COLORFUL CAMOUFLAGE

This bright, colorful fabric makes the perfect camouflage for what's actually underneath.  I bet you can't tell what it is!

Okay, I'll tell you.  It isn't an ottoman or a bench or a table.  It is a wicker chest!  We just put a piece of foam on top to soften the edges, added a small throw pillow and, VOILA!  This is recycling at its best.

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY PARTY

Beautiful cupcakes

(I only had two last night!)

The table 

There was a beautiful cake, as well.  It came from the same place as my cake, though this one was lemon.

Me with my cousin Megan, who actually turns 20 on 2 July.

And me with Mackenzie, the other birthday girl.  It's hard to believe she is 20 years old.  Where does the time go?

MORE PRETTY

This is a charm bracelet my cousin made for me.  All of the charms are beach inspired.  As I have often said, and I still stick by it, I am NOT a jewelry person.  However, I do like bracelets.  Doesn't mean I actually wear them much, but I do like them.  This charm bracelet is kind of heavy and I chose so many charms that a second bracelet had to be made.

These are the left over charms that just would not fit on the blue bracelet.  If you click on the picture, you can see the charms: sunglasses, a turtle, a seal and a palm tree.

This bracelet I got in Arizona several years ago.  I love the colors.

So in spite of Nancy from The Attic thinking I am a changed woman, I'm really not.  I still do not like to wear jewelry.  Collecting it is an entirely different thing, though.  

PRETTY, PRETTY

Perhaps I should stop going in to The Attic since I always seem to find a bracelet that I didn't know I needed.  For someone who doesn't like jewelry, I certainly seem to have a lot of bracelets.  This one was just too pretty to pass up.  Luckily, it was not expensive.

AN ATTIC RETREAT/PLAYROOM

This unused attic space in my client's home was converted into a playroom for the kids and, more importantly, a place that Mom and Dad can retreat to whenever they wish.

The welting on the the chair and ottoman is the loveseat fabric.

And the welting, and the throw pillows, on the loveseat is the chair fabric.   

SLIPCOVER FOR A TELEVISION!!!

 Just when I think I've slipcovered everything it is possible to slipcover, along comes something new.  

 This outdoor television is already pretty protected from the elements, but my client wanted to keep the  dust and moisture (that pesky marine layer) away.

Cutting it was rather a pain since, just as with anything that isn't covered with fabric already, there is nothing for the fabric to hold onto.  I have to tape the fabric in place until I can get another piece pinned to it.  This was even more challenging than it might have been because the Sunbrella was particularly stiff and had to be sewn on my industrial machine.  In the end, it worked out and it was just what my client wanted.

IS IT REALLY A SLIPCOVER?

Sometimes I amazed when I look back at slipcovers I have done.  This, to me, does not even look like a slipcover.  If I wouldn't have made it myself, I'd think the person claiming it was is crazy.  That's the thing about slipcovers--they don't have to be messy or loose fitting.  More than anything else, the look of the finished slipcover is determined by the fabric.  If you use an upholstery fabric that is fairly heavy (like the one above,) the slipcover tends to look a lot more like an upholstered piece rather than a slipcover.  It's totally up to you.  What look do you want in your home?

SLEEPER SOFA

A blue chambray linen and a rose damask are the fabrics used in this slipcover.  I did this a very long time ago, and, at the time, this rose fabric was quite popular and available in many color ways.

The welting on the side throw pillows is shirred.  This is a style that used to be popular and I am hoping it never is again.  It's mostly a big, fat pain to do and uses a lot of fabric.

I used the rose fabric for the welting on everything.

And most of the welting was 'normal.'  

And since this was a sleeper, I had to do a zipper in the deck.  This way you can get the bed out without having to take the entire slipcover off.  Making a zipper do two 90 degree angles is always a challenge, but it's the only way with a hide-a-bed.  Luckily, I don't have to do this very often.

THE CAKE WAS YUMMY

And beautiful!  It had a layer of strawberries and another of mango with a whipped cream frosting!  So, so yummy!

