Furniture makeover. Dining table edition

After last year's flood I started to redecorate and now that I'm almost finished with grad school, I've got some free time.....  So I've formed an addiction to kijiji and have started hunting down great finds.

When I had to replace furniture after the flood. I decided to move the ikea sectional and the tv downstairs and to put "nice" furniture up in the living room with no tv.

When I was buying the couch and chairs I spotted this.

Where to buy.

I loved that table so much more than the plain pine ikea table I'd had for 15 years. But even on sale for half off it was $600 and I'd need new chairs.....  And I really didn't need it. But I really really wanted it!

One day on kijiji I spotted this.

'

Same shape. But cherry wood. I have nothing cherry in the house....   It was listed at $100 but had been posted for over a week.  I messaged the seller and offered $80.  She accepted and so now I had my table but the wrong colour. And I had a table that I needed gone.  Kijiji to the rescue again.  A company had just expanded their office and needed break room furniture.  They were happy to take my table and chairs and with the extra cash I hopped over to Lowes for some Rustoleum metallic paint. 

Two coats of pewter paint and now I have this. 

5 years later.....

I'm the worst blogger ever. I haven't posted in 5 years!

Another photo of the wire lady

The wire lady becomes a wire boy....

A new toy

This weekend I found a wire dress form at the Reuse centre - although I don't sew that often anymore I couldn't pass her up.

Now she just needs a name...

Oh and I need to get the cats out of her belly

Ravelry Links

Added a link to my Ravelry Homepage as well as a listing on the sidebar of projects in progress. Pretty cool!

2 years later...

Realized it`s been 2 years since I posted here. Now that I`ve remembered my password - I'll try to post more often.

Let's see - I've been doing a lot of knitting recently - see my Ravelry link for the projects. Sewing is pretty much non existent. Spent the past two weeks on vacation relaxing - It's been great.

My favourite TV show (LOST) ended recently so I've been looking for a replacement. I recently started watching Supernatural and have gotten through the first 4 seasons on DVD, I'm now waiting for the release of S5 so I can start watching S6 next month.

Teacher gifts

This is a dish/face cloth I made using a "red dress" pattern from the Monthly Dishcloths Yahoo Group - the picture is not great so it's a bit hard to see the dress.

I finished it and then realized that it had the same colours as the teacher bags I had made. So... E's teacher received 3 reusable shopping bags and a matching cloth.






Here is the picture of the cloth with the three bags. The fabric for these bags was purchased at Fabricland's big sale in May. Because it was a thin poly-cotton I ended up cutting a large rectangle and folding it before sewing so that it was a self lined bag. The handles are webbing from a bolt that I bought at Dress-sew in Vancouver in 1996 - and I finally used the last of the webbing on these bags.









This is another cloth I finished in May - its from a mystery knit a long so I had no idea what it was until I was done - actually when it was done I still didn't know what it was - mainly because I missed several lines of the pattern - it's 2 hearts then 2 joined wedding rings (missing a bit!!) and then another ring.

The yarn is some really nice cotton I bought at Spun - can't remember exactly what it was just that it was really soft - this took about 1/2 the skein so I need to find a pattern for the rest of the yarn.

Noticed anything strange...

I'm trying to update my blog to show all the things that I've taken pictures of - so I'll try to post things with the dates they were created - when you scroll through the blog you'll see a bit of time travelling.

So even though this blog was created in 07 - I've got postings from 2001 to present - basically anythign that has a digital picture.

Tote bags R Us

This weekend I decided to sew and this is what I finished:

1 - Yoga Monkey bag. Bought the cute fabric on eBay, lined with a remnant from Walmart, magnetic snap and a few pockets.

2 - Same pattern but used Dick and Jane fabrics from Len's Mills. Both these fabrics and the Monkey fabric and Michael Miller - love their cute prints. Magnetic strap but not as many pockets as I only had enough fabric to make the bag.

Pattern used is found here: http://artsycraftybabe.typepad.com/tutorials/pleated_tote_pattern.pdf

E saw the second bag and tried to claim it for his teacher - umm nope it's mine!! I think it will become a knitting bag. May need to make a trip to Len's next weekend to get more of this fabric to make the teacher something for the end of the year.

Pictures to follow as soon as they are taken

Loomed projects

Here are a few projects I've made in the past and have remembered to take pictures of.

