Vintage Collage & Quilts

Upholstery Update

 

Seat done.  Two arms left to go

 

One arm to go in this pic but actually I have finished the whole chair now & it's in my living room.  Now, back to my quilting.

Also, the boys are home safe & sound from their 3 week trip.

Here I go with more projects - I'm hopeless

Why do I keep starting new things when I haven't finished the un finished ones yet? 

Shirley finally came back from Ireland & we went thrifting again.  We had a furniture moving day.  She found a couple of antique twin bed frames she liked for her new home.  After we schlepped all the pieces, 2 headboards, two foot boards, two sets of side rails, moved down a long driveway got it in the back of car - we also loaded up an antique Eastlake style platform rocker for me.  Hard to believe we got all that in the back of her Volvo.   Then she decided she didn't want the beds since there were no slats & we weren't sure how the mattress would fit so we took everything out of the car & schlepped it back down the driveway & back where it came from & put the rocker back in the back of her car again.  We certainly got our exercise Beave.  By the way I left a bag in the back of your car : )  Which gets me to the  100 yr old rocker that I brought home.

It was a deal but the upholstery was worn.  I had only upholstered seat cushions in the past but this was a whole chair with fancy tacks.  Last night I spent hours taking the top section apart, threads & about a gazillion small tacks.  I auditioned several fabrics that I already had before buying something & came across a beautiful piece of brown background decorating fabric that I bought a few years ago & had enough for the chair.  Do you like my run on sentences?  I'm too tired to reword. Today I used the old top section for a pattern & cut a new top front & back.  I put the new front on & hammered all those little tacks back in, cut a back piece, put stuffing back in  & sewed that to the front.  My fingers are sore & I'll wait a couple of days before tackling the next section.

 

Spool/spindle turnings

 

Little carving & dots in wood.

 

 

Ick ... 100 year old batting & nasty looking burlap.  At this point I'm beginning to doubt my sewing hammering talents.  At least the back is almost off.  Just one more row of those mean little tacks.

 

More little carving & dots

 

Hmmm, am I going to be able to get those decorative tacks out without wrecking them?  Where are my hammer & pliers?

 

Whew the front & back are done.  Do you see the little aqua & pink flowers in there?  Pink, aqua & brown is right in there with my favorite look.  The fabric laying on the seat is the backside of the original fabric which actually looks pretty good. 

The day before the chair I made a simple pillow case out of Jennifer P of Sis Boom fame's Flower Power fabric line.  Some easy sewing.

 

 

Chair story - to be continued ...

p.s.  Don & his pals are now in Alabama till Sunday. 

Sewing Day

Today I've been sewing.  Have another quilt top 1/3 made.  Leave it to me.  I've already got 6 quilt tops made plus two finished quilts that I need to write pattern directions for but that is not as much fun as the actual creating & sewing.  The thing is ... when the creative juices hit with a new idea I've just gotta sew.  Maybe pattern directions next week :  ) 

 

Speaking of sewing I heard from Leisure Arts this week & my 2nd book with them is AT THE PRINTERS right now!  I'm SEW excited.  It will be called "Memories Sew Sweet". 

We have the worst luck with ceiling fans.  Our last fan in the office clunked out. The fan would still turn but the light would no longer work.  Then the glass shade fell off & broke.  We finally broke down & bought a new one earlier this year.  There are two chains again, one for the light & one for the fan.  Well, yesterday the fan chain broke off right at the fan.  Now I can turn it off!  Lazy me, with hubby out of town really don't want to shut off the breakers, get up on a ladder & see if I can fix it.  It's been turning all night & today.  Maybe tomorrow ....

It's now day 8 of Don's motorcycle trip.  They visited Crater Lake in Oregon ...

Went through Idaho,  spent a couple of nights in cabins & B & B's, visited Yellowstone Park  , went to Little  Bighorn in Wyoming ... 

Mount Rushmore on the way to South Dakota ...

& now they are in So Dak for the night.  When he called  today he said one of the guys had been feeling sick for two days.  He finally asked the other guys to take him to Emergency.  He found out he'd had a HEART ATTACK!  No arm pain but jaw pain.  His wife had to fly out & they are going to put a stent in.  He'll fly home with his wife & have the Harley shipped home.  Whew, of all places to have this happen but hopefully everything will turn out okay.  He is the nicest guy, retired fire fighter. 

NOTE: To Marcia, blog reader from CT. who send me an email with a question, I tried to reply but it was returned as undeliverable. 

Blog for Bliss

Oh, forgot to mention yesterday that Pam's blog is featured in Tara Frey's new book "Blogging for Bliss", soon to be released!  Congrats Pam!

 

Fun Day with Pam

I had a fun day with my friend Pam today.  We have been trying to get together for AGES.   Just to give you an idea of how long it's been we were exchanging XMAS PRESENTS!  We celebrated my "day after birthday" so there were birthday presents too ~  and ~ quilt market gifts ...

 

 

We started off in Dublin & went to see Tangerine.  I only just heard about it yesterday & I'm there today.  Cute little shop.

 We had a few little sweet eats at Paneras & then headed to Danville where we made the rounds, Quilters Inn, Cottage Jewel, etc. 

Then Pam said let's go to Niles & I said YEAH!   Great antique shops there and of course we had to visit Daiso, the fun Japanese goodies store.  I got my official Hello Kitty toy out of the Gum Ball type machine. 

 

My Friends & I blog

 

Oh - I see me in the window.

 

Mary Margaret's Antiques

Here's my piece of 1/2 off yardage.  It's so sweet & vintage looking.  Then look at this fun antique rickrack - crocheted trim. The fun velvet millinery came from Tangerine.

 

At Daiso I found these fun collapsible long hangers that will be great for hanging quilt tops on. I try to fold the tops with as few folds as possible before getting them to the long arm quilters. 

 

and my gum ball kitty.

Fun day all in all.  Thanks Pam : )