Vision Victory

Today I'm going Green and recycling one of my earliest posts {I don't even think anyone ever read it : ) }.  & talk about green - Sheesh!  I'd like to think I've shown some improvement since I started blogging...
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Once upon a time there was a Mad Bench. What is a Mad Bench, you ask? It is a solid oak plank bench acquired by my mother-in-law many moons ago... many children ago (of which she has 9 and between the 9 there are 32 grandchildren). When her children were young and foolhardy, they were made to sit on what became dubbed the Mad Bench when they were 'mad' and needed to calm down (or if mom was mad at them and she needed a break). 

At some point we became the proud owners of the Mad Bench. Over the years it moved further and further from public view and only came out when we needed extra seating. It's sorta functional but not even sorta pretty. I've thought of giving it a makeover for years some time but am an awful not a very good seamstress . Then push came to shove due to "The Great Furniture Shuffle" and it became necessary to bring out the 2nd and 3rd string players. I decided to tackle the Mad Bench project - duun, duun, duuuuuun! Again, I had no plan or pattern - sometimes people never learn!! Maybe it makes life more frustrating exciting to wing it...

I got all of the materials 1/2 off or with coupons, of course! Handy Hubby : ) built me a wooden apron to go right over the top of the bench so as not to permanently alter the sentimental bench. I used spray adhesive to attach the 2" foam for some cush on the tush. I picked out a fabric suspiciously similar to one in Ballard Designs and some black piping.



I measured, I pinned, I sewed, I undid, and redid. (Grrrrr)

I'm happy to finally, Finally report that the Mad Bench is no longer what it was (although I almost went mad during the process and had to take a time-out from that said bench many, Many times)!!!! Now you wouldn't even recognize it as the Mad Bench, mostly because you can't see any of it anymore. It's not too horrible for my first attempt, if I do say so myself! Not beautiful, not horrible. But... well, nobody is allowed to sit on it - are you kidding me?! After all the blood, sweat and tears? Uuuuum. No. Ma'am!!


Benches are for looking at and admiring from afar. Try to sit on that bench and I'll give you something to be mad about!!  : )

Come join me for another look-see, won't you? We're admiring and admiring.

And so these three new looks (the tablecloth, the spray painted coffee table and the mad bench) were a few of the little things that made me say, "Aaaaah! so satisfying!" 

Gotta love it when a plan comes together!

So there you have it - MLE's ABC's

Blessings!

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Today I'm participating in:

Cool, Cr@pPy & Challenging - Oh, My!

I've got a C concoction going on today since I'm participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe - Thursday.  It was difficult coming up with just one C word to focus on because there are so many choices, but I decided to limit myself to 3...

Since I started blogging a few months ago I've seen soooo many Cool ideas!  You all are completely amazing & talented & creative & inspiring... *do I have your full attention yet? : ) *  I saw so many ideas I wanted to borrow but I couldn't keep them all straight in my little pea brain.  So, I started an idea file {found in my tool bar} where I tucked away the links of things I wanted to remember. 

My all time #1 favorite, uber Cool idea to date is *HERE*
These scultures are made out of driftwood by  Heather Jansch !!

I have absolutely no hope of EVER constructing something like this, but I had to save it and share it because it blows my mind!!!  The fluidity and beauty of these creatures astounds me.  I'm confounded by her vision!  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised, in the least, if one of them actually galloped away!!  Whew!  Oh, I'm flushed - those sculptures truly move me!!

Ok! So that was the Cool... moving on to the Cr@pPy Crafts

{1}Do you recall this wall of vinyl frames?  

Do you recall I predicted they would fall down one day?

 Well, slap me silly & call me a fortune teller cuz look what happened

As it turned out, the black frame was not the part you 'rub on' the wall.  It was the negative space that was sticking to the wall!  A few little sticky spots were not going to hold up the large frame!  And it didn't, obviously.  I may have even damaged the wall because I kept rubbing & rubbing the black trying to get that part to adhere to the wall!
Looks like this one's next... Grrrrrrr!

