Tag You're It

I was tagged by Paula of Sew Confused. Thanks, Paula! Hope this makes sense. My brain is fried today!

WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO?
Same thing I'm doing now. Wife. Mom. Homemaker. Crafter. Seamstress. Add in Home Educator.

WHAT ARE 5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY?
Supervise and Assist two teens hired to clean the basement - DONE
Supervise and Assist two teens hired to clean decks and paint porch - DONE
Spray Paint two end tables black - One down, one to go.
Sew side drapes for safari room - Haven't even started. Might be a late nighter
Register son for golf camp - Ummmm...where's the phone!

SNACKS I ENJOY:
I'm not really a dessert person. Favorite sweets would be cheesecake and white choc/macadamia cookies. Pizza is my favorite snack.

THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:
Give money to son's private school.
Give money to Carry the Cure
Buy a Steinway for our church (and one for me too!)
Help several deserving families I know
Finish our house and landscaping
Buy DH several toys he has denied himself in order to buy US things
Travel with our sons
Too much else to list here

PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
Eugene Oregon (yet another thing we have in common, Paula!)
Kirkland Washington (went to college there)
Fremont California
Roundup Montana (don't ask. It's too painful to talk about)
New Orleans, LA
Tacoma WA
Santa Cruz CA
Springfield MO

WHAT TYPE(S) OF WORK HAVE I DONE?
Babysitter (child)
Cafeteria worker (college job)
Librarian Cataloging Assistant (college job)
Designer Dresses, Coats and Furs Salesperson (also did modeling for the Dept. Store's fashion shows)
General Labor, Remodeling Work for FIL's investments
Church Secretary (before kids arrived)
Free Lance Writer
Various Entrepreneurial/Home Business Stuff

All of the above was brief and inconsequential. My biggest desire was to investment a lifetime in my marriage, family and home.

SIX (6) “PEEPS” I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT.
Those who want to play along...no obligations to anyone!

Sharon Sews - Sharon
Weekend Crafting - Reethi
Sew Much to Sew - Angelia

I'm too tired (did you see today's to do list?) to think of any others! Sorry. :(

Mantel Decor Tutorial

Since I'm doing this anyway, I thought I might as well photo and detail the steps for ya'll. The room I'm currently working on is what we tend to call the "homeschool room" even though our kids are pretty much grown and we haven't homeschooled in years. The name has stuck. The plan for this room is a safari/old world/british pub/hunting lodge kind of look. Is there such a thing? It was dictated as the only possible outcome when DH came back from Africa with trophies to display. And when it's done, I think it will be great!

The large gas fireplace is the focal point of the room. DH's Alaskan Dall Ram hangs over the mantel. I decided to make this "backdrop" for his trophy. It makes things look more polished and cohesive with the room's theme. The idea could be tweaked for any kind of decor, however. You could use reeding in the frame for tropical decor. Mirror for contemporary. Paisley print for traditional. Toile for French Country. Cabbage roses for cottage. You get the idea...




Step One: Measure out the size square you desire. Pencil in lines to guide you in hanging the fabric and placing the molding. Sorry, forgot to take a pic of this step.

Step Two: Choose fabric for your insert. I used burlap for mine as I wanted a rustic, safari-ish texture. Cut fabric to fit. Spray back of fabric with spray craft adhesive and smooth into place being sure edges line up with your pencil marks. The little wrinkle in the middle of my fabric is where I pushed the nail through to hang the trophy. It will be hidden once the head is up.



Step Three: Cut molding in three pieces. Two side pieces and top piece. Miter corners if needed. I preferred to use corner rosettes as we have this trim throughout the house. Paint molding.



Step Four: Nail molding into place using small finishing nails. Touch up nail holes with paint. Notice my high tech hammer. :)



Step Five: Now for the fun part! Decorate with your accessories. Hang a trophy, mirror, portrait, watercolor, etc. in your backdrop.

More "Persevering Productivity"

If you're wondering about the title of this post, I'm referring to THIS in which I naively announce all the things I'm going to get done in 2008. HAH! It's now almost June. I am about halfway through the year and still have a llloooonnnngggg way to go towards getting all that done. I'm making good progress in the sewing and stash-busting department. I've stash-busted almost 150 yards. I'm making fairly decent progress in the home organization efforts. Still a long way to go, however. The marathon-shape thing? We're not going to talk about that. Pretend I never said that. I was delusional. I must have been watching Chariots of Fire again and forgot that I'm more than 2x the main character's age.

