Climbing Roses and More Patio Photos

We had a nice surprise this year with the addition of red roses to the already pink rose covered shed. Evidently, this red rose was the stock used as a graft for my Joseph's Coat rose, which died two years ago. This base rose took off last year and is now blooming very well. Oh, and a little bunny came out to have his pictured taken, too. :-) I went with a mostly red and pink theme this year for the annuals. The hanging baskets are planted with multi-colored flowers, though.
To see a tutorial on how I plant my moss lined baskets you can go to this post from last year. And to see what they look like by mid-summer, click here.
We're going to have an early taste of summer this week here in Ohio. Its supposed to be in the mid to upper 80's all week! Nice! :-)

Treasures From Grandma's Attic ~ Graniteware

For this episode of "Treasures from Grandma's Attic" I'll be sharing the many pieces of graniteware that Gram had saved. This is also part of the Etsy Cottage Style Blog's Vintage Alphabet Link party since this month the letters are G and H.

Let's start with this pretty pewter and graniteware coffee or tea set...Next we have a large group of utilitarian pieces, including pie plates, cups and saucers, bowls, a frying pan, and even a funnel.Here's a fabulous a large dark blue speckled bucket with handle, a small gray pot with lid, and I remember Gram telling me that the other container was for milk.
And last we have my favorite pieces. I just love the pretty blue swirl designs on these handled pots and spoons!
Be sure to stop be the Etsy Cottage Style blog for more vintage collections beginning with the letters G and H. :-)

Garden Bloomers ~ Pond and Patio

I have been busy for the past week or so with organizing and decluttering the house, neither of which lend themselves to interesting photos or blog posts. So, although we've had several days of rain, I ventured outside to share a few photos of the patio pond and garden. Dark reddish pink blooms fill our weigela bush at the entrance to the patio. Tall yellow iris had to be staked to with stand the rain and wind. A very soggy peony. And pretty yellow water iris appear to be taking over the pond.That's ok, the fish don't mind...they like swimming through the roots. :-)

And hubby got the veggies planted this weekend. Basically, we have a salsa garden...tomatoes, onions, and a variety of peppers. But we also have a couple of rhubarb plants and raspberry bushes surround the garden.
I'm also working on a canvas playhouse for my little niece. Hopefully I'll have that to share with you shortly. Have a great week everyone!

My 1950's Chair ~ A Makeover Story

The cool little chair that sat in my Gram's bedroom for decades, finally got a makeover! This is the Before picture...
I agonized for several days about which fabric to reupholster her in...a fun vintage 50's barkcloth?...a pretty 1940's floral?...a tropical?...a patchwork of vintage cutter tablecloths?...or maybe the awesome Anna Maria Horner fabric I just got? You see my dilemma. So, I decided it would be best to use a plain unbleached canvas for the upholstery and make slipcover's to suit my current whim. :-)
Let me just say, that the upholstery part went MUCH faster than the slipcover part! It went something like this...First the old dry rotted fabric came off and the individual pieces were labeled with a sharpie.
Then I traced each piece onto muslin, and cut out enough to mark a 5/8 inch seam allowance.
After I had all my pattern pieces cut out and marked, I turned my attention to the base of my chair and added a bit to the existing padding by covering with several layers of cotton batting. Once I had finished fiddling with the pattern pieces and tested the fit, I was ready to cut out my canvas and staple it to the frame.

And then finished it off with the arm caps.

Altering the pattern pieces into a slip cover proved to be quite a challenge. There was a lot of wimpering and a near fatal incident with my evil serger that almost made me scrap the entire project. But I muddled through, and I have to say, I think she looks very sassy in her new dress. For the first slipcover I decided to use a bold teal and blue dress fabric from the 1950-60's and trim it out with piping made from a Garden Party fabric by Anna Maria Horner.
The back closes with simple ties.All in all it was a fun project. :-)
This DIY is also part of the link party over on A soft Place to Land.
And a big Thank You! to LuAnn for sharing this project on her Back Home Again blog! :-)

Vintage Ephemera and Feedsacks

Its time for another Vintage Alphabet Party! This month's letters are E and F, so I'm showing my collection of Ephemera and Feedsacks. (I know Fabric seems like an obvious choice for me, but it was too overwhelming so I narrowed it down to just feedsacks.)

First the Ephemera... the picture above is a group of advertisement cards. I also have a fun Cincinnati Reds Baseball schedule from 1956, a trio of items from The Fabulous Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas circa 1950, and a ticket to the Kennedy Inaugural Parade in 1961.

I also love this beautifully written letter on Dry Goods stationary dated 1882.Now for the Feedsacks. Here's a few from my current collection...
Be sure to stop by the Etsy Cottage Style Blog to see the other collections beginning with E and F.

I also wanted to share a quick photo of the chair re-upholstering project. Because I couldn't make up my mind about what fabric to upholster it with, I decided to cover it in a natural canvas and then make slipcovers in different prints. I'll show the process in my next post.

My excuse is Spring

Yes, I'm using Spring as my excuse for being absent. It has been so pretty outside and of course, there was some major spring cleaning. I also started an upholstery project.
First, I'll show you a few pictures of what's blooming in the yard...



And here is the cool 1950's chair that I'm re-upholstering...

I have the old fabric removed, and today I'll be making patterns with it for the new fabric. If all goes smoothly (ha) I'll be back within a week to show the make-over.

Now, get outside and enjoy the pretty weather!

Fabric Folder Portfolio Tutorial

This week I made a couple more fabric portfolio folders, and so as promised, I'm here to show you how I made them. I decided not to use the iron-on vinyl with these, but I'm not totally giving up on the laminated cover idea, yet. ;-)
Let's get started...

1.) First you'll need 3 pieces of fabric all cut to 13"x10". (you can customize the size to your specific needs). And 2 pocket pieces 6.5"x5.5".2.) Iron a fusible interfacing to the 2 fabrics that will be your outer and lining fabrics and cut the third piece in half so you have 2 pieces 6.5"x10".

3.) Next, hem the top of the pocket pieces and baste them onto the fabric that you just cut in half. I also added a small strip of fabric to hold a writing pad.

4.) Now, fold back the inside edge of these two pieces about a half an inch. Press and stitch down.
5.) Position pocket pieces onto your lining fabric. (I left a 1" gap between the two sides.) And sew around all four sides.

6.) Next, with right sides together, pin your outer fabric to your lining and pocket fabric. Sew around all four sides leaving a small opening in the bottom.

7.) Clip corners and turn right side out through the opening.

8.) Press and top stitch around the sides being sure to close up the opening in the bottom.

9.) Then sew several rows of stitching down the center in that 1" gap area. 10.) Cut cardboard to size and slip between the pocket and lining.11.) Slip in a 5x8 writing pad and you're done! If anything isn't clear, just yell.

If you're not ready to try this project on your own, I'll have a few of these in pretty vintage fabrics on the website or in the Etsy shop this week.

Happy sewing!

This project is also part of The Twice Remembered Cottage "Make Your Monday" link event. Click the link above to see all the fun things bloggers are making this week.