So, I'll warn you again:  If you are tempted to buy the faux vinyl wall art from Target - Just Say NO!!

{2}I picked up a few discontinued fabric samples from JoAnn Fabrics a while ago.  I've been doing different projects with them *see here, here & here*

I was saving my favorite for a special project.  Love it!

I finally decided on a handbag.  I wanted a funky shape for my cool print and came up with this

My idea was to have interchangeable handles, so I punched holes to install grommets.  Unfortunately, I chose a grommet the wrong size for my punch.  Now I just have holes.  I'm not calling it a Craft Fail yet.  I'm not buying a new punch yet either.  I'm calling it Cr@pPy planning & filing it under 'In Limbo'

{3} I could keep going on & on but I'll just bore you with 2 today and move on...

My Challenging Craft is definitely my hip chair I found at GW right before Labor Day

I thought it was just going to be a reupholstery job & I thought it would be pretty easy with it's clean lines.  But when I removed the fabric I found Mr. Grumpy Potato Head underneath

& it smelled!  I couldn't bring myself to just cover it up so I stripped it down to the frame.

Now we're talking a totally different ball game.  I don't know nothin' bout redoing this!! 

The back was tufted.  And the seat has deteriorating burlap which I wanted to replace but can't because there are wires running through it.  I can't spend a lot of $ to redo this.  So there it sits in the garage where Handy Hubby : ) walks by it and asks every day how much longer it's going to be there.  Siiigh!  

So there you have it - The Cool, the Cr@pPy & the Challenging!

C you next time!



ps for those of you still hanging around  and who asked to C this...
Here's the crumb.catcher/dust.ruffle dress from Plan B

Blessings!

Ruffles - Finally!

I have several different projects that are 'Under Construction' right now but haven't completed yet. So, today I decided to start another one : )

I've been thinking & thinking about what to do with my other $1 fabric samples. I know I said I wanted to make pouches out of them but I'm not quite ready to tackle another zipper *lol*. I've been pouring over all of the inspiring ideas you all have been putting out there and when I got to Ucreate's post Wednesday *check it out here* I knew it was finally time for me to board the Ruffle.Camera.Strap bandwagon!!  I'm sorta late to the party but now I had my mission.  I studied this great tutorial *here* and was anxious to get started right away... so I disregarded the step where I disassemble a strap, and the part where I use fusible interfacing *cuz I didn't have any* and decided to just sew it right on my existing strap instead.

I knew just the fabric I wanted to use!

Isn't it yummy?  It's linen and flocked or smocked or something - I call it fuzzy *somebody educate me here please!*.  Before it was discontinued, it retailed for $44.99/yd!!  I got the 17" X 17" sample PLUS 3 smaller color swatches for $1.  Well, I thought it was just perfect for this project!  And I was finally getting my ruffle, too : )  *contented sigh*

Since I only had a fabric sample I was going to have to sew some extra seams to achieve my lengths - I certainly did not have 46" to sew one continuous ruffle.  And upon sewing my first ruffle segment I realized I was losing all of the pattern.  What a shame!  At least I'll always have the before pictures : )  

I wanted to add a flower to my strap but this fabric was too heavy to make into a yo yo flower.  The black window sheer that I had used for my wristlet was too light.  I still had about 1/3 of the sample left so I did this instead:

Now I know that the center of this flower looks suspiciously similar to the one on the wristlet but I promise you it's actually this detail on the cream sample.  (the poofy looking thing)

Of course no one will ever know that but me *and now you* and that's enough for me!  I don't want to become known as the Fray Freak so I'm backing off fraying for a while after this. : )

My camera definitely deserves the ruffled treatment because she provides all the pretty pictures that hold your attention here at my little blog *the poor angles and lighting are all me, however*.  I love the way the linen feels on my neck. You can still see some of the lovely fabric detail if you look on the back.   And I finally have my ruffles; although I hadn't really envisioned that they would go around the BACK of my neck and not the front of my shirt or on a cute purse but hey! I'm good with that!!

