Wednesday, January 30, 2013

2013... 2nd Project done.....on the "dime"


Recovering my old recliner was my first project for the year...almost on pennies...(one little problem with the chair...I have discovered that I have at least two quilting pins stitched and covered in the chair...have to cure that problem soon).
 Now it is on to the 2nd project.  Redo the bath.  Too bad I did not remember to take a pick of the before.
Most have never seen my bathroom before this...I had hand painted large sunflowers, assorted flowers and you pee-ed in the trees.  I guess that reaching 60 makes you want a more mature, simple and cheap bathroom.  And I managed this on $47.00.  $32.00 of that was towels and a rug!   I always shop Lowe's discount area's.  Paint..mistint..1 gallon $5 and I only needed half (even with covering trees).  My handles on the cupboards I bought a few years back..checked out with a couple and found that they were priced at $.09 a piece.  I turned right around and bought everything they had.  My drawer knobs were $.35 a piece...discontinued items. My glass tiles were packs that had been opened and pieces missing for only $2.00 a sheet.  Repainted my old mirror.  I kept it very simple...not many dust collectors. And all my baskets and accessories are thrift store finds.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Br-r-r-r-r-r- it's too cold to work in the barn......

The chair was faded, torn in places ...
2013...is here.  Winter is really here.  8 degrees and a blizzard qualify it.
And I decided that I had at least two projects that I wanted to get done before spring got here.  Redo our bath and do something with my $3.00 Flex Steel chair.  I paid $10 for it at a thrift store and  while vacuuming the dust bunnies out I found $7.00 in the chair.  What a deal.  Wanted it to go to the cottage, but we decided it was too big for the cottage.  We've been using it for a year now and it is one of the most comfortable chairs.   I could not see burning it in the "bonfire". (where all old couches and chairs go).  So after spending two weeks with a dreaded cold, in my comfy chair, I decided to save it from destruction.  But I had to do it using something that I already had.  I made a New Years resolution to clean up all my stuff.  Purge.  And not buy more stuff.  (The kids said that when we die, they were just going to roll in the dumpsters and load them up.)  Only God knows how much time I have to use up all of my Stuff!
 Years ago I had bought a basket at a auction just for kid's toys and it was also loaded with all upholstery ends and pieces...which of course I saved all these years.  So there was my material.  I am not a good seamstress and not a perfectionist by any means.  Between a hook needle, staple gun and hot glue I recovered my chair.  Not as good as my inspiration, but good enough for me.  One project down and on to the  next, which is almost done also.  Getting rid of my hand-painted trees in bath......
my inspiration off Pinterest.....


...I hand quilted patchwork pieces to my chair.

I will have to shear my chair now and then. Unraveling.  I just cut the pieces out and quilted them one on top of each other, without finishing the edges.  I wanted a rough look to it and I got it.
And after all this, it hardly put a dent in tub of material.  After looking at it for 2 days, I added one more piece of material to get rid of the very large piece of yellow on the back of the chair.