The Complete Guides to Sewing & Needlework

I only purchased two things during my little Craft Weekend. Both of them were books (go figure). There was a buy one, get one sale in one of the booths at Rerun Consignments & Mall in Council Grove and for $7.95 I just couldn't pass them up.

I am absolutely in love with the cover art of Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, but the inside is beyond amazing. If I actually read that I'll know how to sew anything and impress your grandma with my needlework skills.

The diagrams are absolutely awesome. Here's a little sampling.

How to tell if your pressure is off and adjust it.

A glossary of handstitches AND pictures of how to stitch them (this is just one page there are several).

A whole chapter on zippers.

Explanations of what the hell all those funny feet that came with your sewing machine do.

I read some reviews and it sounds like if you buy one yourself you want to get this 1978 version which is apparently way more awesome than the newer ones. Go me.

I'm not quite as in love with the cover art of the Complete Guide to Needlework, but the inside more than makes up for it.

Embroidery, crochet and rug making all in one super duper awesome book. Oh my! It even has directions for making the most awesome quilt ever. Did I ever post about it? I'm not sure if I did. Norie got it from her great grandma Millie and I know I've posted pictures with it, but it totally deserves its own independent post.

And last, but certainly not least, how to make a braided rug. It's been on my list of to-dos for a while.



My grandmother used to make them out of bread bags. Or maybe she crocheted them out of bread bags. She was thrifty to the core and you know what? They were awesome beyond reason. I don't eat a ton of bread so I think I'll just use fabric, but I'll be thinking of her when I do.

I'd love to tell you I'm going to post a project from either of them on some sort of regular basis, like a Wednesday sewing workshop, but you and I both know I'm not that organized or predictable. I'll try to actually read some of them and tell you all about it when I do though. Promise.

Craft Weekend!

No, not that Craft Weekend. I'm still on the waiting list for THAT Craft Weekend.

This one was just me, my sister-in-law Jamie, Norie staying over at my mom's to junk and craft and eat Mexican food. It was cut short by the unseasonably wintery weather, but we had a great time anyway. Unfortunately I was so busy trying to keep Norie from freezing to death (why do I always take her on fabulous junking trips in extreme weather?) I didn't take any pictures while we were at Bearly Makin-It which is the coolest place ever.

Here's what I did document.

My sister is plotting a dinosaur theme for her son's room, but I thought this monster was super cool. 

This vintage baby scale that would look super cute in an upscale nursery or as an awesome prop for newborn photo shoots.

 

With our shortened timeline we only got one craft done, wall art made from thrift store canvases and vinyl letters. I got excited and forgot to snap a before before I started so it's a little bit into the process. 

 

Jamie added some color before she started so I had plenty of time to get a shot. Norie was all about the crafting and loved that teal paint. If you want to know more about that floor go check out my mom's blog.

Since I didn't have to wait for a coat of teal paint to dry before I could stick on my letters I got mine finished that night.

Jamie's had to dry overnight and I woke up to this. It took all my self control to leave the letters on until she woke up.

I forgot to take an after shot of Jamie's, but she posted this one to Facebook.

Craft Weekend Number One: Check.

Goodwill Outlet

If we're Facebook friends you heard Thursday that I was planning a trip to the Goodwill Outlet while I was in Denver this weekend.

In case you missed that post I'll give you the run down. My mom and I were driving to Denver for the weekend and on the way she mentioned that there were several Goodwill Outlet stores in Denver. My brother-in-law had mentioned them to her and since she'd never been she checked out the website. Three things caught her attention

1) merchandise that doesn't sell in Goodwill stores
2) carts switched out every half hour to keep the selection "fresh"
3) stuff is sold by the pound.

You have to know, right?

I did. I mean how can you not go to a place with that sort of description? So we went.

It was...an experience.

You walk into this huge room filled with blue carts full of merchandise. 

That part really isn't all that weird and the stuff really isn't much different than you would find in a typical thrift store. The part that makes it weird is the professional shoppers there.

People litterally spend the entire day shopping. I'm not one to judge all day thrift jaunts, but this is a whole different story. Especially the "refreshing" of the merchandise. Every half hour they pull out new carts from the huge stockpile in back. I took a picture so you could get an idea of the inventory we are talking here.

People literally jockey for position around where the new carts will be placed (there are strict rules about shopping from moving carts). Honestly, the action that ensued when the cart wheels locked was a little terrifying. I was wearing Norie at the time so I stayed quite a ways back from the action.

I did however find this

one

SUPER

AWESOME

THING.

It even moos when you open the door.

One of the professionals there (the least wild eyed of them) saw that I had picked it up and even offered me the animals she had pulled from the cart. I ended up with two horses, a cow, a pig, a sheep and a rooster along with some random little people all for a buck I still owe my mom.

Overall it was a great trip. I'd go again, but I wouldn't take Norie and I would bring gloves next time. We washed our hands before we left. For serious. I felt a little gross, but still super excited about my barn.

Friday ReStore Finds

On Friday over lunch I like to stop by the ReStore and see what I can find. I took some pictures with my phone so you could feel like you got to come along.

There were oak chairs.

and this absolutely fabulous table. Guess what, Babe. I would even leave it stained, well at least the top. I might want to paint the pedestal.

I also found some potential options for a little project I've been wanting to work on for the entryway.  I saw this "Catch-All Shutter" from Life as a Thrifter and wanted to do something similar on the wall behind the door right as you walk in.

Source: Life as a Thrifter

It's this huge wall spot I've never shown you, but it's just door frame and then wall so furniture is not an option. At the moment it has a not large enough for the space wall hanging that is missing some hooks and makes me a little batty when I think about it.

So anyway, I've been on the prowl for some shutters, but I haven't found any in a week or two of Craigslist searching.