I recently learned that we will be having house guests in a few weeks. So I need to lay aside the sewing for a bit and do some prep work for that. Company coming is always a nice little pressure to get some things done that need to be done anyway. So...those of you who come here strictly for the sewing, might be bored for the next dozen posts or so. I'm going to be posting my organizational and decorating projects. I will get back to sewing as soon as I can. :)

And with that caveat, here are pics of what I did yesterday. I cleaned out and organized a whole wall of bookshelves. Fifteen feet. I hauled out FOUR black bags of stuff to the trash. After everything was reorganized, I arranged them as prettily as a REAL library allows (Those libraries in magazines must be for non-readers. The books are color-coordinated and there are NO paperbacks.), tucked in bits of greenery and then hung some vintage landscapes on the fronts. This was an idea I saw in Country Sampler Decorating Ideas years and years ago.

From Roll Top Desk to Gadget Center

One of my goals this year was to try to get every inch of the house perfectly culled, decluttered, organized and beautified. Quit laughing. I'm serious. In this process I've discovered a new principle of organization. At least to me. It's kind of a variation on the "bloom where you're planted thing." Ready for it???

Organize your reality.

For years I've tried to set up systems and then get people to use them. I've finally come around to looking at what people are using and then organize that. Rather than fight the tendency for shoes to get left in the front foyer, organize the reality that that's where people leave their shoes in Alaska. Rather than try to get people to put away keys, receipts, and spare change, deal with the fact that it's always going to get dropped on the foyer table and organize that spot.

And that's what I did with this desk below. It had become a magnet for electronic gadgets and their respective chargers, batteries and accessories. I am sooooo not a gadget person. I have let the sight of those gadgets and tangled mass of cords drive me crazy and finally realized that I was going to have to go with the reality. That desk is where it is most convenient and likely for them to get dropped. So organize THAT spot. I turned this roll top desk into a gadget storage and charging center.

First, I removed the back of both the desk and the shelf insert. I did this without ruining them and stored them so that they could be replaced when we wished to use this piece as a desk again. I also stored one of the drawers as its spot was needed for one of the larger gadget chargers. I then ran the plugs through the back of the desk. I mounted a power strip to the back of the desk and plugged in each charger (and a pencil sharpener).



Each cord and charger has its own cubby so that there are no dangling cords, no jumbled mess. They get tucked into their holes until a gadget needs charging. Then its simply pulled out and the gadget plugged in.



The whole mess then gets covered by pulling down the rolltop. There are no cords showing beneath the desk because the outlet is just above the center of the desktop, hidden by the plant. So you'd never know anything electrical is going on.



The drawer holds extra gadgets and batteries. No more mess. And all those ugly electronics and cords are out of sight!



Now on to solve the next problem. There are plenty to choose from!

Reruns!

I didn't get my shirts done in order to share them with you today. Got sidelined by a new med and just didn't feel well enough to push through. So...ya'll are getting reruns today! I thought I'd share a former creation. This was made a couple of years ago for a customer when I was sewing children's designs. I used vintage and new fabrics and then tea-dyed them to blend in the new fabrics with the old. It's a great way to use up bits and pieces of vintage textiles. I also used some embroidered bits from old tea towels. The buttons were covered with scraps of vintage linens. You can see more about vintage textile covered buttons here.



If you're interested in tea-dyeing, here are some tutorials.

Tea Dyeing Tutorial

How To Tea Dye

Tea Dyed Fabrics

Tea Dyeing FAQ

Tea Dyeing and Aging Techniques

A Good Book Anyone?

When Craig and I drove to town to pick up my sewing machine, he wanted to stop by a furniture store where I had spotted a chair I really liked thinking it would be perfect for an empty corner in our living room. It was discontinued and thus being offered at a great price. He decided to pick it up for me. I felt more than a little spoiled (and guilty!) since we had just shelled out a small fortune to have my machine refurbished. But I do LOVE it. It matches a lamp we already had perfectly. It's a very tempting little spot to read. I hope this summer to paint the hutch next to it black and then give it a bit of a stain glaze to age it.



Charity

Some Quick Summer Tops

I decided to knock out a couple of quick summer tunics this weekend. I am quite short on summer clothes as I simply love Fall clothing (good thing I live in Alaska!) and my closet is quite lop-sided with wools, sweaters and jackets. I will be using a Simplicity pattern with a simple square-neck pullover top with side slits and darts.

I have almost finished the one below in an ethnic batik-looking cotton. I will add some wood bead detailing to the neck. Probably just another hour on this one.


This cotton border print will be sewn in a slightly longer length than the pattern depicts. I may add some Indian Shisha work to it. Haven't decided yet. But for those of you who might be interested in adding it to your creations, there is an excellent tutorial at Joyful Abode


This pique will be sewn as is. No additional embellishment.


I'll post an update with pics when I get the shirts done.