Pink Chairs

In January, we went to visit our daughter Raya, and I did a fitting for the new slipcovers I was making for her  posted here.

Yesterday her beautiful home was on the Design Sponge blog.
Here they are finished:

When the fabric first arrived at my door, I thought, "Is this pink or red?", but it is obviously pink and perfect. I can't imagine anything else looking so pretty.

I am so proud and amazed by her talent. You can see more of her awesome photography at her website.

Just a small kitchen remodel

I've found that when your kids grow up and move out you really need to move to a bigger house, not a smaller one, unless of course you started out with a nice big roomy one. We, like many I'm sure, stuffed ourselves and our four kids into a smallish four bedroom house. Now one of those rooms is my sewing workshop and one is occupied by our youngest child. So when kids come to visit they are now a family of four and have to squeeze harder to fit. And.....when there are grandchildren around, they need toys to play with, and it's nice to have special "Grammy's House" toys that they look forward to playing with. So, see what I mean.

Two of our grandchildren live very close, and we get to see them pretty often, which is what led me to do this "kitchen remodel". I really wanted to find a cute vintage play kitchen to satisfy some of those playing needs, but just wasn't having any luck. While I was searching around on the web I found lots of play kitchens that people had made from night stands and other pieces of small furniture. I pinned them here.

Unfortunately, my before picture has disappeared. I "put it down" on my computer and now I can't find it, but here is the after picture:

The original cabinet had long skinny legs, that I cut off and added casters instead. The oven door opened from the side, so I just moved the hinges. It was already a separate compartment. The bar sink and nobs came from the local salvage yard, and the burners are some kind of caps I found in the plumbing department of the hardware store. I printed and cut out spirals shapes I found on the net and affixed them with clear contact paper. The paint came from a local recycling facility. My idea to modge podge an old tablecloth on the back splash didn't work, so I stapled on a piece of oilcloth.

The pot holders were made from some vintage quilt squares that have been sitting in a basket waiting to be made into something useful. I am really trying to use what I already have these days.

I put two together and added a little padding in between.

Front:

Back:

Now I need to make some of that cute, cute play food I see so many patterns for.
A Grammy's work is never done!

On the Silk Road

As a child, I was an outdoor kid. I loved to be outside roller skating, or exploring with my two older brothers, catching the cicadas, or chasing down horned toads. When I wasn't outside, I was making things...doll clothes, shoe box houses for my troll dolls, or drawing. I didn't really have the patience to sit with a book, which made book reports for school especially painful. When I was in junior high, I read a book about the adventures of Marco Polo. I couldn't put it down. I loved the stories of adventure and travel.
It instilled in my a love of adventure...... as long as there isn't too much danger involved.

On Friday I delivered a slipcover job to a home in beautiful Carmel, so while I was in the area, I decided to travel East about 10 miles to Carmel Valley. I had heard stories and had to see for myself. I have heard over and over again about a wonderful store called Tancredi and Morgen. I found it with the help of some kind locals. It consists of  two beautiful little shops. While I was there, the woman who was working in one of the shops reminded me that there is a men's wear outlet (Robert Talbott) in Carmel Valley Village that sells remnants from the tie factory in Monterey. I got so excited. I had read about this place in a small magazine article about a crafter who uses silk tie remnants, and had heard it mentioned at a local fabric store. (Was I eaves dropping? I don't remember.) Again, since this is a Valley with a Village where the businesses don't have giant signs, I had to ask for help in finding it. I came out of the store with an armload of  remnants of tie silks and Egyptian cotton shirt fabrics. The woman who runs the shop let me bring my camera in and take some pictures.

 

While I was looking for the tie store, I found a church run thrift store that closed five minutes before I got there, so I'm pretty sure I will be traveling the "silk road" again soon.

Spring.....What I Like About You

What's not to like about spring, except for crazy out of control weather. One of my favorite things about spring is the return of flea markets and antique fairs. Our winter was almost spring like with an absence of needed rain, which allowed the flea market to continue, but generally speaking.....

This is a slipcover I just finished for a couple of talented ladies who are always finding neglected but beautiful pieces of furniture and transforming them. This will be taken to a local antique fair in a month or so. I think they have plans for the legs, maybe some white paint.

Here is a close-up of the fabric. We used a bedspread with seashells. So cute.

And of course, I love flowers, and I like finding unusual vases. I couldn't resist this little, vase within a vase, vase.

Hope the weather is being kind to you!

Tea and Crafts

We drank tea, we ate button cookies, we crafted! Ali brought lots of buttons (more than these pictured) and helped us put them together in beautiful ways to make magnets and other things. ( I'm sorry that I didn't get a picture.)

 I was impressed with the creativity in the flower making. Tracy was cutting leaves from a piece of a wool skirt and used an existing dart in the center of a leaf. A couple of people used plaid in their flower or layered it on a leaf. Everyone seamed to enjoy diving into the process. I sure had a good time. 

Crafternoon Tea

I have a friend who makes the cutest jewelry. You can see what she does by visiting her etsy shop, Button Willow Jewelry. Not long ago she asked if I would do a "craft night" with her. I was thrilled. I have wanted to do something like that for a while, and sometimes we need someone to help us move our ideas out of the thought bubble and into reality. It is actually going to be a "Craft Afternoon / Afternoon Tea". I am so excited about it. We are going to make wool flowers, and some simple earrings.

Some little sample flowers I have been working on.

 

I am using this book as a reference. It is a great little book.

The gallery of flowers is awesome. I do wish the instructions were a little more detailed. When I was learning to sew many many many years ago, I followed the pictures on the sewing patterns more than the written instructions. Now I am a little more patient, and do read the directions, but this book has mostly the written kind in a separate section from the gallery of photos, and might be challenging for a beginner.

Max is sad about his lack of apposable thumbs. No crafting for him. 

If you are a local friend and want to come, you are invited, just let me know you are coming. (This Saturday,

4/14 at 2:00 pm)

Inspiration

My daughter gave me this book for Christmas.

It is page after page of deliciousness!

 

Just the inspiration I needed for this drawing: