Progress on the Sunroom and a Roll-Up Shade Hack

Projects move at a snails pace around here. I don't know how others do it...put their mind to something, start a house project, then finish it that same week.  That never happens here.
Anyway, some progress, however little, has been made.  First up I thought I'd show you a quick little sewing project of how I customized an Ikea Roll-up shade.

The shade is a plain white cotton twill called Emmie, and was 12.99.  All I did was measure the space between the button holes. Then cut my pretty yellow floral fabric to size, adding a half inch seam allowance on all sides, turn back the 1/2 inch and press. Then pinned in place, sewed around the edges, and called the door done. Easy peasy.

Next I moved on to the bench. I found the linen bins at Target.  Then made a long bench cushion in linen to match.

The 3 inch high density foam is crazy expensive and wasn't in the budget for this penny-saving make over, so I used a full size egg-crate mattress topper that I found on sale. I cut it into 3 long pieces and stacked them for my cushion.  It doesn't lay as smooth as a single piece of hi-dens, but for a $50-$60 price difference, I'm ok with that.
I once again employed the nifty little trick at whipstitch for continuous bias tape to make my piping, and found a long 48" zipper in my stash for the back closure.

And the cute red poppy fabric (by Joel Dewberry) was made into an accent pillow.
On the other side of the room I added some wall flowers to the brick . Not sure if I'll keep all of them up yet. I'm going to live with them for awhile and then decide if I need to edit.

And lastly, I brought in the antique chest from the other room and accessorised with some of my yellow pottery pieces, a cute little picture my mom found, and a round mirror (that still needs to be hung).

Well, that's about it for now. Still looking into what can be done to the floor economically, and I'd love to bring in a little table and chair for me to sit in, since Hunny has claimed the wicker bench as her own.  LOL
Have a great week, everyone!

A New Look for the Bedroom ~ Lovely Linen

I recently updated the look of our bedroom. I actually loved the yellow, but it needed to be repainted and hated to waste the opportunity to change it up a bit. We'll also probably be putting the house on the market soon, so I wanted it to be more neutral.

I painted the walls with a color from Restoration Hardware called Mediterranean White.

I purchased one of the nightstands from Home Goods and painted one of my old ones black to match. The bedside lamps are from Meijer's.

The Mantle headboard was reupholstered with linen and I purchased tan linen curtains from Pottery Barn.

The vintage quilt at the foot of the bed is made with squares of all vintage linen floral fabrics in fabulous fall colors. I also made a new pillow out of a vintage linen from my stash.

A new shaggy 8x10 rug (also from Home Goods) was a steal at only $150.00 and is nice and soft under foot. :-)


On the other side of the room still sits the deacon's bench and on top of the dresser, Hubby gets a new place to stash his guy stuff...a wonderful old wooden box from Gram's attic. I also framed a vintage sheet music cover, with a lovely art nouveau design, in an old frame.

Well, that's it for a tour of the bedroom. I have the shop and website on vacation mode for a few days, but I'll be listing new items on Monday November 1st.

Have a great week, everyone!

Linen Scarf

The grey skies and dreary weather have me spending more time at the sewing machine. This weekend I decided to make myself a scarf. I love linen and the bags I carry are usually made with linen, so it seemed like a good choice. I think it will also be useable in early spring and fall.
I made it double-sided. A natural linen on one side and a chartreuse-olive linen/rayon blend on the other. I played around with scrunchy ruffles and originally thought I might just leave the edges raw and frayed, but in the end decided on a slightly more finished application. And for some color, I added little posies made from gorgeous Patricia Bravo fabric (of Art Gallery Quilts).For my first scarf, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. :-)

This is also part of The Twice Remembered Cottage "Make Your Monday" link event. Kim
has started up her fun project oriented link event again! Click the link above to see all the fun things bloggers are making this week.

Boho Chic Meets Tailored Classic

So, this is what you get when you take design elements from opposite ends of the style spectrum and combine them into one bag. . . Boho Chic meets Tailored Classic.
I've tried to blend the best of both worlds; the richly textured vintage fabrics and generous size of Boho chic and the more structured lines and forever classic linen of a more tailored style. I've used an awesome vintage cut velvet upholstery fabric from the 1960's as the main part of the bag and a rich brown velvet/velveteen for the gusset.


A natural linen is used for the strap and front flap. A magnetic snap keeps items secure.Tying all of the elements together is the velvet rose and leaf detail.

This is just the "prototype" and will be offered at a reduced price on the website. I'll probably tweek a couple of things before I'm completely happy with the bag. For one thing, the interfacing I used on the lining is a little too heavy, so I'll probably change that. I like that it gives some structure to the bag, but I don't like the wrinkles. Not a major issue, but something the perfectionist in me would like to correct. :) But, for the most part, I really like how this bag turned out.