FUNNY STORY

The pillow below, the blue and white toile with red brush fringe, is on the bed in the house of a friend of a friend's mother.  Confused yet?  Okay, last May I was invited to go to a birthday party of a friend of a friend, both of whom live in Miami.  They were coming out to California, where Sarah (the friend of my friend, Lisa Michelle) had grown up and where her mother still owns a home.  Oh yeah, the mother, Ann, was also coming from Miami to attend Sarah's birthday party.  So, Lisa Michelle and I drive out to Jamul, a town sort of east of San Diego on that Saturday morning in May.  Never having been there, I wasn't really sure how long it would take.  Turns out it's not all that far, but once you get off the freeway, it is more slow going, and the road to the house is very twisty and curvy.  I was driving and still managed to get car-sick, which I normally do not get.  The road was that twisty, though! 

In the picture below is, from left to right, me, Donna, Sarah, Perry, and in the front, Lisa Michelle - turns out all five of us are former models who lived and worked in Spain in the 80's.  Sarah, Donna and Perry all met in Madrid in the mid-80s, and Lisa Michelle and I met in Barcelona in 1989.  Lisa and Sarah met in Miami sometime in the 90s.  What are the odds?  Now, here's where the pillow comes in.  I woke up the next morning and was looking at the pillow.  I kept thinking that it looked somehow familiar.  I can always tell my work if I look inside, so I unzipped it and just knew that I had made it.  But how in the world did it end up on this bed?  I was completely baffled.  Lisa came in and I asked, did I make this pillow?  She said, "You did; you made it for me, oh, 15 years (!) ago, and at one point when I was staying at Sarah's, I had the pillow with me and I ended up giving it to her."  Somehow that pillow made it to the house in Jamul, California!  Talk about a funny story!

IKEA CHAIRS

This chair is from IKEA.  Normally, if a client inquires about having something slipcovered, I find out as much as I can about it.  Things like, how comfortable it is, if they are just tired of the existing fabric, how old it is, stuff like that.  In the case of this chair, and this is just one of 4, my client simply liked it. The size fit her home.  I explained that because furniture from IKEA is so reasonably priced, it is not really meant to be kept long term. 

She was aware of this and still wanted to have slipcovers made.  She found this heavy upholstery fabric at Home Fabrics, which means she got it at a GREAT price.  She bought all they had.  Unfortunately, there was only enough fabric to do three slipcovers.  

Still, it was exactly what she wanted.  I thought they turned out pretty well.  And she loved them, which is always my intention!

LINEN SLIPCOVERS - PARSONS CHAIRS

I delivered these parsons chair slipcovers right before Christmas.  Since we had spectacular (Christmas Day was in the low 80s) weather, the timing was perfect.  I did, however, forget my camera.  Luckily, even though my iPhone is as old as dirt, it still takes pretty good pictures.

The slipcovers these replaced were incredibly tight-fitting, and you literally needed a second person to get them on and off.  

Plus, my client's dogs decided they would make good chew toys and proceeded to destroy several of them.  Not the chairs, thank goodness, but the slipcovers did not survive.

Front of chair

Back view, with buttons, to make putting them on and off much easier.

THE BOATING LIFE

Second Friday of the New Year and I am posting again…Yeah!  I would have done it earlier in the day, but I had to get this job delivered, and then I had another appointment.  So, finally, I'm getting to it.

 This is the master stateroom and I 'made' this fitted coverlet.  I used quotations around made because I used a blanket from Pine Cone Hill, so, to me, it seemed a little less something I made than something I re-purposed.  Not sure why using a blanket instead of fabric made a difference to me.

 In any case, it was a bit challenging because I was making it from my clients' existing comforter.  I have always found this to be tricky.  Unless I can take something completely apart and use it as the pattern, (and not have to put it back together,) it doesn't quite work the way it seems like it ought to.

 I also made a small pillow and re-sized a twin blanket into a throw for the sofa in the salon.

Close up of pillow

and of the throw.

The sun was very bright and made it hard to get a nice shot.  

It is a gorgeous, 50' boat, though.

The boat all decorated for Christmas.

And last, but not least, their adorable dog, Tyler.

HAPPY 2014

I know, I know, I've said it several times before and I have to say it again--it has been almost 6 months (how can that be?) since I last posted, and, really, I have no excuse except I simply did not do it.  It was not a priority.  The truth is I used to be really good at posting just about every other day, and then in July of 2010 I threw my back out and ever since then I have never been able to get back in a routine of regularly posting on this blog.  And then I had other traumatic stuff happen and, well, my focus was on getting myself healed and back on a more positive track.  Now, for 2014, my resolution is to recommit myself to this blog and, for those of you who follow my other one as well (www.atlonglastheard.com) which has also suffered from lack of focus.  I decided that, at least initially, I'll post once a week, on Fridays for A Little of This That and the Other and every other week on Wednesdays for At Long Last Heard.  I know it is just a matter of getting into the habit again.

