Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Project Central

I've been out of commission with writing a new post for about a week or so...
Things have been busy and I got involved with a sewing project that has eaten up my free time...


I've been noticing lately how dirty, chipped and dingy our dining room has been looking...
I needed to freshen things up a bit, so I decided to get this project over with before gardening season hits here in a few weeks--




Our dining room chairs were just downright gross! (Especially the one that Ellie sat in--Holy Moly!) They are upholstered on the seats (a terrible feature to have with kids, but I got a great deal on them at a thrift store). I recovered them with some extra fabric that I had leftover from the last recovering project and this made for a much needed improvement!



I would not consider myself a seamstress! (And yet, I do more sewing projects than most people I know--go figure!)
Since I lack patience, the quality of my work has something to be desired. I tend to rush through and end up with "half-assed" end results...Most everything I sew is rigged in one way or another...

I needed the material from my "faux" relaxed roman shade to recover the side chairs I had in my dining room, so I took those down, and bought new material for a new and improved roman shade...

I found this 18th century design at my favorite online fabric store (fabric guru)--reasonably priced, awesome selection, and only 4.99 to have any amount of fabric you want delivered to you. I've used them several times and have never been disappointed...




Here is the final product...(it's very amateur, but is definitely an improvement over the hot glued number I had up there before! Trust me!



I also recovered this little bench (a $20 thrift store find!), with leftover drapery fabric... If you could see the back, you'd understand what I mean about "rigging"--The pom poms cover up the staples...

I sewed the blue pillow toille pillow as well to bring the blue that I have from the plates on the wall down to the bench...At first I thought I would use the blue toille to recover the bench, but it looked too choppy...


Here is a picture of it all pulled together...

I'm not sure how I ever landed on this strange mix of colors...It wouldn't have been what I would have originally chosen, but it works for now, and definitely feels "new and improved"...

I only got into 1 argument with Brian during this whole sewing extravaganza...
Last night, I was pinning my loop tape onto the roman shades, watching American Idol, and basically just in my own world, zoning out...

He walks into the room and says, "Are you pinning that right?" WHAT THE?! I completely spazzed on him, and told him to bug off and mind his own business...

Then he said, "Gese, sorry, I was just trying to show an interest in what you were doing".

WHAT THE?! I spazzed on him again! Is it just me, or is this just the WRONG approach to take to show someone that you are genuinely interested in what they are working on...

I received some "good mail" recently that I wanted to document...

I ordered "good mail" labels from Jill...
She not only gave me two cute color combinations, but she doubled my order!


My sister, Katie sent me these darling note cards that she made...celebrating the upcoming gardening season...her signature are these cute little mice...

The funniest part was when she wrote on the front of the envelope, "Mediocre Mail--not quite as good as good mail but better than nothing "---Are you kidding?--It's fantastic!!

Claudia, my new blogger friend, sent this delightful handmade card and quote to me! What a wonderful surprise!!

She had read a comment on Jill's post where I mentioned that I was going through an ugly phase...

The quote on the notecard said..."There is no better exercise for strengthening the heart than reaching down and lifting up another."

How true that is, Claudia--Your heart must be mighty strong by now, because you sure lifted my spirits!


Jill had mentioned that she would make me labels with ducks on them if I would get her a picture...LOOK WHAT SHE CAME UP WITH!!! Are you dying??? They are too cute for words...

I joked with her that I have so many good mail labels now that I want to start going through the phone book and sending random people notes just to have the opportunity to use my cute labels on a daily basis....

Good projects--Good Mail--Good Quote--Good Day!

**Do you get impatient to see the end result of projects to the point where you skip some of the "quality" aspects of it?

**Do you love those labels, or what?!

14 comments:

  1. Your curtains and bench look amazing! You definitely fooled me with your sewing skills. You do a great job!

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  2. LOve the projects- you've got serious skills. Yellow & blue are one of my favorite color combinations.

    DYING OVEr how CUTE the labels are!!!!!
    Those are over-the-top DARling and so Shannon!
    they are perfect.... :)

    HUrray for GREat good mail -

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  3. YAY! my mediocre mail made the list! I am glad those curtains turned out well. It looks great!

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  4. you are such a sweetheart, and you always make my day! Here's wishing you much love and the sweetest of dreams...

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  5. Femin Susan--I'm not sure which blog you were navigating to but I think you have the wrong person...

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  6. I typically get stressed out and give up before I even start a project so I can't entirely relate to the frustrations of the actual process of craftiness, BUT I do walk down the aisles of Michaels a lot and spend a great deal of money on domestic dreams that never materialize. But this is why I have friends like you! Love what you did!

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  7. hah! I was going to write "Mediocre mail" on something I sent Katie. I wish I got some good mail! It sure is the season to change things up! Your little projects look great - I still think you and Mom should have an HGTV Show!

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  8. Your projects do look great! I need to start doing projects--I forgot how fun they are!

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  9. Wow, I'm seriously impressed with your projects! I am so intimidated by fabric and sewing that I never attempt any projects with them. I think I like paper projects because they're cheap enough that if I royally screw up I can do it again or fix it. I'm a fabric coward!

    Kate's "Mediocre Mail" is cracking me up.

    Is there such a thing as having too many good mail labels? I hope not.

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  10. i love it that those ducks are you trademark. it is adorable. your sewing looks great!

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  11. Okay, how do I order those labels?

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  12. Love the labels!! Man, I didn't know that one could order labels from Jill! My life is so crazy that I haven't been sending much good mail of late.....sad, but true.

    I am impressed by all of your sewing projects! I quite enjoy sewing myself, but haven't done any serious sewing for years. Great job! You did some serious catching up on posting. That takes a while.

    Thanks for the inspirations. I am longing for some personal time, once this crazy designer house is over and my studio is moved.....not sure I can hold on that long!

    For now, I"ll have to be content with vicarious productivity.

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  13. I love the labels. And I really do love the quote.

    You are very talented.

    I can relate. I get to the end of projects and it is quite an exercize in self discipline to not find some speedy way to just get them done. I can really relate to that.

    I thought your husband "showing interest" and you spazzing out on him was really funny. I tend to spazz out when I'm working on a project. Projects don't bring out the best in me. :)

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  14. Totally cracking up over your WHAT THE?! moments.

    I love fabric projects. Yours don't look rigged, so way to go! (I think I tend to spazz out easily during projects...)

    Once Denise sent me a package and wrote "mediocre mail" on it! Too funny. I love that little gardening card.

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