I saw these bifold shuttered doors and had the guy move two dishwashers so I could get a closer look then mulled over the idea of turning either of these into something like this for the entryway.

Would they be too tall? I have nine foot ceilings, but I also have about a foot of baseboard to deal with so they would be significantly taller than the door. 

The doors on this cabinet had potential, but they wanted something crazy for it (as opposed to the $5 a piece for the shutter doors).

I couldn't decide and I'm working on talking to my hubby before I make decorating decisions so I didn't buy any of them.

I even asked him about something I saw on Craigslist today. I'm really glad I did too. I thought he would like it but it turns out he didn't. Super glad I asked instead of getting it and being all proud of myself only to find out later he was not impressed.

I did walk out with some treasures though.

A new vent cover to replace the one that has been rusting out since the refridgerator installation flood and the personal cell phone number of the person who runs my local ReStore. I'm calling her tomorrow about some interior shutters for a whole different project.

I Love Research

Last week a friend told my mom she should consider marketing her work at a place called Good Juju in Kansas City. Neither of us had ever been, so we decided a research trip was in order.

First thing Saturday morning my mom and I loaded up Norie and headed to KC for a second hand shopping adventure. After we got there we found out that Good Juju is in an area of KC called the West Bottoms and there is an entire district of antique/vintage/awesome stores there. Almost all the stores are only open on the first weekend of the month and it's an event with vendors outside and the whole deal.


It was over 100 outside Saturday and definitely in the 90s in most of the stores. We spent a good deal of our time spritzing Norie with cold water and standing in front of fans to keep her cool, but we were about to make it to four of them before deciding it was time Mexican food and air conditioning.

I got way too distracted shopping and trying to keep Norie's body temperature below 100 to take many photos, but I did document my two favorite pieces. Apologies for the blurriness. Taking a picture with your phone while holding a wet baby is harder than you might think.


I love this couch. I have no desire to own it. It's not really my style and I'm positive Austin would kill me if I brought something like it home, but you can bet I would purchase it in a heartbeat if I was a professional photographer and wanted an interesting piece of furniture.

I was also a huge fan of this "Lamp of Awesomeness." I'm not making that up. It's what the tag said. From a distance it looked like it was made of old mattress springs or something. It was actually some fiber I couldn't identify, but was much lighter than I expected. Love.

I think we'll go back in September or October when it's a little cooler outside to check out the rest of the shops.

Nursery Armoire: I need color help

I've been trying to figure out what to do about storing clothing in the nursery. The one I put in the nursery floorplan was the Pottery Barn Catallina Dresser and Hutch.

 

It's not exactly my dream piece, but I needed something to represent an armoire in the room. (I really prefer to hang clothes over folding them. Drawers just turn into a complete mess.)

I seriously thought about making this nursery armoire from Ana White's website, but I'm pretty sure it would make my husband insane if I started a major building project at this point.

That, and I'm pretty sure that I would spend as much or more on wood and hardware as I'm going to pick up this armoire off of craiglist.

My in-laws even offered to buy it since we're getting most of the other major pieces of nursery furniture free. I'm not one to say no when people make generous offers so I took them up on it. My mom is going to come paint it for me, but I we need to decided what we want to do with it. 

My husband doesn't always care about these things, but I've learned that its better to ask and have him look at me like "why would I care what color the armoire in the nursery is?" than have him think I don't value his opinion.

I really like the bead board look of Ana's so I think some bead board paper on the door insets would be a good starting point and I'll probably go with hardware similar to what we used in the kitchen. The real question is what color to paint it. Yes. I'm painting it. I am without hesitation or remorse covering every inch of that cherry wood in milk paint.

Originally I assumed we should off with an old white, but then I saw a couple of pieces that really inspired me.

This one is for sale at a little shop called Joanie's Junk an hour or so away.

There is something I love about that mustard color. I also loved it on this piece that I can't find the origin of. I think it was from Ana White.

 

 But then there are other colors like the blue used on the dresser on the cover of Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect's Book. I'm pretty sure it must be Duck Egg or Provence since she only uses Annie Sloan chalk paint.

Or a brighter blue like this one from Young America?

Or maybe a pea green like this Seymour Office Armoire from Pottery Barn?

Or maybe something else? What do you think?

Actually, now that I've seen that last one I really kind of think green. I know. It's basically the color the room was before we painted it, but that's because the room used to be my favorite color in the whole world. If only I had some of that paint leftover I would be set.

But seriously, if you have a great suggestion let me know. :)

I'm starting to think that between craigslist and AnaWhite.com I can have everything I've ever wanted.

Or at least all the really cool and useful stuff.

I've been wanting to put in raised beds in the backyard for my vegetable garden this summer. I have big plans for the long run thanks to The Backyard Homestead. I'm also realistic about my tendency to overestimate my energy. It's hard to think it's too much when it sounds like so much fun, but easy to when you're exhausted and over worked. As a result, I planned on making and planting four of the 12 raised beds I eventually want in the yard.

I remembered Ana White having a post about raised beds on the cheap. She built them out of cedar pickets that were on sale at just 10 bucks a 72"x18" bed. Not shabby.Of course, one had to be able to find 1"x6"x6' cedar pickets for $1.59 to make that happen.

When I checked the price they were $2.59 at Home Depot. A bit more, but still significantly cheaper per foot than the almost 13 dollars it would cost for a single eight foot 1"x6".

Then the universe smiled down upon me and delivered a craigslist posting for 44 five foot cedar pickets for just 30 bucks. That's enough to build 3 4'x8' beds. I borrowed my uncle's truck and picked them up yesterday along with 175 four foot pickets. I'm debating between making more beds out of them or actually using them to build the fence we also need.

I'm leaning towards fence.

Now all I need is a table saw I can borrow to rip some of the boards.