Colours in my washing machine.

Inspired by the  AWESOME library chick from Ballarat (she's after postcards from anywhere and everywhere so click on the link if you can help her) I have finally started saving fabrics for a rag rug. 

I am intending to use the toothbrush method although my toothbrush may or may not actually be that. I love to invent so I'll investigate what suits me.

As you can see the colours favour pinks and blues. The blacks in there are a maxi picked out by a friend I bumped into at the oppy and an overseas destination inspired skirt from Lavender Blue that will either be worn by DD1 or cut up for a poster or cushion.

Have you found some happyfying bits and bobs lately?

Would you like to  join in with RicRac's slow rag rug-a-long?

The latest

 I saw this at the oppy the other day but took a night to realise that I really wanted it.

A day of work and rain, another day for the memorial service, the weekend and now finally it is home.

It will probably take me a while to get the enrgy up to recover it and I am at a total loss about where I want to go with my base colour for decorating.

White would be nice.

Kids - even young adults.

Dogs.

Well maybe not white.

Looks like I'll just have to keep searching.

I'm totally in love with those arms!

That sneaky UFO

It was hiding for nearly six years and I forgot about it in my purge last year. 

I am so happy I did. 

When I saw this post whilst perusing google images I suddenly know that I could use this gorgeous top that I still love as a summer bed topper.

I think I will just lengthen it with a bit of the corner fabric still hiding somewhere. 

So there you go folks: when I said I had no UFOs lying around I was actually telling a fib.

Another t shirt embellished and refashioned

 I hope I'm not boring you with all my refashions but I'm having heaps of fun doing them. 

This one is done with a simple $5 tee from K Mart.

Why?

Because I liked the colour. 

Specifically I wanted a colour I could wear with this circle skirt which was made a couple of years ago from an old tablecloth.

But a plain $5 t shirt isn't very inspiring so I decided to jazz it up with the help of some doilies.

Unfortunately, two doilies were hurt in the course of this job.

I used two squarish ones and laid them diagonally along the v neckline then simply sewed along the original seam line and snipped the left over pieces off in the back and zigzagged them neat.

The work didn't take much longer than the typing of this once I had made up my mind to do it.

Because the top was a little long and wide I took it in on the sides and ruched it up by applying ordinary 1/2 centimetre elastic along it using a largish zigzag stitch.

I found that the elastic needs to be stretched almost to it's ultimate stretch to give the effect I want.

And that's about it.

Except that I then decided to use the scraps I had cut offfrom the sides and make a little decoration for the centre.

Psst.

Thankyou to everyone who said to mow.

I did but it's rained heaps this week and it all needs redoing.

O dear.
Looks like I'm going to have to do it all over again.

Recovered travel pillow

photo credit

From one of these in blue to one of these in red (did I mention red is NOT her favourite colour?)

with the flip of some stretch fabricwhich has been in the stash for 6 or 7 years, a little badly sewn shirring thread pulled up to gather everything in the right place and some embroidery thread to pull the ends together.

Definitely not another like it on the planet!

(flowers courtesy of the florist daughter!)

Co-ordinated travel folder and camera case.

I wonder if I can remember, between now and the next time I make a camera case, that the real trick is to make the flap seperately and insert it before the final seam.

I'm sure that would make for a neater finish as well as allowing for a better padding than  was used this time.

Maybe 11cm wide instead of the 10 I used too.

mmm. Must try to remember. 

I did manage to line the flap with a thin fabric while the rest of the case has a fine velour so that it doesn't scratch the camera.

It's funny that my daughter is not really a red person because it is the common colour for all of her little bits.

But maybe it's because she has been thinking about the Big Apple all along. 

All homemade items from the stash.

Magnetic clasp pinch from last camera case attempt.

Yay. I feel free!!

Well. It is finally here! 

The new doona cover,

pillow slips and pretty cushions

curtains where there previously were none and a new cloth for under the TV to tie it all together.

Yay!!!

I feel free.

Now lets see what else needs doing.

My creative space - not a diversion!

That's right. 

This time the work is not stopping me from doing the bedroom set because it is part of it.

