Wednesday, April 25, 2012
talk about indecisive
i realize i will never hear the end of this from Rundle, but i found a photo today that offers even more ammunition against me regarding my indecisiveness:
yeah, we lived with both lights for almost 2 weeks because (1) Nacho only had time to install 1 of the new lights when he got back from Moser's and (2) say it with me everyone.....i wanted to make sure i liked it! i know! how did i ever get married? a lot of booze and a double dare!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
i got Pot ting Bench
haha! you were thinking something else weren't you? shame on you!
after several weeks of a little weld here, a little weld there, Nacho finished my custom potting bench this past weekend. unfortunately i don't have any 'before' pics boooo. but the before was a combination of salvaged pallets sitting on top of salvaged landscape bricks. do you see the theme here? as proud as i was of my salvaged goodness, i just was not confident in it's abilities to withstand a flood & that is something we have to plan for in anything we do here. so beholdmy new potting bench!
i've got shelves for storage, a wire rack for hanging, & a wire grate (in the middle) for soil to fall through to a collection bin. pretty nifty eh?
i still get to shout out some slavaged goodness because the boards that we used for all 3 shelves are leftover pieces of our deck build. that stuff is pretty heavy on it's own, so this thing is unlikely to go anywhere & has already proven it can withstand a flood or two. the wire backing is leftover cattle/hog confinement wire from the gabions. i hate to waste anything.
so props to Nacho for a nice build & to moi for outstanding Management! now i'm free to get my garden on!
after several weeks of a little weld here, a little weld there, Nacho finished my custom potting bench this past weekend. unfortunately i don't have any 'before' pics boooo. but the before was a combination of salvaged pallets sitting on top of salvaged landscape bricks. do you see the theme here? as proud as i was of my salvaged goodness, i just was not confident in it's abilities to withstand a flood & that is something we have to plan for in anything we do here. so beholdmy new potting bench!
i still get to shout out some slavaged goodness because the boards that we used for all 3 shelves are leftover pieces of our deck build. that stuff is pretty heavy on it's own, so this thing is unlikely to go anywhere & has already proven it can withstand a flood or two. the wire backing is leftover cattle/hog confinement wire from the gabions. i hate to waste anything.
so props to Nacho for a nice build & to moi for outstanding Management! now i'm free to get my garden on!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
enlightened
technically we are still remodeling the kitchen. like many people, i could say we are "mostly" done & we are and have been for some time. and like most people, we still have that laundry list of little things to complete. you know, the stuff that never gets done.
my biggest frustration in this entire project was lighting. i was not at all prepared for how expensive lighting is. "shock" is not an adequate word to describe what i felt every time i'd find a light that i loved & then saw the price. i mean, i get it, lighting is important & you want to get it right, but good lord getting it right is expensive.
so i just kept collecting little samples & hoping for the right light to come to me
we have a fortunate friend in Brandi because she was able to get us our final dining room light at a good price. and while it was not my 1st choice, in the end, it really is the better choice! as chance would have it, i actually saw my first choice installed in the Barrington Beach House project on This Old House (sikp to scene 8 about 21:24 if you care), and while it's still a beautiful fixture, i'm much more pleased with our choice & think it's more appropriate for our space & style.
the other area i struggled with was the island. finding lighting that i love was never the problem. finding it at a price i was willing to pay was! okay, i can justify god knows what for a faucet, but $250 for a light fixture is just ridiculous right? yeah. so to the InterWebs i went! i follow several diy "mommy" blogs & got some great ideas. my best came from The Splurge or The Steal. i located a similar fixture at Lowes for $30 but, unfortunately, they didn't have a brushed nickel model. so some hammer spray paint later, i had these!
not bad. this got me by until i could find something more to my liking (style & price point). and it was Home Depot that came through for me at $99 each!
so i was not in complete love with this fixture, just a mild crush. but like all solid relationships, we started off friends & then something just kinda grew out of that. a little more googly googling & i found the standard height for a fixture over an island is 30", so of course, the hardware that comes with a light would be set for that that right? nay! our "out of the box" height was either going to be 27" or 33" - one was too high, the other too low! so thanks to our good friend Barry, we were able to cut the pipe & he tapped a new thread to get baby bear juuuust riiiight at 30".
