get on the quilt! I got lucky. He didn't.

I love this pattern. You think? I mean this IS #2 !

This yellow sticky note says 105"x122"

All these finishes! I love it!

(Trying to clear up some of my un-finished projects!)

M

Pineapple Sherbert 60"X87"

I bought the fabric probably 10 years ago.


I started the quilt March of 2016. It was supposed to have 12" blocks, cut with a specialty Pineapple Ruler by Possibilities. I chose to use the paper foundations from Edita Sitar's pattern On Eagles Wings. I like the smaller blocks.


Having bought the fabric SO long ago I was so scared that I would end up short. Some of the strips are pieced! I eeked out every bit I could. There is literally only teeny scraps left.


I still have about 22 blocks to tear the paper off the back!


(and the borders MIGHT be a little wonky....But I'm ok with that!)

Sewing Room Cutting Table

On Saturday 7/09 we tackled creating my cutting table for my new sewing room. I only had a picture off pinterest as my inspiration & I'm pretty sure that they had used IKEA cube units. As you can see from the packaging, I used Wal-Mart cube units. They were about $10 less than the IKEA brand. These boxes have been sitting in this spot for....um....a few months.

6 sets of IKEA casters. We only used one wheel off each set. You'll see why later!

In order to bring the cube units up tall enough to be comfortable to cut on, we built a frame from 2x4's. We connected the 2x4's with those Kreg Screws. Time consuming, but ultra strong!

Here is the frame with the metal runners that the casters attach to. The casters are designed to straddle the bottom of the unit & since we're putting the units back to back we didn't need the 2nd caster. so we chopped off the end with a metal grinder & then drilled an additional hole

Here you see the great (ha!) cutting job we did & the additional screw holes.

 

The table is too wide to fit through the door, we assembled it in my sewing room. I painted the 2x4 frame a high glass white & we screwed the frame into the units. There is actually nothing holding the units to each other!

Table top made from oak plywood, edged in oak. The edging is about 1/16th higher so that my cutting mat doesn't slide off.

We used little "L" brackets to attach the table top to the cube units. I need more Command Hooks so I can hang more rulers on the ends of the cube units where there are no baskets.

View from the hallway door.

Perfect!

This little project took slightly longer to construct than I anticipated, but it came out EXACTLY how I envisioned it! I am really glad that I chose to have the casters. I can push it out of the way or up against the other wall units. Right now, it's perfect where it is.

Have a Great Day!

M

Try , Try & Try Again!

How many times do you have to use a different holder to get a wire pantry shelf to stay in a door?????

Pick me! Pick me! I know the answer.....3 times.

Yep 3 times. 3 different methods. 3rd time's a charm.

I wanted these 8 shelf wire pantry things for the inside of the closet doors in my sewing room. I got them from Home Depot. I don't want to put holes in the door, so I used the outdoor Command Hooks for cords. I figured since there were 16 hooks holding the wire shelf to the door there's no way it would come off. I was wrong. Strike one. While the hooks held the wire shelf to the door I could NOT put anything on the shelves. The whole thing fell off the door. In. The. Middle. Of. The. Night. Yah. That! Made me angry! So I pondered some & decided I would use the Command Hooks for hanging pictures on the wall. The strips wouldn't stick to the wire. So? I glued them on. With Gorilla Glue. Well guess what? Strike 2. The strips would not stick to the other strips. So? What am I going to do? Well.......if I want those shelves in the doors I will HAVE TO drill holes & use toggles. I figure it's MY house. I'm living in it. I won't be taking them down.

No strike 3. It's working & I loaded her up!!

I still have the other door to do.

Ironing Board In My New Sewing Room

This is the "ironing station" in my new sewing room. The ironing BOARD is not new. I recovered it for the 4th time. I am pretty sure that THIS time around there are more staples in it than the 3 other times combined! I used my pneumatic upholstery stapler this time & it only took me around 40 minutes to compete the whole board.

So let me give you the breakdown of what you are seeing!

The cube storage base table is an 8-Cube IKEA Kallax unit. The 8 drawers in the bottom 4 cube spaces are 4 IKEA drawer inserts. My opinion is that if you bought those drawer inserts to use the drawers for clothing you have made a mistake! While they are PERFECT for my sewing room? They are very shallow & since they are inserts, they don't go the full 15.5" deep. Again, PERFECT for sewing notions! The knobs on the drawers were a bright silver little pencil shaped thing. I replaced them with IKEA kitchen knobs. The new knobs match everything better. The 4 big baskets are from Wal-Mart. They are the Better Homes & Gardens line, Philadelphia Basket - Medium. These baskets fit the cube really well & are more roomy than the IKEA baskets were.  