I just want thank everyone for their comments and birthday wishes.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

9 June 1961
(first birthday)

 Okay, so I've changed a little in the last 50 years.  Make that, a lot!!!  I cannot believe I am 50 years old today.  It just does not seem possible.  I do NOT feel 50, I do not look 50 (though if this is what I look like, then this must be what 50 looks like,) so there must be some kind of a mistake.  (However, the calendar and my mother say differently.)   Michael J. Fox, Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman also have birthdays today, so I am in good company.

I particularly like the quote I put on my Facebook page this morning:

"It takes a long time to grow young."

~Pablo Picasso

So, I will continue to grow young, even as my actual age may say something a little different.  Like they say, it beats the alternative!!!

AND SPEAKING OF MISTAKES

These were my very first slipcovers ever.  (To get the full story, you can check out my post from 19 December 2008.)  I'll just say here that I truly had no idea what I was doing.  I just faked it really well.

This is the first sofa I did.  Ever!  Again, it looks pretty good.

And this, one of a pair, has the distinction of being my first chair.  What isn't apparent is how bad they actually were.  This was long before I had a serger and I didn't even zigzag the edges.  I'm pretty sure I didn't pre-wash the fabric either.  About a year after I did these (all for the same client,) and had by then done more than 50 slipcovers, I really wanted to call up my client and tell her if she bought new fabric, I would remake all her slipcovers.  I never did, but it has always bothered me that the work I did then was less than good.  I did the best I could with what I knew (which wasn't much) and I definitely learned along the way.  Still, those slipcovers haunt me.

EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES

The year was 1994.  This is the first wing chair slipcover I ever made.  At this point, I probably had only made, maybe, 10 or 12 slipcovers.  It was in the shop I sewed for and I cut it right there.  Now, it doesn't really bother me if someone watches me work; then, was a different story.  It made me nervous and I almost always messed up.  I didn't let the client know that, but it happened just the same.  Anyway, I cut this slipcover and then took it home and made it.  When I came back to install it, I wondered where the pleats on the front had gone.  Turned out I accidently did the pleats at the welting from the arm fronts instead of at the corners of the deck.  No one seemed to notice and I sure didn't point it out.  I never did it again, though.

This sofa was a challenge all the way around.  First, the skirt had a 2" band of the contrast fabric.  (Looking at the picture now, I'm not even sure how I did it.)

Secondly, when I cut the slipcover, for some unknown reason, I cut the back and outside arm pieces higher than I should have.  The result was a skirt that was two different lengths.  It sure wasn't an easy thing to do and it was all my own fault.  No doubt someone was watching me as I cut!

Again, I did not point this out to my client.  I just acted like the way I did it was normal.  Truth is, they probably never noticed and if I would have brought attention to it, well, nothing good would have come from that.  I kept my mouth shut and learned another lesson.  Never did this again, either!

A GIANT BLOSSOM

Since I usually use my side door, I don't always notice what's going on in the front of my house.  Yesterday when I came home from walking, I saw this huge bloom on my cactus-type plant.  (No idea what it is actually called.)

I am NOT a gardener, nor do I enjoy it and my plants somehow sense this, I think.  This plant has done so much better in the past, but never has it put out such a large blossom.  I think it is just beautiful!


And how could I resist altering it in photoshop?  Answer - I couldn't!
Below are just 3 samples of the new and improved blossom!

A SEAT CUSHION AND A STOOL

This office chair got a new cushion.

You can't really tell in the photo, but I made two sets of ties so that it will stay in place even better.  The first set we tied in a square knot and the second in a bow.  Hopefully, that will do the trick.

I don't know if this is a stool or an ottoman.  I guess it is whatever you want it to be.  In this before shot, I'd say it looks more like a stool.

With its new little slipcover, it looks more like an ottoman.

Whatever you call it, it looks much cuter now.  The welting on both this slipcover and the seat cushion are a black and cream check for contrast.  What you cannot see is the valances I made from that same check fabric.  They had to be installed, so no picture.  I happened to go by the house this morning and I could see the backside of the valance hanging in the larger window.  You'll just have to take my word for it, but it looked pretty cute from the outside.