Vintage Thingy Thursday - a 60's barrel chair and a special bunny

This week I've been doing a bit of re-organizing in my mom-cave, and I keep tripping over these two special items because I don't really have a spot to keep them in. So thought I would share them for Vintage Thingy Thursday over at ColoradoLady's blog. 
The little barrel chair is a kid-size seat that's been in my family since about 1960. Barrel chairs were popular around this time - must-haves for the discerning rec room of the Boomer family! My older sister, myself, and my younger brother all used this chair, as did my daughter. I've re-covered the seat a couple of times over the years - a simple tuck-under-and-staple job - but other than that the little chair is all original. 

Seated in the little chair is a hand-sewn bunny I made in about 1990. Around that time, beautiful lop-eared rabbits in extraordinarily fancy dresses were all that on the craft show circuit, and oh how I wanted one. But oh how I did not want to pay the asking price for them, even though of course it was obvious how much time and love went into making them. 

So I did the next best thing - I bought a pattern, and decided to make my own. Now make no mistake, this pattern tested my sewing skills. And although I opted for a very simple dress (no patience to make the fancy pinafores and lace-trimmed skirts), I think she turned out very well!  
And my bunny story goes even a little further: at that time I had a step-daughter who was about 12 years old. She saw my bunny, and said she wanted to make one for her mother for Mother's Day. So we went to the fabric store to choose her materials, and over a weekend she made her own bunny with really just a little coaching from me in interpreting the pattern directions. She told me later how much her mom loved it, and to me that made the bunny pattern extra special. 
Both the little barrel rocker and the handmade bunny are destined to be handed down to my daughter and her little ones when the time comes. Maybe I'll take time to whip up a fancier dress for Miss Bunny in the meantime - and if not, I'll at least recover the rocker seat a few more times. 

Celebrating sunny orange and yellow!

What an odd week it's been - such lovely mild weather (in the 50's! In Iowa - in January!), and yet a little gloom in our home as we had to say good-bye to our 12-year-old dog, Bugs.

We got Bugs from our local rescue shelter in 2003 - he was a new arrival, a stray rounded up from a neighboring county. He didn't even have a name yet! But he had a soulful look, and a calm disposition in the midst of all of the chaos of the shelter, and we brought him home. He was a loving family pet for the next decade.

Maybe it's a combination of losing the dog and being stuck inside at work during all this beautiful weather that had me yearning for some sunshine - and I found it, in one of my all-time favorite color combinations: orange and yellow!

I first knew I was in love with these two colors together when I was about five years old. Our dance teacher's assistant had a hobby of making beaded rings, and my mother agreed to buy them for my sister and I. We could pick any two colors we wanted for each ring, and after looking at all the beads I decided on orange and yellow. I remember my mother making a point to ask me, "Are you sure? They're kind of loud." I was sure, and soon I had my cheerful, sunny ring. I've been a fan of orange and yellow, together, ever since!

I can always count on these happy colors - even if they are LOUD together - to bring on a little cheer.

Do you have a color combination that you love... that makes others question your judgment? :)

Make a can opener cozy!

Today I got to cleaning off my kitchen counter top, which had become a bit of a (ahem) storage area, and I got a little fixated on the ugly utilitarian look of the electric can opener. Decided I needed to make a little cozy-cover for it, and knew I had just the fabric to whip up a cute, quick project. Here are the materials I used:

2 cloth napkins (you could also use kitchen rags or towels)
1 stem silk flowers
Hot glue or Fabri-Tac

My fabric was actually a pair of red-and-white-striped kitchen rags. I didn't have a plan, but my original idea was to build a sort of fabric "box" complete with formed corners. Because of that plan, I started by sewing the two rags together, but ultimately decided I was making things way too difficult. I settled on just laying the rags right-sides-together, and cutting out a dome shape.

I pinned and sewed the whole thing together, trimmed my seam to a quarter inch, clipped my curves, and hemmed the bottom. Once turned right-side-out, it looked cute, but a little plain and even boatsy.

Obviously, embellishments were needed. I settled on a sprig of small silk daisies that I had on-hand - there isn't really a theme in our kitchen right now except perhaps "out-dated 70's stuff with red accents," but I thought the daisies would fit in better than my go-to choice of romantic roses.

I separated the daisies and leaves from the wire stems, and knew I was going to attach them to the cozy with glue. (I like to use FabriTac instead of hot glue - it works great for a project like this, and I don't burn myself. If you're adept with a hot-glue gun, go for it!) One problem, though, was that the backs of the daisy blooms didn't lend themselves to easy gluing. I simply clipped off the excess yellow bit, and was left with enough surface to apply a good dab of glue.

I pressed everything down into place, let it dry, and fitted it over the can opener. Here's the result:

It's not as complicated as the constructed "box version" I was going to make, but I sure like it - it only took about 15 minutes to assemble from start to finish, and it goes great with my red cannisters!