The buckets on the rod, while an IKEA product, are not new. Same as I had upstairs in my old sewing room. The shelf ABOVE the buckets IS new. I wanted a task light & somewhere to mount my radio. There are now 4 smaller baskets on that shelf (not pictured).  

In order to get the ironing "station" to the right height, we built a 2"x4" base - painted high gloss white - and IKEA casters. Then topped with the ironing board. We screwed in runner type boards under the plywood ironing board to keep it centered on the Kallax cube unit. It hangs over farther on the front than the back. The IKEA cube unit is 58" long & 15.5" deep. The ironing board is 60" long & 25" deep. Once I got it where I wanted I screwed thru the runner (on the back side) & into the cube unit with about 3 drywall screws. Keeps it from moving. I put the casters on for 2 reasons. #1 to bring it up to counter height & #2 in case I want to move it. I'm NOT likely to be moving it, but it sure will be easier to move WITH casters, than without!

 

I ran an extension cord along the back side of the cube unit & secured it with Command Hooks for outdoor lighting. Little clear clips. The plug was on the left & I am right handed, so that's why the iron cord looks like it plugs in to the cube unit, it doesn't - I used command hook Velcro picture hangers to adhere the extension cord to the unit.  I also used Command Hook cord "corral" hooks for the surge protector plug. Previously I'd have to bend over & turn off the surge protector. I plug EVERYTHING into the surge protector & then just turn it off & off everything goes! So this time I mounted it on the wall & I don't have to try & turn it off with my foot, or bend over. I just click the on/off switch at arm height. Sure like THAT feature!

It's still a work in progress. I have mountains of stuff to still move into my new sewing room, but it's a slow go. I don't have a deadline, and I'm OK with that!

Happy Sewing Y'all!

M

More Cube Storage

Still working on the construction project & getting into my new sewing room. I wanted a cube unit for under the window. Sort of a window seat . IKEA does not make a 3 cube unit, 4 is their smallest & would really be too long for how I want to use it. Better Homes & Gardens has a 3 cube unit thru WalMart.

In March I ordered the white 3 cube unit on the WalMart site-to-store web-site. They told me white was no longer available - do I want it in another color or to cancel the order? I want it in white so I cancelled the order. WalMart also said they were discontinuing the BHG cube line as well as the baskets I had been buying. Bummer.

In April I ordered the same 3 cube unit from not one but TWO different vendors on Amazon. Both canceled. No white available. One of them emailed me back saying YES it is available in white do I still want it? Yes. I do. 3 days later...guess what? They are wrong. No white ones available.

Last week I was in a WalMart in Nashville & they had about a dozen of the baskets that I had been buying. Remember now, WalMart said they are discontinuing them. I had been in Austin TX this month & bought 18 of them, so I no longer needed any but it got me to thinking...if they have the baskets back, maybe I can score a 3-cube unit in WHITE. Right? What's the worst they can say? No. Right?

So....later that day , at home , I get on the WalMart website & BINGO they have them! I placed my order. Fully expecting that it would be canceled. Well I picked it up this week & assembled that sucker.

This little 3-cube jobbie in WHITE must be the Holy Grail of cube units!

It is slightly brighter white than the IKEA cube units, and the casters ARE from IKEA. But it all looks GREAT to me.

I'm a Happy Camper now! I actually bought a bench seat from Bed Bath & Beyond after my Amazon orders & the bench fit nice in the spot, but the cube spaces were too small for my baskets. Now that I have what I really want, I'm not returning the bench to BB&Y I'll just give it to my daughter.

I NOW have all the pieces & baskets that I need (WANT) for my new sewing room! I will need to make a cushion for the top of the "window seat". Not happening right now.