But really, it is still stopping me because I'm a little scared of finishing it.

This is just an 80x80cm square of lining fabric that has been shirred roughly every ten centimetres from left to right and top to bottom.

I just roughly wound the shirring cotton on the bobbin and used a 2.5 stitch length.

The curtains are of the same fabric as this as is some of the applique on the doona cover.

It is cheap lining fabric fromSpotlight chosen because it was the only fabric in the shop with the exact right shade of burnt orange that DD2 wanted.

Unfortunately DD1 likes it so much she wants me to make her one soon but that's OK because it is very fast to do unless you count the constant changing of the bobbin.

I'll admit that I made this more than a week ago but as it is the only piece of work on the go that you have not seen I thought I would share it with you.

For more creativeness head over to Kirsty's.

Right now....

I'm having another one of those days of exhaustion but happily the triangles I cut yesterday have been sewn up today.

I thought I was working to a purple theme but aparently the young lady is now going for pink too as her best friend has just had her bedroom painted in hot pink (only half the walls fortuantely).

So I'm sticking with the purples which I know she loves but looking for extra pinks in my stash.

Would you believe I am nearly all pinked out?

Looks like I may have to cut up that gorgeous "Little Wishes" sunsuit I picked up for a song. 

It's the only thing that seems to have the right depth of colour.

Does anyone know how far apart each triangle should be place in bunting to make it look good?

Please do tell.

The $19 makeover and reveal

I so wish I had remembered to take some before photos for you but all I have is a quick shot of the original curtains. I made these for my friends spare room about three years ago. The match the bedcover really well even though they are just scraps of curtain fabric sewn together.

Anyway this was the sort of colours that were in this room before I arrived today for a quick makeover.

This incredible bunk bed was made by the grandfather for the arrival of his two grand-daughters who are to spend 6 weeks here before and during school holidays. 

The man is a wizz with any power tools and has a mind that doesn't accept defeat.

He is intending to make his resident grandson a similar contraption but with desk, etc under it.

Great ideas for tiny spaces.

So the bed was painted in light blue for grand-daughter 1 and trimmed in strong purple for grand-daughter 2.

But I came along and thought the bedding colours were all wrong.

A blue dolphin doona cover that had originally belonged to my oldest for the purple lover and that adult grey-brown colour for the pale blue lover.

The chest of drawers had slips that matched the grey-brown look to cover them.

What is a girl to do if she thinks it's not quite right but offer to do a quick makeover.

The offer was accepted so last night I madly washed the new-from-the-oppie blue vintage sheets and then proceeded to rip and sew until all the really weak areas were gone. It took two single sheets to make the top of this cover. The bottom is left overs from something that belonged to the grandma I think.

We tend to share stuff around here and I don't always remember where things came from.

Today I had to do a mad dash down to the shops for milk for breakfast so I took the opportunity to pop into the oppie to get extra props for the room.

$13 later I had 4 soft toys, enough blue fabric to work two pillow cases from and a new doona cover in lilac and pinks for the younger one.

Everything got washed and dried while I struggled with my machine to finish the blue bedding.

Then it was over to the house to set up the beds and work out what else needed doing.

After another trip to the oppie and then parting with $6 more. I had enough to complete the makeover just in time before the family came back from picking the girls up from the airport.

I added a white cane chair from my bedroom topped with a thrifted blue sheet ($1) which is there to protect the new cushions (50 cents each!).

A pretty lace runner from my house and a $4 cream doona cover thrown over the curtain rail and tied back with scraps of blue from the pillow cases.

I would have liked to cut the doona in half so that the frills were in the middle and each panel could be tied back but I know the grandma well enough to know that she would prefer to have the complete cover for another day.

She is a very grateful and resourcefully frugal woman and I know that it will not go to waste.

I am really happy about this super fast makeover and got lots of kisses which I think means everyoine else is too!

My creative space - trying to tidy it

I can't work in here.
I don't even know how it ever got so bad but it has been like this for a couple of weeks.
It is far too messy so I've decided, as my health allows, to work through this.
Behind the computer chair, which is empty again, is a gorgeous cane chair overflowing with clothes that need re-fashioning.
By the time I get to them the may no longer trigger my enthusiasm.
I am going to go through them again and put all that I want to work on in the basket below so that maybe the chair can remain empty for me to admire.
Wouldn't that be loverly?!!