so we have a "finished" product. def. finished = until i see something more shiny! actually,
we are in what i hope is the home stretch of lighting. we have LED light strips under the cabinets & that gives us good lighting for the bamboo counter tops. we recycled our old puck lights that once served as under cabinet lights, and now live on top of our cabinets for temporary up-lighting - i plan to replace those with LED strips just like the under cabinets.
however, we still need pot lights around the perimeter areas: stove, fridge, & dining shelving. you might notice in the pic above that we do have LED pot/spot lights in front of the windows, 3 to be exact, one for each window. in essence, it has come to this:
thanks to the IKEA online planner, i can at least attempt a lighting layout. items in yellow represent existing lighting (like the island & dining table). green represents lighting in question. see what i'm saying about 1-4? is it enough? too much? am i even close on spacing/positioning? i'm not too worried about 5-8. those will likely be spot lights like the ones currently in front of the windows. 6-8 highlight the shelves & the boxer art & 5 will highlight new boxer art for Baxter! so i'm down to 4 lights & then one more item off the check list - aka Home Stretch!
my biggest frustration in this entire project was lighting. i was not at all prepared for how expensive lighting is. "shock" is not an adequate word to describe what i felt every time i'd find a light that i loved & then saw the price. i mean, i get it, lighting is important & you want to get it right, but good lord getting it right is expensive.
so i just kept collecting little samples & hoping for the right light to come to me
so i was not in complete love with this fixture, just a mild crush. but like all solid relationships, we started off friends & then something just kinda grew out of that. a little more googly googling & i found the standard height for a fixture over an island is 30", so of course, the hardware that comes with a light would be set for that that right? nay! our "out of the box" height was either going to be 27" or 33" - one was too high, the other too low! so thanks to our good friend Barry, we were able to cut the pipe & he tapped a new thread to get baby bear juuuust riiiight at 30".
we are in what i hope is the home stretch of lighting. we have LED light strips under the cabinets & that gives us good lighting for the bamboo counter tops. we recycled our old puck lights that once served as under cabinet lights, and now live on top of our cabinets for temporary up-lighting - i plan to replace those with LED strips just like the under cabinets.
however, we still need pot lights around the perimeter areas: stove, fridge, & dining shelving. you might notice in the pic above that we do have LED pot/spot lights in front of the windows, 3 to be exact, one for each window. in essence, it has come to this:
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Post Attachment
i found this how-to today & since i already have an adobe.com account, figured i'd give it a shot. i've actually had plenty of uses over time for attachments to a blog post & can think of other places this could come in very handy!
for my first "test" document, i'll use something that has made me immensely happy on the worst of work days:
for my first "test" document, i'll use something that has made me immensely happy on the worst of work days:
Thursday, April 5, 2012
recovery
ahhhhh! got back into the pool this morning after almost 2 weeks away from it. i promised Nacho i'd wear ear plugs because i still can't quite hear, everything is still muffled in both ears. uggghhhh! i also promised to only do the kickboard, no actual swimming. and of course i stuck to that right? riiiiiiight! i did at least start out sticking to the plan (wink wink nod nod). so TheGirls (that's the retired ladies i swim with, not my boobies), were excited i was back & very curious about how i'd been - i just adore them. i foolishly told them about my promise to only kick board - i would pay for that later this morning.
as i said, i did start out keeping the promise. my trusty kickboard & my newish Zoomers & kicked away. i have this prominent bone on the top of both feet. i have no idea what it is called, but it does get aggravated if i wear tight shoes & my Zoomers were just that, tight because they are newish. so it became clear at about lap 13 that i was not going to get a mile in & i am OCD enough that i cannot swim less than that! soooo why not try a little breast stroke? i mean my ears were kinda getting wet just doing the kick board & putting my face in the water to replicate my usual freestyle breathing, so why not? there's where the promise went out the window. when it became obvious that the ear plugs were staying in on breast stroke, then why not try freestyle? and the promise was a memory at that point. i was so excited to keep my "deal" and still get my mile in! i did at least lay low enough that i didn't try any kick turns. i have a feeling my ear plugs would not have stayed in with turns - but really, i'm sure they do cuz don't people do this all the time? shhh we'll find out tomorrow.