M

New Sewing Room

My sewing room is not really a ROOM. I have an area of our family room in the upstairs area of our house. I occupy about a 3rd of it. It s a great space - but of course I have some issues with it. The pros of being in the family room are of course that I can BE WITH the family (when it's just more then Prince Charming & Me) while I'm sewing. But as we have aged, Prince Charming can't hear the TV over my sewing machine. Any of them. The cons can go on & on as well - because the TV & computer are in the family room - I am easily distracted & end up watching one screen or the other & NOT sewing even when sewing was the plan.  I am spreading more & more in this sewing room "area" because there is not any defined lines of where the "room" stops! and I can't stand seeing the mess when I'm NOT sewing - no door to close. Can't really cook while I'm sewing because it's up a flight of stairs & I can't hear anything in the kitchen....blah blah blah...yadda yadda yadda....So I hatched an idea to move my sewing room downstairs into one of the spare bedrooms.  

for Christmas 2015 Prince Charming bought 2 of the IKEA Kallax wall units with 25 cubes each. While I'm not moving into my new sewing room for a few months - I really wanted to see the units up! I rearranged the bedroom furniture & the Princess helped me assemble the wall units. the 25 cube units are 6 foot tall by 6 foot wide. Monsters. Wonderful storage though!!! they have to be assembled on the floor like you see in the picture below. So glad I had a mallet.

 Here are the 2 side by side

These baskets are from WalMart. They are the LARGE Philadelphia wire baskets in the Better Homes & Gardens line. They are larger & more roomier than the IKEA baskets & have an integrated chalk board in the front & back. @ $10 each it took me a few months to get the number I needed! If you hunt them now - good luck. I have been buying these since November of last year & now they are getting scarce. I was not able to order them "site-to-store" , not sure why - but it wasn't an item the offered to do that with. Trust me when I say I scoured all of Middle Tennessee to find this many! and I actually need about 8 more for my cutting table that Prince Charming will be making from me from 3 of the 4-cube units.   

 REALLY love this look! that little bin tower in the far right is another IKEA storage system. the Trofast series I think. I got a tower & the plastic drawers. I LOVE this one as well!

 At 6 foot tall - I'll probably only put stuff on the top that I won't use on a regular basis. Here are 2 of my 4 Singer Featherweights!

Not pictured is another Kallax wall unit with 8 cubes - I already have the baskets (in the 8 cube unit) filled with all my quilt kits. The baskets are holding roughly 3 times the amount that the plastic storage bins I have been using. I am also putting them in clear plastic bags. Labeled of course!

There is not (currently) an IKEA in Tennessee. One is supposed to open in the fall of this year in Memphis. Which is 4 hours drive from me! The closest IKEA is in Atlanta  Georgia. Nope, I didn't drive there either! There is a business here in Nashville called ModerNash & the make a weekly trip to IKEA. Yes, they mark it up - but there is a LOT of stuff that IKEA will not ship. They also carry some of the more popular products in stock. I didn't even have to ORDER the 8 cube unit. They had it in stock! ModerNash is only like 15 minutes from my office too! So score!

We are not losing a bedroom - In case you wondered, we are turning one of the unfinished rooms beside are family room into a 4th bedroom & 3rd bathroom. Having another bedroom won't matter so much as that bathroom will! So until we complete that project I can't fully move into my NEW sewing room as I don't have anywhere to put the bedroom furniture.  

Talk to Y'all later!

M

Wallet - It's quilting Fabric - So? It counts!

I have 3 wallet patterns & this one seemed the least intimidating. So it was first. Add to that? Someone was kind enough to walk me thru the steps last month while I was at a quilt show.

I really REALLY like how it turned out! I made 3 so far. One for each of my girls & then this one for me. I have some RED batik fabrics that I'm going to make another one for myself.

Front View

Side View

Opens & Lies Flat

Pocket - Holds my checkbook

Another Pocket - I shove receipts in here !

Zippered Pocket

Nice Size!

The hardest part of this project  - well 3 things actually - all the pieces are very similar in size.

#1 Labeling is my best friend. No way I could have done it without labeling the pieces!

#2 - Buying the clasps. they want $8.99 plus tax for these suckers! I'm cheap. Knew I could find them cheaper. I did. On Etsy. From China $3.20 each. Worked out to be $4.20 each with shipping & it took like 15 days to get here from there. If you would save $5.69 on EACH clasp you'd wait 2 weeks too! (I'm going to be showing a few of my friends how to do these wallets too so I ordered a dozen!)

#3 - I bought some of this specialty fabric that is infused with some sort of metal to deter tech theft of the cards. It's EXPENSIVE !!! $25 a yard. But you only use a little piece - so it will go a long way. You can't iron or wash that metal security fabric either. Personally? I don't know if it works or not. But if it does it was a good idea. If it don't? I wasted my money!

when I make a few of the other ones from the patterns I have hoarded I'll be sure to post them here. I have bought some really pretty fabrics (definitely out of my comfort zone) that are NOT Civil War Re-pro's. I know! That's totally not like me at all.

Y'All have a great day! The sun is shining here in Middle Tennessee today & it's gorgeous!

M