Bamboo cushions

also excited about our new Pottery Barn rug - it's made the living room so much cosier!

So here are the finished cushions I made from some of the fat quarters I bought at the workroom. If you're sad because you don't live near the workroom and can't buy fabric there (I would be), don't fret because you can order this print online. I found it recently at reprodepot but I'm sure there are other places that have it in stock.

It's called Maime Bamboo Thatch by Anna Griffin. I'm mentioning it in particular because I used the blue version for our kitchen door curtains and I've had some people ask what the fabric was for those. p.s. I've listed all the places that I buy fabric online in my sidebar to the right. The only other places I find fabric would be ebay (that's where I found the barkcloth for the floral couch cushions in the picture) and of course local finds.

These two cushions were made with 3 fat quarters. I did it by cutting a square each from two of the pieces for the fronts of the cushions. Then the backs are made up of two hemmed overlapping pieces so that you can get the cushion in and out. One half is from the leftover piece after cutting the front square, then I cut the 3rd fat quarter in half to make the other sides. Alternatively you could just buy a bigger piece of fabric and use a zipper! I ended up with a few small leftover pieces that will probably become pouches.
The piping is just some green cotton I had in my stash. That particular piece came from the Textile Museum sale that happens once a year in Toronto. The cord for inside the piping is actually a fat bootlace found at the dollar store. Then I added a snap to close the back.

I am still planning to show you some holiday pictures once I get them all sorted. I'm a bit obsessive about showing things in order. So for now, we're still at the beginning of the trip, with one of our other favourite finds in Glasgow (along with the fabric store) - the TARDIS!

Bradley lost his key and must wait for the Doctor to show up

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Valentine's Trunk Show 2

log cabin heart pin created by Jen Anisef, Toronto Craft Alert

The Valentine's Trunk show was great, so many people showed up and it was great to see what everyone had made. I took home a few treats, there were just too many nice things to tempt!

Back view of the heart pinSilver sheep charm necklace, created by Allison Wells, Papersnake Jewellery

Vintage rosewood crochet hooks, Becky Johnson, Sweetie Pie Press

Assorted vintage buttons, Lucie Davies, Button Me Up

I also bought this blue bamboo fabric from Karyn and it's been whipped up into curtains that are now gracing the sliding doors that are in our kitchen at the back of the house. And they're everything I hoped they would be.

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Flea market apartment

After: the curves on the backs are my favourite detail of the dining chairs

Lately I've been doing a lot of furniture collecting and refinishing for our new house. It's funny how with each move I've felt the need to upgrade. After buying a condo suddenly my old wooden IKEA $129 couch just wasn't good enough. This time we actually have enough room to have a living/dining room and I thought it would be nice to have some dining chairs instead of the kitchen style table and chairs we have now. Also our loft bed is staying in the condo and we needed a new bed.

The first (and actually necessary) thing I found was a nice vintage wooden bed on craigslist. Most of our things are secondhand things I found there and then refurbished. I love it because it's like citywide swapping - I also sold some things we didn't want anymore. The bed was such a find because I really wanted a Victorian cottage style bed with turned posts. It just turned out that the only one I could find in that style was only $50 - such a bargain.

Before: doesn't look that great but has potential!

It's a nice solid hardwood, but was painted a heavy dark blue colour. I sanded it (just a bit - it's such a chore) and primed and painted it a creamy white. Now I love it! (You can see the finished bed in the background of the chair pictures.)

Before: I wanted to show the chairs looking terrible, so you can see how much they were transformed!

The second thing we found were some dining chairs that needed a little work - also $50. When we arrived to pick them up the woman told us she had two more that we could have for $15. She had tried to remove the arms and they were a bit of a mess. So now we have a nice matching set of four! They had a yucky pink plush on the seats, also the wood wasn't great, so I sanded, primed and painted them a very pale grey. Then I reupholstered them in a light tan linen type fabric. Now I love them.
This kind of upholstery is so easy. The seat is usually held in place with four screws at the back, after you remove the base, take off the old fabric by prying out the staples or nails (or get your husband to do it while he is watching Dr. Who - thank you Bradley!). Then add your new fabric on top and staple it in place snugly, going from side to side. The only tricky part is folding the corners so that they look neat - it's really trial and error and remember it's ok if it looks a bit messy on the back because it doesn't show once the seat is reattached.

Finally for the bedroom I've reupholstered a small piano bench my parents gave me several years ago. I don't have a "before" picture - it was a charming bamboo and monkey print but in colours that didn't match anything else.I love this new elegant fabric I found on Queen West, it's white linen with bamboo details.They didn't actually have any left, and I was so disappointed but I loved the fabric so I bought the sample pieces from them (for $1!) thinking I could make a cushion at least. It turned out the sample squares were folded so there were two rectangles, one of which was just enough - without a centimetre to spare - to cover the bench. And another piece leftover for a cushion. I used a plain cotton underneath since linen is a bit transparent. Also, it's meant for occasional use only, so the fabric didn't need to be extra sturdy.

So that's what I've been up to, and why our place is looking like a flea market. You know, the kind where you're worried you're going to knock something over. But in 3 weeks everything will be moved into our new little house!

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Lattice cork board

This is my current WIP - a white wool felted purse knitted up with moss stitch. The fabric in the picture is going to be the lining.

The other project I just finished is for the sewing corner - a lattice covered cork board. I see these in magazines all the time and decided to finally make one after finding a cork board at Goodwill for $0.99.
The first stage was to cover it with fabric. The frame was too securely attached to remove, so I had to find a way to attach the fabric and still have it look tidy. I used a light blue cotton cut to the same size as the frame. Then I used a pencil to mark the dimensions of the cork part.
The pencil line marks the hem allowance which you fold over. Then you pin the fabric in place and make sure it's tidy and even all the way around. I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the cork.
The last part is the lattice. (I wonder why I love lattices so much?) The little white bookshelf has a lattice inset too, so it's kind of a theme in that corner. I made the cork board lattice by marking off even intervals then pinning bias tape in place with silver tacks.

The bias tape is single fold, which works best. (I just found out the difference myself - previously I'd only bought double fold which wouldn't have looked quite right for this project.) Also, the tape is cut on the bias of course, which means it has a little bit of stretch, so after pinning it snugly in place, it will hold your odds and ends without the need of extra pins.
Here it is in the sewing corner - I also added a hook to the wall for my aprons. I think I'm finally done now! Thank you all so much for all the comments on my crafts corner, I'm happy to have inspired so many people, because I think every crafter should have their own little corner to work in.

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