Week 11: Piecing a Quilt

Gave myself 2 weeks for this one -it's a doozy!

Why I want to make this: Cutting and piecing together tiny blocks for a quilt is one of my favourite sewing activities. I find it extremely relaxing. This will be my 3rd quilt -I would love to do more, but it's so darn expensive to make them!

Ideas & Inspirations: Last summer, while visiting my Gramma in NB, we ended up sorting through her old fabric scraps that she had kept from various projects over the years. She remembered just about every project she had made with each fabric: a dress for herself she made in 1967, an outfit for my aunt when she was a teenager, or curtains from a previous house. I brought home a variety of small fabric pieces and vowed to someday piece them together in a quilt.

What I intend to do with said project: I'm not sure what I will end up doing with this quilt. Sadly, it may go into storage until I've got a bit more space of my own! Maybe I can lend it to a family member -I'm sure they'd be quite reminiscent as they examine each piece. 

Week 10: A Recovered Chair

This project has been a huge challenge for me. It was a tonne of work! Once I had put in a certain number of hours and made a certain number of mistakes, I had no motivation to complete it. But alas, here it is.

I loved the grey fabric that I chose but wanted to add a little punch. I found some cheap lime green floral fabric and used it to create the piping.

You can't really tell from the picture above, but there is a piece missing. There is a button on the front of one armrest, but there should be one on the left side too. This piece was the very last step in completing this epic project, but while trying to attach it -it broke! I think I'm gonna have to make friends with an upholsterer because I have no idea where to find this piece.

Have you ever lost things down in the depths of your furniture? Apparently the previous owners of my chair did. I found some cash money: a complete $4.36! Yay for coffee money!

What I enjoyed the most: I really enjoyed taking the chair apart, discovering how everything went together, and using the staple-gun to quickly put most of it back together. I thought my love of sewing would mean that stitching the chair pieces back together would be the best part. Oddly, this was my least favourite part. I'm not used to sewing in such odd 3-dimensional shapes.

Next time I would... Be sure to include all pieces when putting things back together again. There was a white batting-type layer stapled on the sides and back of the chair. I didn't think it was necessary, but turns out it helps keep the batting from falling into the frame. Who knew!?

A Whole New Life

It's been a while since I've updated and I decided to summarize what has been going on in my life.

Goodbye 9-5: Mid-April I said farewell to my 9-5 office job. This was more than a step in the right direction for my life. I'll keep it brief, but that atmosphere was killing my soul a little bit! It did make my creativity spurt out like crazy in the evenings, so that is the positive. Yes, let's focus on the positive.

Travel just for the heck of it! Never in my adult life have I been on a vacation just for the sake of a vacation. All of my time off has been to visit family -which is great but I wanted to explore this big beautiful world. The day after my job ended, I hopped on a plane to New York to see the sites with a dear friend.

Cycling through Central Park

Finding my roots: Since I was on that side of the continent, I took a quick trip from NYC to see my family in NB & NS. I consider Edmonton my home now and I love it, but there's something so healing about being in the Maritimes. I think it has a bit to do with the ocean, or being surrounded by people who have known me my whole life, or perhaps just intense feelings of nostalgia. Whatever it was, I felt like I knew who I was again.

Foggy day at Lawrencetown beach, Nova Scotia

Hello awesome new job: This has been in the works for months now, but I am absolutely delighted to say that I have begun a sweet new job with Whiteout Workshop. I've been helping produce and sell some great locally-produced silk-screened art and apparel. It's a very fun and inspiring place to be, and hanging out at shows and markets with the wonderful people of Edmonton has been a blast so far!

A new lifestyle: Working part-time and somewhat flexible hours means more crafting and blogging, right!? I sure hope so. I'm still settling into my new routine and lifestyle. I'm choosing to put the crappy commute and ultra-scheduled life behind me and enjoy doing more of what I want, when I want to do it.

Thanks for being patient with me. I'm excited to be posting again. Check back Wednesday for the long-awaited reveal of my chair project!

Chair Re-Upholstery Progress

Where have I been!? What happened to my chair? I'm sorry for the lack of posting-ness. It's been busy, I've been sick, and it takes a really long time to pluck out thousands of staples from a little chair. Plus, I've started this really great new job that I'm sure you will be hearing lots about quite soon, but still have to maintain my 9-5 for a couple more weeks.

Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses, right? Moral of the story is the chair is not finished yet and I'm still working on it, but I thought I would give a quick progress report. You'll have to wait a few more days before you see the real thing!

