Art Show Table Covering

I have been invited to have a table at the Tucson Open Studio Tour November 10 & 11. I did it last Spring, pretty spontaneously, but this year I decided to step up my game and make my display a bit more spiffy, starting with a table cover.  Based on my experience last year, I decided to add some pockets and loops.  Here is the process:

1 - I chose fabrics I already had in my stash. You can easily spend more on your display then you can making during the show.  I cut the black fabric one inch wider all away around the folding table.

2 - I made some tabs and pinned them at the both front corners and the middle.  These loops will make it easier to hang signs down the front.

3 - I then made four pockets to hold things like pens, phone, money, scissors, business cards, etc. These things needs to be accessible, but not cluttering the table.

4 - I then pinned the muslin around the edge.  I had the muslin overlap at the back to provide access to storage under the table.

5 - Here is what it looked like so far.

6 - I added a ruffle along the bottom.

7 - Here is the final - though it needs some fancying up.  And I have an idea - stay tuned.

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Reverse Applique Pillows

Scott (husband) is having a garden party for some business associates and is fixing up the landscaping around his office. Anyway, he asked me to make a pillow from a dish towel. After I turned on the Fleet Foxes station on Pandora (good mix of Bon Iver, Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac, Explosions in the Sky),  I squared the towel off to fit a standard pillow form, I had some leftover fabric along the bottom and I thought I could cut out some of the shapes to make a couple of reverse applique pillows to go with it.

Shapes that I cut out -

I then ironed on some medium weight one sided fusible interface to give the towel shapes some sturdiness. 

I cut out two 15 inch squares, for each pillow front.  I found the middle by ironing each front into two crosses and then laid the shape in the middle, right-side down.

I sewed around the edge of the shape, about 1/4" from the edge.

This is what it looks like on the front.

I then snipped a hole in the brown fabric in the middle-ish of the shape. And then I cut around the whole thing, inside the stitching about 1/4 inch.

This is what it looked like.

After that I made two panels for the back.

The panels overlap so I could slip the pillow form in.

I laid the pillow top down first, facing up, then the longest panel facing down, then the short panel on top. Pinned them all together and stitched all way around. Then put in the form.

Here are all the pillows lined up on the garden bench.

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Zoe's Apartment

During our visit during Parent's Weekend, I was able to take a couple of pictures of Zoe's apartment. She lives on campus with one roommate.  They each have their own room and bathroom, but share a living room/kitchen.  It is really modern with grey walls.

 This is the view when you first walk in the door.

Her roommate and her father made this cute love shelf, that sits in the entry way, in front of a locked utilities closet.

The couch on the right came with the apartment. Zoe and her roommate and another friend made the mobile.

I made this lamp, well painted it and changed the shade, see previous blog post.

I made the "H" pillow, Zoe made the back pillows and stuffed the rice bag.  The side tables were two Ikea lack tables glued together with upholstery tacks lined up around the edges. You can buy tacks that are already pre-spaced you just need to nail in about every fifth one.  Easy to do.

Zoe and I dip dyed the curtains, starting by dying the Ikea curtains all grey and then bleaching out the top. Apparently the curtains had polyester so we couldn't get them to white, but instead to this yellow, which turned out okay anyway.  There is a border of fabric at the top that is a floral yellow pattern.

Well, this apartment won two awards "Most Pinteresting" and "Best Overall." Pin It

Pretty Fabric Lamp

Supplies:

Lamp with wire frame - I got mine at Goodwill

Spray paint - if you want to change the color of the lamp base

Scraps of fabric - I cut strips about 1.5 inches wide and a variety of lengths (from 6 inches)

1 - If desired, spray paint the base, I used these directions as a guide (Directions to paint a lamp).

2 - Remove the fabric or paper from the lamp shade, exposing the wire frame.

3 - Starting along the bottom, tie one end of a piece of scrap on a vertical wire.  Go across to the next vertical wire and tie it.  I just used a single knot, and it seems to hold fine.  If the lamp might be moved a lot or touched a lot do a square knot.  I trimmed all the fabric when I was done. The frayed edges and some loose threads are part of it's charm.

4 - Just keep going around and around. So simple and looks great when lit up.

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Pillows and a Night Light Rug

 I made a 20 inch by 20 inch yo-yo pillow with scraps leftover from some napkins and such. It's a pretty easy pillow to make, all the circles and connecting the circles don't require a sewing machine, so it's perfect for Olympic viewing.

I also made a monogrammed 18 inch by 18 inch burlap pillow. I washed the burlap in a bucket, it frays really bad and I was worried about jamming up my washing machine.  I washed it a couple of times as well as let it sit out in the monsoon rains. I also sprayed it with some homemade fauxbreeze to help with the smell as well as soften it a bit.  I couldn't print an H big enough, so I printed it as big as I could on a 8.5 x 11, and then decided the ratio and then taped off the straight lines with painters tape and drew out the rest of the border with a Sharpie. I sponge-painted on the burlap with acrylic paint combined with fabric medium, 1 to 1 ratio.  Then I zig zagged it to a muslin backing, and made an envelope pillow with black fabric at the back. 

The combination by day.

 The rug by night.

The rug was a bit of a project, but I really liked how it turned out.
Materials:
4 rope lights
7-9 100 ft clothesline ropes ( I actually can't remember, I got them at our local dollar store)
large crochet hook (the largest you can find)

I was inspired by http://topstail.com/diy-area-rug-led-floor-lamp-bright-white-carpet-light, but I have had little to no experience with crocheting.  Well I consulted a very helpful neighbor as well as looked for specific directions here. Once on that website, you can click on google preview, scroll to page 14-15 to see how to do it specifically. It's not that hard once you get the hang of it.  You just need to add a quick chain/running stitch every now and then as you expand the circle so your rug doesn't turn into a basket. Also the hardest part is at the beginning, but after the first 3-4 circumferences it gets together. I didn't take any pictures of the progress as I wasn't very confident on how it would turn out. Pin It

Frame Modification

Zoe and I found an old wood frame at Goodwill.  I removed the glass, cleaned it up, and then painted it roughly with teal paint.  I used eye hooks to attach picture wire along the back. I also added some hooks along the bottom of the frame, for keys and lanyards.  I also got some small wood clothespins and spray painted them a rust color.

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Inexpensive and cool dorm shelving

Within a couple of months, using coupons and watching for sales, I bought six plain wood crates at Joanns (http://www.joann.com/wood-crate/xprd74816/.

I stenciled them first, inspired by this blog (http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.com).  But I couldn't quite get the paint to flow, so I used a sharpie to first outline the stencil, but I did use a ball-point pen to trace around the printed stencil.  This is a perfect activity to do while watching some TV, like catching up on Breaking Bad.

After stenciling, I stained them with Minwax, color Jacobean.  I might have gone lighter and used the Dark Walnut, but I like the grey tones in the Jacobean. After staining them, I let them dry overnight, and then I waxed them with Briwax in Dark Brown. You could also use a polyurethane, but I wanted the finish of the wax, plus I had some already. Pretty cool, huh?

We don't know the space where these would go yet, but we could get some planks of wood to stretch between a couple of the crates, as well as add some casters. I will do a follow up blog once they are in the final position.

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