I've linked this quick and easy project to Making Monday Marvelous over at C.R.A.F.T. Dozens of fun, creative ideas - be sure to click through! 

Vintage linens pillow

Update: Linking this project - one of my personal favorites! - to the "Oldies but Goodies" link party at Nancy's lovely blog, Do Small Things With Love. Hope you'll click through and see all the "oldies'! 

I'm linking this sweet little project to Saturday Night Special over at one of my favorite blogs, Donna's Funky Junk Interiors. Please click through for a ton of wonderful ideas! 

Awhile back I purchased a handmade girl's skirt at the Salvation Army thrift store, not because it would fit me or because I have a little girl (my little girl is almost all grown up!)  - but just because I liked (okay - LOVED) the sweet lavender fabric with the pretty violets.

This week I decided to use another of my great-grandmother's hand-stitched pillowcases, and pair that with my violet fabric to make another of my vintage flap pillows (click here for the tutorial!). I have several of these pillow cases, but on most of them the front side of the fabric is badly stained from years of use. This pillow design allows me to preserve the pretty stitching. For this pillow, I was able to also use the back of the pillowcase as backing for the pillow itself, making this one extra-vintagey! (I swerved slightly off the path on this one, too, because I stuffed it with loose fiberfill rather than a pre-made pillow form.) 

I do have some other pillow ideas in mind, but this one turned out so sweet and allows me to enjoy Great Grandma's handiwork. And, bonus: I only used the front panel of the skirt, so I still have enough violet fabric to make something else.

Tea and Roses - a second blogiversary!

Who was it that once said, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV"? Neil Patrick Harris, perhaps, who played Doogie Houser, MD long before he became the master of the Bro Code? Or perhaps it was Hugh Laurie? (Did you know Dr. House was British? It's true - check out this totally Monty Pyton-esque sketch from his early career!) Or maybe it was Gregory Harrison who was quite the hunkalicious MD... in the... um... 80's. Yeah.

Anyhoo, all this speculation is simply to point out that I'm not a tea hostess, but I play one in Blogland. Okay really, I don't even play one. But I do like to collect beautiful teacups, dainty cookie plates, and curvaceous teapots, and I really wanted to congratulate Sandi over at Rose Chintz Cottage on the second anniversary of her lovely Tea Time Tuesday link party.

So even though I didn't set a table for tea, I did gather some pretty rose-covered elements to share.

Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors. ~Alice Walker

Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings! ~Author Unknown

The perfect temperature for tea is two degrees hotter than just right. ~Terri Guillemets

A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes. ~George Orwell

Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on. ~Billy Connolly


Congratulations, Sandi - here's to another year of Tea Time Tuesday! 

Update on Home Goals - yes, already! I KNOW!!

You know how sometimes you take a few minutes to go back and read through some of your past blog posts, admire your handiwork, chuckle over some of your more clever turns-of-phrase... wait, no? Surely that's not just ME...

Anyhoo, I'm getting ready to launch my li'l blog's Facebook page and I wanted to cast a critical eye over it to see if it's ready for prime time. I happened to take a quick pass-read through my Home Goals for 2012.

Turns out, I've actually accomplished something already this year - and it's only been 11 days since I laid out my goals! I'm pleased to report:

#2 - Basement laundry area - We prepared some bleach solution and sprayed it all over the walls of the cinder block shower stall, killing the mold and preparing to scrape it off.

#3 - Closets - The hardware on the floor that guides the sliding doors has been replaced on three of the four! I'm confident Closet #4 will be completed soon.

#4 - I cleaned the master bedroom, and changed the sheets. The counter on both these tasks now starts over at zero. My mother-in-law would have been thrilled, given her opinion of my housekeeping - which, oddly enough, is an opinion shared by me.

#6 - I've been infusing my conversation with references to re-doing the kitchen ("before picture" shown above), because this one will cause a major disruption to the household and Mr. Piglet will undoubtedly be called in to help. Or, he will see me doing something 'wrong' and will step in to volunteer his assistance. I've brought home some paint color samples, and I found this very re-assuring post from Remodeling Guy detailing how to re-finish kitchen cabinets using spray paint.

I am very encouraged by all these developments. How're you doing on YOUR home goals?

Word of the Year: Infuse

I'm pleased to participate in Layla's fabulous link party, "This Little Word of Mine." The word that I've chosen to guide me in 2012 is:




I'll INFUSE my home with romantic cottagey goodness - both in its decor and in the attitude exuded by the homeowner.

I'll INFUSE my own spirit with positive thinking, affirmations of my faith, and expressions of love toward those around me.

I'll INFUSE my very being with the warmth reflected in my changing home and my nurtured spirit.

By doing all of these things, I'll INFUSE my home... with warmth, with welcome, with love.

Be sure to click through to Layla's lovely blog - there's so much inspiration there. Here's to a wordy and wonderful 2012!