After thousands of staples, my chair was completely naked and exposed to the world, poor thing.

Refurbishing a chair is a lot of work, who knew? And no matter how many notes or pictures you take as you're taking it apart, when you go to put it back together you question whether or not you're doing it right. I've just got to finish up sewing the cushions and put the final touches on it, and then it should be ready for a big reveal. Stay tuned!

Week 10: Reupholster a Chair

Wow! Week 10. I'm having a blast. Thanks for being here.

It's odd how the luck of the draw works sometimes. Just a few days ago I was hoping that this project would be picked out soon!

I found this chair last spring at a second hand furniture store. This place not only sells great furniture, but they partner with organizations in the city to make homes for people who are transitioning out of homelessness. I believe I paid $30 or $35 and believe it really was a great find.

This chair is super comfy. So comfy in fact that I took a Sunday afternoon nap in it this week. But as much as rose pink fills me with nostalgic memories of my gramma, it's time for a more modern and youthful look.

Why I want to make this: I've never recovered an upholstered piece of furniture before but have bought fabric before in a valiant attempt. And when I bought this chair, it was with the presumption that I would recover it one day. I just lucked out that the chair I bought didn't completely clash with the rest of my room.

Ideas & Inspirations: Months ago I had purchased some dark grey fabric to recover it. Now that it is several months later, I'm thinking of ideas to jazz it up a bit.

What I intend to do with said project: This chair sits in the corner of my room next to the window. I look forward to many more naps in this chair. Or perhaps I will take up blogging in my chair? Maybe I shouldn't associate the 2 activities...

Week 9: DIY Jewelry Holder

This week my project was to create something using items from a hardware store. I created a jewelry holder using wooden pallet pieces, copper pipe fittings, teal wood stain, and some E-6000 glue.

I went to the hardware store and was full of inspiration after the first couple of aisles. But when I got to the aisle of copper pipe fittings, I just couldn't stop thinking about them! So rich in colour, so pretty, so shiny and not too expensive either. Most of the pieces I bought were less than $1. But what to make with them?

Once I found my way home from the store, I dug out a couple of pieces of pallet wood that we had stored in the garage.

I found 2 of the darkest, most rustic looking pieces I could find, and used the saw to chop them down to a reasonable size. I cut the boards between the rusty nails and wasn't too picky about making them the exact same length. Then I sanded the pieces down a bit - I didn't want them to be smooth at all, but just enough to get rid of the splintery-pokey-outy bits.

Next, I used a couple scrap pieces of MDF and screwed them on to the back of my pallet pieces to hold it all together.

Once it was in one piece, I went outside to stain it.  I was delighted to complete this step outside on a beautiful sunny day and it was only -4 degrees! Plus, the wood stain can cautioned me to work in a well ventilated area to avoid lead poisoning. Yikes!

I was so pleased to find this lovely small can of teal wood stain in the 'oops' section for just $1. I did a really light coat and made sure not to cover the wood completely.

After generously allowing a few hours of drying time, I arranged my copper pieces the way I wanted them. I used E-6000 to connect the copper to the wood and there is no chance of them falling off anytime soon. I piled a couple of pennies to add depth to one piece, but the glue was not the best at keeping the copper-to-copper parts together - I had to re-glue them.

Once the glue was holding tightly, I hung it on my wall and bam! A colourful spot to hang my jewelry.

What I enjoyed the most: I sure did have a fun time at the hardware store. An older gentleman employee approached me to ask if I needed help and I wasn't sure how he would react to: "I'm doing an art project and I'm not sure what direction to take yet." But he was great and offered lots of tips and ideas. Plus, now I've got a few ideas tucked away for next time!

Next time I would... Not use cheap screws! That one simple step took way too long!

Week 9: Hardware Store Crafts

This week's project is a fun one! 

Why I want to make this: I love hardware stores. I love the smell of lumber, the aisles of random bits and bobs, and I love having an excuse to go wander around. I love picking out random pieces of hardware and thinking of fun things to make with them.

Ideas & Inspirations: There are a lot of fun projects out in the world of the internet, like making jewelry out of nuts and washers, or using paint-chips in various artistic expressions. But I really am hoping to be inspired by what I find as I wander through the store.

What I intend to do with said project: I really do enjoy projects that have a purpose - like something I can use each day. Like, I'm sure I could make a really sweet sculpture out of PVC pipes, but I'm not sure I have a need for that in my life right now.