i was so excited that (1) i got back into the pool, (2) i didn't get any water in my ears, and (3) i got back to see TheGirls.......who all threatened to tell Nacho i didn't keep my promise. and none of them were happy that i'd "pushed too hard" as far as they were concerned? did i mention how much i adore these women? not only are they just the best inspiration because the youngest is like 70 & they all swim or walk EVERY DAY, but they are like the aunts and grandmas i either never had or don't have immediate access to anymore. just the best. except that they are tattle tales! well, thank goodness for blogging, cuz i beat 'em to it!
oh, and weirdest part of all of this? so i'm done swimming, get out of the pool & remove the ear plugs......AND I DON'T EVEN NOTICE THE DIFF! it all still sounds the same ear plugs or not. awwwww when will this end?
as i said, i did start out keeping the promise. my trusty kickboard & my newish Zoomers & kicked away. i have this prominent bone on the top of both feet. i have no idea what it is called, but it does get aggravated if i wear tight shoes & my Zoomers were just that, tight because they are newish. so it became clear at about lap 13 that i was not going to get a mile in & i am OCD enough that i cannot swim less than that! soooo why not try a little breast stroke? i mean my ears were kinda getting wet just doing the kick board & putting my face in the water to replicate my usual freestyle breathing, so why not? there's where the promise went out the window. when it became obvious that the ear plugs were staying in on breast stroke, then why not try freestyle? and the promise was a memory at that point. i was so excited to keep my "deal" and still get my mile in! i did at least lay low enough that i didn't try any kick turns. i have a feeling my ear plugs would not have stayed in with turns - but really, i'm sure they do cuz don't people do this all the time? shhh we'll find out tomorrow.
i was so excited that (1) i got back into the pool, (2) i didn't get any water in my ears, and (3) i got back to see TheGirls.......who all threatened to tell Nacho i didn't keep my promise. and none of them were happy that i'd "pushed too hard" as far as they were concerned? did i mention how much i adore these women? not only are they just the best inspiration because the youngest is like 70 & they all swim or walk EVERY DAY, but they are like the aunts and grandmas i either never had or don't have immediate access to anymore. just the best. except that they are tattle tales! well, thank goodness for blogging, cuz i beat 'em to it!
oh, and weirdest part of all of this? so i'm done swimming, get out of the pool & remove the ear plugs......AND I DON'T EVEN NOTICE THE DIFF! it all still sounds the same ear plugs or not. awwwww when will this end?
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
about last week
1 week ago today i celebrated my 43rd birthday. good god 43! to quote a movie, "you're really IN you 40's now". and i celebrated it in a style only i could.....NYQUIL SHOTS FOR EVERYONE!
yep, you heard that right. i managed to avoid the latest flu bug that has caught most everyone around me. nacho had it a couple of weekends ago & i missed it even in my own home. unfortunately, i think i unwittingly got it the Friday before when Cookie & i did our usual round at the nursing home. they'd been on a 2 week quarantine where we could not visit. we got the ok to come on the 23rd, and the following Sunday i didn't feel so good. i went to work on Monday & felt fine but by the afternoon i knew there was no way i going to be in the next day. the irony is, i'd considered taking a "sick" day for my birthday & hanging out with my girls from the pool. i have long had a theory that i don't fake sick days because karma would visit me & i'd actually be sick. guess what? meet karma because i rocked a 102 temp on my bday! this would not deter Nacho though. after playing his 2nd game in hockey playoff that same night, he came home and made me a cake. a cake that i could not see how i would ever eat given my state. but i did cuz he did. that's commitment people!
i remained in bed the entirety of last week and am only now "getting better". i use that term loosely because, unlike most people, my flu bug did not go respiratory, it went auditory. i sit here today with a double ear ,infection. WTF? i've never had an ear infection my entire life. not as a baby, not as a kid, not ever until now & in both ears. it was quite the surprise when i woke up last Thurs & couldn't really hear anything & then realized i could, it was all just incredibly muffled. that was nothing compared to the raging pressure/pain in my ears. so i'm on antibiotics until this Sunday. i'm hoping the muffled sounds & constant ringing will end soon. it made working today practically impossible. but i can say i have a new found respect for babies. i now truly understand why they are so miserable when they have an ear infection. i cannot imagine having to deal with this & unable to tell anyone what it is like or what i need. so if you have never had one & you have a baby who gets one, gimme a call cuz i think i can translate for them.