One word of caution: if you get carried away thinking about what you're going to say in a post while you're supposed to be focusing on sewing, you're going to need the seam ripper A LOT!  One of these days it'll be just a bench warmer and not get sooooo much game time!!  Grrrrrrr

Well, I guess I can cross this project off my list 'cuz I actually completed it!!  So - Yay!  I also think I need to walk away from the sewing machine because it's driving me crazy!  I wish I was a better seamstress!  The weather has really cooled off here so I should probably take this opportunity to go outside and finish some of my paint projects...

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful *and safe* Fourth of July!!

Blessings!
MLE

Frilly Goodness

I'm not a super frilly gal but something about ruffles is making me say, "Serve me up a big bowl of that Ruffled Goodness and throw in a side of Cute!"

My to-do-list is brimming with ideas of the ruffled variety so I figured I'd better start on a few projects before this fancy passes...

This Vera Bradley purse was my inspiration. When I saw a picture of it online last March *Cha Cha in Sittin' in a Tree * I knew I had to have it! I don't usually splurge like that for myself but I decided it would be worth squeezing into last summer's clothes one more year if I could carry that little cutie everyday : )

Well, as cute as it is, it doesn't work all of the time. And I've been toying with the idea of a clutch or a wristlet as a quick, summer grab & go *with ruffles, of course*. So, let's see what happens...

On my last trip to JoAnn's I found more discontinued fabric samples that were being clearanced out for $1 - more on that here. So, today I'm serving up another project using these squares. L.O.V.E. these! I got sooo excited I couldn't just pick one - or two... The top 5 samples are all indoor/outdoor fabrics so they're durable, fade-resistant & water resistant.


I also decided to try sewing a zipper because I didn't want anything falling out of a wristlet if it was dangling from my arm. *I was soooo nervous cause I was a zipper virgin* I picked the fabric sample I cared about least just in case I screwed it up - I used the black & white stripe because something black & white is really what I needed.

I watched several tutorials on zippers, wrung my hands together, took a deep breath, squeezed my eyes shut & stepped on the gas...

At the end of the day, what I ended up with was this!

The zipper still needs work but it wasn't awful for my first try!! Since the fabric had stripes I wasn't feeling the ruffles, so I used this pleated ribbon and added a yo yo flower instead. That's ok! I'm flexible.

I cut out an 8" circle from a black window sheer that I had from another project. I was supposed to sew a 1/4" running stitch around the perimeter of the circle but I don't have mad sewing skills so my stitch wobbled from 1/4" to 1" *go ahead - you can laugh*. That wonky sewing turned out to be a real plus for me! : ) When I gently pulled the running stitch and gathered the fabric to the middle I really liked how the center was frilly. And when I frayed the middle I thought it looked really cool! *who's laughing now? hehe*


Since I had nearly a whole box of Fragments left over from the key chains in my college survival kits (check it out here), I used a tiny one to replace the zipper pull just for a little pizzazz and an itty bitty punch of color.



I've been slinging this little baby around with me the last couple days to try it out. It works fairly well... except I don't know how many days I can come up with all black & white outfits. What? your not supposed to dress around your accessories?! I dunno, I thought it was kinda chic myself : )

I'm super excited that I completed this project for under $5 with just an idea rolling around in my pea brain *and once again, no pattern*. Admittedly, some of the mental gymnastics almost made my eyes pop right outta my head though! It wasn't exactly what I had originally envisioned but I'm not unhappy with where I ended up. Now I've got to grab a few more zippers so I can try a slightly different design on the really fabulous fabrics!!! : )

Warming up my pea brain with a few mental calisthenics *coffee, sudoku & crossword puzzles*... Wish me luck!!

Blessings!
MLE

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