I also had this crazy idea that every post needs to be long and involved, with lots of pictures.  How silly is that?  If I want to post just one photo or one simple paragraph, then that's what I'll do.  And today's post will be just that:

I did this cushion just before Christmas for a nursery.  The baby, a boy, is due the beginning of January.  The fabric is a flannel, meant for pajamas, not for a cushion cover, so I felt I had to line it with duck cloth to give it the necessary strength.  I even went so far as to line the welting.  Normally, I wouldn't have done that, but it was only about 4 yards and I figured, why not?

PINK AND GREEN GUEST BEDROOM

Just delivered this job yesterday...

Closeup of the back side of the pillow shams.  Actually, you can use them either way, but this really is the back.

Front of shams, along with the throw pillow

Front of shams and back of throw pillow

Back, which I personally prefer.

Table skirt with 1" welt and table topper

Closeup of bed skirt

Shower curtain with matching valance

With jumbo welt tieback

Rod pocket valance and shower curtain (which is strictly decorative; there is a plastic liner behind)

There is still some work for the interior designer to do:  art on the walls and a bed side lamp and a matelasse coverlet to complete the bed.

I really enjoyed this job.  I love pink and green and working with colors that I actually like is just an added bonus.  Best of all, my client was thrilled!

MORE LILLY PULITZER PILLOWS

A pile of Lilly pillows!  I made 2 each of 22" and 20" and 1 - 18".  I liked the way they looked on top of each other, with the different ruffles showing.

Close-up of the ribbon that surrounds the 'picture.'

The buttons and ruffles matched

These were a little challenging to make since they were originally dresses.  I couldn't quite get a straight square because of the taper, but visually, it really isn't that apparent.

CAT-PROOF FABRIC

I have a client who rescues Persian and Himalayan cats and, hopefully, finds them new homes.  At any given time she has between 30 and 35 cats.  The funny thing is, never does her house small like there is even one cat, let alone as many as she has.  One of her biggest challenges is keeping her furniture safe from the scratching paws of all these residents.  After much trial and error, she found a fabric that none of the cats like.  It is a kind of fake ultra suede, and whenever she finds it, she buys ALL of it.  At the present she has several large bolts of it.

 One of her kitty cats, relaxing on the new chair cover.

Because of the style of the chairs, they were a bit challenging.  As you can see in the above photo, I had to make little tabs that snap on to connect the skirt to the base.  

The 'cushions' have batting inside, just to give the chairs a bit of padding, but not make them look so formal.

I had to do gathered corners on the front because of the shape of the legs.  A tailored pleat would have bowed out in a funny way.  

The slipcovers made the chairs more inviting.  My client was happy, and, maybe even more importantly, the cats were all happy, too!

LILLY PULITZER, RESORT 2005

I made this pillow from a Lilly Pulitzer dress.   My client got these adorable dresses, for little girls, from Marshall's for a fraction of the original cost.  I wish they came in my size.  I would totally wear them all!

As you will see on the photos below, the appliqués  were too small to make a pillow without enlarging them somehow.  I accomplished this by cutting the white denim 20" x 20" and sewing the appliqué directly to it.  I could have done it by cutting pieces and then mitering the corners, but that seemed like too much work and I wanted to frame the image with a small trim.  In this case, I used a pink polka dot ribbon.  The 1" ruffle is also a Lilly Pulitzer fabric.

The back has covered buttons from the same fabric as the ruffle.

The pictures above are of the other dresses that still need to be made into pillows.  They are all so cute.  I can't wait to make the rest of them.

BEAUTY AND INSPIRATION AT PARIS IN A CUP TEA SALON

 Beautiful table settings

The Paris in a Cup Tea Salon

Everywhere you look and in every corner there is something special to see

 Bejeweled shoes

Paris in rhinestones

Our wonderful hostess, Sharon Hughes

I waited a long time to finally meet, in person, Deb Ward-Kennedy

Yesterday was the Launch Your Creativity event at Paris in a Cup on the square in Old Town Orange, California. It was my second time attending.  The last time I went was in October 2011.  The unfortunate thing about that one was it was exactly one week after I was sexually assaulted.  I really have no memory of that event, though I do have a picture, so I know I was there.  Yesterday though, was a whole other story.  It was beautiful, the speakers were wonderful, inspiring women, the food was yummy and the love and support we all felt and held for each other was very much in the air.  The amazing speakers included Sharon (of course,) Tara Wilson, Jane Button, Christine Rose Elle, Jenny Doh, Lidy Baars, Debi Beard and Deb-Ward Kennedy.  Talk about a superstar lineup!  And as if this wasn't enough, they had a very special surprise in store for me!

This pendant was made by the fabulous Rita Reade!  The picture isn't great, but what it says is 'Brave.'  I am so touched by this gesture of love and support.  I do not feel like I am brave in sharing my story.  It is just something I feel like I must do.  You can check out my other site, At Long Last Heard, for my story.  

It was a magical, inspiring, beautiful day with magical, inspiring, beautiful women who are all following their creative bliss!