Organizing

BEFORE

AFTER

Yippeee. Organizing this closet has been on my to do list for months. Now the box that has been sitting there for over a year is finally unpacked, and all of the like items are grouped together. How much lotion does one person need?

Sewing Table

This new sewing table from Ikea makes me very, very happy. :)

To the Zoo....

...and Ikea, JoAnn Fabrics, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Dave's Barbecue. Wow! What a day. No wonder my two guys are sound asleep. I'm on my crazy work schedule even on the weekends, so I am wide awake. Good for blogging, I guess, but hard to get up early the next morning.

We had a great day going "to the city"--even drove by the old house. Not sure what I expected, but everything looks about the same.

While seeing the animals at the National Zoo is always fun, I was struck by how much more interested we were in all the other things at the zoo--the people, the construction, the food. I think LM (little man) spent more time looking at the bulldozers at the elephant house renovations than he did anything. I was fascinated with all of the people.

There is some awesome people watching to be done at the zoo--quite the variety of body shapes, sizes, hair color, clothing, family composition, and tattoos to be seen. I'm all for looking respectable when going out in public, but I was surprised at how many women had on designer little (the emphasis on little) sundresses with totally impractical sandals, sunglasses, and hair beauty-salon perfect. I was quite the opposite in my ball cap, tennis shoes, and sweaty shirt. (Of course we went on the hottest day of the summer so far!)

We did get a table at Ikea for the office/sewing room. Now maybe I can move all of my sewing projects out of the dining room.

Sun Dress

Here is the cute sun dress I made for my niece this week. I think she will love it, and it was super easy to make. The fabric already had the elastic top, and I just used rick rack for the straps for a touch of whimsy. If you are feeling ambitious and want to do your own elastic top check out the tutorial from House on Hill Road.

Cushion Cover Tutorial

We got wicker furniture several months for a very reasonable price at a local antique/junk store. The covers were drab though (see bottom cushion above), so I decided to change them out. After looking all over the internet, I came up with the following method for making custom, removable cushion covers.


1. Place the cushion on the fabric of your choice. 2. Measure and mark 2 inches out from the edges of the cushion all the way around the cushion. Depending on the thickness of your cushion, you can measure out more or less than the two inches. My cushion are about 3" thick, and the two inches all the way around was enough to account for the seam and to cover the sides. 3. Cut out the shape following the marks made in step #2. You should end up with something like the photo below.


4. Mark the top of the fabric. This will be the front of the new cover.


5. Turn the piece you just cut over, so the right side is facing up. Place it on top of another piece of uncut fabric with the wrong sides facing like the photo above. 6. Measure out 2" from the bottom edge of the top piece and mark the bottom piece every so often. Repeat process for top edge. You should have something similar to the photo below where the sides of the two pieces are flush, and the top and bottom of the second piece extend two inches farther than the top piece. 7. Mark the top of the second piece you just cut; this will be the back of the cushion cover.

8. Cut the longer of the two pieces in half horizontally; this will become the opening for the cushion. 9. Hem each of the straight edges of the two pieces you just cut by folding the fabric over once 1/4", ironing, folding again, and ironing. 10. Pin in place and sew.


11. Lay the first piece you cut (the front of the cushion cover) on your work surface with the right side facing up. 12. Place the two hemmed pieces of the back on top of the first piece with the right side facing down. The right sides of the fabric should be facing. The fabric of the two sides should match up fairly closely. If you need to trim the corners a bit to make them match, that's fine.


13. Pin all the away around the edges of the fabric as well as across the opening to keep everything together as you sew. 14. Sew around the edges; my seam allowance was about an inch. I realize this is wide for a seam, but I found it easier to follow the edges of the shape with a bit more space on the sides. 15. Turn the fabric right side out and place the cushion inside to make certain it fits. 16. If all is well, turn the fabric inside out again and trim the seam edges. 17. You're finished! Just turn the fabric back to right side out and put in your cushion.

Flea Market Find

I'm totally excited about these two adorable chairs that we got at Double Tollgate (a local flea market) today. They look great in the sun room, which I am doing in blue, white, and yellow.

Parade, Picnic, and Rain

Staff at the VA nursing home chose Granny to be the Grand Marshal of the Fourth of July parade at Shepherdstown, WVa.

Despite the forecast for rain, the bad weather held off for a very special day. Granny was just tickled to be in the parade, and we all felt very blessed that she was well enough to participate.

The parade was just the right length--about fifteen minutes and had all of the elements of a good parade: fire truck, girl and boy scouts, candy, clown, a big flag, historic vehicles, and the color guard.

Shepherdstown is a cute town. I had been there only once before and didn't really have any time to look around. One Two Kangaroo is a great toy store; I could have dropped several hundred dollars in there. They had a lot of wooden toys and Melissa and Doug art supplies, which are our house's favorite. There was also this baby store, Lullaby Lu, that had some of the most beautiful handmade items in it that I have ever seen.

After the parade, everyone came over to our house for supper. It was pouring rain though by that time, so we moved everything inside. Too bad--I had planned on having a campfire with smores and had gotten bubbles for all of the kids. Oh well, maybe next time.

Went to Joann's Fabric store this afternoon and got fabric to make S a dress. I'll post pics when it is finished.