oh, and before i forget HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! thanks to everyone who did call, text, email, yodel best wishes. i may not remember due to the nyquil induced coma, but it doesn't mean i don't appreciate it!
yep, you heard that right. i managed to avoid the latest flu bug that has caught most everyone around me. nacho had it a couple of weekends ago & i missed it even in my own home. unfortunately, i think i unwittingly got it the Friday before when Cookie & i did our usual round at the nursing home. they'd been on a 2 week quarantine where we could not visit. we got the ok to come on the 23rd, and the following Sunday i didn't feel so good. i went to work on Monday & felt fine but by the afternoon i knew there was no way i going to be in the next day. the irony is, i'd considered taking a "sick" day for my birthday & hanging out with my girls from the pool. i have long had a theory that i don't fake sick days because karma would visit me & i'd actually be sick. guess what? meet karma because i rocked a 102 temp on my bday! this would not deter Nacho though. after playing his 2nd game in hockey playoff that same night, he came home and made me a cake. a cake that i could not see how i would ever eat given my state. but i did cuz he did. that's commitment people!
i remained in bed the entirety of last week and am only now "getting better". i use that term loosely because, unlike most people, my flu bug did not go respiratory, it went auditory. i sit here today with a double ear ,infection. WTF? i've never had an ear infection my entire life. not as a baby, not as a kid, not ever until now & in both ears. it was quite the surprise when i woke up last Thurs & couldn't really hear anything & then realized i could, it was all just incredibly muffled. that was nothing compared to the raging pressure/pain in my ears. so i'm on antibiotics until this Sunday. i'm hoping the muffled sounds & constant ringing will end soon. it made working today practically impossible. but i can say i have a new found respect for babies. i now truly understand why they are so miserable when they have an ear infection. i cannot imagine having to deal with this & unable to tell anyone what it is like or what i need. so if you have never had one & you have a baby who gets one, gimme a call cuz i think i can translate for them.
oh, and before i forget HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! thanks to everyone who did call, text, email, yodel best wishes. i may not remember due to the nyquil induced coma, but it doesn't mean i don't appreciate it!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
More Like It
that last curtain panel, while super awesome magnificent, didn't quite fit in the bedroom. but it was my practice! i took an easier path for the next curtain. i have not been having any luck finding curtains that i like. all the patterns that i have found & liked have actually been shower curtains. shower curtains seem to be my go to product lately - you'll see why in a few weeks hopefully. but i did finally find a panel at Lowe's that, while i may not be in love with it, i can live with it. it is not lined however, so i used a plain black shower curtain from Target to sew in as my liner.
first i laid the panel out on the floor & then put the black "liner" on top of it so i could cut it to size. to hold it down, i used a boxer that i just happened to have on hand!
i found that laying everything out on the dining table was actually a little better because moving my current "weight" was difficult after she fell asleep. so once she decided to end her shift, i got back to pinning.
my photos don't do it justice. i'm really bad at this! but i'm sticking with it & finally got it all pinned & ready to sew!
i won't bore you with all the details & photos because i'm still having some tension problems, but after some pretty sketching sewing, i now have a fully lined curtain panel to keep the sun out & the zzzzzz's in!
first i laid the panel out on the floor & then put the black "liner" on top of it so i could cut it to size. to hold it down, i used a boxer that i just happened to have on hand!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Curtain Call
my biggest hurdle this last year++ has been Motivation. i'm just not motivated to do anything - personally or professionally - but then you got an ear full of that already. no worries, not that kind of post this time!
so i find little things to do that hopefully, eventually, will kick start me out of this "whatevers". and sometimes i actually do get something done! this time it was a Curtain Panel. like my Envelope Pillows.
i got this inspiration from House of Hepworths. but 1st: my ONE panel did not turn out near as nice as Allison's, but i didn't intend for it to. 2nd: continuing in my tradition of "not wanting to waste anything", i made mine out of an old drop cloth. a drop cloth that had been used & still had paint on it!
