Pinterest Challenge #2

Pinterest Challenge #2
Well here I am with Week #2 of my self imposed Pinterest challenge. 

Since the 4th is Wednesday I wanted to make something special to share with a few friends and of course for myself. I found these cute pins on this site.

This is what her's looked like.

 Since I am all about using only what I have on hand I decided to check through my stash to see what I could come up with.  I didn't have any burlap so I used dropcloth fabric for the white and red pindot fabric  for the red.

 I drew out the circles, I found that was easier than cutting in squares and then into freehand circles. I also cut 3" circles out of thin cardboard, with a 1 1/2" circle cut out of the center.

Next I cut strips of 1/2" denim and covered the cardboard circles with strips of it, secured with hot glue. I then folded the circles of fabric in quarters and secured them with a drop of hot glue just to hold it in place. The red fabric was a bit too thin so I used two circles together to make them a bit more substancial.

Glue four of the blue pieces on in one corner.

 Then alternate with the red and white fabric. Five white, four red.

 Now it is all filled in, if you find gaps just add another piece until it is how you like it.

Of course you need stars so I added randomly placed white buttons on the blue pieces. I forgot to take a picture of the back, but I glued a pin back on and covered it with a small piece of denim to give it a finished look.

And there you have it, the finished pin. Thanks Michelle for such a great tutorial.

And here I am ready to celebrate in style.  I really like how big they are. At first I thought they were a bit too big, but I love how they seem to make a statement. Looks great on a denium jacket.

I am linking up to these great Parties:

Ruffled Skirts, Pinterest Challenge #1

I am giving myself a Pinterest challenge. Like a lot of you, I am a Pinterest Junkie. I have 83 boards and 5407 pins but never seem to get any of them finished or try out any of the ideas on there, so I am giving myself a challenge to complete or try one item I have pinned each week.

My first challenge was to make some cute ruffled skirts for my granddaughters. I found this great tutorial here.

My inspiration.

I started out with just some fabric I had on hand.

These are the skirts I created. Tanya's directions were very good, the only thing I would suggest is that you need to cut two of each size that she mentions. Anyone who is an experienced seamstress will know this right off, but those who are not may not know that until too late. Also I used a 1/2" seam instead of the 1/4" she suggested so if you do that you need to add 1/4" to all the measurements. I like a bit larger seam since sometimes if it is too small it can tear through.

I got these cute tags online from Pick Your Plum. Makes the skirts so much more special for my little granddaughters. I really enjoyed making these little skirts, they were so fast and easy and I could use up fabric I already had onhand. It was kind of fun trying different combinations. I think the next time I sew one I will try three different fabrics. Can't wait to see them on my little granddaughters.

I had a fun time and now off to create something else. Hummmmm wonder which one I will make next?
Sharing on these great blogs:

Memory Quilt for Granny

Wow it has been a long time since my last entry. I have had a busy couple of months. Hopefully I will be able to post more often now.

My siblings and I are putting together a quilt for my mother to celebrate her 81st birthday. Each of my siblings and as many grandchildren as wanted to sent me a quilt block and I set them into the quilt using a twist and turn method. My dear friend Linda suggested this since the quilt blocks were not all the same size. I also added a border using all the different fabrics, this is something different which I had never tried before. Linda will be quilting it for me and I will post again when I get it back. I am really happy with the result, I think my mother will love it as well.

Here is a bit of a close up. The center block is made up from my father's bib overalls which he always  wore. He passed away seven years ago and I wanted to also include him in the quilt. 

Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures, but I was in a rush to get the quilt done and off to be quilted. Need time to get it back and bound before our family reunion in August.

My Baby Boy is Back

Plane arrives

Stepping off plane

Check out the Luggage, totally worn.

With Mom and Dad

After two years away, my youngest son got home today from his mission to the Philippines.  He looks good, but a bit thin. Look at that big smile. He is a happy kid. And we are happy parents.

French Chair Part 3

I finally finished!! Happy Dance. It has taken me way too long to finish this project. But in my defence, I have had many other things going on in my life. Two babies born, trips must be made to spoil said babies, gift also must be made for beautiful babies. Love my babies. Anyway on to the rest of the post.

I originally had planned on covering this chair in drop cloth fabric, but then found this awesome fabric at Joanne's with 50% off so was affordable. Then I was going to trim it in an off white gimp but found the black in my stash and after doing it decided it was too much. However, after living with it for awhile decided I made the right choice, I love the contrast. Hope you do too.

So here is a recap, this is what it looked like before:

And now. YAY.

I am sharing on these blogs.

French Chair Part 2

It has been so long since I have posted. Can't figure out where the time has gone. But have had two grandsons and visited one since my last post. Now off to visit the second one. I have been working hard on this chair. It has not been an easy piece. I really thought it would just take me a just a few days and would be finished. The painting was the easy part. I bought it at a yardsale and the person I bought it from had taken all the fabric off to redo it herself and then didn't. So I did not have any way of knowing how to put it together again. So a word to the wise, always save the fabric when you take a chair apart and take notes on how it was put together to save yourself all the stress.

Just to refresh your memory, this is what it looked like before:

Some of you said you thought I should remove the old seat and stuffing and replace it. So glad I took your advice. Under this nasty thing I found,

This nasty thing. Some kind of grass or straw. And full of dust and who knows what else. 

 On top of this layer was some really nasty cotton batting, that grey stuff, which was also full of dust. 

And under it all was this nasty looking burlap with the springs poking through.

Into the trash with it all and on with some new foam and batting.

I used 2" foam and cut it out with a serrated knife, a bit larger than I thought I would need. Just in case I got it a bit small so I did have to do a bit of trimming, but that is always better to have it a little too big than too small.

I then added quilt batting over the foam to give it a bit more softness and to protect the foam.

Tacked that down with a few staples. 

Then on to the fabric. I got this great fabric at JoAnn's at 50% off with another 10% total purchase coupon. So it didn't cost too much. 

So far the hardest part has been figuring out how to put the back on. I have gotten this far and will post the finished product very soon, I promise. The biggest obstacle I am running into with this chair is the fact that the wood is very old and very brittle. I have broken a few chips out of the back stapling the fabric on. There isn't much space and with all the staples it is a real problem. I am hoping to figure out how to finish it off without breaking it further. So if any of you have any great suggestions I would love to hear them. I have checked out numerous websites such as MMS and feel I am heading in the right direction.