TIM IRVING ART PHOTOGRAPHY AND FRENCH CHARMING GIVEAWAY

A few weeks ago, Karyn hosted a giveaway and I was lucky enough to have been chosen the winner! To enter, you had to check out the etsy site of Tim Irving, choose the 2 photos you'd like if you won and then let Karyn know you wanted to be in the drawing. Simple enough, right? Well, I won! And the 2 photos above are the ones I picked. They arrived last week and I finally got frames from Michael's for them. Now I just have to figure out where to hang them. Thanks again Karyn and thanks to Tim.

I love them!

MORE OF THE EVER-POPULAR WHITE DENIM SLIPCOVERS

I delivered these slipcovers yesterday. Although I love and prefer gathered skirts, I definitely don't prefer making them. This skirt took 12 widths of the fabric, which is a lot. I kept sewing and sewing and gathering and gathering. This was all going on 2 weeks ago when it was so stinking hot, and working was very challenging. My workroom faces west, which means the afternoons are brutal for me.

My client ask that I do buttons on the throw pillows.

The chair and ottoman

Back of chair. The sofa back is the same, but it is against the wall.

Close-up of ottoman

The new living room. The old fabric was also denim, but dark blue and light blue and the back cushions had light blue denim on one side and a blue and white toile on the other. The room now is much fresher and clean- looking. As almost always happens, once you do one thing (or, in this case, 3) everything else seems tired and in need of changing. The rug may be next in the process. I don't slipcover rugs, though, so for that she's on her own!

PHOTO SHOOT FOR BETTER HOMES & GARDENS AND WHITE DENIM SLIPCOVERS

This is, obviously, the before shot of the chair. It is quite old and, I swear, the seat cushion (not pictured) weighs 20 pounds. I can't figure out what's inside to make it so heavy!

If you look very closely, you can see how much the sun has faded the chair. It is much darker on the deck and as far up the inside arms as the cushion sits.

These pictures were VERY hard to take, as this room is on the 3rd floor and it was quite sunny. I couldn't get the flash to work because it was so bright. Anyway, I apologize for the quality, or lack thereof, of the photographs.

Taken from outside on the balcony.

My client made this small throw pillow to tie in with the window seat (not visible) cushion.

My signature button-back.

This home is being photographed today (Thursday, 10 September) for Better Homes & Gardens magazine. That's why I was in such a rush to get them done. My clients were running around, trying to get everything ready for the stylist, who was on her way yesterday and for the photographer today. I am hopeful it won't be an entire year before this issue comes out. I'll let you know.

PRETTY PINK LAMPSHADE

I decided to make this lamp shade from scraps of fabric and a pinkish gimp I had. I had in my mind what I wanted it to look like. This is sort of what I was thinking. I used a pink feather boa because the trim I wanted could not be found.

This is the shade on my lamp in the living room. It so did not match anything in my living room, but I didn't care. At some point I added the boa at the top, too. After about a year, I finally moved it to the bedroom, where it went a little better.

This is the lamp that inspired the one I made. I wanted trim more like the one on this lamp, but never found anything even remotely similar. Even though I do not like the black and red color combination, I still really like this lamp shade. Actually, the lamp, as well. This picture was taken in a shop (the name of which I can't remember) up in Petaluma.

FRENCH EMBROIDERED LINEN

This fabric was ordered from and came all the way from France for these slipcovers. My client inherited the furniture from her parents and it was in desperate need of updating.

I also did the window seat cushion you can see to the left.

Rounded chairs, my favorite! Oh, that's right, not so much. Definitely needed buttons to get it on and off.

The sofa

Button-back, although they are strictly decorative to match the chairs. This client has since moved to France to live. I think this furniture was given to her sister who lives in the States.

What you can't see is while I was cutting these covers, Allison's kitten was 'helping' me. He was under the chair and/or sofa and when I least expected it, he'd pop out, pin me good and scurry back under the furniture. I left was lots of pin holes in my hands. At least with dogs, you can put them in another room. Cats, on the other hand, well, they aren't so easy to control.

HONEST - I'M THRILLED

This award was given to me by Val.

The 'rules' for this award are to (1) link back to the person who who gave it to you.

(2) List 10 things about yourself that are known or unknown:

1. I don't eat read meat or pork. Actually, nothing with 4 legs. And haven't for almost 20 years.

2. I don't like any kind of beans.

3. I did not get the chocolate or jewelry genes.

4. I am a morning person.

5. I walk between 8 and 15 miles almost every day.

6. I come from a very large family: I have 6 brothers and 1 sister.

7. I won't kill a spider in the house because it is bad luck.

8. I love to do the crossword puzzle every day.

9. I can't remember to water the backyard even when I see the grass is dying.

10. I listen to books on tape while I work.

And (3) pass this award on to other deserving bloggers:

Sweet Up-North Mornings

Fat & Sassy

Tales From An OC Cottage

Just Me and My Art

Shab-n-Chic

Pass this along if you like. Otherwise, just know that I think your blog is special and wanted you to know.