This basket was one of two that belonged to my Mum.
The other one is downstairs in it's raw state but since yesterday this one has been wearing a coat of very watered down paint.
(Almost no paint in the tin plus almost all the water in the tap makes watered down paint, right! Also makes it real easy to spatter on the kitchen window when painting. Grrrr.)
I thought of using it as it was but decided that as the whole reason I did all that painting last year was to have a co-ordinated white space, this should be white too.

And here it is, drying outside in the dew all last night.
teehee

Yep. I'm still here!

I seem to be running very behind on my blogtoberfest posting. Sorry.
I've been doing interesting things like using bleach to clean my walls and ceiling in the laundry; a bit of spring cleaning; going through shelves and shoebins and throwing heaps out; being mumtaxi and driver trainer and other ordinary things that have been leaving me so exhausted that I haven't wanted to get near the computer.
So I thought I would just share something with you that I had prepared earlier.
Like maybe 6 or 7 years earlier.
I made these for my laundry - a splash of bright colour - and I'm thinking that they may just be happy there again in my revamped space.

Still black and white in my creative space

This is meant to go in that black and white room to protect the black and white bedding from the black and white dog.

No kidding.

We just wont tell anyone that the padding is an old blue and white baby blanket bought at the op shop yesterday.

Or that if you turn it over you might find a little bit of purple to relieve the tedium.

More creative spaces here.

Now some accent colours

I made DD1 this rug about 3 years ago based on the concept of fluffy, metallic and plains placed randomly in a pretty granny square rug featured in Better homes and Gardens.

Obviously she still likes these colours because here is the piece of artwork she made just before she moved up.

More from the $2 tissue paper

Here in our little cottage we believe in colour co-ordination. (Really?! Is that why I have to sleep on this bed now? Sigh.)

This lamp shade was a lovely mid green suede which totally did not go. A couple of licks of paint and a layer of that cheap tissue paper did the trick.

Likewise this shelf in that cute little cabinet. The shelf is made from part of a pin board picked up at the oppy for $1 and given a layer of tissue paper and a couple of coats of glue/water solution.
And this tissue box used to be a soft pink with pretty little frangipanis on the front. It was roughed up with a green scourer, coated in black craft paint and imediately covered in more tissue paper. A little rubbing with the finger has helped the black to come through and given it a character of it's own. The little box behind it was also a light pink with darker pink ribbons holding the corners together. DD1 decoupaged it before she moved up and replaced the ribbon.

Being so co-ordinated might seem over the top, but we are cluttery people and having a lot of things in the same colourways means that that the overall effect is not one of mess.

Spreading the white!

I like white.

There - I've said it. And totally not ashamed of it either.

I also like like wood, in most of it's modern and vintage/antique guises.

But I think dark wood suits larger places. And I have a small place. In fact so small that my bedroom is also my sewing room.

As all you ladies know, even the best kept sewing room already has loads of colour and problems with tidiness.

This terrific bookcase was gifted to me by a friend. It is well made and even has a gorgeous little heart cut which I totally treasure. It works well for material/tablecloth/teatowel storage but because it is a tall object it brings darkness into my little room.

So, prompted by all the terrific white blogs around, notable Mias Landliv and a beach cottage I finally took the push today and found all my tins of white.

I don't know where the sander is so lets skip that step. Besides it is too hot and it might storm later so lets get going. Let's just start with the undercoat, the one I took from the shed when I left home.

Miss nearly 16 offered to help. She is wearing my trusty painting dress that has served me through 2 pregnancies and loads of breastfeeding. A brilliant dress picked up at Kmart for $5 about 20 years ago.

I'll never be able to let go of this dress because I wore it the day I took my son home from hospital. I picked him up and his eyes latched onto the dress. He took to it straight off and never seemed to look at anything else when I wore it.

Would you believe it - now he goes for the black.

And I am going for the white - spreading it all over the place.

Yippee!!!