Another reason to buy chocolate.

My daughter of Paper Pony introduced me to the Trader Joe’s little round tins of chocolate wedges. It’s almost as if they had crafters in mind when they designed the containers.

I love the magnetic storage tins you can buy. Some of them have little windows,  just like these chocolate tins.  A while back, I bought some little black tins at a yard sale and made them into such containers , described in this blog post. So the other day I got out my die cutter and my circle dies and cut some paper to glue on the top, and straight strips for the bottoms. (Or you could paint them.)

I don’t even glue the magnet on the back, I just put a strong magnet on my metal surface and put the tin on top.

 

Scrappiness.

I love the word “scrappy”.  My 1974 Webster’s Dictionary says that it means “fond of fighting”, but I like to think of it more as meaning, “too tough to give up, even though you’re just a scrap of a thing”. When I saw, in a recent bulletin from our church, a request for sewing items and containers to hold them, I got very excited. I always have beautiful little scraps that I can’t bear to throw away, or even give away, because I know that I will eventually come up with a use for them. Well, they hung in there and have found their special purpose!

These little bits of  left over fabric along with some of  the other things I end up collecting ( ribbon, wool sweaters for felting, zippers, thimbles, etc.) have become sewing kits on their way to Zambia.

Having been faced with a challenge, I am thrilled to have a pattern for a compact sewing kit that I can produce in a hurry.

Now those scrappy little bits will be even more treasured.

Loving the local farmers!

 

Beautiful colors from the Sunday Farmer’s Market up the street.

Patio quartet.

I found these chairs at a local shop called Clearwater Bazaar. At under $20 each, I couldn’t resist. I have talked to so many people who share my love of chairs. What is it about us that makes us want to bring home every chair that we see sitting by the side of the road, or looking neglected in the corner of a shop?

I decided to leave them rusty-chippy, since the paint wasn’t flaking too much, but since I was planning to lightly sand them and also sand the wooden backs, I thought I should test for lead. I have several old things around my house that I have been worried about especially now that I have grandchildren.

The nice people at Orchard Supply directed me right to the lead testing kits. Two testers per pack and not that expensive. You can use each tester for more than one item as long as they come up negative, and you do it within two minutes.  I didn’t find lead in the chairs, but a couple of other things that were flaking a bit came up positive. I have put them away for now and have to decide what to do with them, but was glad that I could continue with my chair project.

My original plan was to sand the wood and leave it natural, but decided instead to paint it a similar color as the chair paint and distress it.

 

I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. They look so inviting all in a row on my patio.

The nest.

 

I have been so busy with sewing work lately, and it seem that everyone is planning some sort of celebration at the end of the month. Either the first big weekend at the beach house, or a graduation party.  I’ve barely had time to sit or tend to the nest. (I do take a little test rest in most of the chairs I slipcover…just a little short close-your-eyes for a few seconds and take a deep breath rest.)

I did make it over to Saffron and Genevieve for the Spring Sale and open house and used some of my sewing credit for this great iron nest. Looks like it is the perfect place for the Charley Harper salt and pepper birds that my daughter, Sarah, gave me.

We also got a new computer and I thought, “Oh no, now I have to figure out how to use this new PC when I am used to a Mac”, but turns out it isn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

I am looking forward to a little bit of a let-up in the work because I have opened my home to a few needy chairs that are longing for some special attention. I’ll introduce them to you soon.

Raising Rabbits

For hugging only.

I have really been busy with slipcover and other home decor type sewing lately, which generates piles of beautiful scraps. Any larger pieces go back to the client, but the small pieces inspire me, so I am trying to come up with useful projects. The most recent inspiration came from beautiful soft chenille leftovers from a slipcover project I am working on. I thought it would make a really nice bunny.

I looked at a lot of rabbit photos and pictures of vintage bunnies and made a pattern. I started by drawing and cutting my bunny shape on muslin, stuffing it while I basted it together, so I could adjust it. I then made some changes, guessing what needed to change and then transferred the pattern to paper.

After I made this bunny, I made some changes to the head, but made the mistake of trimming my paper pattern and not saving the original. After making two more bunnies each one a little different, I think I like the first one best.

The bunny at the bottom of the pile is made from a big piece of lighter weight chenille that I found at my favorite thrift store. I used pieces from a worn vintage dresser scarf for the insides of the ears.

I can't wait to work on the bunny pattern some more, but since I still have my day job, and need it to supply me with scraps and craft money, the bunnies may not be reproducing as fast as the real kind.

A good week for enjoying grandchildren.

The baby girl grandchild we have been waiting for was born on Wednesday. She's a little one, 5 pounds, 12 ounces and very cute and sweet.

On Thursday my daughter, Raya, and her husband and son came for a visit. 

Our grandson had fun sitting on the little couch that my son (father of the new baby)  gave me a few years ago. I will make tiny slipcovers for the little couch one of these days.

Here he is feeding the stuffed kitty.

Now it's naptime.  It was so cute to hear him tell the kitty "Sweet dreams".