ANOTHER AWARD!!!!

Wonderful and sweet Laurel gave me this award, oh, last week or maybe even the week before. I am seriously behind in everything, but thought I'd better do this post/thank you before even more time has passed. Now, I got an another award, but I'll post that next time. I can't seem to do both in this one. Anyway, thank you again Laurel! I really appreciate it!

And I would like to pass this award along to:

toriejayne.blogspot.com

beingruby.blogspot.com

an-ocean-beach-lovers-place.com

sweetfinds.typepad.com

A LITTLE GIRL'S DRESS

I made this dress for my best friend's daughter. At the time she was maybe 7 or 8. She is now almost 17! I always loved the details. I am obviously obsessed with covered buttons and contrast welting.

I rarely make clothes anymore. I am so used to sewing slipcovers and other home furnishing-type items, that sewing anything else is hard. It takes me an entire day to make, oh say, a pair of pajamas and it drives me crazy that it takes so long. Besides, it truly is cheaper to just buy clothes than to make them. And much quicker.

I also made this Alice in Wonderland costume for the daughter of another friend. She loved the dress so much that she wore it long after Halloween.

MORE SUN RESISTANT SLIPCOVERS - CHAIRS AND AN OTTOMAN

Again, I meant to take the 'before' picture and forgot. Anyway, suffice it to say these chairs (there are 2 in this fabric) look WAY better. This fabric is from the Sun&Shade line by Waverly.

My signature buttons are very hard to see, but they are there. Actually, because these chairs are barrel-style, I couldn't get the slipcover on without unbuttoning it. Because of the busyness of the pattern, it is hard to see all the darts and extra seams to allow for the roundness. Always a challenge, to say the least.

This is from the same Sun&Shade group, but I used the 'wrong' side of the fabric for a much more muted look. It probably looks even more muted than it really is because the quality of the picture is not so good.

The buttons here are also hard to see and again necessary to remove the cover. This chair was even more difficult than the other style. It, too, is a barrel-style, but it also has funny arms. If you look closely at the other shot, you can kind of see how the arms are two different levels. We actually tired tucking it in a bit to emphasize instead of hide the 'design' element. (I use the term loosely.) It also had a sort of tufting going on and we did the same tucking-in thing with them.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL-SEPTEMBER 1966

This is me, opening the door, on my first day of first grade. I don't think schools have that kind of doors anymore. I went to this school for 4 years, until we moved to Georgia. This school is no longer standing. It was torn down about 15 years ago to build condos.

I was inspired to post this picture after seeing Laurel's post on her daughter's first day of kindergarden.

LADDER BACK CHAIRS

Ladder back chairs are not normally slipcovered, though, as I've discovered, practically anything can be slipcovered. Or at least people think it can and then hire me to do it! Anyway, my client wanted just to have covers made for the backs of the chairs. There are existing seat cushions, which really don't match the new backs (you'll see this in the bottom pictures,) but they can always be re-covered in the future. Also, she may just take the seat cushions off and use the back covers alone.

The front view of the arm chair. I used snaps under the arms to connect the front and back. The other option would be ties, but ties are messy and there would need to be too many. Snaps work better for this type of look.

In this case, the button-back is strictly decorative. It is not necessary to actually button and/or unbutton to remove the cover. After undoing the snaps, it just lifts off.

There are 6 chairs in total, 2 arm chairs and 4 of this style. This is me being too lazy to take the seat cushion off for the picture.

You can see how they don't really match, although they do have similar colors.

These also just slip on and off and much easier since there are no arms.

THE MERMAID'S TROUSSEAU SWAP

Don't you just love the package? This is one of two (!) boxes that I received from my swap partner, Joanna. When I first saw the post about the Mermaid's Trousseau that Bryanna was hosting, I was intrigued. But also apprehensive as I had never participated in this kind of a swap before. Bryanna assured me that I would be fine, so I signed up. The idea behind it was things you think a mermaid would have in her trousseau.

As I opened the box, more beautiful packaging was inside.

A lovely star fish in place of a bow.

A beautiful starfish pin with pearls.

An amazing bottle

The bottle and star fish in their new home.

Then, yesterday, the second box arrived. It had the same wonderful packing label (which I cut off and saved for who knows what!) and was filled with more great stuff. I love the shell 'ribbon.'

A beautiful fish pin, swimming in aqua tulle.

This lovely mirror, with a pretty pink sea star and a sand dollar.

This is the back side of the mirror. So now I do not know which side to display. I guess I'll have to change it weekly.

A magic wand!

The back side of the wand. Again, which side to show?

Coral candle holders.

There were various other things in my trousseau. too. I just have to thank Joanna, again, for such lovely gifts. I had a great time thinking of things to include in her box, as well. She will do a post one of these days so you can see what she got.

And for a sneak preview, below are two pictures of the mermaid I made for her. I figured a mermaid's trousseau needed an actual mermaid.

Miss Cori, a mermaid from under Coronado Island, surrounded by some of her trousseau items.

A close-up view of Joanna's new mermaid.