then i laid the sheet on top of the "underside" of my tarp panel & tucked it in under one side (the left) & then again under the 3" top. i sewed up the side, stopping just before the 3" section because remember, i'm going to have a rod going through there. i turned the fabric and then sewed along the bottom edge of that 3" top.
so i find little things to do that hopefully, eventually, will kick start me out of this "whatevers". and sometimes i actually do get something done! this time it was a Curtain Panel. like my Envelope Pillows.
i got this inspiration from House of Hepworths. but 1st: my ONE panel did not turn out near as nice as Allison's, but i didn't intend for it to. 2nd: continuing in my tradition of "not wanting to waste anything", i made mine out of an old drop cloth. a drop cloth that had been used & still had paint on it!
i used as my template (cuz i'm not brave enough to start from scratch), what else? A LINED CURTAIN PANEL!
so really the question becomes, why would i bother to MAKE a curtain panel, when i already HAVE a curtain panel? that's a good question!
anyways! i laid my perfectly good, lined panel on top of the crappy used drop cloth & cut out my estimated size. unlike my Template, the new crappy panel was not going to have grommets, it was going to have a pocket for the rod cuz that's what Allison was teaching! for my liner i used, what she used, an old flat sheet! it was good enough for Allison's project, good enough for mine - and it was this or Goodwill!
a little hard to tell here because it's really the same color as the painter's tarp. but man has that new kitchen floor come in handy!
so i did as Allison instructed & folded the sides in 1/4" once then twice which equaled 1/2" total & the top 1/4" once & then 3" after that. and here's what it looked like:
nice huh? yeah, i liked her photo better than the one of mine that i never took, but trust me, mine really did look like this with the writing & all. i'm guessing her's was MUCH easier to fold & iron because IT WASN'T A PAINTERS TARP!! ugh what was i thinking? actually, it wasn't that hard, but it was a bit rough on my iron
i'm tellin' you, that is some gunkification on there. i had to stop twice to use my iron cleaner goo & boy am i glad i have that on hand. polished it up like new!
i was amazed too how much it looked like Allison's at this point! then i just trimmed up the right side, like she said, tucked that in under the tarp edge & sewed up the side. one thing i did do that Allison opted out of was to sew across the bottom. my current panels are not sewn across the bottom & they tend to separate when the air turns on since our vents are right in front of the window. when all was said & done, i ended up with this
so no it does not work in the room at all if i'm trying to match anything & yes it does need to be hung higher. but i thought this was a pretty good start! and here's the best part: it actually took me almost 5 days to make it! yep, 5 days! i started on a Friday and ran into some serious machine problems. i think i mentioned on the Envelope Pillows that i was having some issues with my machine. they got much worse on this project!
my bottom stitch was completely knotting up. top stitch looked fine. i could not figure out what was going wrong. i spent most of Saturday and all of Sunday doing nothing but adjusting tension settings & sewing on scraps & could never figure it out. eventually i took the thread i'd used on the Envelope Pillow & tried some practice stitches with it - even though i had issues with the stitch length being weird, i didn't have knotting. and that was the culprit...thread. i had bought Button & Coat thread which WAS NOT meant for this machine. so back to the sewing store i went to get Heavy Duty Denim/Jeans thread. and there you have it, my stitching magically improved.
but let me tell you something......i learned SO MUCH about that machine. of course now i have to take it back in to have the tension reset because i mucked with it so much it's out of whack! but man i learned a ton! and isn't that what this is all about? NO I TELL YOU NO! but that's what it became about! i actually learned what that little knobby/button thing is on the top of the machine over the needle area - it adjust the pressure of the foot so i could get over thick sections like that overlap in the upper right of the photo above. yes sir! i learnt it.
the best/worst part - and this is not easy to admit: i got so frustrated Sunday, that i got up, put my shoes on, walked out of the house, told Nacho simply "i'll be back." i then proceeded to go for a 2 hour hike where i had the most demeaning, self-criticizing, by invitation only, pity party you could imagine. i don't even know who that person was. and in the midst of that hike i remembered what i said when working on the Envelope Pillow: My mom did not leave me that sewing machine, her PRIZED sewing machine, so i could quit. and if she'd heard the way i was talking to myself, and i'm sure she did, she would have been so disappointed in me. the image of my mom truly disappointed in me was enough to get me back to the house & back working on that machine & figure out what i was doing wrong. and i did. this curtain is not perfect, but it's done & that is more important, hence why i left all those knotty stitches in & decided not to redo them.
and that little lesson, is what's gonna get me through this year, better than last! thanks mom!
Friday, January 13, 2012
splish splash
Warning: Adult Content in this Post!
as usual, i'm about threeee months late posting this, but then you already guessed that. Waaaaay back in November i got Terry to agree to help ME put the tile back splash up in the kitchen. and by ME i mean Nacho. i'd mentioned the tile here, so that tells you how long i'd had it sitting in the garagae. we don't do anything but hockey in a hurry around here.
i know i took a before photo somewhere but cannot find it. so just close your eyes & picture a plain, basically white wall. well that wall was starting to see some wear from spaghetti sauce, etc. so we figured we needed to get the lead out & get it tiled. let's see, the date on my photos say Saturday, November 5, 2011, so it was Wednesday, November 2, that Terry came over to talk through the layout with me. let me tell you something, there is nothing like watching someone who does this stuff for a living! i was amazed at how fast he'd figured all the field tiles without really measuring much of anything. he took one field tile, laid it against the wall, and basically drew all the rest free hand to get an idea of how it would lay. and remember, we had decided to lay these in a straight horizontal pattern - no brick pattern here. since we were going to intersperse the glass tiles around the wall, we simply took 10 pieces of paper cut to 4 x 6 & taped those up on the wall. we did change one thing; we decided to insert some of those on a vertical. again, impressive that Terry never flinched & just kept laying it all out in pencil. Terry said i had until Saturday to look at those pieces of paper taped to the wall & change what i didn't like, but i had to stay in the lines drawn for the field tiles. i didn't change a thing cuz he got it right the 1st time - this is why i picked him!
so Saturday the 5th rolls around and here we go!
field tile on the West & North wall. notice the little dots between the tiles? basic nails for spacers!
and here they are again looking mostly at the North wall. notice the blanks we left for the glass inserts.
the top row was filled in by field tiles cut in half.
Nacho had the glass tiles laid out using a field tile to cut that sheet into 4 x 6 pieces.
while Terry installed them.
Nacho was able to do most of the cutting for the glass sheets on the tile cutter that Terry brought, but he did have to cut some by hand. and there is 1 glass inset that i had to piece together tile by tile! so i really did help do the back splash in the end.
our project was not without peril! we did have 1 accident that i have yet to report to OSHA. Terry was wiping his hand across one of the tile sheets after Nacho cut it and, not even thinking about what he was doing, sliced his finger. not bad, but bad enough we had to break out the Finger Condoms for him!
truth be told i think he liked saying this was the only tile job he'd ever had to use a condom on!
after that it was grout, caulk (which yours truly did) & attaching the silver electrical & light plates that i got at Lowe's. And here kids is our finished wall!
we couldn't be happier!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
the Envelope Please!
i have finally decided to get the sewing machine back out again. i have a motivator though, banquette cushions. it seems i am the one holding the kitchen dining up from "Finished" since i don't have those done. well huh?
a few years before my mom passed away, she asked if there was anything in particular that i wanted. i knew nothing about sewing then (and not really anything now), but i'd wanted her to teach me the basics, like how to hem a pair of pants or....make a pillow. she was too ill at the time & i never got that lesson. but i did get her sewing machine & all her sewing goodies! i took the machine in shortly after i got it & had it completely looked over & tuned up. i've used it for a few small projects but have always been too intimidated to do any "real" project. well that banquette is bound to change everything now isn't it?
i've collected a few sewing projects on my Pinterest SewIt board & one is for a Simple Envelope Pillow in 20 or 40 minutes. i must say, this was the perfect project & one of the best written how-to's i have ever come across. Shannon was right, it took me more than 20 minutes for each one, but it wasn't because she didn't make it easy to read & do. i had a few machine problems that slowed me down, but i stuck to it got it done!
in my quest to reuse any & all things around the house, i'd used the center portion of an old chaise cushion to make the boxers a doggie bed/mat. that left the bottom/foot piece & the top/mid pieces for something else. so i decided to use the smaller foot piece for my envelope cushion experiment. the fabric came from a large quantity i bought several years ago when i bit off a project too big - making a new futon cushion. people, that is harder than it looks & i never finished it so i had a bunch of this fabric left.