First up - the felted water bottle cover - pattern is from the LionBrand website and the yarn is Bernat felting yarn. This worked out well and it does keel the water insulated and stop those annoying drips onthe outside of the bottle. I've also made a few coffee cup cozies in this yarn and they work great - no more burnt fingers!

Here is the Tommy Turkey hat I made using this pattern - http://loomlady.blogspot.com/2007/10/candy-corn-pumpkin-spider-web-turkey.html

And here is a modifed version for halloween

Cute Christmas Trinkets

Okay - I didn't make this but I bought these at a craft show today for the many teachers that the little guy has... Being 5 he thought they were awesome - expecially since they had chocolate inside.
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=5010226

Looks easy enough to make if you had plastic canvas and patience.

Drawstring cast-on

The original drawstring cast on is explained here - http://loomlady.blogspot.com/2007/03/easter-egg-reborn.html - the picture attached shows my modification - this ends up exactly the same but is easier for my brain to remember.
Step 1 - wrap the yarn behind the odd numbered pegs and in front of the even numbered pegs.
Step 2 - you are now back at peg 1 - wrap the yarn in front of all the pegs ending at peg 12 (the last peg). This will anchor the yarn so it doesn't fly off before you can knit the other pegs!
Step 3 - Peg 12 will have 2 strands of yarn on it - knit the bottom strand over the top.
Step 4 - repeat step 3 for all even pegs
Drawstring cast on is complete.

Knitted Christmas Ornaments

I made these ornaments using the patterns from here http://loomlady.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html with a few changes.

I used a different method to to do the drawstring cast on (well the same method applied differently) then I didn't repeat row one - I used row 2-5 as the repeat rows. Lastly my ornaments must be smaller because I used less than 10 rows total. This is a great pattern and super quick.

PJs - mix and match

A not very good picture of some Pjs made in 2007. Used a jogging suit pattern - probably Burda and made 2 long sleeve, 2 short sleeve, 2 pants and 2 shorts with the red, yellow, hawaiian print and an orange knit. Turned out cute and worked well as every piece matched on of the others so no worrying about exact matches. Will have to do this again.

Funky footstools

Spring 2007 - found 2 orange burlap footstool at the Reuse Centre - reminded me of a mushroom - very 70s. A quick stop at Fabricland for some retro fabric and a stash dive to find some fleece to balance out the bottom and Voila.... 2 cool retro footstools and no visible burlap :)

Loom knit skinny scarf

Here is a loom knit scarf - funky black anf red ribbon yarn from Mary Maxim. Used 1 ball and Provocraft flower loom - knit all pegs until there is no yarn left. This was a present for E's JK teacher. Made and gifted December 2006.

Loom Knit Slipper socks

Winter 2006

Used Bernat Boa on the top - looked cute but very loose and floppy! Can't remember the yarn used for the foot some bright acrylic.

Pattern from here: http://yarngear.com/looms/projects1.htm

Floral tote bag

Here is a bag made in 2005.

Remnant of floral corduroy from fabric land - original plan was for a skirt until I realized that the large print would have made a very unflattering skirt. Lined with dancing baby fabric from Len's Mills which was left over from making PJ pants.

I think I made up the pattern - looks like a simple rectangle - Can't it has been a while but I do know that pockets were added to the interior to fit my palm and cell. A clip was also added to hold my keys.

Pink FOE was used to attach the handles

Halloween 2003

Halloween 2003 - 17 month old Bob the builder.


This outfit used the Kwik Sew sewing for Toddlers book. Basic long sleeve T made out of orange/yellow knit. Darker orange knit squares sewn on (I remember having the bright idea of using basting spray to make it easier - bad idea, the spray left grease marks that appeared after washing!) then the blue fleece was cut free hand to resemble the top of the overalls. Pants were elastic waist pants from the Kwik Sew book. The Finishing touches were of course the hard hat (which oddly came from Kernals the popcorn store), the belt which was a strip of leather look fabric, some velcro and black elastic loops to hold some plastic tools, last but not least were the runners which had Bob's face on them. First picture also shows Pilchard - Bob's cat. Second picture shows the "after" - note the look of amazement. Third picture is a close up of the outfit - I didn't rotate before uploading so just turn your head to the side :)

Car seat cover - 2002

Another really old project - Kwik Sew car seat cover - tigger fleece from Walmart and a 1 week old E barely visible!

February 2002 although I would have made this in Nov/Dec 2001.