Sofa Envy

Crate and Barrel Azure Sofa

I love this sofa ...nice clean contemporary lines, but with traditional tufting.  I love everything about it ... the colour, the room it is in .... ahhhhh Sofa Envy. 

Markham Apple Fest

It's Fall Fair time and today was the Markham Apple Fest.   The event is held at the Markham Historical Museum.

I belong to the Markham Towne Quilter's Guild and we always do a display of our quilts in the small church, so naturally I attended.

They fire up the old tractors, the mill cuts wood, there is apple cider making in one of the barns and tiny railway trips for the kids.

 The perfect "note" to kick off Autumn.

Magnetic Bulletin Board

Image by John Granen, from book, The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen

http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com/

I was checking out home blogs, saw this image and thought "Oh my god ... what a great idea".   I have tons of metal trays in the basement and  I would have never in a million years thought to afix it to the wall and use it as a bulletin board with magnets.  The colours and vintage look are fabulous.
Don't you just love the internet. Nice work Farm Chicks.

Vacation is over ... Back to Work Tomorrow

I've been off for the past two weeks, and it has been the best two weeks of the summer weatherwise.   I was around home and had a list of stuff to get done .... did I get everything done?

1. Visit my niece Allison at McMaster University and take her for lunch
(We spent a great day making sure her room was set up, went for cupcakes and then lunch.  I love spending time with Allison)
2. Go to Designer Fabrics.
(Spent a morning in downtown Toronto, shopped DF, got fabric which became a roman blind in my guest bathroom.   Visited a new scrapbooking store and went to Cornerstone Furniture.)
3. Shop for fall clothes for work.
(Shopped, got some tops, a tweed suit and a fabulous pair of black patent, faux croc, penny loafers (they are perfect) ... Not as much as I wanted to get ... but a start.)
4. Get a part for the door of my car and have it installed.
(not everything can be exciting ... but I'm glad the trim is back on the door.   I am sad though, I own a Saturn and the parts manager said that Saturn is closing in Canada; only staying in business in the U.S.   Most Saturn owners are loyal and love their cars ... so not good news)
5.  Sew bed skirt  for guest room
(Done ... room is a work in progress)
6. Get a mirror for the den.
(got a mirror, tried it in the room, but before it would work I would have to change the mantel, etc, etc ... so took it back ... mantel change will go on another list!)
7. Buy trim paint and start painting (the trim was pretty beat up looking when I moved in and needs a coat of touch up)
Paint has been purchased ... not started painting yet.

Some of the best things weren't on my list:
1.  My friend Karen, who has moved to another town, called and invited herself for dinner.   We had a great visit, she showed me pictures of what she was doing in her new place, and we made a run to Fabricland.
2.  My sister (in-law) took a day off and we ran the roads visiting scrapbook and craft stores.   She is a passionate card maker.
3.   I rummaged in the basement and found a small shelf that I painted black for my front hall (will show you finished product in another post);

and found a fern stand that I moved up to my guest room which is a work in progress.  I put a pine top on it to make it a small table.   Can't decide if I should paint the body white?  (the room is pale blue with white drapes and accents, the dresser is also pine) ... not sure whether to leave it as is to tie in with the dresser or paint.   What do you think??  

There were a couple more things on my list ... I didn't get my chili sauce or red pepper jelly made, the back of my quilt hasn't been sewn yet, though I did get the front finished.  I read a couple trashy novels, stayed up late, went for walks, relaxed.  All in all a great vacation.

Now back to work tomorrow all revitalized ... at least for the first half hour :-))

Completed Roman Blind

Well ... not a real Roman Blind.   A "faux" Roman Blind.
You can't raise or lower it ... but you get the look.

I bought this fabric(mentioned in my previous post):

My bathroom window opening is 28 H x 29 W.   I bought a yard of fabric and cut to 32 " wide, and the white cotton lining to 28" wide.  That allowed the fabric to go 1" on the back on either side and for a 1/2" seam. 