So here's that dingy cushion
yuck! nast! but hey, it's an outdoor cushion! who cares! and, i'm about to make it look like new thanks to Shannon. about = 1 hour later!
now you can easily go check out her instructions cuz they are much shorter & i think her end product is much prettier, but here's my ugly duckling's transformation process:
Steps 1 & 2 = Measure
as Shannon instructed, i measured the Length & Width for my fabric adding about 5 inches to each.
a few years before my mom passed away, she asked if there was anything in particular that i wanted. i knew nothing about sewing then (and not really anything now), but i'd wanted her to teach me the basics, like how to hem a pair of pants or....make a pillow. she was too ill at the time & i never got that lesson. but i did get her sewing machine & all her sewing goodies! i took the machine in shortly after i got it & had it completely looked over & tuned up. i've used it for a few small projects but have always been too intimidated to do any "real" project. well that banquette is bound to change everything now isn't it?
i've collected a few sewing projects on my Pinterest SewIt board & one is for a Simple Envelope Pillow in 20 or 40 minutes. i must say, this was the perfect project & one of the best written how-to's i have ever come across. Shannon was right, it took me more than 20 minutes for each one, but it wasn't because she didn't make it easy to read & do. i had a few machine problems that slowed me down, but i stuck to it got it done!
in my quest to reuse any & all things around the house, i'd used the center portion of an old chaise cushion to make the boxers a doggie bed/mat. that left the bottom/foot piece & the top/mid pieces for something else. so i decided to use the smaller foot piece for my envelope cushion experiment. the fabric came from a large quantity i bought several years ago when i bit off a project too big - making a new futon cushion. people, that is harder than it looks & i never finished it so i had a bunch of this fabric left.
So here's that dingy cushion
now you can easily go check out her instructions cuz they are much shorter & i think her end product is much prettier, but here's my ugly duckling's transformation process:
Steps 1 & 2 = Measure
as Shannon instructed, i measured the Length & Width for my fabric adding about 5 inches to each.
Length - I added 7 to this to give me 35"
Width - I added 5 to this to give me 29"
i like how Shannon admitted adding lots of extra just in case. she's right, i'd rather cut fabric off after i'm done than not have enough.
Steps 3 & 4 - Fold & Hem
i folded the edges over twice like Shannon instructed & ironed them down then sewed along the edge to create a nice finished edge for the envelope back when done.
Steps 5 & 6 - Wrap & Sew
after sewing the edges, lay your pillow on top of your fabric, RIGHT SIDE UP, and fold one hemmed side over
then fold the other hemmed side over
Step 7 - Close It
with the pillow still in the "wrapping", use pins to mark where you want to sew down each side to close it up. remove the pillow sew the left & right sides. i did a back stitch over the hemmed overlap just to give it a little extra strenth. cut off the excess after you're done sewing & turn it right side out.
there's the old ratty cushion in the background awaiting it's new home! and here is the finished product!
Front
and Back with the overlap!
thanks to Shannon's "rather have too much fabric" mentality, i have about a 3 1/2" overlap on my 1st pillow. it didn't quite work out that well on my 2nd, but i managed to eeek out a little overlap & pretty much use the last large piece of this old fabric. and here are my 2 pillows that i'll be using on the chaise this summer!
i do have a couple issues to keep working on with my sewing machine. i think i have a tension problem because my top thread kept breaking on me multiple times. and each time, i made myself stop, rip out the seam & start all over from the beginning. no shortcuts this time around! i'm training myself to expect less than perfect, deal with it & try again! but also, there is something off on my stitches. like this
notice how uneven they are!? i have no idea what is causing that, so i'll consult the ladies in my swim group. for now, onto more envelope cushions as the 1st round/draft of the banquette seating!
Mad Props to Shannon over at Madigan Made! if it weren't for her awesome tutorial & pics, there is no way i would have stuck with this and certainly wouldn't be as charged as i am to start on the real cushions!
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