Home Wong Nga and Black Cty: September 2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

a little more around the store...

Always getting new things and rearranging what we have, so we can't help but keep sharing...

Is it just me or does it seem like there are a ton of babies being born during this time of year? It seems like all our friends have been having babies left and right......as a matter a fact our good friends Patrick and Anita just had a new baby today.......baby Lucy!

As I've mentioned before, I've been busy getting my inventory ready for a show next week, but I have managed to find some time to whip up a few baby gifts here and there (and I have a couple more to do this weekend). My friend Shannon just had her second baby boy so I thought I'd make her a little something special for her new little bundle........baby Kevin.

I made Shannon's baby boy, Kevin, this little robot gift set. A custom appliqued organic cotton onesie and two cotton chenille burp cloths.

I love David Walker's "Robots" fabric - isn't it just so cute? I'm not all that versed in boys, seeing as though I have two girlies, but I'm used to seeing cars, sports and dinosaurs for boys. I think the robots are unique. I used the applique techniques from this "Sew Basics" post for the onesie.

I used three fabrics for the applique. The light blue for the border, the robots for the main fabric and the red for the "K" (for "Kevin"). I applied the applique with fusible interfacing and I used a medium sized zig-zag stitch around the edge to prevent any fraying.

Do you want me to tell you a little secret? I used embroidery thread instead of my regular thread for the applique and it turned out awesome! I don't have a fancy sewing machine so I never thought of embroidery thread to even be an option for me, but this worked like a dream.

To go along with the "Robot" onesie I made a couple burp cloths. And since I was making burp cloths, I decided to make a bunch for my show this next week.

These came together rather quickly because I used my serger. I'm typically not a huge fan of a serged edge, but I think it works for boy things.

I used a wide variety of fabrics from David Walker's "Robots" collection. I love how these can be put together as burp cloth sets. I don't think I will be listing these in my etsy shop, but they will be great for shows and make wonderful gifts!

For the backing I used a super-soft cream chenille. Chenille is definitely my favorite fabric for baby - so soft and cuddly but really durable as well.

Thanks for letting me share!

Do you know lots of people having babies during this time of year?

What kinds of fun baby gifts are you making?

Buying a new car made me realized one thing...our booster seats need serious TLC!

I know sometimes my boys will step on the booster seat (of course with their shoes on!!) to climb over to the back seat or to the trunk area to get something they dropped. I never really paid attention how dirty the booster seat covers were until I was trying to transfer everything from our old minivan to the new one. There were unidentifyable stains everywhere and it was just very nasty looking. Especially in the new car, those car seats looked so out of place.

I washed the seats and disinfected them while I threw the covers in the washer.
Guess what, those covers were still dirty looking even after the wash...

That's when I decided to make booster seat covers! One booster seat is from Costco, and the other one is from Graco. The Costco booster seat cover is just flat and looks very simple to make, and the Graco one is a little bit more work.

I will share what I did...

1. I made patterns first...

2. Cut out the top fabric, batting and backing by using the pattern. This costco one had tabs. I used vinyl (the kind that is used for table cloths and such) to make tabs. Lay the right side of the fabrics and batting together, and insert three tabs in place and pin. Using 1/4" seam allowance sew the one side together.
When you turn it inside out, the tabs will be sewn in.

3. Line up all three edges that are not sewn and flatten the fabric. Sew on the layered fabric to stablize them. I did 4" apart between the lines, this gives a quilt effect.

4. Sew bias tape on all three sides.

5. Make holes with an awl on the tabs and bottom of the cover. When I created the pattern, I also marked them on the paper to make things easier.

6. Done!

I love it! I couldn't use flower print (my boys would refuse to sit on it if I did), but I am happy that I got to use the fabric I already had and it came out better then I expected. I am working on the Graco one now, it is a little more work, but I can't wait to see them side by side in my mini van. :) Oh, before I forget, since I used vinyl for the tabs, I will not be able to put it in the dryer. I just realized this as I was writing this post. So use something else for the tabs, and if you find any better material for that, let me know! :)

Show & Tell Friday

Hello everyone,

We are having some lovely weather here again lately so we were able to enjoy a walk on the beach today-it was a great way to end the month of September!

Today,I am joining Show & Tell Friday so I am sharing a little mix of green and white toile.

This is a small bedroom upstairs that over the years went from a toddlers room to a teenagers but is now a guest room.

A pretty little jug- a gift from a friend.

I love this mug.

Well that is it for today but I have been working on a project and I will show you what I have been up to next week.

Thank you Cindy for hosting Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home each week.

I am also joining Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday. This is a new party for me but it looks very inspirational!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Carolyn

Alan Mascord Designs and JELD-WEN

Our friends at Alan Mascord Design Associates have provided four of their home designs - created in SketchUp - to the new website of window and door manufacturer JELD-WEN. The designs, featured on the website’s homepage, serve as the starting point for JELD-WEN customers looking to specify products to match the style of their home.

The Mascord folks have written more about the collaboration with JELD-WEN on their blog.

Posted by Chris Cronin, SketchUp team

Happy Birthday Pumpkin

Hubby (also known as Mike or Sweetie...or for this post, Pumpkin), has celebrated another birthday. He's forty (again). He's decided to stick with forty for another year...or so, and I couldn't help but oblige him.

Here's the Birthday Boy.

I made him a Pumpkin Spice birthday cake using pumpkins from the garden.

It was really delicious...moist and rich.

This is the recipe I used.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Curliques & Bin Pulls

Oh, those gorgeous bin pulls. I just love 'em. They are generally so expensive, but I lucked out when I found these at Cripe Distributing: 25 oil-rubbed-bronze bin pulls for $14. I ordered them before I even knew what I wanted to do with them...but then I saw this desk at The Frosted Gardner:

Isn't it pretty? And wouldn't you know it, I just happened to have a similar desk just waiting for me to do something with it in the garage.

Alas, I didn't remember to take a "before" picture...yet again. It was a run-of-the-mill brown desk.

But now...

I like it much better! I found a quart of "oops" gray paint at Home Depot: $1, baby! Gotta love that.

The desk has this pretty "curlique" embellishment around the top. I flirted with the idea of filling it all in with wood-filler, until I took another look around the garage and saw this chair:

"Hmm..." I thought to myself. "Curlique on the desk. Curlique on the chair. Must be fate!"

So naturally the chair had to be painted the same as the desk. And of course all of the yucky gold pulls were replaced with beautiful bin pulls!

I glazed them both with black to make those curliques pop! Getting glaze in all those indentations is actually a whole lot easier than trying to paint them neatly! (Like I tried to do on this desk...don't look too closely!)

I love that the back of this desk is as pretty as the front. It doesn't have to sit next to a wall. The recessed panels on the sides and back are so pretty. In fact, even the knee space is pretty (not that anyone will be seeing that)!