I sewed one side, then pressed the 1" around the back, and then did the same on the second side, pressed; then sewed the bottom edge, and pulled the drape right side out.

I knew how deep I wanted the blind to be, so I just eyeballed how big I wanted the folds to be.   For my blind, I went up 4 1/2", and brought the fold down 3".  I did this three times to get the depth I wanted ... the first two I machine sewed down, the third I handstitched on the back as I didn't want a machine sewing line on the front.

Once all my folds were done, I zigzagged the two fabric layers at top of the blind to keep them together; cut a 1x2 piece of wood to 28 3/4", painted it white; stapled the top of the blind to the wood, and screwed the wood to the top of the window.  Voila!

So the bathroom for the guest room is now done.

The black and white pictures are photos that my brother, Bruce, took.   He was in the country after an ice storm and stopped to capture the icy landscape.   I was impressed with the images and framed them.

One job done ... how many to go??

Designer Fabrics - Roman Blind

 I am on vacation this week and I need a project.  So on Saturday I drove to downtown Toronto and got inspiration at "Designer Fabrics" on Queen Street.

I am going to make a roman blind for my upstairs guest bathroom. The walls are mid-grey and the trim is white.  The shower curtain is white and I have black and white photography on the wall.

 

Here's the fabric I chose:

Now I'll just wait for a day not quite so sunny and get my sewing machine out.

So stay tuned for my finished roman blind and pictures of the complete room.

Where it all happens ....

I finally had a friend over for dinner, so that prompted me to clean house.   Even the office/craft room got tidied enough that I could take pictures without mounds of stuff on every surface. 

I wanted the room to be functional, but feminine and that prompted me to use the red toile.   I have had a roll of this Waverly fabric in my closet for ages (I got it on sale when a fabric store was closing down and knew I would use it somewhere) .. so I used it for drapes and seat cushions.

Storage:

The cabinet was a lacquered white unit that my parents, who married in 1949, used in their first kitchen. I stripped it to the natural pine.

My scrapbook supplies, in 12 x 12 inch drawer units, fit perfectly in bottom.

Every office/craft room needs a bulletin board .. for ideas, inspiration and in this case, also for my thread storage. 

P.S.  I did an earlier post on the artwork in this room ... most of which I created.

Off to University

On Friday I went out to check out my niece Allison's new digs for her year at McMaster University.   She is renting a room in a house blocks from school.   There are 7 girls and 1 guy in the house.

Allison is very into decor.  She made herself a cork board (with wine corks).   I'm sure she had to save for months, I mean years, to make it!

And made some decoupaged file folders; one covered in food for recipes, and the other in all her favourite things ... Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, Coach, and all kinds of bling.

 

My sister-in-law, Donna, and I helped Allison with the final touches

and then we went off for a rewarding Cupcake!!!

And now, Allison, on to higher learning. 

  

My craft/office

I am going to do a post on my craft/office space ... but I have to wait until it is tidy enough to take pictures.   But I thought I could show you some things above cluttered desk height!

This is the first time I have had an office/craft room.  I work from home on Fridays and used to work at my kitchen table.  This is way more organized.   It is also fabulous for all my crafts ... quilting and scrapbooking ... and now blogging.    You can keep at whatever you are doing, close the door and the rest of the house stays tidy ... well, as tidy as it gets.

Since this is a craft room, I made most of my art myself.

The original blue painting on the shelf is a 'finger painting' I did in Kindergarden.   When my Mother moved out of the family home, it was in a box of truly clever things my brothers and I had done.  The 12x12 pictures below are scrapbook frames with pictures of quilts I have made ... some I still have, some are baby gifts, or presents for my family.  

           

This grouping shows a quilt block in the colours of the room (yellow and red) which I framed in an Ikea frame.

And neither  craft or work related ... a picture of my cat "Sam", sharing my space.